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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, January 17, 2019
Volume 35 No. 3
MAGFEST - Pg. 9
Blyth native impresses
with his newest creation
FESTIVAL - Pg. 10
Local artist releases
Festival season images
MUSIC - Pg. 2
‘The Pigeon King’ creators
record album in Holmesville
Publications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0
INSIDE
THIS WEEK:
Bluevale double homicide yields three life sentences
Provincial marketing
pitched to producers
EDITOR’S NOTE: Some
readers may find the details of
the below story disturbing.
In an indicting comment to a letter
stating convicted murderer, Kevin
Carter of Wingham, was relying on
his faith while in prison, Superior
Court Justice Bruce Thomas said
“One wonders where your faith was
on March 29, 2018.”
On that day, in a scene Judge
Thomas referred to as “horrific
beyond imagining” Carter first
kidnapped his ex-girlfriend, Gail
Fischer. Then he used a .22 rifle with
a home-made silencer to shoot and
kill Gail’s parents, Douglas, 77, and
Marian, 66, in the home they all
shared on C Line Road near
Bluevale.
Carter was arrested on scene by
Huron OPP thanks to the incredible
presence of mind Gail showed by
twice dialing 911. She dialed once
with her nose and once while one
arm was briefly released from a
plastic zip tie, all this while her
parents were being shot by Carter.
“You showed great fortitude and
exceptional courage in contacting
911 like you did,” Judge Thomas
told Gail in the courtroom.
Carter pled guilty to two charges
of first degree murder and one count
of kidnapping at his sentencing
hearing on Jan. 8 in Goderich. He
was sentenced to three counts of life
in prison to be served concurrently.
Carter stood in the middle of the
courtroom, head bowed, while
details of that tragic day were read
aloud from the agreed statement of
facts document by acting Huron
County Crown Attorney, Elizabeth
Maguire. A prior publication ban
was lifted, making the document
public.
Gail was also in the courtroom,
surrounded by detectives, police and
her family, listening to the series of
events that led to that brutal day.
The court was told Douglas and
Marian Fischer had been married
since 1975 and had five children
between the two of them. Retired,
Douglas suffered serious health
problems and was dependent on the
care provided by Marian and Gail.
He needed a wheelchair or a walker
to get around. He was still in bed on
the morning of the murders.
Gail is an early childhood
educator who works in Wingham.
The Fischer and Carter families had
known each for many years. Carter
was the master of ceremonies at
Gail’s wedding, which ended in
separation.
Carter had worked for Wescast for
30 years, had no criminal record,
and was a community volunteer. He
had married twice and had four
children from the two marriages. He
separated from his second wife in
2011. That same year, Carter and
Gail moved into an apartment in
Wingham together.
Gail was very close to her parents
and she proposed the idea of
building a home for the four of them
so she could help care for her father.
The Fischer family had owned a
50-acre Bluevale property for many
years. In order to get a mortgage to
build a new house, Douglas agreed
to sell the property to Marian, Gail
and Carter for $1 so they could move
ahead with the plan at the property.
The two couples moved into the
new residence in February, 2016
with Carter and Gail living upstairs
while Douglas and Marian lived on
the first floor.
In giving the history of the Fischer
and Carter families, Maguire
indicated Carter worked long hours
and spent a lot of time fishing. What
the Fischers did not know, was that
Carter was accumulating income tax
and credit card debt. He also
struggled with alcohol.
The relationship between Carter
and Gail had its struggles which
began to escalate in 2017. Carter
was dealing with income tax and
credit card debt amounting to over
$45,000. He was being pressured to
repay so he took a lien on the house.
In December, a call was made to 911
by Gail. She and her mother had
been cleaning up debris on the
property. When Carter returned
home, Douglas called Carter “lazy”
and told him he should be cleaning
up instead of Gail and Marian.
Police arrived and mediated the
situation but relationships within the
house deteriorated. The couple
broke up and Carter moved back to
Wingham in December, 2017.
In February, Carter altered his will
and wrote in a letter to his ex-wife to
remember that “I am not a bad
person, only a person whose good
choices went bad and bad choices
went worse.”
To pay his debts, Carter was trying
to sell the house Douglas, Marian
and Gail still lived in. Gail had
moved all of Carter’s belongings to a
shed outside the house. Police were
called to supervise when Carter,
upset his belongings were in the
shed, picked them up on March 10,
2018.
There were other disturbing
events: It was reported Carter was
stalking Gail and that there were
threatening phone calls and demands
for money. One day, the Fischer
family found a box of rotten meat at
the end of their laneway. It was
surmised the meat came from the
contents of Carter’s freezer the
Fischers had put in the shed.
In the middle of March, Carter
Ontario beef farmers are hoping a
joint marketing initiative will result
in industry growth across the
province, the country and the world.
Tom Wilson and Richard Horne
from the Beef Farmers of Ontario
introduced the concept to the Huron
County Beef Producers at their
annual meeting on Jan. 9 at the
Brussels Legion.
The proposed marketing initiative
is a joint venture between the Beef
Farmers of Ontario and the Ontario
Cattle Feeders’ Association that
would study markets and
aggressively market Ontario beef
throughout the province, the country
and internationally.
The cost of the program, however,
would increase the check-off (funds
paid to upper-tier associations) to
$5.50 per head of cattle from $4.
The bulk of the new check-off,
$4.50, would go to the provincial
associations, while $1 will go the
Canadian Cattlemen’s Association.
Of that $1.50 increase, $1.25 will
be going towards the marketing
initiative itself, while the remaining
quarter will stay with the Beef
Farmers of Ontario for further
research.
Wilson, the feedlot director for the
Beef Farmers of Ontario, said that
the co-operative nature of the
marketing plan will ensure sharp
precision in terms of research and
marketing and bringing people to
Ontario beef. Because of provincial
costs, he said, Ontario beef will cost
more than its international
competition, but last year’s research
indicates that two-thirds of
Ontarians are prepared to spend
more for beef from their home
province. It’s up to Ontario beef
farmers, he said, to ensure that
increased quality is there for the
increased cost.
According to research completed
last year, among those willing to pay
for Ontario beef, Wilson said, those
particularly in favour include
women, parents, consumers under
the age of 35, Ontarians born outside
of Canada and residents of the
Greater Toronto Area.
With a 33 per cent decline in the
Ontario beef cow inventory in the
last 10 years – from 360,500 in
January, 2008 to 243,300 in January,
2018 – Wilson said that the
provincial organizations are
searching for a solution to increasing
beef consumption throughout the
province and beyond.
Billed as a “bold new path” for
Ontario beef, the plan would be led
by Jim Clark, the executive director
of the Ontario Cattle Feeders’
Association, and it will focus on
increasing market penetration of all
Ontario-branded beef products
provincially, nationally and
internationally.
Under Clark there will be a six-
member joint marketing committee
comprised of three members from
the Ontario Cattle Feeders’
Association (Rob Lipsett, Craig
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 20
By Lisa B. Pot
Special to The Citizen
Continued on page 15
A clash of champions
The Blyth and District Community Centre played host to its annual men’s and women’s
broomball tournament over the weekend, welcoming nearly 30 teams to the village to
compete. While the men from Seaforth would claim the tournament’s A Division championship
and the Palmerston men would win the B Division, the Palmerston women would go on to win
their A Division, while Blyth would win the women’s B Division. Here, the two women’s
champions clashed on Saturday afternoon, with Palmerston winning the game by a score of
2-1. (Mark Nonkes photo)