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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2011-06-02, Page 1CitizenTh e $1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, June 2, 2011 Volume 27 No. 22 SPORTS - Pg. 8Local athletes excel attrack and field meet PRODUCTION - Pg. 16Play in a Day experimentis a success in BlythEMS - Pg. 7Blyth EMS vehicle to reducearea response timesPublications Mail Agreement No. 4005014 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK: The Kinsmen Club of Teeswater with the support of the Belgrave and Lucknow Kinsmen Clubs are pleased to announce that Wingham has been selected as one of the stops on the Portraits of Honour National Tour and that their members are planning a special event. This tour stop will honour the memory of Corporal Matthew Dinning who, at the age of 23, lost his life serving his country in Afghanistan on April 22, 2006. The Portraits of Honour National Tour is scheduled to arrive in Wingham on Wednesday, June 8. The Clubs will be hosting this Tour Stop from 9 a.m. to noon at the North Huron Wescast Community Complex. The event will include a Portraits of Honour Video, Presentations and Photo Opportunities beginning at 10 a.m. with personal viewing of the mural to follow. A barbecue will then take place to complete the morning’s activities. Admission is by donation. The Portraits of Honour National Tour is centred on a 10'x50' oil painted mural featuring the hand- painted portraits of the 155 Canadian soldiers, sailors and aircrew that have lost their lives while serving in Afghanistan. The mural has taken Kinsmen and With a backdrop of more than 40 tractors, approximately 200 protesters armed with signs and a half-dozen speakers calling for research and moratoriums on wind turbines, Huron East Against Turbines (HEAT) staged a rally to tell the public they are unhappy with the way their community is being treated by wind turbine development companies. Led by HEAT co-founders Rob Tetu and Gerry Ryan an opposition rally was held in front of the Seaforth Community Centre where St. Columban Energy, a wind energy developer, was hosting an information session about their project, which includes turbines in Huron County. According to Tetu, visitors had come from across Southern Ontario, including West and East Perth, Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh, Central Huron, Lambton Shores, Bluewater, Dufferin, Kincardine, Chatsworth and Wellington areas. Tetu and fellow speakers Ryan, Mark Davis of Arran-Elderslie and Barb Ashbee, called for changes to the Provincial government’s Green Energy Act, specifically how it allows developers to build over the wishes of municipalities. Members of Political Parliament Carol Mitchell (also Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs) and John Wilkinson (also Minister of the Environment) were not at the presentation, much to the chagrin, if not the expectations of Tetu, who asked if representatives from either ministry were present. Tetu added that Ben Lobb, MP for Huron-Bruce, stated that he was sympathetic to their requests, but stated he could do little due to the fact that the Green Energy Act is provincial legislation The rally hit on several key points that HEAT has echoed throughout its campaign to have a moratorium placed on wind turbines until their health affects can be determined. Included topics were the cost of turbines to families through the Feed-In Tariff (FIT) program, necessary setbacks, the effects of low frequency noise and infranoise and the need to have new direction at the highest levels in the province. Ryan went so far to say that Wilkinson, Mitchell and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty were a threat to the area. “Rural Ontario is under threat by [McGuinty, Mitchell and Wilkinson],” he said. “They are turning rural Ontario into industrial Ontario with wind farms... they aren’t acting responsible.” Ashbee said they were a “dismal groups of leaders”, adding that Dr. Arlene King, the Chief Medical Officer of Health for Ontario, had not done her due diligence in stating that turbines aren’t a problem. “[Dr. King] didn’t do her research,” Ashbee said. “She didn’t talk to the families involved... she read research that had been done and didn’t do any of her own.” Ashbee believes that the government is treating rural Ontario as a scientific proving ground. “We’re guinea pigs in an experiment gone horribly wrong,” she said, adding that the “callous” Liberal government was representing corporations, not the residents who vote for them. “We need a new Premier to support people before lobbyists,” she said. “We need a government that The last two months have been less than ideal for many, but for farmers, over 60 days of cold, wet weather has caused some serious problems that could hit the Huron County economy hard if the sun doesn’t come out soon. Brian Hall of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), however, says that while the weather hasn’t been co-operative, there is still an opportunity for a full crop yield in Huron County, unlike many farmers in southern Ontario. Hall says that it was really one week in May that made all the difference, the week of May 9 through May 13. He says that week provided farmers with ideal weather for planting and that so much work was done that week by many farmers and that has made all the difference. “A lot of farmers were working around the clock that week and a lot got accomplished,” Hall said. Hall says that because of a workable day here or there and that one week in May, between 70 and 75 per cent of Huron County’s corn has been planted, a far cry from the 15 to 20 per cent of the corn that has been planted in many areas around London and even further south. Hall is also optimistic when discussing corn that has already been planted throughout Huron County, saying that what is beginning to grow already is looking good. There are considerations being made, Hall says, because if the weather doesn’t get better in the next week or two the consequences will be much more serious. If the weather were to immediately take a turn for the better, Hall says, the potential would be there for a full crop yield. That would be dependent on what the weather is like for the rest of the year, he says, but the potential would be there. If the poor weather continues and no further work is able to be done by the middle of June, the problem becomes more serious and for some farmers, it could be more than this harvest that is affected. Hall says that if the cold, rainy weather continues for soy bean farmers, further harvests could be affected. Hall says that throughout Huron County, only 10 to 15 per cent of soy beans have been planted. There is, however, more time for planting soy beans. They can essentially be planted until the end of June, but if planting is pushed too far back, then the harvest too will be pushed back. If the soy bean harvest is pushed too far, then those soy bean farmers who also plant winter wheat will have to plant their winter wheat crops later, leaving that crop at a higher risk of a reduced crop yield or even dying out throughout the winter. If the weather begins to turn, however, and the weather around the harvest in the fall is good, the problem could be avoided. Hall says the fall weather will be the most important factor in the winter wheat situation. Because of the diversity and versatility of Huron County soil, however, Hall says that area farmers are in a position of choice where many other Ontario farmers couldn’t be. If the weather continues to wreak havoc on farming, corn farmers can make the choice to Turbine rally held in Seaforth Farmers concerned over poor weather Tableau Adam Shortreed and Marissa Nesbitt of Mr. Gole’s Grade 2/3 class at Blyth Public School practiced their freeze-frame technique while doing tableaus during a special acting seminar put on by Outreach and Education Co-ordinator Janine Plummer of the Blyth Festival. Plummer worked with several classes throughout the school, teaching drama techniques and working to bring out the students’ inner actors. (Denny Scott photo) Portraits of Honour to visit Wingham By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen Continued on page 11 By Denny Scott The Citizen Continued on page 16Continued on page 18