HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1996-02-14, Page 1Canada
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Your Community Newspaper Since 1860 — Seaforth, Ontario
Briefly
Black ice blamed
for car accident
A Seaforth Ivan was taken
to Seaforth Community
Hospital following an acci-
dent in Ribber' Township
- last Wednesday.
Schringvillc OPP Const.
Ross Marshall said William
Alin; 51. of Seaforth.---was
attempting_10 pass a slow
moving vehicle on Perth
County Rd 10 near Hibbert
Concession Rd. 12/13 at 4:03
p.m. last Wednesday. He lost
• control on black •ice, left. the
• roadway and rolled.
- Alin and his passenger
Linda Alin. 46, were taken to
Seaforth- Community
Hospital to have their injuries
treated. The Chevrolet roehi
ole' they were driving. was
- demolished. -
Const. Marshall said the
Schringvillc OPp investigat-
ed six -accidents last
Wednesday caused by dri-
vers travelling too fast, for
road conditions. The. ground
drifting resulted in sonic-
,
onic, snow-covered sections on the
roads which were slippery.
Clock to get face lift
The big clock from the old
Mitchell Post Office is going to
be spitted up.
Council recently okayed
- S5,000 worth of work on the
old clock, in mothballs since
the old. post office was torn
down 22 years ago,- and
believed to be close to 125-
ycars-old.
The original • potion came
from Mitchell's Architectural
Conservation Advisory Corn-
mince, and the funds will conic
from a special reserve fund.
Town goes for cash
Seaforth Council decided to.
go for. the cash and modify its
Nevada liccnsc policy at last
Tuesday's meeting - allowing a
Canadian Liver Foundation
application to sell the popular
break -open tickets at the Beck-
er's store on Main Street.
In 1993 council limited the
number of outlets for Nevadas
in town to a dozen, with eight
for local groups, two for
provincial and 'national
beneficiaries and another two
for county groups.
When the liver foundation
applied last • month, Council
asked for more information on
whcrc the funds raised .by the
national group would go, and
noted `only: county and local
categories currently had
• openings.
But ec tic t'tl•} Alcvclopment
officer Cathy Garrick reported
to council last week that
Scaforth's policy could be
deemed discriminatory in
relation to Ontario's licensing
policy and the "Province may
override a municipality's denial
- of a request" and then pocket
the liccnsc fee which would
normally go to Scalor(h, "S576
in this case".
"What's the magic in the
12?" Deputy -Reeve Bill Teall
.said.
Council decided to take the
revenue if it can't control it.
Coun. Michael Hak agreed,
but said this might further cut
up the Itondraising pie and
make it harder for local groups
(for instance. minor hockey),
already trying to keep their
heads above valet-,, to raise
funds.
The rc-submiucd liver 'bun,
dation application noted chap-
ters in London, Chatham and
Sarnia naw service surrounding
communities and counties,
"such as London servicing
Seaforth and Huron County".
Councillors hear presentation on dogs
Town councilto
change pit bull bylaw
ICY (;REGOlt CA141i'IlEll, done.
,
Expositor Staff
Seaforth Conn. il has recon-
sidered an amendment to its
animal control bylaw that
would have made owners of pit
hulls and crosses of the breed
Inutile them in public and pay
a higher SIOO tag fee.
"Vicious" .(logs can still
singled out for muzzling in
public in the bylaw, as it is
now amended • in, preparation
for third leading at this lv.'ek's
Session of Council.
Anita Hansen,. who offers a
seasonal course in do(;
obedience at the arena, made a
presentation at last Tuesday
night's council meeting where
'she used photographs to make
her point oI how difficult it is
to identify the breed, officially
known as an American Star-
fordshirc Terrier• or Stall
fordshirc Bull Ti'errie•r. -
-She said nwnrrs more than
genetics make dogs' vicious,
and supported public controls
.against any canine so deemed.
•But she 'said it was ''trendy" to
pick on pit bulls and wrong to
single ellen) out, as' other
municipalities -in Chi• area have
According to ligures com-
piled by the county and herself,
Hansen said there is .no real
problem with only three pit
bulls in the Seaford.( arca; one
of which is old and on its last
legs. • She added there have
been 987 dog . bites serious
enough to have been reported.
in Huron County in• the last
seven years,- only scvcn of
which were caused by pit bulls.
, Needlessly muzzling pets in
public causes dogs, no matter
what 'the breed, to become
angry and more aggressive,
Hansen argued., „
She said. American Staf-
Iordshirc and Staflordshire Bull
Terriers that have been cared
for and trained properly make
excellent companions and
provide. good protection. • '
Animal Control Officer
Robert Trick incntilined several
troubling pit hull occurrences
in the county recently, not. all
when dogs were being walked
by owners. He stlxnl by statis-
tics that indicate pit hulls cause
-far more -deaths in the United
States than guy other breed.
' Maybe our dugs arc
completely different in
Scbforth," Trick concldded..
Seaforth cuts pins,
trophies from budget
IlY GREGOR CAti1P11E1,1.
Expositor Stall
week.
Cutting back travel expenses
by setting limits for council
and municipal staff, and
• Pin and flag give-aways arc reducing borrowing costs and
gone and So are trophies for general administrative
sports teams dear go all the tinatcrials, will save an' es -
way, bur Seaford' Council timatcd additional—S4,500 in
decided to try medallions in this year's budget.'
Place of the latter at last''fdesCouncil approved same other
day's regular meeting. • cost-cuttng.initiatives it started
. •
Council, continuing a pre- to investigate last month,- such
budget cost-v'utting procss as an increase: in liccnsc and
which began in earnest at last • permit fees, which 11 estimates
month's meetings. will save a total of 59,5(10. For
"We anticipate being able to Nevada fieenses the town's cut
Inset provincial cutbacks is now the maximum .al -
(S64.,000) • withotit much Towable;• three per cern.
trouble," Clerk/treasurer Jim
Crocker said after last week's Eliminating a 1998 election
most -recent round of municipal-, bar and dinner from the budget
cuts. will save an estimated $1,250.
The vine Orr eliminating The town alsoapproVed tying
trophies to winning sports _ PUC rent to inflation.
(cams was tied, so Mayor Irwin Reducing the number of
Johnston was the deciding vote council meetings in the sum -
as council opted to give chant- flier, and perhaps next Decem-
pionship medallions a try bcr, will also save an estimated
instead. The) don't cost as, $1,650.
much. Council still can't quite make
Earlier council had eliminated up its mind what to do with the
town pin and flag give-aways, • suggestion to eliminate Canada
which will further save an Day fireworks at a possible
estimated S1,500. . savings of $2,300. It decided to
New suggestions were ap- leave this until later in the
proved that will .result in es- budget process.
inflated savings of S14,050. Recreation director Marty
Rather than have the public Bedard said he felt there was
utility commission collect room to "save the. town's. sum -
sewer surcharges in Seaforth, mer recreation program, in co -
council decided• it will now operationwith the local'
include the surcharge in its chimren's centre which wrote a
final two tax notices, thereby leiter of concern. Councillors
saving the estimated S5,000 the • agreed this was still a pos-
town now pays the PUC an- sibility, that they had only
nually to collect it. agreed. to eliminate the
Council estimates it will save program's 1995 deficit of about
S5,(XX) by eliminating summer $9,000 at last month's
office help, also approved last meetings.
Class raising money for computer
A class at Seaforth District
High School is pounding the
pavement locally trying to raise
money beyond the budget for a
new computer.
1 he Challenging Learning
Needs (CLN) class formulated
a business plan last month and.
the nine students arc now col-
lecting fine paper and pop
cans, sorting and crushing them
to cash in at an arca recycling
depot.
The local youths, ages 14 to
21, are learning challenged.
Teacher Karen Joy says com-
munity contact, both ways, is a
valuable offshoot of the exer-
cise.
Anyope who might be sur-.
rounded by fine paper and cans
they can do without, can reach
her through the school.
e•
February 14, 1996 — 75 Cents Plus GST
DAVID SCOTT PHOTO
A NEW COAT OF PAINT . Members of the Seaforth and District Youth Group recently vol-
unteered to help clean and paint the facilities of the new Seaforth Food Bank located in the
back alley of the police station, where a former temporary station was set up. From left:
'Amanda Manuel, Kristie Moran, Nicole Crawford, Brad Crawford. The food bank's board
will have a representative from each of the local churches on it. Many donations of supplies
have already beeh received from local businesses including old book shelves from the
library to store the food on. Organizers are looking at the end of the month as a possible.
opening date. '
It's . o fficial!
Dashwood area site
to host IPM in 1999
BY PATRICK RAFTIS
SSP NEWS STAFF
. It's official! The last International Plowing Match of the mil-
lennium will be,hetd at a southern Huron County -site hear
Dashwood. '
The Ontario Plowmen's Association accepted Huron's bid,
the only one on the table, to act as hoar for the 1999 IPM at it's
annual convention, Monday night in Kitchener. A strong dele-
gation from Huron County was on hand at the meeting to sup-
port the bid, saki Fari Becker, who's farm north of Dashwood
will be the host site of the '99 match.
"We're pretty excited said Becker, who will host the match
along with his partner, son Michael, on the family's cash crop
farm, which covers nearly 2,000 acres, (about 1,200 to 1,300
rented from neighbors).
While that seems like plenty of room, Becker saidea plowing
match requires a lot of land. The tented city traditionally takes
up about 100 acres, with another 100 acres set aside for camp-
sites. Parking requires about 3-400 acres, with about the same
amount needed far plowing. Then theme are space require-_
ments for machinery demonstrations and displays.
"First thing you know, you've got 1,2000 acres," said
Becker.
Becker said the match will be a total community effort,
involving some 30 canmiuees working on preparations over
the next three years. A plowing match can draw as many as
150.000 to 175,000 people said Becker. providing economic
spin-offs to the entire;*a.
it's going tb put this area, Dashwood, Zurich and Hay, on
the map," said Becker.
$30,000 worth of
BIA bucks sold
Kevin Cardno and Jason
Wheatley have both been
appointed to the Seaforth
Business Improvement As-
stk•iation advertising and
promotions committee.
Cardno has also been
Q appointed to the BiA's
executive committee.
The committee is
recommending a zero per
cent budget increase this
year as compared to last to
' the BIA's annual meeting
next month.
The Seaforth Bucks
Christmas promotion was
described as "fabulous" by
BIA secretary Cathy Garrick
with S30,000 worth sold
with 54 per cent, or S16,315
redeemed at 29 businesses.
'Another $13,685, or 46 per
cent, were redeemed at
businesses "that cannot be
identified".
The committee says .there
arc 81 businesses/offices in
the Seaforth BIA and 26 of
these are government offices
or services where Seaforth
Bucks were unlikely to be
redeemed (ie. library, post
office, financial institutions
etc.).
It concluded 29 out of 53
businesses "could be
identified as benefiting from
the BIA Buck program, and
"the majority of the
customers who purchased
(them) were from the
Scafonh area, people who
would normally shop and
bank in Seaforth."