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Huron Expositor, 2001-12-19, Page 5�.. l Catholic Church Saturday - 5:15 pm St. James Parish, Seaforth Saturday - 7:15 pm St. Joseph's Parish, Clinton Sunday - 9:00 am St. Michael's Parish, Blyth Sunday - 11:00 am St. James Parish, Seaforth Father Lance Ma! • iak News Coleman awarded for civic service By Scott Hilgendorff Expositor Editor (The following is the second of three stories featuring the recipients of Seaforth's citizens of the year awards. Watch next week for the final story introducing readers to this year's honourees) When Bev Coleman suffered a serious leg break last year, he was still filling out game sheets for houseleague hockey from his hospital bed. And from coaching hockey and baseball to being the only male at that time on the Seaforth Cooperative Children's Centre's board, Coleman has covered a lot of ground in areas of volunteering which led to him receiving the Seaforth Citizenship Award for civic service. As a parent of four children, Coleman said it was hard not to get involved with' his children and for three and a half years, he was a stay-at- home parent in the family while his wife, Gail, worked. Being at home to look after the children drew Coleman into the parent council at Seaforth Public School, of which he was a past chair "With the new curriculum changes [a few years ago], I wanted to know what was going on," said Coleman of his reasons for getting involved in the school. Being the parent at home also saw Coleman become the only male member of the board of directors at the local day care centre. Bev Coleman He said those were ways he could stayoinvolved with his children. "It was a bit different for a small town," said Coleman of being a stay-at-home dad involved in committees that were predominantly made up of moms. But at the same time, Coleman was also involved in coaching hockey and baseball. His sons Brent, 15 and Alex, eight, got involved in minor sports and Coleman is almost glad his daughters, Ashley, 13, and Kelly, 11, didn't get involved in ringette because he expects he would be a coach there as well. His time in minor ball, however, is about at an end; not because he isn't interested in coaching and organizing anymore but because there isn't much interest left in the sport. "It's a dying sport," said Coleman. The last three years of coaching, his was the only boys' team in Seaforth. Despite his hospital bed dedication last year to doing what he could for the teams and committees he was a part •of, Coleman said the load isn't as bad as it might seem. "The odd time you hive to juggle meetings," he said. But he does wish more people in the community would get involved. By being on a cross-section of committees, Coleman said you see the same people involved in several different groups. "It's hard to get people to commit to anything," he said. "They've got to want to. You can never lead someone into it." He said that's part of the reason he had to keep doing game sheets from a hospital bed; because there was no one else to do it. "You have to be a little crazy to do it," said Coleman of getting involved in the community. While it can be a lot of work, he said there are a lot of hard workers on the committies and in the groups he has been involved with. He said it can sometimes seem like a thankless job because many people take it for granted that the work of running a team or school council is done without realizing the work behind the scenes that went into putting it together. He said people aren't interested in the process, as long as everything is running smoothly and that it takes a group of dedicated people to keep everything running smoothly. He encourages more people to not take the behind the scenes efforts for granted and to pitch in and help out. Land use important issue for new plan By Scott Hilgendorff Expositor Editor How farmers should be allowed to sever land was one of the dominant issues raised at a public meeting held to seek input from the community as Huron. East prepares a new official plan for its land use. "In Huron County, we're losing all our buildings. People are buying up all the land to get rid of their manure and we're losing all the people," said Merve Agar, a McKillop farmer who attended the Nov. 27 meeting with council at the Seaforth Agriplex. A certain amount of land is needed, as part of current requirements for hog and cattle operations, to be able to spread the manure in more environmentally - safe concentrations. If a farm needs to expand the number of animals it has, which is the growing trend, it needs more land to spread the manure on. At the same time, Agar said a cash cropper can't survive on 2,000 acres of land with current prices. "You drive up and down the roads. We're losing all the people," said Agar. He was concerned about the ever-increasing size of farming operations that see fewer people actually living on farms. If farmers aren't allowed to at least sever off existing farm buildings and houses to sell them, the large farm operations that buy up the land end up reducing the number of people out there. In turn, he said that lowers the rural tax base when there are fewer people living on the land paying taxes on the residences. Including council and staff, only about 25 people showed up to the meeting, to help give council input as it begins to harmonize its official plans for all of Huron East. Right now, the five municipalities that combined to form Huron East in January, have varying official plans. There was debate among the group, mostly representing farming interests, on severance -sizes between 50 and 100 acres, necessary for a farm to be viable. "If we make it too much one way, in 30 years we could have all farms and nobody living out there," said Agar. Agar also asked what is to stop a 30 -acre farm, used for breeding horses, from being viable. McKillop Coun. Ferg Kelly suggested a 50 -acre size as appropriate. He said that might address Agar's concern of keeping people living in the country because they could sever farm buildings and keep people living in the residences. McKillop Coun. Sharon McClure said a lot of lot sizes are in 100 -acre parcels. They were set up that way when roads were first built, and that 50 -acre severance are more convenient. But Huron East resident Tom Schoonderwoerd, a land and building owner in Seaforth, suggested 75 acres because at 50, there would be a lot of 100 -acre parcels of land being split up. One McKillop resident said she owns a 100 acre farm with dairy cattle and would like to expand. To expand, she would need more land to spread the manure generated, to comply with proper nutrient management plans. Her parents own 150 acres but she said they would never be able to afford that much land but to be able to buy 50 acres would make all the difference for them to be able to expand and make their own farm more viable. "We're stuck in 100 acres with no way of surviving," she said. Tuckersmith Coun. Bill DeJong said that the former municipality allowed buildings to be severed. Otherwise, he said, "The township loses its tax base. We felt it was in the township's best interest to prevent the homes from becoming dilapidated and torn down." Deputy Mayor Bernie MacLellan said it also lets the farmer who has bought a larger portion of land, sell the home and buildings and make a little money to help pay for the overall purchase, helping them get ahead. Agar said the lot size shouldn't matter, giving people the chance to get farming operations started on smaller scales, as long as they could make them viable. But MacLellan said leaving it so people just have to prove the lot -size is viable is too "slippery" a wording. Someone could say they are planning to build a greenhouse on 10 acres of land but legally, they can't force the person to build the greenhouse if it doesn't appear after the residence is built. "All this is irrelevant. The money dictates who is going to own the land," said Tom Schoonderwood. "All we can do is decide how they are going to be able to use it. We can't stop the people with money and the markets from buying all of Huron East," he said. The average age of a farmer right now is between 55 and 65, said Everette Ridder of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. He said farmers will have a struggle passing land on to the next generation. "The sons can't afford the land prices," said Ridder, adding that leaves the large operations to buy up the land. "I think if a farmer wants to sell his farm, he's going to sell it to the person with the most money. I don't think we can stop it," said Coun. We look forward to serving you in the years to come from Anna, Joy & Maxine ANNA'S DRESS SHOPPE SEAFORTH, dkiff 41e1,4 McClure. "Science and, common sense should be included in all of your bylaws," said Charles Regele, Huron County OFA president. The larger the operations, particularly in hog and cattle, the greater the manure production. Regulations on how to safely handle manure without badly affected water quality and the environment are being prepared at both the provincial and county level. While agriculture was a dominant perspective at the meeting, it was held to also seek input in other land issues including economic development, the importance of industrial land, recreational uses and the protection of woodlots and wetlands. Huron East includes the larger urban centres of Seaforth/Emgondville/Harpur hey, Brussels and Vanastra, Cranbro'ok, Walton and Winthrop but the majority of its land base is rural. For overall land use planning, Regele said, "Huron East has to look at decisions based on how it will affect agriculture." Staff will present councilwith a proposed new official plan for all of Huron East early in the new year. Do Whom NEM NyarShOPPNI Get Your Seaforth BIA Bucks at CIBC & TD Canada Trust t . TNt HURON EXPOSITOR, DECEIMIIII 11, 2091-6A b[ST WIHtS fif Here's hoping you enjoy the best of times in this festive season. Thanks for visiting us, Huron Sports Outfitters Hwy. #4, Kippen .1 j First Presbyterian Church Goderich St. W. Seatortl Rev. Nick Vandermey Worship Sunday 11:15 am Christmas Eve Service at Clinton, 7 p.m. Sunday School during Worship St. Thomas Anglican Church Jarvis St. Seatorth Rev. Michael Atkins Christmas Services Sunday, Dec. 23 -1030 am Lessons & Cards tobwed by Pat -Luck Brunch Monday. Dec '24.8 pm Christmas Eve Eudwrist Tuesday, Dec. 25 -10 am Chrislnas Day Eucharist Sunday, Dec. 30 - 930 am 'Carol Sing' Parish Office 482-7861 Bethel Bible Church An Associated Gospel Church 126 Main St. Seaforth Sunday Worship Hour 11 am Sunday School 9:45 a.m. Adventure Club for Kids Wednesdays 7 p.m. Eqmondville United Church Sunday School Gr. 2-8, Adults - 10 am; Nursery - Gr. 1 - 11 am December 23 Service 11 am Worship Leader. Steve Hadebrand Christmas Eve Service: 7:30 pm Worship Leader Steve Fihdebrand PLEASE JOIN US IN THE CELEBRATION OF THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. EVERYONE WELCOME NORTHSIDE - CAVAN UNITED CHURCHES Rev. Sheila Macgregor - Minister 527-2635 or 527-1449 54 Goderich St. W. 9:30 AM & 11 AM Fourth Sunday in Advent Service of Lessons & Carols Christmas Eve: Special Christmas Musical Pageant, 7 p.m. Northside. All Welcome!! _HEALTH ON THE HILL_ A Review of activities at SEAFORTH COMMUNITY HOSPITAL TELEHEALTH a telephone advice service took effect in Huron and Perth Counties Dec. 3, 2001 providing callers with free and confidential access to Registered Nurses 24 hours a day 7 days a week. If you have a health concern, access can be obtained by calling 1-877-797-0000. SEAFORTH MEDICAL CLINIC holiday schedule: closed Dec. 24, Dec. 25, Dec. 26; re -opening Dec. 27 and Dec. 28th, open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 31st, closed January 1 & 2nd, re- opening January 3, 2002. MEDITECH a new computerized information system began Dec. 3rd. Patients coming in to the Hospital for appointments and outpatient visits are reminded to stop by Switchboard to register. Special thanks to all patients for your patience with our new registration process. Many thanks to all staff for your efforts with training at this busy time of year. FOND FAREWELL to Carol Bowker, Physiotherapist who is retiring December 30th after 22 years of service at our Hospital. Carol has given much to our rehabilitation services and to our community! BEST WISHES to Dr. John Yee who is leaving Seaforth medical Clinic January 1, 2001 to pursue a full time practice in Kitchener - Waterloo. Thank you for your dedicated service; we will miss you TREASURE CHEST DRAW winner of the locally made lovely, wooden toy chest completely stocked with toys was Ruth Boniface. Congratulations from the Hospital Auxiliary Ruth! CHRISTMAS SHOPPING as we count down the days until Christmas, why not consider the Hospital Auxiliary GIFT SHOP. It has an extended new inventory line including Battenberg and Christmas nighties, Dagoli leisure clothing, decorative candles, wheelchair cushion covers, novelty cotton boxer shorts, jewellery and numerous items. Auxiliary Volunteers welcome your visit. WINNER of the Huron Hospice Christmas tree decorated by Hearts and Flowers was Valerie Petrie. Thank you to all who supported this fundraiser. 5malITALK Huron -Perth Preschool Speech Language Initiative have established services at Seaforth Community Hospital. Any parent who has a concern about how their children's speech and language skills are developing can make referrals to smallTalk at 1-800-269-3683. SEASON'S GREETINGS as we quickly approach this wondrous Christmas season, the management and staff extend our warmest wishes to you, the community. indeed, we thank everyone for the warmth and spirit shown to our Hospital over the past year and together look forward to a new year of peace, goodwill and happiness. Merry Christmas to one and all. 4Te-er,r-i:"1" `� 9'fern'• Cfiristmas nI The Staff of Elligsen Electric wis you and your family a 4 ' safe and happy holiday season. f (Back L to R): Martin Habeggar. True Dill. John F,lI1g n. Oliver Hof rneyer, Larry McNichol, Anthony Definer. (Front L to E lligen R): Ryan Ftallahan, Jeff Jositng. Larry Lowes.Steve McGregor. Ah„„, from phntn Doug MON, Grnrgr Krrntzwtarr OVER 20 YEARS IN BUSINESS E L E C T R I C DUBLIN 945-2447 L 1 NA 1 T E F)