The Huron Expositor, 1989-09-27, Page 1Births — A6
Weddings — A6
Obituaries — A9
Graduates — A9
Sports — Al2, A13
fon d fait Days on 'film. See pages
ninnies
orth. •
Brussels. Uubl;n Hensan
and Walton
nonni
Seaforth, Ontario
HURON EXPOSITOR, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1989
Tuckersmith lownsh i 0..
recruits mn nufacturer
Tuckersmith Township Council has
welcomed a new corporate citizen to
Vanastra. Friday, September 22, council
closed a deal to allow an American pipe
fittings manufacturer to locate in the
building formerly occupied by Bayfield
Boats,
The manufacturer is unnamed as yet,
but is a division of Capital Manufacturing
of the United States. Capital Manufactur-
ing is in turn a division of Harsco which
has operations in the Toronto area, and is
:one of the top 300 corporations south of the
border. The 48,000 square foot Vanastra
plant will represent the company's first
Canadian holding manufacturing pipe fit-
tings, but it is one of the major manufac-
turers of pipe fittings in America. Capital
Manufacturing has been in business for 65
years, and has been a division of Harsco
for about 30 years.
The company's decision to locate in
Vanastra will mean a great deal to area
'employment.
"This meansthat we've got 50 more
jobs. and a great opportunity for a lot of
younger people for employment," says
Tuckersmith Township Clerk Jack
McLachlan. "It will be not only be
beneficial to Tuckersmith, but also to
Seaforth and Clinton..."
The Vanastra plants' general manager,
Donald George, is the only person who the
company will be sending to work at the
plant. The remaining 40 to 50 employees
the :plant Will need will be hired locally
over the first six months to one year of
operation. Following this, additional
-employees will be hired as business
..dietates,
50 cents a cr,n I
Mr. George says he will generally be
looking for unskilled laborers, both male
and female, who will be trained as
machine operators at the plant.
Exactly when the plant will be opening
is largely dependant upon how .soon
customs allows the company to ship its
manufacturing equipment here. "We will
be producing this year," promises Mr.
George, adding that he hopes to see the
plant operational by December 1.
The Vanastra Plant is intended to serve
all of Canada, with its primary markets
being in Toront u, Sarnia, London and Mon-
treal.' Mr. George spent three months look-
ing at over 50 possible plant locations
across Ontario, and came across Vanastra
"on my last day of my last, trip down
here." He learned of Vanastra through a
fax sent to him by a real estate •:agent.
After tour months of dealing with township
officials he made a decision and closed the
deal in Vanastra.
"We like small towns, most of our plants
are in small towns. You get a better type
of worker, a close knit community," ex-
plains Mr. George, adding from a financial
'perspective "labor rates are lower, tax
rates are more reasonable,, and the
building was a buy."
"And it looked like the community need-
ed us too,"
Mr, George will be moving to the Clin-
ton area from Columbus, Ohio. He says he
will soon be looking to hire some key .peo-
ple to help set up the plant, such as an
assistant manager. Applications for posi-
tions at the new pipe fittings manufacturer
are currently available at the Tuckersmith
Township office in Vanastra.
'BARN 'DES'}'REPPE.s " fanny :,and Sharon ';Murray of RR 4
Walton lost a barna Saturday. A fire of unknown origin turned
an old barn on'+their -property -to'ashes, and wind biew flames
toward new additions. The .Seaforth fire department managed
to save one -addition, but an addition nearest the leveled barn
.i t, 3 Hf ,:.{',9!1£1
... °' a,F 59
f ler
Organizers of Seaforth's Fall Fair and
Ciderfest events -are calling 1989 another
successful year.
Despite rainy weather Friday during the
Fall Fair parade, Seaforth Agricultural
Society ,members say their event appeared
'well attended.
"It was .wet, which made it difficult to
run some events, but there was a fairly
® f
Amiid€ rfest
good response to most events," said Ag,
Society Secretary Sharon Flanagan.
"There seemed to be people everywhere,
and generally I think everything went over
well. I think once the parade was over it
didn't rain that much - although it
threatened to."
Mrs. Flanagan noted that good use was
made of the recently constructed .show
was badly .burned and' may nave to be brought dawn An
unknown .number of. sows were lost in the fire. Seen here is
Fire Chief George Garrick keeping fire from damaging a steel
granary adjacent to the burning building. Corbett photo.
Firefighters 'hampered
In one of the worst fires in the Seaforth
area in -recent years Danny and Sharon
Murray of RR 4 Walton had a barn burn
to the ground. It had contained straw and
an unknown number of sows which were
lost. Additions to the barn were saved.
Mr. Murray became aware of the fire
when his neighbor Paul Siemon spotted it
at about 11 AM Saturday morning. Many
.neighbors saw the fire and helped the Mur-
ray family get their pigs out of the addi-
tion. When firemen arrived on the scene
the old barn was engulfed in flames and
high winds from the west threatened to
spread the fire' to the second and third ad-
ditions built onto the east side of the barn,
Firefighters were at the barn fire until
after 6 PM. "It was one of the stubbornest
to put out," commented Seaforth Fire
Chief George Garrick. "The wind was the
biggest problem, It, kept pushing the fire
toward the rest of the barn."
At the -end of the day the easternmost
addition had been saved, the middle barn,
an -earlier addition, was badly burnt and
may have to be destroyed, and the oldest
westernmost barn was in ashes. Steel
granaries adjoining the barn were badly
by _ , i
n;
scorched, and experts will have to deter-
mine whether or not the feed inside is
. usable.
The cause of the fire has not been deter-
mined, and a• full damae£' estimal -aas yet
to be made.
"I don't luny von',' d, 1' these
situations , >,,it ,0 ,g1,i,yrs,'
commente4 .11. v, a c!,_press-
ed by how qua, iw neighbors
showed up to r • hi"" livestock.
"We've got a p " u:rumt} . And
the firemen cow ., nave done a better j
job."
record successes again
barn, and said ,that specialty events such
as the fashion show, :parrot show,
children's olSipnpics, and horse shoeing
demonstration were well received.
In terms -of the exhibits Mrs. Flanagan
said children's ,and women's entries were ,
about the same As last year, but that the
nice .weather on Thursday may have hurt
participation :in the grain exhibits.
QMtRifsl..GettliM,Aoafoti 1painter.-r/ Ifia.Pale;is;aurrqund Duff, Joseph 1 err. mme, s k[f� s ,lniffe , ,oneen male, And
ifilbyearhadmiringipubliq,atPiclartest:ortuFlday.IVllatching Lateen 's.isistorilFtu ll:gBasera ,hirtet,uhtcto,
birnipalothareoitairn left4,4013linaTiSmithiAarte;Dufk?.limn a
"The good weather Thursday may have
.been a hindrance to the grain exhibits as
far as people being in the fields," she said.
Horse entries were down a little, sheep
were down and herefords were down a lit-
tle, possibly because of the weather, but
there was a good jersey show, and the pigs
.and general beef breeds were about the
same, according to Mrs. Flanagan.
"We tried to have a lot more activities
on, so that there was something for
everybody," noted Mrs. Flanagan.
RiddeII gi.vaen new
responsibility
Jack Riddell, MPP for Huron County,
,has been appointed by Premier David
Peterson as Parliamentary Assistant to
,the ,Minister of Natural Resources, the
Honorable Lyn McLeod. The appointment
is for one year.
"I ,am delighted," commented Mr. Rid-
dell on ,his new .position. "The preserva-
tion and allocation of the valuable
resources of our province have long been
of ,interest ,and concern to me, and I look
forward with enthusiasm to my new
responsibilities."
"Unfortunately ;urm' events like bale
rolling and the aww tractor pull had to be
cancelled because of the weather, and the
sheep shearing had to be cancelled because,
the sheep were wet. They couldn't shear
the sheep with the electric shears or ,we'd
have had fried sheep," she added.
"But face painting was popular with the
kids, the hatching chicks were popular and
there were a lot of events inside the main
hall, which people seemed to like."
The Ag. Society admits it was disap-
pointed with the midway this year, and
said it is getting more and more difficult
to attract a good midway to a small fair
They would like to continue to make the
Fall Fair bigger and better every year.
and ask that anyone in the community who
would like to involve theinselves in some
way, or .who has any ideas, to contact one
of the Agricultural Society members.
Organizers of the Van Egmond Founda-
tion's Ciderfest run on Sunday, also found
themselves battling the weather during
their annual 'event. They said cool weather
may have accounted for a decrease in the
supper crowd, but that overall they were
quite pleased with the way the day went.
"We had a nice crowd, and 1 think we
did as .well as last year," commented Bet-
ty Camino. 'turn to page 2(1 •
Dgy-ar-r-anged with no intent to firvali9n
Coverage of the Access Awareness
Day, held recently in Seaforth,was uut 11
any ..way intended to :point fingers, .cast
,blame ,or malign local businesses ,because
of the inaccessibility of .Seaforth's
streetscape. The committee recognizes
.the ere ,age of ,Seaforth's Main Street
4titlS gs, ,and the ,arc 'tecture ;of •the
,.acne, ,make it difficult for .many
„businesses in -:,the •;dow.ntown .core ,to ,be
..inade ,accessible.
The purpose, .of UUie.,day, awiieh,,involy-
= ,ejp cemvarious,town
WON oesfot gibe ysit 1y i�eng-
.ed", /alas, ,slncreseiA.a noes, of -.
bier AnglitirtteW t y T e ;iS 1bted
and elderly in negotiating spore of the
everyday tasks ;undertaken by the rest of
the 1)00 4410n, .and unperhaps solicit
derstand iig firing future renovation
Mid/or construction wit in ',the town.
In a more,;speclfic staflce, The Ex-
positor ,would'Ulm to clarify a statement
nuadY ,oneythat ;4l►t �ie Access
Awareness pay, •1pes C
t
I,,a„u n
Ch dwg to an >4 Ac -
co ,to twer7'. c ... the b,*ding
s ,eco 11e itoygll .a rear entrance,
And.,;ye esLor; ie handlea��ppped can be
urehgsed here ,.as ,well. ,}Iatdicapped
gAmes Are ,oriler d fora car inrrl,uch
e i e waYasoq�or ores ;such „as
qtr
b