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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1993-07-07, Page 1See page 19 See page 23 The North Huron itizen Vol. i9 No.27 Wednesday, July 7, 1993 600 GST included Lost While a Blyth volunteer firefighter keeps the area wet, a high hoe pulls away straw and rubble in an attempt to save part of a barn and silo that still remained after a blaze destroyed the barn at the home of Larry McNichol, McKillop Twp. early July 1. Firefighters fought for eight hours, but all was lost. Fire destroys McKillop barn Business Refurbished campground begins a new season See page 6 Community Let the Fun(Fest) begin. 5 pages of information See page 10 Sports Brussels Mite gets to play All-Ontario Entertainment Safe Haven shows the good and bad of life HCBE Dir. takes salary cut of 5% A very commendable effort was put forth by the Director-designate of the Huron County Board of Edu- cation at a special meeting held on July 5. Mr. Paul Carroll stated that he will forfeit, voluntarily, personal salary entitlements to the amount of five percent. Mr. Carroll's salary reduction is subject to legislated requirements under the social contract talks. In a move to show leadership to the board members, the employees and other service workers, Mr. Car- roll said he hoped that others would follow his lead. The clerical staff has begun their second summer of voluntary wage reductions through an altered work week to help reduce costs. One service contractor has also agreed to reduce the current fee schedule, said Mr. Carroll. In a report presented by the Superintendent of Financial Ser- vice, Glenn Lamb stated the board must cut $993,440 from its operat- ing costs by December 31. That is the total amount of reductions in government grants to that date. Mr. Carroll stated, "This is a very When Huron County council meets Thursday it will deal with a recommendation from its waste management committee not to attempt to short-cut the site selec- tion process for a new county land- fill site. The committee's recommenda- tion will be to vote against a H. Bernard chosen Brussels' top citizen Howard Bernard has been chosen as the Brussels Citizen of the Year. Mr. Bernard recently retired as Chief of the Brussels Fire Depart- ment after more 33 years service to the department, 11 as chief. A committee of Brussels area residents made the selection from nominations submitted by readers of The Citizen. The committee noted that there are many worthy nominations but that the retirement of someone who has been so dedi- cated to community service made Mr. Bernard a natural choice at this time. Mr. Bernard will, in the near future, be presented with a plaque recognizing the honour. 2 hurt in accident Two Brussels men were injured after a wheel came off their car• while being driven in Morris Twp last Friday morning. A spokesperson from the Wing- ham OPP said Rodney Bauer, 19, and his brother Brett, 28 were trav- elling west on County Road 2/3 at 11:30 a.m., when the left real wheel came off the 1981 Jeep. It left the Continued on page 19 serious problem." All employees with a gross salary over $30,000 will be effected. In dealing with the cutbacks of almost $1,000,000 Mr Carroll said that some could be car- ried into 1994 but "the problem would not go away. It would have to be dealt with." The board authorized measures that would allow for quick action in solving the cutback requirements once a framework was established by the provincial government. Discussions are set to begin with the effected employees groups and the employers once the plan is devised. The board plans to try establish- ing their own methods of cost reduction before the government is forced to legislate cutbacks. Mr. Carroll stated that by devel- oping local restraint packages that included consultation with all the groups involved, a solution can be found in a more "sensitive and par- ticipatory manner." Though any local action is tem- porarily on hold, Mr. Carroll believes that more will be known from the government in two weeks. At that time, the board will put the discussions into motion. motion tabled from the June 3 meeting of council which would ask the Minister of the Environ- ment to shorten the site selection process by choosing a Grey Town- ship site that had earlier failed the selection process because it was note on class five and six farmland. But a presentation at the June 7 meeting of the Waste Management Steering Committee by Craig Met- zger, project co-ordinator for the Waste Management Masterplan study, pointed out that it would take much more drilling on the Grey site to prove it was safe. Pub- lic meetings held in May, Mr. Met- zger said, showed safety of the groundwater was a main concern of the public. The Grey site has sever- al springs on it. There was concern on the part of some at the June 3 meeting of county council that an attempt to shorten the process would be a betrayal of promises to the public that they would be fully consulted in the site-selection criteria. In addition, Howick Reeve Norm Fairies pointed out, if better farm- land was allowed to be used a much wider, and safer, selection of sites might be opened up. The Waste Management Steering committee will recommend passage of another part of the same June 3 motion, however. The committee recommends that an upset limit of $100,000 be set for the stage 2C of the site selection process until the Ministry of Environment comes through with full approval of the study. Currently the County has been financing the study process and being re-imbursed by the Min- istry but the Ministry has made no long-term commitment to the pro- cess. Councillors are worried that they could be left holding the bag by a sudden provincial funding cut- back. It was a long struggle, but after eight hours Blyth firefighters were finally able to leave a blaze which destroyed a barn owned by Larry McNichol last Thursday morning. Fire Chief Paul Josling said by the time the volunteers arrived at the Lot 31, Conc. 13 property at A Hullett Twp. farmer had a nar- row escape last week when his trac- tor rolled down an embankment. Const. Eric Gosse of the Goderich OPP says John Wiersma was haying at his Lot 5, Conc. 14 property on June 29 at 7:50 p.m. when his tractor went down a 20 3:45 a.m. the barn was fully engulfed. "We could see the flames in Blyth when we left here," he said. There is no estimate of damage as yet, but the barn and a good deal of farm machinery, including a foot bank into a gravel pit. It roiled, then landed on its side. Const. Gosse said Mr. Wiersma crawled out from beneath it. He was taken by ambulance to Clinton Public Hospital and has since been released, according to a hospital spokesperson. combine, tractor and hydraulic wagon were lost. The cause of the fire is as yet unknown. Correction In the June 30 issue of The Citi- zen, there was an error in the quote by Mr. Doug Fortune, new chair- person for the Wingham Few tai board of governors. In speaking of the social contract talks, he stated that ''part-time hours were cut in the past." The board does not know what effect the cuts will have in the future. Waste Management committee recommends process continue Hullett farmer rolls tractor