The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

10 THE NEW TANNER THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2003 Water main break on Valley Rockwood residents were advised to boil their drinking water most of last week after a 10 inch water main broke on Valley Road early Tuesday morning. Municipal works supér- intendent Larry Van Wyck said the break, which oc- curred shortly after 7 a.m., was in the highest pressure area in the system. He blamed the break on a com- bination of pressure, the brittleness of the plastic pipe and poor installation in 1976. Age is not a factor, he said, since the pipe specifi- cations call for it to last for 80 years and it is "nowhere near' the end of its life ex- pectancy. The municipality had nei- ther the equipment nor the staff to handle the problem, he said, so Drexler Con- struction did the repair. Van Wyck said the break left the system experiencing negative pressure so every- one was concerned about whether it could be sucking in groundwater or untreated well water from private sources. That was why the health unit issued the boil ~water advisory for the vil- lage. They needed two con- Road secutive clean readings on tests in the system before the advisory could be lifted, he said. There never was any contamination in the system, but no one was tak- ing any chances. The repair was completed by 3 p.m. but then the lines and hydrants had to be bled to get the air out of them. That was done Wednesday and Thursday and the health unit completed its fi- nal test after 6 p.m. Friday. People may have been without water because of the low pressure Tuesday, Van Wyck said but pressure was back to normal by Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning after the water tower had refilled. People may have experi- enced some lingering signs of the disturbance to the system for a couple of days after the break was fixed, he said, because flushing the system does disturb things in the pipes. Between Tuesday after- noon and Thursday, area firefighters helped the mu- nicipality to distribute 1100 cases of bottled water out of Rockmosa to Rockwood homes. The water was do- nated by Aberfoyle Springs, Van Wyck said. DINNER & DANCE Sponsored by Rockwood & District Lions Club : at Rockmosa Community Wednesday, December 31, 2003 Music by MARIONS COUNTRY BAND $40.00 a person Doors opened: 6:15 pm Dinner: 7:00 pm Dancing: 9:00 to 1:00 For tickets & information please call John - 856-2599 Jim - 856-9650 ARTISTS' WEEKEND: A group of local artists held an Open House at Greenscape last weekend to raise funds for the Guelph Humane Society. Participating artists were from the left: Sandra Lagace, Jan Pinnery, Dale MacLeod, Carole Black, Shelly Boa and Emma Martin. The group offered pottery, paint- ings, stained glass, photography, wirework sculptures and mixed media collectibles for sale to the public. -- Maggie Petrushevsky photo. History of Rockwood subject for author BY MAGGIE PETRUSHEVSKY The New Tanner Copies of Rockwood, a Mosaic of Memory, are sell- ing well, says author Deb Quail. The book's timing coin- cides with a number of anniversaries including the 100" anniversary of the in- corporation of Rockwood as a police village, the 150" an- niversary of the establishment of the Rockwood Post Office and the 50" anniversary of the publishing of Frank Day's book, Here and There in Eramosa. Quail began interviewing area seniors about 1.5 years ago and has included a lot of period photos borrowed from local residents as well as some pencil sketches by Susan Strachan Johnson of Everton. Deb Quail The book actually begins with some prehistory of the area, she says, and follows Eramosa's first settlers, the three Ramsey Brothers from Ireland, on their arrival from New York State in 1819. Rockwood's first settler, -John Harris, arrived in 1821. It was his sons who later built Rockwood's first mills. Quail included material on some of the village's more BD RENTALS 105 ALMA ST. ROCK WOOD (519) 856-2564 NEW TO OUR RENTAL "UNE-UP" Mini Excavator ECI5 John Deere or Cat controls Tel: 519-856-9571 Fax: 519-856-9657 Straw house on tour A home in Eden Mills will be one of over 20 homes participating in the 1st an- nual Ontario Straw Bale Open House being organ- ized by the newly founded Ontario Straw Bale Building ~ Coalition (OSBBC). The tour will take place this Sat- urday. Straw-bale building has grown from complete ob- scurity to public prominence in the past half-decade. Cap- tivated with the idea of strong, durable, super-insu- lated and beautiful homes that cost no more than con- ventional construction and which offer remarkable en- vironmental benefits, over 100 home-owners have cho- sen to build bale homes in the province in the last five years. This tour is the perfect opportunity to step right in- side some straw bale buildings, see what they are like, and get honest feed- back from the owners about all aspects of their buildings. On the Open House Tour, bale buildings of all sizes and shapes will be "open to the public" and will give community members an op- portunity to see inside some of these unique and often curious structures. "When a bale building goes up in a community it generates a lot of interest" says Julie Bowen, a straw bale home owner and one of the organizers of the tour, "this will give people the opportunity to step inside these homes and see how they really work." Many of the homes feature other "green" technologies as important characters, some of its buildings and businesses and some of its ghost folklore too. Then she added some bits about specific modern village events such as Pio- neer Days and the uniquely Rockwood Farmers' Parade of Lights at Christmas. Quail self-published her book through Wordbird Press and did a limited edition of 1000 hand-numbered copies. Copies are available through Wetherby's, Rose Garden, Rockwood Pharmacy, Pam- per Me Pets Foods and Eden Place. On Dec. | she will be auto- graphing copies of the book at the special anniversary marking Rockwood Post Of- fice's 150" anniversary and she will be speaking to the Esquesing Historical Society about the book in the spring. well, including active and passive solar, wind power, unique waste-treatment sys- tems and _ innovative materials. € The tour, which stretches across the province from Ottawa to London, will run from 10 a.m. - 6p.m. on Nov. 29. The cost of the tour is $20, which gains you ad- mission to as many houses as you wish, and also in- cludes a one year membership in the OSBBC. This coalition of straw-bale homeowners, builders and enthusiasts was founded to provide information for peo- ple with an interest in building and/or owning a straw bale home and to ini- tiate and support efforts to further the base of knowl- edge about straw buildings. The OSBBC believes in the need for a movement to- wards a more environmentally responsible built environment. Chris Magwood, author and bale activist remarks that, "for the same costs as typical homes and buildings, it is possible right now to create similar spaces from environ- mentally sound materials and to lower energy con- sumption dramatically." This tour is the perfect opportunity to see how homeowners from across the province are making these ideas a reality. The home in Eden Mills will be open from 12-4 p.m. All the details regarding the tour, and directions to the house are available at www.strawbalebuilding. ca or contact Glenn Little at 856-1573. RLD.E. starts Friday Wellington OPP will par- ticipate in the 2003 OPP Festive R.L.D.E. initiative, which starts tomorrow, Fri- day, November 28 and runs until Friday, January 2, 2004. Officers will be setting up spot checks throughout the County and there will be and driving offences. Dur- ing the 2002 Festive R.LD.E. initiative, there were a total of 50 fatal motor vehicle col- lisions, which claimed the lives of 62 people. In 2002, officers through- out Ontario checked 567,552 drivers for sobriety, charging 458 persons with drinking and driving offences, issuing 90 day Administrative Driv- ers License Suspensions to 449 and 12-hour suspen sions to 1072 motorists. Christmas Event Sale continues Carved Mammoth Ivory "Sea Turtle" Pin / Pendant (sterling silver setting) $110.00 Limited Pieces Available A RARE TREASURE From the ICC AGE Finders Discoveries Art Gallery & Unique Collectibles 243 Main St N Acton ON 519 - 853 - 1675 Come in and pre order your own selection of Mammoth Ivory HOURS: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 12-5pm Friday & Sunday 12-7pm