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The Lucknow Sentinel, 1986-09-03, Page 1ESTABUSHED IN iv "THE SEPOY TOWN" ON THE HURON.BRUCE BOUNDARY PUBLISHED IN LUCKNOW. ONTARIO 16 PAGES 400 PER COPY 'Karl Morrison .a. native of the ,Luclanow area, recently returned home after spending four months working in Australia. During the nip "down under" Karl worked at a variety of jobs, .ineluding a sheep station, fruit farm and a cotton farm. However, he had to clear a number of -governmenthurdles before qualifying for the trip. Here, Karl displays a tea towel from Lucknow, New South Wales which he brought back for his mother [Alan Rivett photo] Police charge 33 in drug bust A three month undercover drug investi- gation throughout Huron County resulted in an early morning drug raid on Friday, August 22 when, 33 persons were arrested and 71 charges, 32 of them for trafficking drugs, were laid. At 5 a.m. on Friday, 40 police officers from the Goderich and Exeter OPP stations and the Goderich, Seaforth, . Clinton and Exeter .town police departments raided houses throughout the county and confis- cated quantities of cannibus And mariju- ana, cannibus resine, hashish, hash oil, LSD and cocaine with an estimated value of $7,650. "The investigation was a fairly major project. The number of trafficking charges alone is significant," says Corporal Vessey, of the Goderich OPP. Sergeant Jerry Hilgendorff, of the Goderich polic agrees saying the project was the biggest operation in the county since two similar drug investigations approximately six years ago. Charges included 29 charges of trafficka ing narcotics, ttiree charges ot trafficking restricted drugs, 26 charges of possession, one charge of possession of restricted drugs, six charge, of possession of a prohibited weapon, four charges of unsafe storage of a firearm, one charge of obstructing a police officer and one charge of escaping lawful custody. • The undercover investigation was done by the OPP, the Mount Forest District Crime Unit and the London Drug Enforce- ment Unit• . "Their work was very well done. It's good to see something done. It seems to have been common knowledge that there have been a lot of drugs available locally," says Sergeant Hilgendorff. "I hope parents take heed to what's going on and not assume this is the end of it," he says. kle adds that $7,650 doesn't mean a large quantity of drugs. "1 think we've only scratched the surface here," he says. Of those charged, 10 are from Goderich. They include Betty Begeman, 24; Kather- ine F. Austin, 23; Pattie A. Sholdice, 25; Kelly L MacAdarn, 19; Steven McLean, 25; Randy N. Chapman, 20; Randall Richard Scholdice, 30; Norman M. Knapp, 20; Dale M. Jeffrey, 19 and Darren G. , •Turn to page 3 • Government bure nerTey nearly spoils Australia trip By Man Rivett When applying for a federal government program to work in Australia, a local resident never anticipated all the red, tape which laid ahead.• Karl Morrison, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Morrison of RR 1 Lucknow, 'returned home on August 13 after working for four months at various sheep "sta- tions" in Australia. But, the story of clearing the bureaucratic hurdles associat- ed with travelling and working abroad almost proved insurmountable to Kar. Almost. Ironically, it was two other government agencies which came to Karl's rescue after another branch of government almost put a quick halt to Karl's travel plans. Sheep farm It all began in August of last year, when Karl was looking for a government program which would offer him a chance to go to Australia and work on a sheep farm - a goal he had 'set after working on k sheep farm lit Quebec through the nowdefunct Katimavik program. After working through 40 such pro- grams, he decided to apply for the Working Holiday Visa program offered • by the Federal government. The program would allow him to travel to Australia and work in the Australian Sheep "stations". How- ever, the application signalled the begin- ning of the numerous bureaucratic head- aches which were to follow. After filling in the program application and sending a picture and passport to the Australian Consulates General Office in Ottawa, he later wrote a, letter to find out if he was accepted for the program. A reply came that he was to call the office at a certain time on a certain day to discuss the program with him. In the phone conversa- tion, they warned Karl that only 400 to 500 working visas were permitted each year and, since it was near the end of the year, the visas may be exhausted. However, they said he would receive a letter telling Karl how he did. Rejected A short while later, Karl received a letter stating he was rejected from 'the program. The reasons given were he couldn't meet the high standards of approval and the Consulates General office were reluctant to "offset" the economic conditions in Aust ralia. • "They never even said what the standards were. They were giving me the runaround. They were totally out to lunch," said Karl of the Consulates General Office in Ottawa. Undeterred, Karl began to call their offices in Ottawa and left numerous mes- sages - none of which were ;returned. He then called the local agriculture represent- ative with the Ontario Ministry of Agricul- ture and Food (OMAF), Canadian Employ - merit and Immigration and also the Canadian Ambassador of Australia to see what help they could offer. The government organizations did very little to change the hopeless situation, except for agricultural representative Don Pullen who suggested Karl call his local MP and MPP in order to get some action on the problem. Through MP Murray Elston's office in ( Wingham, Terry Deyell at the constituency office was able to make some headway, pinning down the requirements of the program which were never made clear to Karl by the Consulates Generals Office in Ottawa. The requirements stated that between. $3,000 to $5,000 was needed in the applicant's bank account. Also, com- munity work experience and an ability to deal and work with people were also mentioned as criteria - all of which Karl possessed. "Ilowever, Mr. Deyell said his applica- tion wouldn't ,be considered again. "But, they didn't know I had the MP my sleeve, so I went to him afterwards. The man at Murray Cardiff's 'office in Brussels • told me to send a resume listing my farm 41perience. Murray Cardiff must have gave my application to the big boys in external affairs because whatever happen- ed, iny visa wasfinally confirmed,'" said Karl. Three months after the whole affair began, Karl finally made it to his destina- tion - New South Wales in Australia - on December, 1985. • Upon reaching Australia, he began wdrking at a 34,000 acre sheep station in New South Wales. The station called "Bundure" raised 11,000 Mario Sheep - a breed famous for its wool. However, Karl only stayed at the station for three weeks as he wanted to work in other parts of the country.• • "i was very selective about where I worked. I only wanted to work for one person for a short period of time: Since my time was limited, 1 wanted to see as much Of Australia as possible," said Karl. Used motorcycles " On the sheep station, which reminded Karl of the open spaces of the Canadian *Turn to page S Fail Fair Preparations have been finalized for the upcoming Lucknow Fall Fair with the judging of the Miss Luelasow Fall Fair scheduled for September 13. For a complete list of events at the fsdr... SEE PAGE 7. ,Colurnn "What's it like to give blood?"1, does It hurt?, are a few of the questions asked of veterans blood. donors. The editor went under the needle at' the recent clitdc, and describes, the exper. lence... SEE PAGE 4. Day Centre The Wingham Day Centre has s number of activities this month for *re* seniors. SEE PAGE 10.