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Zurich Citizens News, 1965-12-02, Page 1No. 48—FIRST WITH THE LOCAL NEWS ZURICH, ONTARIO, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1965 7 CENTS PER COPY WIND DAMAGE — Winds travelling at 50 miles an hour Friday night levelled a driving shed filled with im- plements, and took the steel roof off a large L-shaped barn housing 25 cows and the season's crop, on the farm of John Jacobs, RR 1, Zurich. The farm is located on the Parr Line in Hay Township. Mr. Jacobs estimated the damage at over. $2,000. Mrs. Minnie Noakes is the first woman in the history of Hensall to be elected as reeve of that municipality, and she did this without having to face an election. Mrs, Noakes won the post by acclamation last Friday night when she was the only person nominated for the office, other than incumbent Norm Jones, who announced his retirement previous to the meeting. The new reeve has been a member of council for six years and in accepting the new posi- tion she told ratepayers she has always tried to work in the best interests of Hensall. Four members were elected to council by acclamation. They are former councillors John Baker, Harold Knight, John Lavender and newcomer to the scene, Oliver Jaques. Another man, George Parker, was also nominated for the position but declined to qualify. James Sangster was elected by acclamation to the Hay Township School Area board, replacing Clen Christie, who wished to retire. Mrs. Irene Davis also was nominated, but declined to qualify. George Armstrong was re- elected as a member of the PUC, by acclamation. In reporting to the meeting after nominations, Reeve Jones outlined his work at county council during the past year, on the board at Huronview and on the EMO committee. James Sangster questioned the reeve as to why he was not allowed to qualify for a councillor last year, when John Lavender, who is a member of the parks board, was allowed to. Mr. Sangster had been a member of the fire department at the time. Clerk Earl Campbell admitted' it was his error that kept Sang- ster from qualifying. "I should have accepted your nomination and let someone else disqualify you after the first of the year," he said. (The Municipal Act says that anyone who is a mem- ber of any other board cannot qualify as a member of a mu- nicipal council or school board.) Mrs. Noakes, as chairman •of the property committee, told the meeting that they had trou- ble with the fire siren and had to have it repaired, and also the furnace had to be repaired. She also told of the joint pur- chase with Zurich of a speed radar system. John Lavender criticized the law regarding park board mem- bers, firemen, etc., from seek- ing other office in the same municipality, and said it was high time this law is changed. A slight controversy arose at the meeting between Lavender and Harry Hoy, regarding the Hensall dump which is located in Tuckersmith Township. Mr, Hoy contended that if council would make people dump their rubbish where it belongs the grounds would not be in such a mess. Letters RR 2, Zurich, Ontario In recent months much con- troversy over schdol problems has heralded the local papers. While pros and cons on both sides have at'least kept the in- terest at a point of unforget- ability, we now find ourselves facing an election. Who is right, and where do we go from here? At the Stanley Township nomination meeting the school inspector made the statement that in the very near future, we would find ourselves under compulsory jurisdiction to send our children to kindergarten. As if that were not enough he went on to add, that plans in the department were to start children into a junior or pre- kindergarten at the early age of three and one-half years. Toronto is presently taking steps in this direction. I am asking, "How lonog can we re- main silent to this dictation from the department in terms of our education?" (Continued on page 5) To the Editor: Hay Municipal Officials Returnee' by Acclamation One of the quietest nomina- tion meetings in history took place at the Township Hall, Zurich, last Friday afternoon when reeve John Corbett, dep- uty reeve Delbert Geiger and councillors Joe Hoffman, Lloyd Hendrick and John Tinney were returned to office to serve Hay Township for another term. No other names were proposed to contest any of the vacancies. Also elected by acclamation were two members of the Hay Township School Area board, Carl Oestreieher and Ross Turn- bull, for two year terms. Chairman for the brief meet- ing which followed the nomin- ation period was clerk H. W. Brokenshire. Each of the mem- bers of council spoke briefly, outlining the work carried out during the past year. First speaker was reeve John Corbett, who reported he was working with a good council, and had found the past year an exceptionally busy one. He added that he felt council 'had used good sound judgment on all matters b r o ugh t before them. Deputy reeve Delbert Geiger reviewed at some length the work being carried on by the Huron County road committee, of which he is a member. He referred briefly to the return- ing of the Town Line, Kippen to Drysdale, to the status of a township road, and told of how he opposed the plan but was out -numbered. Councillor Lloyd Hendrick told the gathering of about 50 people that he hoped taxes would not increase at the rate they have been over the last few years. "If they do con- tinue, I hope farm products will go up in price accordingly," he added. Joe Hoffman told the meet- ing that he enjoyed working on council, even though they did not always agree on all matters. He added that this is what makes a good council. John Tinney reviewed the work which had been carried out on .a number of bridges over the past year, and told the meeting that there would have to be more built in the years ahead. The only question fired at the council during the meeting was by Reinhold Miller, who Two Candidates For Reeve in Zurich Voters in the village of Zur- ich have the choice between two candidate when they go to the polls on Monday, to elect a reeve for the coming year. be open from nine o'clock until Milton Oesch, who has served six. This newspaper urges all as reeve for the past five years, ratepayers to get out and vote is seeking re-election to that for the roan of their choice. post. According to Mr. Oesch, he would like to serve another two years as reeve of the vil- lage, so he could fill out his term on the board of Huron - view, at Clinton. This is a county council appointment. Opposing Mr. Oesch is ag- gressive Zurich merchant, Leroy Thiel, who is claiming that a reeve should pay more atten- tion to his own municipality than to county council affairs. Mr. Thiel is first vice-president of the Zurich Lions Club, a di-, rector of the Zurich Chamber of Commerce, and is currently, chairman for Zurich in the campaign for funds for Blue Water Rest Horne. Both polls will be in the Zur- ich Community Centre, and will asked why there was an expen- diture listed of $1500 for the Community C e n t r e "I thought we were rid of the dam thing," he stated. Mr. Geiger explained to the question that the agreement be- tween Zurich and Hay Town- ship for the transfer of the arena and community centre took effect in June, and the $1500 was for operating loss before that time. When he added that all arrangements had been completed and Zurich now owned the building them- selves, Mr. Miller q u i pp e d, "that's a good thing". Ian McAllister, chairman of the Hay Township School Area reported for his group and told the meeting that the school area was responsible for half the increase in the taxes this year. Mr. McAllister told of the in- t r o du c ti o n of kindergarten classes this year, and added that they were being well re- ceived by parents. Re also ex- plained how a new salary sched- ule had been introduced for all the teachers, and hoped the annual incruments would serve as an incentive to the teachers to better their qualifications. The board chairman also told of the additions at the Hensall and Zurich schools, and gave a progress report on both schools. He concluded by telling the ratepayers of Hay Township that the board hoped to end the year with an estimated $26,- 832.53, which should help next years' operation. O t h e r appointees officials who spoke briefly at the meet- ing were John Soldan, repre- sentative for Hay Township on the Settle River Conservation Authority, and Herb Klopp, Hay's representative to the South Huron D 1 s t r 1 c t High School board, Zurich Electors Vo By Shirley Keller A hotly contested battle for the reeveship of Zurich is in the offing as the two candi- dates, present reeve Milton Oesch and opposition Leroy Thiel seek the voters' favour at the polls next Monday. The nomination meeting in the Zur- ich Community Centre last Fri- day evening gave a hint of one of the main issues—the newly erected fire hall on Mill Street. Thiel indicated his displeas- ure at the fact that $22,000 worth of debentures had been sold to local residents at an interest rate of 6 per cent when they could have been purchased for less money elsewhere. He said while a few people would benefit from the move, the in- terests of the greatest majority of the t a x p ay e r s were not served by it. Reeve Oesch and all four 1965 councillors objected when Thiel told the meeting he understood the debenture money could have been borrowed from the local bank at a lower interest rate. Reeve Oesch agreed the fire hall could have been built for less money than the $22,000 which was finally spent. "But I wonder how many more would have criticized if it had," he retorted. He said the village's volun- teer brigade had imposed long enough "on the good nature of Mac Klopp" who had in the winter months offered his gar- age to wash the fire engine and drain the hoses after a fire. Oesch said there just was not room or facilities in the old premises to do these chores and that once all the council mem- bers were aware of the inade- quate condition of the biulding, it did not take them long to decide to build a new fire hall. Another factor in the election came to light as Ivan Kalb- fleisch charged that Reeve Oesch and Hay Township rep- resentatives to county council were taking a greater interest in things outside the munici- palities. He said that Zurich should be the first concern of Reeve Oesch. Kalbfleisch further charged that local council should take more interest in the Blue Water Rest Home. He said meetings were held every Tuesday eve- ning and it was "time these people come and help along". In answer to Reeve Oesch's statement that he still had "two more years to serve on the Hur- onview committee", Kalbfleisch said, "Our reeve shouldn't be sitting on the board at Clinton. He should be sitting on the board down here". Making reference to the Town Line, the boundary between St a n l e y and Hay townships which was turned back from the county to the two town- ships, Kalbfleisch hinted this was yet another indication of the area representatives' grow- ing apathy to local affairs. Reeve Oesch said Zurich was extremely fortunate to have provincial Highway 84 running through the village. "As far as I was concerned, we should leave well enough alone," he said. Acclamation in Council Five persons were nominated to the positions of village coun- cillors but no election will be necessary as only four had qualified in the allotted time. Leo Meidinger, former council- lor, declined to stand for elec- tion. The new councillor is Milford Doerr. At the nomination meeting, Doerr said, "I think there are things that should be done and if elected, I assure you I'll do what I can for the ratepayers of Zurich." Councillor Isabel Gascho re- ferred to the new fire hall as "a fine piece of architecture" that replaced "an antiquated shed". She said hard-working firemen were glad to have "more space and an honest -to - goodness hall". She urged Zurich citizens to take an active interest in plans for a centennial celebration. Wesley Coxon said the past year had been "tough" but that had come out of the meetings, some of which had lasted until 2 a.m. The newest member of the former council, Gordon Hess, told the meeting it was very easy to criticize but very diffi- cult to know how to go about doing the things that really should be done. He touched on the problem of sewers which have been ad- ivsed for Zurich. "Sewage?", he said. "I've been smelling it since I was knee-high. When it becomes a health hazard then it will have to be done but it will mean debentures will have to be issued." Garnet Leitch, Zurich repre- sentative to the Hay Township School Area Board said the hoard had been looking for facts on the amalgamation into one county school area of the school areas of Hay, Stephen and Usborne, but that "we haven't promoted it". Doug O'Brien gave Zurich ratepayers a condensed picture of things as they pertain to South Huron D i s t r i c t High School where he is Zurich's representative to the board. He said the increase in the esti- mated costs of the new voca- tional addition at the school was something over which the he believed some good decisions board had no control. Stanley t rs Net Reeve And rvve School Area Board Members By Shirley Keller I He objected strongly to the way in which the needs study Reeve Ernest Talbot, who has was carried out on county roads tossed hishat in the wring hfor and complained that Stanley's the wardenship of Huron Coun- representation on county coun- ty, has met with opposition in his home municipality of Stan- I ley Township in the person of Alvin Rau, a former councillor and deputy reeve now aspiring to the reeveship of Stanley. Friday's nomination meeting in Stanley was well attended by interested ratepayers keen to hear the inevitable discussion on roads and schools in the township. They were not dis- appointed as nominees stated emphatically their stand on matters. Rau, who told the assembly he had had a difficult time to decide whether or not to seek election, spoke of dissatisfac- tion in the township. "I'm coming in on the road business," he said flatly. Rau had some strong state- ments to make in regard to the Town Line, the boundary be- tween Stanley and Hay town- ships which has recently been turned back to those two mu- nicipalities f o r maintenance. Previously, it had been under the jurisdiction of county coun- cil. "If these roads come back," asked Rau, "how are we going to handle them?" cil had been somewhat lax in opposing the move to return the Town Line to the townships. He charged that when he had presented a petition to Stanley council some months ago seek- ing to have the Town Line named as a development road, not one member of council would sign it although there were 397 names atached. He said he had later spoken - to Hon. C. S. MacNaughton, Minister of Highways in On- tario, who had told him nothing could be done unless council approved. Reeve Talbot said he had voted for the needs study in principle but added that he had not known that by that vote he was approving the implementa- tion of everything in it. "It looks as though we are hooked to take the county road back," said Talbot. "We aren't the only ones. We've protested ever since but I might as well tell you now, it is to no avail." Deputy reeve Elmer Hayter agreed there had been a "con- siderable fight put up." "We didn't want this road back—we don't need any more roads," said Hayter. FIRST WOMAN REEVE' ----Toe newly - elected reeve of the village of .Hensall is shown here receiving congratulations from the former reeve, Norman Jones. Mr. Jones r;tited after .+erving about seven years as reeve of the municipality. Mrs. Noakes is the first woman to ever become the reeve of Hensall.