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Wingham Advance-Times, 1977-10-19, Page 1LANU.$EA-AII1 PACKAGE TOURS Susine s pr A sure book nowl ZSE10E 1istowel, Ontaiio. i': 211.2111 Call Toll Fre* 11400.265.6332 FIRST SECTION Wingham, Wedne.0*ay, October 19,'1977 Single Copy Not Over 30c Mayor defends decisio on parking lot propose' 'a Wingham Mayor William Walden last week termed "ridiculous" the criticisms which some members of the Business Association have levelled against council over its decision not to provide financial backing to the association's park- ing authority for a proposed off- street parking `lot. During a recent meeting of the association, council came under fire for its refusal to back the parking lot project, one business- man suggesting business people in tdwn aren't getting very much in return for the taxes they pay. Pointing out council 'has to think of all the taxpayers in town, Mr. Walden said it would have beep irresponsible to put up $32,000-$28,000 for the property and $4,000 to grade and gravel it — to provide a few parking spaces when -the town owns prop- erty nearby which can be devel- oped for parking at a much lower. cost. The parking authority's project simply wasn't feasible, he claim- ed, and there was no way the council could support it. The mayor was supported in his claims by several councillors. David Cameron said he doesn't know what is wrong with the location of the town lot; it is dilly a few paces further from down- town than the one proposed by the parking authority. Angus Mowbray added that if any of the business people won- der what they are getting for their taxes, they should calculate the cost of snow removal along the main street in winter. Even with the provincial subsidy it is considerable, he said. The controversy began earlier this summer, when representa- tives of the parking authority approached council with a plan to buy a property on Victoria Street to develop for parking. Explaining that the authority ties no power to borrow money, they asked council to back them in the purchase. They claimed the money could be repaid by renting a house on the property and renting 10 of the proposed 17 parking spaces to tenants from nearby apartments. After discussion, however, councillors decided the town wouldn't be justified in putting up money for the project. They ex- pressed doubt about how much could be earned from the house, which they said is in poor condi- tion, and pointed out that even if spaces can be rented to the apArt- ments this would leave only seven for public parking, since it wouldn't be fair to have public parkingein the spaces which are being rented. The price was too high, council felt, for the small amount of parking gained, but decided that since the authority feels there is a need for off-street parking the town will develop a parking lot on property it owns behind the YEARS OF SERVICE—DeWitt Miller was honored by members of the board of governors of Wingham and District Hospital last week for his 25 years of service with the board. During an informal gathering following the board meeting, Chairman Jack Hodgins pre- sented Mr. Miller with the gift of a Polaroid camera. Hospital purchases property to house psychiatric services Wingham and District Hospital has found a property to house its' psychiatric services department, the hospital's board of governors learned at its regular meeting Oct. 12. The management committee reported negotiations have been concluded to purchase the Ralph Nixon property at the corner of Patrick and Catherine Streets for $44,000, with a closing date on the sale of last Friday, Oct. 14. The board accepted the report. Earlier this year the board had empowered the committee to negotiate for a propertyfor the centre. Hospital Director Norman Hayes said he hopes to have the department moved into its new quarters by the end of November. Some redecorating is necessary to convert the existing house to office space, he noted. The department had occupied the nursing assistants' school during the summer and is presently housed in a trailer near the hospital clinic. . Mr. Hayes also reported to the board the hospital has hired a full-time dietitian, to start Dec. 1. Paula Blaugrave of Listowel has been hired for the position. Mr. Hayes said she is well qualified and is currently working as part-time dietitian at St. Joseph's Hospital in Guelph and at Mount Forest hospital. The job involves counselling patients, working with doctors on preparing diets for them and generally running the depart- Chief'pleased with fire drill results students and staff at Turnberry Central School clearOd the build- ing in 45 seconds flat, a new school record, Mr. Crothers re- ported. The 45 second time was matched by about 200 students and staff at East Wawanosh Public School and around 150 at Sacred Heart separate school. More than 550 students and staff at Howick Central School vacated their building in one minute and 25 seconds. All of these were very good times, Mr. Crothers emphasized. He said it's "doing darn well" to clear a.school in a minute or less; even a Minute and a half is good. The time at Madill waood, given the size of the school, he added. Wingham Fire Chief Dave Crothers says he is very pleased with the results of fire drills con- ducted at area schools during the past two weeks. The exercises showed that at all the. schools, students are able to leave the buildings safely and in good order; sometimes in less than a minute. At F. E. Madill Secondary School, nearly 1,300 students and staff cleared the building in one minute and 50 seconds during a drill Oct. 13, Mr. Crothers said, while the week before almost 400 students and staff at Wingham Public School were evacuated in one minute and four seconds. In other drills, more than 200 Frosty Queen at the south end of town. It noted this is in the vicin- ity of the proposed lot on Victoria Street and could provide 40-50.' spaces at a cost of only about $1,000 for posting and signing. The parking authority is dissat- isfied with council's .decision, claiming the town lot is too re- mote and won't be used. ment, Mr. Hayes said. He assured the board there is "plenty of work in a hospital this size" for a full-time dietitian. In other business, the board heard a discussion between Mr. Hayes and Dr: J. C. McKim, medical chief of staff, on the question of a possible bed study to be conducted in area hospitals. Mr. Hayes said he hasn't heard much about the study recently and declined to comment on rumors that hospitals in Walker- ton and Hanover will be asked to . close some beds as a result of a study done there. He claimed the only thing a study here would show is that "everyone here should be here", to which Dr. McKim objected, saying that at any given time a dozen or so patients should be in nursing homes if only beds there were available. The patients still need some medical care, he said, but it's a question of the cost of the fa- cility: $25 a day beds in nursing homes compared to $100 a day beds in the hospital. Mr. Hayes agreed there is a greater and greater need for nursing home beds, noting the increasing percentage of persons over 65 in the population and this society's tendency to institution- alize its sick, particularly the chronically sick, rather than caring for them in the home. He suggested that: "We're caught between a rock and a hard place," given the government's reluctance to spend more money building nursing homes. –Scott Burns, Sarnia, Tom Kiley, Lively, and Trudy Holmes, all students at Western Univer- sity, visited with Mr. and Mrs. Perrie Holmes. Youths are charged in flag theft Two juveniles who took a fancy to the large flags atop the Inter- national Plowing Match 'sign just east of town ended up in court last week. On Sunday, Oct. 9, a neighbor noticed the two youths, one perched on top of the large sign and the other on the ground be- low. One flag had already been torn down and the two boys were apparently intent on stealing the other two. Arriving at the scene, by car, the neighbor pursued and apprehended the two youths; *hi) were turned over to the provin cial police in . Wingharn ,and charged. The juveniles appeared in court in Wingham on Wednesday, but were dismissed because there were ' no previous convictions against them. It was learned that the two were hitchhiking from their homes in Kitchener when they saw the flags and decided to take them. Last year„a r-. the pign,,y erected, the flags were Stolen 'Oil at least two occasions. The thefts were dismissed as pranks, al- though costly ones, at the time. However, any person who plans on repeating this performance should be aware that a close watch is being maintained and offenders are not likely to be treated so leniently in future. Bluevale youth seriously injured in weekend crash A Bluevale resident, Daniel T. Campbell, was admitted to the Wingham and District Hospital in critical condition early Sunday morning after he was involved in a single car accident on Highway 86, two miles east of Wingham. Mr. Campbell was transported via ambulance to the Wingham and District Hospital where he was given emergency treatment for abdominal injuries and mul- tiple lacerations to his face and arms. At the time of writing, his condition had stabilized. On Thanksgiving Day, a single car accident on Concession 7-8 of Grey Township, east of Sideroad 10-11, resulted in minor injuries to Mrs. Myrtle M. Reddy of RR 5, Brussels and Pamela L. Reddy, a passenger in the car. Both accidents were investi- gated by the Wingham detach- ment of the Ontario Provincial Police. During the past week, the \detachment investigated six Motor vehicle collisions which caused an estimated $8,380 in property damage. Twenty charges were laid under the Highway Traffic Act and three under the Liquor Licence Act. LIONS' GOVERNOR INAUGURAL EXECUTIVE—An executive to get the- Wingham sister city organization off the 'ground was formed from volunteers at a meeting last week. Norma Strong is secretary of the organization, Elayne Rintoul is vice-president, John Strong, president and Judy Nevery, treasurer. A return trip td Wingham's sister city, Standish, Michigan, is set for Oct. 29-30 and anyone interested Irt. taking the trip should contact Mrs. Strong. New organization forms executive Another step in the adoptive process uniting Wingham with .•Standish, Michigan, was taken last week with the formation of an executive for the sister city organization here. Nearly 20 people showed up at 'the town hall Oct. 13 to discuss the upcoming trip to Standish and get the organization off the ground. Following some initial reluctance vdlunteers came for - ,ward to fill the positions. John Strong is the president of the new group and his wife Norma, agreed to serve as :. secretary. "He'd probably make me do all the typing anyway," she explained. Elayne Rintoul will serve as vice president and Judy Nevery is treasurer. Paul Rintoul, and Herb. Kenyon volunteered to be directors of the organization and Deputy Reeve Harold Wild is honorary presi- dent, representing couneil., All what the duties and responsibili- ties will be. Though the groups 'are now . quite common in the United States, uniting cities and towns in different states and countries, they are new to Can- ada, r tel Several persons at the rrleeting asked whether it is necessary to have such official organization, with president, vice president, etc.; whether a -committee of three to carry on correspondence sufficient. Angus Mowbray explained that there is quite a formal structure behind sister city groups, with head- quarters in Washington, D.C., and the rules call for a structured executive. , There is no real indication yet just what forms the reiaticnship with Standish will take. Some of the possibilities mentioned were student and teacher exchanges and exchange visits by recrea- tional groups but Allan Harrf�sson suggested the main thing is to get some momentum going. Eventu- ally, he predicted, it will develop into "small facets working back ing: A bus is being chartered for the journey and indications are the cost will be about $25 per couple. Mr. Harrison left the meeting to call a contact in Standish, and returned &with. information that the organization there is arrang- ing billeting for "at least 40" people, and is also taking care of meals and entertainment. He noted it should be . a fairly in- . and forth": groups here making , e sive weekend.. So far about --• • eontects-kvitl eir tennterpa ---- a't'e title- Yggned' uo fo% the there. trip, it was reported, and anyone A return trip to Standish by wishing to join should contact Wingham residents is planned for Mrs. Strong. Oct. 29-30, and the group ' look About 18 Standish residents ing for persons interests i,look- b go7 visited Wingham in late August. Wingham gives nod- to positions will continue until the co m m u n is a ti o n s s s t e m wants a commitment from each municipality before beginning a study on the network. The new system would increase costs for Wingham by about $880 the first year and $1,500 thesecond over the present system, first Tom Deyell cal- culates. The lower costs the year are due to the sale of current equipment and government .subsidy on purchasing new equipment. The second year cost would be typical, ignoring in- flation or expansion, he said, and is devoted mainly to phone lines and salaries. , The communications system would be administered by a con= rnittee comprising the five police chiefs and one member from the police committee of each town. Mr. Wittig later explained:ill "The government wdo a study and tell us we need X amount of equipment,'" such as radios, a tower, etc. The government then pays 75 per cent of the cost of the equipment needed to start up the system. The communications system is tailored to the needs and circum- stances of each particular area, he noted, estimating it will take eight to 12 weeks to complete the study and up to a year to get the system into operation. The study begins as soon as all five councils agree to participate in the network. As of last week, Seaforth had approved the pro- posal and approval was expected from the Exeter council. (Continued on page 2) end of this year, it was agreed. Part of the' reluctance was due to the fact lib -one here has any ex- perience with sister city or- ganizations, and hence no idea • Wingham will enter into a com- mon police communications net- work with other towns in Huron County, provided the costs of the Lions stand for service governor tells local club Lionism here is what the Wing- donate $1,000 to the arena build - ham Lions make it, District ing committee to help for the Governor Tony Farrier from renovations. Just over half the Walkerton told club members at money, is to come from the pro - a meeting last week. He urged ceeds of their peanut sale, with them to dedicate themselves to the balance coming from the the "many miles we have to go" activities fund. The Lions noted in Lionism. this is certainly a community In his talk on "What is .Lion- oriented project. ism?", Mr. Farrier indentified two main aspects which he feels show what the club really stands for. The first is service, he said, calling Lions the "world's great- est doers" in 149 countries around the world. "Service is the way we pay rent for our room on earth," he told the Lions, and noted it is the world's largest service club , .money goes toward building a boasting more than 1,200,000 members. The other main aspect to Lion - ism, he said, is that it is the key to the practical application of a man's religion.a illustrated with the story f the Good Samaritan who helped a man in need after religious leaders had passed by: Lionism is not simply a business, religion, knife and fork dub or social affair, he em- phasized. It does combine as- pects of all these but is also some- thing more. Mr. Farrier congratulated the Wingham club for the work it has done in the area. '`You're not big in number but you're big in what you do," he told them. He said there are 39 clubs with 1,303 members in District A-9, which includes Wingham, and he hopes every Lions Club in the district will be strong and support • its community. One major goal this year is to increase member- per cent attendance pins and it ship by five per cent and add two was announced that past presi- new clubs, he said. dent Robert Armstrong will re - In their business meeting, the ceive the 100 per cent president's Lions unanimously agreed to award. Russell Zurbrigg reported to the club that $6,642 was raised in Wingham during the recent telethon. This surpasses last year's donations of $5,196. Over the whole area covered by the telethon, he said, they expect to raise close to $150,000, up from about $102,000 last year. The lodge for physically handicapped pers.ns. The club delayed a decision on donating money to a school in Rochester, Michigan, training leader dogs for the blind. It heard that this district hopes to raise $10,000 this year for the school, which was started by the Detroit Lions Club in 1939. The school will train 30 dogs for blind Canadians this year at a cost of $4,000 per dog, President Archie Hill told the club. Sight Conservation Chairman Lloyd Casemore said he would like to see the club set up a spec- ial project, with all proceeds go- ing to the leader dog school. He also told of a tour of the school planned for next month, which Lions may take. To date six per- sons in this district have received leader dogs, the most recent be- ing Lloyd Fraser of Mount For- est. or-est. Eighteen Lions received 100 system are prorated according to population, town council decided last week. Assessing the costs this way would leave Wingham with about a 15 per cent share as compared to 20 per cent if they were split equally among the five towns. Goderich, Clinton, Seaforth and Exeter are the other municipali- ties to be included in the system. At a special meeting called to discuss the proposal, council voted to agree in principal with the communications system. Police Chief Robert Wittig said the Ontario Police Commission Bruce builder threatened with loss of contract A contractor building two heavy water plants at the Bruce nuclear power project faces loss of all or part of the contract unless cost overruns are kept within bounds, Ontario Energy Minister James Taylbr said this week. - Lummus Co. Canada Ltd., which is building the plants for Ontario Hydro, is already about $156 million over original cost estimates, Mr. Taylor said, with the first plant yet to be com- pleted. He said Hydro told him it de- cided to let Lummus finish engineering work and construc- tion on the B plant, which is nearest completion, but said that if the company' performance on the second plant has fallen behind by next August, there will be an automatic takeover of the project by Ontario Hydro. Liberal leader Stuart Smith has complained in the provincial legislature that the latest esti- mate is $200 million higher than the initial one, with no penalty provisions in the contract. Lummus is building the plants on a cost-plus contract, which means all cost increases are passed along to Hydro and the company receives a set fee over and above costs for its work. Collision incurs $275 in damages The Wingham Police are in- vestigating a motor vehicle acci- dent that occurred at the corner of Alfred and Josephine Street Oct. 15. A car driven by Alex Robertson of Wingham was in collision with a pickup truck driven by Lorne Baird of RR 2, Wingham. No in- juries were sustained but damage to the Robertson car was estimated at $175 and $100 to the Baird truck.