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The Huron Expositor, 1985-08-14, Page 1INDEX Hensall I Al2 Legion i A7 Obituaries / A14 People / A14 Sports i A8, 9, 10 Walton I A7 Weddings / A15 Births I A15 , Brussels I A5 Classified / A16, 17, 18 Dublin / A4 Entertainment / A20 Family / A14, 15 Farm / A6 Motocross racer motivated by family See page A9 Serving the communities and areas of Seaforth, Brussels, Dublin, Hensall and Walton xpositor SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14, 1985 — 20 PAGES Reviews are mixed interest or "We think Mr. Riddell has made us an offer, and farmers should take him upon it," says Mr. Pelissero. He sees the program as the first step in improving the lot of the province's farmers. Next should come income stabilization, then legislative review, he says. The ag minister has promised an an- nouncement of stabilization before the end of the month. Mr. Pelissero's one concern is in the area of off -farm income, he says. Something like three-quarters of all farmers have some kind' of off -farm income "just to keep things going," says Mr. Pelissero. He's quick to point out, though, that income could be anything from stocks and bonds to other businesses. Reaction from local farmers has been pretty much favorable. But there's at least one man who thinks it's not enough. Jim McGregor, a director of the Huron County Cattleman's Association, says the $200,000 for which the subsidy is available only represents about 200 head of cattle, so "It's not that much," he says. Generally he's happy with the program, saying in particular it could help younger farmers. "But only time will tell" for sure, he says. Dissatisfied, with other parts of the program is Seaforth-area farmer Nico Peters. He says the program is too broadly-based. "Those not in difficulty will (use the money to) expand," he says. "Those who really need it will be hurt nknore." He says also the criteria shbuld have been more narrowly defined, to eliminate what he calls "the incentive to expand.- " I'm xpand.""I'm not a believer in universal social assistance plans," says Mr. Peters, who raises pullets. and some cash crops. "The program isn't selective enough." The long-awaited announcement of the Ontario liberals' interest subsidy program for farmers finally came last week. Agriculture Minister Jack Riddell an- nounced'Thursday the details of the program, which evolved from a Liberal election promise to help farmers. The government has committed an addi- tional $50 million for the project, which will see farmers subsidized on the first $200,000 of existing debt, so they will pay no more than eight per cent interest. The only case where the rate will be higher is for farmers paying more than 15 per cent interest. In such cases, the farmers will get a maximum seven per cent reduction. Mr. Riddell says the program will help farmers who qualify "reorganize and restruc- ture" their operations. There are several other conditions attached to the application. For example, only those farmers with between 10 and 75 equity will be eligible, although Mr. Riddell says the government is prepared to be flexible on the low end of that scale for a farmer who "can prove he's a good manager." "Providing there's no onslaught (of applications)," says Mr. Riddell, "we expect to be able to process the applications (received by the Ministry) in about four weeks." He also says those who qualify for assistance will receive the money directly. It will not come to them through their lending institution. There are 13,000 Ontario farmers eligible for the assistance, says the ag minister, He expects the program to help 10.000. He consulted with various farm groups before the announcement Thursday, and says "We think they're happy (with it)." It is targeted, says Mr. Riddell, to "farmers who make their living at farming." JACK RIDDELL Also liable to receive lower subsidies are those whose net worth exceeds $300,000. Those whose net worth exceeds $500,000 aren't eligible at all. in addition, families with off -farm income and those currently benefiting from other assistance programs are eligible only for reduced benefit under this new program. The amount of assistance will be reduced by 30 cents for every dollar of off -farm income, the minister says. The program will be a "one-shot deal," says Mr. Riddell, and will. apply only to loans payable over a period of two years or more. although the program itself will run only one year, with.a review afterwards. The start-up date is Sept. 1, and the cut-off date for applications will be Jan. 15, 1986. Harry Pelissero, President of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, thinks Mr. Riddell "has done a good job. "The group that needs the most attention will get assistance," he says. The program, called officially The Ontario Family Farm interest Rate Reduction Pro- gram, will be known by its acronym. OFFIRR. Damage to silo totals 6OOO A fire in a silo Thursday night did $6.000 damage to a Dublin farmer's property. Dianne and Bill Beuermann of RR 1 Dublin, first noticed the flames shooting out of the top of their 75 -foot silo about 10 p.m. "We were lucky," says Mrs. Beuermann "It could have been much worse." The damage was confined to the inside of the silo, although the fiberglass -lined entry chute was the first thing to burn. The flames were high enough - eventually searing the top right off the silo - to cause some concern about secondary damage to other buildings. There was virtually no wind however. so there were no sparks carried anywhere else. Firefighters had the blaze under control within two hours. Mrs. Beuermann says her husband be- lieves the fire may have started in the wiring to the light in the top of the silo. "Bill had been up in there at eight (p.m. )," says Mrs. Beuermann. "He usually goes up at night to check on the haylage ' The Beuermanns feed their 80 head of cattle with the haylage, and Mrs. Beuermann says the silo was full at the time. "W e may have problems feeding them for a few days," she says. "but we have bundles of hay we can use too." One of the first witnesses on the scene was Bob Robinson of RR4 Walton. He says he saw the smoke and rue from the street as he was driving by, and stopped in to tell the Beuermanns about it "At first i thought it was the electrical wiring (that had caused it)," he says. Mrs. Beuermann says an adjuster from her insurance company was out the following morning, and said the damage • mostly to the elevator • would run at least $6,000, plus labor UP THE TOWER — To get to the flames which were shooting out the roof of Jim Beuermann's silo, the firefighters had to climb the outside of the structure. It took three men to do it, and the blaze eventually destroyed the roof of the silo. (Mowatt photo) Correction In a story in last week's Expositor entitled "Myth's are washed away by seniors' zest," the names of the directors of Seaforth's two homes for the aged were accidentally inverted. Anne Helm is the director of the Seaforth Health Care Facility, and Irwin Johnston is her counterpart at Kilbarchan. The Expositor regrets the error, p INSPECTING THE DAMAGE — The fibreglass In this grain elevator wasamong the first things to burn in Thursday night's fire at the Beuermann's farfn, RR 1 Dublin. The alarms rang just after 10 p.m., and firefighters had the fire under control within two hours. There was no damage to anything but the silo. Damage is estimated at $6,000. (Mowatt photo) TIME OFF TO RELAX — Oswald Snowdon, 83, was forced to retire early from what was his family business - The Seaforth News. Mr. Snowdon enloys reading and plans to do a fair bit of It during his retirement. (Mcliwraith photo) Health causes man toclose his business Retirement has come suddenly to Oswald Snowdon. At 83 -years -of -age Mr. Snowdon, single owner and operator of The Seaforth News for 10 years. said he had no intention of retiring. "Everybody always asked me what's an old fella like you doing still working. Well J didn't do a big business just enough to keep me busy, but i had no intention of quitting yet. This all came about so suddenly. I'd just laid in Some stock, and just a couple months before this all came about, I told someone i wouldn't sell him my paper cutter because the day I lost my paper cutter would be the day I'd have to quit. So you can see I wasn't even thinking along these lines," said Mr. Snowdon. But he has retired. On the advice of his doctor, Mr. Snowdon, who has been battling an infection of the hands and feet, and who took a weak spell recently in his doctor's office, has withdrawn reluctantly from the world of commercial printing. His nephew Jim of Dublin is helping him tie up the loose ends of the business. The building which has housed the news for over 50 years was sold last week. "Right now we're clearing up a lot of odds and ends. We have to try and dear everything out earlier than we'd expected. We thought we'd have a couple of months or so to do it but now we don't.' But despite the fact the Seaforth News is no longer it leaves behind it a legacy in the town. Originally located in the old movie theatre, or where the offices of Touche Ross are now, The Seaforth News moved to its present location north of United Trails building on Main Street around 1932. From 1905 until 1916, when it was purchased by Mr. Snowdon's father, the newspaper was owned and operated by the Appleford Brothers. They sold the paper when their commercial business began to thrive, and eventually moved out of the county. Before the Applefords, the newspaper, then known as the Seaforth Sun, was published by F.G. Neelin. ry The senior Mr. Snowdon bought the paper after a brief stint in Little Current as publisher of The Manitoulin Expositor. Before that he'd been a minister of a parish called Fitzroy Harbor, near the Ottawa River. "The long cold winters affected dad's voice and he was forced to give up preaching. He bought the Manitoulin newspaper i suppose because he thought writing editorials was the next closest thing to preaching." speculated Mr. Snowdon. "We went up to Manitoulin and dad learned the printing business So we grew up in it." When the Applefords put The News up for sale it was purchased quickly by the elder Mr. Snowdon. He'd been looking for a paper in a town that offered some sort of educational advantage for his children and felt Seaforth was that town. "On Manitoulin Island at that time there was no high school after the second form. You had to go to Toronto if you wanted to go further. So, instead of sending us away to school dad looked around and finally gave Seaforth preference over anywhere else. People had told him it had a good school," The Snowdons arrived in town in 1916 and Mr. Snowdon remained as editor and publisher of The News until 1925. At that time his three sons; Cyril, Oswald and Gerald, took over the business. "1 never had any hankering for anything else. Most of the boys i went to school with went out west to teach but I never wanted to do anything else," he said. "I started handsetting when i was nine -years -old. At that time my older brother went in Saturday mornings and dad would let him set type. Once I learned about that I had to do it too. it might have been only for a half hour or so a week but I tell people I've been setting type since then." SEEN CHANGES In the years his family was involved with The News, Mr. Snowdon said he's seen a lot of changes in the newspaper business (Continued on page A3)