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Times Advocate, 1997-07-23, Page 2Page 2 Times -Advocate, July 23 1997 Regional wrap up Skateboard bylaw in the works MITCHELL Mitchell's po- lice services board is continuing to pursue a- bylaw preventing skateboard and in-line skating use in the downtownarea. re- ports the Mitchell Advocate. The goal -of the bylaw is to get the skateboarders and skaters off, the sidewalks downtown so peo- ple do not get hit while on foot. Some members of the police ser- vices board -believe banning them outright is almost impossi- ble since they likely haye to -pass '- one of the main :arteries to get .anywhere. • , Mayor Hugh, McCaughey sug- gested the bylaw .be similar, to ' one used -' for . snowmobiles, which 'bans them downtown un- less passing through. Since the skateboard park has been operation at Keterson Park, there has been nothing but coop-. eration fro'm children who are for the most'part, abiding by the conditions according to Ontario Provincial Pol}ce Sgt.. Bob Jack- son. ' Stonetown; Heritage. , Festival a success ST. MA'RYS - The St. Marys Journal -Argus has dubbed . the Stonetown : 'Heritage Festival "just, about perfect". The event celebrated, the town's architec= ture and legacy.. • The three-day event included 'a street dance,' fireworks, chit-. damn's . heritage , festival, art Show, house tour, rubber ducky race and sidewalk sales. , In the Journal -Argus, festival manager June Cunningham praised the town's staff fortheir help in organizing and executing the festival. Restructuring means lower taxes in Seaforth SEAFORTH,- All restructur- ing_ scenarios for Seaforth could save ratepayers some or a lot of money; lowering municipal tax- es from the current revels, ac- cording to the Huron Expositor. The Central Huron restructur- ing committee told members' of the public the potential for sav- ings to ratepayers has been de- termined as $1 -million to $1.3 million if the seven municipali- ties (Seaforth, Clinton, Godgficb and McKillop, Hullett, Goderich and Colborne Townships) were to become one. ' This scenario would result in a decrease in taxes to $680 on a property assessed at $100,000. If Seaforth stays with the status quo, the projected local tax would be $1,142 for a property assessed at $100,000. Lightning shakes up boy playing Nintendo LOBO TOWNSHIP - The Parkhill Gazette reports a Lobo Township boy was shaken up when lightning struck his home while he was using his family's computer. A thunderstorm had appeared to clear away from the area one- half hour earlier when lightning struck without warning. The lad had burn marks on his toes. INTFIF_WJEWLS Lucan Heritage Festival to feature potato race LUCAN - Anyone wondering who has the fastest potato won't have to anymore after the third annual Lucan Area Heritage Fes- tival on Aug. 9-10. That's when local celebrities, including Lucan Reeve Rob -Bra- dy, will roll their favorite tu- bered, starchy dinner staple down the plywood during the Great Canadian Potato Race. �► Festival chairperson Mike: , Anderson said 4 Lucan's and Biddulph Township's YriSh roots made t(te potato race a natural event. • '"Ailsa Craig has its tur- •tle races and otherplaces have rubber ducky races," he .said. "It's logical Lu - can would have a. potato race. We're going, to find out .who has the fasted spud • in, 13 iddulph." The race, slated for 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 10; is just one 4 some, will be available for. $ 10 each. The engraved and certified bricks have been'selling like hot - cakes since they went on sale re- cently, Anderson. said. Proceeds from the, brick sales, thepancake breakfast and the chicken bar- becue go towards the Lu- can Area Heritage Com- mittee building • fund. Admission to S the festival is free: Here's the festival schedule (all events V at - Market Street Park): Saturday, Aug. 9 . • 8: a.m. Farmers' market.. featuring local �- produce. • 8 a.m..-11 a.m. Pancake breakfast; cost is_$5 jter plate; cludes pancakes, ham or sausage, eggs, donut and beverage. • 9.a.m.=4 p.m. Outdoor craft 5 p.m. -8 p.m. Chicken bar- becue; :cost is $12 per plate; in- cludes chicken, cont on the cob and dessert. • 8 p.m. -"midnight: Street dance featuring music by the.lrish band the -Pioneers. . • All day. Horse drawn wagon rides, displays on spinning, ge- nealogy, quilts and local history. For information on entering the parade, setting up a -display or setting up a market booth. call Anderson at 227-1213 (home) or 227-0700 (work). Those'wanting information on the reunion..,call either Anderson or Doris Hod gins at 227.0285. of the festjval'.s many:events. • Other • attractions include the Lucan High School .reunion, a . , -farmers' market and much more. The ,reunion 'for the school that closed when Medway • High School opened in 1949 has gener- ated about 400 responses, Ander-- son said. • - . - • - The. festival' will also celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Lucan and District Lions,Club as well as underlining the contributions of all Lucan area service clubs' through,dispfays. Limited.edijion bricks,from the recently, demolished -Central Ho, tel, dubbed 'Donnelly Bricks' by Savings not immediate' Continued from front page . ropolitan Toronto school board, also includes _Meer) Obe, director of education for , the Simcoe County Roman CatholioSeparate School Board, Remi Lessard, pres- • ident :of the - , French -language school board. association, Peter Cameron, a senior business` ex- ecutive, Belly Moseley -Williams; chair of the English-language sec- tion of the Nipissing District Ro- man Catholic Separate School 'Board, Arlene Wright, former president of the' Ontario Public School Boards Association and Mary Jean Gallagher, director of , education for the City of Windsor. A Local Education Improvement Commission has also started meet- ing and released an 'interim report on June 16. The LEIC is made up of at least two trustees from .each public board (Perth and . Huron), the board . chairs. ani super- intendents of business to act as re • - source persons. - To insure ap propriate feedback. -four -. School Advisory Council members and four student trustees' have been given-non-voting.status. �i According to the report, the LEIC has held four meetings to date and .. has: decided to follow a consensus model.for • decision-making wherevepossible. Work groups 'are tasked with seeking • "District School Board solutions for all mat- ters under review" and preliminary reports arc to be filed with the di- rectors .. in' early. September. The -sub-groups will study the areas•of partnership, board policy and pro- cedure, human resources. `pro- grams, ' business, transportation.. technology and operations and fa- cilities. Above, Laurie Knights of Suntastic displays a few of the 22,000 pounds of vine -ripened tomatoes hat'- , vested each day at the , 10.8 -acre greenhouse. -At right, Construction of a 10 -acre greenhouse is un- ' :derway at Suntastic Hot- house inc. in Osborne Township. The new facility will create jobs for 50 peo- ple,. Suntastic Hothouse is doubling in size USBORNE TOWNSHIP,- Only-. four months anus production, Suntastic-Hothouse Inc. is doubling in size., A new 10 -acre greenhouse is under Construc- tion at the Ushorne-Township sitc.I and -1/2 miles cast of Exeter.. Once in operation, the new greenhouse will create 50 jobs. The current 10.8 acre greenhouse employs 50-60 people on' a full-time basis. Last' week: workers harvested . 22,000 pounds (11 tons).0 vine -ripened tomatoes per day (Monday to.Friday), according to 'Laurie Knights. a supervisor at Suntastic. At peak times. 33.000 pounds are harvested each week day. Jeff.Kints 'of Suntastio said 99 per cent of the to- matoes- are exported. to the • eastern United States. Stores .in Exe,ter and Hensall also stock Suntastic;s to- matoes. Knights supervises the biological con trol of predators' in the greenhouse. No insecticides are used: Knights intro- duces a 'variety -Of insects, to, control pests -intent on harmingthe plants. She is also in charge of the bee pop- ulation used to pollinate the hydro- ponically -grown tomato plants. With -the hugs and bees' in • balance. Suntastic- is: rapidly becoming a major local employer and world -leader in tomato,producticn. Huron County Pork Producers tackling hunger By Craig. Bradford T -A Reporter • VARNA - The Huron County 'Pork Producers are showing they.'re no pigs when it comes to helping the hungry. Pork producers plan to help the - needy. with the Huron Pork .Hunger Alliance, an initiative announced at the annual Huron County Pork Pro- ducers Association Fun Day on Sat- . urday. Spokesperson and Zurich pork producer Jody Durand said the county's 900 pork producers are in- vited to donate a pig to the cause. by dropping it off at one of 10 par- ticipating Huron abattoirs in- cluding Hensall's Metzger Farms Meat Market, Exeter's Veal's Meat Market and Abattoir and • Zurich Packers. Once processed, the meat will be picked up by local food banks. The goal is for eight pigs to be donated this year (six are already committed), but the potential is much more vast, Durand said. "Eight out of 800,000 pigs — i think we can do that," Durand said. "I'm sure food banks could find places (for more pigs)." Zurich's Blessings Community Store manager Pearl Kuepfer said pork producers' idea is "tre- mendous." • "We certainly appreciate it," Kuepfer said. "It helps our meat sit- uation." A spokesperson for the Exeter Community Food Bank, who asked to remain anonymous, said they'll "The producers taken a initia gladly take the meat if it's free. but they can't afford to pick up any processing costs. . "11 sounds like a good thing to me." they said. "We could certainly make use of the meat." . Huron County Children's Aid So-. ciety volunteer services co- ordinator Joan Vandenbroeck said hunger Ai' lingering at 'ear- doors. urdoors. "We're seeing increasing num- bets of families over the last two years that just don't have the re- sources to provide for themselves," Vandenbroeck said. "it's very dif- ficult to believe people, are going hungry in Hu- ron County which is the seventh largest • ag- ricultural producer in Canada, but it's there nevertheless." Vandenbroeck hopes' other farm groups will follow the pork producers' lead. "The pork producers have taken a bold initiative," she said. "They are the first producers to offer meat to food banks. They have thrown out the gauntlet for what food pro- ducers can do." Fresh meat is always in demand at food banks but it is something that is rarely donated, Durand said, And giving away a pig shouldn't be much of a hardship for producers, Durand said — many animals may not meet industry standards for weight and would fetch a low mar- ket price but are otherwise fine pigs. "If you're going to give away lightweight pigs, you might as well give them to someone who needs them," he said. Abattoirs are asked to donate pork have bold ti ve. " Spiffy new logo. Huron County Pork Producer Jody Durand, left, and his son Andre pose in front of the pork producers' new logo designed by Seaforth St. James School at 7 student Lori Vogels. • their services in return for a char- itable tax receipt, Durand said. "Half of the processors 1 called are already doing something like this," he said. "I • was very im- pressed." Regional Ontario Pork co- ordinator Deb. Campbell said the Huron Food Issues Network (also known as the coalition) is trying to bridge the gaps in services to pro- vide better care for the needy. in the last two years, the needs of all Huron County food banks have in- creased from 25 per cent to 100 per cent in some cases, Campbell said. "What we're trying to do with the coalition is not to reinvent the wheel and stop duplication." she said. "We feel there is strength in numbers." Campbell is a co- , founder of the Network which in- cludes the Health Unit, Community Food Advisors, Rural Response for Healthy Children and other inter- ested parties from the community and retail sector. if church groups or other com- munity organizations want to know more about either helping out their local food bank or creating their own community kitchen, call the Huron County Health Unit at 1- 800-265.5184 and ask for the com- munity food advisor. In other pork producers' busi- ness, the new logo was unveiled at the Pun Day. Designed by Sea- forth's St. James School Gr. 7 stu- dent Lari Vogels, the logo will re- place the old one on all Huron County Pork Producers cor- respondence. Clinton's Jesse Con- nolly finished second in the contest and Zurich's Scott Turkheim took third spot.