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Home My WebLink AboutThe Huron Expositor, 1996-01-03, Page 4Museum New air force museum being planned for Vanastra. see page 3 World Champion Lorne fell of SiafTa continues his reign as champion white bean grower. see page 3 ositor Your Community Newspaper Since 1860 — Seaforth, Ontario Rabid skunks still problem in Seaforth Rabid skunks to se a problcin in our of fivc' sku Seaforth and the late arca in re t Weeks have tested positive - forrabies-, District Veterinarian - Dan DeWit said Tuesday morning. He said this is a high percentage, and agreed residents should be eon- ccrncd but not panic. Two skunks • were dispatched on Dcc. 27 and 28, one killed at the north end of town near the high school and the other to'the south near the Co-op. Both . tested positive for rabies. Two of thc three skunks shot before Christmas in the arca also definitely were rabid. One of these was in Harpuncey and thettcr two on Goderich St West, one on public scfproperty. DeWit say. skunks arc nocturnal animals and. daytime sightings usually indicate sick animals, al- though not necessarily rabid. The district -vet • says parents should warn children about playing with small black . and white animals they might first think were cats. He says owners should also make sure their pets' vaccinations arc up-to-date, an almost 1(X0 per cent effective way of protecting them. . Any skunk , sightings should be reported to Town ' Hall during office hours, otherwise provincial police should be notified. County, town receive cuts Seaforth and Huron Coun- ty both received details in the mail early this week. from .Queen's Park in Toronto on their respective reduction in grants, for the new year, their portion of a .5657 -million cut in funds for all -Ontario municipalities previously announced by a provincial government intent on brin-, ging its enormous deficit under control. 1t is about a 51.1 -million cut for Huron, equal to about 22.8 per cent, says county treasurer Kcn Nix who got the details in Tiles - day morning's mail. 'He says it is about what Huron was expecting. Last year the county got S4,923,000 in grants from this province but the figure this year will *be about 53,801,382, down exactly S1,122,000. Clerk/, Administrator Jim Crocker saysthe block funding cut is also about what Scaforth expected, and works out to 563,863, brin- ging this town's 1996 provincial grant figure down to $359,932. Last ycar Seafonh received $423,975 in grants from Ontario. No drugs in search No drugs were found in a random search by police at Mitchell's high school, the day before classes were dismissed for the holidays. Pour trained ,dogs, from . the Samia police and On- tario Provincial Police detachments at Mt. Forest,. Barrie and London, and seven officers were .in- volved in the raid. January 3, 1996 - 75 Cents Plus GST Local municipalities to meet on amalgamation BY G.REGOR CAMPBELL* Expositor Staff Christmas is_ over, but some Surrounding municipalities will sit down in Scaforth this week and "talk *turkey" about pos- sibly sharing services and maybe amalgamating . before the Ontario government, Vying, to get our fiscal house in order, perhaps does it for them. Mayor Irwin Johnston says representatives from Scaforth, Clinton, and the townships of Tuckersmith, McKillop, I -Julien and Hibbert will meet in a closed session at Town Hall Thursday nifht. "We just want to find out• whether there is some common ground that we might- be able to work on... just throw around some ideas and sec if we co'mc to some 'kind,of agreement on. some points," says Mayor Johnston. • The initiative -was. launched by the Seafonh mayor at the first council meeting in Deem - her, who said Seaforth should "break the ice" and put __ out feelers on possible I'uttire amal- gamation in light of the provin- cial government's "Omnibus" - Bill . 26, which if passed. as expected in late January will streamline civic governmenti, save taxpayers money and -force many municipalities in Ontario towards amalgamation or increased sharing of ser- vices. Other municipalities across the province arc also exploring amalgamation, for. instance Exeter and Stephen Township. Seaforth and some surroun- ding municipalities already share fire and arena services. Huron County Planner Gary , Davidson, who .attended the Seaforth council meeting when discussion on amalgamation arose, •at that time said the Ontario government favours • a one -tier system of • regional • civic government and feels 26 municipalities in Huron "is too many" to deal with. • Year of change ahead BY AMY NFILANDS ` -SSP News Staff From a year of unccn tintics in 1995, thc Hurort. County Board of Education (HCBE) is looking to a year of change in 1996: "There were so many unccr-, taintics," said board chair Roxanne Brown reflecting on 1995, 'adding that the board was unsure of what changes would. come down from the province. The year of 1995 brought recommendations from the Royal Commission on Learning, thc possibility of amalgamation with - other boards and -Cuts to funding. None have been implemental as of yet, making it .hard . for theboard to plan for the future, particularly, said Brown, with the uncertainty of where the province will make cuts in funding. • The issue of amalgamation is - "still up in th_c air," stated Brown, adding that • the new• government, elected in June, is still •!poking at this possibility • initiated by the previous government. "los frustrating not really knowing." If the Huron and Perth school boards were arhalgamatcd, "we'll have a -lot of work to do over the next two years," said Brown, explaining that amalgamation would not take affect until the -_ 1998. municipal elections. But despite the possibility of ental- • gamation, both Huron and Perth, along with the Huron - Perth Roman Catholic Separate School board, have already • begun working together to look at ways of collaborating ser • - vices. The three boards have established a tri -board commit- tee to look at these pos- sibilities, but Brown said it has . Continued on page, 2 , Happy New Year - 100 years ago ew Year's Baby DAVID SCOTT PHOTO FIRST BABY OF 1996 - Michael anti Sherri McIntyre, of RR 1 Brucefield, are the proud parents of a 6 -pound, 10 -ounce baby girl, yet unnamed as of press time, who was born at 2 a.m. on January 1 at Seaforth Community Hospital making her the first baby born in mid- western Ontario out of 113 hospitals. She is a sister for two-year okl twins Jesse and Cody. Hospital goes smoke-free in 1995 Continued from last week JULY 5 Seaforth Community Hospital decides to become smoke free by the start of August. Its board of directors makes the move after determining it would cost 56,000 toupgrade the local hospital's lone smoking arca to strict air ven- tilation . standards that will come into law at the start of January. •• After 30 years of teaching, Principal Don Tremeer retires at Seaforth Public School, after 30 years of teaching. National Hockey League linesman Scott Driscoll, a Seaforth native, is the guest speaker at the Grade 8 graduation banquet at the school. JULY 12 Two Bruce field - area bicyclists raise money for Children's Aid Societies. Shane McPhee and Manny DeSousa of RR 1 Brucefield complete fund-raising ride from Thunder Bay. • • Sales arc booming in the midst of a muggy heat wave out back of a Spading Street residence, where the Huron Ice Company • Inc. keeps cooling off a hot and growing re nal market. Owner Kurt St k says the 20 -year-old Seaforth company is now quietly producing at capacity, putting. out about 40,(XX) pounds of ice daily. JULY 19 Seafonh and arca escapes relatively unscathed from a vicious wind storm that causes millions of dollars in damages in Goderich and along Lake Huron, a mere 30 minutes away. Big trees are down in Tuckersmith Township and tumbling trees topple and break tombstones at Maitland Bank Cemetery in McKillop in the wake of the storm, which hit early in the evening of Thursday, July 13. ••• The Seaforth Golf and Country Club hosts the Ontario Ladies Junior Golf Champion - Continued on page 2 ?ORTH, FRIDAY ay J ▪ I .IANC.tRT 114114. �su•lEEftR 1896 BABY - This front page of The Huron Expositor from exactly 100 years ago to the day featured the symbolic New Year's baby floating high above the. Town of Seaforth. •