The Citizen, 1989-08-30, Page 1Queen contestants
7 seek Brussels
Fair title
See page 5
Award given
Londesboro farmer honoured
for conservation award
See page 16
Entertainment
Festival announces
Fall season
See page 22
Ethel girl
injured
in Bayfield
crash Serving Brussels, Blytti, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel,
Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships.
Three girls received major injur
ies following a single vehicle
accident on the Bayfield Road
about 9 p.m. Saturday evening.
Michelle Krauter, 19, of Ethel
and 20-year-old Ellen Tanner of
Listowel were passengers in a car
registered to Miss Krauter's father
Ed Krauter. According to Goderich
OPP. the ‘78 Ford Pinto, which was
being driven by Gayle Sleightholm,
20, of RR 2. Listowel was west
bound on County Road 13, when
the front tire entered the gravel
shoulder. The driver then lost
control and the car rolled into the
culvert, striking a post.
The three victims were taken to
Clinton Hospital suffering what
police described as major injuries.
Miss Sleighthom and Miss Tanner
were transferred to University
Hospital in London later that
evening where they are both listed
in fair condition. Miss Krauter,
who was wearing a seat belt,
remains in Clinton in good condi
tion.
An OPP spokesperson says that
no charges are to be laid. The
Krauter vehicle was demolished.
Local streams fail pollution test,
MVCA ‘Beaches’ study shows
Streams and rivers in the Mait
land Valley watershed are failing
the pollution test, a technician with
the Maitland Valley Conservation
Authority (MVCA) told the Soil and
Water Conservation Day held at
the Morris township farm of Peter
and Brian Oldridge, Wednesday.
Bob Fuller who headed the
Provincial Rural Beaches Manage
ment Strategy study looking at
water quality in the MVCA basin
said that of 25 water test stations in
1987, only one met the objective of
the Ministry of the Environment for
Fecal coliform levels. Fecal coli
form is a bacteria that can cause
Holiday
hours
announced
The last long weekend of the
summer approaches with most
businesses being closed Monday
for Labour Day.
At The Citizen there will be only
a minor change for holidays, how
ever. The Citizen will appear next
week on Wednesday as usual
meaning most of our staff will be
working Monday. The Blyth office
will keep regular hours. The Brus
sels office will be open from 11:30
a.m. to 2 p. m. due to staff holidays.
Deadlines for advertising and
editorial copy remain the same: 2
p.m. in Brussels and 4 p.m. in
Blyth.
VOL. 5 NO. 35 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 1989.45 CENTS
Hullett postpones
meeting over new hall
Plans for a public meeting to
discuss a new township hall in
Hullett have been postponed until a
survey of community interest has
been held.
Hullett Reeve Tom Cunningham
said Thursday that council had
decided it wanted to seek as wide a
response from the ratepayers of the
township as possible so has decid
ed to send out a survey along with
tax bills so that everyone will have
a chance to speak their mind on the
possibility of building a new com
munity centre to replace the old
township hall. The problem with
meetings' he said, is that the small
portion of the citizens who attend
may not represent the feelings of
the whole community. The surveys,
included in tax notices, will be in
the mail in the next few days and
sore throats and ear infections in
humans and has led to the closure
of many beaches to public swimm
ing. The goal was for water to have
less than 100 bacteria per 100 ml.
of water. The one test station that
passed showed only 85 bacteria per
100 ml. but the other 24 stations
ranged from 264 to 6730 bacteria
per 100 ml.
Testing in 1988 showed only the
one station of the 25 that again met
the standard.
Tests of phosphorous levels were
also carried out. Phosphorous pro
motes excessive plant growlh that
can rob the water of oxygen,
turning streams to a sluggish green
appearance and sometimes killing
fish for lack of oxygen. High
phosphorous levels can come from
farm fertilizers, or livestock and
human waste. In 1987 not one of
the 25 test stations met the
standard of .03 mg. of phosphorus
to one litre of water, Mr. Fuller
said. In 1988, seven of the stations
met the standard.
Part of the Rural Beaches pro
gram also involved surveying farms
within 500 feet of an open w'ater
course (open ditch or stream).
Major concerns, he said were run
off from solid manure waste stor
age. cattle in waterways, milk
house wastes making their way into
waterways, manure handling prac
tices and domestic wastes from
septic tanks.
Eighty per cent of manure stor
age in the Maitland watershed is
solid manure storage without con
trol of runoff liquids, Mr. Fuller
most are expected to be returned
with tax payments by Sept. 30. A
public meeting will be scheduled
after the survey has been received,
probably in October, he said.
Reeve Cunningham stressed that
the township has made no decision
at this point on whether or not to
build a new community hall. Coun
cil had earlier approached the
Londesboro Women’s Institute and
the Lions Club and had received
favourable response to the idea of a
larger facility for dances and
dinners and had set aside $45,000
in a reserve fund for the possibility.
Reeve Cunningham said that
council had been told that the old
township hall is not worth fixing
and has to decide what to do. “Do
we do without a hall? Do we build a
new one? Do we use the school?”
said. The area gets 36 inches of
precipitation per year so there is a
good deal of runoff that can reach
waterways.
There are 400 sites in the
watershed where cattle come in
direct contact with streams, he
said. This contributes to stream
bank erosion and it can also help
spread disease from one herd to
another and even from one animal
in the herd to another through the
water.
Often, he said, milkhouse wastes
are drained directly into streams or
into tile drains where the milky
water eventually finds its way into
a stream. With the average waste
from a dairy farm this is about like
dumping about 35 kg. of total
phosphorous into the stream in a
year, he said.
The survey showed, Mr. Fuller
said, that about 35 per cent of
farmers spread manure in the
winter time when it can much
easier be washed off the fields
causing pollution in streams. The
MVCA would like to promote better
storage and better spreading prac
tices, he said.
Mr. Fuller said he feels the
septic waste disposal systems of
homes are contributing a major
amount of bacterial material to area
streams. Often dishwasher and
clothes w'asher “grey water” isn’t
put in the septic system but is
pumped into a drain and makes its
way to the stream. There’s a
problem too with maintenance of
Continued on page 19
their 60th weddingHatti and Edwin Wood celebrated
anniversary with200friends, neighboursand relatives helping
them Sunday at Londesboro. The couple were married 60 years
agoMonday and still farm on the same farm they started on in
1929.
Woods family marks
60th anniversary
Two hundred guests gathered at
Londesboro United Church Sunday
to help Edwin and Hattie Wood
celebrate their 60th wedding anni
versary.
The ladies of the Londesboro
UCW catered for the event. The
family later gathered at the Classic
Restaurant in Blyth for a family
dinner. The day also marked the
35th wedding anniversary for their
daughter Lois and her husband Bill
Andrews of Toronto. Both couples
were married on August 28.
Present at the ceremony were
Mr. and Mrs. Andrews, and the
Wood’s son, Ken and his family of
Wingham. A total of seven grand
children and one great-grandchild
were in attendance.
The couple still resides on the
farm on the 13th concession of
Hullett (RR 1, Blyth) that they took
up following their wedding trip in
1929.
The couple were wed at the home
of the Bride’s parents Mr. and
Mrs. William Gray of Hullett
township on Wednesday, August
28, 1929 at 11 a.m.
The ceremony was performed on
the spacious lawn by the Rev. S. J.
Mathers of Gesto, cousin of the
bride, assisted by Rev. J. W.
Johnson of Londesboro.
The bride, who was given away
by her father, took her place
beneath a beautiful arch, under a
lovely old walnut tree in the lawn,
coming slowly to the strains of
Lohengrin’s wedding march, play
ed by Miss Mary Wood, sister of
the bridegroom. The bride was
becomingly attired in a gown of
croquette crepe and carried a sheaf
of garden flowers. The pianist wore
a pretty printed georgette frock.
After the ceremony some 80
guests repaired to the dining room
where a sumptuous dinner was
served by four of the bride’s
cousins, after which Mr. and Mrs.
Wood left on a motor trip for
Ludington, Benton Harbor and
other points in Michigan. The bride
donned for travelling a dress of
autumn brown with hat and acces
sories to match.