THE
SERVING THE MAPLETON COMMUNITY
COMMUNITY NEWS Volume 48 Issue 33
Drayton, Ontario
1 Year GIC - 1.99% 3 Year GIC - 2.21% 5 Year GIC - 2.30% Daily Interest 1.00%
638-3328
Friday, August 14, 2015
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Great crowds for 159th Drayton Fair by Caroline Sealey DRAYTON - A slight rainfall on Saturday morning did not delay events at the 159th annual Drayton Fair held at the Drayton Fair Grounds from Aug. 7 to 9. “It was a fabulous weekend despite the rain on Saturday morning. The temperatures were perfect and the sun shone during most of the three days. The crowds were great for all of the pulls and demolition derby,� said Drayton Mapleton Agricultural Society president Jim Zantinge. The event started on Friday night with the local tractor and truck pull. Over 120 pullers from all over Ontario registered for the event which lasted until 1am Saturday morning. One highlight of the night was a modified Olympia which attained a full pull and then some. Saturday began with the heavy horse show which ran longer than expected due to the number of entries in each class. The garden tractor pull took over the track after the horse show and ran until 6pm as a record number of pullers registered. At 6:30pm the OTTPA
Sanctioned Tractor and Truck Pull took to the track. Over 80 competitors pulled. Some competitors reached up to speeds of 31 mph on the track. One tractor, “Killer Allis� from the Blackstock area, returned to the track after a five-year hiatus. The 1966 Allis tractor ran a clean run. “Everyone was happy with the track conditions and their pulls on Saturday night. The Drayton track is known by pullers as a power track because of its clay base. We have one of the best tracks in Ontario,� Zantinge explained. Children’s activities ran Saturday and Sunday. In addition to the bouncy castles, pony rides and petting zoo, various organizations sponsored children’s pedal pull, Zorb’s, face painting, ring toss, bowling, face painting, pong shooting and fish pond. Arlie Zantinge fair board member said, “The Leisure Arts and Crafts sections had over 450 entrants, up significantly up over last year. The judges were impressed with the quality and quantity of the show. We had eight new exhibitors this year.�
On Sunday afternoon a large crowd of young and old teddy bear lovers enjoyed “A Teddy Bears Picnic.� Outside on the track, for the second year in a row, the Excavator Games challenged contestants skills. The 10 participants, two of which were female, in one challenge had to move an inverted wine glass with a tennis ball on top from one position on the track to another position without dropping the ball or breaking the glass using the bucket and forks of a mini excavator. Jordan Gleeson won top prize with a 52.71 seconds time. Mayor Neil Driscoll along with two other judges declared the business window decorating contest a tie amongst all competitors and would like everyone who entered the competition to join him for ice cream at a date to be determined. “I would like to thank all the people who came out to support the fair this year. We have a fantastic group of volunteers on the fair board and in the community and would like to thank them for all their efforts. Without them the Drayton fair would not be the success it is today� said Jim Zantinge.
Junior competitor - Three-year-old Lauren Hennessy, Drayton leads a calf around the ring in the Showmanship class - ages nine and under at the Drayton Fair. A member of the Perth 4-H club assisted Lauren in the ring and another member loaned her a calf for the event. photo by Caroline Sealey
Restrictions on hiring relatives won’t work for fire department, local chief states by Patrick Raftis MAPLETON – With a new compensation philosophy in place, council here is preparing to update other areas of the township’s human resources policy. Council approved a new compensation philosophy at its July 28 meeting. A report by acting CAO Brad McRoberts at the same meeting indicates
external equity, internal equity and statutory equity are the next areas council should address. The report explains external equity involves market comparisons to ensure the municipality is compensating staff competitively relative to similar positions in similar organizations. “Market checks should be undertaken annually and coun-
cil should consider adjustments as part of its budget process,� the report states. Internal Equity is defined as ensuring individual positions within the organization are compensated fairly for the level of the position relative to other positions. Statutory equity, the report states, involves ensuring legislation mandating equal pay
for equal work on a female job class as compared to an equivalent male class is adhered to. Councillor Mike Martin noted existing human resources policies exempt the Mapleton Fire Department from a section restricting hiring relatives of existing employees. The policy allows relatives to be hired provided they don’t work in the same department and there is
no reporting relationship and no “actual or apparent conflict of interest.� Fire Chief Rick Richardson encouraged council to keep the exemption in place. “Doing a quick count, that would exempt about 12 jobs in the fire department. It’s a big thing in a small town to have family members on the fire department,� he noted.
Richardson told the Community News that when the policy was established in 2005 the council of the day deemed that firefighters, who are paid an annual stipend rather than an hourly or weekly wage, were not considered employees for the purposes of the policy. Mapleton firefighters, aside from the chief, who is a fullContinued on page 3
Mapleton residents maintain cultural ties through Swiss Yodeling Friends
Swiss performers - Hansuli Signer (back left) and Markus Frei (front third from left) of Mapleton Township are members of the Schweizer Jodlerfreunde (Swiss Yodeling Friends) choir that performs locally and in competitions across Canada and the United States. submitted photo
Main St. W. Palmerston
PIXELS
Rated PG & 106 mins
1/2 price Admission on Sat. August 15 at 8pm show. Sponsored by the Palmerston Agricultural Society.
SHOWTIMES: Friday and Saturday 8pm and Sunday 7pm
For more info call 519-343-3640 or visit www.norgantheatre.com
by Caroline Sealey MAPLETON - Hansuli Signer is proud of his Swiss heritage and it is evident in the way he speaks of the Schweizer Jodlerfreunde (Swiss Yodeling Friends) choir and Swiss Choir Thames Valley which performs at various Ontario locations including Mapleton Township. The Swiss Yodeling Friends choir formed 19 years ago with Signer as one of its founding members. “Most of the 13 members are first generation immigrants to Canada and have been in Canada 20 to 40 years. Interestingly enough, all the members are farmers or retired farmers. We share a love of singing, yodeling and farming,� Signer explained. The choirs practice at the Gravelridge Hall, south of Milverton for three hours, once
Weekly Wag
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a week. Fellowship and food are a large part of their gettogethers. Members come from Norwich to Wingham, with Mapleton residents, Markus Frei and Signer attending. The ladies in the choir do most of the yodeling with the men providing background music. A typical song for a yodeling choir is composed of one verse, yodeling, three verses and yodeling. Some songs are strictly yodeling. The Swiss Choir Thames Valley is a mix of male and female voices who sing threeverse songs. Rothsay resident Martha Ruttiman sings with the choir on a regular basis. Most choir members are from the Listowel and Mitchell areas. The choirs perform at music festivals in the London area, at churches and nursing homes. They have competed in Banff,
Alberta and Toledo, Ohio. In June, both choirs traveled by bus to New Glarus, Wisconsin to a competition sponsored by the North American Swiss Singing Association. Choirs from Western Canada, Montreal and the United States competed. “We perform one song and are rated by a judge from Switzerland, who is a tough judge and two local judges. The Swiss Yodeling Friends received a silver in their category. The Swiss Choir Thames Valley won gold for their performance in a separate category,� Signer said. After the Wisconsin competition the choirs stopped at a Michigan dairy farm, to perform songs for the local Swiss community. The farm is operated by a fourth generation Continued on page 3
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