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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1998-11-18, Page 4Your Community Newspaper Since 1860 Terri -Lynn Dale - General Manager/Ad Manager Scott Hilgendorff - Editor Gregor Campbell - Reporter Larry Dalrymple - Soles Pat Armes - Office Manager Dianne McGrath - Subscriptions/Classifieds A Bowes Publishers Community Newspaper 5t1SCRIP11ON RATES 1OCAI - 32.50 o year, in advance, plus 2.28 G 5 T SE148Q& 30 00 o year, in odvonce, plus 2 10 G 5 T USA & forygn 28 44 a year in advance, plus $78.00 postage, G.5 T exempt 5U8SCRIPTFON RATES Published weekly by Signal -Stair Publishing at 100 Mom 5t Seaforth Publication mail registration No 0696 hekfot Seaforth Ontario. Advertising is occepied on condition that in the event of o typographical error the advertising space occupied by the erroneous item together with o reasonable allowance For signature. will not be charged but the balance of the advertisement will be poid For of the applicable rote In the event of a typographical error, odverhu g goods or services at a wrong price, goods or services may not be sold Advertising a merely an offer to sell and may be withdrawn at any hme The Huron Expositor is not responsible For the loss or damage of unsohcrted monuscnph, photos or other materials used for reproduction purposes Changes of address orders for subscriptions and undeliverable copies ore to be sent to The Huron Expositor Wednesday, November 18, 1998 aditerial mad iwiwe.s Oiw.e. - 100 Maio art eell.,seaterl6 1elepkeae 1519) 527.0240 Pan 1519) 527-2650 Melling Address - P.O. lex 69, seaierlh, OMarife, MOIL IWO Member of the Canod.an Community Newspaper Association. Ontario Community Newspapers Assocnahon and the Ontario Press Council Publication Mad Registration No. 07605 Arena not trying to hide anything People are quick to jump to conclusions. When an advertisement announcing the Seaforth District Community Centres' intention to apply for a liquor licence did not appear in The Huron Expositor but the , Clinton News Record instead, people were quick to assume the arena board was hiding what they were up to. An advertisement from the Ontario Gaming Commission, not ,the arena board, was to appear in The Expositor but was sent electronically and could not be received in time for the deadline of that issue. The following week, the commission chose to place the ad in Clinton after arrangements could have been made for it to appear in The Expositor. Arena Manager Graham Nesbitt has been taking heat for something that was out of his control as the public made issue out of the licence application last week. While it seems to have come as a surprise to the community, it's nothing new. The arena board had a public meeting regarding the issue last year, letters have been sent to area organizations about it, signs have been posted at the arena and the decision to pursue a licence has been in arena board minutes approved by council for more than a year. . But... Licence sends wrong message Regardless of when or how, the public has now come aware of the situation and has made it an issue. The liquor licence application for the Seaforth District Community Centres is coming under fire by the Town of Seaforth. the Business Improvement Area, businesses and the Lions Club. Concerns are the ramifications the licence will have to the downtown core. Most of the arguments made by the BIA and town centre on the loss of business. While it is a fair point, another issue is being overlooked. The need to supply beer and drinks at a public facility that is regularly used by youth, under the legal drinking age, deserves some consideration. The BIA does allude to this in its letter of objection to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, which has to approve the licence. The community needs to give that issue a harder look with the potential messages it sends to youth that sports cannot be enjoyed without alcohol; either by the spectators or the athletes after a game. While a message doesn't have to go out opposing drinking, neither does one have to made that further encourages drinking to our youth. STH Alcohol isn't needed at a family oriented facility The following letter was sent to Seaforth District Community Centres and the Ontario Gaming Commission. To Whom It May Concern: I was very surprised to see that the Seaforth Community Centre is applying for a licence to sell liquor. Why do we need this licence? is it in the best interest of the families that use the arena to licence more of the arena so that Letters people can consume alcohol at a hockey game? People who rent the dance hall part of the arena can get the licence they require for their function just fine. Okay worst case scenario, someone is watching the "game" in the licenced area, has a few drinks, gets in their car and starts to leave the parking lot- Now imagine you have your kids with you watching the game. You are leaving the arena when the person from the licenced area is driving out. Your kids are excited about the game and they are talking to you about that. Poof! What happened? Well your child forgot that this was a parking lot because he/she was excited. Now normally that would be okav because people leaving the lot are alert to these things and are driving carefully and slow enough to react to this situation. Ever see someone that's had a few alcoholic drinks heing really alert and able to react to a situation in a split second? Most people who drink and drive feel they are totally "okay" to get in their car and drive. How about we help them with that situation and not offer alcohol at an area that is so family oriented. Sincerely Kim Russell Seaforth Rural communities could change if small pork producers disappear To the Editor: Farming is certainly an exciting occupation and not recommended for the faint of heart. The 1998 growing season once again proved this. It started out early with warm, dry weather, then a late frost, then more dry weather mixed with occasional rain in some areas and more dry weather in other areas that rendered some expensive herbicides less than effective and gave many farmers a reason to re- evaluate their cropping practices. Some crops flourished with occasional rains vyhile others shriveled. Our area did finally get a nice rain in August that likely helped the corn bushel weight but gave the weeds in some soybean fields an even bigger boost. The harvest season was much earlier than normal years. The yields and quality in many cases were better than expected. but some were disastrous. With all this excitement in the 'fields it' was difficult to notice what was going on with the pig prices. However this is even more , exciting. On June 22. 1998 a 235 pound finished pig indexing 109 was worth $157.45. After the crops were harvested. if the same. hog were sold on November, 6. 1998 it would he worth $65.69..iThis includes a 20% drop in the past week.) A farmer finishing pigs would have paid about $50 fot the weaner pigs and spent $50 worth of feed on it. That doesn't count hydro. 'interest. insurance, veterinary expense. building and equipment repairs, trucking. hoard fees, grading fees and GST. (1 hope I didn't miss anvhody. ) At the grocery- store. pork products are selling for the same price in November as in June! As a matter of tact. today the dressed carcass price is $.71/kg whereas in the store bacon is $7.18/kg. loin roast is $11.00/kg. even shoulder roast, is $4.39/k€. I don't work in the packing industry or the retail industry but 1 can tell that these numbers don't add up. A friend that does work in the retail area tells me that there will probably be more "specials" on pork and these will be better bargains. The abattoir that 1 deal with says pork halves. cut. wrapped and frozen. could get dovdn to $1.87/kg. The message here is that consumers should watch for these bargains and fill up their freezers. Meanwhile hack at the farm, things are almost as erratic as the rain this summer. Some pig farmers are losing a lot of money. A lot of pig farmers the last few years have followed the advice of the "experts" (most of whom -don't have a cent invested, and get paid no matter how wrong they are). that told them to expand and supply the world with pork. It turns' out the world c!an't afford all this pork. and right now these farmers are in a lot of trouble. Some . people, reading this will say it' serves them right for being so greedy, and in some cases they may be right. However. in a lot of cases those pip farmers are the hard working. honest people that you may see at the hockey arena helping coach your kids, or sitting on your local council or doing volunteer work for a local service club. They have families to support and bills to pad (lots of them). They are involved in an industry that is being manipulated more and more by forces• that see the fainters and their hard work as a potential source of profit for themselves. In the USA, these types of people have managed to make man\ farmers almost like slave labour running contract Karns. Depending on how long this price slump lasts. these pig farmers are going to need some. help 7''1e forecasters are suggesttn; at least six months of :t prices. One product - suggested that a month of these prices would put him in a big enough hole, that it would take a year of good prices to get out of that hole. Six months would tale him six years. Meanwhile he can• look at the more militant competition over in Quebec. ' they are supposedly guaranteed a floor price of $1.55. Thai -s a' lot heater than 5.71 tor even lower). My biggest concern is that if these pig farmers are allowed to disappear or to be, taken over by large corporations such as feed companies , or foreign integrators. then the local rural communities will change drastically. tor the worse. , David Linton Sensor a ' tration savings could still be found To the Editor • The Avon Maitland District School Board insists that the Huron -Perth Community needs more funds for the operation and renewal of its schools. It is imperative for our community to find those funds using options that do not include closing schools. There have beena number of statements and reports from the AMDSB indicating that all possible cuts to administrative spending have already been made. This cannot possibly be true. The Board has pointed out that four or five senior administrators have retired from the combined Huron and Perth AMDSB. The grapevine reports that savings of about $800,00( have resulted. While this may be a significant amount of money. the savings have not caused the Board to deflect their obsession to close schools.. The Board has consistently refused to acknowledge the possibility that other administrative and overhead savings can be realized in addition to those from this retirement of senior staff. But consider this: according to data supplied by the Board. in 1997 Huron and Perth's combined spending on non -teaching salaries. wages and benefits plus spending on supplies. services. travel and equipment related to non - teaching positions was a whopping 12 to 13 million dollars. Non -instructional spending continued through the January to August. 1998 "Stub Year- at essentially the same rate. The Director's March 31, 1998 Action Report recommending the Adoption of the "Stub Year" budget contains a telling reference to a continuation of all employment statuses in place as of September I. 1997. The Trustees adopted this budget plan in an April 14. 1998 Resolution. In doing so they voted to protect all overlapping, redundant non -teaching jobs associated with the administrative spending of the Board. while setting off to reduce spending by closing schools. The effect of this decision has been an unnecessary burden of stress on the Huron -Perth community. When the Huron and Perth Boards amalgamated. a new school hoard was created with two completely duplicated sets of non - teaching staff. Elementary reasoning cannot but confirm that this new board must have several extra employees 'in the dozen or so twinned administrative departments. The Toronto District School Board has announced plans to cut its non -teaching staff by 50 per cent yet the AMDSB has revealed no plans to cut even a single position. Surely the Board can find the two or three million dollars it says it is short in that whopping 12 to .13 million dollar overhead budget. It is regrettable that some non -teaching jobs must be eliminated, but remember, those jobs are a privilege not a right. Our schools must be kept open at all costs. The privilege of the few must yield to the good of the many. In contrast to the actions of the AMDSB. Huron and Perth's health care sector has made the necessary tough decisions. All 01 the hospitals have remained open. How long have the trustees put us 00 the hook to protect 1997 administrative expenditure levels'' Expenditure levels which are grossly excessive for the now combined Board. 1t is clear where Huron and Perth can find the operation and renewal hinds t0 keep all schools open. The public must demand that our schools be kept open using the option of substantial cuts in administrative spending and 'diverting tate money so saved to school operations and renewal. The trustees have a duty to keep: our schools open. They were not elected to serve the staff. they were elected to serve the public. Charle Smith, P.Eng.. President SDHS Student Success Foundation, Seaforth Kidney Car Program turns old cars into cash Is it time to shoot your mustang? Has your barracuda gone belly up? Has the car of your dreams turned into a nightmare? If you answered yes to any of the above questions then we have a program for you. The Kidney Car Program is a unique and successful fundraising program that recycles unwanted vehicles (cars, trucks, vans, etc.) into a tax deduction for the donor and into much needed funds for The Kidney Foundation of Canada. There are numerous reasons to donate an unused vehicle to The Kidney Foundation. Some of the top reasons are: free removal of your unwanted vehicle; you'll receive a valuable tax receipt; you won't have the hassle of selling the vehicle yourself; clean up the environment by recycling unwanted motor vehicles; you'll feel great knowing that your car will help a friend, family member or neighbour who has kidney disease. The Kidney Car Program results in a win-win situation. The first win goes to the donor who receives a minimum tax- deductible receipt of $75.00, a free tow and removal of an eyesore. The second win goes to the community, because recycling cleans up the environment and keeps the cost of used auto parts down. The third win goes to people living with kidney disease whose health and quality Of life are made better because someone donated a car. If you have a car you want to donate, call the Kidney Car Line at 1-800-565-5511.