The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

bowmanville library w temperance St. 11Q3 Bowmanville, Ont. L1C3A8 Volume 66, Number 36 $1.00 RONO Weekly Times Wednesday GST Included September 25,2002 Serving Kendal. Kirby. Leskard, Newcastle, Newtonvitte, Orono. Starkville and Tyrone since 1937 Hillbilly chili contestants left to right Clifford Francis, Victoria and John Brooks and Jeanne Burnside. Moving 'Hay West' a logistical hassle By Anita DeVries Tom Barrie is having one heck of a time trying to organize organize the movement of hay from the Clarington area to western Canada. First he tried to have CN stop in Pontypool, which is the closest train station; but CN said it was not a suitable stopping stopping place. Then he tried to use the St. Mary's Cement station, station, but CN would not be able to guarantee moving the hay out in time, in order to not interfere with St. Mary's business. business. Now he is looking at a Cobourg stop over, but that is going to be a hassle for transporting transporting the hay. "A tractor and wagon on the road can only travel at about 20km per hour," said Barrie. "That would be 2Vi hours from my home, and I'm the closest!" He is looking for flat bed trucks and drivers to donate their time to moving the hay, but it's a busy time of year for everyone. "The first of September we had more time. Now the harvest harvest is on; farmers are really busy this time of year. Moving hay becomes second," said Barrie in an interview on his .cell phone. The hay will most likely be moved on a weekend, since loading sites are busier during the week. But Barrie wonders if they will be able to find enough trucks and drivers to move all the hay that local farmers have eannarked for the charity. "The logistics of it is becoming impossible to handle," handle," said Barrie. Area farmers have been very generous in their donations; donations; but as of yet the hay is sitting in their barns while animals animals continue to starve in Saskatchewan and Alberta. The two-year drought in the west affects some 3 million million cattle and 6,000 farmers. More than just Building partnerships with Clarington's rural folk is what Constable Knopp's new assignment is all about. Though 'excited' is not a word he'd use, Knopp is more than mildly pleased to be Clarington's first rural Constable. "These areas have term problems associated with neighbouring disputes, disputes, said Knopp in an interview Wednesday afternoon. afternoon. "Long term problems are very difficult for e m ergency response officers to deal with unless they know the whole story," he stated. In working with the local people Knopp hopes to enable them to find their own solutions solutions to problems. "The days of police solving problems by themselves are over, it just doesn't work. Waiting till an emergency happens doesn't work either," stated Knopp, "we have to solve small problems problems before they become an emergency." Knopp is a thirteen year veteran on the Durham Regional Police Force, six of those years were spent in Oshawa and the past seven were spent in the Courtice area, often dealing with illegal activity in the abandoned gravel pit area north of Courtice. Two big areas of concern Constable G. Knopp locally are the rural break and enters, and the kids hanging out downtown at night. Knopp said he has managed to move the kids along for the most part. Dealing with the high number number of rural break and enters is going to be a bit tougher and require a bit of education said the Constable. "If something doesn't seem right at the neighbours', go with your gut and call the police," said Knopp. "If something doesn't doesn't seem right, it probably isn't." It is often the tiny details that help solve crimes, stated Knopp. He is currently gathering gathering information on the rural break and enter issue, analyzing analyzing reports, looking for trends, and gathering information from the community. There is usually a group responsible for the thefts, "So if you solve one, you've solved a lot," said Knopp. Knopp will be going to community events, be around town, in fact all the towns and villages in Clarington, from Enfield, Solina, Hampton, Tyrone all the way to the Hope/Clarke Townline, having having a presence (even on the back roads), but coupling his appearances with law enforcement, enforcement, "Because an extra smiley smiley face around town won't help solve problems. Bones uncovered in Newcastle Durham Regional Police were called to the Veridian Connections Compound Monday morning at 258 Wilmot Street in Newcastle where workers uncovered bones while digging on the property. Police shot pictures of the bones, and took one bone to be examined further. It was discovered later that afternoon that the bones were bovine.