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The Times Advocate, 2007-07-11, Page 66 Times -Advocate Wednesday,July 11, 2007 Opinion Forum News Au Revoir to agriculture student Au Revoir to Vincent who has been working at Cedar Villa Angus Farms, Zurich, with T.J. and Paul Klopp since May 28. Vincent is a 20 year-old agriculture stu- dent from France. He lives near the village of Melay, similar to Zurich with 900 inhabitants, in the region of Bourgogne. He and his family breed Charolais beef cat- tle. Vincent is working at obtaining his Agricultural Technician Certificate in France. His co-op activities here in Canada served to aid in his instruction. The technical and practical training he experienced working with the Angus cattle was a progression of the teachings MS Bike Tour returns for its 17th year GRAND BEND — Organizers of the RONA MS Bike Tour — Grand Bend to London expect over 1,300 cyclists to participate July 28 - 29 and to raise over $700,000 for the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada. This will be the tenth year participating in the Tour for local residents Bob Case of Grand Bend and Randy Lovie of Zurich. To celebrate this milestone, Case has set a personal fundraising goal of $10,000. Both men originally became involved in the tour to support family living with MS. Case's sister-in-law has MS while Lovie's mother- in-law has been battling MS for 47 years. As Lovie states, "all of the hard work (cycling 150 km) is nothing compared to what someone with MS can go through." Lovie encourages everyone to "practice, get into shape, come and have a great weekend. You will look forward to it all year!" If you aren't able to join the tour, donations can be made to Case, Lovie or any participant by visiting www.msbiketours.com Raising over $625,000 in 2006, the RONA MS Bike Tour — Grand Bend to London is the largest single fundraiser for the Multiple Sclerosis Society in Southwestern Ontario and is the largest RONA MS Bike Tour in the province. In addition to funding research, the MS Society provides services for people who have MS as well as family members, caregivers and health care professionals. Multiple sclerosis is an unpredictable and often dis- abling disease of the central nervous system. Canada has one of the highest rates of MS, a disease for which the cause and the cure are unknown. Common symptoms are extreme fatigue, vision and balance problems. Symptoms can range from subtle nerve sensations to severe pain and possibly severe paralysis. POLICE BRIEF Complaints lead to charge EXETER — On June 11 Huron OPP received multiple complaints from the public of a male driving dangerous- ly and erratic. Officers were informed that the vehicle, a 1996 Ford CVI was running people off the road, driving sideways and running stop signs. The same vehicle was found in the parking lot of the Carling Street apart- ments on Carling Street. The driver was identified and was arrested for dangerous operation of a motor vehi- cle. A 22 -year-old of Exeter will appear in Exeter Provincial Court September 27, facing one count of dan- gerous operation of a motor vehicle, Class G2 licence holder with his blood alcohol level above zero and two counts of breaching a probation order. of his school;"Maison Familiale Rurale". He participated in all aspects of the hay harvest and the day to day cow - calf operation. His mechanical skills were a definite asset. Farmers in France do use round bales, but he had never seen the continuous wrapping of the bales used by the Klopps. Usually, in France, the farmers are also taking hay off at this time, however, torrential rains have delayed the harvest and he will be returning to France to find the hay still in the fields. While here, Vincent had time to share all activities on the farm and the family life and to work out his personal observations and reflections and summarize them into a written report. He also had time to compare notes with his classmate; Sylvain Laurent who was working at Der Paschen Hof, Zurich, and Chistophe Triomphe who worked at the Eckert Dairy farm in Seaforth. The three young men enjoyed spending some time on the beaches of Goderich and Grand Bend as well as sight seeing and shopping in Grand Bend and Niagara Falls. Vincent remarked at the friendliness of Canadians. On Fri., June 29, Vincent and the two other young French farmers took the bus from Stratford to Toronto to meet the other French agricultural students working at various farms across the 519 and 905 areas of Letters Ontario. His weekend was spent exploring Toronto - the CN Tower being at the top of his wish list. Attending Canada Day ceremonies in Toronto on July 1 after which his plane headed home to France topped off his experience. to the Editor PAUL AND HEATHER KLOPP Springwater Farm, Zurich Odd Job Squad Week EXETER — Beat the heat this summer by posting your odd jobs with Service Canada Centre for Youth. The Goderich/Exeter, Walkerton, Listowel, Stratford and Owen Sound offices will attempt to keep things cool dur- ing Odd Job Squad Week July 9 - 13 with a special event promot- ing the benefits of hiring youth to perform casual jobs for employ- ers and homeowners. The Odd Job Squad is a unique initiative created to help students find temporary work. The Service Canada Centre for Youth (SCCY) — Goderich/Exeter links students seeking temporary summer employment with employers or home- owners seeking help. Employers interested in hiring students for odd jobs such as lawn work, clerical duties or farm work. etc., and students looking for summer employment can contact the SCCY — Goderich at 524-8324, ext. 225, or Exeter at 235-1711. Each of the above-mentioned offices will display a larger than life thermometer starting at 40 C. Every time an odd job request is made, the tem- perature will drop one degree. Our goal is to get to freezing temperatures to beat the heat for the summer! For more information on the Government of Canada's programs and services, call the toll-free Youth Info Line at 1-800-935-5555, touch-tone phone or teletypewriter line (TTY) at 1-800-926- 9105, or visit servicecanada.gc.ca SHAYE REINHARDT YOUTH SERVICES OFFICER Thanks for all your help Habitat for Humanity Huron County (HFHHC) wishes to thank all the people who supported our Beef -on -a - Bun fundraising lunch that was held on June 27 at the Hensall United Church. We fed over 500 people for lunch, and your support for HFHHC is greatly appreciat- ed. We also want to thank the residents and businesses of the Village of Hensall for their tremendous generousity during the canvass of the town that happened the same day and evening. Your positive reception was over- whelming. All proceeds will go to the current house- building project in Hensall. All this great work could not have been accomplished without the dozens of volunteers who graciously gave of their time and talents to help with the luncheon and the canvass. God bless all of you for your desire to support HFHHC in its mission to eliminate poverty housing in Huron County. HABITAT FOR HUMANITY HURON COUNTY FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE Many events planned EXETER — Canada Day was so much fun! The youngsters had a great time throwing whip cream in my face as well as playing the many games we had and win- ning prizes to show off their tal- ents. Thank you to all who came out and celebrated with the staff. This week is moving right along with many exciting new events at playground. Monday, for "Shrek in the Swamp" day, we had a karaoke dance party where the youngsters sang along to their choice of song from the "Shrek Soundtrack" and then headed to the library and explored the shelves. Yesterday we sailed the ocean and hunted for treasure. Everyone was lucky enough to find some chocolate money in the treasure box buried beneath the sand. Excellent hunting, kids! Today some unique and creative magic carpets were invented in light of the "Genie and Aladdin" theme. The rest of the week should be a blast so come on out and don't forget your bathing suit and towel everyday this summer for those extra hot days. "Adventures on Wonderland" on Thurs., July 19 is coming soon as Week Three approaches, so hurry and grab a spot because we are filling up fast. On Monday, to kick off "Festive Fever Returns!" the youngsters should wear green so they can take part in Playground's version of St. Patrick's Day. We also have "Play -Groundhog Day" and "Saint Valentine" on Tuesday and Wednesday where we learn about why those festivities exist and use our creative skills to celebrate. Parents, it's Halloween again this year at Playground with a new twist — there will be a haunted house for the kids to walk through. Also, if you can, make sure everyone has a costume to wear because we go out trick or treating in the middle of the summer. You don't want to miss these fun events next Friday! Don't forget to register for the upcoming trip to "Adventures on Wonderland" Thurs., July 19. Any questions? Give Maggie a call at Playground at 235-2361. See you soon! CASEY CYR EXETER PLAYGROUND LEADER Update from South Huron mayor SOUTH HURON — As reported in the Times Advocate, the municipality is virtually lead free with regard to drinking water at the source and there is no municipality infrastructure that is lead. However there may be water services on pri- vate property that may be lead and facilities within private homes that may have lead in them. Common sense would tell you that if you have a lead service, it should be replaced. Lead is toxic and is particularly problematic for children under the age of six and for pregnant women. Long term chronic exposure may increase the risk of subtle impairment to intellectual development. If you suspect you might have a problem with lead in your water supply, please call the Huron County Health Unit at 482-5119. Meanwhile flush your cold water tap for at least five minutes before drinking the water and never drink from the hot water tap. It has been suggested that you might drink bottled water or water from a filtration sys- tem that has been certified as meeting the National Sanitation Foundation International standard for reducing lead. I am not a fan of bottled water even though I buy it as it is handy at times. At a confer- ence I was at, a speaker had two different brands of bottled water and explained that both bottles would fail if they had to pass the drinking water standard in Ontario. He went on to say your best quality bottled water comes out of municipality water taps. Apparently bottled water falls under the category of food and is exempt from all the regulations of drinking water. Bottlers will tell you not to refill the bottles as it is not safe; the plastic is only good for one filling. Nice story. At the time of writing this article, I have bottled water from two different companies and neither com- pany state that the water is lead free. There are suggested regulations that might become law that municipalities should do extensive testing for lead. For a municipally such as South Huron that has virtually no lead at the source and no lead infrastruc- ture, it will mean another cost passed on to the water users that might not be necessary. I believe we should be concerned, especially with our young children, but the lead they receive from our water is only a small percentage of their lead exposure. I believe children should be tested for lead and the results from that test- ing will tell how we proceed with dealing with the lead problem.