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VA Ice hut owners protest Whitefish catch limit By SHEILA McGOVERN Examiner Staff Reporter The provincial governments limit on catches of Lake Simcoe whitefish could seriously effect the business of ice hut operators said Paul Hether ington of Hawkestone Mr Hetherington past presi dent of the Lake Simcoe Fish Hut Operators Association said operators have been asking for limit and believe six fish per day would be reasonable In press release Monday Conspiracy say operators Lake Simcoe fish hut Operators are beginning to feel there is conspiracy against them says Paul Hetherington past president of the operators association Mr Hetherington said operators are not only upset about the proposed creel limit on Whitefish but wonder why the provincial government always issues mercury or DDT warnings just prior to the open ing of the ice fishing season The ministry of natural resources was aware of mer cury contamination in Lake Simcoe piekerel last summer he said but announced its fin dings last week number of people ask ques tions about these warnings he said If that many people are coming up and asking ques tions how many are staying home Some operators truly believe there is some kind of con spiracy to get all fish huts off Lake Simcoe Mr Hether ington said Leo Bernier natural resources minister said creel limit of two whitefish person will go into effect Jan limit of two lake trout day is already in ef feet Open season for Whitefish and lake trout will extend from Jan to March 15 and from the se cond Saturday in May to Oct The former season extended from Dec 18 to Oct All ice fishing huts must be registered and must be remov ed by March 15 instead of March 30 Whiefish catches have declin ed considerably in recent years to 7000 in 1976 from over 100000 in 1968 Ministry of ficials say mostly large older fish are being taken now Natural reproduction of the species has declined Natural resources biologists say it is natural tendency for cold water lakes to turn into warmer shallower more weedy lakes But these changes have been accelerated on Lake Simcoe by mans activities POOR HABITAT As result poor fish habitat has been created Mr Hetherington said operators are well aware of Lake Simcoes declining white fish and lake trout population In 1969 there were between 6000 and 7000 fish huts on the lake Last year there were around 2000 he said Weve lost lot of our business he said People who came for short frequent visits to Lake Simcoe now go for longer visits to Lake Nippiss ing As an operator Mr Heathers ington said he is not personally opposed to the shorter season but believes it could have serious effect on guide boat operators The shorter season par ticularly the loss of the first two weeks in May cuts four weeks off the guide boat operators livlihood he said The guide boat operator may only make $100 to $200 profit during the first two weeks of May Mr Hetherington said but thatsaliving And because the regulations effect the livelihood of operators Mr Hetherington and the association feel they should have been consulted first HEARDTHISSUMMER Mr Hetherington said operators first heard of the possible limit this summer representative from the ministry of natural resources visited various operators but because it was summer few were available he said At recent association meeting he said four of 21 operators had been asked for their views by the ministry Mr Hetherington was one of the operators questioned but said he never received the im pression the limit being discussed was going to be hard and fast rule The association was never contacted about the change and there was never any formal communication or chance for input Mr Hetherington said limit of two Whitefish has the potential of greatly reduc ing business he said Customers may book hut for two days but go home after one he said The fish but operators association has turned the mat ter over to its lawyer he said and is currently trying to ar range meeting with the minister Poorquality margarine sold in area as butter Poorquality margarine labelled as butter is being sold throughout Simcoe County and Ontario according to the On tario Ministry of Agriculture and Food Gordon Munn field man for the ministrys milk industry branch in Elmvale said people are buying what they think is butter at about 80 cents pound He said the butter can be bought in conventional one pound bricks colored to resem ble butter or in 30 lb white plastic pails or 10 lb white plastic containers Mr Munn said people buying the product believe they are buying commercial or institu tional butter What they are buying is lowgrade margarine with greasy aftertaste he said The butter has been discovered to contain animal fat lard and marine oil from 15 to 30 per cent water and three per cent salt The estimated value is 30 cents pound Mr Munn said the butter has been circulated in Ontario for the last four years Between 50 and 75 pounds was seized recently in Midland No one has been caught in this area selling the butter he commented saying there have been 15 convictions in Ontario in the last three years for sell ingthe product The people we find are ones that had been duped and thought they were in on good thing he said Selling the butter is against the law and considered fraud according to Mr Munn He said margarine has to be colored darker than butter ruling underthe OleomargarineAct Safety is concern to the ministry Mr Munn said the ministry cannot say the butter safe to eat because the ministry cant inspect the plants where it is produced Im not saying the butter is LOCAL GENERAL FALSE ALARM Barrie firefighters were call ed out in icy conditions at 619 am today on what was dis covered to be false alarm The alarm went off when fire was reported at 122 Bayfield St BEHIND WALL Barrie firefighters went in behind wall next to an electric stove at 70 Codrington St short ly after midnight last night on call but found no trouble They were called to the scene just after midnight DAMAGE SCHOOL Doors were pried open and damage was done over the weekend at Eastvicw Secon dary School according to Bar Lionel Brock right received pewter mug and best wishes Monday afternoon when he retired from his position as customs port ap praiser at the Barrie office of Revenue Canada Customs rie city police but there is no report on what was taken FIVECAR ACCIDENT Five cars tangled in an acci dent on Highway 26 and 27 north of Bayfield Street at stoplight intersection Monday Charles Fetters of Phelpston emerged from the accident handled by the Barrie OPP detachment with the largest damage estimate at$2000 Kenneth Frazer of lnnisfil will face $1500 bill for repairs while other damage estimates amounted to $300 for Richard Mandigo of St Marys Ontario $200 for Gary Van Jen nings of Minesing and $100 for Rene Desroches of Pene tanguishene PEWTER MUG and Excise Mr Brocks ex tended service with the federal government included World War II duty with the navy several years with the post office seven years with national defence and over 20 harmful to your health he commented but if we dont know where its made we cant be sure Its probably okay to cook with He said ministry officials suspect the butter comes from another province saying officials keep too tight watch on Ontario plants to miss such fraud Those who are caught face only minor punishment Jardine administrator of the provincial leo margarine and Edible Oil Acts in Toronto said breach of the act can bring fine of up 103500 andor six months in jail $8868 goes to groups Eight Simcoe county recrea tional groups and facilities have been awarded Wintario grants totalling $8808 The Alliston ookstown and Wasaga Beach public libraries will each receive grants of $2000 to buy Canadian books The Wintario projects office will provide the oldwatcr and District Minor Hockey Associa tion with hockey equipment valued at $905 The Midland Badminton flub will receive $025 worth of bad minton equipment while the Orillia Badminton Club will get equipment valued at $419 lrant of $400 has becn awarded to thc Alliston Concert Band for the purchase of uniforms The lluronia Mermaids swim team based in Crecmorc will rcccivc $250 to help defray the costs of swim suits training equipment and towels years with customs His wife Alice is nursing supervisor at Royal Victoria Hospital Baker left collector of customs presented the mug to Mr Brock Examiner Photo BERT THACKER left looks over one of the many trees on Lorne Wilsons Christmas Tree lot at the Bayfield Mall with help from Mr Wilsons son Gordon Mr Wilson has been in the Christmas tree business for 16 years and owns farm in Vespra Township Christmas tree sales down noone seems to know why By PETER DEIODESIA Examinchtaff Reporter One of the traditional sym bols of Christmas the tree is not faring well in Barrie this year Christmas tree sellers say 1976 is poor to average year for the business but no one seems to know why Ive been in the business for 10 years and this is the worst year ever says lvan Hidwcll This is the first year Ive never sold right out Mr Bidwcll of RR Bar ric says he is one of the largest dealers in the area He sold more than 300 trees last year This year he has sold about 150 trees Last year they Ithc customers cleaned me right out he said still hope to sell few more trees before Christmas He said the only reason people might not bc buying trees is sagging economic conditions Ive got no real idea unless its the economy of the country and pcoplc cant even afford to buy bloody hristmas tree he said Mr Bitlwcll said his prices are at the same as last year $1 foot The artificial tree he said is not the cause for the drop off because most people still enjoy the smell and look of LEIOII doesnt mind getting out to help people select or cut tree on his Hawkcstonc property He real tree If anything the artificial tree has made it better for the real tree he said SPRlCE IN DEMAND Mr Bidwell said one of the surprising changes this year is the demand for spruce and balsam trees For about the last 10 years he said people asked for scotch pine trees but now the spruce tree is coming back Lorne Wilson of Township another Barrie Christmas tree dealer operates lot at the Bayfield Mall He said this is an average year but would not say how many trees he sold The tree business is fair he said He said usually people buy their Christmas trees early in the season and look for natural looking tree Young people today cant be fooled by the artificial trccs hc said They want natural tree The artificial trees havent hurt us at all Mr Wilson owns Wihsons Tree Farm in Vespra and has been selling trees for 10 years including 11 years in Toronto lrccs sold on his lot can be returned if they do not bush out properly in the buyers home BRINGS EM RACK This guarantee along with Vespra operates one of the two cut yourown lots in the Barrie area and sells trees for $2 each Mr Leigh says he has customer service he said keeps bringing back the customers Mr Wilson said his tree business is really family business in which all his sons have been involved Its the greatest thing to make businessmen of my boys he said Justin McBride Knights of olumbus member for 25 years said the Knights Christmas tree sales this year are about avcragc Mr McBride said the club has about 23 of the 950 trees it started with left on its Bcrc zy Street lot We had about 1000 trees last year and sold out he said And this year we have better classification of trees The good trccs always go first he said Weve been selling so long that we have good group of customers that keep returning Mr McBride said proceeds from the sale this year are used for the Christmas Cheer program in Barrie to provide food toys and gifts for the needy in the area Theres good spirit among thc people when it comcs to buying tree he said Trees on the lot are sold for an average of $1 foot he said had good results this year selling about 200 spruce trees Examiner Photos Many cut their own trees While hristmas trees on city lots are selling for about $1 foot many people are trudging to the country to cut their own For $2 ll Leigh of llawkestone lets people cut down one of the 30000 spruce trees on his property This year he has sold about 200 trees Weve had pretty good results this year he said Mr Leigh said his usual customers are people with older children who like the idea of cutting down their own tree Young people without children and elderly people he said usually go to any nearby lot to select tree Cutting your tree has really started to catch on hesaid Mr Leigh said he is sur prised at the demand for spruce trees again after peo ple had preferer the scotch pine for so long The spruce hc said has number of advantages be cause its needles fall off making it less of fire hazard than the pine which retains its nccdlcs The needles are usually so dry after three weeks theyll just burst into flames he said The spruce is actually the oiin real Canadian trcc Mr Leigh said the scotch pine is really weed or rough shrub not used for anything except Christmas trees The spruce he said takes 12 to 15 years to grow but needs very little grooming while the scotch inc takes five years but nect constant grooming TOO LARGE Mr Leigh said the only roblem with cutyourown iusiness is that usually poo ple cut trees that are far too large He said people have trou ble trying to estimate the size of tree while its in the bush The size people should be looking for is not more than seven to eight feet high he said But lot of people have been taking trees 10 to 12 feet and then cutting off three or four feet at home Also he said number of people cut the small trees which still have few years left to grow would rather they cut the tops off some of the larger trees and left the real small trees hcsaid Then in few years the small ones will be nice size tree Mr Leigh said he did not sell trees last year but three years ago he was charging $1501 tree We sold few then he said trees Sixmonth delay for OMB hearing The Ontario Municipal Board hearing into Barries annexa tion bid will be held up for as much as six months while anti annexation forces go to court to attack Ontario Treasurer Dar cy McKeoughs intervention in the case Hearing chairman Alex Ar rell adjourned the hearing Mon day following an application by lnnisfil Township lawyer John Sopinka who served as spokesmen for five lawyers op posing the citys bid for 20000 acres from three adjoining townships The hearing is to reconvene for one day Jan to set date for resumption of proceedings and toget progress reports on the cotirt case and other mat ters Mr Arrell said after Mon days session the hearing which began Oct 28 will pro bably not get underway again until May or June Barrie has applied to annex 13500 acres from lnnisfil 4600 from Vespra Township and 2100 from Oro Township though no evidence is being presented in support of the Oro portion of the application Opposing the application are all three towns ips Simcoe County council and group of Oro residents Mr McKeough threw the hearing into an uproar last week with letter to 0MB chairman William Shub stating that the provincial government has accepted as policy population target of 125000 for the city in the year 2011 and wants to be able to deal with single municipality obvious ly Barrie which will ac commodatethis population The city currently covers about 6200 acres and has population of about 34000 SEEMS TO SUPPORT Mr McKeoughs letter seems to support Barries case which is based on the 125000 figure and the need to bring the growth under single jurisdic tion two assumptions which have drawn heavy fire from op ponents during the haaring The letter read to the hear ing Thursday by represen tative of Mr McKeoughs ministry is similar to another letter from Mr McKeough written before the hearing began which Mr Arrell would not let Mr McCallum introduce as evidence on the hearings opening day Mr Sopinka told the board the new letter raises number of legal questions which should be resolved by court before the hearing continues Ques tions include whether the board can consider government policy JOHN SOPINKA lawyers spokesman in deciding the application whether the letter is proper and can be accepted by board as policy and what role the letter should play in the hearing if ac cepted Mr Sopinka argued that the board is to consider govern ment policy only in the sense of applying general policies to the facts of the case It is not the governments lace he said to intrude speci ic policy state ments into the hearing and rob the board of its judicial func tion by taking decisions on key facts out of the boards hands He said even if the minister himself had applied for the an nexation the Municipal Act provides for an OMB hearing and for decision by the board on the merits of the case even though everything said by the minister or his representatives during such hearing would be government policy CHANGES RULES He also said acceptance of Mr McKeoughs letter as bin ding on the board as Mr Arrell said last week would probably be necessary would be to change the rules in the middle of the game because all par ties to the hearing have been treating the population figure as open to debate and subject to decision by the board Mr McCallum said all par ties to the hearing were aware of Mr McKeoughs earlier let ter and of the fact that the SimcoeGeorgian Area Task Force report which set the 125000 figure was accepted by the government in April In ad dition he said the citys case has always been based on 125000 target So much for surprise he said CITY NE WS Thc Barrie Examiner Tuesday December21 1976 13 He said that in democracy even the courts have no right to tell an elected government that what it plainly says in policy as in Mr McKeoughs letter is not policy Mr McCallum also defended himself against accusations by Mr Arrell that he should have had the letter before the board sooner dont control the min ister he said It is the ministers interjection not Barries Mr Arrell said Mr Mc Callum should have attempted to get such letter presented in acceptable form as soon as the board refused to accept the previous letters STILL HANGING Still hanging over the hearing is an earlier ap lication by Mr Sopinka for ju icial review on the grounds that the citys deci sion not to seek the land plied for in Cm constitutes su stan tial change in the annexation proposal and should cause the hearing to be halted for lack of jurisdiction Mr Sopinka said he would either bring this application before divisional court at the same time as the new applica tion if Mr McCallum would consent or else drop the earlier move Mr McCallums consent is needed because the earlier ap plication was to be heard by single udge and is now to be heard by the entire divisional court Mr McCallum said after Mondays session he does not plan to refuse consent 0n hand for Mondays session were about 35 members of county council who showed up at the invitation of Robert Lawrie lawyer for the county to watch the progress of the hearing The hearings Jan session will begin at 11 am in court room of the new courthouse on Worsley Street JAMES McCALLUM ministers interjection Second adjournment called in OMB hearing By JOHN BRUCE Examiner Staff chortcr BAXTER An oversight by the staff of the provincial ministry of housing caused the Ontario Municipal Board OMB Monday to adjourn until further notice its hearings on proposed amendment to Essa townships official plan Seaborn OMB panel chairman said the panel was satisfied the minister of housing had asked the board to President frustrated by OMB adjournment Arthur Mintz president of ohesion Developments Ltd said Monday he plans to re submit his companys proposal for tt8cstate home sub division to Essa township Cohesion has taken the proposal before the Ontario Municipal Board for approval twice in the last four months and both times the hearings have been adjourned without hearing evidence in support of theplan Last August an OMB hearing called to hear evidence on the cohesion plan was adjourned as soon as it started to allow the township more time to prepare its case against the proposal The hearing reconvened Dec 13 but was adjourned Monday when township lawyers discovered that the provincial ministry of housing had referred the wrong material to the OMB Mr Mintz was frustrated by Mondays adjournment Nothing has changed we still havent been heard he said Justice delayed is justice denied he added as he prepared to leave the Baxter OrangeHall Mr Mintz did not say when he planned to ask Essa town ship council to reconsider his companys proposal charges laid in first checks Barries drinking class is ap parently staying out of cars and off city streets this year Barrie city police didnt charge any drivers with im pairment Monday night the first night of annual Christmas season spot checks Sgt Ralph Berry said to day number of cars were given safety spot checks Warn ings were issued for me chanical problems but no one was charged with impaired driving Spot checks were run in un disclosed locations throughout the Barrie area by safety of ficer Constable Gary Crowley and Cadet Gary Sommers The program originally in tended to begin late last week started Monday night as clampdown on drinking drivers and cars with me chanical problems Constable Crowley said several hundred cars will be pulled aside over the next two weeks for cheeks Not carrying insurance forms in the car is the thing that usually turns up com mented Sgt Berry He said there were relatively minor mechanical roblems discovered in the ehec Warn ings were issued with time limits for repairs The checks tend to point up the kinds of things the in dividual drivers wouldnt notice themselves Sgt Berry said The annual safety program has run since the force began in 1954 according to Constable Crowley who said the main in tent is to prevent accidents and stop the drinking driver The spot checks are run in conjunc tion with an alcohol safety pro gram put on by the Barrie Safe ty Association conduct hearings on an amend ment proposal which had not been rejected by the township Cohesion Developments Ltd of Toronto appealed to the board after Essa township council rejected the developers official plan amendment proposal which established estateresidential development guidelines for the township Council felt the township should establish those guidelines not developer Confusion over which amend ment had been referred arose last Wednesday when township lawyer Stewart said he found evidence that the minister had referred revised official plan amendment to the OMB which restricted the estateresidential guidelines contained in the original proposal to the developers land only Mr Stewart claimed the board had no jurisdiction on the matter because the township had neither seen nor rejected the revised amendment The revision was sent to the ministry after the developer was told that ministry officials might not recommend that the minister refer the original proposal of the OMB if the township rejected it Ministry officials said they were concerned about developer setting development guidelines for municipalities SOME CONFUSION Peter Bols manager of the officials plans branch of the ministry of housing said there was some confusion in his branch over which proposal had been sent to the minister for referal to the OMB but added that no one in the branch could say for certain which amend ment went to the minister Neither myself nor an present member of the staf can reliably answer that question he said Mr Bols later admitted the ministry staff erred in not verifying that the minister received the correct amend ment proposal It may have been an error on our part in not checking it out he said Monda adjournment marked second time that Cohesion has been granted an OMB hearing but hasnt been table to state its case