Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1986-01-02, Page 18Page 18 Times -Advocate, Janua 2, 1 r BUSY AT MORRISON — Despite extremely cold weather Sunday afternoon, the slopes at Morrison Dam were busy with sliders. Shown ready to go are Shane Wicks and Corey Sargeant. T -A photo Birthday party for Jesus among special Varna services By Mary Chessell On the Wednesday before Christmas, Rev. Wilena Brown enter- tained the people of this area who live alone at a buffet luncheon at her home. Although the weather was blustery, 12 people had a lovely time together. Some of them are in their late eighties or older. Bill and Shirley Elliott and their children Robert and Shannon of West Bay in Manitoulin Island spent Christmas week with his mother Margaret Elliott, and Shirley's parents, John and Mary McCowan. Les and Jacqueline Hohner and family of Welland were home for Christmas with Harold and Gladys Peck, and in Exeter with Les's family. June and Bob Webster and girls hosted a family gathering of the Tin- neys on the Sunday before Christmas. On Christmas Day, June's father was admitted to Exeter hospital after suf- fering a heart attack. He is now mak- ing a good recovery in St. Joseph's Hospital. Mervyn and Margaret Hayter were guests of Gerald and Lois McFalls of Exeter on Christmas Day. On Boxing Day they hosted the Glenn family. gathering. Present were Margaret's mother, Gerald and Ardys of the Hen- sall area and their son Randall of Windsor, Bruce and Jessie and sons Mark and Scott of Toronto, and Glenn and Lois and family. Varna was in the area that was out of power on Boxing Day. A few turkeys were quickly moved to the ovens of relatives whose power comes from Vanastra or Zurich. We were grateful for our wood stove in the recreation room where we finished cooking breakfast and started.' the turkey for our holiday dinner. A "Birthday Party for Jesus" was held in Varna church on Monday evening. The children enjoyed mak- ing cards for their parents while the adults sang Carols. Miss Brown told the old familiar story of "The Old Shoemaker", then everyone enjoyed delicious birthday cakes served by the children. Helen Taylor and Margaret McClymont made the cakes and beverages. This is always a lovely party, but the attendance this year was disappointing. Special music by the choir added to the celebration of Christmas at Var- na church. Julie and Nancy Webster also contributed with organ and piano duets. Bill McAsh and his grandson Darryn lit the Advent candle. Rev. Don Lobb wins award The alumni of the Ridgetown Col- lege of Agricultural Technology (R.C.A.T.) held a banquet and reu- nion recently for former graduates of years 1955, 1960, 1965, 1970, 1975 and 1980. During the evening, Don Lobb of RR 2 Clinton was honored as the 1985 recipient of the R.C.A.T. West Ag Alumni Humanitarian Award. This award is given annually to an R.C.A.T. graduate in acknowledge- ment of his voluntary contributions of time and talent for community bettermt;'nt. Lobb, who was a West Ag graduate of year 1960, has a long and varied list of community interests. During his teens, he was active in 4-11 Dairy and Swine Clubs and as a senior member. he received the Huron County 4-11 Citizenship Award. Ile carried on to become a 4-11 leader in later years. While a student at R.C.A.T., then the Western Ontario Agricultural Col- lege, Lobb served on the year book committee, was a member of (he per- manent year executive and was a member of the college judging team. Since returning to farm in Goderich Township, Lobb has been an active church member, serving for many years as an elder. For five years he was a coach in the local minor hockey system and he was the founder of the lake Huron Regional Snowmobile Association. His involvement in the farming community has included being ii strumental in the formation of Quali- ty -Swine and being a founding direc- tor and foremost leader of the Huron Soil and Water Conservation District. This group is deeply involved in a co- operative conservation program which is the first of its kind in Ontario. In conjunction with his work in no - till soil conservation cropping prac- tises, he works closely with the University of Guelph regarding insect and disease research and is also in- volved in the modification of equip- ment to carry on this work. Due to his pioneering in soil tillage conservation Lobb is sought after as a speaker throughout Canada. Ile and his wife, Allison, have a family of five children. Wilena Brown gave a meditation on the "The Old, Old Story". This past Sunday, Rev. Gordon Pickell of Goderich led the services in Varna and Goshen while. Rev. Brown is on a study leave. Mildred and Krista McAsh played piano duets during the prelude to the worship ser- vice. Holy Communion will be observ- ed next Sunday. On 'Thursday, January 9, the U.C.W. meeting will be held at Margaret Hayter's home. Carol Simons will speak on the Indian peo- ple, particularly the ones she worked among a number of years ago. Cattlemen endorse CIvk Ieador's-outlin� olijeetives It's time to put away the ora paper and for some, take ' n the Christmas tree, but the spirit of the season remains. At this time of year, thoughts turn to New Years' Eve and the ushering in of a brand new year. It's also a time for making new years' resolutions. The Bluewater Regional Newspaper Network, of which this newspaper is a member, recently undertook its annual task of discover- ing the resolutions of prominent peo- ple in the two counties of Huron and Perth. Some of those interviewed hedged, because as a rule they don't mace resolutions. However, after some • careful thought, these people in- dividually came up with resolutions they hope to keep in their various roles. Ron Denham This Blanshard Township Reeve was elected as warden of Perth coun- ty earlier this month. "I don't want any regression with the city (Stratford), the school board or the town of St. Marys. I'll do everything in my power to keep rela- tions smooth," said Denham. The Perth warden also indicated that be would perform in a "steady and constant" manner to keep the county coming.David Hammond The chairman of the Perth County board of education is starting his se- cond term as the head of the board. Hammond would like to see theques- tion of full funding to Catholic secon- dary schools resolved and "be to everyone's satisfaction". The trustee from the townships of South Easthope and Downie, Mr. Hammond expressed concern for young people getting a full education in today's society. "I'd like to see education help everyone succeed in what their life's ambition is," said Hammond. fie added,"I hope everyone will see the steed to gain as much education as they possibly can." Dave Smith This Sebringville area farmer is the president of the Perth County federa- tion of agriculture. Firstly, he went over what has happened in the farm - community in 1985. "More and more farmers are aware of how the situation is- the loss of equity in the farmland," he said ad- ding that governments have also The Board of Directors of the On- tario Cattlemen's Association has en- dorsed a proposal developed by the joint industry Task Force for a com- prehensive cattle market information program. The proposal was developed by a Subcommittee of the Task Force during the past year. The Task Force whic has on it representatives from the Ontario Cat- tlemen's Association, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, the Ontario Livestock Auction Markets Association, the Meat Packers Coun- cil and the Ontario Freezer Meat Association was put into place in ear- ly 1985 through a joint agreement bet- ween the Association and the Hon. Dennis Timbrell, then Minister of Agriculture and Food. . Edgar Wideman, Chairman of the Task Force Subcommittee and a vice president of the Association stated "Buying and selling decisions are the most important decisions cattlemen make. The most common demand we hear from cattlemen, is for more ac- curate and timely information on which to make these decisions." The proposal has a goal of captur- ing information on 80 percent of cat- Qle transactions in the province with regional representation. The proposal will extend the program began in ear- ly 1985 of collecting and reporting prices on private treaty sales to packers and will move into the elec- tronic age by capturing cattle prices and trade volumes from computer ac- counting systems in major livestock auction markets in the province. An incentive using funds from the Red Meat Program is being propos- ed to encourage livestock auction market operators to install com- puter equipment to conduct sale in- voicing. The market information component will be extracted from the computer data and transmitted to the Ontario Cattlemen's Association. A new market information division of the Association will be created to compile the information into standard format and co-operate with the On- tario Ministry of Agriculture and Food and Agriculture Canada in distribution. The Board of Directors of the On- tario Cattlemen's Association has en- dorsed Canada's undertaking to con- duct negotiations with the United States aimed at establishing a bilateral trade agreement. It is also their view that the red meat industry should be a part of those negotiations. During the past six years, Canada's net merchandise trade surplus has in- creased from a balance of zero to over $15 billion. Twenty percent of gross national production or one job in five is accounted for by exports to the United States. The United States market accounts for 75% in value of all exports from Canada. While Canada has a net deficit in trade of agricultural products with the United States, the red meat in- dustry in Canada accounts for ap- proximately 50% in value of all agricultural exports to the United States. During the last five years, red meat exports from Canada to the United States have increased to represent, in 1984, 20% of farm cash receipts from the red meat sector. Gerhard Schickedanz, President of the Ontario Cattlemen's Association stated, "Our goal in bilateral trade negotiations with the United States must be to secure the market penetra- tion which has already been gained. Failure to do so through a fair trading bilateral agreement exposes, not on- ly your industry but any export oriented industry, to continuing risk and uncertainty. A -SKIING WE WILL GO — Jeremy Brock and Mark McDonald were trying out their skis near Morrison Dam, Sunday afternoon.T-A photo Special se staged at By MRS. E. SUMMERS Granton At the Granton United Church the Rev. Bruce Pierce was in charge of the service for the first Sunday after Christmas and entitled his message, "The best days of 1985". Get rid of your frustrations. If you are going to pat yourself on the back for getting out of a bad situation, you should also kick yourself lower down for getting into the mess in the first place. In the children's story the Rev. Pierce told them how important it was to have love in their family and By ALICE DICKENS Mr. and Mrs. Roland Neil attended the Baker -Millar wedding Saturday at Wellington St. United Church, London followed by a reception at the Berkshire Club. Black succeeds Down at the top John S. Black of Markdale was elected president of United Co- operatives of Ontario (UCO) on December 18, at the Board meeting held in Toronto immediately after UCO's 39th annual meeting. Black has been on the UCO Board for nine years, serving four of them as first vice-president and two as second vice- president. He succeeds Bob Down, who remains on the board. Murray J. Allen of Vanleek Hill, was elected first vice-president at the same meeting. Allen was first elected to the UCO Board in 1979 and has served three years as second vice- president. On his election, Black emphasized his belief in the "co-operative ap- proach to agribusiness, We need UCO and our member co-operatives to be strong and keep a balance in the in- dustry. With this last fiscal year under our belt. I believe that UCO is now poised to fulfill its role in pro- viding leadership and expertise to the agricultural industry. I certainly pledge myself towards that goal, to working with our delegates, and our staff, to serve our members and customers as they need and want." Two new directors were elected, because of retirements, to complete UCO's 15 -person Board of Directors. Eugene Lammerding of Grand Valley was elected to represent zone 6 which consists of Muskoka, Simcoe, Duf- ferin and part of Wellington. Jim Pur- dy of Norfolk was elected to represent zone 9 which consists of the county of Oxford and parts of Middlesex, Elgin, Brant, Lambton and Haldimand- Norfolk counties. Retiring directors were Bob Coulthard of Glencoe and Boyden Bloomfield of,_,}Iderton. Each had served four consecutive three-year terms and were not therefore eligible for re-election. The UCO Board consists of 15 members. Twelve are elected accor- ding to geographical representation and three are directors -at -large, elected by all delegates. At this an- nual meeting a new representative structure was implemented. Previously nine of the 12 geographically elected directors represented zones and three represented groups which were a combination of three zones. Now, the province has been divided into 12 zones and one director represents each zone. The directors are elected for three year terms, and they may serve a ma'kimum of four consecutive terms. rvices Granton one way of showing love was to hug each other. The Rev. Peter Derrick was the celebrant for the holy Eucharist at the Christmas Eve candlelight service at St. Thomas Anglican Church. The lighting of the four'candles in the Ad- vent Wreath was performed by Jamie, Gary and Joanne Hoar also Susan Acres assisted by her brother Paul. - Mrs. Jim Hodgins favored with two solos. The first lesson was read by Sylvia Bentson and the Holy Gospel by the rector. 'In the children's focus, they (children) gathered around the tiny manger while Rev. Derrick explain- ed the Christmas story. A parish family service was held at St. Thomas Anglican Church with the Rev. Peter Derrick in charge. A song entitled Only A Shadow was sung by the choir and congregation with Kaylene Roloson at the piano, also a song entitled "Jesus, Wonder of God's Creation" was also sung with Mrs. Norman Hodgins at the organ. In the children's focus, Rev. Der- rick explained the meanings of dif- ferent names especially the name of Jesus. The Anglican Church Women will hold their meeting on January 2 at the home of Mrs. Percy Hodgins. Personal Christmas guests with Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Hodgins and Mrs. Lois Herbert were Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Hall and son Jason of Newbury, Miss Helen Herbert and Mr. and Mrs. Gary Waugh of London also Mr. John Herbert of Waterloo. John is also spending his Christmas vacation with the family. fastarted to. recognise the difficulty in rming $mlth praised the federal govern- ment's program called Farmers in transition and the provincial govern- ment's Ontario family farm interest reduction rebate (fFFIRR) program. "I can't see any real great improve- ment in the coming year," said the federation president, "the recession in farming is hot over. Land prices will decline more before the farming economy levels out." "There will have to be a discussion on free trade and the GAAT (General Agreement on Tariff and Trade) agreement. These are areas where there will be a lot to talk about in the coming year," said Smith. Ron Marcy The chairman of the Huron -Perth Roman Catholic separate school board was re-elected to this post earlier in the month. He made four resolutions. "To keep the needs of the students in the school as the main priority. To continue the positive relation- ship which has developed over the years between the board and all of its employees. To maintain the co-operative at- titude of the trustees. And to obtain funds for St. Boniface school in Zurich." The school board plans to put on an addition at the Zurich school to ac- commodate students from Ecole Ste. Marie which is closing in June of 1987. Leona Armstrong The reeve of Grey Township was elected as Huron County's first female warden earlier this month. "As warden of Huron County, my new years' resolution is to continue to serve, with God's help, my comunity and county to the best of my ability. I resolve to work in a spirit of co- operation on every board and com- mittee I am a member of. I resolve to work in the best in- terests of all our Huron County residents on our varied projects. I resolve to use every oppurtunity to promote the economy of agriculture and to attract industry and tourism for the betterment of our county. I resolve to stand tall and proud that I reside in the banner county of the province." Art Clark The Wingham trustee on the Huron County board of education was nam- ed board chairman after having serv- ed as vice-chairman for two years. He made two resolutions for his first term as chairman. Clark wants to keep in the back of his mind "if not in front" that the children are the main recipient of the board's deci- sions. He wants to remember that when discussing various issues over the coming year. "Secondly, hopefully the board and myself will use common sense in every issue we deal with in 1986," said Clark. • Doug Garniss This Wingham area farmer was renamed as chairman of the Huron County federation of agriculture earlier this fall. "We'll continue looking for solu- tions," said Garniss. The solutions will be for what he calls the "the big problem of farm economics." Ideas presented by the Farm Credit Corporation and the idea of a moratorium on farm credit will have to be looked at over the coming year. He said the local federation will have to look at several issues this coming year, including the Ontario Hydro transmission line proposal, soil conservation and environmental pollution along with spills bill. "For the Huron County federation of agriculture the big thing will be to increase membership. We haven't been able to do that for the past three or fours years. We'llalso have to im- prove the effectiveness of our com- mittees," said Garniss. Area reeves get Chairman postings Huron County council set its com- mittees for the coming year at a re- cent meeting. Tuckersmith Township Reeve Bob Bell was named as chairman of the road committee. Its members are Colborne Reeve Russell Kernighan, Reeve William Bennett of Seaforth, McKillop Reeve Marie Hicknell and Wingham Reeve Bruce Machan. James Aitchison, Reeve of West Wawanosh Township was named as head of the board of management for Huronview, home for the aged. Com- mittee members, are Stanley Township Reev>rilarence Rau, Brussels Reeve Hank Ten Pas and Exeter Deputy Reeve Lossy Fuller. The chairmanship for the board of health goes to Turnberry Township Reeve Brian McBurney. Members are Warden Leona Armstrong, East Wawanash Reeve Ernest Snell, Clin- ton Reeve Bea Cooke and provincial representative William Morley of Usborne Township. Hullett Township Reeve Tom Cun- ningham has been named chairman of the library board. County council members are Hensall Reeve Jim Robinson, Howick Township Gerald D'Arcy and Warden Leona Arm- strong. From the general public, the members are Janis Bisback, Robert Rittor and Martina Schneiker. • Exeter Reeve Bill Mickle has been named chairman of the agriculture and property committee. The members are Goderich Township Reeve Grant Stirling, Blyth Reeve Albert Wasson and Hay Deputy Reeve Clare Deichert Hay Reeve Lionel Wilder was nam- ed chairman of the planning and development committee. The members of this comittee are Usborne Township Reeve Gerry Pro- ut, Goderich Deputy Reeve John Doherty and Stephen Township Reeve Thomas Tomes. Zurich Reeve Robert Fisher was named as chairman of the social ser- vices committee. The members are Morris Township Reeve Doug Fraser, Ashfield Township Reeve Allan Gib- son and Goderich Township Deputy Reeve Laurie Cox. Bayfield Reeve Dave Johnston was made chairman of the Huron County Pioneer Museum committee. This new committee is made up of Goderich Reeve Harry Worsell, Hullet Reeve Tom Cunningham and Stephen Township Deputy Reeve Ken McCann. The executive committee is made up of the chairman of all the commit- tees with Warden Armstrong the chairman. BLOWING IT AWAY — Claire Martenwas busy Saturday morning clearing away snow in Crediton East. T -A photo A new year dawns and what does the future look like for agriculture? Pretty bleak. Farming as we know it may go the way of the dinosaur. The futurists are predicting now that the family farm is dying. They are say- ing that opportunities in farming will be so few and the challenges so great that the family farm will not be able to cope. Farmers should be steering their children into other areas of endeavor. David Douglas, head of the school of rural planning and development in Guelph, says there simply will not be as many farmers in the next 10 to 20 years. There will be far more large, commercial farms and more part- time farmers whose income will be mostly from a city job. Sounds ominous, doesn't it? The farms in the middle -- between the part-timers and the commercial farms -- make up the hulk of today's family farms. They will he squeezed the hardest. ;v. It seems to me that farmers will be so few they will have no clout at all. They will be forced into becoming just t*. 1,f11Hl Ml xCK dl' fob li U,t, t'd.. IW , Ehna♦ On; N S It,, municipal affairs many years before moving to agriculture. Granted, his has been the life of a bureaucrat but he is retired now and has no axe to grind. I have always found him to be an honest, straight forward man. His words are to be heeded. About the only answer he can't give is what to do about the cost of quotas in supply-managment marketing boards. It is a genuine problem and farmers should be looking for answers. It's a bleak way to start the year, isn't it? I mean, predicting the end of the family farm, trying to stop the politicians from ruining Canadian agriculture and asking for a solution to the thorny problem of the price of quotas makes it all sound disastrous. We are talking about people here, people who have chosen a way of life on the farm, who will be uprooted, their hopes dashed and their dreams a nightmare. That's tough to take but hope springs eternal in the human breast so may the fires of hope burn bright- ly in the new year for everybody. one cog in the food -chain wheel. They will have to work hand in hand with processors and retailers. If they don't, their lobbying will be ignored. I agree whole-heartedly with Everett Biggs, now retired from his post as deputy minister of agriculture for Ontario. Mr. Biggs was with the ministry in the days of Bill SteWart. Ile has seen the growth of farm marketing boards right from their in- fancy. He told the annual meeting of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture that the farming community here would be slaughtered by the United States if the Mulroney government makes a free trade deal. Amen, I say. Farmers should be screaming at the people who think free trade is a free ride to bigger markets. Biggs also defended marketing boards. Unorganized marketing is not the way to better prices and incomes, he stressed. We need a few more veterans like Everett Biggs to keep reminding Ot- tawa that agriculture should not be a part of any discussion on free trade. He was an outspoken deputy minister when he was in the ministry of • ti •