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Huron Expositor, 2001-07-25, Page 13,.-A4 In brief August 1, 2001 Si (includes GST) 30 Day...3■90% ttt,CFP 1 Year...4■25% 5 Year...5■6O% Manor employees reach agreement after more than year negotiating By Scott Hiendorff Expositor Editor Seaforth Manor employees have reached a three-year agreement with their employers following an April picket to protest lack of progress in negotiating a new contract which had expired in March, 2000. • The new contract, reached by the 44 employees belonging to the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) Local 2458, includes a 9.5 per cent increase during the three years and signing bonuses -- $250 for full-time employees and $125 for part-time staff. The new contract also includes some benefit changes including improvements to bereavement leave. "It was certainly a frustrating process," said CAW Local 2458 negotiator Bruce Dickie. An agreement was reached last Monday and was ratified last Wednesday night. Of the almost 30 nursing homes that have recently joined the CAW union, Seaforth Manor was thelast to reach an up-to-date agreement. "Now that it's over, certainly the members at the home are satisfied with the agreement," said Dickie. The Manor employees represented by the CAW include health care aides, kitchen, housekeeping and laundry staff. Juggler impresses crowd.. Pogo S lions Club hosts swab senbs_ Page 11 More Moonlight Madness._ Page 10 Scott Hilgendorff photo Moonlight madness mayhem • A pajama and teddy bear parade was held for the first time at Friday night's Moonlight Madness event, hosted by the Business Improvement Area. Main Street was closed so family activities could take place while stores stayed open late offering specials. Children in the parade brought their favourite stuffed animals and wore the pajamas to the event. (left) Ida, one of several clowns that roamed Main Street, made giant bubbles that kids gathered to try and catch or break. No big tv finales this year to hurt blood donor clinic By Scott Hilgendorff Expositor Editor After the final episode of Survivor last year almost killed the Seaforth Blood Donor Clinic, it is back again tomorrow night with higher expectations it can be successful again. Last year, the clinic needed 150 units of blood but was only able to collect 119. The final episode of a ratings -grabbing reality television show and good weather were blamed on a poor showing at the clinic last year, but a Canadian Blood Services recruitment coordinator, Tim Hamilton of the London branch, said changes made this year and a less exciting television schedule should ensure the survival of Seaforth's clinic. Hamilton said the Seaforth clinic has been set between clinics in Mitchell and Clinton, within a waiting period donors must go through before giving blood again. That allows donors in those areas to also come to Seaforth's clinic. "We called every donor that is on record with us in those areas," said Hamilton. Last year, the dates S.. MORE, Page 5 Seaforth area architecture purer than rest Unknown fact that town is host to solid examples of the 12 styles of Victorian era architecture By Susan Hundertmark Expositor Staff Because Seaforth and Tuckersmith were settled before the rest of Huron County, the ,#yea's architecture is "purer" than the rest of the county, says Goderich architect John Rutledge. "Not a lot of people know that but it's just an historic fact. It's a very significant point about Seaforth that it has the purest architecture that's truer to one style and not many styles juxtaposed together," he says. The Van Egmond House in particular, he says, is an example of "pure style" with its Georgian architecture. As well, other houses in Seaforth and Tuckersmith demonstrate good examples of Italianate, Queen Anne, Gothic or any other of the 12 styles of architecture popular during the Victorian era, instead of mixtures of styles which are often seen throughout the rest of Huron County. "The houses in the Seaforth area are a little more unique, and truer to one style. I tend to send people to Seaforth to see the examples of different styles. Everywhere else it's a lot more mixed up," he says. Huron East Heritage As well, Rutledge likes Seaforth's downtown heritage district, citing examples such as Cardno's Hall, the Seaforth town hall, the Commercial Hotel, Sills Hardware and Box Furniture as examples of beautiful architecture. He also loves storefronts, such as the one at Wuerth's Shoes, with big, walk-in shop windows that draw customers in to look. "Wuerth's is a gorgeous storefront; it's sheer elegance. All those big display windows have the purpose of being enticing and inviting," he says. Rutledge says when he designed the architecture for the Investment Centre to blend into Seaforth's heritage streetscape a few years ago, he tried to create a similarly inviting entranceway as seen at the front of Seaforth's town hall. "I tried to make it inviting with the recessed archway," he says. Because hotels were historically the pride of every small town, Rutledge says he wishes Seaforth's Queen's Hotel could be restored, especially since it's on Highway 8 where the most traffic travels through town. "It's a fine building and in its time, it was wonderful. Even a paint job would do a world of wonders for it," he says. As Rutledge drives through the countryside looking for inspiration when designing a house, he says he makes it a rule to stay within a five -mile radius of the house he's working on since each township seems to have its own set of details and style of architecture. "In Goderich, for example, there is the same style of porch on any style of house. The Goderich porch is a heavy, overdone porch," he says. Similarly, houses in the Brodhagen region in Perth County near Mitchell all have two styles of porches because they were all built by twin brothers who lived in the area. "The story goes that you will only find a Brodhagen porch within a 10 -mile radius of Brodhagen because that's as far as their wives would let them travel to do their work," Rutledge laughs. Rutledge, who grew up in a Victorian -era house in Brussels, says he's always been interested in Victorian -era architecture. And, while he's often called upon to help renovate or restore Victorian -era houses, he says the challenge is to balance and combine modern conveniences with the original architecture and 5.. S/NORTH, Page 5 Your community newspaper since 1860