The Citizen, 2006-11-23, Page 1NH
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Inside this week
A comrade fallen; not forgotten
TOp photo: local officers and firefighters transport Const. Dave Mounsey from Blyth where the
visitation was held, to Wingham for his funeral Friday afternoon. Mounsey was taken to the
service in a Blyth fire engine. Bottom photo: More than 1,000 officers from around the country
were on hand to bid their colleague farewell. Among the dignitaries present for his full police
funeral were Premier Dalton McGuinty and OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino. Mounsey was
involved in a single-vehicle crash in October and succumbed to his injuries early on the
morning of Nov. 13. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
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3
Council salutes
outgoing reeve
pg
7 Local couple marks
• 60th anniversary
Pg• 8 Blyth, Brussels
teams face off
Pg 10 Optimists donate .
Centre for
Pga 18 Renewable Enery
opens
to minor hockey
Hall says
not a bad
year for
crops
By Bonnie Gropp
Citizen staff
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Volume 22 No. 46
Thursday, Nov. 23, 2006
$1.25 (1.18c + 7c GST)
Thanks to an incredible summer,-
things aren't as bad as they could be
for farmers-in this dreary fall.
`No .doubt, it has been a slow,
painfully frustrating fall for
farmers," said Brian Hall, alternate
crop production systems specialist
with the Ontario Ministry of
Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs.
"We haven't seen one like it for quite
a few years.
However, he adds that despite the
weather a surprising number of corn
and soybean crops are harvested.
"And the summer was excellent so
for most people that contributed to
better than average yields."
Hall said that soy bean crops have
been above normal yields. "Fifty to
60 bushels has not been uncommon."
The average is 40.
While the quality has been fine for
the most part, Hall did say that they
have. seen more soybean cyst
nematode, a parasite that infects the
roost and stays in the soil for a long
time.
"It was in the south-west, but it's
expanding its area."
Corn, said Hall, had an excellent
season in July and August. "The
rainfall was at the right time when it
was pollinating and we had moisture
when it was filling. Everyone
expected above average yields and
we're getting those. Some are
reporting yields like they've never
had before, about 10 to 20 per cent
higher."
Hall said there had been more
issues with standability and corn
lodging. "They break so won't stand.
This makes it more frustrating to
harvest."
The cause, he said, is a root worm
Continued on page 19
By Bonnie Gropp
Citizen staff
Over 1,000 uniformed,: police
officers, firefighters and other
emergency personnel converged last
week in Wingham to honour one of
their own.
Funeral services were held on
Nov. 17 for Ontario Provincial
Police Const. David Mounsey of
Blyth, who succumbed to injuries
sustained in an on-duty automobile
crash one month earlier.
He had turned 50 on Oct. 4,
a milestone he marked by running
a marathon with his life partner
Const. Brenda Carey in British
Columbia.
Mounsey was also a member of
the Blyth Fire Department.
Among those in attendance at the
full police funeral, which was
attended in total by 1,500, were
Premier Dalton McGuinty and OPP
Commissioner Julian Fantino.
Having joined the OPP in 1998,
Const. Mounsey was a crisis
negotiator and a member of the
Western Region Colour Party. He
served on the board with the Huron-
Bruce Chapter of MADD and on the
Huron County Child Abuse
Prevention Committee.
The funeral procession entered to
Amazing Grace, led by piper Ben
Reid, a friend of Mounsey.
Remembrances of a man
described, not just as a good police
officer, but as a friend to all he met,
were given by colleagues and family
members.
Among them was his son Ryan,
25, who called his father a hero and
asked those present to honour him as
a hero should be — with applause.
All shared stories of a man with a
positive outlook on life, who
enjoyed living each day to the
fullest.
Mounsey's life partner Brenda
Carey delivered a eulogy that was
both poignant and funny. She spoke
of a man who rarely sat still, who
loved family and a good joke.
The presentation of the flag was
made to Mounsey's mother Shirley
Stanway by Fantino. Blyth fire chief
Paul Josling presented Mounsey's
fire hat to his brother John. Fantino
then presented his police hat to Ryan
Mounsey and the police teddy bear
to Const. Mounsey's step son Wyatt
Carey. Josling presented the fire
teddy bear to his other step-son
Dalton.
Changes
come to
Bill 52
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen
Except in the rare case of the
courts becoming involved, Ontario
teenagers who choose not to attend
school will not have their driver's
licenses revoked, under amendments
introduced Nov. 1 to the province's
controversial Bill 52.
And in a related development
which may disappoint some
proponents of alternative routes to
education, it's now much less likely
that programs like 4-H will be
accepted as so-called "equivalent
credits" to be put towards the
achievement of an Ontario
Secondary School Diploma (OSSD).
Bill 52 was originally introduced
as a 20-page document containing
proposed amendments to both the
Education Act and the Highway
Traffic Act, aimed at following
through on the ruling Liberals'
pledge to increase the compulsory
schooling age to 18.
Education stakeholders were then
invited to submit their comments on
the proposed bill.
Most controversial was a plan to
tie attendance to the driver's license,
and the government responded by
removing almost all elements of this
plan. The only vestige allows a judge
to impose the penalty under what are
predicted to be rarely- or never-used
conditions.
But the original bill also included a
list of possible providers of
alternative forms of education: from
industry to community groups to
non-school training programs. This
followed through on an
announcement made in Dorchester
about a year ago by former
Education minister Gerard Kennedy:
that various non-school training
programs, possibly including 4-H,
would one day be accepted for credit
as part of an alternative route to an
OSSD.
Judy Cairncross, Teacher
Bargaining Unit president for the
Ontario Secondary School Teachers
Federation (OSSTF) in Huron and
Perth Counties, provided information
about the OSSTF's submission about
Bill 52, at an Avon Maitland District
School Board meeting Tuesday, Nov.
14.
In a subsequent interview, she
explained the OSSTF joined many
other stakeholder groups in opposing
the driver's license/school attendance
linkage. But the labour union also
joined the College of Teachers of
Ontario in expressing concern about
the "equivalent credits" list in the
original bill.
"We want to ensure that the quality
of the OSSD reflects a commitment
to high-quality education, no matter
how the student achieves it,"
Cairncross said.
She agreed 4-H "is a very effectiVe
program that's vital to rural
Continued on page