Huron Expositor, 2006-01-04, Page 8Pogo 8 January 4,-2006 • The Huron Expositor
Top news stories of 2005
Health issues dominate local headlines in 2005
• Health issues dominated the
news in the Seaforth area during
2005. The year began with a hospi-
tal study group gathering proof of
the community's high regard for the
Seaforth Community Hospital and
its services. Other highlights during
the year included the Seaforth hos-
pital trust taking over management
of the Seaforth Medical Centre, the
announcement of a Family Health
Team for Huron County in
Seaforth, the recruitment of two
full-time family physicians and the
start of a practical nursing course
by Georgian College in Huron
County.
•The Come Home to the Country
Festival brought close to 1,000 for-
mer Seaforth residents back to town
this summer to enjoy a weekend of
dancing, eating, reminiscing and
catching up with a decade's worth of
news since the last homecoming.
• Local farmers struggled this
year with thefarm income crisis,
caused by 25 -year lows in grain and
oilseed prices and the U.S. border
closure to Canadian beef. Close to
300. Huron County farmers filled
seven buses to Queens Park in
March to bring attention to the
need for help for agriculture at the
provincial and federal levels..
• In a related story, Huron East
deferred taxation on municipal
f• armland until the fall for farmers
struggling to put a crop - int e
ground in the spring. It's `6`ve
a m
council is repeating for 2006.
•A visit in the spring from feder-
al Agriculture Minister And
Mitchell to Brussels began the
Dr. Ken Rodney points out the valuable services offered at Seaforth
Community Hospital to Huron -Bruce MPP Carol Mitchell during a tour of the
facility in January, 2005.
exploration of a proposed $35 mil-
lion beef packing plant behind the
Brussels Stockyard after Huron
East Mayor Joe Seili got council's
approval to invest $25,000 to
research the concept.
•Several longstanding businesses
in Seaforth's downtown core closed
or changed hands in 2005. Retiring
business owners included Hazel
Hildebrand, of Hildebrand Paint,
Cub Bettles, of Box Furniture, Bob
Fisher, of Pizza Train and Dave and
Michelle Deighton, of Seaforth's
tedmans.
The .Seaforth Community
Hospital Local Advisory Committee
ibeTh
PAUL STECKL
"Priority; the People"
Remember thatyou don't have to wait until election day to
vote. Advance polls will be held throughout the riding on
January 13, 14 and 16. Additionally, you can vote at any
time (during their office hours) at either of the local
Elections Canada offices. For details please contact my
office at 1-888-482-7212.
Sirjce being elected to the House of Commons in 1993, Paul Steckle has
established himself as a person of character, someone not afraid to stand up for
his constituents. For more than a decade, Paul has been an effective and
determined voice for the people of Huron -Bruce. Whether on the floor of the
House, in Committee or at the countless public events he attends each year,
Paul is never afraid to loudly and passionately speak up on your behalf.
Paul Steckle is a dedicated voice for Huron -Bruce and would be
honoured to have your support on January 23rd.
For Information, Carl or Visit my Campaign Offices:
54 Victoria Street Notth, Clinton, Ontario NOM 11,0
735 Queen Street, Kiricardine, Ontario N2Z 1Z9
116 Durham St., E., Walkman, Ontario NOG 21'0
Authetited DI The D lel 44eat For,r4u1
participated for the first time ever
in the CKNX Hometown Heroes
Radiothon, raising $46,000 towards
a $125,000 Computerized
Radiology (CR) reader for the local
x-ray machine.
•The community was rocked by
the tragic deaths of local teens
Nicholas Giller and Thomas Ash
who died in a head-on collision on
March 8.
•Mackenzie Fisher, 18, lost a 20 -
month battle with leukemia in
September, but his death inspired
the creation of a blood donor clinic
in his memory, prompting many to
give blood for the first time.
•Several model homes were built
over the summer in the new
Bridges of Seaforth development
at
TO ALL RESIDENTS OF
VANASTRA & AREA
Council of the
Municipality
of Huron East
Invites you to a
PUBLIC
MEETING
on January 11th, 2006
at 7:00 p.m.
at the Vanastra Recreation Centre
to hear your concerns, & what you
would like to see now and in the
future, for the Vanastra Recreation
Centre & any other issues.
Mayor Joseph Seili
& Members of Council
the Seaforth Golf Club, which plans
to include 248 new homes.
• St. Columban's 173 -year-old
Roman Catholic Church held_ its
final mass in June when the first
church in the Huron Tract closed
its doors. Parishioners were invited
to join the congregation at
Seaforth's St. James Church and
plans are still ongoing to demolish
the church building.
•Huron East continued its search
for a radionucleide-free source of
drinking water by drilling near the
Welsh Street well and north of
Seaforth as an alternative to joining
a $20 million Lake Huron pipeline
in partnership with South Huron..
Two new proposed locations for
wells include Welsh Street and
Christa Eckert's land. .
•The future of Tuckersmith Day
Nursery was again threatened in
2005 when a decision by Huron
County council to remove resource
consultants from three municipal
daycare centres took $20,000 from
the daycare's annual budget.
•Suncor Energy in Alberta built
an 80 -metre test tower on • a
McKillop farm in 2005 to determine
if a wind farm could be successful in
four country blocks in McKillop.
Farmers could make approximately
$10,000 a year for the acre or two of
land that will house a wind turbine.
• Seaforth's all -wheels skate park
closed behind town hall after com-
plaints about noise from surround-
ing residents to reopen in the sum-
mer at the arena parking lot.
• Egmondville was left without its
own post office after the closure of
the Egmondville Country Market in
July. The new owner of the building,
Brian Melady is hoping to reopen
the post oice at its former location.
• The formervillage of Hensall
continued its attempt to de -amalga-
mate from the municipality of
Bluewater in 2005. While over 100
of Hensall's almost 1700 residents
stood and voted for taking the next
step in the de -amalgam tion
process, Bluewater council refused
to hear a delegation from Hensall
citing the lack a of provincial policy
to allow de -amalgamation.
• The Seaforth Agricultural
Society voted in its first woman
president, Marie Hicknell-Feeney,
during its 160th anniversary.
• Cal O'Reilly of Brucefield, was
drafted to the NHL's Nashville
Predators in the summer and con-
tinues to play for the OHL's
Windsor Spitfires.
•The Central West Hitmen placed
sixth in the national juvenile
broomball championships in Leduc,
Alberta in the spring and qualified
once more to travel to the nationals
near Ottawa in 2006.
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