HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1988-08-17, Page 1Expansion
Festival plans expansion
to beat heat, overcrowding
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Recycling
Grey Twp. recycling
program underway
See page 10
Winners
Conservation
awards go to
local men
See page 14
Municipalities urged to resist CA amalgamation
Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel,
Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships.
VOL. 4 NO. 33 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 1988.45 CENTS
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Blyth council to close dog by-law loop hole
Ken Shortreed of RR 3, Walton, and his team of Belgians, Bess and
Sally, were among the contestants at the Horse Pulling Contest at the
Dungannon Family Fun Day in Dungannon on Sunday. Used to more
practical work than pulling chunks of concrete around a hot and dusty
arena, the sorrel mares balked at moving the load when it went over
one and one-half tons, and dropped out of the competition, which
attracted close to 500 people to the viewing stands. Family Fun Day is
part of the Dungannon Agricultural Fair, which takes place this
weekend.
Blyth council will consider an
amendment to its dog by-law at its
September meeting to try to close
what might be considered a
loophole in the present law.
The dog by-law, adopted in
1985, stated that “running at
large’’ will be defined as a dog
running on a highway or public
place and not under the control of
any person. Helen Grubb, Blyth
clerk-treasurer was concerned that
the by-law could be interpreted
thatadog running loose in the yard
of the neighbour of the dog’s owner
might be considered a “public
place’’.
Councillor Bill Howson suggest
ed that if the word “or” were
substitutedforthe word “and"
making the by-law read “or not
under the control of any person’’
the problem could be solved.
The council agreed toa change in
the definition of the term “running
at large’’ that would simplify it to
say simply that a dog shall be
deemed to be running at large
“when not under the control of any
person.”
The revision will be considered
A. Y. McLean
Former MP, publisher dies
Andrew Y. McLean of Seaforth,
former publisher of The Brussels
Post, The Blyth Standard and The
Huron Expositor, Seaforth died
Sunday, August 14 at Victoria
Hospital, London in his 80th year.
He was a former Member of
Parliament from 1949 to 1953 after
serving as a squadron leader in the
RCAF.
HepublishedThe Expositor, the
newspaper that had been in the
McLean family for 112 years until
selling it to Signal-Star Publishing
Limited in 1982. He had also
at the September meeting of
council which will be held Thurs
day, September 8 at 7:30 p.m., a
change in the normal meeting date
because the Opportunity Tour will
published The Post since 1972 and
The Standard since 1977, both of
which were sold in the deal.
He was always active in the
Seaforth community, especially on
the Seaforth Community Hospital
board and with the Lions Club
swimming pool and he was a
long-time executive of Liberal
Party organizations.
Surviving are his wife, the
former Winnifred Spurr; two
daughters, Susan White of Belle
ville and Margaret McLean-Bullen
be in the county Sept. 13 and 14,
with a dinner at Blyth September
14 when participants in the tour
from the United Kingdom will visit
the Blyth Festival.
of Bayfield; two sons, Alan of
Stratford and Joe (David) of
Ottawa and three grandchildren.
Twosisters, Mrs. Elizabeth Jarrott
and Mrs. Helen Grant, both of
Stratford, also survive. One broth
er Jock (Keith) predeceased him.
The funeral service will be held
from First Presbyterian Church,
Seaforth at 2:30 Wednesday after
noon. Memorial donations are
being received for the Lions Park
Pool in Seaforth or to the building
fund of Seaforth Community Hos
pital.
Elected representatives and
municipal administrators from all
across the Maitland Valley water
shed joined with Maitland Valley
Conservation Authority members
and staff on Friday to protest
changes to the province’s conser
vation authorities, as put forward
in a recent interministerial report.
Close to 80 individuals voted
almost unanimously to support a
motion to endorse a reply to that
effect to the six Ontario ministries
involved in the report, after the
floor had been thrown open to all
those in attendance at the MVCA’s
General Meeting in Wroxeter.
The controversial report, re
leased in late June, has caused
much concern among conservation
authority personnel across the
province because its recommenda
tions, if adopted, are seen as a
means of reducing the amount of
local input into conservation auth
ority responsibility, as well as
increasing the burden of municipal
levies.
Among other things, the report
proposed to amalgamate Ontario’s
38 conservation authorities into 23
larger units, a move which it claims
would save the province $5 million
a year by making the operation
“leaner and more efficient.” The
10 CA’s in southwestern Ontario
would be merged into five larger
ones, with a resulting loss of a
number of administrative jobs and
paid political appointments, as
well as at an increased local cost.
If the plan proceeds, the Mait
land, SaugeenandGrey-Sauble
Authorities would become one
area, covering the northern part of
Huron County and parts of Bruce,
Grey, Perth and Wellington Coun
ties, as well as the city of Owen
Sound, while the Ausable-Bayfield
and St. Clair Authorities would
merge, taking in the southern part
of Huron as well as parts of Perth,
Lambton, Middlesex and Kent, as
well as the city of Sarnia.
“I’m personally very disgusted
with this (report) mainly because of
its obvious contradictions, and I’m
concerned that if we give these
people an inch, they’ll take a
mile,’’ said Bruce McCall of
Brussels, MVCA chairman.
“I personally don’t see where
there can be any efficiency or
economy in this (proposal). We
now have regional school boards
and more and more regional
government, and I’ll let you decide
whether these have been any
cheaper or more efficient than
what we used to have,” he added,
while Elmer Trick, Clinton’s
MVCA representative, said “It
looks to me as if city people wrote
this (report).”
Working on the premise that
conservation authorities were
founded more than 20 years ago on
the principle of local involvement
in watershed conservation, many
people are angry at the thought
that local representation would be
largely reduced under amalgama
tion, whilefeelingthat the efficien
cy of the authority would also be
drastically reduced as the level of
bureaucratic involvement increas
ed. In addition, municipal officials
and administrators fear the in
crease in local levies which they
feel would follow amalgamation,
as the province moved to reduce its
own financial involvement.
Atone pointduring the meeting.
Les Tervit, general manager of the
MVCA, presented figures which
indicated that the financial burden
Continued on page 6