Huron Expositor, 2004-04-21, Page 1MINTER IN,
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AT
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PETE
MARTENE
PETE'S
PAPER CLIP
bl Main St., Seaforth
mit 527-1681
In brief
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
$1.25 includes GST
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Two ATV
thieves
caught
outside
Seaforth
A 23 -year-old Central
Huron man and a 19 -
year -old Mitchell man
have been charged with
possession of property
obtained by crime over
$5,000 after they were
spotted in Seaforth
riding stolen all -terrain
vehicles.
Two off-duty Huron
OPP'officers spotted the
men at 5 p.m. on April
16 riding ATVs that
fitted the description of
both the men wanted in a
break-in the same day at
Blyth and the machines
stolen.
The break-in occurred
at noon on Gypsy Lane
in Blyth when the owner
saw two men leaving his
garage on two ATVs.
While several roads in
the area were closed as
police looked for the
suspects, their trail was
lost on the abandoned
railway lines towards
Walton.
After they were seen
in Seaforth, the two were
spotted again at Heritage
Estates Trailer Park, just
east of Seaforth and
officers pursued the one
man, who abandoned the
stolen vehicle and fled
on foot.
The man was caught at
6 p.m. in a field off Tile
Road after the canine
unit was called to assist.
The second man was
also caught an hour later
on Front Road.
Both stolen Honda
ATVs were returned to
the owner.
The men also face
charges of break, enter
and theft and arc
scheduled to attend court
in Goderich on June 16.
Eight-year-old's bike
stolen in Tuckersmith
A bicycle was stolen
from the rear yard of a
residence on Kippen
Road in Tuckersmith on
April 14.
Huron OPP received a
call reporting the theft
from the grandparents of
an eight-year-old boy.
Anyone with related
information is asked to
call the Huron OPP or
Crime Stoppers.
Local people
take p%irf in
Outdoor
Donnellys..
pope 6
Minor
basketball
season
ending..
pogo 20
Seaforth
Winter Sports
edition...
poges1-1$
Low enrolment, avian flu
challenge Slice of Huron
By Susan Hundertmark
Expositor Editor
With only eight of the
possible 48 schools
participating in this year's
Slice of Huron program,
organizers had to reduce
the three-day educational
program about Huron
County agriculture from
three to two days.
And, Kittie MacGregor,
unofficial chair of the
organizing committee, says
her committee will have to
do some work to determine
how to revitalize the once -
popular program for local
children.
"The numbers are way
down this year, less than
half of what we had last
year. It's really very sad,"
she said last Wednesday
during the public open
house in the evening.
;While MacGregor said
organizers were wondering
if the large number of
snow days in Huron and
Perth Counties caused the
poor participation by local
schools, numbers were
down in all three school
systems - public, Catholic
and Christian.
"We really want to see
this program keep going.
Maybe we'll have to find a
different way to go about
it, like holding it every
other year," she said.
With all of the
biosecurity measures being
taken on farms over the
past few years, MacGregor
said the practice of
agriculture has become
more hidden from the public
eye and even children who
are raised on farms don't
necessarily know how the
farm operations work next
door.
"The kid on a dairy farm
has no idea what's
happening on a beef farm
because unless it's your own
farm, you're not allowed in
the barn anymore," she said.
Along with the low
enrolment, the Slice of
Huron was also challenged
this year with the avian flu,
Brooke Ribey, 3, of Seaforth, got a chance to hold a baby
chicken at the Slice of Huron public open house Wednesday
night at the Seaforth arena.
which has turned up in both
the U.S. and parts of British
Columbia.
MacGregor said that
participating chicken
farmers and egg producers
who usually brought a Targe
number of fowl to the
agricultural show reduced
their numbers significantly.
And, the birds being
handled by the public at
Slice of Huron were not
returned to the barns they
came from.
"We're trying to be
proactive. With any
pandemic, we need to take it
seriously because it could
come here," she said.
Laurence Reinsma, of
Clinton, a local chicken
farmer, added that while
he's not really worried
about avian flu coming to
Ontario, he was operating in
"biosecurity mode," to take
no chances.
"Close'to 450 kids came
through here and got to hold
my chickens but none of
them are going back to the
farm. They're heading to
Swiss Chalet," he said.
Survey creates
'road map'
to Huron
East's future,
say facilitators
By Susan Hundertmark
Expositor Editor
With a community survey recently completed and a five-
year strategic planning session held Saturday for municipal
councillors and members of the economic development
committee, Huron East is "well on the way of developing a
road map" into the future.
That was the opinion of facilitators David and Laurel
Armstrong as they led the strategic planning session Saturday
at town hall in Seaforth.
"It's exciting to see a community shape it's own destiny
and there's lots of potential here. You represent the leadership
of the community and you're the ones who can make it
happen," said David.
"It's not rocket science from here; it's just a lot of hard
''ants k," he said
The Armstrongs took participants through a visioning
- exercise which involved imaging what -Huron East would
look like five years from now if everyone's dreams, wishes.
and desires about the community were fulfilled.
See HURON, Page 2
Blood donors
can help
Mackenzie Fisher
Anyone who wants to help Egmondville's Mackenzie
Fisher in his current fight against leukemia can donate
blood at the Seaforth blood donor clinic on Thursday, says
his dad Bob.
"Everybody in town has been asking what they can do
to help my son and I thought that donating blood would be
a very simple way to do that," he said Monday.
Mackenzie has received several blood transfusions as
part of his treatment to help increase the red blood cells in
his blood. •
"The chemotherapy knocks the cell counts down and
they give,me red blood cells to bring the counts back up,"
says Mackenzie. "The red blood cells bring oxygen to my
blood and that helps me get up and do more."
Seaforth donors donated 161 units of blood at the
Boxing Day clinic, the last one held in Seaforth.
Interested donors can book an appointment with
Canadian Blood Services to give blood at 1-888-
2DONATE (236-6283).
The clinic runs from 1:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Seaforth
community centre.
Violent Sunday morning storm levels local
barns, snaps off area trees and hydro poles
By Susan Hundertmark
Expositor Editor
Brett Finlayson was out on his tractor picking
stones in the pasture at his Maple Line hobby farm
Sunday morning at 8 a.m. when the sky grew very
dark and the air became completely calm.
"He knew something was coming so he put the
tractor away and got the dogs into the shed just in
time before the storm hit. He spent the storm
hiding in the corner of the shed with the dogs and
he throught the shed was coming down," said his
wife Janice on Monday.
The violent storm that blew from St. Joseph's in
Huron County to the Stratford area in Perth County
passed through the Hensall and Tuckersmith area,
uprooting trees, ripping roofs off barns and houses
and levelling sheds.
Power was out for rural Hydro One customers
served by the Clinton operation centre for up to 11
hours as falling trees and high winds took out
hydro lines in the area.
While Brett was taking shelter in the shed, the
two nine -foot doors of his barn were blown off
their hinges by 100 km/h winds and swept a stack
of 20 -pound bales of straw and hay out the back of
the barn.
"If the doors hadn't blown out, we probably
would have lost the whole barn," said Janice.
As well, a large Milnitoba Maple was uprooted
and hit the shed, probably holding it down as the
winds blew through, said Janice. And, an empty
•
,
Susan Hundertmark photos
Friends and neighbours came out to help Vern
Alderdice clean up what remained of his 50 by
80 -foot drive shed after it was twisted apart
and blown across his field north of Hensall on
Highway 4 by Sunday morning's storm.
six-foot bird cage was blown six feet into the
air and smashed into the tree.
"I've never seen anything like it. It took four
hours to clean it all up," said Janice.
She was driving home from Exeter when the
See:YORM, Pags6