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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2013-11-21, Page 1CitizenTh e $1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, November 21, 2013 Volume 29 No. 46 AGREEMENT - Pg. 21North Huron, Morris-Turnberry discuss services REACH - Pg. 23 Central Huron centreconcerns council with costsSPORTS- Pg. 8NHL Alumni team takes onWingham Ironmen all-starsPublications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK: Education Minister tours Maitland River ES Huron County nixes ‘unwilling host’ turbine motion Getting the lowdown Ontario Minister of Education Liz Sandals, centre, visited all ages of students at the recently opened Maitland River Elementary School last week. Sandals is shown here with Larissa van Niekerk, left, and Gavin Benninger, learning about craft time. Sandals was welcomed to the school with a tour, which was conducted by the school’s principal, Alice McDowell, and two students, Sam Young and Brelle Shaw, not pictured. (Denny Scott photo) Huron County Council has officially voted against a motion that would declare the county an “unwilling host” to industrial wind turbine projects. After welcoming two different groups to recent council meetings, one to speak against wind turbines for a variety of reasons and another to speak in favour of the projects, councillors had county staff prepare a bylaw that council would vote on at a later date. The delegations both came from Ashfield-Colborne- Wawanosh, where Anita Frayne spoke against wind turbines and Jennifer Miltenburg told council that it wasn’t their “mandate” to vote on such an issue. Councillors agreed with Miltenburg to a certain extent at the Nov. 13 committee of the whole meeting, with some saying they felt it was a lower tier municipality issue and it should be treated as such. Discussion began with Howick Reeve Art Versteeg making a motion to accept the staff report on the recommendation and file it for information purposes, meaning that council wouldn’t consider it any further. The motion was quickly seconded by Goderich Mayor Deb Shewfelt who has said numerous times, and reiterated at the Nov. 13 committee of the whole meeting, that he felt the wind turbine issue was a lower tier one. Bluewater’s Tyler Hessel agreed, saying that county staff had prepared an excellent report on the topic, but that he too felt it was a lower tier issue. He added that he felt the recommendation would be a “blanket statement” for the entire county where one wasn’t warranted. The report stated that four upper- tier municipalities, Bruce, Grey and Perth Counties and the Niagara Region, had declared themselves an unwilling host to wind turbine projects, and further that 72 lower- tier municipalities throughout Ontario had similarly declared themselves unwilling wind turbine project hosts. In Huron County, Chief Administrative Officer Brenda Orchard said in her report, seven of the county’s nine municipalities have so declared, with Ashfield- Colborne-Wawanosh and Goderich deciding not to do so. Versteeg said that making such a declaration would be “foolhardy” and that when specific requests pertaining to wind turbines came to council, that would be the time to decide on them or not. To make a sweeping generalization, he said, was not a smart move on council’s part. “It’s a lower tier issue,” Shewfelt said, “they can decide.” The motion to receive and file the report was then passed by council. After being unable to attend the grand opening of Maitland River Elementary School (MRES) two weeks ago, Ontario Minister of Education Liz Sandals arrived at the school last Friday to tour the groundbreaking new facility. Sandals, who was escorted around the school by students Brelle Shaw and Sam Young, had a lot of questions about the school and seemed satisfied with the answers. She was introduced to students in both younger and older grades and dove into their lesson plans and educational experiences, sitting with students, talking to them about their education and learning how the new school enhances their educational experience. After the tour, Sandals sat down with Clarissa Gordon, Vicky Nicholson, Mackenzie McGavin and Shaelyn Green of neighbouring F.E. Madill Secondary School and Shaw and Young to discuss the realities of education and what the students would like to see from the Ministry of Education. Sandals invited the students to share their difficulties and told them she would like to know how they felt the system should be changed. Both McGavin and Gordon explained having counselling more available to students would be beneficial. McGavin explained students only had a counsellor to call on once a week and that isn’t sufficient. Sandals explained she had heard that concern often in her travels and it was definitely on her radar. “We should have more people, available to high school students and elementary students, who are qualified to deal with mental health problems if there are students with mental health issues,” she said, adding the ministry did not expect teachers to have to deal with the problems. “If a student or a teacher says, ‘Jeeze, there is an issue here,’ we need to get that student attached to someone who can deal with mental health issues.” Shaw explained she felt the lack of a student buddy system, which pairs older students with younger students to help the latter with tasks at school, was lacking from the new school. She said that, in her previous school, they had such a system and it worked well. Sandals agreed, stating when her daughter was in a school with students from Kindergarten-to- Grade 6, there was a similar program. “They did have a sort of helper for reading, going out for recess and to help them with their snow suit,” she said, adding teachers would definitely appreciate the help especially in the winter. The student group also expressed concerns about amalgamation and how it has limited the choices when it comes to intramural sports. They said there simply wasn’t enough competition and that, with the amount of time a team puts into “ Let’s talk about it - November 21st at 7pm at the former Blyth Public School (s/e corner King and Mill Street) come hear about the plans, share your thoughts and ideas re: Blyth’s revitalization as a cultural hub. ALL WELCOME.” By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen By Denny Scott The Citizen Continued on page 14