The Citizen, 2017-03-09, Page 7Well-spoken
Students from North Woods Elementary School were on stage late last month at the Brussels
Legion for the Branch's annual public speaking event. From left: Legion Youth Chair Nanci
Ducharme; Hailey Beuermann, first place; Triston Piper, second place; Hayden Piper, third
place; Vanessa Albrecht, third place; Payton Piper, third place and Jake Leis, third place.
(Shawn Loughlin photo)
Road shoulder paving to proceed
Huron County is proceeding with
the paving of two roads, including
their shoulders, in order to
encourage and facilitate safe
cycling.
Council first discussed the issue at
its Feb. 15 meeting, deferring it to
the Feb. 22 meeting for a final
decision.
The Public Works Department
presented council with two options
for the paving of County Road 1
between County Road 25 and
Hawkins Road and County Road 31
from Westmount Line to Falls
Reserve Line. The first option was
simply to resurface the roads, while
the second option included the
paving of shoulders for cyclists at an
additional cost of over $600,000.
While many councillors were in
favour of the second option in
keeping with the cycling
strategy council approved last year,
others were concerned with the cost
and felt they should pursue grant
opportunities if available.
Communications and Grant Co-
ordinator Scott Currie told
councillors at the Feb. 22 meeting
that there aren't any immediate
grants available for cycling
infrastructure, but said the county
could write a letter encouraging the
reinstatement of the Ontario
Municipal Cycling Infrastructure
Program.
Once the issue was raised from the
floor, several councillors spoke in
favour of paving the shoulders,
saying that the county needed to
start somewhere if council wanted to
make the area cycling -friendly.
Huron East Mayor Bernie
MacLellan said that at some point
council needed to decide if cycling
was going to be a priority for the
county or not. He said it made sense
to begin now and with these
particular roads with their proximity
to Goderich, which is now
accessible by the Goderich-to-
Guelph (G2G) Rail Trail.
Warden Jim Ginn also supported
paving the shoulders of the two
roads. He said that if the county is
trying to encourage recreational
tourism, a bike ride along the
Maitland River is as good of a "sales
pitch" as there is in southwestern
Ontario for visitors who are
unfamiliar with the area.
While most councillors felt that
the additional cost should be paid
from reserves, Ashfield-Colborne-
Wawanosh Reeve Ben Van
Diepenbeek said he felt the
tax levy increase should be raised
from 4.33 per cent to five per cent.
After that, the rest of the project
should be funded from reserves, he
said.
Bluewater Deputy -Mayor Jim
Fergusson said he felt that if the
county was going to pave shoulders
to encourage cycling, it should start
in a border community in order to
join up with existing cycling trails
from a neighbouring county, rather
than simply picking one at random
in the middle of the county.
Howick Reeve Art Versteeg
Channeling
Dale Chesher was one of the speakers chosen for the
World Day of Prayer event at St. Ambrose Catholic Church
in Brussels on Friday. Chesher was relaying the story of a
woman from the Philippines, the country that was the focus
of the event this year. (Denny Scott photo)
continued to oppose the idea of
paving shoulders for cyclists, saying
that the county is on the cusp of
undertaking a recreation study, so it
may be wise to wait until that study
yields results.
Versteeg also questioned whether
cycling was a growing activity as it
has been presented to council,
saying that often when council
catches wind of something, it may
already be on the decline and he
wondered if the same could be said
for cycling.
After defeating the motion
deferred from the Feb. 15 meeting to
approve the first option (paving the
roads and not the shoulders),
Bluewater Mayor Tyler Hessel made
a motion to approve the second
option, which includes paving the
shoulders, and to fund it from the
county's reserves, which was
approved.
THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 2017. PAGE 7.
Prepare for worsening
weather in March
PEOPLE AROUND
WALTON
By Jo -Ann
McDonald
Call
887-6570
Warm, cold, warm, cold - you
never know what is coming or what
to wear.
Students get dressed in snowsuits
in the morning and in the afternoon
are lucky to have their jackets on.
Some high school students brave the
cold and have shorts on in the
morning and look quite comfortable
in the afternoon.
Of course, March entered in like a
lamb, so we should expect some
nasty weather, if it goes out like a
lion. Whatever it is, the time changes
at the end of the week and "spring"
is officially only 12 days away!
We send our get -well wishes to
Emerson Mitchell as he is a patient
in Seaforth Hospital at this time. We
hope he is soon feeling better and
back to his place at Huronlea.
Huronlea is now missing a long-
time resident from the apartments.
Marjory Fraser has moved to a
Kitchener/Waterloo area facility to
be close to her daughters Carolyn
and Dianne. The residents had a
little going -away tea for her and
gave her a small gift before she left.
She will be missed by her many
friends at Huronlea and the many
relatives from the Walton area. We
wish her well in her new
surroundings.
Congratulations to neighbours
Bob and Tara Smith on the birth of a
baby girl on the weekend. The new
baby, Vera, will be a joy for her big
brother Sully to help look after!
Congratulations to Ken and
Meaghan McCallum on the birth of
a beautiful daughter they have
named Sloane. Big brothers Linkin
and Corbin are excited to have a new
baby sister! Congrats to the
McCallums.
Celebrating birthdays this past
week include Stacey Linton
Courtney, Emmett Houston, George
Somers, Jeffrey Huether, Holly
Ryan, Crystal White, Adam Ryan,
Owen Ryan, Megan denDekker,
Kathy Ryan, Ava Sutcliffe, Sandra
Butler, Debra Fraser, Melissa
Glanville, Dean Hackwell, Ruthann
Hoegy, Andy Pethick, Nicole
Stevenson, Brian Wilbee, John
Braecker, Kaleigh McCallum, Neil
McDonald, William Ringenberg,
Jerry Zwep and Allison Braecker.
Happy birthday to all.
FROM WALTON
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