Times Advocate, 1994-01-19, Page 20Page 20 Times -Advocate, January 19, 1994 COMAALINITY
Partnership
descrlbed as
focus of education
for 1990s
CLINTON -Joining` forces with other organizations is the path the
Huron County Board of Education will take for Am 1990's.
That was the message given by board chairman, Graeme Craig,
during his inaugural address last Monday.
He said the board will have tough choices to make this year given
its financial difficulties and the impact of the Social Contract.
"Being trustees is not something we have to do, but have the op-
portunity to do, so let's do it well," he said.
Craig said economic difficulties are apparent throughout society
and to overcome such difficulties the board will have to work in
partnership with other organizations and pool financial resources.
He said the board is already working towards joint ventures for
busing as well as the use of its high school in Clinton. The board is
also exploring possible ventures using Centralia College facilities.
The Exeter UCW quilters group completed 20 quilts last year
.and are already starting off 1994 on a positive note with this
rose pattern whole -cloth quilt they started Monday afternoon.
The group of 36 women can complete a quilt in only three
days, paid for their services by the eventual owners of the val-
uable
aluable items of handmade folk art.. The UCW in turn benefits
from the quilting as a major fundraiser "besides being a so-
cial time", say quilters.
Zurich keeping sewer
rates up until grant
comes through
ZURICH - Village residents won't be getting a break on their sewage
utility rates, at least not just yet.
Zurich council Thursday evening agreed to hold off on reducing its sew-
er surcharge, presently 150 percent of the village water bill. Council
raised the utility charge last year in an effort to fund a sewer expansion re-
serve and repair costs to leaking lines.
"My concern is that lowering it at this time...we don't know what were
going to get from the province in grants." said reeve Bob Fisher, referring
to the likelihood of the village qualifying for provincial support on a sani-
tary sewer expansion project.
Fisher said he would rather lower the rates later once the funding was
confirmed, also noting that -some line inspections still haven't been com-
pleted.
Council agreed, and deferred a bylaw to lower the sewer rates for the
time heft.
Workshops help farmers
increase their bottom line
GUELPH - Can forty dollars and
two days improve a farmers finan-
cial bottom line? Ontario farmers
attending the Credit Management
and Negotiation Skills Workshops,
sponsored by the Ontario Ministry
of Agriculture and Food, see the
benefits of small inxestments that
bring returns for years to come.
The workshops are part of the
Agricultural Investment Strategy, a
collection of programs introduced
over the last year and a half, de-
signed to help farmers help them-
selves to become better financial
managers.
"Young farmers make very major
decisions early in life, often with-
out background, experience or
training," says Ralph Winslade,
manager of financial.' programs,
Ministry of Agriculture and Food.
"We can't provide the experience
here, other Than working with case
�+ studies and examples, but we can
provide the training."
Winslade says that workshop par-
ticipants will acquire a better un-
derstanding of the security instru-
ments they will have to sign when
borrowing money. Security instru-
ments such as mortgages, general
security agreements and security
over personal property are ex-
plained in detail as well as hens as-
signments and guarantees. Farm
families also have an opportunity to
review (he sources and cost of agri-
cultural credit, as well as opportuni-
ties to improve their negotiating
Skills when borrowing money.
To bring all this together, the pro-
gram co-ordinating committee is
drawing on the expertise of individ-
uals such as Murray Brownridge, a
Halton arca dairy farmer.
"It's becoming more important all
the time," he says. "Our levels of
borrowing are getting higher every
year, and the agreements that we
are quite often asked to sign are
more complicated than they used to
be. I think that credit itself is be-
coming a much more useful tool,
and it's a tool that we need to have
a better understanding of if we are
to use it properly."
Commercial lawyer Ted Oldfield,
whose clientele is made up of about
two-thirds farmers, has also been
involved in ,planning the work-
shops•
"One of the goals I have of par-
ticipating in the workshops is to get
people who arc seeing trouble on
the horizon to deal with it now as
opposed to waiting until it's too
late. I have consistently found that
the successful debt restruct (fes are
the ones that get help early on, as
opposed to the farmers who wait
until the loans have been demanded
and there's simply no room left to
go out and negotiate," �,a says.
Those who attentl_he seminars
will find a wealth of practical ad-
vice from their peers. For example,
Kingston arca workshop partici-
pants were advised by Ben Green. a
dairy farmer. to always pay their
term accounts within thirty days, to
avoid running up an overdraft on an
operating loan, to keep good finan-
cial records and to analyze their
farm business at least once a year.
Bob Humphries, agricultural rep-
resentative for Huron County, says
that there is a wide interest in the
seminars in his arca.
"I'm very pleased with the re-
sponse we've had - since we an-
nounced the workshops in the fall.
The first two seminars in Huron
were sold out, we had larger groups
than expected and we even sched-
uled an additional workshop for
March," he says.
Humphries also notes aha% the
participants' reaction is positive.
One of them, Rowena Wallace, of
Seaforth, operates a dairy farm with
her husband Bill and has attended
with him the first day of the work-
shop.
"I found it very interesting," she
says. "One particular point was an
illustration used to demonstrate
how to find out who offers the best
deal on a loan. In this example we
had a dealer and a banker, who,of-
fered different packages. We sat
down and did the calculation. Al-
though at first glance the dealer ap-
peared to offer the best deal, it was
in fact the banker who had the r..ost
interesting offer. This sure encour-
ages you to sit down and pencil
through your operation."
Fifty-five workshop locations
have been chosen throughout the
province and others will be added
as required by local demand. For
more information on workshops
dates and locations, farmers can
contact their local OMAF office.
Storewide Savings
ALL MERCHANDISE REDUCED
Tables, LampsChairs, Redding, Chairs, Bedroom Suites, Diningroom Sui
Beds, Carpet and Vinyl Flooring, Sewing Machines, End Tables, Cottage Tables,
Furniture, Wall Units, Area Rugs; Pictures, Mirrors, Entertainment Centres, Cedar
Hardwood Floorin , Ceramics, Etc.
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