The Citizen, 2009-01-15, Page 14PAGE 14. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 2009. Classified Advertisements Real estate Real estate
Broker of Record*** Broker** Sales Representative*
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1 Albert St., CLINTON
www.rlpheartland.ca
Helping you is what we do.
New
Price
39776B BLYTH RD.,
NORTH HURON $399,000.
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I n v e s t m e n t
O p p o r t u n i t y
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Family business
Bill Burkholder, left, and his son Shane are the two-person workforce that keeps Burkholder
Auto Body and Towing in business. Shane is the third generation of Burkholders to take up
the family business and with any luck, a fourth generation just might find an interest in towing
in a few years. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
Snow brings business his way
Being a tow truck driver is never
an easy profession, but winters,
especially those of Huron County,
have definitely added challenges;
just ask Bill Burkholder.
With 40 years of towing under his
belt, he has been there and done that
more than once or twice in his time.
Burkholder says that while being a
tow truck driver in the summer is far
from a quiet life, he receives around
three times the calls in the winter,
and as is the nature of the
business, they could and do come at
any time.
“I got called away three times on
Christmas Day,” Burkholder says. “I
was supposed to be carving the
turkey and I asked my wife if I
should take it with me in the truck
and bring it back carved. But I’ve
been doing this my whole life, so the
family understood and we just ate
when I came back.”
Last year, Burkholder says, he was
busy nearly all night on Christmas
Eve and on New Year’s Eve.
“It used to be tough, but you get
used to it,” he says. “The family has
always been supportive and
understanding because they grew up
with it too.”
While missing precious holiday
time with his family is a hard fact of
life for Burkholder to get used to, it
isn’t the only added challenge to his
profession once the snow begins to
fly. There are obvious safety
concerns and added legal obligations
during the holiday season.
Burkholder says being a tow truck
operator can sometimes be a
thankless profession and this is
especially true in the winter months.
“You get a lot of people chewing
you out because you took so long to
get to them. People are a lot more
impatient than they were even five
years ago,” he says. “The people in
Huron County though, they
understand the weather conditions
here. They understand lake effect
snow and blowing and drifting. They
know how bad driving can get out
here.”
Burkholder says that people often
don’t understand that the weather
that caused them to end up in a
collision or to go into a ditch is the
same weather he has to drive
through to get there. In that same
vein, he says, when he is working on
a car in a ditch or on the side of the
road, he sees far too many people
drive past him at very swift speeds in
dangerous winter driving conditions.
Safety concerns are always on
Burkholder’s mind in the winter. He
says he doesn’t mind driving in any
weather, with the exception of
freezing rain, saying he has had his
run-ins with freezing rain over the
years and that he can live without it.
One time in particular, he
remembers is when he had to pull a
truck up a steep hill in Goderich and
he ended up going down the hill
sideways. Instances, however, where
he has had problems controlling his
truck can be counted on one hand
over his 40 years in the business.
In addition to safety concerns,
there are several legal issues
Burkholder finds himself confronted
with over the holiday season. One is
road closures and the other is the
possibility of arriving at a call
involving an impaired driver.
When the roads are closed,
Burkholder says, often drivers will
attempt to either drive around
barricades or to travel on lesser-
travelled roads, which can often be
in worse condition than those that
are closed.
When the roads are closed,
Burkholder cannot legally go out to
a call, unless he received special
permission and authorization from
the police to come out to a collision.
He does, however, receive calls from
motorists who find themselves stuck
and he has to turn them away, which
doesn’t always result in a pleasant
phone call.
Burkholder says he will also
receive calls from impaired drivers
who have put themselves in a ditch
and have no need to call the police.
These motorists, he says, hope to get
their car back on the road and
continue their drive. Burkholder is,
however, legally required to call the
police if he thinks a driver may be
intoxicated.
“It happens a lot,” he says.
“Sometimes you can tell right away
on the phone, so you go and pull
them out, but I won’t let them get
back on the road. My youngest
brother was killed by a drunk driver,
there’s no way I’m letting that
happen.”
Generally, however, when
Burkholder drives cars to impound
lots, when drivers sober up and
return for their cars, they thank him
for standing up to them and
apologize for the swearing and
name-calling Burkholder says he is
often subjected to in incidents like
that.
However, with all of these speed
bumps along the way, Burkholder
says he hopes he’s still doing the job
20 or 25 years from now.
“After all these years, I can
honestly say that I enjoy the job,” he
says. “I meet interesting people,
both good and bad, I meet strangers
who know people that I know. It’s
interesting.”
His (and his father’s) mantle has
already been taken up though.
Burkholder’s son, Shane, works for
Burkholder Auto Body and Towing,
the business Bill bought from his
father in 1983.
He also has several grandchildren
who have expressed an interest in
towing, so it’s possible that
Burkholder Towing could enter its
fourth generation a few years from
now, something he says makes him
very proud.
“To be honest, I had never given
any thought to it going this far,”
Burkholder says. “I learned the trade
from my father and I just kept doing
what I liked to do. I never thought of
it at the time that it might carry on
this long through however many
generations of family.”
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
North Huron clerk-administrator
Kriss Snell updated council at the
Jan. 5 meeting on the township’s
health and safety assessment report.
The assessment was conducted to
identify strengths and areas of
opportunity in how North Huron
manages health and safety. Bill
Sisler, area manager of the
Municipal Health and Safety
Association spent three days
conducting the assessment, which
consisted of 18 components.
Documentation was reviewed, a
cross-section of employees
wasinterviewed and site inspections
were done.
The township received a score of
17 per cent on the management
system analysis of the assessment.
Compliance is 50 per cent.
Sisler, however, explained at the
December health and safety
committee meeting that while the
score was low it was above average
when compared to other
municipalities in his area.
Snell told councillors that the
review had been an interesting
process. “One thing we learned was
that even though we are doing a lot
of things we should we aren’t
documenting them and in the
Ministry’s eyes if they aren’t
documented they’re not being done.”
Asked what the action plan was,
Snell said that staff have been given
the top five priority areas. “While
we have done a lot already, we need
some time to digest the report.”
North Huron gets score
for health and safety
By Bonnie Gropp
The Citizen
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The Citizen
The flood that hit south side of
Wingham along Hwy. 4 Dec. 28,
gave North Huron a chance to test its
emergency strategy.
At the Jan. 5 council meeting,
clerk-admininstrator Kriss Snell
extended “a big thanks” to staff for
“babysitting water systems and
putting up barricades during the
water events we experienced after
Christmas.”
As heavy rains blew in and snow
melted the Maitland River
overflowed its bank, flooding a
portion of Josephine Street and
causing damage to some commercial
properties. Cars at Cullen Motors
were underwater and the Frosty
Queen, which was back in business
after a fire this summer, once again
has a clean up on their hands.
Snell told council that there was
no damage estimate yet.
Saying that the township stopped
short of declaring a state of
emergency, Snell noted that at one
point the water had risen 1/4 of a
metre in an hour.
He also expressed appreciation to
Maitland Valley Conservation
Authority for their assistance during
the crisis.
Flood puts
North Huron
to the test
By Bonnie Gropp
The Citizen
WHAT ARE
ASTHMA
TRIGGERS?
Asthma triggers are allergens
and irritants that can create
breathing problems when people
with asthma are exposed to
them. Common triggers include:
• Pollens including tree pollen,
grass pollen and ragweed
• Cigarette smoke
• Dust and dust mites
• Pets and other animals
• Food allergies
• Weather and air pollution
• Cold air and high humidity