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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2013-10-17, Page 22PAGE 22. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2013. 541 Turnberry St. Brussels 519-887-9114 413 Queen St. Blyth 519-523-4792 The Citizen Stop by today and see our great selection of books! Enjoy the best of Fall with a good book! THE BARNYARD READ- AND-PLAY STICKER BOOK Stories of farm animals and activities, plus the chance for kids to create their own stories with 80 reuseable vinyl stickers. $9.95 LET IT ROT Turn yard wastes and other organic materials, even paper, into a magical source of nutrients and organic matter for your garden. Learn how to construct a bin, how the process happens, what to do to avoid problems and how to use compost. $15.95 CORN 140 recipes for cooking with corn from roasted to creamed to cooking with cornmeal: everything from corn breads and cookies to popcorn to tacos and burritos. $20.95 125 BEST CASSEROLE & ONE-POT MEALS Tips and recipes for hearty and tasty one-pot meals — everything from pot pies to casseroles. Beef, pork, lamb, chicken, seafood, there are recipes for whatever your taste, even vegetarian. $19.95 GRANDMA’S TURKEYS Area author Sally Raspin writes and illustrates this children’s tale of raising a summer flock of 10 turkeys, from their arrival as two- week old chicks from a nearby turkey farm, through their growing season, showing even Grandma can get excited. $10.00 AGGIE’S DREAM Donna Mann follows Grey County’s legendary Agnes Macphail to high school as she shows her determination not to let town ways intimidate her as she moves closer to her goal of teacher training. A sequel to Aggie’s Storms. $20.00 Contrary to reports, traffic problems plague MRESDespite earlier reports that trafficwould not be a concern near therecently opened Maitland RiverElementary School (MRES) inWingham, North Huron Councilreceived what councillors calledseveral alarming letters to the contrary. During council’s Oct. 7 meeting, three letters were discussed by council including one from school principal Alice McDowell, one from school council vice-chair Margaret Speer and one from Stephanie Drost of Wingham who had been involved in a potentially disastrous situation near the school. Drost said that a vehicle struck her stroller, which she had two children in, at the intersection of the recently extended John Street and Carling Terrace. At the time, Drost was also walking with her two other children. “I was crossing from east to westtowards MRES,” she wrote. “Asilver car was stopped at the stopsign, we proceeded to cross and shehit us. No one was injured and wecontinued on to the school. The ladynever stopped. No name and nolicense plate [were recorded].”The incident, while apparentlyisolated, is indicative of a problem that both McDowell and Speer spoke about in their letters as they requested several changes to be made to the surrounding area. All three letters requested school speed signs be moved, crosswalks be created, speed bumps be installed, and crossing guards be hired. Council discussed the issue with staff and discovered that all but the speed bumps and crossing guards would be simple and easy to do. “Everything that is asked for, other than the crossing guard, we can do right away,” Director of Public Works Kelly Church explained. “We can make the crosswalks and move the signs.”He went on to say that he is not in favour of speed bumpshowever.Councillor Archie MacGowan,who was not on council when thefinal site plan was created for theschool and the extension of JohnStreet, said he thought the street,which now loops around back on to itself, was going to be connected to another street. “I thought, when this was being constructed, it was going to be connected to Summit Drive,” he said. MacGowan said that, in his own experience, it’s a very busy location and some parents have had to go to the extreme of dropping their children off at the hospital parking lot more than a block away. “Turning eastbound on to John Street is impossible at some points,” he said. MacGowan also asked how much of a problem the snowplow drivers will have and how many problems the snowbanks on the road could cause in the winter. At that point, however, it was suggested that the John Street traffic is the Avon Maitland District School Board’s responsibility. “My understanding when we planned all of this was that the board was accepting responsibility for the traffic incidents,” councillor Brock Vodden said. “Many of us thought it was a terrible place to put the school.Many neighbours were saying theywere against it. I don’t think it’s theplace of the principal to send thisletter, she should be approaching herown boss to find a solution.”Church explained that the roadwas owned and maintained by theschool board for the next year and, atthat point, the township would assume it. MacGowan said that regardless council could vote to move the community safety zone signs and a crosswalk could be installed right away. As far as the crossing guard, the municipality provides crossing guards either through employment or through volunteers from organizations like Community Living. MacGowan pointed out, however, that volunteers may not want to deal with such prevalent traffic issues on a regular basis. Before any major changes are considered, however, Church said he would need to see the original traffic reports that were done. Deputy-Reeve David Riach stated that since one of the proposed changes for the future was the connection of John Street to a road in Morris-Turnberry, that municipality’s council should be approached. “Maybe if Morris-Turnberry was aware of the congestion problem, they could be persuaded to move a little quicker on that roadway,”Riach said, adding that the studentsdidn’t just come from North Huronbut also Morris-Turnberry.While that was planning for thefuture, and while he was in favour ofit, MacGowan said that he wouldrather deal with some of the issuesright now.Church explained he had met with Police Chief Tim Poole of the Wingham Police Department and he had been in favour of all the changes except the speed bumps, which he deferred to the Public Works Department. MacGowan said that, regardless of the action, something needed to be done as soon as Church could see the reports and prepare a report. “It’s great that the engineers thought it was going to be okay, but clearly, in practical terms, it’s not,” he said. “The quicker we can sit down and discuss the issue so that we can alleviate it, the better. I think we need to be proactive.” Council decided to let Church proceed with whatever he could and bring back a report on the other suggestions. By Denny ScottThe Citizen 273 Hamilton St., Blyth • 519-523-4590 www.blytheastsidedance.com Blyth East Side Dance Learn the Salsa Just around the corner The annual Blyth Witches Walk is set to take place this weekend, but last weekend preparations were already underway, including building a track for something “new” at the Blyth Greenway Trail. What it is, exactly, will have to wait until this Saturday night when the walk gets underway. Working on the property of Dave Lee, who is not pictured, were Greg Cullen up top and Ryan Lee below supervising. (Vicky Bremner photo)