SERVING THE MAPLETON COMMUNITY
THE
COMMUNITY NEWS VOLUME 50 ISSUE 20
DRAYTON, ONTARIO
1 Year GIC - 2.12% 3 Year GIC - 2.17% 5 Year GIC - 2.30% Daily Interest 0.90%
638-3328
FRIDAY, MAY 19, 2017
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Safe Communities’ crossover proposal under consideration By Patrick Raftis
Robotic model - Community Christian School students Gabe Van Ankum, Noah Abel, Stephanie Mohle and Joshua Vanderlaan travelled to Woodland Christian High School on May 10 to build a robotic model to demonstrate the functions of the Canadarm as part of their Canada 150 project, which will be displayed at the free community barbecue on May 25 at the Agricultural Hall in Drayton. The students were assisted by Maurice Veldhuis and students from the Woodland robotics team that recently travelled to St. Louis to compete in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Championship. Submitted photo
Business seeks rate relief Official: water costs increased by 534% By Patrick Raftis MAPLETON – The operators of a Moorefield business are asking council to either reduce their wastewater charges or allow them to revive a decommissioned
well due to what they say are excessive charges under the metered billing system. Spectrum Feeds general manager Mark Flaherty told council the business experienced a 534 per cent increase in water and waste-
water charges for its two Moorefield facilities after metered water billing was implemented. In a letter to council, Flaherty states that from April 1, 2016 to March 31, 2017, SEE BUSINESS Âť 2
MAPLETON – Township council is considering a pedestrian crossover on Wellington Road 11 South at Andrews Drive in Drayton. The proposal was received by council for information following a presentation by Gregg Davidson, county councillor for Ward 2 (Mapleton), at the May 9 township council meeting. Davidson attended the meeting to outline a Wellington County Safe Communities proposal to Wellington County and member municipalities that all pedestrian crossovers in the county be changed to the new provincial standard, including crossovers in: - Alma on Wellington Road 7; - Moorefield on Wellington Road 10; and - Drayton at Main and John Streets. The organization also wants to see school crossings in the county changed to the new pedestrian crossovers. Many pedestrians incorrectly believe school crossings are safe to use at any time, but Safe Communities is stressing they are only designated crossings when a crossing guard is present. At
any other time they are not considered crosswalks. Pedestrian crossovers, on the other hand, must be respected by motorists at all times. They include distinctive “ladder� markings painted on the road to indicate where pedestrians should cross and “shark’s teeth� markings to clearly indicate where vehicles should stop. Councillor Dennis Craven noted “pedestrians don’t seem to pay much attention to what they’re supposed to do,� and wondered, “Would it also be possible to put a large X or two in advance (of crossovers) ... to make sure that people in vehicles are seeing that there’s an intersection up ahead?� Mayor Neil Driscoll explained the county is “trying to conform to what the MTO (Ministry of Transportation Ontario) standard is. What Gregg and I have been told is sometimes these Xs ahead of crosswalks, for example, are not within MTO code, so there’s no enforcement there.� Driscoll added, “I really like Gregg’s committee, the way they’re coming at this saying, ‘Wellington County let’s have one standard, let’s educate the people once and
give them one crossover that works for everyone.’â€? Driscoll noted lack of consistency in crossover design makes it difficult to educate the public. “Listowel has green checkers across the road, which conforms to no law ‌ how can we train our residents to recognize one set of markings ‌ and then you go to Listowel and you see the St. Patrick’s Day crossover?â€? Driscoll said council should try and look at the issue ahead of the 2018 budget. However, he noted, “If there’s community leaders out there willing to contribute the $5,000 to $8,000 per signal we’d be more than willing to look at that too, I’m sure.â€? On the subject of the Wellington Road 11 and Andrews Drive intersection, Davidson noted the proximity of a school, medical centre, library, grocery store, seniors residence and shopping plaza. Although the intersection doesn’t meet the standard for a crosswalk under the province’s traffic count system, Davidson said in his opinion “not every decisionâ€? needs to be made based only on such SEE CROSSOVER Âť 2
Thousands of brown trout released into the Conestogo River MAPLETON The Friends of the Grand River and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) have released 14,750 brown trout into the Conestogo River. The project took place on May 10 and 11 at about 30 sites along a 19km stretch below the Conestogo Dam in the communities of Glen Allan, Macton, Wallenstein and Hawkesville. The fish have been stocked annually in the Conestogo River since 2003. The stocking program has resulted in “a great brown trout tailwater fishery,� officials state. The Conestogo Dam was completed in 1957. It helps protect against downstream flooding and it is used to augment flows in the river during dry periods. Brown trout cannot tolerate temperatures above 24 degrees Celcius, so the dam is operated to release the reservoir’s deep, cool water dur-
Trout released - LEFT: Joe Peegg of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry transfers brown trout to a holding tank with assistance from Al Newsome, who has volunteered for 24 years stocking fish in various rivers in the area. RIGHT: Abby Sinichko of Ancaster, a first time volunteer with the fish restocking program, throws a pail filled with brown trout into the Conestogo River near Glen Allan. Officials say throwing, rather than pouring, fish from a pail helps the fish adapt to the river environment. Photos by Caroline Sealey ing the summer, providing the cool water brown trout require. The “tailwater� is the water downstream of a dam and this project has taken advantage of the opportunity to create a brown trout ‘tailwater fishery.�
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The real benefit of the program is how it has raised the profile of the river within the community, resulting in improvements to water quality and the protection of the river and its ecosystem. “People are more interested in protecting the river
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when they have an interest in it,� said Brad Knarr from the Friends of the Grand River, a volunteer organization that has been assisting MNRF with the annual fish stocking. Friends of the Grand River has been very active,
WEEKLY WAG
“True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.� - Kurt Vonnegut
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undertaking projects such as tree planting, developing access points, educational programs, clean-up days and River Watch. The brown trout are stocked from the MNRF Chatsworth and Harwood fish culture stations and the
genetic strain originates from wild fish taken from the Ganaraska River. The fish average approximately 75 grams each, but there are many larger fish in the river from previous stocking events. SEE BROWN TROUT Âť 3
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