HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2012-07-12, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 12, 2012.Parking bylaw approved
NH Food Share usage
increases 17 per cent
Grinding it out
Matt Van Wyk of Blyth was at the village’s skate park over
the weekend performing a board slide and getting some
exercise in during the extreme heat. (Jim Brown photo)
North Huron Township Council,
after some large increases in ticket
fines, approved its road use bylaw
during their July 3 meeting.
The original bylaw had many fines
set at $20 including cycling and
parking on sidewalks, however, with
the new bylaw most of the fines that
cost $20 now cost $50 or $55 if not
paid within seven days.
The bylaw indicates where people
can and can’t park throughout North
Huron Township, as well as how
they may use the road, where they
may stop their vehicles for extended
amount of times and how long
people can park on the main streets
of Wingham and Blyth (two hours
before being ticketed).
While the bylaw is designed to
help people deal with problem areas
as far as traffic and parking are
concerned, as well as outline school
loading and unloading zones,
councillors admitted that there really
wasn’t a surefire way to enforce it
outside of Wingham due to the lack
of a dedicated police service.Currently Wingham policeofficers and the bylaw enforcement
officer, Chief Building Official Dave
Black, are in charge of enforcing the
bylaw since, as councillors
explained it, the Ontario Provincial
Police, regardless of the level of
service North Huron purchases from
them, wouldn’t issue tickets.
“If we went up to the next level of
policing, we were told that the
police officers wouldn’t waste time
giving traffic tickets,” Councillor
Bernie Bailey explained. “You have
to pay a certain amount to have a
dedicated presence and that would
mean we’re suddenly looking at
issuing a $20 ticket that cost us $120
to hand out and enforce.”
Councillors said that in the past
they had considered a higher level of
police services in East Wawanosh
and Blyth to try and better match
what Wingham residents receive
through the Wingham Police
Department, however they found the
proposition to be cost prohibitive.
Councillor Archie McGowan, who
was sworn in that night to replace
Wingham Ward representative AlmaConn who was moving out of thearea, said that the cost increase
could be hard to deal with.
“To get a higher level of police
presence your prices can absolutely
double just because you’re asking
for a dedicated force,” he said.
“North Perth and Goderich have that
kind of service and it has really
impacted upon the price. Yes, there
will be more visibility, but the
ratepayers would definitely be
paying for it.”
Councillor Brock Vodden said in
council’s discussion with the OPP, a
lot of the township’s concerns could
be met under the current police
service arrangement.
“There are a lot of things we can
do, like requesting police officers
come to watch for speeding,” he
said.
One amendment was made to the
bylaw before it was passed
permitting a larger loading and
unloading zone for buses at the
location of the the new elementary
school in Wingham: Maitland River
Elementary School.
THE EDITOR,
At the North Huron Community
Food Share’s annual meeting, it was
revealed that the usage of the Food
Share has increased by 17 per cent
over the past year. A total of 1,232
visits representing 3,207 people
were made in the past year. When
you equate that people can only visit
our Food Share once a month, you
see that we are now averaging over
100 families per month. We are so
thankful for the on-going monetary
donations as well as the non-
perishable food items we received
from all over our coverage area. We
have also started receiving twice
monthly shipments from the Exeter
Food Distribution Centre to
supplement our stock as well, in
addition we spent over $40,000 this
past year at various grocery stores in
our area. With summer now upon us,
it is a typical slower time for
donations, however we hope our
reserves will carry us through until
the fall. We always create a big push
in the “Thanksgiving up to
Christmas” seasons and are always
amazed at how generous the public
is to our cause.
Recently I had the pleasure of
meeting and receiving a large food
donation from Gillian Dinsmore of
Gorrie. At her sixth birthday party,
she asked her classmates as well as
her soccer team to bring donations
for the Food Share. It is very
heartwarming to know that our
elementary and secondary school
students are being informed by the
teachers of the plight of families in
their local area and are encouraged
to make donations. These children
and young adults will be our future
and quite possibly, future directors
of the Food Share.
We are currently in the process of
updating our antiquated computer
system. Thanks to the generosity of
Doug Kuyvenhoven, we are going to
have a very modern computer
system for us to keep track of our
clientele. This will enable
Operations Manager Joyce Johnston
to input data and create the
government required reports much
more efficiently. Doug in connection
with Stephanie Towton, one of our
directors, is also creating a website
for the Food Share. People will be
able to find out everything they
would like to know about how to
donate…who are the
directors….where you can get
pertinent information etc. Stay tuned
for the grand launch of this
website.
Once again this summer, we’ve
been invited by the good people at
the Howick Cruise Night to collect
food at their Friday, Aug. 10 event.
We will be handing out some flyers
at the July Cruise Nite to encourage
people to bring donations. As an
added feature this year, a local band
“No Expectations” are donating
their time and talent to entertain for
the evening. Adam Schefter, a local
craftsman is donating a portable
stage for the use of the band. Last
year much to the surprise of many,
we collected 11 large blue tubs of
food along with some cash
donations. So… mark Friday, Aug.
10 from 6 p.m. to dusk on
your calendar to come to the
Howick Community Centre (east of
Gorrie) see some great classic
vehicles and support the North
Huron Community Food
Share.
Chairperson, Gordon Kaster
THE EDITOR,
Due to the extremely dry, hot
weather conditions and lack of rain
in many areas of Huron County, the
Fire Departments of Huron County
strongly urge the public to
refrain from doing any open air
burning.
Please check with your local fire
department for open air burning
regulations or current fire bans in
place in your area.
Even while plant life may still
appear to be green, and some areas
have received rain, the moisture
content is very low and the ground
very dry and it will burn readily.
Unauthorized burns that get out of
control could result in unwanted
charges to the property owner.
The Fire Departments of Huron
County want you to enjoy the rest of
your summer and make it a “Fire
Safe” one. Thank you for your
continued co-operation.
Marty Bedard
Huron County
Fire Co-ordinator.
Feature
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Letters to the Editor
Fire chief warns
of dry conditions
By Denny ScottThe Citizen