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If BRIAN BAKER Examiner Correspondent MIDLAND With free ad mission and daily open time from Victoria Day to Thanksgiving one of the more attractive places for the whole family to visit in the county is Wyc Marsh Wildlife Centre just east of Midland and opposite the Martyrs Shrine At the entrance to the in terpretation Centre naturalist Brenda Brobst us ed net to scoop painted turtle out of display tank to show us the bright red and yellow markings around and under its shell that give it its name This particular sub species is known as the Midland turtle said Miss Hrobsl Although it is not named from our Midland it is very commong around here You can tell by the short legs that this is female turtle With the ex ception of very small turtles size is no positive guide to the age of the creature Our most rare turtle is Blandings tur tle There are some snapping turtles too Enjoy your visit and feel free to ask ques tions In the interpretation centre and display hall biologist Chris Harris of Barrie was just feeding the displayed garter snake breakfast of frogs three altogether and told us to notice how the snakes jaws unhinged to ac cept whole each frog Although visitors are unlikely to see them in this developed part of the marsh which altogether includes over 2000 acres said Mr Harris We have listed garter ring necked milk hog nosed smooth smooth green belted ground water and red bellied snakes in the marsh confines 500 DIFFERENT SPECIES We have listed over 500 different species of plants including such orchids as the yellow and showy ladys slip per coralroots and adders mouth Just around the trails you may count 40 or more dif ferent kinds of trees as well as flowering dogwoods wild rose and honeysuckle Wildlife seen here in cludes foxes racoons por cupines red squirrels chip munks deer muskrats Brantford village festival beaver skunks great variety of mice moles votes and shrews bats and even the occasional coyote The beavers repeatedly blocked up the culvert under the en trance road until we remov ed them As fast as we unblocked the culvert they blocked it right back up with mud and sticks In the display hall we listened to the songs of com mon birds by lifting special telephones We were in trigued by glassfaced beehive which let us look in on the workings of colony of honey bees making honey and tending the egg cells Footlong fish with legs were mud puppies relatives of the frogs film showed life in the marsh closeup Walking out around the in ner circle walk down as the hardwood trail delightfully twisting in and out of the trees and little clearings we noted great glacial boulders lovely beech tree dogwood with its pretty five petalled white flowers pair of king birds nesting in hawthorn tree pair of bright orange and black Baltimore orioles and gay gold finch We noted with in terest weather and rainfall station and in nearby tree redflowered hummingbird feeder Flights of steps led us down into the cellarlike coolness of the underwater window for fisheye view of the under water environment Dainty pond weeds swayed gently upwards towards the sunlight filtering down through the sort of biological soup Tiny baby fish swimming in little shoal were transparent so that we could see all their bodily organs Red water mites whirlgig backstriders cadis worms with handmade homes of sticks and stones waterfleas or coepods water snails and unidentified larger fish swam by Silvery bubbles of marsh gas methane bobbled from the bottom mud to the surface MARSH WILDFLOWERS Reaching the boardwalk that runs far out into the heart of the marsh we began to see typical marsh wildflowers pink vetch the showy blue water iris Wye Marsh Centre shows natures changing scees snowy white Canada anemones the aptlynamed fivepetalled cinquefoil and that peculiar little car nivorous bog plant with orangeyellow pouched flowers and little bladders with hair triggers that snap the bladder shut behind any little insect that might ven ture inside whereupon the insect is devoured by the plant Where the boardwalk becomes floating structure glossy brown muskrat plop ped beneath the waters of pool Noisy red winged blackbirds and swamp spar rows proclaimed their nesting site on floating islands of marsh vegetation including reeds and sedges and cattails plumed grass arrowheads and ferns and even small trees As the wind blows the eightfoot tall bullrushes catch the wind and send the islands drifting in various directions strange phenomena One of the more unusual birds we saw was warbling vireo identified for us by Chris Harris Other birds of the marsh he noted include the green heron American bittern Virgina rail Canada Geese and ducks On our return to the inter pretation centre we took the halfmile identification trail past patch of pink wild roses by great masses of Canada anemones between great colonies of ferms stan ding like exotic green vases five feet high along boardwalks and through cool and shaded tree tunnels Along the way cheeky red squirrel sat on stump and scolded us and blue jay swooped down to take closer look Many plant and animal forms found here are rarely found outside of Wye Marsh said biologist Mike Elliott The blue phase of the green frog is found at on ly one or two other locations in North America This is one of the largest and most unusual marshes preserved intact in Canada When we prepared to leave the friendly Wye Marsh Centre staff all col lege students gave us in teresting pamphlets and sent out welcome to everyone adults children and students to run July 14 to 21 The fifth annual Interna tional Villages Festival in Brantford will be held July 14 to 21 Villages involved in this years festival are Armenian Canadian Pioneer Chinese Dutch East Indian French Canadian German Greek Hungarian Italian Italian Rissini Jewish Kiev Village Polonaise Polish Warszawa and the United Kingdom Village Passports for the festival $3 each can be purchased from banks and financial institutions in the area from the villages and from the Brantford Regional Chamber of Com merce The passport provides admis sion to all villages plus bus transportation between villages Buses will travel route encompassing all villages daily As souvenir of the festival 10000 Festival Dollars will be minted and will be available at banks and financial institu tions Until July 28 the coins will be legal tender in the city of Brantford The Dutch Village will spon sor special program restricted to the handicapped and to senior citizens July 15 The program special from to pm will include several ethnic singers and dangers Admittance will be restricted to these people since they may otherwise not be able to visit the other villages said Jack Mann festival coordinating chairman Mann said this years Miss In ternational Village Queen pageant will take place on two evenings June preliminary judging to select five finalists will be held June 30 the queen will be selected The June 30 Miss Interna tional Villages Pageant pro gram will be open to the public Admission will be by passport as if visiting village said Mann your school board Thompson fears programs may be burdening students By TERRY FIELD Of The Examiner Barrie public school board trustee Betty Thompson says we may be forcing children to growup before they are ready by burdening them with pro grams on human sexuality We should let them be kids they grow up soon enough she said Thompson was speaking of the human relations program being fieldtested in county schools and proposed for count ywide implementation She has received many phone calls from parents who would prefer their children did not take the program at all and others who want portions of the program altered or made op tional The controversial program deals frankly with the rela tions sexual and emotional between people As school board we really dont have the right to interfere there The parents should be BETTY THOMPSON allow an option left to make decisions on what they tell their children Thompson said the people who have called her want the school to teach children facts and provide information that will help them become good citizens She would not however like to see the entire program cancelled The values education and sexuality sections should be taught separately to allow the parents an option Thompson said ELECTED FOLR TIMES She became trustee just over six years ago and was elected to fourth term last November Mother of six she is married to Barrie alderman Ed Thompson Thompson became trustee because she is interested in the education of children task she is most familiar with She sits with the boards com mittee on oral French as well as the Barrie family of schools committee The oral French program is offered children from grade six forward and its expansion to grade one is something Thompson would like to see Water safety demonstration Lifeguard Alan Hewson gives victim played by Hendrine Verneulen mouthtomouth resuscitation during water safety demonstration at the innisfil Beach Park Friday The Royal Lifesaving Society siudenis reviewed water safety techniques by Simulating accidents Examiner Photo the examiner Tuesday June 26 1979 Taxpayer errors blamed for delays in sending refunds By RICHARD THOMAS Of The Examiner So you filed your income tax form on time but that anxiously awaited refund is yet to arrive Well dont blame the system for being inefficient or imagine its because your last name begins with instead of an says Revenue Canada spokesman It could be your own fault Of the 14421976 tax returns filed so far this year already 11824154 about 82 per cent have been processed says Ron Banks public affairs officer for Revenue Canadas district of fice in Toronto But this year like every other simple mistakes made by the taxpayer and not the government have accounted for the delay of many refunds he says According to Revenue Canadas 1906 statistics he says one of the most common errors made by taxpayers is in correct calculations on their provincial tax credits In that year 1005000 tax payers made errors on this issue alone Banks says There were also 881000 errors made on Canada Pension Plan overpayment calculations 494000 in unemployment in surance miscalculations 354000 in interest income deductions and 317000 simple mathematical mistakes NOT REFLECTED One thing not reflected in the statistics is that people tend to leave out information because they havent read the guide properly Banks says They leave out receipt for this another one for that all of which causes delay because we have to contact the taxpayer before we can process his file Banks says at Revenue Canadas two data centres in Ottawa and Winnipeg simple mathematical mistakes and miscalculations can be cor rected by the 20000 member staff before entry into the com puters But as soon as taxpayer leaves out information the file is taken out of the flow and this is when the delay starts he says Although the number of tax returns this year is about 175 million more than that filed for 1976 Revenue Canada has already processed about 13 million more this year in the same time period and the ma jority will be finished by the end of July says Banks This year about 771295000 Canadians will receive refund averaging $383 sharing in total of $3 billion returned to taxpayers by the federal government he says And these refunds include in terest for the period between filing and return date calculated at nine per cent he adds The majority of Canadians are in position to receive re fund says Banks because they are not selfemployed and most likely have had more than suffi cient tax alredy withheld by their employer Those entitled to refund arent penalized for late filing and in fact are not required by law to file return MOST FILE The law says only those who have taxes payable must file says Banks Most people however arent stupid enough not to file he adds The reason being that if they dont bother Revenue Canada wont bother either even though refund is entitled If you dont file you dont get your money The majority of Canadians however do file accurately and on time says Banks There are stiff penalties for those who try to falsify in formation but there is little point in the average taxpayer trying he says Information such as T4 slips copies of which are supplied to the federal government by employers make it almost im possible to cheat he adds Revenue Canada does have special audit division to check taxpayer such as the self employed or large corporations who are in position to cheat says Banks and random audits are sometimes used to remind them we are around Some people will not pay their fair share until they are audited he says Vandals strike Alliston By IRIS GADD Examiner Correspondent The student council at Ban ting Memorial High School in Alliston has posted $200 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of persons responsible for break in during the June 910 weekend Banting the largest high school in Simcoe County suf fered from the worst incident of vandalism in its history during the breakin Jim Christian student coun cil member responsible for posting the reward said if the kids see their own money going to pay for damage caused by vandals peer pressure may prevent the same thing from happening in the future The reward expires Sept 30 The student council promises to keep the identity of persons supplying information con fidential Stolen equipment valued at $1500 included cameras and audio visual supplies Damage is expected to run intd thousands of dollars The Banting incident appears County not affected by tent caterpillars Forest tent caterpillars cur rently ravaging trees in some areas of northwestern Ontario have not yet moved into Simcoe County says spokesman from the ministry of natural resources office in Midhurst Jack Greaves said Friday the ministry is not expecting that much damage from the cater pillars this year in the county as the moth larvae seem to be at the lower end of their cycle Greaves said there have been no reports of the insects so far from the townships of Medonte Tiny Orillia and Tay which have been problem areas in the past few years Last year however the caterpillars defoliated large areas of forest in the northern parts of Grey and Simcoe coun ties causing high mortality rate among maple trees he said Ministry officials in Thunder Bay said Thursday the insects are defoliating trees in 430 kilometre stretch from the Manitoba border to point north of Thunder Bay The ministry has estimated the fivecentimetrelong cater pillars will strip leaves from trees in 440 square kilometres during the next three weeks before becoming moths and dy ing Club will enter display The Oro Beef Club will enter demonstration on Calf to Car cass in the North Simcoe Com petition in August The decision was made June 18 at the groups third meeting said Janet Merrett The groups lesson for the month was on feeding the beef calf and characteristics and preparation of feeds school to be an extreme one in the Sim coe County area Minor damage does occur in most of the schools but vandalism seems to be decreasing ac cording to Tom Shultz superintendent of business for the Simcoe County Board of Education Broken windows in the coun tys 96 schools make up the largest portion of damaged pro perty Breakins because they are more easily visible occur less frequently Shultz said Equipment stolen from coUn ty schools during 1977 amounted to $4500 in secondary schools and $3500 in elemen tary schools From January to August 1978 $750 worth of pro perty was taken from elemen tary schools while no equip ment was stolen from secon dary schools During the same eightmonth period in 1978 vandalism decreased to $18000 in secon dary schools from $42000 in 1977 Damage in elementary schools dropped to $32000 from $75000 The 1978 figures are slightly inflated because of in creased costs to repair and replace property Shultz said some of the fac tors accounting for the slight decline in vandalism and theft may be extra police patrols in problem areas Teachers in some school are sporadically patrolling halls Shultz said Exstudents or outofschool troublemakers can be ordered out of the school by the teachers Security agencies have been hired to patrol schools in which vandalism has recurred The guards who drop in at unex pected hours for two to three week period are effective in stopping the cycle of crime he said Shultz said alarms or securi ty people are not used in every school because the measures often cost more than the damage by vandals Although Shultz believes there is no specific cause of vandalism he says vandals are often taking out their frustra tions caused by what happens in school or at home Jack Hanna principal at Banting said the student coun cil was made responsible for paying the costs of minor damage inflicted upon school washrooms during dances No one identified last weeks entry in the Know Your County Contest as the Cookstown Cenotaph if you know the answer to this weeks contest send your name address and telephone number along with your entry to Know Your County Contest The Examiner Box 370 Barrie L4M 4T6 Winners receive two free steaks courtesy of and Super Discount stores in Barrie Angus or Alliston Winners will be notified by mail