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Home My WebLink AboutHuron Expositor, 2005-07-20, Page 1Joy Finlayson & Sharon Medd Mortgage Consultants "Finally, a company that stairs with a discount" I X11 \ lull "1.. \. 1, .s1„, I h (519) 527-05()0 Sharon Broker VA. Appraiser VIM: Wax* for Information of listing In Huron/Perth Rain cancels tractor pull for second year in a row By Jason Middleton Expositor Staff Despite hopes for a nice sunny day, the third annual Tri -Town Truck and Tractor Pull was cancelled on Saturday because of rain. This is the second year the truck and tractor pull was cancelled because of rain. The truck and tractor pull is a fundraiser for the Seaforth Agricultural Society and organizer Pat DeJong said a lot of people put money and time into the event. "The one day you don't want rain and you get it," organizer Steve Fritzley said. "This is a $1 million rain that the farmers do need." The week prior to the event many people helped organize the event including the Seaforth Fire Department who helped spray down the track a few times last week. Organizers cancelled the event at 10 a.m. on Saturday after the rain started down pouring. After they cancelled' the pull, organizers phoned the people bringing the weight sled and many of the pullers who were going to compete in the event. DeJong said that he was hoping for close to 2,000 people and more than 30 trucks and tractors to attend the event. "It's a big let down after the amount of work we put into this," DeJong said. At last year's truck and tractor pull a heavy rainfall cancelled the event about half way through. "This is the second year the rain has screwed up the pull," Fritzley said. DeJong said that he is not sure what the future holds for the annual truck and tractor pull. "We'll have to talk about it and see if we want to try it again next year," DeJong said. Nesbitts have first Smart car in area... Lawn bowlers turn out for local tourney page 12 Wednesday, July 20, 2005 Town gets serious about watering ban enforcement By Ben Forrest Expositor Staff An all-out ban on lawn watering and pool filling may be enforced in Huron East if the heat and certain residents' methods of dealing with it do not stop, says the municipality's Public Works Coordinator, John Forrest. Although Huron East already has a bylaw restricting all "outdoor water use" (garden or lawn watering, washing vehicles, filling pools and so on, according to an ad placed by the municipality in the June 8 Huron Expositor), the water systems in many communities are taxed nearly to their limit, Forrest says. Brucefield, a hamlet, whose water supply comes from a well, has seen an increase in the turbidity (cloudiness) of its water, which Forrest says is a sign were starting to use a lot of water." Seaforth's water supply also comes from a well and, says Forrest, is also currently taxed. "We're getting up closer to the max that we can pump," he says. In Seaforth, Brucefield, Brussels, Egmondville and Vanastra, outdoor water use is permitted only between 8 and 10 a.m. or 6 to 8 p.m. every other day. Those living west of Main Street in Seaforth, west of Turnberry Street in Brussels, west of Kippen Road in Egmondville or north of Mill Road in Brucefield are allowed to water lawns and fill pools and so on during the restricted hours on e v e n - numbered calendar days, while others are permitted to do so on o d d - numbered days. Water usage increases in the summer, says Forrest, and the restrictions are in place in part because the municipality wants to maintain reserves for safety measures. "At the end of the day we don't want (Seaforth's water tower) a quarter full and have a fire," he says. "We like to maintain it full at all times. That keeps our pressure up, keeps our volume up, and if we have a fire or something like that, we've got the water to handle it. "When everybody starts watering lawns, they use up that capacity and the See WATER, Page 2 Quc) ted 'At the end of the day we don't want (Seaforth's water tower) a quarter full and have a fire,' -- Public Works Coordinator John Forrest 9.25 includes GST mayoseeemmommir r Doug Elliott, CFP, B.Math Finnali Pignet Gr ous at Arty 1t 2005 Alone' am/ asilja id .ub•gam Best G.I.C. Rates 3" 33.4% 3: n�� •DUND • MYM YWM...;nI I.alII?1 i(: IlIti♦iall 26 Main St., Seaforth 527-2222 Susan Hundertmark photo Splishing and splashing Mac Meikle, 5, pool on Monday of Mitchell, soaks in plenty of enjoyment at the Seaforth Lions wading afternoon in 30 -plus temperatures. Local cattlemen 'cautiously optimistic' about open U.S. border By Cheryl Heath Clinton News -Record Editor Let them eat beef. That is the word from Canadian beef producers following word that a temporary injunction against Canadian beef was quashed at a hearing held July 13 in Washington, DC. Still, both producers and cattlemen associations are urging countrymen and women to remain cautiously optimistic given an appeal is scheduled to go before the same Montana judge who lengthened the wait when he sided with a U.S.-based protectionist group, known as the Ranchers -Cattlemen Action Legal Fund (R -CALF), just before the border was to reopen to animals 30 months and under in March. "We are cautiously optimistic," says Lianne Appleby, spokeswoman for the Ontario Cattlemen's Association. As it now stands, live cattle and boxed beef See TWO-YEAR, Page 2 Rising gas prices have locals grumbling but few say costs will keep them home By Ben Forrest Expositor Staff Rising gas prices may be stirring up discontent among locals, but most interviewed by the Expositor last week say paying the extra cash is a necessary evil that won't keep them off the road entirely. That's very much the case for Seaforth's JoAnn Raidt, who is forced to remain a motorist because she works in Stratford. "I can't get around it," she said after filling up her Chevy Cavalier at the town's Shell station. "I don't like going places I don't have to anymore. You don't just jump in the car and just drive anymore. You have a destination, you go, you come back," she said. Raidt said she had over half a tank when she pulled into the station and filling it up cost her $25. At the time of her interview on July 13 the local Shell station was selling regular unleaded gas for 93.7 cents per litre, while down the road at UPI the price was two tenths of a cent more. Tanya Costello, an employee at Seaforth's UPI gas and injects fuel into the tank of a UPI customer last week. Jim Bobbe, a Seaforth man who also works in town may be less affected by the recent inflation in pricing. He seems less phased, saying he hasn't been travelling any less. His ,kids play on a travelling soccer team that takes them to communities like Lucknow, Clinton and Wingham. "When it's empty you fill it automotive service station, up, regardless," he says with a laugh. "You've got no choice." But folks like Jim Murray, a UPI customer on July 13 who says he drives back and forth between Seaforth and Goderich seven days a week for his job, sing a different tune. He says he has considered buying a smaller car with better gas mileage due to the prices, and rarely drives his full-sized pickup, which he says costs about $100 to fill up. "I think it's ridiculous," he says of the gas prices. Karen Martin, a manager at the Shell station mentioned earlier in this article, says she receives complaints about the prices frequently, and has noticed their impact on some of her customers. "The young families who can't afford the high prices, they just don't go out," she says. Asked if business has been hurt by the prices, she says, "Yes and no. We have our regulars that come in, but they're not getting as much as they' normally do." She says Shell's head office sets gas prices, and she attributes the rising cost in part tothat of crude oil. "If crude oil goes down, we'll go down with," she See LOCAL, Page 3