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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1978-08-24, Page 1e SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 1978 — 20 PAGES, t . 119th Year Whole No. 5763 •,` $12.00 a year in Advance Single' copy 25 eents Twister hits near Varna, Seaforth power off The Wayne Taylor family, R.R.1, Varna, isn't likely to forget Saturday's storm for some time. A small twister went through the Taylor place and a neighboring farm at about 3 p.m., leaving a trail of damage behind it. Wayne Taylor said the twister lasted for' about five minutes and "made you wonder' what was coming." When the Taylors went out to survey the damage after the storm, they found their • yard littered with branches. 'Some of the branches fell on the family car, and Mr, Taylor said the trunk and, fender were badly damaged and the roof ctinkled. He said he expects damage to the car will Tome to over $1,000, Also,• the Taylor's driving shed was badlystorm .twisted at one end by the force of the A grain wagon which was sitting beside the shed was pulled out to the bean field and the wagon was blown off the wheels. Mr. Taylor said the entire top of a large tree at the front of the property was lifted up, carried over the hydro wires and d‘eptaoys.ited in a neighbor's field, 100 feet a Mr. Taylor said half . the barn on a neighboring propertfowned by the Blackie family was also blown down. The barn wasn't in use at the time of the storm. Mr. Taylor said a fine mist fell during the force of the storm. and by the time his family wasp starting to think of going to the basement of the house, the full force of the.. storm was over. In Seaforth and Dublin, the storm, knocked out power in different areas of the two towns. • Torn Phillips, manager of the Seaforth Public utilities Commissiorr(PUC) said the power failures were caused both by lightning and the high winds, which brought down trees and limbs during the 15 minute storm. Mr. Phillips said on the cornet' of High and Market Streets in Seaforth a tree fell across the primary wire (main feed line) which caused a three phase hydro line to come down between Noble Lanes and Huron Canadian Fabricators. On Louisa Street, a tree across the secondary wires knocked out power on both sides of John Street from Louisa to Sperling 'Streets. Mr. Phillips said two transformers *ere cut and a secondary wire was down. Repairmen had to restring apprthdmately 200 feet of the wire. Services Off In addition to damage to main lines, four house services were pulled off homes by the high winds and had to be repaired. Seven services had to be reconnected and some hydro poles required straight- ening after the storm. "We haven't been hit this bad for some time," the PVC manager said. Some SeafOrth 'residents were without power until almost midnight Saturday. After the work crews had repaired the damage in Seaforth, they were called out to the village of Dublin. One street in that town was without power and the streetlights were out. PUC repair crews worked from 3 p.m. to midnight on Saturday night and again on Sunday morning to repair damage caused by the storm. TWISTER HITS BARN — A twister which touched down Saturday• at the Wayne Taylor farm near Varna took half' the barn on the neighbouring Blackie farm away. (Photo by Marx ChesSell) Inside this week kit e Auron wxpairillt 1. Pleasant. Hill Clubs here . . . P.. 3 Achievement Day P 16 Ladies Ball Champs P ,17 I . AS, FLY AWAY? —Tim Marks of Campbellville, Ont., looks as if he's being launched from a rocket; during action at the Motocross races held Sunday on the.Chris..Lee Jam. ju,st east of Walton...Abolit 3,00(1 people...saw. 400_ riders during the two, day event. See more photos on page 13. (Expositor Photo) By Alice Gibb Hibbert Township stedents who attend St.. • Columban School and Tuckersmith Town- ship students who attend St. James School in Seafotth will be riding die bus with secondary school students this fall. The Huron-Perth County Romer'. Catholic Separate School Board voted on . Monday night to integrate ',transportation of these students with secondary school bus 'routes operated by United Trails. "" • This action means United TrailS can eliminate one school bus route, a saving for the board. The board had considered extending the licence of Keith McCarthy, an independent bus driver employed by the board, to pick up the McKillop and Tuckersmith Township students. However, since Mr. McCarthy would then be picking up students in the protected area of the United Trails company, this action would have required special approval from United Trails and the Ministry of Trans- portation and Communications licensing board. John O'Leary, one of the trustees.. expressed concern that St. Columban parents wouldn't be pleased with the results of integration. He said, -he had ' already heard the "integration in MaKilloP Township is not good." Concerned Mr. O'Leary said some parents were concerned about younger children riding with high school students. Jack Lane, superintendent of business and finance, said integrated bus routes already serve board schools in Goderich, Exeter, oar The Huron County Board of Education ha's finally become involved in the dispute surrounding three English Literature' books being used in , epunty high schools and decided Monday night to ban one of the books from use in•lHuron County classrooms. The book issue of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and The Diviners by Margaret Laurence has involved hundreds of county ratepayers, students and teachers in the past months and in a surprise 'move' at Monday night's board of education meeting, Seaforth trustee John Henderson asked the board to take the Diviners off its list of approved novels: -Mr. Henderson made the request when the board was in the process of approving a list of ,textbooks for use in highs schools -firing-.the- 1978.79-school year. He told the. board the book was improper for use in county classrooms adding that he felt the board would be "slighting our job" if it allowed the book to be taught. Staffa area barn 'destroyed By Joe McLean A barn fire, believed to have beep caused by overheated straw completely destroyed a large barn on the farm 'of Andrew McLean, R.R.2, Staffa late Tuesday afternoon. Mr. McLean, who was unloading straw at the time thinks the fire started either in the blower or'in the barn itself. The blaze started at 4:55 p.m. and was still smouldering Wednesday noon. Mrs. McLean said there 'was no estimate of damage yet but she was sure it was complete loss. She said The alarm • was phoned immediatley and praised the Ivfitchell Fire Brigade for the time it took them to arrive. But, she said the heat was "really intense" and "within ten minutes it was all gone." The firemen watered down the grain bins to prevent their catching fire. Lost in the blaze were straw, hay, a tractor, blower and other machinery. No livestock • was involved. The McLean's eight year old son was taken to hospital after he picked up a hot metal gate. He was not seriously injured. Clinton, Seaferth, Stratford and Kinkora. Trustee David ,Teahen said one benefit of integration on the buses was that older students can keep an eye on the younger students. Board members were also assured that the only difference in travel time on the new mute is that the route will be 2'/2 miles longer, since in the afternoon the bus• will pick up students at St. Coluinban School after driving from Seaforth rather than from Dublin as in the past. Trustee Gregory Fleming, of the Mount Carmel area, told the board that residents in the area are requesting a pipeline easement across Our Lady of Mount Carmel School property. The Lake Huron waterep,ipeline is being The board Meeting .was witnessed by abput 40 people, most of whom were Members of the Huron branch , of the Renaissance Group, The Renaissance. illove- meat ie., dedicated to "cleaning up our schools" as Huron branch spokesman Lloyd Barth said Monday night. .. • Silly Practice The whole question of the board, ap- proving material for use in the classroom came, under efire'prior to Mr. Henderson's request for Warming The Diviners. Colborne Trustee Shirley Hazlitt sug- gested that the board's sanctioning of bo6ks for usein classrooms was a "farce". Hazlitt said it "seems silly for the trustees to sit down and read a list of books they know nothing about and say yes you can teach this no you can't teach this," ' e"GOderich trustee-Dorothy Wallace- -added that trustees are in no position to read a mathematics text or a science text and judge its merits or benefits for use andsaid she felt the same about English textbooks. Board chairman John Elliott told the board that the books in question were slated for use in classrooms this year. ,He said they would be used in Grade 13 optional English courses in Central Huron Secondary School in Clinton and South Huron Secondary School in Exeter. Mr. Elliott explained that the optional courses are. available for students that may need that course credit to enter some university courses and that students were not required to take the, course to get enough credits for their Grade 13 diploma. Mr. Henderson Said department heads in the' schools prepare examinations on books the majority of the studentsare studying and daimed that if students request to take aripthetebook "they are pretty well on their own". "If they haven't taken the book they have a pretty slim chance of passing," he said. Dorothy Wallace reminded the board of the concerns teachers had expressed about banning the books, She said the teachers daimed if the board this year beetled the three books here and next year banned the three under fire in Wellington County and the year after that the three under fire in Neva Scotia teachers may find themselves mtknowing where to turn for representative' Canadian Literature. "We're not taking 'the books away from extended into Stephen Township to provide. water for' residents from Mount Carmel to Cairo. The board pasSed a motion requesting that trustee Fleming and some 'of the members of the property committee attend the public meeting on the pipeline. In other business, in the future board secretaries travelling out of town on board business approved by the director of education will be paid a travel allowance of 20 cents per mile. Grade 7 and 8 pupils 'from the board schools will be visiting the Discovery Train when it is in Stratford early in September. The schools can look after the costs of transporting sudents to Stratford from their normal extra-curricular activities budget. the students and teachers. We're just taking them out of the system," said Mr. Henderson. "If 'this is Canadian Literatue then I don't 'want it." Zurich trustee Herb Turkheim pointed out that most of the students being taught the books would be 18 years of age and that they would be permitted at that age to vote, become soldiers and sign million dollar contracts to play professional sports. "And yet we tell them they're' not old enought to ,read these books," he said. Mr. Turkheim added that he felt it is much wiser tohavee professional teaching the book - and putting it in its proper perspective that to have students "reading them in bed at night, and taking their own meaning," Mr. Henderson asked board chairman John Elliott to take a recorded vote on the books. John Alexander, Harry Hayter, Donaldc ,, K. k Cli I R John Henderson, Eugene Frayne, Murray Mulvey and Clarence McDonald were in favor of removing The Diviners while Cayley Hill, Shirley, Hazlitt, Dorothy Wallace, Dorothy Williams, Marion Zinn and Herb Turkheim opposed the move. Another Time? Anxious to prevent a ,recurrence of the book banning issue the board looked at a policy that would require a teacher to choose material for use in classrooms justifying any decisions to the board. In that way the board hoped to have professional • expertiese go into decisions on what would be used in the classrooms and put the burden* of the decision on the teachers. The board felt that since the teachers make most of the decisions on books and the trustees merely rubber stamp the request for bOoks, the teachers should have to defend their choices. The policy put before the board for approval was rejected since it was apparent some trustees did not want teachers to have the power to choose material without •any board involvement. John Henderson said the policy before the board denied the board power leaving the entire decision up to the teachers. The policy prepared for the board was written by director of education John Cochrane working with superintendahts1 secondary school principals, English depart- ment heads and teachers and was desigend to make teachers responsible for the choice of materials and make them responsible to handle complaints about their choice of texts for classroom use. It was Mr. Cocnrane who suggested that the board not adopt the policy prepared since it was obvious it did not agree with it. • He said some trustees have made it clear the board did not want teachers making decisions on what should be taught nor did they believe that professional freedom and accountablility are essential to the teaching prof es s io n • firm estimates for the repair of the rear of P.U.C,, builditrg -andefor housing that will be required at the new, well site. Mr. Phillips informed the commissioners that the building inspector said no specifications were needed for the building for the well. Mayor Cardno cautioned, "We should be careful not to overbuild." 'Mr. Phillips said the Anti-Inf lation board had approved the 41/2 per cent salary increase, to be paid to all employees, retroactive to April 1. amounting to an e Port of the increase of 2 cents per hour. The benefits haTvehenontiayneatgebregenayseeattdleedta.ile,d r work done by. employees during the past month including: Rebuilding the hydro line' at the rear of the former Texaco building on Goderich Street from James Street to accommodate two new stores being located there. Completed the' underground servicing, to 15 lots and all road crossings* for paving purposes et the Silver Creek sudivision. Rebuilt 'the rear lot Hydro line from Seaforth Automotive to I.G.A. and this will be continued to the rear of the Triangle Variety Store at Goderich Street. installed 25 new street lights and 10 more will be installed through the capital budget of the, Town of Seaforth. Nine new homeshave been serviced with hydro and water. :.HPRC$5? students to ride high school butes By Wilma Olie The Seaforth Public Utilities Commission is Studying a new schedule of fees to charge for filling swimming pools. Ken McLlwain complained that it did not seem reasonable for the P.U.C, to charge for a 20 per cent profit on top of the 'charge of the wages for the P.U.C, employee who supervised the filling, plus a charge for the P.U.C. truck and metering to establish' the amount of water used. • • Chairman Gordon Pullman said "that sounds like robbery to the average person .-- no businessman on Main Street could do business charging like this." Manager Tom Phillips felt that it was reasonable. Mayor Betty Cardno agreed that a new fee rate should be established but the P.U.C. should not expect to make a profit -- only to .meet -expenses to P.U.C. • Manager Phillips was instructed to revise the fee according to the size of the pool'so that an applicant would icnow what to expect in the way. of charges in the future. Out-of-town applicants will continue to be charged double. the fee charged to town residents. It was questioned whether Seaforth should supply water for pools in Egmondville or Harpurhey and Manager Phillips said "I ',think it is a service we can supply to the community," Mayor Cardno said, "Before a person out of town puts in a pool, he should check to know, where he gets water and how much it will cost." The manager was authorized to secure • wmers PUC may set new, fees for filling pools CATCHING MIOS,-Students at the summer seesion at'St. Patrick's School, Dublin, play the gattiev mice, which involves trapping the little creatures under the parachute. Instructors at the schbol are experlMenting with using the PgraChute in physical education sessions to help the students develop their locomotion skills. (Expositor Photo)