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The Wingham Advance-Times, 1985-06-19, Page 11 Blyth Brt.ineh Box 2D2 Blyth, Ont. NOM 1114, MADILL ATHLETES—The annual athletic banquet was held recently at the F. E. Madill Secondary School in Wingham. The following students were presented with the school's top athletic awards: Doug Wood,. top maie Or could be a parking lot `1" -- athlete; Carol BlaCkwell, 'top female athlete; Ed Hunter, McKibbon Award (male); Debbie. Hoy, McKibbon Award (female). and Sandy McDonald,- Madill Olympian Award. Town plans to purchase land for a new library The Townef Wingham has made an offer to purchase a piece of land in .the centre of town, adjacent to the Town Hall -Armouries complex. At a special meeting Monday night, town council passed a bylaw authorizing the acquisition of land. This allows it to proceed with a formal offer to purchase. The town is offering $25,000 for the land, a lot 66' by 105.6' on Edward Street between the pump house and the group home. The land is currently owned by John and Ron Lee of Wingham andhas two old brick storage buildings On if. Half the purchase price of ' the property is to come from a grant obtainedunder the Ontario Neighborhood Improvement Program (ONIP). In its ONIP ap- plication the town identifies the purchase as being connectedwith „plans for a new library. However it also says the land could be used for a parking lot or for construction of a .new nur- sery school. Immediately prior to the council meeting, a public meeting was held to review the town's ONIP plan. A majority of members of cou- ncil together with Bill McGrath of the planning committee and a handful of interested citizens heard engineer .Art. Clark explain the background to the ONIP .• plan and the projects proposed over the next three years. The town had previously received approval for a $350,000 program under ONIP and this money has nearly all been spent, largely on street reconstruction, Mr. • Clark explained. The town now has received approval for a $250,000 program as a second phase. Under ONIP, half the money for eligible projects is provided by the province, with the other half coming from town coffers. The new program, which runs from 1985 through 1987, calls for spending $41,500 on Victoria Street recon- struction this year and $54,000 on Alfred Street in 1987. An estimated $40,000 will be spent at the Town Hall this year, installing a geo- thermal heat pump to provide heating and air conditioning on the main floor, and a further $20,500 in 1987 to changethe heating system in the upstairs 'auditorium. The sum of $30,000 is ear- marked for a library, however this will be spent on the purchase of the Lee property. At the Armouries building, $4,000 will be spent this year on exterior repairs to brick- • work, soffit and facia and $50,000 next year on a new heating system. A sum of $1,000 has been earmarked for recreation, to purchase playground equip- ment for Riverside Park. The remaining19,000 will go to administration ex- penses over the three years. Mr. Clark noted that $250,000 doesn't go very far, given the number of projects the town has planned. He said the town could apply for additional, money once this program is underway. , Lorraine Poulin, one of those who attended the meeting, inquired whether the $20,000 the, town has placed in reserve for a library. is in addition to the $30,000 it plans to spend on land. She was assured by Councillors James A. Currie and Jack Kopas that it is. It also was noted that the town can change, its priorities and shift spending to other projects once the program is underway, although any major changes must be approved at a public meeting. Margaret Day asked why the meeting had not been advertised so more people could have come. She was told it was advertised back in May, since there is 'a legal requirement it must be advertised at least 30 days in advance. However Mrs. Day objected that was too long ago. "People don't remem- ber." GRADUATED Lori Goodall, daughter of Jack and Ann Goodall of. Wingham, received' her Honors BA in Physical, Education at the spring convocation ceremonies of the University of Western Ontario, London, on June 13. Lori was successful in achieving the Dean's Honor,. List and will be attending Althouse rollet;(, • London in the fall. R 1 he 14 roil blurt FIRST SECTION Nt.• Wingham, Ontario, Wednesday, June 19; 1985 Single Copy 50c .4 `Spending spree' discussed Tank truck is purchased for Howick satellite station The Wingham Area Fire Board moved a step closer to setting up a satellite fire station in Howick Township last week, with the first purchase of a major piece of equipment for the proposed. station. At their meeting last Wednesday night board members agreed to buy a used tank truck, which will be adapted for service as a firefighting vehicle. The truck, a 1979 Ford, is being purchased from Merkley 'Fuels Ltd. of Wingham at a cost of $7,250. However it is estimated it will cost at least that much again to outfit the truck for firefighting, which would push' the total bill to about $15,000. Most of the additional money would go toward the purchase' of equipment such as hoses,. auxiliary pumps, nozzles, radio and lighting equipment, breathing ap- paratus, fire extinguishers and ladders — things which Fire 'Chief Dave Crothers described as "the bare, basic necessities" of firefighting. The decision to go ahead and purchase the ,truck, while not particularly controversial by itself, sparked a renewed and lengthy discussion about hoW #.11 money is, being spent 'chi the fire department this year. A number of board members continued to ex- press concern over the spending and to talk about - what might be done to defer some of the costs. One proposal was to postpone the start-up of the new Howick fire station until next spring instead of this. fall, but nothing definite was decided. The two Howick represent- atives said it is not really fair teblame the proposed satel- lite station for what one member had called the board's "spending spree". spree". Reeve Jack Stafford and John Jacques pointed out that to date, except for the purchase of about $4,500 worth of coats, helmets, boots and gloves for the Howick volunteer firemen, virtually nothing has been spent on the second station. Even the cost of pur- chasing the tank truck will be borne by Howickuntil the station is officially establish- ed, at which time the board will reimburse the township, although the board will pay the cost of converting and equipping the truck: It was noted a con- siderable amount of money is to be spent on new nozzles and other equipment for the main fire station in Wingham, which had been display court near plaza • Hoyal Homes Ltd. ot Wingham is hoping to develop a new display court for its model homes near the junction of Highways 4 and 86 at the southern entrance to the town. A spokesman for the company said that if it can get approval from the local Planning committee and Wingham council it probably will start work on the development this year. Royal Homes would Eike to develop the land which it oWnssouth of the Zehrs plaza , as a show centre, reported , Farmers d'issatisfied ' • area would be filled and Doug Kuyvenhoven. The ,• landscaped and three model •, . . homes would be placed there with federal., budget .. . for inspection by the public. losing some potential sales The company feels it is • Thirteen farmers from the Huron County Federation of Agriculture crowded into Hurdn-Bruce MP Murray Cardiff's Brussels office Monday morning to kk him know that while they supprt him, they are disappointed with his party's budget. Members of federations across the province are meeting with their MPs to let them know of their dissatis- faction with the budget intro- duced last month by finance minister Michael Wilson. The 'Meeting at Brussels started to take a turn for the worse when MP Cardiff said agriculture should have been mentioned in the budget, "Agriculture was men- tioned. After the government says it wants to know your problems, and we tell them, then it kicks us harder," said first vice-president of the Huron organization, Paul Klopp of Zurich. A resolution, passed at the Ontario Federation of Agri- culture's monthly meeting, states in part, "We demand that our MPs represent our' frustrations and anger and demand for action, to their respective caucaus and ministers." Huron president Doug Garniss of RR 4, Wing - ham, read the resolution to, Mr. Cardiff. "It was a fair meeting," said Mr. Garniss at the end of the • hour-long session, "We're hoping to 'get some responses on exactly what action is being taken." For his part, Mr: Cardiff said he was aware of the farmers' concerns before the brief was prepared by the OFA. He asked the farmers to give his government more time. "We've only been m office eight months," said the Pro- gressive Conservative back bencher. He said' he hopes a "tri- partite" stabilization pro- gram involving farmers and federal and provincial gov- ernments will be apProved by the House of Commons within two weeks. Mr. Cardiff said numerous groups affected by such a program have prebented ii - formation to the govern- ment, and his colleagues have told him the necessary legislation will be passed by the end of June before the house recesses for the sum- mer. • However, several federa- tion members said agricul- ture minister John Wise re- cently indicated such a pro- gram would be frowned upon by the Americans thus limit- ing markets for Canadian comsmodities.• Mr. Cardiff said he, was surprised Mr. Wise had made such com- ments. "I can't imagine him say-, ing that," said Mr. Cardiff, shaking his head. "That's the way I heard it," said Dungannon area farmer Ross Eedy. The Huron farmers re- quested an outline from ,the • Progressive Conservative government stating whenr. they Will introduce programs to help the farmer. Mr. Cardiff did not commit him- self to getting such an out- line. There was considerable discussion on the Agribond proposal, which Mr. Cardiff says he fully supports. Farmers, Mr. Klopp said, was Agribonds because the bonds' are secure and are similar to current industrial bonds. Mr. Cardiff asked the farmers what they would consider a fair interest rate and Seaforth area farmer Jim McIntosh, said about three per cent over inflation. The farmers also asked for more action from, the federal government' -regarding American borders being closed to pork producers. Four or five states have taken such action. Mr. Cardiff encouraged _Federation members to come into his office any• time, The farmers said they would help Mr. Cardiff any- time to. get the agriculture message across in Ottawa. • by having its display homes hidden away beside the factory at a back corner of the town, Mr. Kuyvenhpyen explained. , Creating a display court adjacent to the two highways would give it exposure to the considerable tourist and cottage traffic using those highways during the summer and also would beautify the entrance to the tOrWn. Royal Homes first ap- proached the. planning committee six or seven months ago with its plan to develop the land, he said. Recently it approached the committee .again with ad- ditional information. The proposal received a sympathetic hearing from the committee, • Mr. Kuyvenhoven said, though there are, still . some problems to be sorted out before the development could. go ahead, most notably the problem of re-routing the Blackhall Drain. He said there may be some concern about the effeet on flood levels if that area is filled, but noted that a study done at the time the development of ' the plaza was proposed indicated the effect would be very minor. A special meeting qt• the developer, the planning committee and town council has been called for June 27 and Mr. Kuyven•hoven said ,he hopes at that time.tco "find out where tr e stand". If they get the go-ahead they will probably start filling this year, he said. He added that the com- pany has already checked 1 with the Ministry of Trans- portation and Communi- cations and has been assured the MTC has no objections to the filling or to obtaining access from Josephine, Street. • - Royal Homes has already leased a property right across from Canada's Wonderland on Highway 400 where it will open a display court this summer. The township council there "paved the way for us," he said, referring to the project as "Royal Wonderland". Meanwhile the company is heading for its best year ever. Sales have been "just unbelievable", Mr. Kuyven- hoven said, reporting that Royal Homes will build its 1,000th home sometime this surniner and expects to surpass last year's total of • 120 homes. Production currently is running at about four homes a week, he said, but it will be going up to a house a day within two weeks. • neglected in recent years. They agreed, though, that the. costs of starting up the Howick station will un- doubtedly run well' abovethe $20,000 earmarked in the budget. If estimates are correct, that money will be be used ( sii up in the purcha ng and out- fitting of the tanker, plus equipping the volunteers, leaving nothing for the purchase of the pumper the board has agreed to give Howick or for radios and other equipment. "I think it's going to take far mote to start up Howick than we figured at budget time," observed Turnberry Reeve Brian McBurney. , "I think so' too," Mr. Stafford agreed, noting that, "At first we were looking at taking stuff from (the Wingham station) to start Howick and now we've changed all that." . Mr. Stafford did inquire about the possibility of using spare equipment from Wingham to equip the new tanker, at least until the board could budget for new equipment, and Mr. Jacques also asked if it would not be possible to "borrow from Peter to pay Paul" for a couple of months, but the response was not hopeful. Chief Crothers ' told them the equipment at the main station is "right to the bare minimum right now" and nothing could be spared without hampering the department's ability to respond to more than one fire ata time. "It breaks down to what Lynn (Hickey) said last month," Deputy Chief Harley Gaunt told the board. "You can't run two depart- ments for the cost of one, and that's what you're trying to, do." "No, we're not," Wingham representative Tom Miller disagreed. "Last year it cost $40,000 to run the department and this year we've budgeted $115,000," Morris representative Bob Grasby continued to urge caution. "Since we got into a board it's been bang, bang, bang —' . we need to- spend more MRS. MARY O'MALLEY will be .retiring as principal at Sacred Heart School in Wingham at the end of the month. Mrs. O'Malley was presented with a portrait of herself at a retirement tea Sunday at Sacred Heart School. The portrait is to hang in the school building. Shown with Mrs. O'Malley is her young grandchild, Lindsay • Blackwell of Teeswater, money every week," he commented. "I don't like this being on a spending spree either," Mr. McBurney said, adding he is, , not in favor of cutting into the equipment at the main department. He suggested putting off the start-up of the satellite station until spring. "I think one problem is we have never sat down and figured outwhat it's going to cost us," he added later. "A little bit here and there and after a while you have big bits." .He said it is not enough to look only at what is needed, the board must also look at what it can afford. Asked what the timetable is for starting the Howick station, Mr. Stafford said the . township is set to proceed as soon as. it can get a new works shed — hopefully .by this fall. Mr. Jacques also pointed out that there is another side to the spending story. "Because of this agree- ment, Hdwick contributed an additional '$40,000 to the construction of this building (the new Wingham fire hall) because our percentage went up," he noted, and that saved' all the other municipalities. some money. He' said there are a lot of things still to be ironed out, • suggesting the bard "play it ° by ear" 'and deal with problems' as they arise. , Discussion then shifted to why it was necessary to replace ,so much equipment at the Wingham fire hall this year. East Wawanosh repre- sentative Fred , Meier wondered "why you fellows . waited so long to buy all this stuff," which drew a spirited response from Chief Crothers, who claimed an earlier report had made it look like itwas all his fault so much money was being spent. "1 don t spend the money,! just request things," he told the board. Please turn to Page 5 Association , to hear from guest speaker Paul Sushycki of Wenger Publications will be, the featured speaker at the monthly business meeting of the Wingham Business Association tonight, Wed- nesday, at 7 p.m. at the Great China House. Mr. Sushycki will present ideas on promoting local businesses and the Town of Wingham, . • The meeting has been arranged by the advertising and promotions committee of the business association. All businesspersons in Witham are invited to attend. Teachers board hold meetings Huron County's secondary school teachers and school board representatives will meet this week for the first time since a strike vote on May 28. At that time, teachers voted overwhelmingly in' favor of strike, turning down the board's offer, Mediator Prof. David Whitehead of the University of -Western Ontario, said Monday afternoon that the meetings will take place on Apne i9 and 20 at the Park Lane Hotel in London, "I suggest that' together we will explore the possibi- lity of a settlement," he said. Teachers have not yet set a strike date.