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J-Bob's Country Market not affected by meat recall
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by Neil Zacharjewicz
PROVIDENCE BAY - Cheryl and Dan Stevenson are upset that their
business has had its name dragged through the mud.
The Stevensons, owners and operators of J-Bob's Country Market in
Providence Bay, were one of several businesses included in a list of
businesses who had purchased meat products from Aylmer Meats or
companies using meat from Aylmer meats. The list was generated by the
Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). However, it seems that
J-Bob's Country Market should never have been included on that list
to begin with.
The situation first began on Friday, August 22, when the Ministry of
Health issued a memo to all medical officers of health in Ontario
stating that a search warrant had been carried out at Aylmer Meat
Packers Inc., and that the abattoir's provincial license had been
temporarily suspended. The memo explained that the warrant had been
executed as a result of an ongoing investigation related to possible
offenses involving the illegal processing of deadstock.
Then, on August 29, CFIA released a list of manufacturers which
utilized Aylmer Meat Packers' beef in their products, and retail
stores which sold products from these manufacturers. One of the
manufacturers listed was Stemmler Meats, a company which sells meat
products to retailers, who include J-Bob's Country Market among their
list of customers. As a result, J-Bob's Country Market was also
placed on the list.
However, after a visit from federal and provincial inspectors,
Stemmler Meats was later removed from the list of affected companies.
According to a report in the Elmira Independent, dated August 29th,
Stemmler Meats does not currently deal with Aylmer Meat Packers, and
the only connection between the two companies was from some past
purchases of pork. Stemmler Meats noted that its regular supplier of
beef is Norwich Packers.
However, as Stemmler Meats was mistakenly included on the list, so
too was J'Bob's Country Market, which has the Stevensons upset with
the whole situation. Cheryl Stevenson said the whole incident has had
an impact on their business.
"It has a really put a black mark against us," Ms. Stevenson said.
"It is really unfair."
Ms. Stevenson said that her business has always been run on the basis
of providing a safe product for their customer, and when they learned
that the products they purchase from Stemmler Meats might have been
at risk, their first thought was for their customers.
"I want our customers to know that what we did was follow the rules.
We were told to pull the beef from our shelves, and that was what we
did," Ms. Stevenson explained. "We did whatever we could."
The whole situation is not unlike the sort of recalls grocery stores
go through approximately once per month, Ms. Stevenson noted.
"It is the normal process of a recall," she stated.
Ms. Stevenson indicated she is concerned that her business has become
the butt of someone's big mistake. She said she has tried to call the
government to find out why her business' name was included on the
list, but no one from the government has returned her call.
"My grandfather used to say that the backbone of this country is the
small businessman," she said. In this case, she suggested, it is the
"little guy" who is losing out. |
Co-Op Fall cattle sale will go forward September 12
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by Michael Erskine
MANITOULIN---The preliminary numbers registered for the annual
Manitoulin Livestock Cooperative Cattle Sale stand at around
1,600
head, and those numbers are great, according to Manitoulin
Livestock
Cooperative President Mike Stevens.
Rumours that the sale might be cancelled were totally unfounded,
said
Mr. Stevens.
"People talk a lot, and make assumptions," he said. "We have
always
gone on the principle that the sale was going forward."
With numbers of cattle committed to the sale approaching the
same
levels as last year, and that year having itself been the best
in
five years, Mr. Stevens' prognosis for this year's sale were
refreshingly upbeat in a climate that has been hammered first by
the
Mad Cow blockade of Canadian beef and then the Aylmer meat
processing
charges.
"The sale in Wiarton last week did very well," said Mr. Stevens,
who
pointed out that prices had rebounded above the one dollar mark.
"Our
sale is going to be great!"
The prices found in the September 6 at Leo's Livestock in
Greeley
topped at 136.50 per hundredweight, a major advance on prices
seen as
recently as a week ago.
News that more of Canada's meat production can make its way
south are
having a good affect on the market, which is much needed
positive
news for farmers who have been badly battered by the summer
crisis.
"This sale is going to be great, it has to be great," said Mr.
Stevens. "Manitoulin farmers really need it to be great."
Great would indeed be great, but just plain near to normal would
be a
sign that cattle farming is turning the corner in this latest
sorry
chapter.
Now that would be great.
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Glen Hare re-elected |
by Michael Erskine
M'CHIGEENG---The chief of the M'Chigeeng First Nation, Glen
Hare, has
been re-elected, garnering 213 votes on the 389 total votes cast
in
the custom election held September 6, 2003.
The 10 councillors who will be taking seats in the Band Council
circle are Dan Simon (232 votes), Sam Debassige (219 votes),
Fred
Migwans (217 votes), Martin Debassige (204 votes), Daughness
Migwans
(201), Eria Beboning (197 votes), Gayle Payette (183 votes),
Andrea
Panamick (181 votes), Terry Debassige (177 votes) and Darren
Debassige.
The new council will sit in their first meeting on September 15,
2003.
M'Chigeeng Electoral Officer Sonya Pitawanakwat reported that
the
election went smoothly, with some 95 ballots being cast in the
advance poll held August 30, 2003, during the M'Chigeeng
Traditional
Pow Wow.
"I am very proud that the people have decided to give me another
mandate," said Chief Hare. "I have a lot of things to finish and
a
lot more to accomplish here. One of the first things I want to
do is
to resolve this election issue."
This is the second election held in M'Chigeeng under their new
custom
election codes. The codes, developed by the band in consultation
with
the community who voted to accept them over four years ago, were
not
recognized by the Ministry of Indian and Northern Development.
The
Ministry cited the so-called 'Corbiere Decision' of the Supreme
Court
of Canada, asserting the court decision requires that bands
institute
some form of mail-in ballot. M'Chigeeng maintains their code
gives
ample opportunity for band members to have their say at the
ballot
box and that the Ministry requirement adds needless expense and
difficulty to the process for no meaningful gain in
representation.
M'Chigeeng is locked in a court dispute with the Ministry, but
no
court date has been set and in the meantime, essential band
business
is being overseen by two appointed trustees, a situation Chief
Hare
has said is causing the band a great deal of economic and social
stress as housing and other programs that partner with federal
and
private agencies are on hold.
"I will be looking for direction on this from my council. The
people
have made it clear they want this issue resolved and resolved
soon,"
said Chief Hare. "I am hoping we can resolve this through
negotiation
with Ottawa, without having to resort to all this wrangling with
legal beagles."
Chief Hare invoked the memory of Chief Jim Debassige and other
friends who have passed onto the Spirit World.
"Jimmy said to me, 'Glen I think you would make a good chief,
maybe
you will even surpass me,'"recalled Chief Hare. "I never
believed I
would, but here I am at the milestone of my sixth term. I have
reached it. I am very proud that the community has given me the
mandate to continue."
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Lily Lake |
by Jim Moodie
MELDRUM BAY--About five kilometres shy of Meldrum Bay,
Manitoulin's
westernmost community, a sign appears on the south side of
Highway
540 saying "Lily Lake Road." Few people venture down this
unprepossessing byway, and the ones who do might somewhat
reasonably
expect to find a pond choked with lily pads, or, alternatively,
a
lake chock-a-block with cottages.
Neither is the case. The water lilies for which this idyllic
lake was
presumably named are few and far between, and cottages are
practically nonexistent.
It boggles the mind, really, how such a scenic, inviting spot
could
remain so pristine and unpopulated. There is just one camp on
the
entire lake, and you won't even see it unless you know where to
begin
looking; it's hidden behind a thick screen of trees.
This camp, used primarily for hunting, was established by
Pauline
Smith of Gore Bay and her late husband Fred in the 1940s. "My
husband
and his brother learned about the land from Slim Golden (a
lawyer on
Manitoulin, now deceased), and we had the camp built out of
material
that came from the old skating rink here in Gore Bay," recalls
Mrs.
Smith. The late Alf Turner of Gore Bay "built it in his yard,"
she
remembers, and then they trucked the structure over to Lily
Lake.
Now 87, Mrs. Smith no longer joins the hunting parties at Lily
Lake,
as she did on occasion in the past, but she still visits the
camp,
particularly at Thanksgiving. "It's become a tradition to be
there at
that time," she says.
Prior to her husband's death, the Smiths passed the property on
to
Mrs. Smith's niece and her husband, Lynn and Len Doucette.
"They've
put a little deck on the building, so it's quite nice as far as
hunt
camps go," notes Mrs. Smith.
The rest of the shoreline of Lily Lake is essentially
undisturbed,
except for the odd "quad road" that comes down to the water's
edge,
and could be mistaken, from a distance, for a deer trail.
Kingfishers
swoop along the thickly wooded banks, and terns wheel above the
open
water.
Larger critters have also been known to frequent Lily Lake. John
McRae, whose family has owned the two islands in the lake since
the
early 1930s (daughter Shelagh McRae is the current owner),
recalls
coming to Lily Lake as a boy and "hearing the wolves howling
across
the lake."
More recently, Mr. McRae's son-in-law, Dr. Hamilton, encountered
a
bear swimming in the lake while he was paddling a canoe. "By
mutual
consent I think they decided to go different ways," says Mr.
McRae.
At one time, Mr. McRae's father, W.F. McRae, a crown attorney in
Gore
Bay, owned most of the property surrounding Lily Lake, which he
used
for timbering. When he sold the property to the Ontario Pulp and
Paper Company, "he kept the islands," says the son, "because I
enjoyed them so much."
As a boy, Mr. McRae cherished the time he spent at Lily Lake
with his
father, fishing for bass and exploring the shoreline. The family
never built a cottage on the islands, or on the mainland, but
would
stay in an old farmhouse near its shores. "We used to call it
the old
Armstrong house," Mr. McRae recalls.
There were several Armstrongs who inhabited the Lily Lake area.
Ivan
Trick, formerly a harbourmaster in Meldrum Bay, says that Joe
Armstrong, a bachelor, used to farm at the corner where the Lily
Lake
Road begins, and his brother Jackson, whom everyone called
"Manny,"
also lived nearby. Mrs. Smith recalls meeting Joe Armstrong in
her
youth. "He would be walking along the road, and we would pick
him
up," she says, adding that "he always chewed tobacco, and would
be
carrying a can to spit in."
She remembers the lifelong bachelor as bit of a character,
somewhat
scruffy in appearance, but also as a likable individual. "He
lived
there (near Lily Lake) all his life, until near the end he went
down
to the States. There were some Americans who used to come up and
stay
with him, and the story was that he went down there and
bartended for
them," Mrs. Smith relates, adding with a chuckle that he would
have
had to improve his wardrobe for this new occupation.
There was yet another Armstrong, named Lawrence, "who lived back
in
the bush and was something of a hermit," according to Mrs.
Smith. "My
husband Fred taught him to drive."
The Armstrong clan inhabited a settlement that was referred to
as
"the Burnt Land," a string of about 10 farms situated on land
near
Lily Lake that had been burnt over. Mrs. Smith says that "years
ago,
you could still see the burnt stumps."
Dale Van Every of Meldrum Bay points out that "there was a
school
there at the Burnt Land, S.S. #2 Dawson. The building is still
there
on the north side of the highway." He recalls when the first
children
from the Burnt Land community were bussed into Meldrum Bay to go
to
school, in the mid 1940s, because their school had been closed.
Mr. Van Every also remembers some of those children walking into
Meldrum Bay--about a 5 kilometre walk--and assumes children from
Meldrum Bay would have "walked out to Lily Lake as well."
Going out to Lily Lake as a boy was, for Mr. Van Every, "the
highlight of the summer." His family would visit the lake at
least
once each summer and "have a picnic at the landing," he recalls.
The landing is still there, and a fine place to picnic. A
volunteer
cuts the grass and empties the trash can, and shade can be found
beneath a tree near the shoreline.
On a recent weekend, Tom and Glorianne Swihart, formerly of
Mindemoya
and now residents of Michigan, could be found relaxing and
cooling
off at the picnic spot with children Sam and Amanda and their
cousins
Jeremy and Kristin.
"We call this the warmest lake on Manitoulin," Mrs. Swihart
said, as
son Sam skipped stones and daughter Amanda went for a dip.
Lily Lake is, indeed, warm, particularly near the landing, where
the
water remains quite shallow. It's pretty shallow overall, maybe
10-12
feet on average, and 25 feet at its deepest, according to
longtime
Lily Lake visitor and fisherman Doug Steele.
Mr. Steele, now 73, began frequenting Lily Lake as a toddler.
"My
father, Wilbert Steele, had a camp at the southwest corner of
the
lake in the 1920s," he says. While his father sold the property
in
the 1930s, the son has continued to "fish there off and on for
most
of my life. It's a great lake, one of the clearest and deepest
around
here (ie., near Meldrum Bay)," he remarks.
The lake, says Mr. Steele, boasts a good number of bass, as well
as
pike and pickerel, the occasional rock bass and sunfish, and
also
suckers.
Mr. McRae says the fishing was "fantastic" when he was a boy. At
that
time, in the 1930s, "the bass were so hungry they'd go straight
for a
feathered hook, and you didn't even have to be trolling, you'd
just
drop a line." The bass might not be as hungry as they were then,
but
Lily Lake remains "a great lake," says Mr. McRae, "and it's
still got
some good fishing spots."
It's also got a great beach, located on the south shore. Which
means
you have to have a boat, or be a particularly powerful swimmer,
to
get there.
But it might be worth the trip, not only for the beach, but for
an
additional reason--according to Mr. McRae and Mrs. Smith, you
can
hike overland from the south end of the lake to Greene Harbour,
a bay
on the south shore of the Island that used to feature a quarry.
This quarry (long defunct now and partially grown over) predates
the
massive Lafarge quarry on the extreme west end of the Island.
Mrs.
Smith believes that it supplied the stone used "to build the
locks at
Sault Ste. Marie."
The hike from Lily Lake to Greene Harbour doesn't take long,
says
Mrs. Smith, or it didn't used to, at any rate, when there was a
discernible trail. It might be tougher going now, she admits.
There is, on the other hand, a road that leads most of the way
there,
located just west of Lily Lake, Mrs. Smith points out.
But before you go looking for the "quarry road," why not try
turning
off at Lily Lake Road. It's a short trip to the water, and you
won't
be disappointed.
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