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The Citizen, 2011-07-21, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2011.North Huron’s Vodden fires back at criticism Horses and antique tractors along with more modern equipment will help area farmers show off their plowing expertise at the 84th Annual Huron County Plowing Match, which will be held Friday, Aug. 26. The match, which is free to watch, is being hosted by Warden Neil Vincent and family and Jim Scott. It will be held on the Scott Farm located south of Wingham, two concessions west of Belgrave at 39498 Belgrave Road. “There’s a lot more to competition plowing than going in a straight line,” says event co-host Vincent. “In an agriculturally-rich county such as Huron, plowing is fine art.” Carol Leeming, President of the Huron Plowmen’s Association, says new spectators sometimes think it’s all about straight lines but learn about plowing by watching and talking to competitors at the match. Leeming explains that judges look for details such as the wheat stubble being neatly buried and the consistency and depth of the furrow. The plowing competitions run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and involve competitors in more than a dozen classes including horse-drawn plows and antique tractors. This event is open to the public with a free-will donation collected at the gate. Other events include a pancake breakfast at 7:30 to 10 a.m., agricultural displays and exhibits, silent and live auction, and an awards barbecue supper held at 5 p.m. at the Belgrave Community Centre, 12 Queen Street in Belgrave, where Huron County’s Queen of the Furrow will be crowned. Tickets for the supper are available at $17 for adults or $10 for five to 10 year olds; they must be pre-booked by Aug. 22. Tickets are available at the Belgrave Variety Store, McGavin Farm Equipment in Walton, Hyde Brothers Farm Equipment, south of Hensall or by calling Maja Dodds at 519-527- 0686. A 4-H and Junior Match Day is held on Thursday, Aug. 25 with coaching and practice starting at 9 a.m. and the actual match running from noon until 3 p.m. The Princess Contest begins at 1:30 p.m. Plowing Matches have been part of agricultural history in Ontario for well over a century. Originally these matches not only gave farmers an opportunity to display their skill in the handling of a walking plow, but to show their fine teams of horses, many of which were imported or from imported stock. For additional information, including rules and regulations for competitors, please consult the official program for the 84th Huron County Plowing Match. For more information contact the Ontario Plowmen’s Association Director, Steve Corbett at 519-236- 4514 or email: huronplowmen@hay.net THE EDITOR, This is in reference to Mr. Bill Knott’s Letter to the Editor in the July 14 issue of The Citizen. I agree with Bill that we should have open and intelligent discussion. It’s difficult to tell whether I am being damned, praised or declared completely irrelevant. Bill says that Councillors Brock Vodden and David Riach did absolutely nothing about losing the school. He then adds there was nothing we could do about it anyway. We need to have an open, intelligent discussion. We are not able to have such a discussion in North Huron. We should stop discussing the school loss because the decisions have all been made. We should forget about it and stop whining. I feel as if I have been severely scolded, but I am not sure. Intelligent discussion can be very complicated! I have been criticized by some councillors and citizens for doing and saying too much about the school closing. I have spoken out about the matter both in council and in the community. I have voted against all motions and bylaw approvals related to the new school. I have tried to influence members of council to recognize the harm being done to this township by the closing of schools. I have done a considerable amount of research on the matter and I continue that today. I will continue to vote according to my opinion and values on all of these matters as will our other councillors, and all decisions will be based on the principle of majority rule. It is true that I have said that I am a North Huron councillor. That is the official position of all our councillors. If Bill thinks I was denying a responsibility to represent Blyth, he misconstrued my meaning. I am sorry if I was not clear. I have always declared that I am also a Blyth Ward councillor and I believe my actions support that claim. I find Mr. Knott’s personal comments about me to be mean- spirited, sarcastic and lacking substance. I can take all the fair criticism he wants to dish out. He refers to motions I make as “giving lip service”. That’s what we do in council. He refers to my “grand 15- minute speeches” (at least they can hear mine). He claims that I have written letters to newspapers “informing everyone that I had made those speeches in support of Mr. Elliott”. I made one speech and I have no idea to what letters he is referring. He fails to say what, if anything, I should be doing to satisfy him. He takes me to task for communicating with other groups who have been subjected to Accommodation Reviews. That observation is quite true and I do not apologize for it. I continue to do research on the matter from a county and provincial perspective. That is my choice alone and it is quite frankly none of his business. I do this on my own time, at my own expense, and I am not really interested in knowing how he feels about that. When some action or decision is threatening Blyth, I oppose it consistently. I believe a threat to one ward is a threat to the entire township. That is why in the debate over approval of the site plan for the new school, I stated clearly that “this is a bad deal for North Huron”. The Avon Maitland District School Board is no friend of North Huron, as far as I am concerned. That opinion will continue to inform my voice in council and my voting decisions. That, too, is democracy. Thank goodness for our democratic rights that allow citizens like Mr. Elliott and Mr. Pike to appeal decisions which they feel are wrong. As a champion of democracy, Mr. Knott should realize that the right of citizens to object is part of democracy. It costs us a few dollars, but it is much preferred to the unfettered power of school boards to make community- destroying decisions with no accountability and leaving no avenue of redress. School boards need to become democratized. The cost to the Blyth community of closing the school will make the cost of the OMB hearing seem like pocket change. Mr. Knott assumes that if he does not know what I am doing, I must be doing nothing. As with any member of council, I cannot make decisions for council. Decisions can be made only with council. I certainly can’t make decisions for the school board. I am limited in what I can do as an individual citizen. But I continue to do what I can. I reject his advice to give up. There are principles at stake. The ramifications go far beyond North Huron. The real villain in this piece is the Ontario Ministry of Education. They issued a document entitled, “Pupil Accommodation Review Guidelines” which set out the rules which school boards would be obliged to follow when deciding which schools to close. Then they did exactly nothing to ensure that their guidelines were obeyed. The Avon Maitland District School Board violated nearly every guideline. The Blyth community members of the Accommodation Review Committee petitioned the government to review the decision to close their school. The provincially- appointed facilitator, Margaret Wilson, white-washed the whole situation by also ignoring the guidelines violated by the board and advised the Minister of Education that everything is fine in North Huron. Blyth people have nothing to complain about, according to Ms Wilson. I have done an in-depth analysis of the ministry’s guidelines and compared that document to the actual procedures and practices of the board and also the Ministry’s response to the numerous violations committed by the board. It is not a pretty sight. I have sent my paper to the Minister of Education. We can blame the Ministry of Education for allowing this kind of atrocity to take place here and all across Ontario. On this basis, every decision made by the board with respect to the Accommodation Review should be considered illegal because they consistently violated the guidelines of the Minister of Education. In the meantime, North Huron Council has been taking very positive steps in conjunction with the community to mitigate the economic damage being done to Blyth by the school board’s decision. There is no mitigation for the loss of a school, but at least council has the interest and the ability to assist the community to make up for the loss of business and economic activity. It will require planning, work and investment, but Blyth is a very resilient community. Unfortunately, council is not able to make up for the probable decline of residential property values which will occur when we became a community without a school. Thanks for all the advice Bill, but I will continue to be a North Huron councillor who staunchly represents the great community of Blyth. Brock Vodden. MUNICIPALITY OF MORRIS-TURNBERRY MUNICIPAL CLASS ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR STORMWATER DRAINAGE IMPROVEMENTS (COMMUNITY OF BLUEVALE) NOTICE OF COMPLETION THE PROJECT: The Municipality of Morris-Turnberry has conducted a Municipal Class Environmental Assessment (Class EA) process to investigate options for improving stormwater drainage within the community of Bluevale. The general boundaries of the project area are illustrated on the accompanying key plan. As an outcome of the Class EA process, a preferred servicing plan for improving stormwater drainage in the project area has been selected. The key components of the proposal are outlined below. Preferred Servicing Plan: Construction of a network of stormwater drainage facilities (storm sewers) within the existing municipal road system. Private drain connections would be provided to all planned storm sewers in order to receive sump pump discharge from adjacent properties. The installation of storm sewers may occur as a single project or the work could be carried out over several project phases. Installation of a new storm sewer outlet extending from Bell Street to the Little Maitland River, across Bluevale Cemetery lands; Replacement of the existing Clyde Street storm sewer system. Road improvements may be completed in conjunction with this component of the project. At this time, the Municipality does not intend to proceed with implementation of the preferred servicing plan without the benefit of additional project funding. It is also anticipated that the proposed works would be constructed in phases, as adequate project funding is made available. ENVIRONMENTAL SCREENING PROCESS: The planning for this project is following the environmental screening process set out for Schedule B activities under the Class EA guidance document. The screening process has now been completed. There were no negative impacts identified with the proposed works that could not be adequately mitigated. PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT: For further information on this project, please contact the project engineer: B.M. Ross and Associates, 62 North Street, Goderich, Ontario, N7A 2T4. Telephone (519) 524-2641. Fax (519) 524-4403. Attention: Scott Allen, Planner (e-mail: sallen@bmross.net). A Screening Report documenting the environmental assessment process to date is available for public review at the Wingham Public Library (281 Edward Street) and the Morris-Turnberry municipal office (41342 Morris Road) during normal hours of operation. A copy of the report has also been placed on the municipal website: www.morris-turnberry.on.ca. If environmental concerns arise regarding the project which cannot be resolved in discussion with the Municipality of Morris-Turnberry, a person or party may request that the Minister of the Environment make an order for the project to comply with Part II of the Environmental Assessment Act which addresses individual environmental assessments. Requests must be received by the Minister at the address below within 30 calendar days of this Notice. A copy of the request must also be sent to the project engineer at the address above. If there is no request received by August 19, 2011, the project will proceed as planned. Minister of the Environment 77 Wellesley Street West 11th Floor, Toronto, ON M7A 2T5 This Notice first issued July 19, 2011. Nancy Michie, Administrator Clerk-Treasurer Municipality of Morris-Turnberry MEETING NOTICE MUNICIPALITY OF MORRIS-TURNBERRY The upcoming Council and Committee meetings for the Municipality of Morris-Turnberry will be held: Tuesday August 2 7:30 pm Regular Council Meeting Tuesday August 16 7:30 pm Regular Council Meeting Letter to the Editor Warden to host plowing match in East Wawanosh Euchre held in Ethel There were seven tables in play at the Ethel euchre hosted by Marion Harrison and Adrian and Shirley Verstoep. Winners were: high, Delphine Dewar and Adrian Verstoep; lone hands, Dorothy Martin and Judy Hahn; low, Shirley Verstoep and Allan Edgar; share the wealth, Judy Hahn and Isabelle Bremner. There were many tally pries given out. The next euchre will be held on Monday, July 25 at 8 p.m. ON $6.00 THURSDAYS Drop into either of our offices any Thursday with your word classified (maximum 20 words) and pay only $6.00 + HST (paid in advance). That’s $1.00 off regular rates. The Citizen