26 MAY 2013 – MOTHER’S DAY
The Mother
Do you know what it means to have a mother? Remember that you were once a little child, weak, naked, wretched, hungry, alone in the world. A woman was beside you then, walking when you walked, stopping when you stopped, smiling when you cried. This woman who taught you to speak and later to read, who teaches you to love, who warms your fingers in her hands and your body against her breast; this woman who gave you her milk when you were small and who will always give you her life – she is the one to whom you say “Mother!” and who answers “My child!”.
Victor Hugo
My Mother
My mother, whom I love so much,
Has given me everything.
I will love this good mother
All my life.
She cared for me when I was tiny,
So I’m told.
She rocked my little bed,
White and neat;
She taught me to walk
Step by step,
Holding my arms;
To say a word, then to say everything,
Even to smile.
If I cry, she comforts me
With a word;
And quickly her lovely kiss
Makes me happy.
I want to make my mother happy
All my life,
To work and love her dearly
Until I die!
Jean Aicard (translated from the French)
Happy Mother’s Day to all mums!
MUNICIPAL COUNCIL MEETING OF 16 MAY 2013
In brief:
- The municipal council waives its right of pre-emption on the sale of 2 built properties. (For privacy reasons, we will no longer publish the names of buyers or sellers.)
- A law of December 2010, amended by law no. 2012-1561 of December 2012, changes the number and distribution of delegates on the councils of inter-municipal bodies with their own tax revenue. These rules will apply after the next general municipal elections. The Community council currently has 52 members, and this arrangement fully complies with the new legislation: 1 representative for municipalities with fewer than 750 inhabitants, 2 for those with 751 to 1,500 inhabitants, and above 1,500 inhabitants one more representative for each additional 1,250 inhabitants or part thereof. Eguelshardt will be represented by 1 delegate, as before. The council unanimously decides to keep this arrangement.
- For the works to make Waldeck Castle safe, the municipality has so far paid invoices totalling €231,690 and received grants of €189,655. It has €217,800 available but must repay a €200,000 credit line by 31 July 2013 at the latest. To pay the balance of the works, which will finish towards the end of the summer (€257,234), while the grants still expected amount to €219,145, the council authorises the mayor to take out a €300,000 bridging loan from Crédit Mutuel at 1.95%, repayable on 31 August 2014.
- The council decides to postpone to a later meeting its decision on the new Charter of the Northern Vosges Regional Nature Park and its membership of SYCOPARC. The mayor will seek further information from the bodies concerned.
LANDOWNERS’ GRAZING ASSOCIATION
Mr Marcel Barba, the public inquiry commissioner, will hold a session at the Eguelshardt Town Hall on Wednesday 3 July 2013 from 5pm to 7pm.
Residents concerned by the creation of the AFP (landowners’ grazing association) who wish to submit comments to the public inquiry are welcome.
IF TREES AND STONES COULD TALK
On Saturday 1 June, Mr Emile Eitel will lead a 2-hour guided walk in the forest, starting from the church car park at 2pm. The theme will be the natural heritage and the traces of history in the forest. All welcome!
QUALITY OF DRINKING WATER
The Lorraine Regional Health Agency has just sent the Town Hall its summary of health checks for 2012. The results are the same as in 2011, and the Agency concludes:
The water supplied in 2012 was of excellent bacteriological quality and complied with the standards for all the physico-chemical substances tested.
SHOOTING COMPETITION
On 9 June, the “La Vigilante” shooting club is holding its traditional shooting competition from 9am to 6pm. Food available on site.
DIARY
- 6 June: monthly meeting of the Seniors’ Club in the salle Rapin
- 9 June: shooting competition, “La Vigilante” shooting club, at the shooting range
- 21 June: music festival, “La Vigilante” shooting club, at the shooting range
THE SENIORS’ CLUB ANNUAL “ASPARAGUS” MEAL
Every year our village’s Seniors’ Club holds an “Asparagus” meal. This year it took place in Weiskirch, at “La Table Paysanne”. After the meal, those who wished could visit “la Ruche” (the beehive) in Eschviller.
FLEA MARKET
On Sunday 12 May, the CIA held a flea market. Despite poor weather, a few brave people came out to sell, buy or have a drink.
“MY GARDEN, A CORNER OF NATURE!” 2013
Gardeners, get your boots on! A competition for you, residents of Alsace Bossue and the Pays de Bitche: do you look after the little creatures, the birds, the local plants and your garden? Do you let nature run free in your flower beds and vegetable patch? Then sign up!
To enter, send the reply form before 20 June to: Maison du Parc, concours “Mon jardin, un coin de nature”, BP 24, 67290 La Petite-Pierre.
THE FLORIDE CARAVELLE CLUB
The Floride Caravelle Club de France, which has just celebrated its 10th anniversary, is based at the home of Mr Patrick Revolon.
The association has more than 200 members from France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark, who meet in a friendly spirit several times a year in different regions of France or in neighbouring countries to show their fine classic cars at shows or to organise exploratory drives in the areas they visit.
On the weekend of 8 to 10 May the Floride Caravelle Club made a tour of eastern France, stopping in Eguelshardt on Thursday 8 May, where at about 12.45pm some sixty carefully polished, gleaming classic cars could be seen lining up very neatly near our village hall.
The mayor, present when they arrived, said he was honoured to welcome this very lively club; he thanked Mr Patrick Revolon for the fine work he does with the help of his team, and for the pleasant spectacle his organisation offers the public.
After lunch in the salle Rapin, the friendly visitors set off again to tour the roads of the Northern Vosges for two more days.
IN MEMORIAM
Mr Jean-Pierre Keller died on 8 May 2013 at the age of 60. He was well liked in our village and took an active part in community life in our valley. As president of the Friends of Stockbronn association, he very successfully organised events such as pétanque competitions, Christmas markets and car-boot sales.
On behalf of the municipality of Eguelshardt, the mayor offers his sincere condolences to Jean-Pierre’s family in their great loss.
SHARKA: A DISEASE OF FRUIT TREES
Our municipality lies within the containment zone for sharka, a disease of stone fruit trees of the genus Prunus, classified as a harmful organism.
The authorities want to clean up the north-east of the Moselle, where the disease has been found. The aim is to survey all Prunus orchards in the municipalities of the zone and then take any necessary control measures, carried out by the SRAL (regional plant health service).
If you notice symptoms of the disease on damson, plum, mirabelle, nectarine or apricot trees, please report them to the Town Hall, the DRAAF or FREDON Lorraine.
Technical note – Sharka in stone fruit trees
Sharka is considered the most serious viral disease of stone fruit trees in Europe and has been present in France since the 1960s. It is classified as a plant pest subject to permanent compulsory control throughout the country.
It is caused by a virus (Plum Pox Virus, PPV) which can be transmitted in two ways:
- by various species of migrating aphids, which can infect orchards within a radius of a few kilometres from an infected tree;
- by vegetative propagation; for new plantings you should therefore make sure that the plant material (variety and rootstock) is healthy.
Sharka is incurable, so control relies mainly on early detection, uprooting and destroying infected trees. It affects fruit trees of the genus Prunus and spreads like an epidemic on peach, plum and apricot trees, causing deformed and necrotic fruit that may be unfit to eat.
The following symptoms can be seen in spring and summer on peach, plum and apricot trees, although they may vary slightly with the variety:
- On leaves: visible paling along the secondary and tertiary veins and/or chlorotic spots or rings. These symptoms fade over time and disappear during the summer in hot weather.
- On fruit: discoloured and deformed spots or rings on the skin. These symptoms are most marked on apricots, damsons and nectarines.
Symptoms on a leaf (source: FREDON Lorraine, AREFE).
Management of the contaminated zone in eastern Moselle
Because of the particular situation of sharka contamination in this area (widespread and heavy contamination in several municipalities), a special scheme has been set up in 2013 at the request of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry. A containment zone has been defined, forming a ring of municipalities around those known to be contaminated. In this zone, FREDON staff will survey all Prunus orchards from the end of May 2013. If sharka is found in these municipalities, the SRAL will apply the control measures laid down in the order of 17 March 2011.
Your municipality is within this zone and you are therefore concerned by these measures. Information meetings will be held in May to present the disease, its current distribution and the measures put in place.
DRAAF Lorraine, 76 avenue André Malraux, 57046 Metz cedex 01, tel. 03 55 74 11 00.
FREDON Lorraine, Domaine de Pixérécourt, BP 30017, 54220 Malzéville, tel. 03 83 33 86 75.