The Citizen, 2013-11-28, Page 14PAGE 14. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2013.Brussels welcomes new curlers
It is hard to believe the amount of
snow on the ground as I write this.
Another reason for the corn harvest
to come to a halt, again. The farmers
had two to three days of good
weather this week to work at the
corn harvest and clean off many
more acres. Those who had finished
were busy plowing or washing
machinery to put away. Neighbours
were borrowing wagons to load
everything they could with corn
before the bad weather hit again. A
challenging year to say the least for
harvest. Parrish & Heimbecker is
working steadily to whittle down the
pile of corn in its yard that had
accumulated over the few good days.
The yield seems to be very good this
year.
Returning from a five-day girls
retreat is a group from
Brussels/Walton area. The ladies
were celebrating the 50th birthday of
one of its group. The eight ladies
spent five days in Punta Cana in the
Dominican Republic. The group
enjoyed great weather, hovering
between 35°C - 40°C with only a
couple of night rains. They had a
tour on the “banana boat” and one
reports what happens on the boat,
stays on the boat! Enjoying the break
away were Jill Sholdice – the
birthday girl, Malinda Ten Pas,
Sheila Cousins, Tara Pipe, Brenda
McIntosh, Kim Strome, Cory
Sholdice and Sandy Huether. The
small world phenomenon happened
when they spotted a group of folks
they knew. Staying at the same resort
were Mary Blake, Vicki Blake,
Linda Blake and husband Steve and
Janet Blake and husband Doug
McLean. A small world!
Enjoying a night away with a
group of friends and enjoying a
hockey game were four couples from
the area. Scott and Alicia
McDonald, Chris and Erin Blake,
Barry and Sarah Young and Jason
and Megan Gemmel went to Detroit
to see the game. They stayed in
Windsor and shuttled to the stadium
to watch the Ottawa Senators defeat
the Red Wings on Saturday. They
had a great time.
There were many area folks at the
Blyth Memorial Hall to see the
Royal Flush Improv last Saturday
night. One of the wild card players
was a local girl, Mandy Sellers, the
daughter of Bill and Marion Sellers.
My reports are that it was a very
funny and a great evening and very
entertaining.
Clint and Judy Emmrich have
returned from a two week vacation.
They spent most of the time in
Florida, fishing, resting, hitting
the flea markets and enjoying the
sun.
They spent five days in Costa Rica
and found it very warm. They
returned to find snow – yuk!
The Girl Guides held their annual
retreat at the Walton Hall on the
weekend. Included in the group
were Girl Guides, Pathfinders,
Brownies and Sparks.
It was a Christmas-themed camp
and the arrival of snow made it all
the more like Christmas for the 23
girls and the five leaders. They
arrived Friday evening and first on
the agenda was to decorate for
Christmas. Saturday morning arrived
and so did Santa to share breakfast
and bring a stocking for all. Theymade Christmas crafts and playedgames before enjoying a traditionalturkey dinner. They had a great time and stayed
until Sunday at lunch time.
We send out our get-well wishes to
George Adams who remains a
patient in Seaforth Hospital. We
hope he will be home soon.
We send get well wishes to Donna
Knight who is a patient in a Guelph
Hospital. She has undergone some
surgery and we hope she will be
home again soon.
Curling has started again at the
Brussels Arena. It is Monday
evenings at 7 p.m. and new curlers
are welcome. There are just four ice
surfaces for this draw but hopefully
there will be more after Christmas. I
can report that after the first night a
few different muscles were aching
on Tuesday morning.
A lovely bridal shower was held
for Jodi McIntosh on Wednesday
evening in the basement of Duff’s
United Church. The shower was
organized by Michelle Blake and
helpers.
It was a come and go event with
over 50 ladies dropping by at some
part of the evening. Jodi received
many lovely gifts from friends,
family and the community. She
will be married right after New
Year’s!
Christmas lights have started to
appear, and nothing is prettier than
the lights of Christmas in the snow.
Those who put up their lights when
the weather was good are now just
happily turning the switch. Those
who did not put up the lights will
now have to work in little lessfavourable conditions. It is just four weeks untilChristmas.It is White Gift Sunday at Duff’s
United Church this Sunday. Please
remember to pick up a git for a
family in need. The UCW Christmas
dinner is Wednesday, Dec. 4 and
donations for the women’s shelter
and the food bank would be
appreciated.
Celebrating birthdays this past
week include Carl McCallum,
Valerie Shortreed, Donna McClure,
Linda McDonald, Linda Gingerich,
Mitchell McKee, Craig Gillis, Jo-
Ann McDonald, Nicholas Zwep,
Brad and Brent McKague. Happy
birthday to all.
By Jo-Ann
McDonald
Call
887-6570
PEOPLE AROUNDWALTON
NEWS
FROM WALTON
COMMEMORATE THE NEWEST
FAMILY MEMBER'S 1ST NEW YEAR
Join the gallery of faces in The Citizen's
baby photo display January 9, 2014
Send or bring a picture of your little one born in
2013 along with a writeup which includes full name,
birth date and parents' names, to be featured in The
Citizen's Gallery of Faces on January 9, 2014, for
only $20.00 (HST included).
Please send picture (with name on back), along
with a cheque, to The Citizen prior to January 3.
Photos may be picked up after January 9.
THIS MUST BE PRE-PAID.
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Please Complete
Baby's Full Name______________________
Son ❑Daughter ❑
Birth Date_____________________________
Parents' Names________________________
$20.00 Enclosed
DEADLINE - January 3
2 pm in Brussels • 4 pm in Blyth
❑
Mary Elizabeth
Smith
May 18
daughter of
Mike & Laura Smith
B a b i e s o f t h e
Y ear 2013
A good find
While Saturday’s nasty weather kept some bidders away,
there were still about 50 people who made their way to the
Brussels Legion on Saturday for the Branch’s annual silent
auction. Mabel Glanville is seen here bidding on a bicycle
that, given how much snow is on the ground, may have to
wait a few months to be used. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
Dekroon pushes for
baseline test despite
cost, ‘irrelevance’
Despite repeatedly being rebuffed
by other members of Huron East
Council, Councillor Allison
Dekroon feels a baseline sound
study would be “good to have” in
the municipality.
At council’s meeting Nov. 19
where members were informed the
municipality would be losing
$331,000 in funding in next year’s
budget, Dekroon told councillors
she wanted to spend hundreds of
thousands of dollars on the study, a
study Chief Administrative Officer
Brad Knight deemed irrelevant.
Knight told councillors that after
discussing a baseline sound study
with wind development companies,
he was told that part of a project’s
Renewable Energy Approval (REA)
process involves sound studies both
when the turbines are operating and
when they aren’t.
“There’s no need to do the study,”
Knight told Dekroon. “It’s not that
relevant, because they have to do
noise testing when the turbines
aren’t operating.”
Huron East Mayor Bernie
MacLellan agreed, saying it didn’t
make sense for the municipality to
pay for something the Ministry of
the Environment required wind
companies to do anyway.
“I don’t think the municipality
should go out and pay for a study,”
MacLellan said. “If there’s a
complaint, we would just contact the
Ministry.”
MacLellan said that if there was a
similar complaint through the
Ministry of the Environment for
something like air quality, for
example, it would be up to the
Ministry to investigate, not the
municipality.
Dekroon, however, disagreed,
saying it would be a “good idea” to
have the study in the municipality’s
back pocket.
She also said she would like to see
a second opinion of the province’s
sound test findings, also at the
municipality’s expense, saying there
were “going to be issues” with the
current model of testing.
Councillor Larry McGrath said
that without a solid criteria on which
to base the sound study, like when
the tests would take place and where
the testing would happen, council
would be opening the door to at least
$300,000 or $400,000 in costs for
sound testing, which doesn’t take
into account the second opinion of
the Ministry testing Dekroon
suggested.
“It’s good to know about how the
study is conducted,” McGrath
agreed with Dekroon, but added
“there’s nothing we can do until [the
wind turbines are] up.”
Council took no further action on
the baseline sound study proposed
by Dekroon.
On a related note, MacLellan
announced that council would be
holding a special council meeting on
Nov. 26. The meeting, which would
be entirely in camera (closed to the
public), would deal with road user
and community fund agreements
with both Varna Wind and St.
Columban Energy. MacLellan told
councillors that the municipality’s
solicitor Greg Stewart would be in
attendance for the meeting.
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
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