Matthew Farfan

Milt and Bev Loomis are active seniors. The retired couple, who are proud great-grandparents of three, are also outspoken heritage advocates. It is this latter role that has repeatedly pitted them against their own municipality, the Town of Waterville.

The Loomis' list of causes have included the restoration of a historic one-room schoolhouse (Milby), fighting to preserve local covered bridges and, most recently, trying to get the Town of Waterville to re-instate the name "Route Gilbert Hyatt" to the stretch of highway 143 that passes through the town.

Gilbert Hyatt was a Loyalist and pioneer in the vicinity. Some years ago, when the area was part of Ascot Township, Hyatt's name was added to the road signs as a way of honouring his contributions to settling the area 200 years ago. However, after the Town of Waterville annexed the area (including the Loomis' property), the municipality decided that for safety reasons the name of the highway should be uniform its entire length. It was contended that local fire and ambulance responders would have difficulty locating addresses on a stretch of the same highway sporting a different name -- a claim that the Loomises and their supporters have strenuously denied. The Loomises argued that the town was doing Gilbert Hyatt a dishonour by removing his name from the signs. The dispute has been heated at times -- and quite public, playing out in the regional press. Yet, despite all of the objections, the signs were removed anyway.

This week, the Loomises woke up one morning to find one of the removed "Gilbert Hyatt" road signs mysteriously deposited on the edge of their lawn in front of their home. "Kind of makes you wonder," said Bev Loomis, "all of these signs were supposed to have been locked up in the Waterville town garage." Asked if they believed that it was deliberate harassment or, an attempt at intimidation on the part of someone in the area, or perhaps just a prank, they said, "well, we just don't know why anyone would do this. We're trying to stand up for local heritage... Our history is for all of us to be proud of."

The Loomises have reported the incident to the police.


(Photo: Matthew Farfan)