HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2007-07-12, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 12, 2007.It’s been 80 years since the first
Huron County Plowing Match; and
such a milestone calls for a
celebration.
The match will go Friday, Aug, 24
and will feature attractions all day,
from breakfast at 7:30 a.m. to supper
at 5 p.m.
The match will take place at Bob
and Carol Leemings’ property in
Huron East. Located at 41802 Front
Rd. in Tuckersmith Twp., it is
between Seaforth and Clinton and
1.25 miles south of Hwy. 8.
For the most part, business will go
ahead as usual for the plowing
match, with all the staples, the
matches, the crowning of the Queen
of the Furrow, the junior match, etc.
However, for the 80th match, the
organizers thought a little something
extra was in order.
Over 50 competitors are expected
for the various matches which will
take place across 15 different
classes.
A special class has been named,
assembling the finest plowers in the
county for a best-of-the-best class, in
honour of Paul Bettles, who passed
away in December of 2006.
Bettles, whose son, Ken, will
participate in the memorial class,
was a 4-H leader, a long-time
director and former president of the
Huron County Plowmen’s
Association.
Long-time director of the
Plowmen, George Townsend of
Londesborough, has chosen this
special match to make his debut,
plowing competitively for the first
time after retiring last year after 25
years of coaching.
Townsend was close friends with
Bettles and is very proud of the
challenge set up in his name for this
match.
The class will be comprised of
Huron County competitors who
went on to win the IPM scholarship
or represented the county at the
Canadian Plowing Match.Those taking part in the memorialchallenge are Tyson Aarts, SteveAdams, Ken Bettles, TimDevereaux, Pauls Dodds, Bill
Feeney, Bill Fotheringham, Jeff
Grobbink, Steve Haney, Jonathan
Hugill, Brian McGavin, Jeff
McGavin, Charlene O’Reilly, Daryl
O’Rourke, Steve O’Rourke, Matt
Townsend and Murray
Townsend.The winner of the class
will take home an award in Bettles’
name.
As a nostalgic sidebar to this
year’s Queen contest, several former
Queens will be on hand, including
the very first queen, Doreen Taylor,
to give a speech.
Townsend doesn’t hide how proud
he is of the competitors from Huron
County, an area which has yielded
17 people who have won the
scholarship offered by the plowmen.
Townsend says that $42,500 in
scholarship money has gone to
Huron County competitors, which
makes him, “pretty damn proud”.
Towsend’s business, Townsend
Tire, will also sponsor the Princess
competition, which is just in its third
year.
Townsend says that all of the work
the Plowmen do wouldn’t be
possible if it were not for the hard
work of president Paul Dodds, his
family and those around him.
“He does a pile of work for the
organization,” he said.
Townsend says he can remember
when the competition would draw a
handful of spectators, and now the
event has grown significantly since
then.
The princess competition is for
girls from 12-15, serving as a warm-
up competition for the Queen
competition. In fact, this year, Jory
Wilts, who participated in the first
Princess competition, will try her
hand at the Queen competition.
The match will be hosted by the
Leemings, as the match is on their
property and Huron warden Deb
Shewfelt will be there to host.
The actual plowing competitionswill be between 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.on Aug. 24 and the Queen speecheswill be at 1 p.m.Thursday, Aug. 23 is Junior day,
with the Princess contest taking
place at 11 a.m. and the junior
plowing match going from 12 p.m.until 3 p.m.There will be agriculturaldisplays, a silent and live auction,antique and horse plowing, and an
antique tractor showcase all for a
free donation at the gate.
The Paul Bettles memorialchallenge will take place between 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. and the awards presentations and thecrowning of the Queen will take
place after the barbecue supper
at 5 p.m.
Huron’s Plowing Match turns 80
Huron County councillor Bernie
MacLellan raised an issue regarding
long hours for some county
employees at the July 4 meeting.
MacLellan spoke of an Industrial
Accident Prevention Association
report that noted an increase
in lawsuits resulting from employees
who have worked longer than 12
hours straight.
“We may need to address this. The
bottom line is that if anything
happens to these people when they
are on their way home they sue
saying fatigue is the issue.
Apparently they are all winning.”
David Lew, manager of land
ambulance operations said that in
2002 staff was working 12-hour
shifts three days in a row and were
on call which resulted in a lot of sick
time.
To alleviate this the union
presented a proposal for 24-hour
shifts similar to fire departments, for
three or four days in a row. This
allowed staff to rest at night.
“What you do have is that they are
not working 72 hours straight.”
Plow on
George Townsend of Londesborough looks on as his son Murray competes in a plowing
match in Prince Edward Island in 1986. Townsend has put an end to his coaching career and
will compete for the first time at the upcoming plowing match in Tuckersmith Twp. on Aug. 24.
This match will be the 80th annual Huron County Plowing Match so the organizers are pulling
out all the stops to make it a very special day. (Photo submitted)
2007 Pre -ElectionReport onOntario’s Finances
For more information about the Pre-Election Report on Ontario’s Finances
please call1-800 -263-7965 or visit www.ontario.ca/pre-electionreport
Paid for by the Government of Ontario
By Bonnie Gropp
The Citizen
Long hours blamed for
increase in sick time
By Shawn LoughlinThe Citizen
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