HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2013-04-11, Page 26PAGE 26. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2013.
Continued from page 14
right outside their window. Every
morning students observe what the
workers are up to and then they
predict what will happen throughout
the day. They have made their own
“construction zone” so that they can
record their findings and practise
their own building during self-
directed centre time.
They are looking forward to
having all of the Kindergarten A, B
and C parents to the school on April
10 for portfolio night. The students
can’t wait to show their parents
all the fun things they’ve been up
to.
Last week all the students at the
school enjoyed the company of
Claude Haggerty the illusionist. It
was amazing to see some of the
tricks he did. He made a card appear
on the wall and he guessed the card
chosen by a number of students and
a teacher. He also explained to us
how he made it this far in life and
how he made his dreams come true,
which was very interesting.
By Colton Rodger
Fourteen students from Hullett
Central Public School went on to the
district-wide science fair this past
Wednesday. It was a long day but a
good opportunity to see the kinds of
thinking that is going on in other
schools. Competition at the district
level is fierce and Hullett Central
students were very pleased that
Kaleb Wilts and Jordan Shortreed’s
project on different arrows and tips
made it into the top 20 projects as
this was the first time that our
students had competed at this level
of competition for some time.
Unfortunately, nobody from Hullett
moved on to the World Wide
Science Fair.
Senior boys and girls basketball
teams and the chess club are
underway at the school, much to the
delight of the students.
Grade 7/8 students continue to
study New France in history and are
beginning to understand the roots of
the age-old Canadian conflict
between the English and French. In
math they are working on fractions
and most students are getting along
quite nicely, as long as they
remember when they have to ensure
denominators are common.
Well, that’s all for this week folks,
see you later.
We need your old phones
Hullett school is entering a contest
to see what non-profit organization
can collect the most unwanted cell
phones and chargers. This is a
contest with “Think Green”. The
contest runs from March 1 - April
30. The top three collectors will win
cash bonuses in addition to the
rebate value. For every 24 cell
phones collected a tree will be
planted on Hullett’s behalf. Please
look through your homes and offices
for unwanted cell phones and drop
them off at the school.
Hullett School looks
for old cellular phones
Lots of books available at...
Brussels
519-887-9114The Citizen
Great Books For
Blyth
519-523-4792
THE ART OF
BIRDWATCHING
Here’s a humorous guide to the fastest
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including both useful information and
lots of fun. Also included, a list of
contacts for naturalist clubs across
Canada. $11.99
HIKING ONTARIO’S HEARTLAND
Get to know Ontario intimately by
hiking some of the 40 trails outlined
in this book. Try local southwestern
Ontario trails as well as trails in
eastern, central , near north and
Lake Superior regions. $18.95
UNDER A SUNFLOWER SUN ON
STRAGGLE’S FARM
Wingham poet Hilary Gillespie has created
a book of poems for children about farm
life, beautifully illustrated by Lynn Smith.
Poems about farm animals, the weather,
and things grown on the farm. $9.95
BLYTH: A VILLAGE PORTRAIT
In 1977 a group of Blyth young people
produced a large volume of stories on
the history of Blyth, many excerpted
from early newspapers in Blyth and the
surrounding towns. A few copies of this
book are still available. $30.00
CANADA’S WEATHER
Chris St. Clair explains
the factors that create the
weather of Canada’s
various regions in each of
the seasons. Understand
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shore currents, sundogs,
how thunder storms form,
even how your TV
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NEW COUNTRY STYLE
The author offers over 45 easy-
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45% off Only $11.99
Continued from page 1Turnberry’s reduction in cost will beaccomplished without drawingadditional money from North Huron
taxpayers, a problem that he feels
has been going on for too long.
“I’m tired of North Huron
taxpayers paying for services that we
provide to other people,” he said.
“They have to stop paying for
everything.”
Reeve Neil Vincent stated that he
was frustrated with how long the
contract took to get in place, but
beyond that, he’s happy with it.
“It’s a good agreement,” he said.
“It’s a win for the whole area.”
Vincent said that North Huron
council members felt they needed to
maintain a certain level of fire
training and that’s what led to theneed for the negotiations.“I believe we owe it not only to thefirefighters and the citizens of North
Huron, but to the outlying areas as
well,” he said. “That training is
important and it’s not like it goes
away. Even when they don’t have
their bunker gear on, the firefighters
carry the medical first response
knowledge and that makes our
communities safer places.”
According to documents acquired
by The Citizen, North Huron
dropped the estimated price of their
service by approximately $17,000 in
2013, $26,000 in 2014, $50,000 in
2015 and $50,000 again in 2016.
The larger drops are due to the
restructuring and re-equiping of the
two fire halls being complete,resulting in a much lower overallcost for the fire service according torepresentatives of North Huron.
Since North Huron will be
covering an area previously covered
by the Howick Fire Department in
Morris-Turnberry, Morris-Turnberry
will not be paying Howick for that
service, realizing a savings of
approximately $15,000 in 2014,
$16,000 in 2015 and $16,000 again
in 2016.
An exact cost for Morris-
Turnberry’s fire protection cost was
unavailable at press time however as
Huron East had recently recalculated
the cost for the coverage they
provide their neighbouring
municipalities.
Morris-Turnberry Mayor Paul
Gowing says he is very pleased to
have the arrangement ready to be
approved by council.
“It’s not the specific agreement
that Morris-Turnberry councillors
wanted,” he said. “It’s not the joint
ownership we were looking for, but
North Huron wasn’t comfortable
with joint ownership at this time.
“It’s a good agreement and it
should serve the area quite well,” he
said.
The five-year contract has options
for Morris-Turnberry to renew if
they see fit.
“We will look at other options
later if we feel it’s necessary, but for
now we have the five-year contract,
which will help secure a good dealfor the future,” he said. “There willbe substantial savings for Morris-Turnberry.”
He said that he believes that the
Fire Department of North Huron, in
its infancy, may have required more
but with a few years under the
administration’s belt, they were
more comfortable finding
efficiencies to realize those savings.
“Morris-Turnberry questioned the
figures from the onset, and now we
have a contract that’s closer to what
we were looking for,” he said.
The original contract was signed
following the dissolution of the local
area fire boards. North Huron then
purchased firefighting equipment
from their neighbours to create the
Fire Department of North Huron.
It was under the guidance of the
late Fire Chief John Black, North
Huron Council began the
amalgamation process of the Blyth
and Wingham Fire Departments
under the new Fire Department of
North Huron. The fire department
operates out of the two halls of the
previous fire departments.
Black explained to council
members in Central Huron, Morris-
Turnberry and Ashfield-Colborne-
Wawanosh that the increase in costs
for them to buy fire protection
service from North Huron was due
to three key factors: dilapidated
equipment, vigorous training
regiments and a change in the way
the fire department would procurenew equipment.Instead of coming to the councilsand asking for funds any time a
major capital investment was going
to be made, the involved
municipalities would pay a certain
amount per year to cover the
depreciation of vehicles and
equipment allowing the fire
department to prepare for the
expected life cycle of the equipment
they use.
This cost, however, turned out to
be too much for all the neighbouring
councils as they all sought other
options.
In the end, all three signed
contracts for the fire protection
service either due to being satisfied
with Black’s explanation or being
urged to do so by their constituents.
When it came time to renew the
contract, however, Morris-Turnberry
council looked at other options,
including building their own fire
department, which they had
purchased land for previously, as a
cost saving alternative to buying
protective services from North
Huron.
Since then, North Huron and
Morris-Turnberry have met several
times in public meetings, the most
recent of which were adjudicated by
University of Guelph professor
Wayne Caldwell, which has resulted
in North Huron lowering the cost of
the service.
Report shows Earth
Hour makes a difference
Bert Lyon continues to be a
patient in St. Mary’s Hospital in
Kitchener recovering from heart
bypass surgery. Last Thursday he
and Joanne welcomed another
great-grandchild and Wayne and
Jane Lyon became first-time
grandparents. Aidan was born in a
Kitchener hospital to Justin and
Kim. Congratulations and best
wishes to everyone.
In a previous column I remarked
on ‘earth hour’. While travelling on
Easter weekend we were tuned in to
an Oshawa radio station and heard
this report. The city of Oshawa
recorded a four per cent decrease in
hydro consumption during that
hour. This could represent 57,000
houses turning off just one light
bulb.
Do you need any further proof of
how just a small effort can make a
difference? Remember the hours
for hydro usage change at the end
of this month again.
Perhaps readers noticed the item
in a recent edition of the Clinton
News-Record in the 60-years-ago
column. Seems in 1953 the legal
age to drive was raised from 15 to
16. Didn’t remember that! Ontario
legislated the change to “combat
the increasing numbers of accidents
involving young drivers and … cut
down on the total number of
accidents in the province”.
Sound familiar? Weren’t those
the reasons given when graduated
licensing was introduced?
The Londesborough United
Church will hold their annual ham
and salad supper on Saturday, May
4 at the Londesborough
Community Hall from 5 to 7 p.m.
Mark your calendars now.
By BRENDA
RADFORD
Call
523-4296
PEOPLE AROUND
LONDESBORO
Contract problems initially caused by higher fire costs