Clinton News Record, 1981-01-15, Page 14
y nron Federation of Agriculture
iculture
Campaign to continue on absentee s
By Alice Gibb
Huron Cot: -ty Federation of Agriculture
members ars continuing their campaign
agaixrd the _osentee ownership of Ontario
`fid.
At their. January meeting, held at
Cattail Palle l e Sol al Torre,
members approved a :mea r• ug t
provincial government to, make funds for
programs such as tile loans and capital
grards available only to resident Ontario
farm owners.
The resolution stated "whereas limited
money is available for such programs as
tile loans, capital grant programs, etc. and
whereas Canadian taxpayers should not be
supporting absentee investors", the
Ontario Feaeration of Agriculture (OFA)
was asked to request the government
make funding available only to" Ontario
residents.
Tony McQuail, who seconded the motion
put forward by Merle (aunty, sat® sauce
the province isn't getting anywhere very
quietly on limiting absentee ownership,
the motion's intent was to make sure the
limited funding available for Ontario
farmers wasn't used up on absentee
owners. -
In response to a query asking if absentee
owners have already received ' ds for
tiling, Merle Gunby said no pies of
this were known to commi embers,
but it was a possibility they were trying to
head off before it happened.
The theme of the federation meeting on
Thursday was regulations governing the
operation of pits and quarries in the
county. Craig Laing, pits and quareies
inspector for the Ministry of Natural
Resources, Wingham office, outlined the
implications of the Pits and Quarries
Control Act for farmers with gravel pits on
Area snowmobilers to raise
money for crippled kids
Rather than sponsor a cross-country run
such as Snowerama, the Clinton and
District Snowmobile Club is going to raise
funds for crippled children with a
snowmobile poker rally.
The poker run will be held on Saturday,.
January 31st and will start at Dale's Pump
Service on Highway 8 at the east end of
Clinton, says one if the organizers, Joe
Gibson.
"Because of the lack of snowiest winter,
Snowerama had to be cancelled so many
times that people lost interest, and so
we're going to try a different route," Mr.
Gibson noted.
Instead of netting pledges this year,
snowmobilers will purchase poker hands,
with the cards to be picked up at five
check -points along the way. Starts will be
staggered from 1 to 3 pm.
To encourage participation, the dub has
already lined up an impressive array—of-
prizes
rray of -prizes and donations from area businesses
including Murphy Bus Lines, Clinton
Clrysler, H. Lobb and Sons, Clinton Auto
first column
If it's not enough that the computer
has invaded everything from the
newsroom to the barn, now you won't be
able to get away from it by going for a
ride in your car.
It's true that computers have been in
some makes for years, especially those
with sophisticated fuel -injection
equipment, but now a new twist of fate
that will irk the driver - the back seat
driver computer.
According to a safety magazine that
crossed our desk last week, Toyota
Motor Sales Company has equipped
their latest Mark II and Chaser series
with a synthetic female voice which
gives drivers six various warnings
inclu.'ing: you're low on gas; your
door's held open; put on your seat belt,
and turn off the headlights.
And even the U.S. automakers are
considering equipping 198'2 cars with
similar voice warnings, so in a few
years there'll be no way to escape the
voice: I wonder, can they make them
sound like your mother-in-law or your
wife? What the hey, if your going to get
nagged, it might well be authentic_
But there will be plenty of drawbacks
with the electronic voice. Just, what it
will do to a good Saturday afternoon
gravel run in Huron County! All that
bitching while a fellow is trying to have
a quiet drink with the boys. Could even
make the gravel run extinct!
+ + +
Well, we started off the column with
nagging, so we might as well carry on
with some more.
Next Wednesday, January 21 is
"Weedless Wednesday" for all you
suckers still hooked on the tobacco, all
part of non-smoking week put on by
various lung associations, including our
own Huron -Perth branch
So next Wednesday, we're supposed
to butt our smokes for. the day, and
maybe even hope sane more of us can
quit. According to a press release from
the association, smokers are now in the
minority, with just about 70 per cent of
the populace being non-smokers and
getting more radical everyday about
ogle smoking iau publlcplaces..
Pretty soon smokers are going to
have to sneak out behind the barn to
enjoy a few puffs, just like we did when
we took up the filthy habit as very
young teens.
Me? I'm still off the butts after 21/2
years and enjoying every minute of it.
+++
The Main Street Wit says his minister
told him last week that , despite the
Parts, McKerlie Automotive, Maple Leaf
Small Engines, Ron's Sunoco, Kerrigan's
BP, Taylor's Sterling Fuels, The Rad
Shop, Hearn Wholesale, Hanun's Polaris,
Fleming's Mill, Austen Jewellers, Grove
Electric, Clere-Vu Auto Parts, and Lorne
Brown Mooers. '
Other prizes and donations have come
from the Clinton Body Shop, Harold King's
Shell, Aiken Brothers, Herman's Men's
;Wear, Mitchell Mobile Feed; Galbraith
TV, Clinton , IGA, Don Bell Construction,
Counter's Cash and Carry, Smith's Pro
Hardware, Curie's Red and White, Jerry
McLean Sports, Levis Construction,
Travel -On Sales, Hudie-Wiseway, Ball
Macaulay, Holland Shoes, Norholm
Decorating, Campbell's Men's Wear,
Scruton Fuel, Gerrard's Shopping Centre,
Clinton Home Hardware, Vincent Farm
Equrpnent, Argyle. Marine, .td&J Phar-
macy, andltay and Shirrs Variety.
Anyone wishing to donate either money
or a prize is asked to. contact Barry Young
at 482-3493.
rising prices of materials, and
mounting salaries and benefits and
costs of doing business, the wages of sin
have stayed the same.
+ + +
There, I got halfway through the
column without once mentioning the
weather, but I can contain myself no
longer.
It's been lousy hasn't it? Stupid,
stinking snow! Enough is enough,
already. Tum Hoff, dear Lord, and turn
up the heater too, sir. It's been so cold
that writers have been running out of
superlatives to describe it.
It's bad enough that we have to shovel
out the damn driveways twice a day
some days, but now that unique snow
belt tradition is in vogue this year for
the first time in four years - shovelling
off your roof!
So fat in Clinton, we've had over two
feet of snow in the last three weeks,
(sounds better than 66 centimetres)
more than we had all last winter, and
the weather office says we've got at
.east four more weeks off this.
And according to Chase's Almanac,
which arrived on Monday, the weather
for the *hole year looks lousy. For
instance in February, Chases says:
"Wet snow is whipped by strong winds
that rise around the 4th. Toward the
beginning of the second week, skies
clear, but icy temperatures remain
through to the 16th during which time,
around the 11th, a serious storm moves
over central Ontario and Western
Quebec. Slightly milder temperatures
which occur by the 22nd, herald a
sudden storm on the 24th."
I think Chase is just trying to sell
more of his nerve medicine by scaring
us all.
There is one comforting thought,
though. All our friends in Florida are
freezing too as record low tem-
peratures have hit the traditionally
warm wintering grounds. Only sad
thing is, the southern farmers are
losing their citrus and vegetable crops,
which will eventually put the price up to
us.
. + + +
All that snow and icy temperatures
should help a couple of winter events in
the area to a success. The Optimists of
Clinton are trying to revive the old
Winter Carnival on February 6, 7, and
8, and the Snowmobile Club will be
having a poker run for crippled
children on January 31. More details
later.
their property.
Under the act, which now covers all
townships within the area, operators must
pay eight cents per metric tonne security
fee on extracted gravel, effective Jan. 1,
1981. The fee is paid to the Treasurer of
Ontario to guarantee pits and quarries will
he rehabilitated in we future. The deposit
is returned .to operators when
rehabilitation is in progress .or is complete
onasite.
Also, effective July 1, 1981, pits and
quarries operators must obtain a license
from the ministry for their pits, outlining
plans for the site, including rehabilitation,
or else operations at the pits must cease_
Craig Laing told federation members pit
operators pay the eight cents per metric
tonne deposit on March 31 of the following
year, which means they must keep a.
record of the tonnage of gravel removed
from their pit during the year.
The pits inspector said the eight cent
security depcsit "reflects morn accurately
the cost of rehabilitation and will provide
incentive for rehabilitation when the pit is
still in operation."
Operators will be paid a rate of interest
on the deposit equal to the Province of
Ontario accounts interest rates, which Mr.
Laing called "a little sugar with the bad
medicine I guess". Originally, operators
were to receive only six per cent interest
on the security deposit.
The inspector also outlined regulations
in Bill 127, the Aggregates Acta which the
government has been trying to pass for
some time to replace the Pits and Quarries
Control Act. Under the new act, which has
had a 'second reading; in addition to the.
eight cents security fee, operators will also
have to pay a royalty fund of six cents per
tonne, which will be divided between the
municipality, the county and the province.
,The royalty fee won't be returned to
operators. Mr. Laing said this money will
be used by government to repair roads and
Turn topage 3
Despite the wishful thinking by area skiiers, there is no
truth to the rumor that Brownies are starting a ski -slope
in downtown Clinton. It's just that so much snow has fallen
that Levis Construction has piled it up 12 feet high on the
corner of the Brown's car lot. In background, salesman
Craig Cox prepares to pull out another car. With January
only two weeks old,. snow removal is proving very ex-
pensive for some businessmen. (James Fitzgerald photo)
Four women injured when car flips in ditch
Four Clinton women were rushed to
• Clinton hospital on January 11' following a
two -car crash.. Driver of the vehicle
Annie Sallows, 53 and her passengers Vera
Colquhoun, 58, . Mary Arthur, . 69 and
Lorraine Ducharme, 25 all sustained
major injuries after the car they were
travelling in slid across an icy stretch of
Highway 8, near Hohnesville, slammed
into aparked car and rolled into the ditch.
The parked car, owned by Arie Van den
Berg of Clinton was stuck in snow on the
oppostie side of the mad when the accident
occurred.
The Goderich OPP reported that
damage to t he Sallows car was set at $3,000
and the Van den Berg car received $1;000
in damages.
Earlier on the evening of January 11,
Goderich OPP were called out, to another
two -car crash on Highway 4, just south of
Blyth.
No one was injured but a total of $4,500 in
damages' resulted when a van driven by
Thomas • Creeden, 31, of Wingham and a
second vehicle driven by Leonard Rooney,
67, of Blyth collided at the Highway 4;.
County Road 25 intersection.
The Creeden van received . $2,500 in
damages and the Rooney car received
$2,000 in damages.
icy roads and snow build-ups are being
blamed on many accidents in the area and
Clinton Police Chief Lloyd Westlake warns
that drivers -should take extra caution and
care when attempting to maneuver around
Alexander Knowles of Clinton reached a milestone List Friday, January 9 when he
celebrated his 100th birthday at the home of his tlaujihter, Krista Herrett of Raglan
Street, where he lives with his wife Mabel. Born in Stenhousemufr, Scotland in 1_:1. the
youngest of 10 children, Mr. Knowles came to Clinton four years ago. He has two other
daughters, eight granchildren and one great-grandchild. He enjoyed many outdoor
sports nal says the odd tot of scotch helped him reach the century mark. ( James Fit-
zgerald
photo)
the high snow banks in town.
He noted that limited vision over the
banks resulted in a January 13 crash
between a snowmobile and a car.
Luckily no one was injured in the ac-
cident that occurred when a car driven by
Valerie Hollinshead of Clinton and a
snowmobile driven by Douglas MacLean
of Clinton collided. Mrs- Hollinshead was
attempting to back out of a driveway and
couldn't see over the high snow banks
when the accident occurred. Damage to
the snowmobile was set at $300.
Icy roads are being blamed as the cause
of a January- 3 accident in Clinton that
resulted in $2,400 in damages.
Garry Murray, 33, of Clinton was
travelling along Mary Street when he
braked the vehicle and it slid on ice and
slammed into a hydro pole. Damage to the
car was set at $1.200 and another $1,200 to
the Clinton PUC pole.
Police reported that no one was injured
in a January 9 two -car crash at the in-
tersection of Orange and Wellington
Streets.'
Lost everything
A car driven by Barbara Cox, 34, of
Clinton and a second vehicle driven' by
Lorne Wolfe, 52, of RR 5, Clinton collided
in the incident.
The Wolfe car received 81,500 in
damages and the Cox car received $600 in
damages.
Jean Hewer, 22, of Clinton received
minor injuries when the car she was
travelling in collided with a car driven by
Wayne Fraser, 19, of Clinton. Mrs. Hewer
was a passenger in a car driven by John
Hewer, 32, of Clinton
The January 2 crash occurred on Cutter
Street and damage to the Hewer car was
set at $400. The Fraser vehicle received $20
in damages.
Clinton Police also investigated a
January 13 crash that resulted in $100 in
damages.
A pick-up truck driven by Marlene
Forbes of RR 2, Clinton and a car driven
by Daniel Stanley, of RR 5. Clinton met
that corner of Queen and John Street.
Police estimated damages at $250 to the
Forbes truck and 8450 to the Stanley car.
Fire victims get aid
By Shelley McPhee
Things coiddn't get much worse for
Marsha Kerr and her four children. but
Marsha's still smiling.
"Things just have to go better." she said
with a hopeful note in her voice.
"There are a lot of people depending on
me." she added. "So I can't be a
pessimist,"
Marsha. her three sons and daughter are
slowly picking up the pieces of their lives.
much of which was lost in a.devestating
fire that destroyed their home.
Marsha is hopeful that insurance will
cover most of the loss in the blaze that
gutted her Huron Haven mobile home.
north of Goderich. Faulty wiring is said to
bethe cause of the fire
Nothing was saved in the December 30
tragedy that caused over $40,000 in
damages. but Marsha said that her
children were most disappointed that all
their brand new Christmas gifts were
destroyed so quickly.
But the family is managing. They have
moved to Marsha's parents' home. Mr.
and Mrs. Harry Tebbutt in Londesboro.
The chitclren, Peier.'70: i ai ry,8: Linda,7
and Ken.6 have been able to carry on with
their schooling at Colborne Centrad with a
little extra effort from their mother.
Each morning before Marsha arrives for
work at Bartiiff's Bakery. she drives the
children to school and then picks them up
again in the afternoon. Marsha has been
grateful to her employer for re -scheduling
her working hours to accommodate her
children and Bill Gauthier, the special
education school bus driver, has made a
special effort to drop of one the children at
-Bartlifesevery-day at 4 pm.
Many otherpeople have come to the aid
of the Kerr family and have donated
clothes and necessary goods to make the
children and their mother comfortable.
'"They say in times of disaster you know
who your friends are, Marsha noted, and
she has found that there are many. The
Constance Foresters, various church
groups. the Huron Haven communit%.
friends. her parents' neighbors and people
from her former employrnent in Bayfield
have banded together to offer any
assistance and donation to Marsha and her
children.
And it has been through this aoodwiI
and support that the Kerr's Have managed
to recover from the tragedy. ha'. -e kept on
smiling and given Marsha an optimistic
view of 1981.
eather
1981 1980
os,to . H!'
JANUARY'
6 - 5 13-14
7 ' -5 15 2. - 8
8 -10 22.5 -6 -10
9 ...8 -15 --8 12
10 -9 -20 -3 - 19
11 _12 25 10 -4
12 _13 - 19 0 _14'.
Snow 40 cm Snow0
4