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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1983-08-24, Page 1.n eric SIENAL»' STAR GODERIClSIGNAL.STAR, WEDNESDAY,' AUGUST 24,1983 50 CENTS PER COPY • New boardwalk is inviting to cyclists The town of Goderich recently received a second $25,000 grant to be used for park development along the Lakeshore. Work on the St. Christopher's Beach redevelopment plan is progressing rapidly and this boardwalk is part of that progress. The long boardwalk runs along the length of the beach and councillor John Doherty says something has to be done to keep cyclists from using the walkway. photo by Dave Sykes) St. Christopher's Beach now open to swimmers While pollution continues to plague Goderich Beach, St. Christopher's Beach just to the south has been reopened by health officials. The municipal bead, was closed almost three weeks ago by inspectiap'tbranch of the Huron county Health Unit after water samples contained 'high bacteria counts. ,Since then both County and Ministry of the Environment inspectors have been closely monitoring the situation along the Lake Huron shoreline. Ed Harrison, chief inspector with the Huron County Health Unit,said that consistently good readings at St. Christopher's Beach over the past week meant that the:Ask was non-existant. The warning signs were re*oded last Thursday. The pollution rm. be subsiding at St. Christopher's Beach blit jtist a.few hundred yards north at the municipakheach,; the readings have remained consistently high Harrison said. "I just don't know what would cause that," he said. "It's a real puzzler:" Ministry of Environment officials have completed sampling a series of storm outlets Heat },ne Iaetccu and they will be conducting further tests ' t area. To date, however, the source of the pi, Iuutt tip at Goderich Beach remains a mystery. Throughout the month of August, redd,egs ram St. Christopher's Beach have beep lodwe ". , at times, eaqual to the readings taken at 3o 'rich Beach. But over they last week they dropped to acceptable levels. So, it appears there is no risk to bathers at St. Christopher's Beach. Just a few miles south on take Huron at Black's Point the pollution level remains high as well. Harrison said Black's Point has been posted for three weeks and that Ministry officials have been checking the area for a source of con- tamination. "There is still a problem there but the Ministry has checked the Bluewater Centre and there is no problem with the effluent there," he said. "They've checked outlets but can't find any contamination." The pollution problem is affecting many lakes and beaches in Ontario and a simple change in weather could result in a complete reversal of the situation. Cyclists not welcome on new boardwalk at beach The town of Goderich recently received word that its grant application for $25,000, to be used for redevelopment at St. Christopher's Beach, was ap- proved. Work at the site is progressing at a rapid rate but some councillors are concerned that motorists and cyclists are making much t000 frequent use of the area. At the last regular council meeting, John Doherty informed colleagues that young cyclists were using the newly constructed boardwalk as a cycle path and that cars and four-whe el drive vehicles were making their 'way onto the net4'"fieach between the' water filtration plant and the poliution,control plant. The town has placed some large rocks just south of the water filtration plant to deter vehicular traffic, but four wheel drive vehicles can easily go around the barrier. Commissioner of works, Ken Hunter, said the town does not have a lease arrangement with the gover- nment on the property and theretore cannot legally block off the area. The town should post notice that the boardwalk is off limits to cyclists, councilor Don Wheeler suggested but added that the south beach should not be blocked off. "It would be regulating things to the degree that law-abiding citizens wouldn't be able to go down there for a look," he said. "The barricade wouldn't mean anything to four-wheel drive vehicles." Doherty suggested the town draft a bylaw prohibiting cyclists to use the boardwalk that runs along St. Christopher's Beach near the. roadway: "It's just too nice a job to have bikes riding on it," he said. "If people are riding bikes there the walkers have no where to go. Soon there will be motorcycles on it too if we don't do something." Mayor Eileen Palmer said that posting signs and police vigilance would cure the problem. The matter was referred to the parks and waterfront committee of council. Plowing match plans take shape The Huron County Plowing Match is taking shape for the weekend of Sept. 16 and 17 at the farm of Clare Deichert of Zurich. The match starts on Friday morning with coaching and in the afternoon the junior match will take place. On Saturday the main part of the program gets underway with antique tractors, horse-drawn plows and regular tractors all plowing furrows. A highlight of the match is the Queen of the Furrow competition which starts at 9 a.m. on Saturday. The contestants demonstrate their plowing ability, plows are available and are interviewed around 10:30 a.m. At noon the girls are taken for lunch compliments of MPP Jack Riddell (Lib. Huron -Middlesex). Following lunch, the potential Queens return to the match site where they deliver their speeches. The winner is crowned that day and will go on to compete at the 1984 International Plowing Match to be held in Wellington County. Any young woman interested in entering the competition should contact Ruth Townsend of R.R. 3, Seaforth at 527-1629. The Huron County Plowmen's Association also offers a plowing class for women in two categories, those under the age of 24 and those over the age of 24. For the non-plowers there are other competitions to enter. The match offers log sawing, horseshoe pit- ching and nail driving. A concession booth will be on. the site to feed the hungry plowers and spectators. There was plenty of fun and activity at the annual Dungannon Fall Fair on the weekend. Log sawing, arm wreslting and chain sawing events were held Friday evening and Saturday's events were highlighted by the parade. The horse-drawn wagon was part of the parade while Perry Van Osch and Andrea Smith ieentre)finished second an¢first respectively In the Grand Champion Female Class. The youngster in the photo on qik right demonstrates that good form was required In the watermelon seed spitting contest. (photos by Darrell Moen.) Town will accept provincial grant The- town of Goderich has agreed to accept a bicentennial grant from the frovince of Ontario and hopes the money can be used for Founders and Canada Day celebrations next year. Council passed a motion last week acknowledging that it would accept a grant in the amount of $3,704. The provincial government has ' offered municipalities grants on a per capita basis to hold public celebrations in 1984 in honor of the bicen- tennial. Council readily agreed to accept the grant and Administrator Larry McCabe said he will contact the ministry to determine if the grant money could be ‘worked into the Founder's Day festivities. Investigate liquor store break-in A break-in which occurred at the Goderich liquor store on Huron Road last week' is still under in- vestigation by the Goderich Police Force but so far, nothing has been determined as stolen. A police officer checking the store on Thursday, August 18 about 5:15 a.m. found the rear window broken and proceeded to investigate. Tests indicate cat wasn't rabid A Goderich family avoided treatment for rabies after a cat which bit a small child was determined not to be rabid. A small child was bitten by a cat last week and the cat was later destroyed but tests proved to be negative. Although the animal was not rabid, it was reported to have acted in a strange manner. In another instance, a cat scratched a child but tests proved that the animal was not rabid. With a proliferation of rabies among animals in Huron County this year it is wise to report all cases of bites. Animals that act in a strange manner should also be avoided and children should be cautioned against petting or approaching strange animals. It is also as good idea to have all family pets vaccinated against the disease annually. A free rabies vaccination clinic will be held in Goderich September 20 at the Goderich Fire Hall on Waterloo Street. . INSIDE THE SIGNAL -STAR Golf tournaments Maitland and Sunset Golf Clubs held tournaments last Wednesday for the golf enthusiasts. The tour- nament at Maitland was a ladies' invitational while the one at Sunset was a men's invitational. For the Complete story as well as pictures, see the Recreation section of this paper. Dungannon Fair The Dungannon Fair was held over the last two weekends with many competitions highlighting the annual event. To see who won events such as chainsawing, arm -wrestling and horseshoe pitching, turn to pages 10A and 11A where you will also find pictures of the competitors. Local business With rising energy costs, everyone wants to find an inexpensive way of heating their homes as well as a way to keep the heat in. Stewart Steenstra, owner of Goderich Energy Seal Inc. may have found a solution. For more details on the Goderich Energy Seal Inc. as well as details on the opening of the Peoples department store, take a look in this section.