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The Citizen, 2005-06-09, Page 1The Citizen Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Volume 21 No. 22 Thursday, June 9, 2005 NH | NORTH HURON PUBUSHING COMPANY INC. | Inside this week 6 Pg-23 Stratford woman helps local family 7 More clues revealed to mystery 8 Cole Stewart, top scorer ’ Pg-14 Trillium grant for Bluevale Playground goes in at Belgrave Brussels may get ambulance station By Keith Roulston Citizen publisher An effort to cut ambulance response times in northern Huron may mean Brussels will get an ambulance station. The possibility arose out of discussions by a working group looking into what to do about the Wingham ambulance station, currently in the Wingham and District Hospital, which must be replaced. “The working group met last week,” county treasurer David Carey told the June 2 meeting of county council. “The consensus is to have three smaller stations: a two-bay station in Wingham, a one-bay in Brussels and a one-bay in Lucknow.” Bruce County will be approached to see if they will consider sharing the costs of the Lucknow and Wingham stations, both of which would also serve parts of southern Bruce County. County staff have been asked to do research and come back with a proposal, Carey said. Huron East mayor Joe Seili explained in a later interview that the county is not meeting the response times required by the province in the northern area. “We have to improve or they’ll cut back funding they’re short on in the first place,” he said. Seili said he had been assured that the three stations would simply mean redistributing staff and vehicles and would not increase costs. As well as Seili, the working group includes Doug Layton, county warden, Murray Scott of North Huron, Dorothy Kelly of Morris- Tumberry, Neil Rintoul of Ashfield- Colborne-Wawanosh, Rosemary Rognvaldson of Howick, Carey and David Lew, manager of land ambulance operations. A friendly face The Brussels Lions Elimination Draw, held this past Saturday night, has become a popular family event in the community. With lots of entertainment geared to young people, live music for the adults, delicious food and a chance to win some cash, there’s something for everyone. Danielle Bernard poses with her new friend, Bugsy. (Vicky Bremner photo) Memorial Hall will be costly By Bonnie Gropp Citizen editor Sometimes you just can’t dodge the bullet. This was the sentiment expressed by North Huron councillor Archie MacGowan when council was told at the Monday night meeting how much the repairs for Blyth Memorial Hall may cost. “’’These buildings have to be kept up. You can’t keep putting things off or you pay later.” The main problem with the Hall has been water leaking into the walls causing mould and damage. The estimate received said fixing the building could be $100,000 or more. The township has been working on a Trillium grant application, however, Stewart noted that it was certain it would not cover the total cost. “The maximum Trillium grant is $75,000 and I’ve been told no one gets the maximum. We need to know if council is prepared to include the costs to complete this project in next year’s budget, otherwise there’s no point in proceeding with the application.” He anticipates that should the township be successful in obtaining the grant it would probably be in the range of $35,000-$50,000. “It is possible, however, that we might get zero.” Also, Stewart said, to apply two quotes must be submitted, and an architect must be hired to prepare a preliminary document for the contractors’ estimate. The fee for this will be $2,500. The application must be submitted by the end of June. What it would mean to say no to the project wasn’t lost on anyone at the council table, however. “If we don’t go ahead, I think we’re basically closing the Hall,” said Stewart. “The mould will eventually be a major problem.” Reeve Doug Layton said that to close the Hall would mean to close the town. “Well, 1 know I’m taking the first car out if that happens,” said Real estate moving By Jim Brown Citizen staff , Real estate has been moving well in Huron County over the past couple of years. Rick Lobb, a member of the Huron Perth Real Estate Board (HPREB), said since 2004 homes have been selling well throughout the county, with a demand in the Clinton and Blyth areas. As the Bayfield-Goderich corridor becomes filled people are moving inland to the central area of the county. The real estate prices are also lower. “There are a number of reasons as to why people are looking at this area,” he said. According to Lobb, a lot of the Baby Boomers from the Golden Stewart. Deputy-reeve Murray Scott stated, “We have no other choice. We have to go ahead.” Councillor Arnold Taylor wondered if some kind of corporate sponsorship was permitted with a Trillium grant. Stewart replied that Trillium also looks at partnerships within the community adding that he hoped they would be able to find organizations and businesses that would help support the project. Taylor suggested that investigation be done through the economic development committee as well. Horseshoe region are beginning to look at this area because the Muskoka region is saturated. Because of the saturation of people in the Muskoka region, prices are skyrocketing so the people are looking at the Huron County area. “They get good value for their money in Huron County,” said Lobb. He noted that as the Bayfield- Goderich area fulls up mostly with retirees, younger people are looking inland for homes. ‘The homes can be substantially not as expensive inland as they are on the lakefront,” he said. Another reason why homes are moving well in Huron County us because this is a rural area and there are not the issues of traffic and smog they have in the more urban areas or the highly travelled vacation areas of Crops in good shape By Bonnie Gropp Citizen editor Despite the cool start to spring, and the dry weather of-recent days, local crops are doing not too badly, says crop specialist Brian Hall. “In general the soil conditions have been good this year which is different than in the past. And there have been a lot more work days. I think we’re going to have better crops because of those good conditions.” Though the cool spring has put the crops about a week behind in development, Hall said the heat of this past week has really advanced the alfalfa and there has been a lot of harvest. 'There was a concern about the quality because of a high protein contest, so some are trying to hold off. If we don’t get the rain the quality should actually be better for optimum feed value.” Quite a bit of com was planted early, and looks good, said Hall. “The corn that was put in in May is excellent.” Soybeans are also off to a good start, however, those that were planted earlier in cool soil are not as uniform. The edible bean planting is about three-quarters complete and emergence has been quite fast. Winter wheat suffered little kill, and while it seems to be a little shorter in the south of the county, Hall says the crop generally looks good to excellent. However, moisture would defintely be a bonus. “We are fortunate that the crops, with the exception of alfalfa are not at the stage where they demand a lot of water so they’re generally doing okay.” Dry weather has meant some delay in bean planting. But it is a bigger problem for apple and strawberry producers. “We are at a critical period for those crops. Some rain would definitely be nice.” in area the province. Lobb indicated the fact that this is a cleaner, less travelled area has been another selling point. Of course, he added, that low interest rates have also helped. “It was the low interest rates which began the whole real estate situation,” he said. Real estate agent Keith Mulvey of Brussels said low interest rates have been a key to houses moving well in the village. Local people are moving tcPother homes within the area, although there has been some interest from outside the area. HPREB president John Frances of Stratford indicated monthly statistics will be available on June 7 and he would not be able to make any comment until he sees those stats.