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