The Citizen, 2003-02-19, Page 1Citizen
Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County
Volume 19 No. 7 Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2003 75 Cents (70c + 5c gst)
Brussels
girls gets
hockey
scholarship
By Bonnie Gropp
Citizen editor
A Brussels girl has accepted a
hockey scholarship to a prestigious
United States-university.
Brooklyn Wheeler, daughter of
Gerry and Brenda, will be attending
Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y.
this fall. She will enter the general
program and will play hockey for the
school’s women’s team.
“We are thrilled,” said Brenda. “So
very proud of her.”
Wheeler came up through the
Huron-Perth hockey program,
particularly through the Brussels
Minor Hockey system, then went on
to play as starting goalie for the
Culver Academy varsity team in
Indiana, while attending high school
there.
With the assistance of the local
office of College Prospects of
America, Wheeler was contacted by
25 colleges and universities in
Canada and the United States.
According to her mother she toured a
few of these, including Harvard and
Princeton, before selecting Colgate.
“She was looking for a smaller
school like Culver. Harvard and
Princeton were huge, but when we
got to Colgate the atmosphere was
just was she was looking for.”
As well, Brenda said, the school’s
reputation is on a par with the Ivy
League schools.
Brooklyn will be playing Division
1 hockey the highest division in
women’s hockey.
The announcement of Wheeler’s
decision was made by Norm Woods,
Canadian director for College
Prospects of America, the world’s
largest student-athlete marketing
service.
The financial assistance package
she accepted for Colgate is valued at
$34,000 U.S. per year.
AMDSB
to hold
special
meeting
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen
Tuesday, March 18 has been set
aside for a special meeting allowing
the public to have input into possible
changes in the distribution of
trustees in the Avon Maitland
District School Board. A final
decision, to be implemented prior to
next fall’s municipal elections, must
be made by March 31.
Director of Education Lome
Rachlis will make recommendations
to trustees at their next regular
meeting, Feb. 25. There are two
main reasons why the current
distribution could change: due to
population changes since the 2000
municipal elections, and to bring the
school board into line with the
recent restructuring of Huron
County’s townships.
Rachlis delivered a preliminary
report Tuesday, Feb. 11. This year’s
population statistics — from the
Municipal Property Assessment
Corporation — had only been
received earlier that day, so they
weren’t included in the preliminary
report. But Rachlis noted that a
quick perusal of those statistics
revealed they had not changed
significantly. He suggested this
could mean that there would be no
recommendations for either
changing the total number of
trustees (nine) or the balance
Continued on page 6
McGuinty
By Clint Haggart
Clinton News-Record
To get a better understanding of
the challenges farmers face, Liberal
leader Dalton McGuinty visited the
farm of Paul and Ellen Gibbings
with Carol Mitchell, Huron-Bruce
Liberal candidate.
After a tour of the Gibbings’
operation last Thursday, the
provincial Liberal leader took time
to have a roundtable discussion with
local farmers.
McGuinty told farmers he wanted
to know what the Liberal party could
do for them in Queen’s Park.
The cost of business is going up,
explained Alex Westerhout, adding,
“There’s a lot more paperwork and
I’m already spending too much time
in the office.”
In the long run, he said the big
challenge is the cost associated with
implementing the Nutrient
Management Act (NMA).
According to McGuinty, the report
from Justice Dennis O’Connor said
all Ontarians must share the costs for
clean water. “Most reasonable
people want us to come up with a
law that’s reasonable.”
The George Morris Centre
All in a row
Grade 1-4 students at Grey Central Public School patiently waited for snowshoeing instruction
Monday morning from Esther Buck of the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority. Buck and
another MVCA employee visited the school to get the children involved in outdoor winter
activities, as well as teach them about co-operation and sharing through Inuit games. Learning
about the culture and traditions of the native Canadians is a component of the students’
Curriculum. (Janice Becker photo)
consults with Huron farmers
estimated the cost of implementing
the NMA, said Nick Whyte, adding
the government wouldn’t release
that study.
One farmer said she put up two
dry-storage tanks five years ago.
Now, she said, they’re not
acceptable under the regulations.
“It’s certainly stressful,” she said,
adding costs associated with farming
will discourage young people from
joining the industry. “We want
young farmers in the business.”
The Liberal leader asked farmers
for their take on farm safety nets (i.e.
the Net Income Stabilization
Account or NISA). “How are they
working?”
After this year, Steve Flynn said
there is almost nothing left.
Paul Gibbings said when Chretien
announced the federal government
was giving an extra $600,000,000 to
farmers it sounded great, but the
extra funding was put into NISA,
which doesn’t help dairy farmers
under supply management plans.
McGuinty asked farmers to help
him clean up Ontario air. He
explained he has set a target to have
five per cent ethanol in gasoline by
2007 and 10 per cent ethanol in
gasoline by 2010.
A release from the Liberal party
said, “Ethanol and bio-diesel fuels
are made from agriculture products
grown in Ontario, such as com and
soy beans. They are much friendlier
to the environment than regular
gasoline and diesel.”
The release continued, “The
McGuinty ethanol plan will expand
the market for grown-in Ontario
com by 80 million bushels a year -
almost doubling the market for
Ontario com.”
For bio-diesel fuel, the release
states, “Our plan will be a major
boost for soybean demand. As well,
livestock producers will benefit
because this plan will significantly
'Citizen cartoonist9
gets OCNA nod
Citizen cartoonist I.A. Nespolon is one of the top three named for
Cartoonist of the Year in the Ontario Community Newspaper Association’s
annual Better Newspapers Competition.
Editor Bonnie Gropp submitted Nespolon’s Maitland Family Farm
cartoon from the May 22 issue.
The other two contenders are Tim Dolghan from Oshawa/Whitby This
Week and Mike Inkol from the Waterloo Chronicle.
The winner will be named at the spring convention.
reduce the cost of deadstock removal
- deadstock will now be an important
feedstock for bio-diesel.”
Because the NMA will reduce the
amount of nutrients farmers are
allowed to spread, one farmer said
yields will be down. Murray asked,
“Who are we going to displace to
double com?”
Farmer and Bluewater Mayor Bill
Dowson suggested, “As long as
we’re guaranteed a price, we will
follow.”
If yields are going to be down
because of the NMA, Murray said
more than twice the acreage used to
grow com will be needed.
Continued on page 19