HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2007-02-08, Page 1The CitizenVolume 23 No. 6 Thursday, Feb. 8, 2007 $1.25 ($1.18 + 7c GST)Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County
Inside this week
Pg. 9
Pg. 11
Pg. 12
Pg. 13
Pg. 16
Bantams win
opening series
Financial advice
from the experts
OFA president
visits in Blyth
Pastor on mission
with youth
The growing
problem of
youth gambling
The third annual North Huron
Snowarama for Easter Seals is set to
run on Feb. 17 out of
Londesborough.
Last year’s event raised in excess
of $7,200 for Easter Seals, all of
which was raised in Huron County
and stayed in Huron County to assist
the 43 young people who are listed
in the area as recipients of help from
Easter Seals.
Registration for the event will take
place at the Londesborough Lions
Community Hall. Between 9 a.m.
and 12 p.m. riders can register to
ride the OFSC trail through Huron
County, which includes well over
100 km of trail.
While registration takes place,
breakfast will be served by the
Londesborough Lions at their hall.
In addition, there will be a 50/50
draw and a barbeque to sweeten the
deal.
While Snowarama is a fundraiser
that has been going on for over 20
years in Ontario, Snowarama in
Huron County is in its third year.
Chair Adrian Salverda started the
event in Huron County out of an
impulse to give back to an
organization that has given him and
his family so much.
One of those 43 young people
who need the help of Easter Seals is
Salverda’s daughter, 11-year-old
Marita. Salverda says he is grateful
for an organization like Easter Seals
and saw Snowarama as a chance for
him to give back.
Afflicted by a brain stem ailment
from birth, care for Marita has been
assisted greatly by Easter Seals. The
Salverda home, equipped with
ramps, lifts and machinery that
makes Marita’s daily life easier, was
all made possible with help from
Easter Seals.
And making Marita’s daily life
easier is not something that comes
cheap. With costs ranging from
$150 for a walker to $25,000 for a
van lift, including several aids that
have no government assistance
6 more weeks of this!?
Just a few days after Wiarton Willie and his counterparts
unanimously predicted an early spring, a major winter
storm blew into a good portion of mid-western and
southern Ontario, lasting throughout most of the weekend
and into Monday and in some places, Tuesday. Blowing
snow created blizzard conditions with whiteouts reducing
visibility to nil and heavy snowfall making roads
impassable. Highways and secondary roads were closed
with some not opening until Tuesday. More snow was
predicted for that evening. In addition to the snow,
temperatures also dropped to well below freezing, a fact
made worse by strong icy winds. (Dianne Josling photo)
Demands for French immersion in
Huron County once again came
before the Avon Maitland District
School Board on Tuesday, Jan. 29,
as a representative of Canadian
Parents for French called on the
board to recognize its obligations
under a newly-signed
federal/provincial agreement.
St. Thomas resident Monika
Ferenczy is no stranger to the board,
having given presentations on at
least two previous occasions. In both
cases, most recently in 2005, the
board has responded by seeking
input from parents in both Huron
and Perth. And in both cases, there
was not deemed to be sufficient
interest in introducing French
immersion outside the board’s sole
program at Bedford Public School in
Stratford.
Now, however, the Canadian
Parents for French president is
confident her group’s requests are
actually required of school boards
under the Canada-Ontario
Agreement on Minority Language
Education and Second Official
Language Instruction. That
agreement’s lofty goal is to have 50
per cent of high school graduates
“functional” in French by 2013.
“This is the first action plan that
has accountability attached to it,”
she told reporters after the meeting.
Ontario signed onto the agreement
in March, 2006 (the last of the
provinces to sign), and federal
money has since flowed through the
province to school boards, including
the Avon Maitland board.
“French immersion is no longer an
option,” Ferenczy told Avon
This week’s top story was easy to
dig up, in as much as it was just a
peer out the window away.
All weekend long and through
Monday and Tuesday, Huron County
was hit with windchill and
snowsquall warnings that brought
much of the area to a standstill.
The snowsquall warning for
Huron-Perth warned of cold arctic
air flooding over the Great Lakes
basin, generating snowsqualls.
Wind and snow started over the
weekend and built to a windchill
warning on Sunday and eventually a
snowsquall warning all Monday and
into Tuesday resulting in several
road closures in the area.
At various times, Hwy. 8 was
closed between Stratford and
Seaforth and eventually all the way
from Goderich to Stratford.
Hwy. 21 remained closed on
Tuesday morning in addition to
closures all along local routes.
Closures occurred on Hwy. 4, Hwy.
23, Hwy. 9, Hwy. 7 and Hwy. 89; all
due to whiteout conditions and poor
visibility.
As of Tuesday morning at 8:15
a.m., closures remained at various
points on Hwy. 21, Hwy. 86 from
Wingham to Amberley, Hwy. 4 from
Blyth to just north of Teeswater,
Hwy. 9 from Kincardine to
Harriston, Hwy. 23 from Mitchell to
Hwy. 7 as well as Donneybrook Line
from Auburn to Whitechurch.
The road closures resulted from
the same conditions that have been
present all weekend, snowsqualls,
creating snow-covered or snow-
packed roads with near zero
visibility.
Area schools were granted with a
coveted snow day on Monday while
many deliveries remained
undelivered. Corner stores were
barren of newspapers and their other
daily deliveries.
Many adjacent regions were hit
with the same weather, resulting in
similar warnings. Grey-Bruce and
Waterloo-Wellington were also hit
with a snowsquall warning, while
the better part of Ontario and many
points across the country were under
a windchill warning for the last four
days.
Between Feb. 2 and Feb. 5, OPP in
Huron County reported in excess of
20 collisions, none resulting in
serious injuries.
In these times of harsh weather
and driving conditions, OPP remind
citizens to stay off closed roads and
that back roads are not a safe
alternative.
Weather brings area to standstill
French immersion back on the table
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen
Continued on page 6
Snowarama
Feb. 17
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 3