Huron Expositor, 2004-12-08, Page 13• �.
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ednesday, Dec. 15, 2004 s1.25 includes GST
1
In brief
Seaforth
responds
with big
heart to
Christmas
Bureau
By Susan Hundertmark
Expositor Editor
Seaforth's big heart
responded to an increased
need at the local, office of
the Huron County
Christmas Bureau, says
organizer Deb Jamieson.
"It's overwhelming. The
community has really
responded. We live in a
very generous community
- people are big hearted,",,
she said Monday.
Faced with the largest
number of Seaforth-area
families needing extra help
from the Christmas Bureau
this year, Jamieson made
an appeal last week for
more help and the bureau
stayed open two extra days
on Saturday and Monday.
While 37 families with
79 children in Seaforth
were helped by the
Christmas Bureau last
year, 56 families with 139
children had registered for
help last Monday, the first
day of the weeklong
appeal.
"At the middle of the
week, we were wondering
if we'd meet the need but
by Wednesday, things
started to pick up and it's
been steady from Thursday
on," she said.
And, while donations
were close to meeting the
need on Friday, Jamieson
said Saturday and Monday
brought in many more
donations.
"Like everything else,
people mean to donate but
they don't always have
time. Saturday was really
good," she said.
While some gaps remain
in clothing sizes, Jamieson
said the generous cash
donations will be used to
provide anything still
missing.
As well, Jamieson said
some people came back
more than once with
donations.
"People were surprised
at the numbers. Everyone
was genuinely concerned,"
she said.
Jamieson said that it also
helped that the numbers
did not escalate as
registration continued
during the week.
"People obviously
registered early but we still
have more than last year.
And, we still have the
potential to get more
families because they
could show up during
distribution," she said.
"But, we're in good
shape, very good shape."
Inside...
Pat Ryan
spreading
Main Street
cheer...
.page 6
New Huron
County
warden
chosen ...
page 9
Susan Hundertmark photo
Nuttin' for Christmas
Seaforth Public School Kindergarten students Jared Smith, Christoph Geneau and Austin English act out their
fraatration•as•being-caught- beingi-naughty-afrChristmas during the song I'm Getting Nuttin' for Christmas at the
school's Christmas concert last Wednesday.
Seaforth hospital's future
pivotal to Bridges' success
By Susan Hundertmark
Expositor Editor
The continued good health of Seaforth
Community Hospital.is "imperative" to
the success of the 245 -home Bridges of
Seaforth development that could inject
more than $60 million into the local
economy.
That's what developer Bill MacLean
told close to 200 people in attendance at
a public meeting held Thursday night at
the arena by the hospital study group.
"The clinic and the hospital are
important to me. I never would have
started the Bridges project if the hospital
had not been here," said MacLean.
The meeting was held by Ken Larone,
Maureen Spittal and Dr. Ken Rodney,
who are currently researching the
Seaforth community's feelings about its
local hospital as the Huron -Perth
Healthcare Alliance proposes budget
cuts across its four -hospital partnership
that will eliminate a $7 million deficit.
Results from six focus groups and 345
responses to a newspaper questionnaire
have so far shown support ranging from
84 to 100 per cent support for services at
Seaforth Community Hospital, with 100
per cent support for outpatient surgery,
recovery beds, a 24-hour, seven-day
favour of preserving the community -
built hospital and its services," said
Rodney.
The third phase of the group's
research will begin this week with a
telephone survey of one in 10 residents
of Huron East.
"Over the years many of us have
worked hard for our doctors and our
hospital and that also includes our
parents before us. Now it seems we face
Ja new era, an era of doctor shortages and
a shortage of dollars for our medical
institutions. It's within this environment
'of uncertainty that we are determined to
protect what we have worked so hard to
build in the past," said Larone
MacLean spoke about the economic
impact of the hospital situation.
He said the well-off, retired couples
who will be moving into the golf course
subdivision could bring $50-$60 million
in construction revenue, $5 million to
Main Street businesses when they
furnish and decorate their homes,
$500,000 a year to local companies for
the upkeep of their homes and $200,000
a year to the municipality in property
taxes.
"The economic and social benefits of
this development have the potential to
See CLOSURES, Page 2
Ken Ltirone ,
emergency department and x-ray
department.
"If community interest and the
emphasis on service holds up through
the remainder of the study, the report
will be a very powerful statement in
Huron County hoping to become one
of five ethanol plant sites in Ontario
By Jason Middleton
Expositor Staff
Huron County was recently invited by the Canadian
Renewable Fuels Association (CRFA) to submit an
application to be considered as a potential site for one of
Ontario's five proposed ethanol plants.
According to Huron County planner Carol Leeming, the
Ontario government recently mandated that by 2007 five per
cent of all gasoline in the province be produced by ethanol
followed by 10 per cent in 2010.
"We're in the process of working with local stakeholders
that are suggesting a variety of sites in the county," said
Leeming. •
On Dec. 6, the Huron County Planning and Development
Department met with municipal representatives and
stakeholders and discussed a number of sites being considered
for the plant.
"Stakeholders' will be providing information about their
property," said Leeming. "We want to make sure that the site s
approved and meets the criteria."
Leeming said that the CFRA is looking for sites that have
access the railway, natural gas, water and electricity.
"There's a number of site criteria that need to be present for
a site to be considered," said Leeming. "We're working at
going through that criteria."
Leeming said that the plant could bring 70 to 80 jobs to the
area and could see one million bushels of corn being imported
to the plant each month.
"It's a matter of of coming up with a proposed piece of land
that meets all the criteria," said Leeming, adding that she's not
sure what Huron County's chances of landing the plant are.
Doug Eadie, president of the Ontario Corn Producers'
Association, said earlier this fall that U.S. economic studies
show that for every litre of ethanol produced at a plant, there's
$1 of economic benefit within an 80 -mile radius of the plant.
Eadie commented when the province announced its
commitment to ethanol in Ontario gasoline that the primary
See CLOSURES, Page 2
Water
upgrade
could
cost $3
to $20
million
By Susan Hundertmark
Expositor Editor
Seaforth and Egmondville
residents could be paying
anywhere from $450 to
$1,300 a year for water after
Huron East council decides
whether to go with a $3
million upgrade to the Welsh
Street well or a $20 million
pipeline project to Lake
Huron.
Seaforth and Tuckersmith
councillors met with Steve
Burns, of B.M. Ross and
Associates last Tuesday to
discuss their alternatives and
the most recent cost
projections.
And, while councillors
spoke against the pipeline
project, they decided they
wanted more information
about alternatives involving
Seaforth groundwater supply
before making a final
decision.
"We've got to get all the
information before we make
a decision," said
Tuckersmith Coun. Larry
McGrath.
"There's too many
unknowns. I'm not voting
yes or no for a pipeline at
this point," said Seaforth
Coun. Joe Sterner.
Clerk -Administrator Jack
McLachlan reminded the
councillors they need to tell
South Huron council
whether they will participate
in the pipeline project
sometime in January.
And, he added that as high
as the cost of a pipeline is,
it's probably cheaper now
than if council decides on a
pipeline after the Exeter
project is complete.
South Huron voted in
favour of building a Lake
Huron pipeline close to a
year ago to solve the
problems with one of
Exeter's four wells and its
spring -fed supply that
requires improved
disinfection and filtration.
Hensall, which is part of
Bluewater, is facing
problems with high nitrate
levels in its /water but has not
yet decided whether or not to
join the pipeline project.
If Huron East joins the
project, it will share in the
costs proportionally to build
the pipeline from Lake
Huron to Exeter and Hensall
and then will shoulder the
full cost from Hensall to
Seaforth.
"We talked about the cost
being $16 million in the
spring, but more realistically,
it will be $20 million," said
Burns.
Burns added that it's not
yet known what sort of
provincial funding might be
av+ilable to offset the costs
but said London is now
applying for a 50 per cent
subsidy from the province.
Without a subsidy,
Seaforth and Egmondville
would be looking at water
rates of $1,300 a year (up
from the present rate of $246
a year) and with a 50 per
cent subsidy, rates would
rise to $800 a year.
See CLOSURES, Page 2