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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1989-07-12, Page 44A — THE HURON EXPOSITOR, JULY 12, 1989 (or 41,"*". irve4,4, 1 YEAR ANNUAL D.I.C. All Wpostt, Inwood Wlthln Uoll.. Rowe 6utloo1 To V rltlwolloo. Serving Ontario since 1976 with 15 locations for your convenience. HURON SUPERIOR I MEMORIALS ESTABLISHED OVER 60 YEARS Serving Seoforth and 690E of Huron County MICHAEL FALCONER 153 HIGH STREET, CLINTON Bus.: 482-9441 Res.: 482-3664 Evening appointments available of Hensall Ltd. Your Home Comfort People Heating - Air Conditioning - Heat Pumps Commercial Refrigeration Service See Us For Carrier Heating & Cooling Equipment We Aren't Comfortable Until You Are LEAN GROUND � �� BEEF ,B s STRIP `°°"6 99 STEAK Le. ■ A.. SLICED 7 SIDE BACON L.2.29 GREAT FOR THE BIM Si Coked Pork Chops WHOLE OR HALF FESTIVE HAM ..3.79 Spe®leia iri, of 9 5271821 ek,On9y Check Oiir Trim MORE INTtE e Maness . AL S NE ELECTRIC LTD® Kirktor 229-8222 SEE US FOR ALL YOUR NEEDS *industrial *Farm ®Residential •Pole Line Construction •Bucket Truck Service •Hydro Poles *Electric Motor Repairs *Rewinding •Sales and Service For Service,Call 229-8222 or 1-800-265-2938 AFTER 6 P.M. CALL TOM RAPSON 527-1643 innovative business celebrates tenth anniversary It's a dirty job, and somebody's got to do it, but for the past 10 years Chris Lee of Walton has been working totvard making spreading liquid manure an easier task. L.H. Resource Management Limited of Walton celebrates its tenth year in operation this summer, and Mr. Lee has a chance to look back on how what he started in 1979 with an original idea grew into an original business. A specialized business, which has been the subject of several media stories and was even featured on the popular pro- gram "Money Makers" by Everett Banning. "I was running a dairy farm and had a lot of manure of my own to spread. So when I saw atmachine at a trade show used for ir- rigation, I thought there must be some way to use it to spread liquid manure," says Mr. Lee. That machine Mr. Lee saw was the model for the Manurigator, the tool which can shoot a high pressure liquid manure stream in a 300 foot arc that L.H. Resource Manage- ment now constructs in the Walton shop. The Manurigator is a 20 foot high roll of black poly pipe on wheels. A farmer takes the Manurigator out into his field and at- taches it to his manure storage tank using aluminum pipe. He can then unreel the poly pipe up to quarter mile away from the Manurigator, and at the end of the hose a high pressure gun will.shoot liquid manure . from 225 to 300 feet in a semicircle. The Manurigator reel then slowly revolves, win- ding up the hose and pulling the gun across the field. The Manurigator sprays at a rate of 20,000 to 30,000 gallons of liquid manure an hour, and can empty a 500,000 gallon tank in about 24 hours. But before the Manurigator got where it is today, Mr. Lee had to get in touch with Neil McGavin and Eastern Farm Equipment to get the irrigation machine that gave him manure spreading his idea. He altered the machine for his purposes, and in June of 1979 gave demonstration on his farm and others. His start in his new career began by doing spreading for other farmers using his machine. He did only a few that first summer, but "over the winter we could see the potential in the thing. The next year we hired a man, got more machinery, and did 80 farms that year." Word of mouth, and people's own natural curiosity were his advertising tools. By the next year people who had seen the Manurigator at work on their farms started buying their own. "In 1983 we decided we were so damn clever we could build the things," says Mr. Lee, and that year they bought the farm and shop near Walton where the business re- mains today. That year they built two prototypes, but in 1984 and 1985 this was up to 10 or 12 and pro- duction began to improve. In,,1986 L.H. was exporting to farm equip- ment dealers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa. In Canada dealers in the Ottawa Valley, New Brunswick, Win- nipeg and two in Alberta handle Manurigators. "We'll reach a point where we're pure 1,. L H RESOURCE MANAGEMENT of Walton is celebrating its 10th year in business this year. Seen here is Chris Lee with the Manurigator machines LH manufactures in Walton for manure spreading. Corbett photo. manufacturer/distributor in five or 10 years," predicts Mr. Lee, but says servicing and dealing is still and important part of L.H.'s business now. L.H. employs between eight and twelve people depending on'demand, including Mr. Lee and his wife Judy. Last year the com- pany built .and sold 27 Manurigators, have sold 22 so far this year and expect sales to reach 30 units. The machines sell for about $20,000 "and they'll go as high as $26,000 or $27,000 if they've got all the bells and whistles on them. And because he buys locally and employs locals Mr. Lee takes pride in what the manufacturing company adds to the community -"a million dollars was generated last year, and about half stayed in the community." Mr. Lee says the Manurigator is within the buying range of medium to large farms, and the benefits of the system include more uniform application, lower fuel consump- tion than doing the job by tanker, and no compaction of soil as a tanker can cause. A fair question is, if this method is such a good idea why hasn't someone else picked up on it? "It is a small market," replies Mr. Lee, "and you probably couldn't pick a worse time to start a commodity business agricultre. We've done this when most businesses have been consolidating or just closing." Mr. Lee acknowledges the biggest market for his machines is still in the water: in- dustry, "but we've been able to maintain a niche in the market by making clear we're not competing with them. We're specialists in the needs of the livestock industry." "Our little niche is big enough to build a business around, but small enough not •to • have to compete with John Deere," saysthe businessman. There are no official figures, but Mr. Lee estimates that "two -third to three-quarters of this type of equipment in Ontario is ours." There is only one other manufacturer in of Manurigator type equipment in Ontario and it is used for irrigation. L.H. is the only li- quid manure machines manufacturer in Ontario. Crime Stoppers holds Jail-a®thon 0 tos ift*. IN r ''' 11.117.110° IT'S MOW DOES THIS WORK AGAIN? SY! •Do you have papers, orders, documents, that have to be in Toronto, Vancouver, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Rome, or Listowel today? Right now! •Ever laced with deadlines? MEET THEM WITH Instant Document Transmission The Huron Expositor has a FAX machine in our office that lets you contact any other FAX machine in the world ... instantly. The Expositor offers you the service of the FAX for $4.00 for the first printed 81/a" x 11" sheet .and .$1OOfor each additional 81/a".x 11" sheet for transmission to Canada or :the continental U.S. For transmissions to machines outside that area, or for sheets larger than -81/2",x 11", call for details. Our FAX number is also yournumber so if you want to be reached instantly — we will receive your', FAX message for $1.00 per'8Va" x.11 sheet. ffluron post 5 k.Mly ml avr Y�� ,5274240 m.� _Call ,us at5 . 7.024;0 fore.dat nS• {a iltt°f Vit:``° BY MONA IRWIN It got loonier by the minute. Rob Sherwood, of Sherwood Transpor- tation, chained himself to a tree on The Square and surrounded himself with Kinettes. "We had to douse the Kinettes with water (to get them away) and then cut through the chain with bolt cutters," said Goderich OPP Cst. Wayne Moulton, Huron County coordinator for Crime Stoppers. Paul Carroll of the Huron County Board of Education was floating in a dinghy in the middle of the Maitland River when police went to arrest him. "He refused to come in; he said 'come and get me,"' said Goderich 'Police Cst. Jay Poulter. "Then he started spraying me with a hose he had hooked up to the dinghy, so I Thought, `well, If I'm .gon- na get wet, I might as well get really wet."' He dove in, and after a brief struggle Carroll was subdued and haul- ed off to face his just .desserts. Huron County MP Murray Cardiff, located in a the Marlin Harbour Light Travel office, tried to fight off arresting officers with his one-way ticket to Mexico. But it was all in good fun, and it was also all for a good cause: Goderich's first Jail-a-thon, organized to poise money for the Huron County Crime Stoppers, and it raised more than $18,000. It exceeded our most ambitious ex- pectations," said Taylor Lambert, secretary of the Board of Directors of the HCCS, adding that they had hoped to raise about $10,000. "Everybody who participated made it a fun event," said Lambert. The Jall-a-thon, which took place on the courthouse lawn on Friday and Saturday, saw about 80 prominent area people tossed in the slamrner. Each person was notified in advance, and was required to collect a set amount of "bail." In a few instances a friendly rivalry sprang up, as friends and co- workers of the "accused" set up an op- posing fund to keep the person in jail. Private citizens, local lawyers, and MAYOR HAZEL HILDEBRAND is arrested to raise money for the Crime Stoppers Jail-a-thon. Mayor Hildebrand raised $415 towards the $10,000 goals. Irwin photo both Goderich police officers and Goderich OPP officers volunteered to help out at the event. The Jail-a-thon was set up "to pro- mote Crime Stoppers; to bring us front and centre, but also to raise capital," Lambert said. About 15 per cent of the money -raised will go towards the ad- ministration of the Crime Stoppers pro- gram; the rest will be used to pay the rewards offered by the program, he said. Crime Stoppers is a non-profit pro- gram that encourages people to, call to give information about crimes that have been committed or the location of peo- ple •wanted by the police (the number in Huron County is 1-800.285.1777). If the infornnation leads to an arrest, a reward of ,up.to $1,000 may be paid. The caller, remains anonymous and is not required to.apPear in court. The program is run by;aiyolunteer board of directors, made sp o ,about ,15 ,people from around :apron County, and.it is the board that .decides when a reward ;is to be paid atal,thow much int will • be. The ,Muton :County Grime ,Ste rs AS ;set .up.about 16 months ago. Since then, ,ally save MINIMA In about 075 0104 .00 n rowan Xaearly +,,.$1$1000 ,Of *tic ?' pertY recover T, r 9t`e #tan l,E 1i od >• , la 4a eats . matle d`,y �y fit ,t2+r seza;i9A The county Crime Stoppers chapter, which is completely reliant on public funding, had an operating budget 'last year of about $10,000, said Moulton. Events such as the Jail-a-thon are organized periodically to raise .. the money that will help pay the rewards and educate the public about the/pro- gram. Most of the program's funding fdr its first year of operation came from area service clubs, about 30 corporate Spon- sors and one private sponsor, Motilton said. Fundraising events held during the past year have included a Clinton pollee Golf Tournament, held last suiijmer (figures were not available) and a moc- casin dance last winter, also held in Clinton, that brought in about•$500. For The Jail-a-thon, the Crime Stop- pers personnel committee drew up the list Of local celebrities who would be ar- rested, got the future criminals' agree- ment to participate, and "then, when they •lhaagl.a positive r Anse, they pom- 400 the charges based on the person's ty Of job,'' said Lambert. e antics .:at the Makeshift jail cell it court drew crowds of onlookers, said oulton. 4,,,41,1 oOple stood therefor imam" he 4. ow . we Whope t thed 10 ey 11 start the ,,phone,' ging.