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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1983-08-03, Page 1135 YEAll --31, , GODFRICH SIGN AR, WEDNESDAY, AUGUSTS 983 toderich Mayor Eileen Palmer does the honors with the shovel at a sod turning ceremony held last Thursday to mark the beginning of construction of a new 5,000 square foot workshop for the mentally retarded. Looking on is Jean Wheeler of the Goderich and District Association for the Mentally Retarded, a prime mover behind the workshop project. (Photo by Joanne Buchanan) 50 CENTS PER COPY Sod tii&ning ceremony held r new workshop Dignitaries gathered tt Goderich last Thursday afternoon to participate lin a sod turning ceremony to mark the begicnuctg"of ;construction on a new 5,000 square foot workshopfor the mentally retarded on SuncoastDrive near Hig ay8. Seventeen wells of cement are now in place for the one -storey building wit -the next step being the laying of steel. Organtzershope to occupy the facility by October. In her welcomingrettmarks, Jean Wheeler of the Goderich and Distriut,A;s'sociation for the Mentally Retarded, said t!'e etw• workshop was the kalium rticn of 10 )taasfrr1Cewor _ - "We are moving toward a beautiful future," she said while noting that_ :the workshop will provide employment for about 25 retarded people from the Goderich and Clinton area. Remarks were also made by Huron -Bruce MP Murray Cardiff; Ministry of Community and Social Services representative Linda Gerard; President of the Goderich and District Association for the Men- tally Retarded Mary Donnelly; architect Ray Fields; and Goderich Mayor Eileen Palmer. Following Mrs. Palmer's remarks, she performed the official sod turning. The new workshop will cost the local association for the mentally retarded an estimated $144,000 plus $5,000 fon the land. While the Ministry of Community and Social Services may fund as much as 00 per Ment of the project, the funding is determined only when the project is complete. Presently, the association is looking for assistance from local firms in securing contract work for the workshop employees. Delegatcsmap out strategy to address global farming problems Farmers and fishermen from North America, Europe and Asia met for four days in July to in- vestigate the growing international crisis in agriculture and food production. Over 125 delegates mapped out global strategies for ongoing com- munications and actions ta... address the problems identified. Cletus Dalton of Ashfield Township attended the In- ternational Farm Summit in Ottawa July 7 - 10 as a delegate for the' Huron County Fahn Survival Association. The theme of the summit was Forging the Links at Ottawa. "What we discovered," commented Allan Wilford, president of the Canadian Farmers Survival Associa- tion, "was that farmers everywhere face very similar conditions. Enforced low commodity prices insufficient itt�re displacing farmers ...and. ,. around the world:° in 'a tort, .the sei;sure of prime farmland for urban sprawl and airport construction are another forrn of land expropriation threatening the survival of family farming.", The Survival Association, along with the U.S. Farmers Association and the North American Farm Alliance, were the main sponsors of this first ever in- ternational Farm Crisis Summit. Major items of'discussion included an international approach to dairy production and marketing, effects of low grain price policies on both first and third world nations, and the principles of eimitable interna- tional trade. Throughout the summit, efforts were made to overcome the common perceptions that have worked to create conflicts between farmers in dif- ferent countries. Several of the. delegates from other countries toured the United States and Canada to investigate the farm situation in North America before the sum- mit. One of these farmers, Thomas Moller, dairy farmer from Denmark, remarked he was shocked to find out that the farmers in the. United States and Canada face many of the same economic problems as they do in Europe. "We are told that the farmers in North America are all rich and drive big tractors, and that our problems in Denmark or Europe are somehow isolated. The truth is, that we share the same problems and we must wtmust iiirktogethertowardssolutions,"said"Moller: y. The summit made plans for further international meetings,, including a meeting this winter between representatives of farm organizations in the Nor- thern Hemisphere with farmer and peasant organiza- tions from the Third World. _ In addition, the summit set up an ongoing com- munications structure; made plans for visits and ex- changes between countries, and adopted recommen- dations from the working comrnittees. Turn to page 3 Forty acres of wheat destroyed in township blaze By T.Marr On Wednesday afternoon, July 27, Kase Vanden Heuvel of R.R. 2 Goderich stood and watched as his field of wheat burned to the ground. Vanden Heuvel could do nothing but watch. His daughter had phoned the Goderich Fire Department at 1:50 p.m. and at. 2:30 there was still no sign of any firetrucks. So Vanden Heuvel calmly watched what had been 40 acres, quickly go up in smoke. As the flames grew higher and the smoke more dense, the strong wind acted as a fan, carrying the flames along with it. Fortunately for Vanden Heuvel, the wind was blowing away from his house and luckily there were no neighbors' homes close by. Meanwhile at the airport, volunteer fireman Ed Scruton had seen the smoke but since his pager had not gone off, he wasn't alarmed. A few minutes later, Scruton noticed the amount of smoke was increasing yet his pager still had not sounded. Assuming there must be a fire, Scruton and one other fireman rushed to the firehall. There they were met by other firemen and since none of their pagers had gone off, the old fire siren was sounded. At approximately 2:35, the firetruck arrived with two firemen. Vanden Heuvel, with the help of neigh- bors, assisted in pulling the hoses out and began to extinguish the nearby flames. By this time, the fire had moved westward from the southeast corner of the field and was heading in a nottherly direction. The flames were also starting to engulf the centre and the north side of the field. An emergency van, the tanker and the rest of the volunteer firemen then pulled up. As the firetruck moved to the centre of the field, the tanker headed to the far west side. After approximately 15 minutes, the firemen were just g ing the fire under control when they started runnirout of water. If the firemen had had to leave to get more water, the fire would have simply gotten out of control again. It may also have reached Vanden Heuvel's barley field, as that was the direction it was moving. However, the fire did not gain ground due to the fact that Art Bordeau of Goderich arrived with a landscaping truck which carried a large tank of water. Bordeau immediately headed towards the flames and sprayed them while the fire department got more water. After about an hour, the fire was completely ex- tinguished and Vanden Heuvel estimates the loss at approximately $8,000. He says 32-35 of his 40 acres were consumed. He believes the fire may have been started by a spark from his combine. Vanden Heuvel remains relatively calm aboutethe whole incident. However, his wife is upset. "My daughter phoned the fire department at 1:50 p.m. and 10 minutes later, a lady phoned to see if the trucks were here. The lady said she couldn't get through to the firemen and she didn't know what was wrong." According to Scruton, the department is not quite sure what went wrong with the paging system. Normally when someone phones about a fire, a phone in each of six firemen's homes rings, as does one in "Turn to page :1 Pollution p .: -t nears completion The Goderich Pollution Control Plant is completion of the $L5 million expansion which double its capacity. Work began in Mar. gm to make the one m lllo gallon plant into a two million gallon operation. This will allow the plant to serve approximately 20,000 people, according to plant superintendent Gerry Fisher. "About 70 per cent of the cost was paid by a grant by 'the Ministry of Environment," said Fisher. The rest of the cost was paid from the Goderich reserve fund The expansion consists of, two primary settling tanks, one primary pump hoose, an aeration tank, a Final settling tank, a final settling pump house, a sludge thickening tank, a blower room and a contact chamber. Also added was one office to the ad- ministration building. The existing buildings, which were concrete block buildings, were covered over with brick. The expansion "add be completed within the next two weeks. Rainfall varied in Huron County area If you've had your vacation in the past month or plan to take some time off in the next few weeks, the hot, humid weather has been ideal for boating, swimming, sunbathing and a host of other sum- mertime activities. But, for many farmers in the region, the weather has posed a bit of a problem, until this past weekend. While the hot weather threatened several crops, weekend rains brought relief for farmers in many areas of the province. Storms over the past several days have been aptly dubbed -The Million Dollar Rainfall. And with good reason. The rains saved millions of dollars worth of crops in Southwestern Ontario. But, the rainfall varied in each community as storms were often localized and while some farmers got too much rain, others complained of not getting sufficient rainfall. The same holds true for the Goderich area. The Stratford -Mitchell area was inundated with rainfall this past weekend and John Heard of the Agriculture Office in Clinton reports that water was standing in the fields. Both Essex and Kent Counties could have dth a with a little less rain too. in this area, farmers near the lake and north of Goderich may be wondering what all this talk is about. Very little rainfall fell in the area north of town and close to the lake. Heard explained that the rainfall was as varied as this year's weather. "It was a million_ dollar rainfall for those who got it but I think we've seen every end of the spectrum in this area," he said. "In Stratford there is water standing in the fields and yet areas to the north and near the lake got much less rain." As much as six inches of rain fell in the Stratford - London area over a four-day period providing relief to farmers there. In Huron County, the farmers have been less fortunate but any moisture is going to help Heard said. "Some corn in the north is showing drought stress and this is a very critical period for some farmers," he said.. C ., ys ,yr]Yn Vacationersmay taflia great delight in `--heather, which is ideally suited for outdoor activity. But farmers in this area could stand a little more rain. And perhaps, even the lawncutters would rather start up the mower than face a brown lawn. INSIDE THE SIGNAL -STAR Crop destroyed On Wednesday, July 27 fire destroyed ap- proximately 35 acres of wheat belonging to Kase Vanden Heuvel of R.R. 2 Goderleh. Although the fire was celled in at 1:50 p.m. the firemen did not arrive until at least 40 minutes later. ft Is believed that the delay took place because a switch had been turned off on the radio system which activates the firemen's pagers. This is the first time that such an incident has oeemred and fortunately no lives were lost because of the error. ( photo by T. Marr) Sporting events The Goderich Lawn Bowling Club held its annual Civic Holiday mixed pairs tournament this past weekend, with 28 pairs participating. A Goderich team, consisting of Marj Sturdy and Mel McFarlane, finished in first place, For the complete story, along with stories and pictures on the slowpitch tour- nament, see the Recreation section. Students visit The Auburn Lions Club has been hosting two ex- change students since July 9. The students, one from New Brunswick and the other from Austria, have toured Toronto, Midland, Georgian Bay, Grand Bend, Goderich and northern Ontario. The complete story appears in this section. Jerrys retire After 37 years of business, Bud and Ruth Jerry have sold H.O. Jerry Limited, The Paper People. The couple enjoyed their work, and during the first 31 years, they took only 10 days of holidays. Now, with plenty of time on their hands, they are planning to persue their hobbies. For more details, read the story in this section.