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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2011-01-13, Page 7THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 13, 2011. PAGE 7. The issue of the inter-municipal wind turbine group attempting to be organized by the Township of Arran- Elderslie was raised again by Huron East Councillors at their Jan. 4 meeting. While councillors had decided that they wanted to be involved, but in an arm’s-length capacity at a late December meeting, the issue was raised once again by Huron East Against Turbines (HEAT) co- founder Gerry Ryan at the meeting. In December, council decided that it would not delegate two official members to the group, as requested by the letter sent by Arran-Elderslie, but that Andy Flowers and Joe Steffler would ask to be put on a list that would receive e-mails from the group. This way, they said, they would be kept abreast of situations and developments, but that they wouldn’t attend every meeting, as there would be a significant amount of travel involved. Ryan, however, questioned whether the council’s ‘heart’ was in the direction of the group. He asked what council was planning on doing for the second part of Arran- Elderslie’s request, that a member of the public also be appointed to the group. Councillors were confused, however, wondering if since they had decided not to send councillors to the meetings, whether appointing a citizen would be the right thing to do. A motion was then made as to whether or not council would like to open the floor for people who may want to be the municipality’s citizen representative in the group. Ryan said that several members of HEAT would be interested in the position, but then councillor Les Falconer said that council was going to attempt to find a representative, that a search should be conducted properly, featuring advertisements and an interview process. The position would be volunteer, but council stated that it was unwilling to waiver in its initial intention. Flowers and Steffler would only receive e-mails from the group and would arrange to attend a meeting if they felt their presence was warranted, not if it was just going to be “same old, same old”, as Steffler put it. January started off very wet with a lot of rain taking away the snow. The creeks and rivers ran very high and unfortunately I have heard of a few people who had the horror of water in their basements. We have only had water (to any high level) in our basement once and we had nothing of importance ruined. It must be disheartening to have a finished basement and have things destroyed by unexpected water. The rain caused many problems for some and within a few short days, snow was a big problem for everyone. The Tuesday afternoon snowstorm that blew through our area for just awhile was one of the worst driving days I have encountered. The wet snow blanketed the windshield, then you could see and then you could not. The grass edging the sides of some of the back roads disappeared and you just had to judge by other landmarks. A nasty drive for awhile. The Cranbrook Dart Club hasbegun for another season and theyhad a full house. They had 26 darterstaking aim at the boards and havinga great time. Winners were: highlady, Shelley Keffer, 97; high man,Frank Workman, 140. All the playersare enthusiastic and are enjoying catching up with players they haven’t seen much of over the summer. The group gathers on Wednesday evenings at the Cranbrook Hall. It’s nice to see people utilizing our little community halls to keep them going. The Walton Inn welcomes a new waitress to the staff and we welcome Janet Szusz. Janet is experienced at both being a waitress and a cook and was working at the Londesborough restaurant until its closing. We hope she enjoys meeting the folks around Walton. Our condolences are extended to the Thomas/Durst families on the passing of Ruth Durst. Ruth was a sister of Charlie Thomas and Joan Van Vliet and was a resident of Stratford. Our sympathies to all. Our condolences are also extended to the Cardiff family on the passing of Vic Cardiff. Vic was a brother to Louis, Doreen Cardiff and Dale Chesher. He was born and raised in the Brussels area and had made his home in London. Our sympathies to all. I met up with John Cousins andam pleased to report that he has notloss his sense of humour despitebeing laid up. He says he enjoysbeing chauffeured around, but willbe glad when he is able to get aroundunder his own power. A wheelchairis a wonderful thing, but not when getting around small spaces. Keep smiling John and we hope you continue to improve. I am pleased to report having a conversation with Margaret Exel and she also is coming along very well. She says she may be a little slow, but patience is a virtue for her, and for anyone knocking at her door. She is hoping to soon have a cast off and begin her physiotherapy. Great news and we wish her well in her recovery. Ria VandenBroek is still a patient at Parkwood Hospital in London as she continues her rehabilitation. We hope she is improving. We are pleased to report that Edna Pearson (Alec) is now at her new home at Huronlea. She hopes her old friends will be able to drop by and visit with her now that she is back in town. The hospitals are keeping busy with many of our local folks. Seaforth Hospital has Leona McDonald and Carla Knight- Menheere. Stratford Hospital has Kathleen Williamson returning as a patient. Jim McDonald is on an unluckyroll as he suffered an accident againthis weekend. He accidentally cutoff the end of his thumb with apower saw. This is quite a painfulinjury and we hope Jim feels bettersoon.Marion Sellers is sporting a cast on her wrist. We are uncertain how this happened but she tells us that there are no marks on Bill. We ran into the couple in Brussels last week and had a quick laugh about it. A story of double trouble for the Lee boys, Brett and Matt. Both men were playing hockey Sunday morning at different arenas about the same time. Brett’s new helmet didn’t have the face mask on yet, but what the heck, what could happen? Unfortunately a high shot caught Brett right in the face and the injury sustained required 15 stitches. Thankfully, nothing was broken but the area below the eye and above the mouth and to the side of the nose, isn’t very pretty right now. Younger brother Matt was enjoying his game until he suffered his accident. Just as Matt was going after the puck another player fell and his skate came up and caught Matt on the chin. The chin was sliced open to the bone and Matt received five stitches to close up the wound. Both injuries could have been much worst and we wish both speedy recoveries. Duff’s United Church will resume again this week with a guest speaker conducting the service. All are welcome to attend. Therewill be breakfast following theservice.Celebrating birthdays this pastweek include Dave Huether, RyanMarks, Sal Curreri, JarrettHumphries, Brian Marks, RickPethick, BJ DeJong, Sherri Hackwell, Hugh Nichol, Danica Zwep, Aidan Hackwell, Kelly McDonald Jarosz, Sarah McDonald, Lucas Mader, Brad Pryce, Hailey Steinmen, Ron Stevenson, George Zwep, Don Baan, Jeff McGavin and Gordon Mitchell. Happy birthday to all. Huron East Councillor Larry McGrath asked that council draft a letter to Pickering’s Municipal Property Assessment Corporation requesting information on the potential tax impact renewable energy may have on farm property. McGrath said he had come across information about industrial wind turbines that stated the turbines would reduce property values due to a rezoning issue. He said that because the area of the property where the turbine is situated would be rezoned to be industrial, it would affect the overall assessment of the property. McGrath said that could be a situation in which everyone loses. He said that the government would lose assessment, the municipality would lose its tax base and property owners lose assessment. McGrath’s fellow Tuckersmith councillor Les Falconer said that while McGrath initially thought that the presence of an industrial wind turbine would alter the zoning of the entire property, that it was his understanding that it only affected the portion of the property that houses the turbine. McGrath said that while sending the letter “might not amount to much” that it would be worth a try for the municipality to have its say on the issue. “I want to see in black and white what’s going to happen to our taxes,” McGrath said. The motion to draft the letter was eventually carried. HE drafts letter for MPAC Turbine group involvement questioned by HEAT By Jo-AnnMcDonaldCall 887-6570 PEOPLE AROUNDWALTON NEWS FROM WALTON The Corporation of the Municipality of Huron East NOTICE OF INTENTION to Designate a Property of Cultural Value or Interest Property: Part Lot 98, Plan 192 401 Turnberry Street Brussels, Ontario. N0G 1H0 Statement of Cultural Heritage Value or Interest The property on which this building is located originally housed the first post office in Ainleyville known as the Dingle Post Office. The original building burnt and was replaced with the current Flatiron building which fits neatly on the lot with a corner entrance onto Turnberry Street. The building has an Italianate style with its sets of Palladian windows accented by dichromatic brickwork. The Post Office continued to operate from this location until 1905. However, the business that is most synonymous with this building was located here from 1905 to 1971. The Brussels Post originally established in 1873, remained in this location until 1971 when the newspaper was purchased by McLean Bros. Publishing Ltd. publishers of The Huron Expositor. In 1982 the McLean Bros. holdings, including The Brussels Post were sold to Signal-Star Publishing Ltd. in Goderich and The Brussels Post was dissolved and the Brussels and area news was given one page of news in The Huron Expositor. Huron East Council will consider a designation by-law at the February 15th, 2011 meeting of Council. Any person who wishes to object to the designation shall within 30 days of the date of publication of this notice serve on the Clerk of the Municipality a notice of objection setting out the reason for the objection and all relevant facts. A complete copy of the proposed designation by-law can be obtained at the municipal office or found on the Huron East website (www.huroneast.com). Dated this 12th day of January, 2011 J. R. McLachlan Clerk-Administrator WALTON 519-887-8429 When you spend $25 or more on any of our frozen boxed meats from West Grey Beef and Norwich Packers Don’t forget – we also have Mom’s homemade pies, tarts, pickled eggs and strawberry freezer jam Sick of Turkey? Beef up your dinners Save 10% Buy Beef from Dauphin’s By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen