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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2016-05-11, Page 44 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, May 11, 2016 www.seaforthhuronexpositor.com Huron Expositor PUBLISHED WEEKLY — EST. 1860 P.O. Box 69, 8 Main Street Seaforth Ontario NOK 1 WO phone: 519-527-0240 fax: 519-527-2858 www.seaforthhuronexpositor EjJ POSTMEDIA NEIL CLIFFORD Advertising Director neil.clifford@sunmedia.ca SHAUN GREGORY Multimedia Journalist shaun.gregory@sunmedia.ca DIANNE MCGRATH Front Office seaforth.classifieds@sunmedia.ca NANCY DEGANS Media Sales Consultant ndegans@postmedia.com SUBSCRIPTION RATES 1 YEAR $50.00 (47.62+2.38 GS1) 2 YEAR $95.00 (90.48+4.52 GST) SENIORS 60 WEEKS $50.00 (47.62+2.38 GST) 120 WEEKS $95.00 (90.48+4.52 GST) Publications Mail Agreement No. 40064683 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT P.O. Box 69 Seaforth ON NOK 1 WO For any non -deliveries or delivery concerns: phone: 519-527-0240 Advertising is accepted on condition that in the event of a typographical error, the advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. In the event of a typographical error, advertising goods or services at a wrong price, goods or services may not be sold. Advertising is merely an offer to sell and may be withdrawn at any time. The Huron Expositor is not responsible for the loss or damage of unsolicited manuscripts, photos or other materials used for reproduction purposes. Seaforth Huron Expositor is a member of the National Newsmedia Council, which is an independent ethical organization established to deal with editorial concerns. For more information or to file a complaint go to www. mediacouncil.ca or call toll free 1-844-877-1163. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canadian Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities. Canada The fires in Fort McMurray For Such A Time As This Anyone living in Canada would have had to be in a coma not to be aware of the uncontrolled wildfires that have decimated the city of Fort McMurray this past week. With virtually an hour's notice the fire changed from being dangerous to becom- ing uncontrolled and a raging inferno which made its terri- fying way through a signifi- cant portion of this northern Alberta city of 80,000. I suspect that you, like me, were glued to the reports and then the videos that made their way to us via television and the internet. Having lived in Elliot Lake, Ontario in the mid 80's our family well remembers a for- est fire that was on the edge of our small city. I was at the local IGA when I came out and realized that I could hardly breathe from the thick smoke that was rapidly enveloping our community. Then because the city is truly on a hill, we could see the flames in the woods not that far from us, and we won- dered whether it would spread our way. I can still remember the water bombers which would fill up on Horne Lake and then they came directly over our home as they made their way to douse the fire. We were very fortunate and it was put out within the day, but the sight of those flames, the stench of the smoke and the awareness of our vulner- ability is still real to me. What has happened in Fort McMurray is vastly multi- plied from what I experi- enced nearly 30 years ago and I think that one of the reasons it has captured the attention of the country so dramatically is because virtu- ally everyone knows some- one who went to Fort McMurray to get work. So as far away as New- foundland and the rest of the Maritimes are from Alberta, literally thousands of Mari - timers have had their living augmented if not in fact their financial survived because of relatives and friends who have moved there. Thus, the community, while being a substantially large small city, would have had a collective care built in because virtually everyone had moved there from some- where else, rather than hav- ing their roots there for dec- ades like in little towns like Seaforth in southwestern Ontario. What has been wonderful to watch is the very ordered response in a chaotic situa- tion. Sure, the roads were full. Sure there would have Scoreboard Seaforth Shuffleboard Shuffleboard scores for May 4 Men's high: Cor Vanden Hoven 4 wins, Arnie Ramsey 3 wins. Women's high: Charlotte Nor- ton 4 wins, Joyce Matzold, Donna Smale, Anne Auchterlonie 2 wins. been tempers that flared. But the pictures and descriptions that have come our way are of people helping people rather than of people being difficult, obstinate and unruly. Already there have been some wonderful stories about provisions for a wed- ding where virtually all the wedding apparel and rings were lost and some stepped up to the plate. It appears that the Red Cross are doing an admirable job of getting resources to those who need them, and many charitable organizations as well as indi- viduals are attempting to provide what they can. To have evacuated 80,000 people and have only one death from one car crash is truly amazing, and one could really say miraculous. But the consequences of this fire will be significant not only to those who lived in Fort McMurray but in reality to the whole country. Already reeling from the economic slowdown through the drop in the price of crude oil, this will make the job of staffing and getting up to speed again very challenging for the oil producers. Who will get called back? Where will they live? What will the families do in the meantime in the months ahead as the community is evaluated for damage, water quality, infrastructure destruction and the like. And in the meantime a very significant supply of crude has been shut down, which will no doubt lead to higher gas prices, at least in Western Canada. And one can hardly imag- ine that property insurance claims of 9 billion dollars will not impact the premiums of all of us in the not too distant future. In the meantime, we ought to rejoice and celebrate the fact that so many people worked together to get those people in danger out safely. And we can all do at least a small part by providing some financial relief that makes the present situation tolerable for those who have been displaced. And we certainly should be praying for those hun- dreds of firefighters and other first responders who are working incredibly long days to make sure everyone is safe and to hopefully begin to bring this inferno to some final stop. But in the months to come, we must not forget that while life will never be the same in Fort McMurray, the kinds of people who gravitated to working in the rugged north are likely also the people who will be resil- ient enough to make a sec- ond go of it. A lifetime in local hockey Contributed photo The Jansen family was recognized for their numerous years of contribution to Seaforth Minor Hockey by winning the Lifetime Volunteer Award. In the photo left to right is Blaine Marks (President of SMHA), Travis Jansen, Hannah Jansen, Steve Jansen, John McKercher, (SMHA Executive). 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