The Citizen, 2004-11-11, Page 1,
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Serving the communities of. Blyth kind Brussels and northern Huron County
Volume 20 No. 44
Thursday, Nov. 11, 2004
$1 (93c + 7c GST)
Lest we forget
Under beautiful sunny skies, members of the Blyth Legion and its Ladies Auxiliary paraded to
Huron Chapel Evangelical Missionary Church on Sunday for the annual service to remember
fallen war veterans. (Vicky Bremner photo)
Inside this week
P2 6 0. aFwiealdrdto Table wins
pg
Q Blyth Novices on
• ° winning streak
P
g. in Pork producers
w donate to Festival
P g. 11
Business gets
provincial award
c Locals honoured at pg.
1, EFAO anniversary
Library
to launch
new
software
The Huron County Library will
soon be launching new computer
software at all public libraries in the
county. - -
Unicorn is a powerful computer
system providing integrated
purchasing, cataloguing, collection
exchange and circulation functions
for the library system. Most of this
activity goes on behind the scenes
and -is the engine driving the
capabilities of public libraries to
provide access to information,
books, and other materials to
residents across Huron County.
"For library users, the iBistro
catalogue will serve on-line
information seekers from home,
work, school, or at their public
libraries via the internee. The new
catalogue will provide user-friendly
access through the library's
webpage, including renewing books
and placing holds, checking your
own account, and even registering
your favourite authors so that the
catalogue will notify you of new
books that meet your profile.
New features will include simpler
and more intuitive catalogue
searches, bestseller and prize-
winning lists, colour book jackets,
and book reviews," said Beth Ross,
county librarian.
The library's website at
www.huroncounty.ca already
provides access to electronic
subscription databases of full-text
articles from over 1800 newspapers
and magazines. Both these databases
and the new catalogue require a
library card login. Library cards are
free to county residents from their
local public libraries.
As a member of the Ontario
Library Consortium, Huron County
Library shares expertise, purchasing
power, and even a computer server
Continued on page 6
Mother,
son die
in car
crash
A tragic car crash claitned the
lives of an Auburn mother and son,
early Nov. 3.
According to police, a 1995
Cadillac was travelling north on
Bluewater Hwy. (Hwy. 21) just
south of Amberley, around 7 a.m.
when the right tires went off onto
the shoulder of the road. Marks left
at the scene indicate that the driver
pulled the vehicle back onto the
roadway, lost control and struck a
guardrail at Eighteen Mile Bridge.
The car became airborne and struck
the embankment on the north side of
the river:
The vehicle flipped and the roof
of the car collapsed.
Jean Good, 71, and Donald Good,
37, were killed on impact, police
said.
The technical traffic collisions
investigators were on the scene for
several hours. The road was closed
until 1:15 p.m.
OPP acknowledge the efforts of
the Lucknow Fire Department and
ambulance personnel. "They were
tremendous in all the things they did
at the scene," said Sr. Const. Don
Shropshall.
By Keith Roulston
Citizen publisher
Huron County councillors took a
first tentative step toward a program
to reinspect existing septic tanks at
their November meeting.
Despite approving a
recommendation from the water
protection steering committee to
support the reinspection program,
several councillors cast doubt on
whether they'll support providing
funding for reinspections in next
spring's budget. The motion called
for exploring putting $250,000 into
the 2005 budget.
Bernie MacLellan, councillor for
Huron East noted that there had been
a $400,000 allocation for a water-
protection program in this year's
preliminary budget but that was cut
to $100,000 in an effort to reduce a
massive tax increase. "The budget
projection is just as severe next
year," he warned. "If we cut it out
last year I don't know why it won't
be cut next year unless something
makes it a, higher priority than
something else."
In a lengthy debate councillors
seemed confused whether the
proposed program was simply to
inspect septic systems to discover
which ones might be faulty, or
included funding to aid homeowners
whose systems needed repairs.
"We're not subsidizing repairs,
just inspections," said Deb Shewfelt
of Goderich. "We're all willing to
contribute toward inspections."
But Rob Morley of South Huron
worried about what happens when
the inspections start turning up
problems.
"If you find there is a proble:n,
what do you do? Put a stamp on the
door and kick (the, homeowner) out
of the house?", Morley wondered.
He noted that so many people came
forward for assistance in repairing or
replacing septic systems under the
Huron-Healthy Futures program that
the money available was quickly
used up before all the problems
could be repaired. "We need to have
some answers for these people. We
better have an answer before we ask
the question (of whether a system
works)."
But MacLellan said he didn't
consider the problem of a
homeowner whose septic system is
malfunctioning and polluting any
differently than a farmer who is
letting his liquid manure drain into a
river because he can't afford to
apply it properly. "Our job is to find
it (the problem)."
Central Huron's John Bez-aire
agreed, noting he had once, been told
by health unit inspectors that the
septic system for the food business
he ran must be replaced. "I got an
order to either layoff my staff and
close my door or fix it. I paid the bill
and fixed it, as painful as it was."
Penny Nelligan, director of the
Huron County Health Unit, said her
inspectors try to work with people to
find solutions if their septic system
has been malfunctioning. "With the
Huron Healthy Futures we did go
out and work with people and came
to a resolution with all of them."
The intent of the water protection
steering committee was to try to find
a source of funding to help people
who were in an economic bind
because of water protection
measures, she said.
Bezaire questioned whether help
for people with problems should be
coming from municipal funds. The
federal and provincial government
were always providing start-up
funds for good programs, then
cutting the funding and expecting
the municipalities to pick up the tab,
he said. "It's -time for them to step
back in (to the funding picture)."
Warden Bill Dowson said the
issue in question wasn't
subsidization of repairs for the
problems that were found but
whether or not to proceed with the
inspection program.
"Every meeting we have with the
lakeshore people (cottage owners)
they're demanding action," said Ben
Van Diepenbeek of Ashfield-
Colborne-Wawanosh. "They're
saying we're not serious about this,
that we're dragging our feet."
The reinspection program was
approved 13-3 in a recorded vote
with MacLellan and Bezaire being
among the councillors opposed.
Supporting the program from the
region were Neil Rintoul and Van
Diepenbeek of, Ashfield-Colborne-
Wawanosh; Doug Layton and
Murray Scott of North Huron; Bert
Dykstra of Central Huron and
Dorothy Kelly of Morris-Turnberry.
Vandals
throw
acid
on car
On Nov. 1 at 9:15 a.m. OPP were
called to a residence on McDonald
Line in Huron East over vehicle
damage.
Sometime through the night a
person threw some type of chemical
with acid. The acid caused
considerable damage to the paint of a
vehicle parked in the driveway.
Also the same person put a 2x4
with nails stuck in it across the
driveway.
If you can help solve this case call
the OPP or Crime Stoppers.
County council takes first step
toward septic tank re-inspections