Clinton News-Record, 1977-09-29, Page 1Clinton, Ontario
25 cents
Clinton ews' * ord
Thursday, Sete ber 29, 1977 . 112th Year-No.39
Eather
1977 1976
P41 LO
SEPTEMBER
20 64, 55 " 63
21 63 54 60
22 61 41 50
23 63 52 58
24 58 51 55
25 73 51 61
26 68 . 55
Rain 1,30"
52
Lo
' 49
39
40
41
33
36
43
Rain 1.7"
t I 1
Wildex, union barainig
For the first- time in seven years of
operation in Clinton, employees of the
Wildex division of Ex -Cell -0 Corporation
of,Canada Ltd., have formed a union.
According to Ross Strickland of
London, the —.video -president of the
Canadian operations of ECe11-0, . the
certified union is now in the process of
negotiating a contract.
.No . manager' has , been appointed, to
n failure feared, losses hit
By Jim Fitzgerald
Huron County white bean producers
face a loss of $7 million in income this
year as near monsoon conditions in
Huron, and in most of the white bear}
producing areas, threaten to produce the
area's first crop failure.
+� Already, even the ,most optimistic
officials are saying that at least 50
percent of the bean crop is already lost,
and unless sunny dry conditions return
soon, there is little hope of getting the
remainder of the crop off.
The situation is so desperate, at this
writing, Wednesday morning, that the
Ontario Bean Producers Marketing
and will either have, to lower grades
tantially, or face loss of the
ue European Market, with whom
ust negotiated contracts.
unty, which produces nearly
beans'grown in Canada, is
is. week, after record
ontinue to plague the
sub
lucra
fey ha
Huron
if of all th
a quagmire
setting rainfalls
area.
With only 10 perce ' t of the county's
,63,000 acre crop off, ach rainy day
makes the chances of gett' g more even
gloomier.
Huron agricultural rep ,entative
Don Pullen said last week that e: lier in
August, it looked like th re w : s a
bumper crop on the way, bu with e. h
rainy, cloudy day, the chanc s of gettin
the $15,000,000 crop in the levators, is
dimmer. sa
Cathy Cullen, a spokesperson for the
local Crop Insurance Agent Peter Roy,
said that they are advising farmers NOT
to plow down the beans just yet, as the
country badly needs them,.
Miss Cullen said she was told by Crop
Insurance headquarters in Toronto, that
the Bean Board would be lowering their
standards for grading the beans, and
there was still a good chance that many
of the beans that might have been
plowed under could still be used, even as
cattle feed.
She said that if the worst happens, the
crop Insurance Commission has enough
money to cover all tile losses. •
Unfortunately, only about 60 percent
of bean producers have taken out in-
surance on their beans, according to a
Bean Board spokesman.
The Bean Board a few weeks ago was
expecting a record crop of about 100,000
tonnes (metric), up from last year's
83,000 tonnes but instead, at presstime
Wednesday, the loss in Ontario beans
could hit $15 million.
The problem stems from record
rainfalls and cloudy days that have
saturated the soils, turning many fields
into swamps, and many of the earlier
beans that were ready for harvest two
weeks ago are now black, covered in
mildew and fungus, and sprouting right
in the pods.
Even if the rain quits, many farmers
it will be a week before they can get
Racewa
heavy machinery onto the land. Many
have said they will go into the fields and
combine them where they stand, rather
than try and pull them first and .then
combine them,
Lloyd Whitesell, assistant manager of
the W.G. Thompson and Sons mill in
Hensall, said there was still hope of
gettingthe later maturing varieties like
Sanilac and Kentwood off, as they are
still green. But he figured the earlier
Seafarer variety, which is the dominant
variety, is lost.
"A maw here that has been involved
with beans for 30 years says 'this is the
worst year ever for quality.,,",Whitesell
said.
"It's a real job to process them, he
said. "We haven't had any to speak of for
two weeks".
"Michigan (the other North: American
bean producing area) isust as bad off
now, but they had' 20 p rcent of their
crop off," Whitesell said.
He said that one small wagonload that
went through the plant on Monday
graded at 90 percent pickers (mouldy or
damaged beans).
"We're encouraging the farmers to
take them off," he said.
However, many farmers don't want to
take them off if there are so many
pickers in the loads, and coupled with
.. drying costs, they feel they would ,be
better off plowing them under and
closes �fl winning note
Despite the wettest August and Sep-
tember since they began racing, and loss
of their liquor licence, both attendance
and betting were up this year at the
Clivi onrKinsifiRaceway, which held
its final program last Sunday.
For the first time in its history, betting
at the plant topped the $1 million mark,
with $1,042,034 going through the
machines in the 14 -day meet, an in-
crease of 13 per cent from last year's
$851,682.
1 ,Si Coiuiii"
by Jim Fitzgerald
We just came across a joke the other
day that reads "There's little danger of
•developing eyestrain these -days from
looking on the bright side of things."
And if the anonymous writer or that
smile only knew how close he was to the
truth, both literally andfiguratively as
far as denizens of this great part of the
coi,rntry are concerned.
No one for, a minute thought that a
,situation that -was bad a week ago could
possibly get .any worse, but it has, and
the outlook is anything but bright around
here..s'ust as the weather is dull, so are
the pro,spectsfor our bean farmers.
As h'as been documented elsewhere on
thispage, we've , had tile worst late
• sumrrier . and early fall so far in 100
sears; and the economic loss could be
taggering.
But farmers have always been.
gamblers, and that and their eternal
' optimism is one of the few bright spots
these days. + + +
About the ,only good thing to come out
,ta of all this wet weather, abeit a small�one,
is• that,it's too wet to burn the leaves, and.
'so we'll be spared those stinking, acrid
fumes for a few days at least. So far, we
haven't heard whether town council will.
continue with their bagged leave pick-up
yet, but we hope they do.
+ + +
W,e11, regardless of .what the weather
" does, the ice is going in the arena next
week, and the hockey season will likely
be in hill swing in Clinton by next'''
'weekend, barring any unforeseen dif=
f iculties.
Ali• "o start4he season rolling, the Minor
ckey Association is having their first
annual,lbake 'sale and equipment sale
' and' eichange this Saturday. Officials
*:•"are looking for both kids and adult
hockey equipment for tithe sale, and will
•sell them either offa consignment bases,,
or take it as. outright ,donations'. igen
Dupe.; W111 beat the arena;ithis friday
• night from �7,; to. 9 p.m. to receive the
•equipment, So let's make this,a big sale.,
. ,auk ' + ,l.
Registr tio>< 1',picked up•. last Sa'turda i
for the Minor hockey registration, and
all brackets ,'but +the . midgets, and
tr '')uveniles have , excellent'' r+o§ters'
Registration forms can also be picked p
•,during thesale on Sa't'urday.
Attendance also jumped 15 per cent to and with all the new ° facilities at the
21,624 from last year's 17,316, an in- racetfack this year, including the new
crease of 15 per cent. $250,000 grandstand, they expected
Average daily handle hit $74;431, this - crowds would be up.
summer; ciriripare to',a—$65',51.4 e' " But 'because of''al1-the . rain ,in August
last year, while average attendance and September, crowds were down from
jumped Y�. this year to 1,545 from last what they might have been.
year's 1,332 figure. "The bad weather conditions were big
factors some Sundays;" Jewitt said.
He didn't feel that the loss of their
liquor permit hit them very hard.
Any extra profits that the club realizes
-from their raceway operation, however,
will be plowed back into the $93,000
mortgage they have taken 'out on the
grandstand.
Case Buffinga said that although the
handle was up, expenses were also up
quite a bit.
"We won't have any final figures for a
couple of weeks yet," Buffinga said.
Raceway chairman Ron Jewitt said
the chib was well satisfied with the year
Crash claims Zurich youth
An early morning - accident last
Thursday claimed the life of Robert
Gingerich, 18, of RR 2, Zurich when he
was involved in a two -car, head-on
collision on Highway 4 about one mile
south of the Vanastra Road.
The driver of the other car, Ray
Mathers, 23, of 167 Quebec Street in
Goderich was taken to St. Joseph's
Hospital in London, suffering from leg
injuries, where 'he waq listed to be in
satisfactory condition.
The accident occurred a little before 8
a.m. on September 22, when Gingerich,
whb was north bound on highway 4,
crossed into the southbound lane, almost
to the west shoulder. As he was coming
back into his proper lane, he met with a
southbound vehicle and collided.
Dr. R. Flowers pronounces] Gingerich
dead at the scene of the accident and the
Seaforth Ambulance removed Mathers
iK
.d,
to Clinton Hospital before he was
transferred to London.
No .charges • were laid and the
estimated damage to each car was set at
$3,000. -
collecting their crop insurance, which
would at least cover some of the costs of
planting them.
Sigce Op wet cloudy conditions started
in August over 375 mm (15 inches) of
rain'hasfallen`ht the Goderich Weather
Station, with 243 mm (9.72 inches being
recorded in August, a new all-time
record for any month going back to 1880,
Special edition included
A special edition is included with this
week's News -Record, honoring the
several hundred students who received
awards or graduated at last Friday
commencement exercises at
Huron Secondary School in
night's
Central
Clinton.
This first ever attempt to provide a
separate newspaper detailing the large
graduating class is a co-operative effort
of the staff of CHSS and,the editorial and
composition staff of the News -Record
and Signal -Star Publishing.
•
replace the late Bruce Williscraft at
Wildex. ' The -company which
manufactures carbide tools is presently
under the direction of the four senior
managers: Larry Daw, financial
manager; Pat , Newington, manufac-
turing manager; Brian Vaughan, sales
manager; and Shiv Kalokhe,
engineering manager..
The company employs 40 people.
milli
and 132 mm (5.2$ inches) so far in
September,.twice the average.
Tony Chir, a weather technician in
Goderich said it has rained every day
but six so far this month.
And according to the weather office in
Toronto, even if the' sun shines the rest of
the month, we have ,already set a new
record for the cloudiest month, withonly
•
90 hours of sunshine, since records were
started in 1882, far below the dullets
record of 134.5 hours set in 1934.
Because of the wet conditionh, farmers
can't get their winter wheat crop sown,
nor get their silage corn harvested:
Most winter wheat is sown before the
first of October in order to have enough.
growth before the winter sets in,.
Soggy beans
Rain continues to fall on Huron, with over 15 inches
recorded in the last eight weeks, and more than half of the
area's white bean crop may be lost, nearly $7,000,000 worth.
Already pods are blackened, covered in mildew and fungus
and sprouting, but crop insurance officials are telling
a
farmers NOT to plow them down .until they consult their
• adjuster and Bean Board officials. Because the country
needs the beans badly, grading standards may have to be
lowered. (News -Record photo)
County to help Exeter hospital
South Huron Hospital in
Exeter has received the b
approval of Huron County
Council to proceed with
building plans and to expect
financial support from the
county of up to 25 per cent of
provincial approved costs, to
a maximum of $150,000.
The original hospital which
was 'a house constructed in
1856 will be removed to make
way for a new emergency and
out-patients facility. The
projected cost for the project
is $598,000 and the hospital
board has expressed con-
fidence the building costs will
not exceed that amount. The
hospital already has a fund of
between $425,000 and $450,000
for tit., work.
The addition to South Huron
Hospital will proceed under
Ontario Regulation 61;1977
which means the province
will have no financial share in
the building. The South Huron
Hospital Board has to make a
specific commitment as well,
that no additional operating
costs will result from the
building program.
The Social Services com-
mittee is expecting to be well
over budget by the end of
1977. Due to continued high
unemployment and increased
rates in most areas of the
social services department,
the financial report for the
period ending July 31., 1977
shows expenditure of
$230,320.85 or about $10,000
over budget.
"It is expected this trend
will continue for the balance
of 1977," said Chairman „J. R.
Hunking.
The administrator of
Huronview was authorized to
participate in an Outreach
9,
Program, operated by the The tank and a Lancaster
Huron Committee for the bomber made up a Legion
Home Bound to provide day display at the Goderich
tare for the elderly. •airpert, and at one time were
The program will be open to free inspection by
financed by the Province of visitors. However, it became
Ontario for a two=year period. increasingly difficult to
The Huronview van will be protect the display from
used as required, .and' meals vandals and this year the
will be provided at a . .bomber was sold and
reasonable cost. All costs will removed from the area.
be recovered from the
Outreach group.
About 300 in Huron County
could be potential users of
this service, according to
Mrs. Betty Cardno of
Seaforth, a member of the
com mittee.
Huron County Pioneer
Museum will receive a gift
from the Royal Canadian
Legion Branch 109,'Goderich.
' That gift will be the Sherman
Tank 78901 presently located
at the .Goderich airport.
The Huron County property
committee will work with the
Goderich Legion members to
incorporate their suggestions
into the new museum exhibit
and a plaque will be unveiled
next year.
In other business, council
agreed to file no objections to.
a proposal to designate the
former Huron County jail and
the jail • residence as a
heritage building under the
Ontario Heritage Act.
Tree bylaw needs teeth
�L • A r\ ,' + 1
W tit's /,the ,height ,,,of rotten' lit*? -
' B itering,�th'i ' lospital Auxiliat~y's Penny %rues ome cras h
lale five -years it `a row anc1, not winning : ,.
�s. > ;` i `"Huron County coroner Dr. Ray Flowers, of Clinton, left,
g..'x°h,�►t s ho0',..%ad my, 'leek is. . .
an fn �
why, f'd �.robabl basa bet that the sun.,,,plcks.up his bag after pronouncing Robert�Gingerich, 18, of
y rich dead at the scene of a head-oti crash last Thursday
;Ik
mile South of Vanastra on Highway 4.
morning about a �►
Attendants removed theirapped body from the overturned
Car minutes later. (News Record photo)
"BY SHIRLEY J. KELLER
A Tuckersmith farmer has been or-
dered by a Huron County Tree Com-
missioner to stop clearing bushland on
his farm. This particular bush is classed
as number one by the Ministry of
Natural Resources and the cutting of it is
prohibited under bylaw 43 of 1974 which
is a -bylaw to restrict and regulate the
destruction of trees by cutting, burning
or other means.
The bylaw provides that only trees of a
certain size may be cut down, The bylaw
doesn't cover tree's that are to be cut for
use or sale as Christmas trees; diseased
trees or trees damaged by insects, wind,
ice, fire, etc.; trees of poor form, and
quality cut to improve the woodiot; trees
growing on locations for fireguards,
skid -ways or logging trails; or trees that
are cut "in forest stand improvement
operations in accordance with good
forestry practices'
Only woodlots of . two acres or more
come under this bylaw. The bylaw
doesn't interfere With the right of the
owner to cut trees for his own use,
The Huron County Development
Committee noted in its report that the
tree commissioners have reported
several infractois of the tree cutting
bylaw in Huron, partidularly in the
northern part of�theoounty.
County Cott`ttcil supported a recom-
.-. iss io ers
>0��,4tl,oti` that the tree cornrn s n s
be given support in enforcing the bylaw,
and that both the owner of the land and
the person removing the trees be
charged under the bylaw when in-
fractions occur.
The bylaw provides for a maximum
fine of $500 and imprisonment of not
more than three months. Deputy -reeve
Paul Steckle of Stanley said this falls
"far short of a penalty" and suggested
this part of the bylaw needs to be up-
dated.'
Administrator Bill Hanly said the
Ontario Trees Act provides for a similar
penalty of $500, but that a proposal is
already before government to have that
changed to a maximum penalty of $5,000
plus the cost of replacing the trees.
Steckle also complained there needs to
be some consultation with the tree'
commissioners before permission, is
granted to clear land in Huron County.
Steckle referred to a case in his township
where "a beautiful little woodlot" was
cut down with the tree commissioner's.
approval.
"The problerrt was the approvahwas
given in the winter," said Steckie who
went on to explain that the land on which.
the trees were situated •was just not
suitable for' agriculture purposes..
'The tree commissioner eouldn't see
that when there was snow on the
ground," argued Steckle. Council,a"greed
continued on page 3