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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2004-12-09, Page 6Need help finding a lawyer? Call the Lawyer Referral Service HERE'S HOW IT WORKS • (011 our 1900 number. • A IRS Representative will give you the name and phone number of one local IRS member lawyer who is able to deal with your • (all a IRS member lawyer and receive up to 30 mouton of free consultation • A $6.00 charge will be applied to your phone bill a'r*" me Lae. Sup,ery , du Haut Canada Upper Canada 1-900.565-4577 TTY: (416) 644-4886 Toll Free Crisis line 1-800-268-8326 A last minute gift idea! Buy a 1-year subscription to The Citizen for only $011 .00 VW Please clip & return to THE CITIZEN, P.O. Box 429, Blyth, ON NOM 1H0 or P.O. Box 152, Brussels, ON NOG 1H0 CI Enclosed is $30.00 To: Name Address: Postal Code: From. jtDate Subscription to start. Gift subscriptions come with a Christmas card to send to the recipient. Call for rates to U.S. and overseas — 523-4792 or 887-9114 -1g PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2004 Letter to the editor Wingham's Salvation Army assisting the area's needy Mild, medium or spicy were the options at the annual chili cookoff at Blyth Memorial Hall. Residents brought in pots of chili while others gratefully devoured it. Jordan Reinink enjoyed a heaping cupful of delicious chili. (Vicky Bremner photo) THE EDITOR, The Salvation Army in Wingham is full speed ahead for Christmas with the familiar Christmas Kettles out at Dean's Valu-Mart and Burke's Foodland. We have received many hamper applications, plus referrals are coming in, along with food, toys, clothing and financial donations. The Salvation Army is here 12 months of the year to assist lonely, hungry, struggling families and individuals in many different and difficult circumstances through our Family and Community Serivces and Foodbank, no matter where they live within our area from Mildmay to Blyth, Ethel and Fordwich to Ripley including of course Wingham, Lucknow and Teeswater, plus many smaller communities in between. It's been a similar story since 1886 when the Army first came to Wingham, and at Christmas time the need is usually the greatest, whether it's the meal on the table, presents under the tree, even the tree itself, the Army endeavours to make Christmas a special time for both families and adults. This includes SunShine Bags that we distribute in area nursing homes, and hospital endeavouring to brighten up the lives of the resi- dents. The Candles for Kids trees sponsored by the local Optimist club are located at both The Wingham Advance Times and the Salvation Army Thrift Store both on Josephine Street where there are candles for all ages of kids, pickup a candle, buy a present and leave it under the tree. The theme once again this year is Get Behind the Shield. The Red Shield is a symbol people recognize and trust no matter what the circumstance. Homes and businesses will have received the Christmas Cheer mailers with information about making financial donations to the Salvation Army. Box 610, Wingham, ON NOG 2W0 or at the Christmas Kettles. We never take the trust you place in the Salvation Army for granted, because it's your donations that make it all possible. Food, toys and financial donations can be dropped off at the Thrift Store during store hours. Captain Neil Voce. Gay Lea Foods enjoys record year in 2004 By Keith Roulston Citizen publisher Record production, sales, profits and dividends were reported when Gay Lea Foods Co-operative Ltd. held its Zone I annual meeting in Brussels, Monday. "We had a good year, but we're still not satisfied," Andrew - MacGillvray, president and CEO told the co-op's members. recalling that two years ago at this meeting he had talked about the need to go from being a good company to being a great company. Gay Lea's sales increased 16 per cent, topping $330 million, and exceeding the $300 million mark for the first time in history thanks to an increase of 21 per cent in milk available for processing. "We took advantage of all the milk quota we had," he noted and strikes in Quebec made extra milk available for processing. The new Delta evaporation plant in Guelph and the company's predominant By Bonnie Gropp Citizen editor At the Monday night meeting, North Huron council spent a good deal of time discussing whether or not to apply for the infrastructure funding. Clerk-administrator John Stewart said the deadline for phase one is Jan. 10 which does not leave council a good deal of time should they decide on a project that would require engineering. A total of $900 million is available, but the township has to compete a business plan and would be competing against other municipalities for funds. "We could submit a plan and not get any money," said Stewart. The money is to address health and safety issues such as water, sewer, roads and bridges. Councillor Jim Campbell position in aerosol whipped cream helped it take advantage of the opportunities. The company's profit of $9.6 million was also a new record and enabled the company to pay out a record $2,234,000 in member and patronage dividends. Peter Emsley, vice- president, reported that the company's whipped cream plant is probably the best facility in North America and its 76 per cent growth rate is projected to increase by another 28 per cent next year because Parmalat has abandoned the field leaving Gay Lea with the only facility in Canada. It will begin providing Wal- Mart with its private-label brand and is producing products under several other company's brands. Gay Lea hopes to increase production to 16-18 million tins, then look at investing to increase production further, Emsley said. Skim milk powder production increased 26 per cent, MacGillvray said now that the Delta plant has been in full operation for an entire year. Brendan Wall noted the difference the $52 million state-of-the-art Delta plant has made to the company's bottom line. In 2002 the old plant was going all out to process 189 million litres of milk, he said, but in 2004, the new plant processed 288 million litres, a 52 per cent increase. This allowed Gay Lea to go from utilizing 66 per cent of the co-operative's members' milk to 70 per cent. The yield from the milk processed increased to 9.8 per cent of volume from 9.1 per cent. "That's like free powder from the same amount of milk." Because of the increased volume of milk processed into skim milk powder, Gay Lea didn't have to buy cream from more expensive outside sources to make its butter which was up 15 per cent for you are competing." Reeve Doug Layton suggested giving director of public works Ralph Campbell the opportunity to come up with some suggestions. A motion was made approving this. Stewart then suggested that council consider ideas for "major" phase two projects that might require an engineer's report. The deadline for this is in March. the year. "We made butter more than ever from fresh cream," said MacGillvray. "We make more money from this than from reworking but- ter." The new powdered milk plant also allows more non- skim blends which can be exported even when Canada's quota of powdered skim milk is filled. The one sour note in the sales report was the non-dairy business where sales were down six per cent partly because of the increase in the value of the Canadian dollar. The company will move to a new head office in Fermtary: as the result of a--need for expansion of production at the Clayson Road plant in Weston. The new office in Mississauga will allow changes in how the organization is organized and how staff communicate. The Gay Lea plant in Teeswater was so busy processing additional avail- By Keith Roulston Citizen publisher Eldon Bowman was re- elected director from zone one when Gay Lea Foods Co- operative held its zone one .annual meeting in Brussels, Monday. Bowman, who has spent six years on the Gay Lea board of directors, defeated Gerrit Wensink of Innerkip. able milk into skim milk this year that plans were delayed for the transition into becoming a specialty plant making milk powder concentrate. In elections for delegates to the upcoming convention of the co-operative, Lyle Martin of Ethel, Doug Johnston of Listowel, Leroy Skinner of Mitchell and Dirk Willemsen were elected as delegates from district 2. Steve Hallahan of Blyth, Gerry Vanden Hengel of Seaforth and Gerrit Wensink of Innerkip were elected from district 3. thoUght that repairs to the Wingham sidewalks "should be one of our priorities." Councillor Arnold Taylor wondered if it was possible that the township would put out the money for an engineer's report, then be turned down for the funds. "It's possible," said Stewart. "But we tell the Ministry what the plan is first and they see if it would qualify. However, even then North Huron council discusses infrastructure application Bowman re-elected Gay Lea director