8 • Sports 12 • History 18 • Ambassadors 20 • Theatre
The
THIS WEEK
Citizen
Huron County’s most trusted independent news source
Friday, August 23, 2024
$1.50 GST included
Volume 40 No. 34
Publications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, ON N0M 1H0
Panovski acquitted By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen
Keep it straight Gracie Hoggarth, one of the Queen of the Furrow contestants at last Friday’s Huron County Plowing Match, held at the Vermue family farm near Bayfield, is seen plotting her course forward in the plowing portion of the competition with the help of Dugald McIntosh.
Mackenzie Terpstra would eventually win the crown. Read more about Terpstra on page three, Princess of the Plowing Match Jillian Simpson on page two and see plenty of pictures from the 100th anniversary match on pages 10 and 11. (Scott Stephenson photo)
Plowing Match shines near Bayfield By Scott Stephenson The Citizen The Huron County Plowing Match (HCPM) is always a starstudded affair, and the 96th edition of the annual agricultural celebration was no exception. All three levels of Canadian government sent representatives to the Vermue family farm last week MP Ben Lobb, MPP Lisa Thompson, and match co-host and Huron County Warden Glen McNeil all came out in their official capacities as government dignitaries. There was also royalty in attendance - numerous Queens of the Furrow past, present and future could be found rubbing elbows with the general public in the big banquet shed all night long. Celebrity meat master Cardiff Catering of Brussels brought its Agame to the big dinner on Friday night, and ended up serving its signature beef to over 300 hungry guests. The Vermue family, which hosted
the event, turned out to be stars in their own right - these 13th generation farmers from Holland charmed everyone with whom they came in contact. Huron County Plowmen’s Association (HCPA) President Steve Hallahan was very impressed with their spirited hosting effort. “They put all their energy into it,” he said. “Koos had a smile on his face the whole three days that we were there.” Hallahan was pleased overall with how the match went. “The tractors got done in the field and then the rain came, and I think the speeches and the presentations all went pretty good, and, of course, the Cardiffs put on a really good meal. So it was a really good day for everybody that came,” he said. Nathalie Vermue was quick with the jokes when she addressed the crowd, but also spoke about the historical and artistic importance of traditional plowing techniques, which are becoming less and less common. Nathalie’s sentiments about
plowing as an artform were echoed by the speech made by Queen contestant Mackenzie Terpstra. “Plowing is an art,” said Terpstra, “and it is disappearing fast. However, in Huron County, we like to keep our history alive. And it is truly amazing to see generations of young and older farmers working together as a team, in friendly competition, of course, for that perfect work of soil.” Terpstra’s words, coupled with the straightness of her furrows, won over the judges, and she ended up taking home the crown. The annual live auction, which raises money for the HCPA, was ably emceed by expert auctioneers and amateur comedy duo McNeil and Lobb. Items in the alwayslively live auction included a bicycle from RMTG Chartered Accountants, seed from Midwest Co-op, a load of Grade A gravel from Merner Contracting and, a flight with Papple Aviation, donated by the Vermues. Dignitaries and royalty aside, the
real superstar of any plowing match is the soil, without which there would not only be no match, there would be no farming and likely no human civilizations. Huron County’s rich soil is the source of its agricultural strength and economic stability. The conditions of the soil on the day of a plowing match can radically affect how the day goes for those competing out in the field. The infamous International Plowing Match known as the “Mud Match” of 1966 comes to mind. There was much speculation early on Friday as to whether the rain would hold off, which it did. Part of the beauty of the plowing match is the way in which it offers visitors a chance to really see the different ways the soil has been worked over the decades in order to produce the food we eat. At the beginning of the match, the sheer effort and precision of horse-drawn plowing was on full display. Later, antique tractors took to the Continued on page 7
Mere weeks before the 10-year anniversary of the murder of 70year-old Don Frigo at the Hullett Provincial Wildlife Area, Boris Panovski, the man convicted in 2018 of the Sept. 13, 2014 murder, walks free after being acquitted in a St. Thomas courthouse. Superior Court Justice Marc Garson acquitted Panovski, who is now 80 years old, on the charges of first-degree murder on Frigo and aggravated assault on his wife, Eva Willer Frigo. Jane Sims of the London Free Press reported that Panovski was critical of the Ontario Provincial Police in his case after his acquittal, saying they worked to keep an innocent man in jail while the real killer enjoyed his freedom. Panovski had indeed been jailed for nine years and 11 months. He was convicted in a 2018 jury trial in Goderich until a successful appeal that found the trial judge’s jury instructions to be unfair. As a result, Panovski was granted a new trial, which was moved to St. Thomas. According to Sims, Willer Frigo’s eyewitness testimony regarding a glimpse of the shooter and the car in question were foundational to Garson’s decision to acquit. She reported that tire tracks at the scene of the crime did not match the tires on Panovski’s blue Toyota Corolla, resulting in that evidence being considered to be “concerning”. “Am I suspicious? Absolutely. Do I think [Panovski] might have been involved in the shooting? I do,” Garson is quoted as saying in the London Free Press. “Was he in the area? He was. Am I sure he was the shooter? I am not.... Has the Crown proven his identity as the shooter beyond a reasonable doubt? They have not.” Sims reported that Garson stated that the car described by Willer Frigo was more of a Nissan than a Toyota and that the police sketch, based on Willer Frigo’s recollection, looked like a younger, fitter version of the accused. This was in addition to the evidence surrounding the tire tracks. The shooting, at the time, alarmed the community of the former Hullett Township. In the Sept. 18, 2014 issue of The Citizen, several Summerhill Road residents spoke about the shock of the incident and the nervousness that accompanied not knowing details about what had actually transpired at the Hullett Provincial Wildlife Area in the days following the shooting. On the Monday night after the shooting, Central Huron Council expressed similar concerns, saying residents were starving for information because nothing was being made available.