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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1992-06-10, Page 14• SUMMER CAMPS OFFERED BY CENTRALIA COLLEGE Computer Camp Location: Centralia College campus, Huron Park Date: June 19 and 20/92 Time: 7:00 p.m. June 19 to 7:00 p.m.•June 20/92 Cost: $60.00 + GST ($64.20) An ovemight camp for 10-13 year olds (as of Jan. 1/92) who would like to learn more about computers and agriculture. Campers will par- ticipate in computer workshops, public speaking, agriculture seminar, games and activities, etc. AgVenture Location: Centralia College campus, Huron Park Dates: July 6 - 10/92, or July 13 - 17/92 Time: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. each day Cost: $75.00 + GST ($80.25) Here's a day camp for 9-11 year olds (as of July1/92) where they can e team about food and agriculture while making friends and having fun. Campers,will.articipate in:•opmputer workshops, swimming each day, I tours, crafts, outdoor/nature study, creative experiments, etc. f • hundred ares of class one land in Huron county," Wilder continued, pointing out that even the best land was not earning farmers much these days. Process too costly Should we consider prime farm lands for county landfill? - asks Hay Twp. reeve By Adrian Harte T -A Editor GODERICH - Hay Township reeve Lionel Wilder told county council's waste manage- ment steering committee they should now be looking at the most cost-efficient means of finding a new landfill site, now that over $400,000 has been spent on a study that has yet to select a new dump site. Six prospective sites proposed by the waste management master plan, from an original 41, were eliminated from the selection process in May. The six, all in the county's northern townships, were all low class lead, but were found lacking in the criteria the plan set for a new landfill that could be used by all Huron municipalities. "We seem to have spent a -pile of money, maybe we should be looking at class one land," said Wilder. "I have no difficulty in using one or two Wilder said if a better class of land could be more quickly certified as a landfill site, then Huron should consider it for inclusion. He USW Lesion's stall on lroposal slates • rrniMands of #solaces of prime farm land for triton development. Wilder also said he didn't believe any of Hu- ron's lower class land would meet even re- laxed criteria set out by the master plan or those of the Ministry of the Environment The waste management master plan expects all municipal dumps in Huron County will reach capacity before 2008. As some noted at council, the selection process for opening up a new site has become far too expensive for in- dividual municipalities to afford, as Tucker - smith and Seaforth discovered in recent years. Chairman of the steering committee Tom Tomes told Wilder all the previous sites will have to be examined again if the criteria for the landfill sites are relaxed. County engineer Dennis Merrell told Wilder there would have to be evidence for a hearing to explain why the 41 original sites were not suitable and why first class land was being used. But Merrell went on to say there was a 90 percent chance that all 41 sites will eventually fail to pass the test and that higher grade lands will eventually have to be considered. However, the Ontario Ministry of Agricul- ture requires that all class five and six lands must be eliminated from the landfill selection process before class three and four lands can be considered. Only if they all fail clot classes one and two agricultural lands be considered for testing. "We're not talking about going back to the beginning. We're taking two steps back to see if there's another door we can go through," said Merrell,- who predicted that it will likely take until fall until the new selection process can be reviewed. Merrell also suggested that the county may actually consider making some of its require- ments more stringent. He said there has been some concern that the county should not be looking at lands that have healthy woodlots. Taxes could double if Huron gives up provincial subsidies, council warned GODERICH - The 'spectre of a future without provincial subsidies is making a few county councillors nervous. Those fears weren't eased any by the report of the county en- gineer at Thursday's county council meeting. Unofficially known as "disentan- glement" the province is putting forth a plan to eliminate some of the areas in which municipal and provincial tax structures overlap. One particular area of concern for smaller rural municipalities is the plan to leave the province with the full burden of social service costs, while towns, villages, counties and townships pay the full cost of road- works. Such a division would be a financial boon to large urban cen- tres where the cost of welfare is - high, but rural areas would feel the pig in trying to pay the full cost of raid maintenance mid repair. "In McKillop, our taxes would double," county councillor Marie Hickaell predicted on Thursday who wondered if Huron could re- structure its roads to ease the bur- den of disentanglement. County engineer Dennis Merrell explained, however, that restructur- ing would not solve the basic prob- lem that Huron has a high ratio of roads per dollar of assessment - un- like larger urban centres where there is a higher ratio of welfare COSL "I fear for the basic economy of rural Ontario," said Merrell, agree- ing with Hicknell's concerns over soaring taxation. Merrell compared Huron's situa- tion to the third world. India used to be a big importer of food, but is now an exporter, all because of the improvements in infrastructure be- ing able to get that product to mar- ket. Merrell said the former Soviet Union also faces problem with roads, many of which are impassa- ble, creating the main stumbling block to a developing market econ- omy. "I wormer if our provincial gov- ernment is forgetting those les- sons," said Merrell. "The trade of roads for welfare is not a good trade." • • • • • ••• • _•.i„<a t.•f f� > . . n ' ;yi�:: fiiix' .. k• itr. ¢: x 4i3f.•4 Getting bombarded with com- plaints from all sectors of the econ- omy can cause paranoia. The at- tacks can make you feel as though you are a genuine scoundrel. On the other hand, such attacks can start intelligent people into thinking that maybe, just maybe, some changes in an organization are long over due. For instance, marketing boards gave been attacked from all angles in recent years. Certainly, the con- sumers, association has been in the forefront. Once a year, too, some packing plant or processor some- what will badmouth the marketing board concerned, especially if that board is a supply management board. Major magazines, too, in spite of the fact that they ignore agriculture all the rest of the time, ever now and then take potshots at supply management farm marketing boards. As a defender of these boards for the past 30 years, I am well aware that they are not perfect. They have made and will continue to make mistakes. In its early years, the Ca- nadian Egg Marketing Agency made all the mistakes it possibly could. The national chicken marketing 'People continue to flaunt their pow- er by refusing to make the neces- sary changes in production alloca- tions that would give the provinces that need more the opportunity to produce more. This dog -in -the manger attitude from some provinc- es could ruin any chances that this national board could succeed. When some organizations lam- baste supply management, I tend to take it with a grain of salt They arc out to feather their own nest rather than improve conditions throughout the industry. For example, when an asaociation,.,,of processors bitch about marketing boards, the mem- bers have an axe to grind. They pre- fer an open market for their own good. The Ontario Pork Producers Mar- keting Board has made some chang- es in recent months which, in the long run, will reward producers who are producing the hogs in de- mand by the packers. At one time, packing plants would pay truckers and drovers -- and producers too -- for special bogs. The practice was discouraged by the board until re- cently. But new regulations will allow just that: premiums for hogs that fit certain packers' requirements. In Other words, packers will be able to get the kinds of hogs they want when they want them by mak- ing special deals with producers al- though I am of the opinion that the deals will also include the truckers because these are the guys who know hogs and how those hogs are going to grade. Drovers we call them because many of them had a sixth sense about when the best price would be available and they would call their favorite farmers for a Toad. Another change the pork board made has to do with out -of -Ontario buyers. At one time, only the board could make these special contracts with out -of -province buyers. In fact, the board even took some producers to court to challenge the right to make deals with Quebec buyers. No more. Direct contracts with out -of - province buyers are now not only being allowed by the board, but en- couraged. It took a great deal of courage and leadership by the pork board to do an about-face. What the changes will definitely do is provide better services to the final consumer: you and I. And that is precisely what market- ing boards should be doing. County councillor and Exeter reeve Bill Mickle also expressed concem that rural Ontario's con- cerns might not be clearly heard during the disentanglement debate. He referred to changes at the As- sociation of Municipalities of On- tario in which representation from rural municipalities and small ur- ban municipalities on AMO's ex- ecutive board has been cut in half. "This is of grave concern to rural Ontario,” he said."I would hope that we as a county... will seriously think of the impacts that will be placed on rural Ontario if we don't have sufficient voice at the table where the decisions are being made." Usbome reeve Pat Down asked about the promises of "fiscal neu- trality" to result from disentangle- ment. Merrell replied there is still no indication that it really exists - and it may be just a matter of ra- tionalizing conditional grants to just defer "the hurt to five years down the pipe". Merrell noted the province wants to base disentanglement revenues on "forwards averaging" where higher welfare costs would apply. AMO on the other hand wants "backward averaging" where wel- fare costs were lower in past years. "Disentanglement really means unsubsidized, that what it really means," said Merrall, who also pointed out that when subsidies disappear so do the avenues for complaints. Merrall said he disagreed with the premise that disentanglement would necessarily benefit the prov- ince. He offered an example of a bridge in one township that might really benefits a neighbouring township more. Without provin- cial subsidies to recognize the need . for the bridge, it might not get built at all. County council has also set up an floc committee which will meet t� y to discuss and monitor the d glement process as it pro- ceeds through AMO and the gov- ternmmt. e crop compe ItI�fl is well underway EXETER - The 1992 Field Crop competition of the Exeter Fall Fair is under way with the judging of the hay crop. The crop in the field receives a score out of 100 points and later at the fair, exhibits will be scored out of 50 points for a total of 150 points. The exhibitors entered their hay fields to be judged by Brian Hall, Crop Specialist with Ontario Minis- try of Agriculture and Food (Clin- ton). The scores are as follows: Al- lan Rundle 97, Bob Down 96, Stan and Cliff Hicks 93, Alan Powe 88, Larry Lynn 87, Alan Hem 86, Hern Farms 86, Gerald During 84, Tom Hem 80, Miller Farms 79 and Don- ald Dearing 65. The next crops to be judged will Usborne 4-H THAMES ROAD - The Usborne II 4-H club, "A Walk on the Wild Side" met on Monday June 1 in the evening at Thames Road Church, and travelled from there to Ban- nockburn. The club reviewed the rules of hiking and went on a hike in the woods. They noticed pond life, plants in the woods, and cleaned up any litter they found. The member also had a snack on the trail, and learned about trail signs from the leaders. For the next meeting they plan to go to the Pin- ery and learn more about walking on the wild side. be wheat and barley as they reach maturity. Entries may be made by phoning Alan Powe 228.6557, Roy Pepper 235-2584 or Pieter Kleinschmidt 235-0168. Exeter 4H Meeting three EXETER - Meeting three of the Exeter Slowpokes was held May 21, at Morrison Dam. After the pledge the roll took place. The club tried to discover what to do when lost. Aside from the obvious solu- tion of not getting lost, they decid- ed that staying in the same spot, and blowing a whistle, was the bet procedure. The Slowpokes then tested this in a game. I vie membora went to 'get lost' so that the others could find 'them. The strategy Worked, except for the noise disturbing the local fishermen. Meeting four A condensed meeting of the Exet- er II Slowpokes took place•on May 28, at Morrison Dam. Only four members were present. They took turns governing, since the president was absent. After the pledge, there was a very interesting talk about the necessary first aid equipment, even supplying the club with a list. The club took a short hike around Morrison Dam, while watching the greenery in particular. 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