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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1998-10-14, Page 1Your Community Newspaper Since 1860 Seaforth, Ontario October 14, 1998 -- $1.00 includes GST Amanda Reymer and Sabrina Manuel of the Seaforth Co-operative .Children's Centre were amongst the youngster who filled apple barrels in their entry of the 'Seaforth Agricultural Society's annual Fall Fair Parade. The parade was held Friday mominq to launch the weekend's events. More piictures can be found on Pages A3, A6,112 and A14. CAMPBELL PHOTO Fair full of Seaforth's best tastes as judges try cakes, pies, jams. BY :SCOTT HILGENDORFF' Expositor Editor • Kathleen Siertsema ma) .ample dozens of cakes. cookie. and breads but she never •leave. her judging table feeling full. "I don'i actually swallow am. - said Siertsema. The. Bayfield woman has been judging at area fall fairs for about 15 years now. She. was one of .11 judges who. behind closed doors on -Thursday. selected the breads and cakes that would he displayed ,with top honours at the Seaforth Fall Fait which, opened to the public on Friday and Saturday. "1 don't like to feel foil." said Siertsema. Sitting at a table.. Seaforth Agricultural Societe members bring her plate after plate of cookies and cakes to sample. armed with her own cutting board. spatula. spoon and ruler: a ruler because some cakes have to be baked to a certain site. "Everybody does it differently." she said. Some will swallow what they sample but Siertsema said by spitting it back out. there's less after taste •tr' affect the next sampling. Another tool is a can of gr.tger ale. "It clears your mouth so you can taste the next one,'• said Jean Dunn. another Bayfield judge who has worked with and competed against Siertsema in fall fairs for more than 30 years now. The- competition .in the hotnecrafts and cooking can he tough with entrants who have competed for 'years in some categories.. working to perfect their cakes and preserves. "Some judges have trouble hotter tarts. "It must he really hard if you're judging 'and you didn't like something." she said. In the baking. if one particular taste stands out. like salt or baking soda, it's going to score against the entrant. "If there's no sugar. you can tell that." Siertsema said. • But she's never tasted anything that's made .her wish for anything stronger than ginger ale. Other aspects including the size and shape of the cookies in the category or the uniform shape of the cake can add or take away from it's final standing. So can the smell. Judges will test the aroma of a bread or jar of preserves. Dunn will first smell the preserves before looking for the clarity of the juice, the sweetness and. the appearance. • She takes a small spoon of the preserves and. places it on a plate before taking a portion of that to sample. She spits it into a towel. wipes the plate clean and washes her spoon before each sample. Dunn starts with the jams and jellies, the sweetest of the preserves. "Then I do the pickles. Some of them are so highly spicy you can't get the flavour of the next ones." she said. The only preserves she doesn't care for as much are the salsa's, one of the newest categories at the fair. "They're so highly spiced. That's the last thing 1 do because after that. you can't taste anymore," she said. Jean Dunn samples some preserves as judges set out on the difficult task of selecting winners in this year's Seaforth Agricultural Society Fall Fair's entries. HILGENOORFF PHOTO deciding," said Siertsema. "A lot is your self -preference. If you like something off the bat, that helps you judge." Siertsema likes everything. When she first started, she wasn't fond of raisins but has acquired a taste for them now. Her favourites to judge are ti Wreaths at the Victoria Park cenotaph had replaced die to vandalism. to be HILGENDORFF PHOTO Schools may still be on death row Board meeting is packed by parents with message: `Don't close our schools' BY TTM CuMM1NG Mitchell Advocate Staff Puhlic pressure obtained a last-minute reprieve for some Huron and Perth public schools last Tuesday night but the schools may still he on death row. - Concerned parents and area residents almost filled the 800 -capacity gymnasium of Stratford Northwestern Secondary School to tell trustees. "Don't close our schools." T h e marathon session of the Avon Maitland District School, Board lasted close to three - and -a -half hours and twice required special motions to continue. In the end. the hoard decided it will defer its decision. to list schools for possible closing, until the Oct. 27 meeting when a new North Perth trustee is appointed. The new trustee • is a potential tiebreaker on his or her first day serving as a trustee. Close to 20 delegations expressed common themes to the board: Don't close our schools: Small schools can provide grand education: Big is not always better: Don't make a decision without all the facts: Rural schools are an integral part of the community: 'Don't make a decision in a hurry and: Grade 7s and 8s are too impressionable to be placed in high schools. In regards .to the province's new funding approach, speakers spoke against a 'cookie -cutter' Toronto solution that applies' to everyone equally without consideration for differences between rural and urban areas. Proper decisions can't he made before agreeing on the facts. said Kathi Wurdell, spokesperson for _Upper Thames Elementary School. Mitchell Puhlic School and Mitchell District High; School parent councils. "Without accurate figures how can we work together for alternatives to the drastic measures in this report?" she asked. . Res. Petcr Bush, of Mitchell. speaking on behalf of the Huron -Perth Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church. said the hoard must do, • several things: move . away from rhetoric and pursue the truth about funding: limit any child's school bus ride to 30 -minutes for 45 -minutes for Grade •7 and up): bus town or city children to rural schools and not vice versa and: give any closed schools back to the community for $1. Taking away schools is like taking away a community's identity, he said. "Morally, the school buildings belong to the community in which they stand." he said. The crowd of more than .700 people gave him a standing ovation. The board, for its part, still says it has less than half of the funding the combined Huron and Perth boards had last year for renovation of current buildings. The board estimates it will receive about $2 million for renovation and renewal. compared with $4.6 million last year. "Based on those numbers, the Board cannot afford to maintain the current inventory of buildings, and must consider closing a number of its buildings so as not to redirect scarce funds into building maintenance," CONTINUED on Page 2 `Morally, the school buildings belong to the community in which they stand' --Rev. Peter Bush of Huron -Perth Presbytery. Wreaths at cenotaph damaged by vandals, Legion concerned people ignorant of importance services and are replaced monthly or sooner if they fade or their appearance is affected by the weather. A few years ago. Skillender said a similar problem was occuring. "In the past a finger was broken off the statue," he said. In response to the problems before. the Legion set up a program in area schools with Grade 7 and 8 students. Every two years, students are brought to the Legion where they are shown the collected memorabilia of veterans and are introduced to medal -wearing veterans who fought in World War I1. That way, Skillender said, "They can relate to what they are being told and a child could relate to other living human beings who were there " The idea was to reach the younger students with hopes they would grow up with understanding and reaped for the Legion, veterans and the cenotaph. BY SCOTT HILGENDORFF Expositor Editor Damage is being done to the wreaths at the cenotaph in Victoria Park and the Legion would like it to stop. "Wreaths are being broken apart," said Errol Skillender. "They've been taking them off the crosses and breaking them." Last week, he replaced two of the four wreathes that are placed there in honour of soldiers who have lost their lives in military service for their country. He found one broken in half and another broken in about six pieces and left hanging on the cross in front of the cenotaph. The wreathes are left there year- round with the exception of the day leading up to the Remembrance Day "That seemed to work well," said Skillender. He isn't sure why vandalism is occurring again but has spoken with police. Community Services Officer Don Shropshall said Seaforth officers have already been sent a notice to increase patrols aroung the cenotaph to deter further vandalism. in the past, Shropshall said there used to be a problem with young people hanging out in Victoria Park that could have contributed to situations involving vandalism. Because of the value of the wreaths, someone caught damaging them could be charged with "mischief under $5,000." The maximum penalty for a conviction is a $2,000 fine and six months in jail.