Huron Expositor, 2002-08-14, Page 3r -'s�+. •=i► '�wi'+s .i�+.G.. ,,-,-'M
PM,4.614.
August 29, 2001
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(includes GST)
In brief
No local
West Nile
birds
found
Announcements that there
are now several birds from
Southern Ontario possibly
infected with West Nile
Virus prompts a call for
action.
The Huron County Health
Unit urges residents to report
dead jays and crows, to
"drain the raid" once a week
from outdoor containers and
to protect themselves from
mosquito bites.
"Our community needs to
increase surveillance
activities," says Craig
Metzger, resource services
division manager at the
Huron County Health Unit.
"We need the public to
help with surveillance by
reporting dead jays and
crows to the health unit."
Anyone who sees a dead
jay or crow is urged to call
the health unit at 482-3416
(or 1-877-837-6143 if long
distance).
Given the recent rainfall,
residents are also reminded
to "drain the rain" once a
week from outdoor
containers to reduce the
number of mosquitoes.
Metzger also suggests that
people protect themselves
from mosquito bites by
staying indoors between
dusk and early morning.
"If you are going to be
outside between dusk and
dawn or if you are going
into long grass or wooded
areas, try to wear light
coloured clothing with long
sleeves and pants, wear
socks and apply an insect
repellant with five to 10 per
cent DEET," Metzger
recommends.
Products with DEET
should be used according to
the directions on the bottle
and should NOT be used on
children under two years of
age.
The crow from Windsor
and the blue jay from
Oakville have been sent to
Winnipeg for more tests to
confirm whether they are
West Nile Virus positive or
not. This will take about two
weeks.
To date, no human cases
of the West Nile Virus have
been found in Ontario. The
health unit will inform the
public when more
information is available.
For more information
about protecting yourself
from mosquito bites and
"draining the rain" to reduce
mosquito breeding sites, call
the Huron County Health
Unit or visit its website at
www.srhip.odhchu.
Inside...
Lawn bowlers
take to
Pogo
TheHuronCottttly
Ftaks tgM arch
Pogs 6
Centenaires fate to be decided
Arena board was to determine last night if Cents could have ice
as team struggles to pay off debt owed for ice time
By Scott Hilgendorff
Expositor Editor
The fate of the in -debt
Seaforth Junior D
Centenaires was expected to
be decided last night at a
special meeting of the
Seaforth and Dis.trict
Community Centres board.
"We will lose a Junior D
team if we aren't able to
come to some sort of a deal
with the arena board," said
general manager Dave
Parsons yesterday morning in
a telephone interview.
He had thought the board
was satisfied after receiving a
cheque for more than half of
the $7,300 owed to the arena
for unpaid ice -time,
following more than a year
of the team being in debt.
• But Huron East's facilities
and recreation director
Graham Nesbitt said the
board wanted payment in full
before the Junior D team
would be given any more ice
time.
The Centenaires had begun
tryouts on Sunday with more
tryouts scheduled for last
•
night, after Parson's thought
the board was satisfied with
the team's contribution
toward its outstanding bill.
"The Centenaires are
trying to come up with
another solution," said
Nesbitt, Tuesday morning.
He said the board was
meeting last night to consider
whether or not there was an
acceptable arrangement
outside of actually being paid
in full.
But Nesbitt said there was
a possibility that the team
would not be given anymore
ice time.
He did not know how
Parsons could not be aware
that the arena board had not
made tip its mind yet about
the fate of the team's ice
time.
Parsons said the team is
debt to more than $15,000 to
other creditors and, in 19
home games last season, was
only able to generate $4,092
from fans attending games
while racking up 205 hours
of ice time in games and
practice at a cost of about
$17,000.
Plow talk...
Scott Hilgendorff photo
Howard Ross of St. Marys speaks with John Little of Monkton as Little waits for his event to begin at the Huron County Plowing
Match held near Winthrop Aug. 24. See Page 6 for more photos.
Parsons, who said no one
is taking a salary in the
Centenaires organization, is
frustrated with the rumours
that are circulating in the
community about the team
and executive.
He said accusations and
criticisms of mismanagement
abound with the latest
rumour suggesting one of the
executive members was
skimming money out of
funds raised at a ball
tournament held this summer
to try and help the team pay
of debt.
"That's not proper. That's
criminal," said Parsons of the
libelous statements he said
See CENTENAIRES, Page 2
Three
dogs
may
have
been
stolen
By Scott Hilgendorff
and Clint Haggart
Expositor/News Record Staff
Huron OPP may be
looking into a possible
series of dogknappings
after three black labs
went missing on the
weekend in Goderich
Township and
Tuckersmith--one a
show dog that has been
used in movies and
commercials.
Community Services
Officer Don Shropshall
;Said police were only
aware of two black labs
that were reported
missing on the weekend
but when The Expositor
called Tuesday morning,
discovered there was a
third black lab missing.
"I would consider
that to be unusual," said
Shropshall who is
passing the information
along to the
investigating officers.
The first missing dog,
Harley, a black lab
See POLKE, Page 2
Struggles ahead for some farmers, says Huron OFA
By Scott Hilg.ndorff
Expositor Editor
It could be the end for some
farmers who struggled to even be
able to plant crops this year and are
now faced with poor yields after the
summer's drought -like conditions,
said Huron County Federation of
Agriculture president, Charles
Regele.
"The weather the way it was, I
think it may well finish some farmers
off," said Regele, a St. Columban
area farmer.
He said the federation will be
looking closely at the harvest and
what problems farmers will he
facing. This follows the Ontario
Federation's attempts this spring to
get improved farm subsidies from the
federal and provincial governments
to help local farmers who needed
loans just to get crops into the ground
this season.
The federation was not able to
obtain the level of government
subsidies it said
was needed to help
Canadian farmers
compete with
Americans with
higher subsidy
levels.
Poor yields
coupled with
farmers who were
already struggling
and in need of
assistance to get crops in the ground
may be enough to put some farms out
of business, said Regele.
But he is not certain how
significant the situation is yet.
"I can't put an impact on this at
this time," he said, adding farmers
are very resilient and that he is
sometimes amazed to see them
bounce back and be able to put a new
combine on a field after what looked
like a hard year, whether it be to poor
pricing or poor yields.
"It definitely could be a turning
point for some farmers at the end of
this year," said Regele, who is not
anticipating any additional financial
help from the government.
Regele warns that as a community,
Huron East is in this together with
the farmers and will see the impact if
farmers are doing badly.
Meanwhile, a local farm dealers
says they aren't bracing themselves
for hard times this fall and winter but
they have already seen some impact
from the summer's dry conditions.
"It got quiet," said Paul Storey a
salesperson at Vincent Farm
Equipment Limited.
He said during the dry period
experienced through most of July and
half of August, business got quiet as
farmers put themselves in spending
freezes, waiting to see what might
happen to their crops.
While the Ministry of Agriculture
is not calling it a drought, some
farmers in Ontario went as long as
forty days without rain.
Rain didn't come in time to allow
for great yields but the local area has
fared better than other parts of the
province, receiving some small,
timely showers in different areas of
the county as corn headed into a
critical pollination period in July.
The area did receive between two
and four inches of rain in the past
two weeks and Storey said they are
beginning to hear from farmers that
the local corn crop might not be as
poor as expected. However soybeans
are expected to do badly as harvest
begins in the next couple weeks.
But after the rain fell, Storey said,
"It put more optimism in the market
place."
He said some farmers are holding
hack on purchases to wait and see
what happens in the harvest and that
Vincent's is taking the same "wait-
and-see" approach.
"It's going to impact us, no doubt
about it," he said, but added they are
not bracing themselves yet for hard
times, hoping crop prices will rise to
help offset some of the yield losses
farmers are facing this harvest.
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