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Serving the Mapleton Community
Community News Volume 44 Issue 38
Drayton, Ontario
1 Year GIC - 2.05% 3 Year GIC - 2.80% 5 Year GIC - 3.05% Daily Interest 1.75%
Friday, September 23, 2011
Huge fire completely destroys local home by Chris Daponte MAPLETON TWP. - There was little firefighters could do with a large fire that completely destroyed a home near Drayton last weekend. “It was fully involved when we got there,” Fire Chief Rick Richardson said of the blaze on Concession 12, northwest of Drayton and southeast of Rothsay. Firefighters responded to the home - an older stone house with a large addition that was under renovations - shortly after 3:40pm on Sept. 17. Smoke, and even flames, were clearly visible from Drayton at the time, indicating the size and severity of the fire. Twenty-nine firefighters from the Mapleton department responded to the scene, as well
as two water trucks and four firefighters from the Minto Fire Department’s Palmerston station. Richardson said no one was inside at the time of the fire and no firefighters were injured at the scene, despite the explosion of a couple of propane tanks. However, there wasn’t much left of the house by the time firefighters left the scene at 7:30pm. “It’s totally gone,” Richardson said. “Everything’s in the basement.” The owner’s insurance company is investigating and the damage is sure to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, Richardson added. The cause of the blaze has not yet been determined by fire officials.
Area students fared well in annual EQAO assessments by Chris Daponte MAPLETON TWP. - The latest EQAO assessments show most local students are keeping pace with or exceeding the reading, writing and mathematics skills of their peers within the school board and across the province. Every year the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) assesses the reading, writing and math test results for students in grades 3 and 6, and also the math results for grade 9 students. There is always debate as to how much weight parents, teachers and education officials should place on the scores, though some agree the results are a helpful way of gauging the success of students and of comparing the progress of different schools. “To be successful, all organizations need reliable, objec-
tive performance data,” said Marguerite Jackson, EQAO’s Chief Executive Officer. “Students, parents, educators, policy makers and the public benefit from data that can be used to make reasonable judgments about how well schools are performing and to determine what changes need to be made to make schools better for all students.” Jackson added the data “allow parents, schools and school boards to celebrate their success in helping students master the foundational skills of literacy and numeracy and, where necessary, to pinpoint areas for improvement.” Recently the 2010-11 assessments were released for every school in Ontario. Grade 3 results About 64% of students across the Upper Grand District Continued on page 3
Razed - A firefighter surveys the huge blaze that completely destroyed this home on Concession 12, northwest of Drayton on Sept. 17. Over 30 firefighters from both the Mapleton and Minto fire departments responded to the scene, but the house was fully engulfed in flames when they arrived. The fire caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage, but luckily no one was injured. Additional photo on page 6.
photo by Dave Taylor
Councillors defer purchase of laptops by David Meyer MAPLETON TWP. - The electronic and wireless age is supposed to help people communicate better and faster, but councillors here are approaching it slowly. Council has $10,000 in its budget this year for laptop computers, but after receiving a report from finance director Mike Givens on Sept. 13, councillors decided to put off any purchase for now. However, they are going to consider wiring the desks at the council horseshoe so they can plug in laptops if they decide to buy them. Givens told council in his report the province did a request for proposals for laptops and obtained a vendor of
record, so the cost will be reasonable. “The price applies to all public services bodies,” he said. “It’s a very good price. We’re lucky to be a part of that.” The cost for six people would run at $6,065, and Givens said there would be some training costs to come, but he noted he could probably help with that. Givens added, “I know some councillors are hesitant.” Councillor Neil Driscoll is one of them. “I just don’t think at this time we should put money into laptops,” Driscoll said. “[Other] projects are going over budget. I just don’t see a laptop making me a better
councillor.” Councillor Andy Knetsch said, “The long and short of it is I’m not going to support this motion.” Councillor Jim Curry said he can support getting rid of stacks of paper that councillors must currently deal with, but he noted, “I have a laptop. How many have one? I’m willing to use my own and save some tax dollars.” He said councillors need to have a power source at each council desk but, “I don’t think all of us need laptops.” Mayor Bruce Whale noted the previous council had talked about getting laptops but he added, “I’m not very laptop friendly when it comes to communication - typing with one
finger.” Whale noted that as a member of county council, he has a laptop computer there and, “I haven’t printed a page since I started at the county. I just find it so handy. Everything is with you.” He added when it comes to toting around paper, it is “kind of a nightmare.” The mayor said he does not think it would take much savings in paper and staff time to recover the cost of buying laptops. Curry said paper costs are a small part, and such things as toner for the printer and staff time copying are higher costs. Whale said it might also allow councillors to receive information faster. Continued on page 2
Perth-Wellington candidates address agricultural issues at debate by Mike Robinson ARTHUR - Agriculture was a focus here at one of the first Perth-Wellington all candidate debates. Traditionally, the Arthur meeting is hosted by agricultural groups, but it was called off because of a Wind Concerns Ontario protest rally. The details were published in last week’s Wellington Advertiser. The meeting was re-booked, this time by Wind Concerns Ontario, the group that held the rally. Of the six candidates Irma DeVries, Family Coalition Party; Chris Desjardins, Green Party; Ellen Papenburg, New
Democratic Party; Randy Pettapiece, Progressive Conservative Party; and Robby Smink, Freedom Party, attended. Only incumbent Liberal Party representative John Wilkinson was absent. Prior to the meeting, he sent a news release to various media outlets saying he was more than willing to attend all non-partisan debates, but he declined an invitation from Wind Concerns Ontario. “This is my fourth election. I have never missed a debate organized by non-partisan organizations serving to inform voters in my riding,” said Wilkinson.
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“I have never accepted an invitation to attend an event organized by any group that has endorsed just one candidate. “Free, fair and open debates are a hallmark of our democracy. It’s important for the organizers of debates to be nonpartisan. I think WCO should be straight with people tonight and remind people they have taken a partisan position.” Prior to the meeting a protest rally was held against wind turbine policies, the Green Energy Act and the current provincial government. Inside the hall was a different story, as protestors were asked to leave their signs out-
side the building or in vehicles. Estimates of attendance ranged between 140 to 200 and a good third or more of that number appeared to be the same people involved in the protest rally. Local businessman Wayne Baker stated “an unfortunate situation” caused the Wellington Federation of Agriculture, the National Farmers Union and the Wellington Christian Farmers to cancel the meeting. WCO president John Laforet thanked Baker and Rob Unsworth, president of the Wellington County chapter of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, for their participation.
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Unsworth said “Agriculture is an integral part of this community.” Laforet stressed the WCO would use the same rules developed for the original meeting. Questions had to be written and were selected by a panel to avoid duplication. Laforet asked the audience keep the spirit of the original meeting. The questions Will your party work in a consultative manner with farmers when regulating species at risk and their habitats? DeVries said as a farmer she understands the species at risk legislation. “There is some great con-
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cern with that Act because some species are infringing on our right to farm and we are not getting compensation for some of that.” She is willing to work with agencies to come up with good plans so farmers are compensated. Desjardins said the Green Party believes in rewarding farmers for stewardship that provides environmental and community benefits. Papenburg said the NDP is in favour of consultation with farmers. However she added that being originally from Holland, where much of the Continued on page 5
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