The Citizen, 2005-03-17, Page 1The Citizen
Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County
Volume 21 No. 11 Thursday, March 17, 2005
NH
I NORTH HURON PUBLISHING COMPANY INC.
.Inside this week
Pg. 2
Pg. 11
Pg-12
Pg. 19
Future babysitters
take class
Blyth figure skaters
compete
Dairy educator.
visits EWPS
EFAO hosts crop
rotation workshop
InciHe ‘Citizen’s’ annual
11131UC farm section
Warming
trend may
begin this
weekend
By Bonnie Gropp
Citizen editor
Local weather observor Boyd
Taylor isn’t predicting an early
spring.
“Looking at Lake Huron. I don’t
think it's going to warm up too
much until that ice is gone. I believe
it will be mid-April before that
happens.'
Taylor describes this winter as an
easy one. but one of bitter cold and
inconsistent moods.
“The last full moon the wind was
in the east and north east. 1 said at
the time it looked to me like a cold
moon and it has been consistently
cold since then.”
However, with the change of the
moon coming up, Taylor believes
there will be a shift, a good one, by
the end of this week.
The season's cold, he said, is the
result of the Alberta clippers.
“We’ve had a lot of them and they
bring the cold.”
And while there hasn’t been a lot
of snow, when it fell it seemed to
have blanketed a large area, each
lime. “Sunday we got three or four
inches of snow. I was talking to
people in London and Fort Erie and
they got the same.”
Taylor said the 401 corridor along
Lake Erie has had “storms no end”
this winter.
He doesn’t foresee any problems
with the thaw saying that he doesn’t
think the water content per cubic
fool is enough to cause flooding.
It wouldn't take a lot for it to
disappear either. “Two or three days
of warm weather and it could be
darn poor sledding.” laughs Taylor.
"The main thing is to get the sun and
the time will go so fast from then. “
As for w’hat he sees in his crystal
ball Taylor said. “Look forward to
some warmer temperatures, perhaps
by this weekend.”
Sliding into March break
Carefree and full of spirit, young people celebrated their spring break from school last
weekend. From games of road hockey to snowmobiling and sledding the clear skies and light
dusting of snow provided many opportunities to enjoy the outdoors during the holiday. Kelsey
Kerr, foreground, and Christina Eckert let a slippery slope and gravity do the work for them, at
least on the way down. (Vicky Bremner photo)
Crisis touches off debate
By Keith Roulston
Citizen publisher
The farm income crisis touched off
emotional debate when 60 leaders of
Huron County farm groups met their
members of parliament Saturday.
Nick Whyte, president of the
Huron County Federation of
Agriculture which hosted the
meeting, pointed out that Ontario net
farm income had plummeted from an
average of $311 million in the five
years up to 2003 to a $36 million loss
in 2004 and a projected loss of $194
million in 2005.
“The level of frustration and fear in
rural Ontario is real, as witnessed by
the tremendous response to the One
Voice Rally on March 2 at Queen’s
Park,” he said in his written
presentation.
Wayne Hamilton, HCFA second
vice-president suggested the
Agriculture Canada projection for
2005 may be too optimistic because it
counted on the reopening of the U.S.
border which now has been
indefinitely postponed.
Farm group after farm group stood
up to call for government assistance
to avert an economic catastrophe.
“We’re in a real crisis here,” said
Peter Heinrich of Londesborough,
chair of the Huron County Wheat
Committee. Farmers have asked for
$300 million in short-term support to
get crops planted this spring he said
but they also need long-term support.
There had been a good plan in place
with the Market Revenue Insurance
plan which the government
abandoned, he said.
“People are desperate out there.”
Heinrich said. “We don’t have any
clear indication whether we’re going
to get help or not.”
He worried about the future of the
industry. “I'm 35 and have a young
family. I’m working for them so they
have a future but right now 1 don’t
know if I have a future.”
“We’re going to lose a generation
of farmers,” echoed Larry Lynn of
the Huron County Corn Producers. “1
don’t know who is going to take our
places.
Others touched on the sense of
abandonment farmers feel.
“Where is the Ministry of
Agriculture and Food supporting
farmers?” wondered Nelson
Underwood of Underwood Grain
Limited, Wingham. “Any time I'm
dealing with OMAF now it seems
I’m on the defensive.”
“It used to be we had the feeling
our agriculture ministers were
supporting us,” said Bob Emerson,
president of the Bruce County
Federation of Agriculture. “Now they
seem to be finding excuses why they
can’t help.”
Carol Mitchell, MPP for Huron
Bruce agreed work is needed to make
OMAF more responsive. “I think
there is work to be done with
OMAF.” Since the pull back of
OMAF to Guelph, she said, “There
has been a whole shift in attitudes.”
While they expressed sympathy for
the plight of farmers, both Mitchell
and Paul Steckle, MP for Huron-
Bruce also defended their
governments.
Steckle claimed federal payments
to agriculture have soared from $2.2
billion in 2001 to $4.8 billion in
2005. “$4.8 billion is a whole lot of
money.”
“Done nothing?” he responded to
one charge of government inaction
from the floor. “I take exception to
that. It’s all I’ve done for the past 22
months. I’ve driven the agriculture
agenda (as chair of the agriculture
committee) where it has never gone
before.”
“I have given you every
expendable ounce of my energy," he
said.
Mitchell wondered if the province
released a $300 million payment
from the old Market Revenue
Continued on page 14
Crusaders
will be
back next
season
By Jim Brown
Citizen staff
Mike McDonald has stepped in to
be the president of the Brussels
Crusaders senior hockey team.
Dennis Crowder has stepped in to
be the team manager for the 2005-06
season.
The two positions were filled at a
team meeting held March 8 at the
Brussels, Morris and Grey
Community Centre.
The meeting was called by Brian
Ten Pas in an effort to prevent the
team from folding. The team was
looking to get some new blood on the
executive.
Ten Pas was pleased with the
turnout at the meeting, with about a
dozen people attending.
He indicated a number of players
were in attendance and there were
others who said they would help out
with the team, but were unable to
attend the meeting.
“We will definitely go ahead with
next season.” said Ten Pas.
He was pleased with the people
who attended and decided to help out
on the executive.
The team has decided to hold
another fundraiser. In addition to the-
co-ed slo-pitch tournament in May,
the co-ed golf tournament, the cash
calendars and the NFL football draw
to see the Buffalo Bills. Ten Pas said
the Crusaders will be hosting a
breakfast during the community
wide yard sales in May.
He noted the breakfast will be held
down behind the ball field, located at
the arena.
Likelihood of
floodin’*
unimown
By Jim Brown
Citizen staff
The Maitland Valley Conservation
Authourity (MVCA) is taking a
wait and see approach to the
flooding situation this year.
The average water content of the
snow on March 1 was 1.4 inches,
according to Dave Grummett.
director of operations for the
MVCA.
Compared to last year, when the
March 1 water content was 3.85
inches, the snow this year does not
have as much moisture as it did in
2004.
However, Grummett expected the
water content to be higher following
the March 15 snow run because of
the snow and freezing rain which
fell earlier this month.
“It is still a long way off from the
1970s when the water content was
around five or six inches,” he said.
Continued on page 6