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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1998-06-10, Page 1Vol. 14 No. 23 Wednesday, June 10, 1,998 70e + 5t GST 750 The North Huron itizen OPP special services may cost, says Martin Young Megan Miners, right, was all smiles as she and partner, Kendall Jutzi of Brussels Public School participated in the Jump Rope for Heart campaign to raise funds for heart disease. Though Friday was chilly and winds blew across the parking lot and yard as the children jumped, it didn't seem to cool their spirit for the worthy cause. Profile Carroll recalls 30 years in education See page 6 Sports Brussels Barracudas gear up and get back in the swim See page 8 News See page 13 Former hospital on Melville tour Dry weather slows crops By Janice Becker Citizen staff Crops in the area have been going backwards for the last three weeks as temperatures dropped and rain refused to soak the ground. "It had been phenomenal before the last few weeks," said Brian Hall, soil and crop consultant with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Clinton office. "Up to and during planting, conditions were excellent," said Hall. "It was dry, but there was enough moisture for the winter wheat. The hay was ahead with good quality and yield." However, with the conditions cold and dry, Hall said the crops will be affected by moisture stress. "The hay is suffering from lack of moisture which could impact the second cuttings. It is also a critical time for wheat flowering. It could begin to hurt the yield and shorten the straw." The corn and soybean crops were generally good, said Hall, but they need moisture for growth. The corn is short for the number of leaves and there has been spotty frost Continued on page 12 Huron County's municipalities still don't know what OPP special services will continue to be provid- ed by the province and what they'll be expected to pay for but they don't like some of the things they have been told. Speaking to the June 4 meeting of county council, Goderich Detachment Commander Gary Martin said the province would continue to pick up the cost for policing special events like air shows but he has still not been given a list of what special services will be billed to municipalities and which will continue to be provided as a provincial responsibility. Meanwhile Chief Jim Dore of the Wingham Police Service told coun- cil he had been informed by Fred Peters, assistant deputy minister in the Solicitor General's office that all special services that had been provided free of charge in the past by the province will continue to be provided free in the future to municipal forces. Dore was speaking to council because he feared the county might try to prevent the Wingham force, the last municipal force in the county, from continuing. "I'd like assurance that we'll be allowed to keep our police force," Dore said. The county is currently negotiat- ing with the OPP for a county-wide policing contract. The Town of Goderich, which recently disband- ed its own force and signed on with the OPP, had made a presentation that there should be no mix of OPP and municipal forces in the county with the OPP to police the whole county. But Dore argued that removing the last municipal police force would remove the last bit of com- petition for the OPP. With a monopoly in the county, he said, municipalities might see their bill for policing rise from the current The Huron County Library Branches in Brussels and Blyth will receive new computers thanks to a $87,000 legacy left to the county by a Morris Twp. native. The new computers are just part of a proposal to use the money left by Susannah Lattimer of Missis- sauga. After growing up in the area, Lattimer became a school teacher estimate of $90 per household to the $370 the OPP is charging some municipalities in the province. Dore said his department didn't want to police the whole county but had reached agreements with four other north Huron municipalities to provide police services, including community policing offices in Blyth and Brussels. The $90 per household police cost figure is just a dream for Goderich Twp. where revised fig- ures, tabulated based on actual OPP activity in the municipality, have seen the township's policing costs soar from the original estimate of $127,080 to $477,575. The addi- tional activity is caused by the pres- ence of the Bluewater Centre, a provincial detention centre for young offenders. The township has pointed out the revised amount is greater than the taxes it collected for all services in 1997. The township won't face the higher costs for the time being because of a freeze on costs but could have to pay the higher amount down the line if the situa- tion doesn't change. Martin said he agreed the township shouldn't have to pay the policing of the Bluewater Centre but it is beyond his control. Lynn Murray, county clerk- administrator, said she had been at a meeting where Solicitor General Bob Runciman had promised the downloading of police services, to Goderich Twp. would have a. neu- tral impact despite the presence of the centre. Meanwhile, Martin assured municipalities along provincial highways that their costs would go down from the most recent esti- mates because OPP activity on provincial highways will be billed to the province. This does not apply, however, to highways the province has turned over to the before dying, in 1993 in her 90s. She remembered her old communi- ty in her will. The largest portion of the legacy, $51,000, will go to a new 1,220 square foot Lattimer Memorial Gallery at the Huron County Muse- um which will trace the develop- ment of local government in the Continued on page 6 county. Blyth, Brussels libraries to benefit from legacy