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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1988-04-06, Page 1en CELEBRATE IN 1988 LUCKNOW'S 130th CELEBRATION JUNE 30 - JULY 3, 1988 (PUBLISHED IN LUCKNOW ONTARIO Wednesday, April 6, 1988 40C PER COPY The whole town was taikin' turkey Not all the turkey talk in town last week had to do with the Easter feast. A great deal of it stemmed from the sighting of at least three wild turkeys just north of Lucknow. Following a report in last weeks' Sen- tinel with regards to these alleged sightings, the phone lines were busy with other residents of the area wanting to tell similar stories. Well, the mystery has been solved. The birds are the property of Colin Hur- shman and had escaped some three weeks ago from their pen. They were eventually re -captured on Thursday morning last. week near the silo on Gerrald Murray's farm and returned to Mr. Hurshman's on the Ninth Concession of Kinloss. Other sources tell us the`birds were hat- ched from eggs from a flock owned by John Farrell of Huron Township and that they have lived at Hurshman's for about ten months. In an effort to give some credibility to this tale of the turkeys, we contacted the A wetcome The Lucknow Sentinel is pleased to an- nounce the appointment of a new news cor- respondent for the Village of Dungannon. Bonnie Hodges has accepted this position and we look forward to hearing from her in the weeks to come. Bonnie will take on the responsibility of collecting and recording the social news of Dungannon and she can be contacted with news items at 529-7620. Please join us in welcoming Bonnie to the fold. Ministry of Natural Resources and spoke with Ken Maronetts who is involved in the provincial Turkey Project. Mr. Maronetts told us that the province is currently involved in a program to repopulate some rural areas of Ontario with wild tukeys and that a number of turkey releases have been made in the areas of Simcoe, 'Huronia, Barrie and Midhurst. `_`Our plan is to introduce wild turkeys in- to certain areas where they will thrive," said Maronetts. "In two years, if all goes well, we'll begin moving these birds to , other areas and we may possibly see the start of a turkey hunting season again." What the Ministry doesn't want to hap- pen is to have these wild birds mate with domestic turkeys as this would dilute the strain. The wild turkeys they have been releasing are from Missouri and were chosen because of the fact that they have the traits required to survive in the wild. • "We don't want to have domestic strains mixed in with the wild turkeys," said Mr. Maronetts, "as this would lessen their ability to survive in the natural habitat. It's a hearty wild turkey we are using to repopulate and we have been very careful in selecting the right ones." The wild turkeys live best in hardwood bush and the areas of north-eastern'On- tario is a natural turkey range. The Ministry assures us that it is highly unlikely that any of thebirdsthey have released in areas north could have migrated this far south in such a short period of time. While some of the calls received by the Sentinel office last week told stories of a dozen turkeys roaming County Road 1, or that these were experimental birds releas- ed by the Ministry of Fish and Wildlife, we now know the facts: there were three birds, a gobbler and two hens, and while they are of the wild turkey variety, they have lived on the farm all of their lives and should be called wild domestics. And thus ends the turkey tale. Our editor is quite relieved having learned these facts as his sanity was questioned on more than one occassion during the initial telling of this story. For the first time in local hockey history, a PeeWee A team from Lucknow has cap- tured the All Ontario Championship title. The Lucknow PeeWee's defeated the Wasaga Beach team in three straight games to take the championship, the final of which was played here in Lucknow on Saturday afternnon. Following their 8 - 4 win in front of the hundreds of fans who packed the local arena, the team was treated to a ride arditnd town on the fire truck. The game was the last to be played on the ice at the arena for this year and was certainly the best way to cap another ex- cellent season of hockey for all the teams in the village. For all the details, goal scorers and play - makers, check the Sentinel Sports section inside. From the hockey fans of all ages in and around Lucknow, congratulations to the PeeWee A team and their coaches for br- inging a provincial title to the village. Work -begun on Phase One of arena project Almost as soon as the celebrations following the All Ontario Championship win by the Lucknow PeeWees had moved elsewhere, work began on the long awaited Phase One of the Arena Project. The project, which will see the addition of larger dressing rooms, an upstairs floor, a fitness area, a squash court and a larger, more centralized concession stand, is ex- pected to cost $570,000 with a completion date set for late August of this year. The crew from Murray Simpson Con- struction, Whitechurch, was on the site first thing Monday morning to beging the partial demolition of the building. Once the walls and roof have been dismantled, h structural work will begin. Lending a hand, or at very least moral support, were various members of the Arena Board and the Arena Fund Raising Committee in- cluding Stu Reavie, Building Chairman; Walter Arnold of the Fundraising Commit- tee; and Cecil Cranston, Chairman of the Arena Board. Lots of funding The money to fund this massive and much needed project is coming from three different sources. The four municipalities in the area, Lucknow, Ashfield, West Wawanosh and Kinloss, will each add $35,000; a government grant will make up one-third of the total; and the remainder, about $200,000, will come in the form of donations. To date, the Fund Raising Committee is very close to having their entire amount in the bank and many thanks have been of- fered to all contributors from Mr. Cranston and his board. Mr. Arnold of the Fund Raising Commit- tee told the Sentinel on Monday that a fur- ther $40,000 is expected in donations and through various fund rasing events such as the Lucknow Reunion this summer and from the spring garage sale scheduled for May 21. Looking way ahead, there are plans for a Phase Two at the Lucknow Arena which would include replacing the actual ice sur- face area. This project, says Mr. Cranston, could come about within the next five years depending on what the building in- spectors have to say about the existing structure. There is Lots of work ahead and no doubt many curious onlookers will add their "ex- pertise" at the site over the next five mon- ths. It should be an interesting develop- ment and will provide Lucknow's cham- pionship hockey teams with a fine facility in which to play come next season..