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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, July 7, 2011
Volume 27 No. 27
GRADUATION - Pg. 11Special section dedicatedto 2011 graduates REVIEW - Pg. 27Festival’s ‘Vimy’ openson Canada DaySPORTS- Pg. 9Walton Brewers suffer firstloss of the seasonPublications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
Auburn youths
start market booth
Business celebrates 25 years
Plunkett killer
to serve 12 years
Splash incoming
Amanda Morrison braced for impact with the water of the Brussels Public Pool during the
Brussels Public School year-end party on June 30. Morrison was one of approximately 50
students who got to enjoy good food at the barbecue, good water fun at Lions Park and safe
swimming at the pool, kicking off the students’ summer vacation. (Denny Scott photo)
Two Auburn-area students are
putting their heads and their finances
together to sell homegrown goods at
a local farmers’ market.
Grace Hildebrand and Maisy
Jefferson decided to open their own
separate businesses through the
Summer Company programs and
sell their products; freshly cut
flowers from Hildebrand’s garden
and freshly grown fruit and
vegetables from Jefferson’s garden,
together at the weekly Goderich
Farmers Market.
Hildebrand’s company, called
Grace’s Cutting Garden, sells fresh
flowers while Jefferson’s Maisy’s
Market sells lettuce, spinach, peas,
eggplants, tomatos, peppers, sweet
corn, beets and other fresh produce.
Seed money for the two
businesses was provided by a
Provincial Government initiative
called Summer Company.
Summer Company is a program
through which students can get
startup funds to run a summer
business and be paid for their efforts
through profits and a season-end
payout, run through the Government
of Ontario.
The two young entrepreneurs
heard about the program through
friends who had participated in it.
“It’s a great program to be
involved in,” Hildebrand said. “I
have friends who did it and it really
worked well for them.”
“It’s a really fun thing to do and
it’s possible to get some really good
experience,” Jefferson said.
Participants in the program
receive $3,000 – $1,500 to help
with startup fees and $1,500 at the
Dauphin Feed and Supply is
celebrating its 25th anniversary
serving the farm community from
their original location in
Dungannon, the second in Walton
and the recently-opened Dauphin’s
Country Store, also in Walton.
Twenty-five years ago, in the fall
of 1986, founders Gary and Heather
Dauphin purchased the mill in
Dungannon that had been owned by
the Hodges. The purchase afforded
the couple, who were from the
Dungannon area, the opportunity to
work with farmers in their home
town area.
Gary stated that the business has
expanded steadily from that original
purchase, including the purchasing
of the Walton Mill from Frank Roth
in 1989 and the opening of
Dauphin’s Country Store in 2007.
“Business has grown steadily,
especially in the last 15 years,”
Dauphin said.
The company, where Dauphin’s
son Mike now works as operational
manager, has seen a drastic change
in the way that mills do business in
the last 25 years according to
Dauphin as fewer and fewer farmers
bring in their own product to be
mixed and used at home.
“I remember it being a day-long
process when we started out,”
Dauphin said. “Farmers would bag
their own grain at home, bring it in,
have it processed and rebagged then
take it back to the farm.”
Now the mill deals with more
delivery orders and a lot of products
in bulk.
“It’s been a major change,”
Dauphin said. “Not only in business
but in agriculture, there are less
farms per block and more cash crops
being grown.”
While the times have changed,
Dauphin says that the company still
focuses on what made them a
success.
“We pride ourselves on our one-
on-one business,” he said. “We want
to be competitive, but we also try to
be personal as well. We want to be
more than just a voice on the other
The man convicted of killing
Auburn native and York Regional
Police Officer Robert Plunkett in
2007 was sentenced last week to 12
years in jail for manslaughter.
Nadeem Jiwa of Scarborough,
who has been in jail since the
incident occurred in 2007, will serve
just over four more years in jail,
should he not be paroled early. Jiwa
is the recipient of the time he has
already served being tabulated on a
two-to-one basis due to the fact that
new legislation ending that practice
is not retroactive.
Plunkett was struck by a car,
driven by Jiwa, and dragged to his
death during an undercover
operation in August, 2007. A 22-year
veteran of the force, Plunkett
succumbed to his injuries at
Scarborough Grace Hospital on
August 2, 2007.
Plunkett left behind his wife Sonja
(Lapaine, formerly of Goderich) and
his three children Amanda, Jeff and
Matt.
An open house memorial was held
for Plunkett on August 12, 2007 in
Auburn for local friends and family
who wished to pay their respects to
the fallen officer.
After the recent death of York
Region Const. Garrett Styles when
Styles was struck and dragged by
minivan being driven by a 15 year
old, Plunkett’s widow Sonja reached
out to the Styles family, speaking at
Jiwa’s sentencing.
“[Police] do an honourable,
difficult and selfless job,” Sonja said
to reporters in Newmarket on
June 29. “That’s what my
husband, Robert Plunkett was all
about.”
Plunkett’s family delivered an
impact statement in court one month
ago, leading Madam Justice
Michelle Fuerst to note that
Plunkett’s death had a “profound”
impact on his family.
“Our family has been taken on a
very long and unimaginable journey,
one that no family, let alone a police
family, should ever have to endure,”
Sonja said. “My attention is now
turning towards the Styles family
and all members of the York
Regional Police at this most difficult
time. My family extends their
deepest condolences. Another
journey has begun.”
Jiwa, who was 19 at the time of the
incident, was officially sentenced on
June 29 after he was convicted by a
jury in April.
Plunkett was a decorated police
officer, having received an award for
bravery in 1998 when he saved the
life of a 78-year-old woman who had
suffered a stroke and drove her car
into an icy lake.
Upon arriving on the scene that
day, Plunkett entered the sinking car
by smashing the driver’s side
window with his baton. He and his
partner then pulled the woman to
safety.
Having been involved with
disabled athletes since the 1990s,
Plunkett dedicated much of his spare
time to the Special Olympics, even
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 28
Continued on page 28
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Continued on page 28