The Brussels Post, 1976-07-07, Page 3(.0.1,-32r•
Free Inspection &
Cleaning of any
Rings
Ultra Sonic Method
No Obligation to Buy
Mayer's Jewellery
& Gifts Where Personal Service
Brussels 887-9000
Audrey & Lloyd
- .- it ?C.
.."T THE BRUSSELS POST, JULY 7 i 1976 --3
.s.-04,,,,...... '
IS Still ImpOrtant,
ounty council will
cep deputy reeve s
Area Wedding.
PLETCH — McWHIRTER
Constance. Marie. McWhirter became- the bride of
Donald William Pletch in St. John's Anglican Church
on Saturday, June 19th. Rev. Fred Carson was the
officiating minister at the 4:30 afternoon wedding
ceremony. Mr, and Mrs. John McWhirter of
Bnissels are the bride's parerits. The groom's
parents are Mr. and Mrs. Th omas Pletch of
Brussels. The bride's attendants were Mrs. Gail
Hodgins, Ottawa, Matro'n of Honor; Bridesmaids,
Mrs. Karer Cronin, R.R.4, Seaforth, Miss Jackie
McWhirter, Brussels; Flower Girl, Miss Julie
Cronin, R.R.4, Seaforth. The groom's best man was
Bruce- Wilson of Thamesville and guests were
ushered by Jim Oldfield and Steve Pletch of
Brussels. The couple honeymooned at Mt. Airy
Lodge, Mt. Pocono, Pennsylvania. The couple will
reside at Listowel. (Photo by McDowell)
Milk Board docks
oo much, in error
Huron County industrial milk
producers are starting to feel the
pinch of the 15 percent cutback in
milk quota as many of them
received sharply reduced milk
cheques for their April-May milk
shipments. However, due to a
Ontario Milk Marketing Board
error, some, cheques were
reduced more than they should
have been and those farmers will
be receiving a refund.
The Ontario Board applied an
over-quota levy of $8.60p per cwt.
on milk shipments for April and
May which was more than the net
value of the over-quota milk. This
meant that money due —the
producer on within-quota
shipments was used to pay for the
difference. Producers in effect
were actually paying to ship their
milk for which they wouldn't get
paid,
Now the Board has sent a letter
to producers explaining that this
was not Board policy and that the
over-quota levy will be only
collected on the net return
avilable to producers, on
over-quota shipments. The
producer will still receive nothing
for any milk shipped that is not
within his quota, but he will not
owe anything for shipping this
Tlik. According to -
0. R. McLaughlin,• chairman Of
the board, producers who had
over-quota levies deducted from
their milk cheques in eicceSS of their net return for over-quota.
shipments will receive a refund as
soon as possible
. (By Shirley J. Keller
Members of Huron County ,
Council are reluctant to reduce
membership. In two votes at the
June session of county council in
Goderich, members agreed to do
nothing about cutting back the
number of county councillors who
serve the ratepayers of Huron, at
least until the September
meeting.
The issue has been introduced
in various ways for close to two
years now, but it was at the April
session of county council this year
that the Local Government Study
Committee brought in a recom-
mendation that the county reduce .
its members from the present 45
councillors to 29 members, as
provided by The Municipal Act,
Se ction 27 (a).
Under this scheme, only three
municipalities in Huron would
send a deputy-reeve to the county
council. These municipalities
would be the towns of Goderich
and. Exeter, and the Township of
Stephen. Each of the 29 members
of county council would have one
vote - with the exception of the
Town Of Goderich Reeve who
would have two votes, resulting in
a total of 30 votes for the whole of
council. At the present time,
there are 56 votes in .council.
Currently, council has one
representative for ever 1,437
citizens. If Section 27 (a) had been
adopted, there would have beei,
one representative for every 1,885
people in Huron. It was estimated
that costs would be reduced at the
county level by about $30,000 per
annum under the proposed
scheme.
By a very decisive vote of 40 to
15, Huron County Council
members turned down the recom-
-mendation to adopt Section 27(a).
Those who voted in favor of fewer
representatives were John Baker,
Hensall; Bill Clifford, Goderich;
Gerry Ginn, Goderich Township;
Fred. Haberer, Zurich; Harold
Lobb, Clinton; Jim Mair, Morris
Twp.; Warden Jack Mccutcheon,
Brussels; Anson McKinley, Stan-
ley Twp.; Ed Oddleifson, Bay-
field; Stan Profit, Goderich; and
Grant Stirling, Goderich Twp.
During the discussion which
went before this vote, it was
shown that many members of
council felt that Section 27 (a) was
too drastic, and that another
method of reducing council some,
what would be more acceptable.
It had been mentioned that a
Private Members Bill could be
presented to the Ontario govern-
ment, 'requesting that municipali-
ties with a population of 2,000 or
better would elect a deputy-
reeve, thereby reduding council
from 45 members to 36 members,
with a provision for 37 votes, the
Town 'of Goderich once mote
getting the extra vote.
Section 27 (a) provides for a
deputy-reeve only after a popula-
tion of 2,500 has been attained.
Late in the afternoon, a motion
was put forth recommending that
the county council for Huron
petition the Ontario government
in a Private Members Bill to
establish an Act for Huron which
would allow 36 members on
council, and the provision of 10
deputy-reeves.
By a show of hands, council
voted to table the Matter Until the
next session - in September.
Discussion The Same
For ,the third, t ime this year,
council debated tne propo6soaulnityo
reduce membership on
council. Many of the comments
were identical to those made at
previous sessions. Most of the
comments were made by the
Same people.
It was shown by the discussion,
however, that some progress had
been made towards shortening
the county committee meetings.
Reeve John Baker, Hensall, who
in May said that would not be
willing to spend much nriore time
on county business if that's what
reducing council's size would
mean, told council last Friday he
had come to believe a new system
could work and that it would save
the ratepayers of Huron money.
"The committee meetings are
already getting shorter due to the
new committee system concept,"
explained Reeve Baker who
announced he would be support-.
ing a move to Section 27 (a).
Reeve Anson McKinley who
also supported Section 27 (a), said
that while he had hoped county
council would be given more
responsibility, the trend seemed
to be otherwise. He referred in
one instance to a new appointed
body within the county to look
after a portion of the health needs
in 'the community.
. "These are citizens appointed
to represent the taxpayers," Mr.
McKinley told council. "They are
taking the place of council
members. We probably could run
this council with fewer members
until given more responsibility."
"The right move at this point is
to adopt Section 27 (a) and give it
a good try," said Reeve
McKinley. "It puts more respons-
ibility on the members, but if done
efficiently and properly, there
would not be an increase in the
amount of -time spent by individ-
ual councillors."
Some of the . new information
provided for council concerning
the reduction of members,
sparked new comment. That
information showed that Bruce
County now has 31 municipalities
with 31 representatives; Welling-
ton County has 21 municipalities
with 26 members and effective
January 1, 1977, will have only 21
members; Perth County will have'
11 municipalities and 14
members, effection January 1,
1977; Lambton County has 20
municipalities and effection
January 1, 1977 will have 26
members; and Middlesex County
is presently looking into fewer
members..
Reeve Bill Elston of Grey
Township warned council that the
fewer members there are, the
easier it is to move toward the
amalgamation of municipalities.,
"We should soon know. that
civil servants are doing to the
average citizen of this province,"
said Reeve. Elston. "When there
are too few elected people, we are
being told what to do by civil
servants."
Reeve Elston held up the school
board in Huron as an example.
He charged that the elected
trustees "don't have any input
into the operation of our
schools."
Deputy-reeve Finlay
MacDonald claimed that ratepay-
ers in Ashfield Twp. felt it was in
insult to the township to suggest
that only one county. representa-
tive Should come from there.
"I will be offended very much
today if this motion passes,"
complained Reeve MacDonald.
The deputy-reeve from Tucker-
smith, Ervin Sillery, said that the
people "like to have the .fellow in
the neighborhood to talk to"
about county matters. Tucker-
smith , Reeve Elgin Thompson
said Dr. Ted Hadwen from the
University of Guelph found in a
study of Huron that "everyone
was happy with things as they
are."
Bayfield Reeve Ed Oddleifson
said "the personal aspect"
should not enter into the
discussion at all. He said th'e
county council members should
"consider strictly the economy for
this county."
William Morley, deputy-reeve
of Usborne Twp., made a plea for
council to reject Section 27 (a).
According to Mr. Morley,
"Huron has been leaders in the
past. Maybe we're still leaders if
we stand pat on this issue. Maybe
that will be evident in ' the
future."
USE
POST
WANT-ADS
DIAL 887-6641
However, the aCtual cutbacks
are still htirting producers arid some in Huron COuntY are
starting to call it quits. „Grid Of
these Clem McLellan o R.R.4, brussels.
"l notified the Board that
through Shipping milk this
Wednesday,' he said. "The last
cheque they took over $ 550
dollars off it and only left me
with $212 cashable. I still h ave
over 75,000 lbs. of quota left arid
they take over $500 off my check.
You just can't milk cows with that
nonsense going on."
Mr. McLellan has placed an
advertisement in the Brussels
PoSt saying that "Anyone
wanting 'fresh milk come to Clem
McLellan's between 7 and 8 p.m.
Please bring a •container."
Besides what he disposes of to
people, Mr McLelan said he will
feed the rest of the milk to calves.
"They bought my milk at $8.49
per cwt. and charged me 79 cents
to transport it and then charged
me $8.60 pet cwt. and I never
received the milk back. It's sure a
nice way of stealing it."
Several other farmers have
indicated that they will also be
going out of the dairy business as
a result of the cutback, but
decli ned to give any details as
they didn't want any publicity.
A dairy meeting for. industrial
milk producers is being arranged
for next week in Atwood.
Smile
A businessman of ra. ther
Shabby reputation was intetvieW-
ing three applicants for the job of
chief accountant. He asked each
the same question! "How much is
two plus twoP" The first two
applicants replied, 14 Foitt''.
Neither got the fob,.The third . 4 applicant, When asked tne same
question,, got up, clOsed the door,
dreW the blinds, leaned across the
desk arid asked, "How much
Would you like it to be?"
He got the job!•