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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2011-10-06, Page 26PAGE 26. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2011. NEWS FROM BELGRAVE Grasby celebrated 90th birthday on Sept. 22 The community extends special birthday greetings to Bob Grasby on his 90th birthday on Sept. 22. World-Wide Communion tookplace at Knox United Church onSunday, Oct. 2. A video entitled“Horn of Africa” was viewed.In the area straddling the borders of Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia, two successive poor rain seasons and the lack of investment has entrenched poverty in the area. The worst drought in 60 years has pushed 12 million people into a fight for survival. People who have already lost virtually everything are in desperate need of our help in reaching people of all ages with life- saving food and water. Please helpwhere you can by donating throughthe United Church of Canada.“Following Jesus: Steps to aPassionate Faith” Part 1 – Rediscovering Jesus – Sessions 1-4 Sunday mornings 9:15 to 10:30, Oct. 16 to Nov. 6. There is a sign-up poster on the back wall of the church. Join us as we are led to a deeper relationship with Jesus and a more passionate faith for our journey. All young people from Grade 8 through high school are invited to join Rev. Tom Murray and HuronPerth Youth worker Kathy Douglasand adults interested in building anew generation to join us for acasual discussion about fun, fellowship and faith over pizza and pop on Sunday, Oct. 16 after worship downstairs in the lower hall. The community extends sincere sympathy to Lila and Leroy Rintoul, Harvey and Barb Black and Brian Black and Emma Shortreed and families in the loss of their mother Leona Black of Braemar, Wingham. Congratulations and best wishes are extended from the community to Allan and Marilyn Bridge on their 40th wedding anniversary. By Linda Campbell Call 357-2188 PEOPLE AROUNDBELGRAVE New board and staff The Belgrave Community Centre Board held their 2011 Annual General Meeting on Sept. 20 and a new board was elected. The new board and staff members are: Back row, from left, Marvin Cook, Building Facilitator; Jonathan VanCamp, Charity Club Representative; Neil Vincent, Community Representative; Ron Taylor, Seniors Representative; Ron Cook, Community Representative and Mary Cook, Community Representative. Front row are, from left, Robin McMichael, Ball Representative; Bruce Higgins, Community Representative, Muriel Coultes, Booking Co-ordinator and Dean Vincent, Kinsmen Representative. Missing from the photo are Heather Shiell, Ball Representative and Karen Smith, Secretary/Treasurer. (Photo submitted) WI hosts market swap, coffee break The Belgrave Women’s Institute met on Sept. 20 with the meeting beginning with the Ode and Mary Stewart Collect. President Doreen Marks welcomed everyone and read “September Morning”. The minutes and treasurer’s report were given by Dorothy Coultes. The roll call was answered by eight members giving their volunteer hours. The Huron County Rally was held on Monday, Oct. 3 at the Auburn Hall and the London Area WI Convention will be on Oct. 13 at Mount Brydges. There is a membership workshop, led by Debbie Bauer, being held on Oct. 22 at Thamesford. A discussion was held concerning funds needed for repairs to the Erland Lee Home and Museum. The FWIO will award only one scholarship in the future. It was decided that the members have a noon meal at the Fireside Café rather than the catered Christmas meal in December. A collection was taken for the Alzheimer’s Coffee Break and a Farmers’ Market swap of garden produce and preserves closed the meeting. The WI grace was sung, a social time enjoyed with lunch served by Gladys Van Camp and Nancy Jardin. Guest speaker visits Belgrave United The Belgrave United Church Women welcomed Rev. Eleanor Scarlett, presently serving the Mitchell United Church to their general meeting on Thursday, Sept. 22. Muriel Coultes introduced Rev. Scarlett as a friend she had known for many years. Rev. Scarlett spoke of her work with the Journeys of Black People in the United Church of Canada. As she became involved in several committees at various levels of the United Church it was evident that she was the only black person on those committees. In 2001 the United Church passed its anti- racism policy and she saw this as an opportunity to try and get more black people involved in church committees. She told several stories of black people being refused for committee work in their local United Churches and she wanted a chance for her friends to become more involved. In 2005 she was able to plan with other black friends, a first consultation held near Barrie with over 50 people attending. Since then they have held consultations in 2007 in Montreal and in 2010 they had over 200 attending in Edmonton. These consultations involve children, youth and adults and provide resources, discussions, worship and singing together. They want their young people to be welcomed into their local churches and learn how to prepare for leadership roles. To end her presentation she showed a DVD that was prepared for use in Black History Month which is in February each year. She was accompanied for the evening by Rev. Sandi Morris, of Sebringville. They were thanked by Barbara Harper. Sheila Nixon was in charge of the meeting and it was opened by reciting the UCW purpose. Nancy Jardin led in worship with the theme, “Thanksgiving is more than a season”. Donna Shaw accompanied for the hymns, Gladys Van Camp and Barbara Harper assisted with the service by reading scripture lessons. Mrs. Jardin’s reflection was entitled, “An Attitude of Gratitude”. She said that one word “thanks” can usually suffice and when you use that word for a three-week period it makes you feel better, and makes others feel better for several months. She gave the group a list of five things to do: one, keep a journal; two, write a letter of apology; three, make a gratitude visit; four, make a gratitude list; and five, take a gratitude walk. She urged everyone to share their gratitude. She closed with a prayer of Thanksgiving. The worship service was prepared by Elly Dow, who was unable to attend the meeting. Announcements were made for the Belgrave Church Anniversary on Sunday, Oct. 2, World Wide Community Sunday, with an evening concert by a Mennonite Quartet. Monday, Oct. 17 the Huron-Perth Fall Rally will be held in Exeter with registration at 6:30 p.m. The Moderator of the United Church will be arriving in Stratford at the train station on Tuesday, Oct. 18 around noon with a welcome and afternoon reception in St. John’s United Church. The next general meeting will be Thursday, Nov. 24. Following the reciting of the UCW benediction, and grace given by Rev. Tom Murray, Ruth Gordon and Freda Scott served a delicious lunch and a social time was held. After some debate at their Sept. 19 meeting, Morris-Turnberry councillors voted to commission engineering reports for an extension of a Clyde Line culvert, rather than replacing it. Gary Pipe, director of Public Works, had recommended B.M. Ross and Associates be contracted to draw up plans for the extension so the project would be “shovel ready” if funding became available. The design costs would be $7,000. “I’m just trying to be proactive and have something ready,” Pipe said. At the request of council he also got figures for totally replacing the culvert. The engineers estimated the cost to extend the culvert at $131,450 with a life expectancy of 20-30 years. They estimated it would cost $279,000 to replace the structure, with a life expectancy of 75-85 years, but repairs required in 35-40 years. Mayor Paul Gowing said he definitely supported the extension because it is half the cost and “you’d get at least half the use in years.” But Councillor Neil Warwick noted there were costs in the replacement quote that weren’t in the extension proposal, such as a $20,000 contingency and $8,000 for a guard rail. If those figures were included in both quotes the cost comparison was much closer and maybe it made sense to go with a replacement which would last longer, he said. Deputy-Mayor Jason Breckenridge also felt it made more sense to replace the structure. But Pipe said the middle of the culvert is in good shape or the engineers wouldn’t recommend the extension. The County of Huron Road Department has been using extensions rather than replacements because there is much less disruption to traffic or the stream bed. As well, Pipe said, there are some bridges that may need to be repaired and the extra money for replacement rather than extension of the Clyde Line Culvert might be needed for those projects instead. Satisfied with these points, council approved the motion to get the drawings ready for the extension project. In other road business, council agreed with Pipe to send a letter to Donald and David Woolcock saying the municipality would not be renewing its extraction agreement for the Woolcock pit in Turnberry Ward. Noting that the agreement requires Morris-Turnberry to pay for a minimum of 20,000 tonnes a year from the pit and there doesn’t seem to be need for that much maintenance gravel in Turnberry in the coming years, it didn’t make economic sense to renew the agreement, he said. Most of the rehabilitation work has been done to the approval of the Ministry of Natural Resources, Pipe said. Pipe said reconstruction work on Salem Road was mostly complete and the job had gone very well. Gowing congratulated Pipe and his crews for being able to complete the job promptly even though some of the crew had spent eight days helping out with the clean up of the August 21 tornado in Goderich. Pipe also told council that testing of all road signs for their reflectiveness had gone faster than expected. In general, stop signs and yield signs had met the provincial standard but some other signs such as those warning of no winter maintenance on some roads, showed deficiencies. “You might be surprised how many we have to change,” Pipe said. By Keith Roulston The Citizen M-T votes to consider extending culvert instead of replacing it