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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1984-02-15, Page 1ti; 4' 'i. iv z 0 t. • t • Incorporating a Brussels Post 50c per copy' ° EAFpRTH, ONTARIO WED ,RY 15, 1984 — 16 PAGES xpositor )hIfS mom. After a two year battle with Canadian and Hong Kong immigration authorities, John Jew learned Monday from Huron - Bruce MP, Murray Cardiff, that, his 75 -year-old mother will be allowed to move to Canada from Hong Kong. The decision by immigration officials is the response over 1,000 Seaforth area people, who wrote letters supporting the mother -son reunion, were hoping for. Mr. Jew was all smiles when he heard his mother would be allowed to move to Seaforth. "I'm very happy mom is coming over." he said. Problems Mr. ,Jew was encountering with ,officials was brought to the public's attention when Larry Dillon, a friend of the Jew family approached the Expositor in November with the problem: Mr. Jew's first attempt to sponsor, his mother as a 'Aided immigrant was denied on the grounds he could not prove a family relationship. Sorn in China. Mr. Jew was separated from his family when he fled to Canada via Hong Kong 33 years ago during political upheaval. He hasn't seen his mother since. is Birth records were sketchy and there were no birth certificates available linking mother and son. The only proof, other than his word, that his mother was indeed his mother, was a small, ha d -colored photograph of his mother vafetrghe was a yoursg girl'. Mr. Jew has never returned to thing Kong; mainly because of the high cost of travelling. When Seaforth residents heard of his • sponsorship problems, they along•with 350 students at the Seaforth Public School stood behind Mr. Jew, writ* letters to the Minister of Employment and Immigra- tion, John Roberts. "It was an effort by everyone,"..said Mr. Cardiff. "The minister -has lisstied Mr. Jew's mother with a visa and she hiss from now until April 24 to come to tamide. They will probably waive fhe proof of relation- ship requirement." I'm overwhelmed by the news;" said Larry Dillon, instigator of the letter writing campaign. "1 think it is fantastic. The people of Seaforth did it.- Everybody kept things 0.9# going, said Mr. Dillon 'A'bu d n bas, off my mind. I feel., about. 100 pounds.lighter." The *it thing John Jew did on Monda watt purchase a one way airline ticket fa, his` mother. The $1,150: flight will see •hit mother take a 15 hour plane trip ,to. Toron with a stopover in Vancouver, "Everybody is very happy today"(Mon-, day), said Mr. Jew, "Everybody has been ; asking about it. I'm' very` happy, and so ii !. everybody else." I never thought it would happen thl', fast. I thought it would take .longer,"' he said. "I even phoned the ,publies hool"to thank the teachers and the childre." -t Mr. Jew's mother is scheduled totlrrriv at Toronto International A,' ort on We nesday, Feb..29 at 8:55 p.m. Itis a date •1(e has looked forward to for 33`years4 "I'm sure I'll recognize mom," said Mr Jew. "It doesn't matter how long it's been" she's still my mom." I told John to get his mother over ii soon as possible, before anybody change their mind," said Mr. Dillon. "I've neve seen him so happy." A snowmobile club is nee Some property owners in the Seaforth area wish that snow.would never fall in the winter, because with the snow come a few snowmobilers who trespass and damage private property. "i'm mad about snowmobiles zipping over my young trees. They never ask you; they don't care," says Alice Nixon. She and her husband Dale own 90 acres of land east of Seaforth. near the hospital where close to 6000 trees were planted three years ago: Signs from the Ministry of Enyironment that say. "Warning -Young Trees Planted", don't stop some snowmobilers from driving onto the property and ruining the trees, she says. Her next step is erecting "No Trespassing" signs. "It isn't.that the trees were that expensive but I haven't done that much in my life and I kind of wanted to leave behind some trees but they're (the snowmobilers) are ngtgoi to let me," she says. Both fluorescent rope and "No Tr ing ' signs have failed to keep snowm bite off Mary Murray's land which is (pate north of Seaforth, near the veterinary, clinic; "We partitioned off the land to try ht keep' , snowmobiles off of it. In fact, just asq!� n the first sign up,three snowin'dbilefi4fave through/he field. My son just stood there in knee-deep snow and shook his fist at them," she says. The Murrays have had fall wheat damaged in that field in previous years by snowmobiles. Though there are no crops planted there this year, Mrs. Murray says the partitions are an attempt to keep snowmobilers from hurting themselves on machinery buried beneath the snow. "A fence with a gate would be the only thing to keep them out but if you have to go to that expense to keep people off private property, you don't really own it do you?" she says. . GREENS DAMAGED Though the golf course has suffered no damage this year so far, the Seaforth Golf and Country Club has had problems with damaged trees and greens in the past from snowmobilers. They recently placed an advertisement in the Huron Expositor to ,remind people not to snowmobile on the golf hourse. "It's not so bad right now because there's a lot of snow but we've planted 1000's of 'trees and we spend a lot of time caring for the greens. A few years ago, there was quite bit of damage whop the snow Wassn't.deeep iieugli 4^saysi attf'anndotaii E'c 't,°".. She says that cross-country skiers and House, contents lost in early morning blaze r An early Monday morning fire on Feb. 6 in Kinburn' destroyed a house owned by Harvey Dale of Seaforth. A tenant at the house, Harry Otten, had only been there a short time said Mr. Dale: "He heard an explosion in the basement, went down and discovered the fire. I imagine the fire was started by the oil furnace." The Seaforth fire department was called out at 6:20 a.m. and were on the scene for about two hours. The I'h storey frame structure was fully engulfed in flames by the time firemen arrived, said fire chief Harry Hak. "The house was beyond saving." Located at lot five. concessiop six, Hullett township. Mr. Dale said the house was originally the home of .his grandparents. "Before the fire, we had spent about $2,000 on plumbing. new fixtures and general repat's. We were going to do more work in the spring. i never expected the house to burn. The fire was like "losing a member of the family." said Mr. Dale. "But fortunately there was no loss of life." An estimate of loss was not available and Mr. Dale said it's questionable if he will rebuild. snowshoers are welcome at the golf coir because they travel at slew enough speeds? pay attention to the scenery and to ave damaging frees. "Its ton bad because a few people ruin for everyone," she says. Randy COdzak, a snowmobiler in 'S forth, agrees:' "Most ofa:the older snowmobilers are! responsible bat some of'tl(e younger ones can do a lot of darriage. Thuy;can wipe outs green pre* featl!t," hectati '. ' Mr. Gridzak lays a •snejvinobile debits really needed in Seaforth since it conild educate snowmobilers about: the law and safety, President of die Clinton snowmobile dub, t+ John Gibson says although the club began 4" because of common interest in snownio- 'x bri . elped to cut down on a lot.'of p 1 t. trespassing. Snut j of groomed trills l property whegive/C. gore owners have given, sion for snowmobiles to travel and:ate used by the 120 members. in the Clinton area. Y.bet' '.of' the,:'Ontario Federation; df,, } Zflb 1 Iraneerth etCl S1.2for the insurance and ty.r membership. y .i: • People are less likely to go orf private property if there are trails becauset would rather find out where the trail leads to. But, trespassing is always a problem. We call the people who just don't seem to care, renegades. They give everybody a bad name, says Mr. Gibson. The club gives snowmobile safety classes to snowmobilers over 12, night rides, poker rallies, dances and dinners and fun days. They also encourage cross-country skiers to use their ,groomed trails. COMPLAIN TO PONCE Complaining to the police is another way to deter trespassing. it gets to be a problem when they're just buzzing by but if you can get a snowmobilers licence number, we'll try to track them down," says Corporal Graham of the Goderich OPP. No trespassing signs. red circles on trees or even verbal messages can be used to stop SEE CLUB/ PAGE THREE ' SPONSORSHIP APPROVED -The Wit 'thing John Jew did On Monday when he heard his mother was coming to Canada, was to purchase an slipup slcket ffom Bet er, Tr I for the one way ticket because he's been trying for two years to get his mother to move toSeafortli. Holding the bottom left corner of the ticket on Hong Kong on a globe of the world Is Linda Goff*. of Bau r Travel. Students, seniors could. help Greater participation by students and seniors could solve some volunteer prob- lems, four summer sports groups decided on Thursday at a follow-up meeting of the fall recreation conference. "If the high school could work coaching skills and player development into the phys. ed. program so that students would get credit at school for helping out .a minor sports team, we could give them incentive to volunteer," said Dr. Ken Rodney, repre- sentative of minor soccer That kind of practical experience is needed in a level one coaching course which is offered in grade 12 or 13. said recreation director Bryan Peter. "We've got more than 300 volunteers sitting at the high school if we could get them interested. And making it My Funny Valentine! ]no3kI@ iTtz we o PUCKER UP'—Valentine's Day might be the time for a friendly kiss on the cheek but Melissa Blake of St. James Separate School had no luck with classmate Steven Van Den Henget. In "yuckey" grade three, kisses are still (Hundertmark photo) part of their schoolwork could help, but don't give them too much to start or you'll turn them off," he said. At the Seaforth Golf and Country Club, some students have been given credit in their phys. ed. class for teaching other students how to golf, said Carolanne Doig. Though he realized that many students would need summer jobs to raise money for university, Dr. Rodney said he needed help early in the season to teach players basic soccer skills. "When I'm alone i can't see that one kid does something right let alone the whole team," he said. By helping out just early in the season, students might be able to fit in a summer job as well. Seaforth's seniors might be a gold mine of help for summer groups. said Ms. Doig. "if we could find out what sports seniors used to participate in. we could ask them to help out with some teams. There might be a lot of surprises," she said. Because many seniors come to summer games as spectators, they might be mterested in helping with write-ups for the newspaper or with keeping track of team statistics, said Bob Dinsmore, recreation committee representative. The idea of a minor sports council was shelved by Bryan Peter since both winter and summer sports groups didn't like it. "There still may be a little misunder standing between groups: nobody wants tc. be controlled by another group,' he saicL A minor sports council could control almost everything including finances hut it could also be a group just to sort out scheduling or discuss other common prop lems. "Some groups are afraid of losing their identities but I don't see that as a problem- if it's worked right." said Mr Peter, But. Ms. Doig said that with a m nor sports council along with all of the other committees and groups. there is the danger of over -organizing. "if you melt everything into one pot the problems get shifted around and nescr solved. Sometimes. it's better to keep everybody separate." Ron Drager, representative of minor baseball said that a minor sports council might not work because most people involved in sports are involved with more than one group and may not he able to represent all of them fairly. ''It might rause some resentment," he said. Heritage Plan in final steps Seaforth is in the final steps of implementing a Heritage Conservation District Plan for the main street business area: A public meeting to outline the plan and invite public opinion will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 21 at 8 p.m. in the council chambers. The publi?'will have an opportun- ity to view the text and illustrations beginning Thursday, Feb. 16 at the town hall. "ft's a step to preserve and restore the historic character of the downtown Sea - forth," said architectural planner Nick Hill. "The plan is an important document that the residents and owners of property on Main Street should be aware of." In part, the Heritage District Plan discusses proposals on maintaining and repairing existing store frpnts. landsi.aping, street lighting, and illumination of main street towers. If the Main Street is designated as heritage district. then proper ty owners can apply for government funding through the Ministry of Culture and Recreation. "The planned conservation and rectora don of the Cardno Block and Commercial Hotel are two good examples of the plan at work," said Mr. Hill. "After the public meeting. any changes will be made to the proposed plan it will he finalized and submitted to the Ontari. Municipal Board for final approval." tail Walter Armes, member of the Seaforth I ,s, ,i Architectural Conservation Advisory (ori mittee. Hensall Heritage Day attracts 300/ Al 6 Seaforth figure skating club holds competition/ A10 Payments for grain corn crop to be made/ A7 St. James students make Valentines/ AS Dadwz Births /A6 Brussels IA 15 Classified /Al2, 13 Community Calendar /A3 Dublin /A4 Entertainment /All Family /A6, 8 Farm /A7 Hensel! /A16 Kids /A5 Lag/on /All Londesboro /A14 Obituaries /A6 Sports /A9,.10 Walton /A14 e