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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1993-08-25, Page 2Page 2 Times -Advocate, August 25,1993 Wild dogs may not be to blame for sheep deaths CREDITON - Stephen Township may be able to recover livestock damage claims if they can prove the ownership of a dog that killed several sheep in Crediton. Council approved payments of $300 and $525-to'Andrew Robert- son of Crediton after two ewes were attacked and killed on August 6 and two ewes and three lambs were killed on August 9. These claims were in addition to previous livestock losses earlier in the year. At first, the attacks were believed to be by wild dogs, or pos- sibly even wolves, but after a do- mestic dog was chased away from the Roberstsons' calf, the true cul- prit may have been found. "We do have sightings, dogs here and dogs there," said township ad- ministrator Larry Brown, but said evidence in this case does suggest :the cause may be a single dog from / a neighbouring farm. Council made a resolution atylttfr August 17 meeting that if owner- ship of -the dogs at faultcan-be-es- tablished, then the township would seek restitution. The Robertson's made a livestock loss claim earlier in the year after a similar attack. SWAN to unveil plaque for women in Goderich GODERICH - Friday September 3 at 1230.p.m. Stop Woman Abuse Now will be holding a ceremony to dedicate a tree and plaque in the Goderich Court House Park. The plaque will read "In honour of our mothers, our daughters, our sisters - stop woman abuse now". In 1989, says the organization, 199 women were murdered in do- mestic situations in Canada. Wife battering is being called a national epidemic with over 2.5 million women being assaulted by male partners. SWAN is a Huron County com- mittee of more than 40 profession- als who reprosexht health care, po- lice, education, and children's services who are working toward a reduction and elimination of wom- an abuse. SWAN is inviting the public to this plaque dedication, which will include special music and guest speakers in the Court House Park at Colborne Street. Keep ATV's off roads EXETER - The OPP are remind- ing local residents that driving off road vehicles on roadways is illegal after an incident Friday. Police say a 14 -year old was driv- ing an ATV on a concession road in Stephen Township. He was seen ,lt to be driving at excessive speeds and without a helmet. The OPP are cautioning that since this is an on- going problem in the arca, violators will be charged. The OPP report fou serious acci- dents in their detachment area in the past week. Last Tuesday, Debra O7iagan of Centralia was driying on Mill St. in Hensel) when her vehicle collided with the rear of another slowing to turn left. No injuries were report, ed, say police. Also last Tuesday, faulty brakes were reported to be the cause of an accident involving the collision of a vehicle driven by Shawn Stanlake of Exeter with a sign at the end of Waterworks Rd. at Port Blake. Af- ter hitting the sign Stanlake's vehi- cle continued down the embank- ment. Police say there were forumately no injuries. Last Wednesday. a truck carrying mixed grain left Concession 6-7 of Stephen Township and rolled over on its side in the ditch. The driver, Douglas Lightfoot of Crediton re- ceived minor injuries in the inci- dent, say police. On Sunday, the vehicle of Chris- topher Skinner of Mitchell was southbound on Concession 6-7 of Usbome Township north of High- way 83 when it left the roadway and flipped over into the ditch. Skinner, who received minor in- juries, has been charged with im- paired driving and driving while disqualified. A Terry Culbert and his uncle Mert stand near the grave of f his great great grandparents John and Mary Culbert at Lucan'$ St James Cemetery. Comparecl to Lucan. Ireland Lucan to be featured in TV news special -.s By Catherine O'Brien T -A staff LUCAN - it seems the village of Lucan has its own personal ambas- sador in fomter resident Terry Cul- bert who was in the area last Tues- day working on a feature story. "I always tell people I`m from Lu - can even though I haven't lived here for 30 years," he said. "I have great memories of grow- ing up here." Culbert is a cameraman and re- porter for Global Television. He has been producing lifestyle and human interest stories for Global since 1990. In that time he has done a number of features on Lucan including, of course, features on the Donnellys which he did while working as field producer and cameraman for Glo- bal on -air personality Bill Bramah. Culbert was back filming tris old home town as part of a feature comparing the village to that of Lu - can, Ireland. "It's absolutely beautiful there," he said of the Irish county. Culbert went to Ireland in May for a two-week working vacation. He was busy filming a number of stories and spent a bit of time trac- ing his roots. Although his family originally came from the southern region of Ireland, Tipperary to be exact, he found there were few Culberts liv- ing there now. His great great grandparents John and Mary Culbert left Ireland to settle in Lucan back in October 1840. on At that time they bought e hun- dred acres of land in the area for 62 pounds and 10 shillings, about S125 at today's .;xchange rates, and built a long cabin on it. The property stayed in the family until his uncle Mert sold it a num- ber of years ago. "Three houses have stood on that land," Culbert said. And the house his father, aunts and uncles were born in still stands. That house and uncle Mert just might make their way into the three-minute feature, along with other interesting sights in the vil- lage. "It's something I've wanted to do for a long time," he said. It is unclear at this point when the feature will be aired on the eve- ning news.— Culbert said it's a teal pleasure exploring other liule towns across Ontario. "The last three years have been the happiest for me," he said. But before Culbert ventured into a rewarding career there was an Ex- eter connection to his youth. Between 1958-60, while in high school, he was the photographer for the Times Advocate's Lucan corre- spondent. "That certainly was an interesting time," he said. And, it seems, the experience didn't have too many adverse af- fects on him. Kirkton farmer making sunflowers lev4 a specialty Rezoning freeze in Grand Bend GRAND BEND - An official plan review and limited sewage ca- pacity has brought a six-month re- zoning freeze to Grand Bend. Monday night, council decided to stop rezoning and any minor vari- ances because they want to see what direction the village is taking before changing its look. "We're lucky its in the winter and hopefully not too many people will be making applications," said cpun- cillor Cam Ivey. However, not all members of council agreed with the decision. "A couple of weeks ago we were talking about assisting an individu- al in rezoning," said councillor Bill Uniac. What brought on the decision was two subjects of discussion on Monday - an application by a resi- dent to have the zoning on his prop- erty changed and the fact that the village is beginning a review of its official plan. "Hopefully we'll have a good handle on this by the first of March to see where we're going with the official plan," said Lambton County planner Ann Marie Ho- ward. She said that because of the limit- ed amount of sewage capacity it seems as though there is already a development freeze on anyway. Joe Green of the Fisherman's Cove Restaurant was looking to build a deck on top of a storage building and have the deck used as part of the restaurant and have it li- censed. "The present zoning is environ- mental protection which allows for a restaurant in hand with a fishing operation," sped Grand Bend Ad- ministrator Paul Turnbull. However since there is no longer a fishing operation at that location, any renovations would require changing the zoning. "It's not just relevant to one prop - Calls for resignation Bluewater board \ backs down on loan agreement GRAND BEND - Surplus funds generated by the Bluewater Recy- cling Association, caused a furor in past weeks amongst board mem- bers after the group decided to use the money to loan to an employ- ee. The board voted to give a $60,000 interest free house loan to gen- eral manager Francis Veilleux instead of a $3.500 a year raise. While some board members saw the loan as a just reward for a job well done in maintaining Bluewater's success rate, others said the or- ganization should not be setting such a precedent in these economic times. Board chairman John Russell has maintained the loan was quite le- gal and in the best financial interests of the Recycling Association, but agreed to revoke it after complaints arose from member munici- palities. Most vocal waslapiefprd councillor George Hall, who argued the Bluewater Asld be re -investing surplus funds, or re - .turning them to Inambarc rather than getting into the loin business for employees. • Some members of Forest Town Qnttrtdii wets en dto rand the resignation of the association board. Mart inaltilitailies only learned of the loon deal after the boaad agreed to revoke it last Wednesday. "They didn't ask any of the municipalities," said Exeter mayor Bruce Shaw. "We didn't know anything about it." st crty," pointed out Howard who said other land owners along the river may be looking to find different uses for their properties. "There is an issue of where you want the harbour to go and how you want it to develop," added Ho- ward. It won't be until later this year when Grand Bend will be ready to make recommendations towards the official plan review and in the mean time, Howard has asked that councillors take a long look at the current plan. "I want you to pick out any prob- lems and see what has to be ad- dressed," said Howard. Continued from front page. called black seeds or oilseeds. This kind is generally used more for bird feed or in producing sun- flower oil. The taste, Willis said, is different than the stripe seed people usually eat. The black seed is also smaller and has more oil in it. "They are highly nutritious, but there just isn't that much in the black seed to eat." Willis said farming sunflowers is similar to con. "The growing time, harvesting, fetiirzer - it's all quite the same." "There are rtbout 100 growers in Ontario," he said. Most of them are in Essex and Kent County. Of course, like any crop, the sun - 10 -17.911 )7 Ail flower has its natural enemies. In this case it is binds. "There have been reported cases where entire crops were destroyed by birds." But these cases usually occur in areas where the sunflowers are in the migrating pattern of a number of birds. Fortunately it's tough for most birds to perch on the sunflowers so it's difficult for them to eat seeds that aren't on the ground. There is still another month or so to enjoy the sight of the large flow- ers before harvesting which should - take place in late September or ear- ly October. Townships see increase Construction starts up in July ZURICH - Building rates in the arca appear to have been given a little boost in July with some town- ships reporting above normal con- struction starts during the month. Hay Township reports a July con- struction value of 5390,280, com- pared to just 532,000 for June. Up to the end of May, building starts reached only a value of 5414,150. "It's just picked up. It had been dead up to that point," said clerk - treasurer Janisse Zimmerman, who said most of the new work was be- ing done on farm buildings and a couple of new residences. Even with the upturn, it appears unlikely Hay will be able to match the 53.4 million building total re- corded in 1992, having reached only 50.8 million so far. Stephen Township also reported a strong July in the building depart- ment. With construction values reaching 5664,880, administrator Larry Brown said the totals made the township "ahead of last year". He said five new homes were be- ing built in the township, and a new barn and storage shed added to the total. While Osborne Township did not have July totals tabulated, staff said building appears brisk, with two Stew homes underway and additions to homes and barns included. In contrast, Exeter is still endur- ing a building slump. With a popu- lation slightly larger than Stephen Township, July. building totals were $266,350, bringing the year's con- struction value to 51.7 millioh, al- most exactly 5200,000 behind last year's figures. Suspended drivers fined in Exeter court EXETER - Two drivers were fined for driving with licenses under suspension at court in Exeter last Tuesday. Suspended: John Brown of Hensel' pleaded guilty to driving while suspended. The court heard he was stopped for speeding in Stephen Township on July 10, and found to be without a valid li- cens\ Justice of the Peace Karen Sturdy took into account this was Brown's second offense since Oc- tober 1991 when fining him 51,000 plus 55 in court costs. - His license was suspended for an ad- ditional six months. $1,000 fine: Kenneth Weigel of Edmonton, Alberta pleaded guilty to driving while under suspension in Ontario. The court was told Weigel's car was stopped on July 1 by the Ex- eter OPP for speeding. His license was confirmed to be suspended. Justice of Peace Sturdy noted Weigel was convicted of driving while having a blood alcohol count over 80 mg. in April 1992. His suspension was not to end until April 1994. He was fined 51,000 plus 55 in court costs, and an additional six month suspension was added to his license. Speeding: Christopher Traquair of Exeter pleaded guilty to speeding 114 km/h in an 80 km/h zone. He was fined $13250 and given three months to pay the tine. 44