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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1995-09-13, Page 1Briefly Prominent cattleman to speak locally A well-known cattleman will speak at the Fairgrounds in Seaforth later this month, on wrap-up night of the Huron County Beef Producers' As- sociation Carcass competition. Charlie Gracey, now an Ot- tawa beef industry consultant, will be speaking at the event Sept. 27 starting at 7 p.m. The two-part competition begins with a live animal evaluation tonight, Sept. 13, at the Brussels Stockyards at 7 p.m. The final evening in Seaforth in two weeks will include a slide presentation. The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food and Rural Affairs resource person will be beef advisor Cheryl Russworm of Walkerton. Weigh and crud inspector Bil� McKill and ultra -sound tecft-� nician ScoU Bothwell will be the guest speakers at Brussels on tonight's opening of the fifth -annual competition. There is no admission charge either night. Prizes will be awarded to top finishers in both the steer and heifer clas- ses. Beef industry represen- tatives will exhibit. There are 24 entries this year. Each carcass will be photographed in live and in carcass form to show producers what lies under the hide. Students swap schools Students at St. Columban School and St. Patrick's School have swapped facil- ities this year. The primary grades used to be at St. Columban School but now are housed at the Dublin school, while the junior to intermediate grades have left behind their old classrooms and moved to St. Columban. The switch was made because the St. Columban School has facilities better suited to the older grades, said John McCauley, superin- tendent of the Huron -Perth County Roman Catholic Sep- arate School Board. A Works Ontario grant allowed the school to build a new "gymnatorium" with change rooms, and add three new classrooms. St. Patrick's gymnasium is smaller and suitable for primary students, he said. The recent growth in the junior and intermediate grades population also made the switch necessary, McCauley said. Treated by the board as one consolidated school, St. Columban and St. Patrick's share a principal, Ed Cappelli, and have many joint activ- ities. "The same families, the same communities arc served by the two schools," McCauley said. INDEX Marty Bedard...p. 15 Sports...p. 8 "Your community newspaper since 1860...serving Seaforth, Dublin, Hensall, Walton, Brussels and surrounding communities." REMEMBERING A long -serving lawyer who lived to be 105 was from Seaforth. see page two POLICE Police Chief back to work... this time on two wheels. see page three LAW Legal Aid is in crisis, says an area Puppies abandoned at clinic BY GREGOR CAMPBELL Expositor Staff They would probably have been better off never born. Life can be rough on little puppies. And the fun and games ap- pear to be over for a half - frozen litter of eight, most found shivering on the steps of the Seaforth Veterinary Clinic early Saturday morning. It was. a cold night, frost was widespread and more than a few uncovered tomatoes left on the vine around Scaforth went down for the count. At first Deb Braun, an animal health techinician who was coming on shift at the local vet clinic, thought there were only four puppies. They were by cardboard boxes it looks like they arrived in, huddling in a few rays of early sunshine by the front door. But there were four more trying to stay warm hiding in the bushes. - It doesn't matter that the abandoned pups are all cute as a button. The people who le diem did them no favour. "They might as well have left them on the side of the road," Braun says. "We'll try as hard as we can. There is,no way we could find all of them a home." Some may have to be "put down", which are nicc words that mean killed. She says people should spcnd $130 to have their dogs spayed, indeed all pets should be neutered to prevent hard realities and such sad conse- quences. "We get really frustrated," Braun says. "If you can afford to buy them food you can afford to have them spayed." Meanwhile the local vet clinic has more than one set of hands full. It took four people to get the pups, some still shivering, in one place long enough to pose for a picture Monday. The pups are probably a A DOG'S LIFE - Isn't all it's cracked up to be for eight pup- pies who were left on the step outside the Seaforth Veterinary Clinic in the frosty sub -zero temperatures Friday night. The pups will have to be put down if the clinic can't find a home for them in 10 days. Animal health technician cross between a lab and border collie, from eight to nine -weeks old and just getting out of the "cute little puppy stage", star- ting to chew on slippers and doing what puppies full of energy tend to do. The clinic says the Humane Society may or may not be able to take one or two of the luckless pups, but definitely not all. This puppy gang has about a GREGOR CAMPBELL PHOTO Debbie Braun says owners who love their pets should pay the price to get them spayed. From left: Dr. Alex Wilson, Christine Griffith, Rose VanMiltenburg, Debbie Braun, and the abandoned "puppy gang". 10 -days reprieve, a stay of execution, before the inevitable next step. If anybody has a place in their home or hearts for one or more of them, and maybe some MP says critics 'grasping at straws' By Patrick Raftis SSP News Staff Huron -Bruce MP Paul Steckle says he has no inten- tion of opting out of the parlia- mentary pension, should he remain in office long enough to qualify for it. Steckle, who was elected in 1993, would have to be re- elected in the next federal elec- tion in order to be in office the minimum six years required to qualify for a pension. He was responding to demands from the local Reform Party Riding association and the National Citizen's Coalition, that he "conduct a survey to find out the will of his constituents about whether they think he should opt out of the rich MP pension plan, then act accord- ing to their direction." Steckle said he, like all other MP's, has already taken a 20 per cent cut in potential pen- sion benefits under legislation passed by the Liberal govern- ment, which also imposed a minimum age of 55 begin col- lecting (formerly, there was no minimum age). "I didn't run for a pension plan," said Steckle. However, he noted he has no pension plan from his previous employment (as a farm machinery sale)tman akC.G. Farm Supply in Zurich), which he gave up after 21 years to run for office in 1993. PAUL STECKLE will keep pension. A Reform Party press release says the Liberal pension bill "grandfathers all MPs re-elect- ed in 1993 to the old super -rich pension plan. Sheila 'Copps will get 52.5 million, Svend Robinson will get $3.5 million and Jean Charest will get $4.5 million if they live to 75. New MPs like Steckle will get a slightly reduced payout, but the plan still contains inflation - proof full indexing and a four per cent annual growth rate....way above the legal lim- its of private pension law. if he gets in just six years of service, Steckle will pocket over $1.5 million by age 75." The release goes on to point out MPs can opt out and do a regular RRSP "just like their constituents," and calls for Steckle to "act again according 10 his constituents' wishes (as they say he did on the gun bill) and opt out of this money grab." However, Steckle, who said his controversial stance against his own party's recent gun con- trol legislation was motivated by his interpretation of the opinion of the majority of his constituents, said riding resi- dents aren't calling for him to give up his pension. - - "I have not had one person say to me, 'You are a person who's living high on the hog.' Oh, some of them kid me about it, then they say 'I wouldn't take your job for twice the money — twice the pension," he said. Steckle said the Reform Party, with members who have opted out of the plan, are "grasping at straws," in their search for an issue. He said the Reform Party has suggested revamping the MP pay scale to eliminate tax free allowances and other bonus payment methods and bring in a flat salary of $150,000 a year. "Fine. Pay me $150,000 a year and I'll give up my pen- sion," said Steckle. "Ask David Somerville (pres- ident of the National Citizens' Coalition) what his salary is — what his pension is? And he doesn't do his job seven days a week. I love my job and I'm doing my job seven days a week and I'm going to seek this job again (in the next fed- erlI election)," said Steckle. However, he then amended his statement to indicate he usual- ly attempts to take Sundays off but still often ends up dis- cussing political issues with constituents when he goes out for dinner or other social occa- sions. Steckle said he felt the former system, under which an MP could be elected at age 22 and come out six years later at age 28 with a pension for life was "wrong." However, he feels the Liberal's pension reforms have corrected the situation. "The only mistake we made was not changing it immedi- ately, the day after taking office," he said. Company lays off staff Dashwood Industrie, has tinues to be seriously affected announced the immediate by the slow turnaround in new layoff of 24 employees, most housing; general manner of them at its Centralia plant. Tom Murphy says. "The window industry con - old . slippers they don't really need, they should contact the Seaforth Veterinary Clinic before a week from this Friday, Sept. 22. The number is 527-1760. Reduction in trustee numbers possible if boards amalgamated BY AMY NEILANDS CLINTON - The number of school board trustees would be reduced by about two-thirds in Huron and Perth Counties if the recommendations on amal- gamation of a provincial task force released last week are implemented. The report recommends the Huron board become one with the neighboring Perth board The Huron County board continues to voice its op- position against the recommen- dation. The board does not feel that this recommendation is "the most appropriate solution for reducing the cost of education," stated a press release from Board Chair Roltanne Brown. But the Huron board stated that they do believe that partnerships with other school boards is where the real savings are, rather than full amalgamation of school boards as proposed in the report by task force chair John Sweeney. The Huron board has already shown efforts of partnerships in collaborating with the Huron - Perth Roman Catholic Separate School Board and the Perth County Board of Education. The three boards have already established a tri -board steering committee to explore further cooperative options. With a proposed reduction of school boards by 40 to 50 per see Amalgamations, page 15