HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1987-12-16, Page 1VOL. 3 NO. 50 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1987.45 CENTS
Brussels and Blyth firemen battled freezing rain and strong winds
Tuesday morning as they fought a fire at a barn owned by Ross Nichol
on Concession 6 of Morris township. The flames, fanned by the winds
quickly destroyed the bam, killing four cows. Minutes later firemen
helped when a bus went off County Rd. 12 south of Brussels, injuring
10 to 15 passengers.
Storm helps keep firemen busy
High winds, freezing rain and a
freak winter lightning storm cont
ributed heavily to two disasters
that occured within two hours of
each other in the Brussels area
Tuesday morning.
Brussels Fire Department Cap
tain Doug Sholdice said lightning
may have been the cause of a major
fire which destroyed a large cattle
barn on the south side of Morris
Brussels students
give to help needy
Students in all grades at Brus
sels Public School have been
encouraged to help out the needy
this Christmas, by being asked by
school staff to bring in unwrapped
gifts of clothing, mitts, toques,
slippers, canned food and toys in
new and like-new condition, which
will then be donated lo the
Salvation Armyin Winghamfor
distribution to less fortunate fami
lies.
As well, the students have been
told that the school will not be
having a gift exchange among
students in any grade prior to
Township Concession 6-7 at about
9 a.m. Captain Sholdice said that
the call came in about 15 minutes
after a sharp flash of lightning was
observedinthearea, butbythe
time fire departments from both
Brussels and Blyth arrived on the
scene, the raging fire, driven by
gale-force winds, had destroyed
all but the barn’s stone foundation.
The barn, owned by Ross Nichol
Christmas, and have been asked
not to give gifts to their teachers.
Instead, school staff has suggested
that students donate their gifts to
the Salvation Army.
The Salvation Army is one of
many organizations in Huron that
helps to make Christmas brighter
for needy families. Some of the
items it receives will be used for its
own projects, while others will be
donated to the Huron County
Christmas Bureau, which has a
mandate to provide Christmas
gifts for every needy child under
the age of 16 in the county.
of RR 4, Brussels, was partially
insured, Mr. Sholdice said. Four
beef cows in calf were lost in the
fire, while seven more had to be
shipped suffering from smoke
inhalation. A quantity of hay, straw
and grain was also lost in the fire,
as well as a grain auger.
The wind drove the fire away
from the nearby house and pig
barns, which suffered no damage
in the disaster.
In a second accident at about
11:15 a.m., a tour bus carrying
some45senior citizens on their
way to Hamilton went off Huron
County Road 12 two and one half
miles south of Brussels, knocking
over a hydro pole which draped the
bus in live wires, according to
Lieutenant Paul Josling of the
Blyth District Fire Department,
Huron gets special program
The Huron County Board of
Education has been selected to
receive part of the $600,000
recently allocated by the Ontario
Ministry of Education to fund
programs aimed at reducing the
dropout rate in Ontario schools.
Huron MPP Jack Riddell said
that the Huron Board’s project is
who was called to the scene just
after returning from the Nichol
fire.
The bus driver was able to keep
his passengers in the bus until an
Ontario Hydro crew arrived to shut
off the power, when some 10 or 15
of the passengers were transport
ed to Wingham and District
Hospital in four ambulances.
Lieut. Josling was unable to
estimate the extent of their
injuries, and the Wingham De
tachment of the Ontario Provincial
Police said no report had been filed
by its officers at press time.
A school bus dispatched from
Brussels was able to take the
remainderof thebus passengers to
the Brussels Hotel, which provided
them with immediate shelter and
Continued on page 2
one of 12 selected for funding, out
of the 75 applications received by
the ministry.
TheHCBEplanistomeetthe
individual needs of high-risk stu
dents in the county, and involves
close ties to various government
programs and agencies, as well as
to local businesses and industries.
Local
skaters
win way
to Nationals
North Huron will be well repre
sented at the Canadian National
Figure Skating Championships to
be held January 20-23 in Victoria,
B.C., with several local champions
heading west after winning two
gold medals, two silvers, and one
bronze in competition in the
Divisional Finals in London over
the weekend.
Skating in the Novice Dance
Division, Kerrie Shepherd of RR 1,
Blyth and Peter MacDonald, of RR
2, Brussels, placed first in both the
compulsory dance and the varia
tion dance programs to capture the
overall gold medal at Thompson
Arena on Friday, putting them at
the top of the Central Canadian
Division and in line for a Canadian
championship.
“We’ve never won in the
compulsory program before, so we
were really excited about it, ” Miss
Shepherd said.
The area’s other world-class
skaters, Kevin Wheeler of RR 5,
Brussels and his partner Michelle
Menzie of Preston, placed second
in both their short and long
programs to take the silver medal
in the Senior Pairs Division,
coming in second to Central
Canada’s reigning Senior Pairs
champions, Denise Benning of
Windsor and Lyndon Johnston of
Hamiota, Manitoba.
The placing will mean that Mr.
Wheeler and Miss Menzie may get
a chance at the still-vacant third-
place spot on Canada’s 1988
Olympic team if they do well at the
Canadian Finals, behind first and
second place team-mates Tracey
Wilson and Rob McCall and
skaters Benning and Johnston.
* ‘The competition in Victoria for
an Olympic berth will be really
tough, but Kevin and Michelle did
really, really well in London, so we
have high hopes for them,’’ said
Shirley Wheeler, Kevin’s mother.
She added that the pair have been
skating for just one year in the
Senior Division, against seven
years in the same division for the
Benning-Johnston team.
Mark Moore, formerly of Wing
ham and still claiming the Wing
ham Figure Skating Club as his
home club, and his partner Tracey
Robertson of the Moore Figure
skating Club won the gold medal in
the Novice Pairs Division in
London on Friday; while Mark’s
brother, Curtis, and his Senior
Dance partner Kim Weekes of
Calgary, took the Silver medal in
their division.
Mark Moore went on to win the
bronze medal by placing third in a
solo performance in the Senior
Men’s Division; and Miss Robert
son skated to the gold medal
placing in the Senior Women’s
Division.
Peter MacDonald’s sister,
Carol, teaches professionally at the
Moore Figure Skating Club near
Sarnia, as does Blair Moore,
Curtis’ and Mark’s older brother.
Peter MacDonald and Kerrie
Shepherd skate out of the Preston
FSC.
The top four winners in each
event at the Divisional Champion
ships advance to national competi
tion in Victoria next month.
The board plans to develop
alternative education programs at
the secondary school level which
include continuous intake, indivi
dualized programs, and the de
velopment of learning materials
for high-risk youngsters.
“We believe that the interven-
Contlnued on page 2