The Lucknow Sentinel, 1985-05-29, Page 1Single copy 35c
CKNOW SENTINEL
Published in Lucknow, Ontario, Wednesday, May 29, .1985
20 Pages
Mr. and Mrs. Eldon Miner
Mr. and Mrs. Eldert Geertsma
Lucknow couples :celebrate
50th _anniversaries ;
Eldon .and Dorothy Miller celebrated
their 50th wedding anniversary on May 15.
On Saturday, May 11 theyentertained
all their family at a dinner. Present were
their three daughters, Margaret and Don
Cameron and family, R R 2, Lucknr w;
Doris and Wilmer Nicholson and family,
Holstein; Lois and Ross Duirnin and family,
West W awanosh Township..,
Family pictures were taken .previous to
the dinner. The evening was spent at their
home in Lucknow. The . family presented
them with an anniversary clock and other
gifts.
On Tuesday evening, ,May 14 they were
pleasantly surprised by a number of
friends and neighbours who presented
them with a lovely Canadian collector
plate,
A special gift on May 15 was the birth of
theirr fust great grandchild, a little girl born
to. Barbara and Richard of Teeswater.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Midler agree that it
takes.a great deal of work to have a good
relationship.
"I think you have to 'try to get along with
each other. You have your ups and downs,
that's for sure," says Mrs. Miller.
"We're still living together," adds Mr:
Miller. •
A number of friends and family from as
far away as Holland and B:C. gathered at
the Lucknow Legion last Saturday to help
Mr. and Mrs. Eldest Geertsma"of Lucknow
:celebrate their 50th anniversary.
Mr. and Mrs. Geertsma were treated -to
a numberof songs and skits with well over
80 guests in attendance.
They have. been Lnckiiow residents for
the past 71/2 years, moving from the second
concession of • Huron Township, after .15
years of farming. Mr. and Mrs: Geertsma
were married in Hollan4On May 17, 1935.
Two of'the many treasured gifts they
received at the anniversary party were
plates which had, pictures of their wedding
day 'and their 50th anniversary portrait
engraved in them. •
• Mr. and Mrs. Geertsma, who have 10
children and 26 grandchildren; say the
secret to'their long and happy marriage is
simply loving each other. •
`. 'We were always happy and we loved
each other. I didn't think there was any
problems to staying married," says Mrs.
Geertsma.
Teachers to hold strike vote
By Henry Hess
Secondary school teachers in Huron
County will vote next week on whether to
authorize a strike if they are unable to
agree on a new contract with the county
board of education. /
The strike vote will be held May 28,
together with a vote on the board's last
offer. If the offer is rejected and the
teachers vote to strike, they ,would be in a
legal position to begin a strike by June 5.
Such a strike could take the form of a
work to rule or rotating strikes as well as a
full scale walk out.
The request for a vote came from
representatives of the teachers, who are
members of District 45 of the ;Ontario
Secondary School Teachers' Federation,
earlier this month. It follows nearly a year
and a half of negotiations, during which the
two sides have been through the steps of
negotiation, fact finding, imposing of
terms of employment and finally mediation
without reaching a settlement.
The board is offering an across the board
p y increase of four per cent, the same
figure awarded to all its other employee
groups including the elementary school
teachers, while the teachers have stuck to
their original demand of 7.5 per cent.
Adding in the incremental increases
awarded to teachers moving up the salary
-scale brings the board's offer to 5.1 per
cent, while the teachers are requesting 8.6
per cent.
In a memorandum circulated to all 241
teachers at the five secondary schools in
the county last week, the board outlines the
relative positions of the two sides on the
major issues still outstanding.
The board ' offer would bring the
maximum teacher's salary to $44,120, the
maximum vice principal's salary to $52,000
and the top salary fpr a principal to
$59,000. The teacher requests are for
$45,600, $53,638 and $61,087 respectively.
Turn to page 3
Deport outlines problems facing farmers in Bruce
By Randy Threndyle •
A report on the future of agriculture in
Bruce County has outlined many of the
phfoblems•facing farmers in the county, but
severalfarmers who have seen the report
say its recommendations are not strong •/)
The Sentinel
s
is changing
The Lucknow Sentinel is changing! Star-
ting next week the paper will have a whole
new look with the paper's logo, masthead
and colspondent headings being Com-
pletely re -designed. In our opinion, it's -a
change for the better: We hope you'll like it
too.
enough to help farmers who are facing
financial problems.
The report, commissioned by Bruce
County Council earlier this year, estimates
as many as 30 per cent of the farmers in
some townships in the county may be in
financial difficulty.
While many farmers in the beef business
were the first to experience financial dif-
ficulties, the authors of the report now say
"farmers across Canada in all commodity
sectors are experiencing similar pro-
blems".,
Rosevear, of Deloitte, Haskins
and Sells, the consulting firm which
prepared the report, says unless a farm
has at least 70 per cent equity it can likely
experience equity erosion to the point of
bankruptcy.
Across Ontario, it is estimated that 18
per cent of the tanners are to "severe
financial difficulty";>,.,end-- May be
•'technically bankr4t". Roseyear
described technically bankrupt as, situa-
tion where the farmer is unable to service
his debt load, or does not have the assets to
cover the debt.
Most of the farmers studied in the
report, got into financial difficulty, when
they were caught in the double squeeze of
escalating input cost and constantly
declining commodity prices.
In the report, Rosevear says it would be
"irresponsible and simplistic" to blame a
single party for the problems facing many
farmers. He said most of the financial
decisions which later got many farmers in-
to difficulty were made with the advice of
bankers, credit agencies, researchers and
government policy advisors.
:
In order to solve some of the problems
the report recommends long term mor-
tgages be fixed at not more than 10 per
cent interest, with terms of not less than 20
years. It also recommends that loans be
advanced on the productive value of the
farm, rather than the market value of the -
real estate.
The report also states operating loans
should be at a fixed rate of interest, which
is tied to the life expectancy of the asset.
In order to help farmers diversify out of
the financially plagued beef business, the
report suggests the Ontario- Ministry of
Agriculture and Food should take an ac-
tive role in establishing new cash crops in
the county. It also suggests fanners Con-
sider a return to raising grass fed beef,
Turn to page 3