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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2008-12-24, Page 1Volume 24 No. 51 Thursday, Dec. 24, 2008 $1.25 GST included TTTT hhhh eeee CCCC iiii tttt iiii zzzz eeee nnnn Publications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 PAP Registration No. 09244 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0 Wishes come early Three-month-old Lauren Charron puts the sparkle in Santa’s eye during her very first visit with him at the Auburn breakfast on Sunday morning. Children of all ages got to spend some time with old St. Nick, in addition to enjoying the delicious meal served up by the local Lions Club. (Vicky Bremner photo) One of the snowiest falls in memory ended with a wintery blast, then winter was officially ushered in Sunday with a crippling storm. On Friday a storm that had been expected to track south of the area, dropped an unexpectedly high amount of snow on the area. But that was just a taste compared to what hit Sunday, the first official day of winter, when 50 km winds and heavy lake-effect snow off Lake Huron closed every highway from north of London to the Bruce Peninsula. Travellers were stranded throughout the region. Huron County roads department plows were called off the roads late Sunday as snow, whipped up by 50 km winds, made visibility impossible for even seasoned plow drivers. The first challenge for road crews, OPP officers and tow-truck operators on Monday morning was to clear the roads of abandoned vehicles so that the snowplows could do their job opening roads. Plows had to weave their way through the vehicles to make a track for tow trucks to get to them. In one case, a stranded family with young children called police after they became stranded in huge snow drifts on Newry Road, east of Brussels Sunday evening. A county snowplow and a tow truck were dispatched to rescue the family in temperatures that, with the wind chill, reached -22 degrees celsius, according to the Weather Channel. Weather brings area a double hit of winter An information meeting on the emerald ash borer brought 150 woodlot owners and lumber industry representatives together in Bayfield, Dec. 16, The meeting was held at Pine Lake Camp, one of four locations near Bayfield where the voracious insect was discovered earlier this fall. Those in attendance were given an opportunity to view trees that had been invaded by the Asian invader. “Emerald ash borer (EAB) is here to stay unfortunately,” the group was told by Brian Hamilton, EAB program officer with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). The area infected by the insect, whose larvae tunnels under in the soft- wood area under the skin of ash trees, cutting off transfer of nutrients from the roots to the leaves and vice-versa, now spreads from Washington and Virginia, across through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois and into Michigan and Minnesota. “It’s too big to eradicate” Hamilton said. “We’re in a slow-the-spread strategy.” The insect was first found in Essex County in limited amounts, having hopped the border from Michigan. CFIA first tried to prevent the spread by destroying ash trees in a wide swath of Kent and Essex but the spread continued. Since 2007 infestations have been found in Norfolk, the Toronto area, and the Ottawa area, as well as Huron. CFIA imposes a quarantine around an infected area to try to prevent the spread of the insect through transfers of nursery stock, fire wood and logs. It’s felt the likely source of the Bayfield outbreak was from campers bringing in firewood containing the insect. Hamilton said the size of the quarantine area around Bayfield is not yet determined, although in the past the county has been used as the unit of control. There’s a penalty of up to $200,000 or imprisonment for disobeying a quarantine order. More likely, people such as campers and homeowners are likely to get an on- the-spot ticket for $400 if they’re found transporting prohibited materials. CFIA has a team of eight EAB inspectors who spend part of their time blitzing campgrounds, checking to see it anyone has infected firewood and educating people about the importance of not helping spread the insect. CFIA has been surveying Huron County since 2003, looking in high risk areas like saw mills and campgrounds. If the progress of the insect can be slowed there are biological controls on the horizon. Some native wasp varieties have been discovered that lay eggs on the EAB and kill them. The population of these wasps has been found to increase in areas where the EAB has infected trees. The U.S. is also testing wasps from China that are predators of the EAB there. One of the wasps stings the adult insect and carries it back to its tunnel to eat it. Tests have shown that EAB cannot establish on any tree variety except ash. Other good news is that even though the tree dies, the roots stay alive and send up replacement shoots. In Windsor, 95 per cent of ash trees died, but five per cent have survived even though they’re likely to have been infected. The scary thing about EAB, Hamilton said, is that it can attack young ash trees before they are old enough to produce seed, so it has the potential to wipe out the species, unlike Dutch elm disease, which attacks mature elms that are already producing seeds that can replace them. The audience heard some of the difficulties of living in an area where there has been an infestation. Eric Cleland, now a forest health A decision on how business will be done at Belgrave’s Community Centre was put on hold at North Huron’s Dec. 15 council meeting. Two recommendations had come to council from the committee of the whole meeting held a week prior. The first stated that the Belgrave Community Centre would be invoiced for all North Huron staff hours associated its operation, Also, the committee recommended that the Belgrave board review its rental fees to cover the costs and that there be discussions regarding the duties of staff working at events. A second motion stated that all functions with alcohol should be supervised by North Huron staff. Whether or not staff would be required at other functions would be at the discretion of the North Huron recreation department. The staff members would have no conflict of interest with the event being held. Paul Gowing, councillor for Morris-Turnberry and a representative on the Belgrave Community Centre board was present at the North Huron council meeting to discuss concerns the board has with what he describes as an “about face”. Gowing said that the board had been under the belief for the past year that, to meet insurance requirements, North Huron was working towards licencing the facility. “There would be efficiences gained by doing that,” he said in an interview following the meeting, “so we were heading in that direction. From about March on we were working on the assumption the facility would be licenced.” Dec. 10 he said they received North Huron’s new direction, indicating they were not going pursue licensing at this time. It has, he said, “kind of left us wondering.” Gowing said the centre already operates under North Huron’s municipal alcohol policy. “These new requirements are on top of that.” Councillor Greg McClinchey made a motion following Gowing’s presentation that council not proceed on the recommendations until there was a chance for discussions between the parties involved, and asked that a meeting be convened as the earliest opportunity. “Let’s get the issues on the table,” he said. Gowing was pleased that there is going to be an opportunity for discussion. “Morris-Turnberry has an agreement for any deficit the centre runs. We feel we should be able to discuss it.” Gowing also feels there will be more meetings. “Everyone has to get on the same page and make this work.” NH holds off on arena decisions By Bonnie Gropp The Citizen Emerald ash borer meeting in Bayfield Continued on page 7 By Keith Roulston The Citizen