HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1989-03-22, Page 40r
VOL. 5 NO. 12
OQIVIliy DIU»QI», Diyill, MUUUIII, DOiyfdVQ, L.UIUI,
Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 1989.
“I got some!” Weather conditions were not perfect for the sap to be running
at the Maple Keys Sugar Bush Open House last Saturday, but Ashley and
Joshua Gropp managed to get a little sample of the sweet nectar. The day was
full of informative and entertaining ways to educate children [and adults] in
the process of maple syrup making, from Indian and pioneer methods
through to today’s. There were games and activities and Ethel Women’s
Institute made pancakes so people could enjoy the finished product.
Riddell, farm groups differ on debt relief need
Despite calls in nearly every
brief presented at the Members of
Parliament dinner Saturday for a
renewal of the Ontario Family
Farm Interest Rate Reduction plan
(OFFIRR) or institution of another
such plan Jack Riddell, Ontario
Minister of Agriculture made it
clear he has no plans for such a
program.
As the requests for a replace-
Look at all rail line options, Cardiff says
Before the rails on the Goderich-
to-Guelph CP Rail line are torn up,
time should be taken to study all
possible alternatives, Murray Car
diff, M.P. for Huron-Bruce told the
annual Members of Parliament
dinner of the Huron County Feder
ation of Agriculture in Clinton
Saturday.
Mr. Cardiff said options such as
ment for OFFIRR mounted (four of
the seven briefs by commodity
groups at the dinner sponsored by
the Huron County Federation of
Agriculture called for a continua
tion of the program) Mr. Riddell
did reduce the level of his opposi
tion to debt relief from saying there
was no way such relief would be
coming to saying that if such a plan
was brought in it would be the
Project Re Rail should be looked at.
He said he had met with the
backers of the project to establish a
regional railway and found them a
responsible group with credibililty
and said they deserved to be
listened to. The group feels it can
operate the railway for a lot less
than CP Rail spent on it and Mr.
Cardiff said he thought the idea
expense of some other agricultural
program but he held out little hope
such a plan would be coming.
When the subject was first
brought up in a report of the
Federation’s Trade and Finance
Committee Mr. Riddell said he
didn’t think things were as black on
the farm as the picture painted.
He said he had figures that
showed that farm income had
deserved consideration.
With the closure of the line, he
said, many people are looking at
alternatives for the line’s use. The
idea of excursion trains from
Goderich to Blyth has been sugges
ted and in linking the two tourist
centres the idea might have merit.
He said he’d like to see the rail line
left in place until all the ideas can
45 CENTS
steadily increased over the past few
years and that last year farm
income was as high as it had been
in some time.
But Ken Kelly, member of the
Executive of the Ontario Federa
tion of Agricui tu re (OFA) argued
that although the net farm income
had gone up, it was still below what
it was in 1984 when the OFFIRR
program was first introduced. Over
be studied.
He was replying to a brief from
the Federation’s Properties and
Land Use Committee that said a
threat exists to farmers from nature
lovers who are .promoting conver
sion of the abandoned rail line to a
public trail. ‘‘Joe Public cannot be
trusted when left alone in nature.
Continued on page 11
Family homeless
after 2 fires
in Belgrave house
Wingham and District Fire De
partment was called to a fire on
Friday, March 17 at 10:30 p.m. at
the residence of Robert and Donna
Wattam, 11 Jane Street, Belgrave.
The family, who had been out for
the evening returned home to
discover their house full of smoke
and called in the alarm.
Firefighters, assisted by a tanker
from the Blyth and District Fite
Department were there for approx
imately two hours. The damage at
that time was for the most part
caused by smoke and water and the
Wattams felt certain they could
restore the house, according to an
observer.
The following morning at 6 a.m.
a neighbour looked out the window
and reported seeing nothing, yet 25
minutes later she heard a cracking
sound and discovered the Wattam
home ablaze. Firemen were called
at 6:30 a.m. The Wattams and their
two grandchildren, who reside with
them, were staying with friends at
the time.
The morning fire resulted in
extensive damage to the house and
has also caused damage to the west
side of the next door neighbour’s
home. There is no hope now of the
Wattam’s fixing their home and
their plans are uncertain. They are
currently staying with Mrs. Wat
tam’s parents. The cause of both
fires is undetermined and the
situation is under investigation by
the Fire Marshal and the Ontario
Provincial Police.
Citizen offices
closed Friday
■1
Because of the Easter holiday
weekend there will be some chan
ges in the Citizen’s office hours.
Both Blyth and Brussels offices
will be closed on Friday, March 24
for Good Friday. However, both
offices will operate under regular
hours Monday, March 27. As a
result, all deadlines will remain the
same for news, classified adverti
sing and display advertising at 2
p.m. Monday in Brussels and 4
p.m. in Blyth.
that time there had been only a
marginal decrease in the level of
farm debt despite many people
leaving the business. Furthermore,
he said, there are predictions that
net income may drop as much as 18
per cent in 1989.
The situation, he said, clearly
demonstrates that there is a need
for an OFFIRR-type program to
continue if the government can find
a better way of the money getting
into the farmers pockets, not
bankers.
Mr. Riddell had said earlier that
one of the reasons he was letting
the OFFIRR plan die was because
he thought banks had taken advan
tage of the program, increasing
rates so the government would pay
more without the farmers saving as
much as they should.
Mr. Riddell argued that a lot of
farmers are believers in long term
Continued on page 6