HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1998-12-23, Page 1Your Community Newspaper Since 1860 — Seaforth, Ontario
December 23, 1998 $1.00 includes GST
(Above) David Bolton looks a little like Rudolph for Walton
Public School's Christmas concert last week while students in
Grade 1/2 at Seaforth Public School performed their own
version of the Twelve Days of Christmas, giant candy canes
and all. CAMPBELL AND HILGENDORFF PHOTOS
Hard times
led to best
Christmas
memory
BY SCOTT HILGENDORFF'
Expositor Editor
It was Christmas time during the depression and Agnes
McClinchey's husband, Gametic still recovering from a
serious surgery that had left him in the hospital for three
months.
He had only been home about a week before the
holidays.
It also left Agnes with no source of income for the five
children they had at that time.
Until he became sick, Garnet had worked for Jackson
Brothers, a farm in Tuckersmith Township.
Christmas was fast approaching and the family was
surviving on welfare, ordering their allotment of groceries
each week and no more.
"I was wondering what 1 was going to do for Christmas
that year." she said. now living in Seaforth Manor
Retirement Home.
The memory of what transformed that Christmas into
ohe of her best holiday memories still brings tears to her
eyes.
Agnes remembers being surprised when the entire
Jackson family came to her Egmondville home.
She had her smallest child. a hahv on her knee when
they came in. "The one Jackson hent down and scooped
that child in his arms as if to say. 'If only I had that
child,'" she said. remembering how kindly they treated the
children.
"They brought us the most wonderful things." she said.
"For the kids, it was wonderful. They brought toys and
treats."
There were gifts like toy trucks and treats for all the
children.
"My kids had a big time with those toys," she said.
"The kids were so excited."
She said they struggled for so long as a young family.
moving hack and forth between their parents houses
before settling in Egmondville.
She has outlived the members of the Jackson family
who helped give her one of the hest Christmas memories
but looks back fondly at the family.
"They were really good people," she said.
She hopes when others receive help they need, they
appreciate as much as she did the help from the Jacksons.
Remember the reindeer
When she was eight years old, Louella Montgomery of
Seaforth Manor Nursing Horne remembers a sleigh ride
with real reindeer.
It was sometime before Christmas and she was living in
Harpurhey.
A family in Blyth had reindeer and drove them by sled
from Blyth to Harpurhey where her father had asked them
to come to treat the children to a ride.
Louella and her four brothers and sisters were taken by
CONTINUED on Page 10
Pork producers share horror stories at meeting
BY TIM CUMMING
Mitchell Advocate Staff
More than 550 pork producers
crowded into the Mitchell &
District Community Centre on
Thursday night to share horror
stories about the state of the hog
industry.
The price for hogs is
continuing its crash to
unprecedented lows leaving
many producers to wonder about
the future of the family farm and
the emotional state of their
neighbours.
Producers stressed the need
for a united front but by the end
of the marathon four-hour
meeting many farmers were
arguing different solutions to the
crisis.
Zurich -area farmer Jody
Durand convinced the crowd to
support a motion to legislate
striking packing plant employees
back to work but other motions,
to put a floor price on pork and a
moratorium on new sow barns
fell flat as farmers disagreed
about the specifics of the
proposals and whether an
information meeting was the
forum to decide the future of the
pork industry.
The Chief Executive Officer
of Ontario Pork, Paul Knechtel,
cautioned producers not to leave
the meeting divided.
"My concern would he if
everybody calls their local
member of parliament and
spouts different ideas," he said.
"What message is that going to
send? Are we talking as an
industry united or an industry
divided?"
Although
some
pork
producers said they wanted
loans, not hand-outs, at least one
farmer said producers don't need
higher loans.
"I don't think we need to be
ashamed," said John Colyn, a
Vineland pork producer. "(Let's)
ask for a little help here."
Farmer Tony DeGroot, of
Kinkora, asked how much
money a farmer will receive
under recently -announced
government relief programs.
"Do you have any idea what
he's going to get, how much can
we look for to keep farming,
especially the family farm?"
Ontario's farm relief funds
will be based on the entire
income of a farm, including all
commodities, said David Hope,
Director of Policy Analysis
Branch, Ontario Ministry of
Food, Agriculture and Rural
Affairs (OMAFRA) in Guelph.
He didn't guess how much
farmers would receive. saying
there would be as many different
figures as farmers in the room.
Many people in the crowd
criticized the provincial and
federal relief programs as far too
little to help them for a long
length of time.
Hope said similar relief plans
have been in place in provinces
such as Alberta for three years.
Although details still have to be
worked out there will likely•be a
cap on the amount of relief a
single farm can receive, Hope
said.
Some farmers wanted to know
if they'd have to use all their Net
Income Stabilization Account
(NISA) funds before being
eligible for relief. Hope said
CSIKUNUER onPage 2