HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2009-07-23, Page 7THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 23, 2009. PAGE 7.If room can’t be found, it’spossible that the Huron CountyMuseum may lose a valued
collection.
At the July 6 meeting of county
council, Ben Van Diepenbeek,
councillor for Ashfield-Colborne-
Wawanosh said he had been
contacted by Eugene McGee
from Port Albert regarding his
artifacts.
Noting that McGee was getting
older and wanted to see the
collection on display at the museum,
Van Diepenbeek ask if there was
room in the building. “Or is there
ever going to be?”
Director of cultural services Beth
Ross said that she had spoken with
McGee before and sent a letter as
well explaining that while thecounty would be happy to accept thecollection at any time they could notaccommodate his request to create agallery to exhibit it. “We don’t do that for any
donation,” Ross explained.
Hearing that Bruce County had
expressed interest in the collection,
Ross said she was surprised.
“It doesn’t fall under their
mandate.”
Asked by Bluewater councillor
Jim Fergusson whether the
collection could be displayed as a
temporary exhibit, Ross said it
already had been.
She explained that most of the
collections that come in are
displayed on a temporary basis.
“Five to 10 per cent of a collection at
any museum is on display. The
majority of museum artifacts are in
storage.”Goderich councillor Deb Shewfeltwondered if the exhibit couldperhaps be set up at the Sky HarbourGallery. “The theme certainly fits,” said
Ross. However, the gallery was
created by residents to house their
personal collections. “I can’t
imagine they’d want to move things
out.”
Shewfelt mentioned, however, the
space vacated by the flight school
which no longer operates there.
“There might be empty space
available.”
“We need to make a
committment,” said Van Diepen-
beek, “or this collection will be
lost.”
The issue was to be discussed
further at the next committee of the
whole.
Museum may lose collection
There will be no tilting at
windturbines for North Huron
council. At least not without a
thorough investigation into the
reasons why.
At their July 6 meeting,
councillors took some time to
discuss recommendations from the
Huron County Federation of
Agriculture dealing with concerns
over wind turbines.
The first asked for support of an
epidemiological study into the
health impact of the specific
infrastructure of wind energy
projects on residents living near
such developments.
The second requested lower tier
municipalities to enact a moratorium
on commercial wind energy projects
pending results of such a study.
Councillor Greg McClinchey
admitted that he while he too had
concerns about taking any short-
sighted decision on wind turbines,
he wondered who the Federation
was requesting to conduct the
study.
“I’d like to know what they’re
expecting. There are a lot of
differing opinions. We can’t answer
the second until we have answers to
the first, so I would have concerns
about endorsing this until then.”
Clerk-administrator Kriss Snell
commented on the second portion of
the recommendation calling for a
moratorium saying the Green
Energy Act has “taken all authority
away” from lower tier.
While saying that he felt some
things had not been dealt with the
development of windturbine projcts
from the start, McClinchey took a
different personal view. “I don’t
have a problem with windturbines,”
he said, adding that he knows
people who live near or work with
projects and have no complaints.
Not allowing them, he said, could
be an economical and environmental
mistake. “I have heard it said that
Ontario could be the Saudi Arabia of
green energy. I would have concerns
about putting a moratorium on them.
I’m not certain that tilting at
windmills is a good use of this
council’s time.”
Councillor Alma Conn agreed,
noting that the windmills have
existed in Europe for far longer than
here and there have been no
complaints. “They don’t die any
younger there than here,” she said.
When reeve Neil Vincent said he
had been told that the problems
being reported now are because of
stray voltage, McClinchey was no
more convinced.
“The target seems to move,” he
said. “Today it’s stray voltage, a year
ago was infrasonic noise. Let’s get
Wayne (Black, HCFA president) up
here to talk about what they really
want done or leave it alone.”
Council decided to take no action
at this time.
Continued from page 1
16-day trip was “very interesting.”
They may go back, although the
next trip they have decided to take
will most likely be to Turkey.
Their travels, McDonnell says, are
great inspiration, as Jerry is a
photographer. But they also give
them a chance to see the world and
take some time out of the harsh
winters that come with living in
Huron County.
In addition to missing the winter,
McDonnell says, she loves Huron
County summers with all of the
music festivals and local theatre,
adding that she would hate to miss
what the area has to offer in the
summer.
McDonnell studied at the
Haliburton School for the Arts, the
Southhampton Art School as well as
having taken several private classes
in photography, painting, rug-
hooking and print-making. Her work
has been shown from Toronto
through to Stratford as well as Blyth,
Hensall and Goderich.
Her work is also found in
corporate collections all throughout
North America.
Carol and Jerry are also long-time
members of the Blyth Festival Art
Gallery and have curated many
shows there over the years. They
have also organized the Huron
County At Work photo shows for the
last several years.
Productive trip
Not only did Carol McDonnell’s trip to Tunisia yield her an
award-winning photograph at the Hensall Art Show, which
she has been featured in three times, but she has also been
busy painting images from the trip as well. Her photo of a
souq (market) in the capital city of Tunis snagged her the
top prize in the photograph/digital art category of this year’s
show. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
16-day trip ‘interesting
By Bonnie GroppThe Citizen
NH takes no action on turbines
By Bonnie Gropp
The Citizen