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Serving the Mapleton Community
Community News Volume 44 Issue 23
Drayton, Ontario
1 Year GIC - 2.00% 3 Year GIC - 3.00% 5 Year GIC - 3.25% Daily Savings 1.50%
Friday, June 10, 2011
Township, county officials meet with Wind Concerns Ontario Mapleton council preparing comments to ministry on NextEra Energy application
Mantracker duo - Matthew Klumpenhouwer and David Ellison appeared on a recent episode of Mantracker. Ellison, right, a dairy farmer from Mapleton Township, was the only one to actually cross the finish line, but he credits Klumpenhouwer for the victory. submitted photo
Local dairy farmer and friend best Mantracker
by Chris Daponte MAPLETON TWP. - Only one of them officially made it to the finish line, but lifelong friends David Ellison and Matthew Klumpenhouwer are calling their recent appearance on the Mantracker television series a great team victory. Respectively known as “Rusty” and “Klumpy,” the duo appeared on the May 22 episode of season six of the series on Ontario Life Network (OLN). Ellison managed to make it to the finish line - 35km away from the start, in the Dolores River Canyon in Colorado without being captured by real-
life cowboy and tracker Terry Grant and his guide Garnett Weese. Klumpenhouwer was not so lucky, getting captured 2.4km from the finish, but it was his strategic call late in the game to split up that allowed Ellison to sneak past Grant and Weese and ultimately make it to the end. “We came into this together as a team, we wanted to finish it as a team,” Ellison says near the end of the episode. “If it wasn’t for one, the accomplishments for the other would not have happened ... “I believe we’re both victorious, because if it wasn’t
for the sacrifice that he made for myself and our team, it wouldn’t have happened at all.” A dairy farmer on the west side of Mapleton Township, Ellison told the Community News the experience was a positive one that helped solidify his friendship with Klumpenhouwer. “I think we did alright at the end of the day,” Ellison said. “I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Colorado ... it was a pretty good experience overall.” He noted the pair received “overwhelming support” in the community both before and after their episode aired.
“We’ve had quite a few positive comments,” Ellison said, noting a local feed store even had a sign rooting for him and Klumpenhouwer. A few days prior to the OLN airing of their episode, Ellison and Klumpenhouwer got together to watch it on DVD. Their families generally enjoyed the episode, which Ellison said producers have called one of their top five favourites over six seasons. But Ellison’s wife was not impressed with one scene in the episode, during which Ellison voices his love for his family - in case anything bad happens Continued on page 3
County’s guide to benefit all municipalities by David Meyer GUELPH - When all the events taking place in Wellington County are amassed in a single place, that list is long and impressive. Mapleton Township Chief Administrative Officer Patty Sinnamon came to county council on May 26 to present an update on festivals and tourism from the county economic development committee. She said last year the county sent its promotional materials to the Greater Toronto Area. This year, the majority of the 120,000 Festival and Tourism brochures will be sent to places
closer to home: London, and the Counties of Middlesex, Elgin, Perth and parts of Grey and Dufferin. Sinnamon told council the brochures will be circulated through the county’s 34 tourism partners. She said there are over 200 festivals and events listed, which averages about four per week for the entire year. She added Wellington is home to a number of events that are among the province’s Top 100 festivals. She added she is pleased the county recognizes volunteers because many of those events
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would not be possible them. The committee also presented council with a DVD that featured a wide variety of events and scenery from across Wellington. She said each municipality can have access to it and can place it on their websites if they wish. She thanked the county for its support in doing the brochure. After the DVD played, councillor Ray Tout, with his tongue only partially in cheek, saluted the beginning of the DVD, which showed the street of Mount Forest packed from
one end to the other for the annual car show, and next, fireworks from the Mount Forest Fireworks Festival. “I’m impressed how the DVD started,” said Tout, the Mayor of Wellington North. He said it will be nice to attract visitors because that means “outside money coming in.” Warden Chris White said he was also impressed. “It’s amazing how many things take place in the county,” he said. For a link to the video, visit www.wellingtonadvertiser. com and click on this article.
Weekly Wag
fail, ointed if you p p a is d e b y ’t try. You ma ed if you don m o o d re a u o but y - Beverly Sills
by Chris Daponte DRAYTON - Officials from Mapleton Township and Wellington County met last week with the president of Wind Concerns Ontario (WCO) to discuss the NextEra Energy wind farm application near Arthur. As part of his current Ontario tour to raise awareness about the alleged impacts of industrial wind power facilities, John Laforet met at the PMD Arena in Drayton with local municipal officials including Mapleton Mayor Bruce Whale, county councillor John Green and warden Chris White - as well as members of Stop Mapleton Wind Farms. “I felt it was critical to meet with them to ensure they are aware of their options,” Laforet told the Community News after the meeting. He explained that although the township and county opted to not take part in the official municipal consultation process for NextEra’s 10-turbine proposal, both are still able to provide comments - as is anyone with concerns - while the application is posted on the Ministry of the Environment’s (MOE) environmental registry. “At this stage it’s critical that anyone with concerns does comment,” Laforet said. “We just want to make sure absolutely all the comments are on the record.” Whale said last week’s meeting was helpful in that it provided feedback from both residents living near the NextEra proposal area as well as from Laforet on the issues in other municipalities facing similar wind farm applications. “This is so new for municipalities,” Whale said. “There’s so few of us who have dealt with wind turbines ...we’re not experts.” The goal of the meeting was to ensure all of the township’s concerns are addressed, Whale said, and also to consider any issues Mapleton and Wellington officials may have overlooked. The information discussed will help form the township’s comments about the NextEra proposal that will be sent to the MOE before its July 11 environmental registry deadline, the mayor said.
JOHN LAFORET He noted Mapleton council will consider a preliminary report on the matter perhaps as early as its June 14 meeting. Whale is hopeful the county will support Mapleton’s comments to the MOE. White confirmed the county will likely not be submitting comments on the environmental registry, as all county issues were addressed in a letter about the NextEra project sent to the MOE in February by county lawyer Peter Pickfield. “I went to support [Mapleton],” White said of last week’s meeting with Laforet. He added the county hired a lawyer to help protect the interests of all seven lower tier municipalities when it comes to possible wind farm applications - and also to prevent all seven from having to cover expensive legal bills. “There are impacts that aren’t clear,” the warden said of wind farm applications like the one filed by NextEra. That is why Laforet’s input on issues in other communities that are facing similar applications was helpful, White added. Laforet, whose group plans to host a rally against the NextEra proposal on June 23 in the Mapleton area, noted the NextEra application could be the last wind farm approved before the Oct. 6 election, after which he expects changes to the provincial energy policy. If the WCO has any say on the matter, the current Liberal government, including Premier Dalton McGuinty, will be ousted, Laforet added. “We’re not getting a fair shake from this government,” he said, adding many local residents told him they plan to hold Perth-Wellington MPP and Environment Minister John Wilkinson accountable if the NextEra proposal is approved. “[NextEra] is a project they’re trying to jam through in the dying days of this government,” he said. Whale noted that if the Continued on page 8