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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2001-08-08, Page 1August 8, 2001 $1 (includes GSI) AMANDA POPPE Travel Planner WINTER BROCHURES NOW IN! Stop by and pick one up. Early hooking discounts are available r,.... I*aM C.M.' TPI TRAVEL SEAFORTH arterio RgNion 101871€65 43 Main St., 527-2062 Email: tpic4th O tcc.on.ca In Vanastra Vanastra hosts Community Day' By Dave Emilie Gijnton News -Record Staff The people of Vanastra will gather together Saturday to celebrate their seventh annual Vanastra Conununity Day. The seventh annual community day, explained Coby Amoraal, who is working on publicity for Saturday's events, also falls in the year the Vanastra community marks its 60th birthday. With the loss of both Vanastra's school and the Tuckersmith Municipal Office, Amoraal said there is the need to build community in Vanastra, and that is one goal of the community day. "We're just trying to gather the community together," she said. "It's for the community. We're really trying to build community." Events will get underway this Saturday, Aug. 11, with the community -wide yard sale. The sale is set to begin at 7 a.m., and interest in the event appears to be high. Amoraal noted that those with sales are being invited to sign up at the Vanastra Country Market, so that those taking in the sales will know where to look, and static', "We've heard quite a few people have signed up there." Another familiar event, the bicycle rodeo for local children, will get underway at 8:30 a.m. at the Vanastra Community Church. There, the children will view' videos provided by the Ontario Provincial Police, before heading over to the parking lot of the old school to take part in the rodeo. While the rodeo kicks off, children who are waiting for their turn can take part in the Kids Karnival or have their faces painted. At the Karnival, Amoraal explained, children can win coupons playing a variety of different games, which they can then put towards the prize of their choice. Adults can also get into the prize winning fun by participating in a return See COMMUNITY, Page S Inside... Blood clinic breaks quota.. Page 5 P4744 New Huron East Sag noised... Page 10 Widen, management picn Page 11 Dry weather destroys yield Wheat crop only positive experience for farmers By Scott Hilgendorff Expositor Editor While corn in Huron County has not been plowed under like it has in some isolated areas near Waterloo and Toronto, local farmers are now facing an overall loss this year. And soybean producers are not far behind as continued dry weather has cut short the flowering period for the crop by two weeks. "For individual producers, it's a disaster," said Peter Johnson a soil and crop specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. "There is corn near Baden they are discing down," he said, adding that while the situation is not as severe in Huron and Perth County, most farmers are still in serious trouble. Many fields have now gone more than 40 days without rain. "It's impossible for me to say what the average yield is going to be," said Johnson, although an anticipated provincial yield of about 125 bushels per acre is now being dropped to about 110. Johnson said to a • .f • Scott Hilgendorff photo Warren Beuerman operates the tractor while Robert Kenney stacks bales as they collect straw in a dry McKillop field,following a wheat harvest that produced better-than-expected yields while the remaining crops are now suffering from lack of rain. consumer, that may not seem like a significant loss but when the profit level for a farmer is on 10 bushels per acre, many farmers will be facing a loss this year. "Most producers, we are looking at between 80 and 120 bushels of corn," said Johnson. Spotty rain more than two weeks ago helped improve the yields of some area corn crops heading into the pollination period but not everyone received enough rain to help. Johnson, who is trying to remain optimistic about the situation, said the problem is still getting worse. "As long as we have this high heat and no rain, we are going to keep losing bushels," he said. Even if it was to rain tomorrow, Johnson said it won't matter now for five per cent of the province's corn crop. The season started out with ideal planting conditions and an optimistic outlook but Johnson said now, some farmers who did not take out crop insurance this year will not recover from the loss. But the situation continues to worsen as the soybean crop heads into its critical stage of development. Already, one third of the soybean crop has stopped flowering when it should continue to flower until mid- August. "We're losing two weeks of flowering on that soybean crop," said Johnson. "That could mean a 25 per cent yield reduction in the severely drought stressed fields." If rain had fallen yesterday, soybean producers could expect an average of 35 bushels per acre instead of the anticipated provincial average of 40. See INSECTS, Page 5 and badly needed to keep industries By Susan Hundertmark Expositor Staff Seaforth is losing one industry and could lose a second if more industrial land isn't found to accommodate a planned expansion. Seaforth's Huron Plastics Limited is beginning to build in Clinton this fall with plans to move there gradually over the next few years. Owner Terry McGuire says he made the "tough decision" to go to Clinton after searching for land in Seaforth for a year and a half to expand his manufacturing business. "It's a touchy situation. I've been in Seaforth for 10 years and I looked in Seaforth for land for a number of years but council couldn't find me any suitable land," says McGuire. He says the land Huron East council suggested might work needed seven or eight feet of landfill before it could accommodate a building and was too expensive. "I approached Clinton and they gave us a good deal on land. I had hoped Seaforth would come up with something," he says. As well, Sun -North Systems Ltd. may have to consider leaving Seaforth when an expanded factory becomes necessary next year. "We've been looking for land for three years and we'd prefer to find land in Seaforth but if that's not possible, we may have to consider moving. We would like not to move but I'm not saying we won't," says Sun - North's CEO Monica Quoted 'It's a touchy situation. I've been in Seaforth for 10 ytars and I looked in Seaforth for land for a number of years but council couldn't find me any suitable • land,' -- Terry McGuire, owner of Huron Plastics. Bowden. Sun -North, which makes ventilation products for livestock, employs about 30 people in Seaforth, where it has been located since 1988. Bowden says Sun -North has a growth rate of 35 per cent a year and has grown steadily, tripling its size since it built at its present location on Railway Street four years ago. Huron East Deputy -Mayor Bernie MacLellan says council tried to find land for Sun -North, which it was willing to service, but the company wasn't willing to pay the cost of the land. "We were going to do all the work for them purchase, dividing lots and extending services - but they wanted to buy it under cost. If they're doing so well they need to expand, they shouldn't have to be subsidized by local taxpayers. We're doing everything we can but not on the backs of the taxpayers," says MacLellan. However, Bowden say the land Huron East found for Sun -North was a "significantly higher" price than figures the town quoted when it began its search a year before, with the biggest problem being that Huron East acctually wanted Sun - North to pay to service the land. "I'm not sure what the figures were but they were not close to what we had budgeted. And, when you See SEAFORTH, Page S Japanese students return home after experiencing Seaforth life `I 4 0 r a. 4, ,..4 f .iii ... Lr• Susan Hundertmark photo Carly Piett grimaces while she and Wil Shepherd sample Japanese green tea at a recent farewell barbecue. By Scott Hilgendorff Expositor Editor With a little bit of ketchup, mashed potatoes really aren't that bad. Or at least that's what some of the 15 students who visited Seaforth July 18 to Aug. 1 discovered. That was just one of the new experiences for the students, brought to Seaforth through a trip arranged by Andrea Ribey, who had returned to town earlier this year after teaching English at a school in Japan. "A lot of them found the food very different. Things like mashed potatoes, they'd never seen before," said Ribey. While hamburgers and hotdogs were not unheard of in their native land, many traditional meat and potato -style meals were unusual to the students who lived with local families to learn more English and about life in Ribey's culture. Part of their trip See MEAT, Pogo 2 Your community newspaper since 1860