HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1996-01-31, Page 1Community
Brussels Ag.
Society holds
annual meeting
See page 6
Sports
Blyth Bantams
come home with
Finalist trophy
See page 8
Feature
4 pages of
financial strategies
for the 90s
Starting page 11
Farm
Pork producers hear
`story of the decade'
at annual meeting
See page 18
OMAFRA cuts
raise concerns
for farm groups
The North Huron
itizen
A perfect day for play
Several Brussels youth, including shooter Corey Campbell, took advantage of a break in the
windy weather on Sunday to enjoy an entertaining game of street hockey. Winds gusting to
nearly 100 km. throughout the district on Saturday made driving treacherous as visibility was
reduced to zero at times and roads became covered with blowing snow.
6 lose jobs, more to come
as MVCA deals with cuts
Amid growing concern for the
future of services from the Ontario
Ministry of Agriculture, Food and
Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) due to
government cuts, Huron County
farm leaders will gather in Clinton
tonight (Wednesday) to discuss
what can be done.
Faced with plans to cut 35 per
cent from the OMAFRA budget,
the Huron County Federation of
Agriculture (HCFA) has called
together leaders of county com-
modity groups for a meeting at 8
p.m. at the OMAFRA boardroom.
If reaction of farmers present at a
Federation-sponsored meeting held
Jan. 24 (to discuss animal rights
issues) is any indication, there is a
growing anger on the part of farm-
ers at the government's failure to
keep its election promise that the
OMAFRA budget would not be
cut. When one questioner suggest-
ed it was too late to stop the cuts
and that the Federation should have
been active earlier, Bill Wallace,
HCFA past president said the group
had met with Helen Johns, MPP for
Huron in the fall and had been
assured that there would be no cuts
to OMAFRA. "What were we sup-
posed to do, call her a liar to her
face?"
Wallace also accused Johns of
"disappearing" and not showing up
at meetings;like the Federation's
Wingham OPP are investigating
a rash of thefts in the area recently.
The biggest hit occurred on Jan.
29 at 4:07 a.m. when an alarm was
triggered at McDonald Lumber in
Brussels.
Police say someone had entered
the building after breaking the front
door. Once inside they stole $3,500
worth of tools, drills, sanders, and
saws.
Ken Pennington of Grey Twp.
left seven bags containing his DJ
equipment at the Blyth arena to be
picked up Jan. 23. Pennington had
been working as a DJ during the
broomball tournament held there
Jan. 19-21.
When he went to pick up the
equipment he noticed one bag ,
containing a large quantity of CDs
and cassette tapes, was missing. It
is valued at $1,220.
Even the nasty weather Saturday
could'nt keep the Blyth and District
Fire Department from coming to
the aid of two area homeowners
when their chimneys went up in
smoke.
At 4 a.m., Jan. 27, the fire fight-
ers were called to Lot 28, Conc. 12
of -McKillop Twp., to extinguish a
annual meeting in November, to
"face the music". (Johns' con-
stituency assistant Kriss Snell who
attended Wednesday's meeting,
said Johns has been tied up as a
member of the committee holding
hearings into Bill 26.)
Huron Ag Rep Bob Humphries
explained how difficult it would be
for the ministry to suffer a 35 per
cent cut and still provide services.
Of the ministry's $451.6 million
budget, 34.8 per cent is made up of
the Farm Tax Rebate program. A
further 32 per cent is made up of
transfer payments to programs such
as crop insurance, GRIP and NISA.
That leaves 33 per cent for the
direct operating of the ministry.
Province-wide, all 1935 staff, all
the cars and all the buildings, could
be cut and the ministry would still
have to make a two per cent cut
elsewhere in order to meet the 35
per cent target, Humphries
explained.
The Agriculture and Rural
Affairs divisions of OMAFRA
have 596 people in the field across
the province, just 30.8 per cent of
the staff, yet rumour has it that this
area will be hit hardest by cuts
_because the government wants the
Cuts to be very visible.
Already, Humphries said,
instructions have come down that
Continued on page 19
Between Jan. 14-21 a theft
occurred at St. Ambrose Church in
Brussels. Stolen were two large
books, three vestments and two
candles.
A third burglary occurred at Rad-
ford's in Blyth sometime between
11 p.m. Jan. 25 and 6:30 a.m., Jan.
26. The office door had been
kicked in and cash and credit card
receipts were stolen.
Moncrieff Community Hall in
Grey Twp., was the victim of
another burglary, between Jan. 23
and Jan. 27. According to police
someone pried open the rear win-
dow of the hall. Two fire extin-
guishers were emptied in the hall
then taken.
Anyone with information regard-
ing any of these occurrences is
asked to contact the Wingham OPP
at 357-1331.
chimney fire. There was no damage
to the home.
Sixteen hours later, the depart-
ment responded to a similar inci-
dent at Lot, 12, Conc. 8, Morris
Twp. There was a small amount of
damage to the chimney, which is
now unusable, says Blyth Fire
Chief Paul Josling.
By Janice Becker
As with most provincial agencies
across the region, the Maitland Val-
ley Conservation Authority
(MVCA) is dealing with funding
cuts which has and will continue to
result in the loss of jobs.
"MVCA announced six tempo-
rary layoffs in December, which
became effective Jan. 5 and the res-
ignations of other top personnel has
made the job somewhat easier to
re-organize," says Paul Weiten-
dorf, communication co-ordinator
for the authority.
In the last three months, the sec-
retary-treasurer retired as well as
the general manager and two tech-
nicians resigning.
The annual meeting Jan. 24,
brought together the municipal rep-
resentatives for discussions on bud-
get and priority setting, says
Weitendorf.
"The board will be looking at
restructuring ideas and what ser-
vices should be offered. We will
continue to provide as many ser-
vices as possible in 96, though
there will have to be another re-
organization in 97."
"With provincial funding so low,
the work done by MVCA will be
determined by the municipalities
and the residents of the watershed.
They will decide which services are
provided and how the funding will
be covered," he says.
Weitendorf says it is hoped the
draft budget will be in place by the
February meeting, for discussions
to continue.
Vol. 12 No. 5 Wednesday Jan. 31 1996
61e + de GST 650
Burglars hit
Brussels store
Firefighters battle chimney fires