HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2009-10-22, Page 1It’s not just two councillors for the
Blyth ward that North Huron is
looking for now.
Clerk-administrator Kriss Snell
told council at the committee of the
whole meeting, Oct. 12 that he had
accepted the position of CAO for
North Perth.
Snell actually came to North
Huron over three years ago, from the
position of North Perth clerk. He
replaced John Stewart.
For Snell, the decision was a
“family move”, as his daughters go
to school in Listowel. “It will make
that part of things easier.”
While saying he was shocked by
the news, reeve Neil Vincent noted
that it was a good business move for
Snell. “He has a strong rapport with
North Perth, so maybe it shouldn’t
have been as much of a shock, but
we definitely accept the resignation
with a deep amount of regret. We, as
a council, enjoyed working with
him.”
“And, there’s nothing wrong with
having a friend in another
municipality, for sure,” he added.
Snell’s time at North Huron ends
officially Dec. 4.
“I’ve enjoyed working in North
Huron and there’s always a part of
me that will consider North Huron
home,” said the former Blyth-area
resident. “It’s been a pleasure to
work for North Huron council and a
pleasure to be part of a great staff
team.”
The work of community members
on behalf of elementary schools in
South Huron and North Perth
officially begins this week, as the
Avon Maitland District School
Board hosts two Accommodation
Review Committee (ARC)
information meetings on Oct. 21
and 22.
Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Exeter
Public School, the members of the
board-mandated ARC that’s looking
into the proposed consolidation of
elementary schools in South Huron
will meet for the first time.
Avon Maitland administrators
will set out the challenges facing the
cluster of schools – including
unused student spaces at Usborne
Central and over-all declining
enrolment – and describe the ARC’s
duties of assessing the value of each
facility and proposing possible
solutions.
The board’s annual
accommodation report, released last
month, already proposed closing
one or possibly two of the five South
Huron schools, and relocating
Grades 7 and 8 students into
Exeter’s South Huron District High
School. No closure candidates were
named in the report.
But that will change at the Oct. 21
meeting; education superintendent
Mike Ash says a proposal for
consolidation, including specific
schools, will be brought forward at
that meeting.
The next evening, also at 7 p.m., a
separate ARC serving most of North
Perth (excluding Wallace Ward) as
well as the northeast corner of
Huron County will gather at Elma
Twp. Public School in Atwood for a
similar presentation from Avon
Maitland staff. Again, at that
meeting, Ash says a proposal for
consolidation will be brought
forward.
Membership in the ARCs
includes representatives from each
potentially-affected school’s parent
council, from each school’s
administrative staff, and appointees
from each municipal council in
which potentially-affected schools
are located.
Each ARC meeting is chaired by
Ash, and local trustees serve as non-
voting ARC members.
From this point on, the ARC’s
activities will be governed by the
board’s accommodation review
policy. That document sets out how
many times the committee meets,
when the ARC must provide
information to trustees, when
decisions are required from trustees,
and the amount of time which must
pass between separate steps in the
process.
Providing a verbal update about
the ARC processes at a regular
trustee meeting last week, Ash
stated that a full staff report,
complete with recommendations for
proposed changes, could come to
the board in late March or early
April.
Trustees would then have a few
weeks to consider the report and
collect community input before
making decisions later in the
spring.
ARC process begins
for area schools Gruesome, but fun
It’s all in fun at the annual Witches’ Walk in Blyth and no one involved in this rather gruesome
display seemed to be taking any of it too seriously. Each year the event is held to get everyone
in the Halloween spirit, to invite folks for some ‘spirited’ entertainment and to raise funds for
community betterment. (Vicky Bremner photo)
For the
second year
in a row,
Blyth
Festival
playwrights
have captured
not just the
hearts of
local
audiences,
but were
among those
who captured
the attention
of the Canada
Arts Council.
Beverley
Cooper, who wrote Innocence Lost,
A Play About Stephen Truscott, was
among the nominees in the drama
category for the Governor-General’s
Literary Awards for 2009.
Cooper, who returned home from a
yoga class to a number of
congratulatory e-mails said she was
“thrilled” by the nomination.
“It’s a validation,” she said. “As
artists we like to say that awards
don’t mean anything, but this says
there is respect for my work .”
Cooper was approached by Blyth
Festival artistic director Eric Coates
in 2007 about writing a play based
on the infamous Huron County
murder and trial.
Having penned several plays
Cooper said she is particularly proud
of this one, which shows the true
case of a 14-year-old accused of
murdering a schoolmate, from a
third-person perspective. “It was a
tough line to walk for sure.”
“I’m just extraordinarily proud of
and please for her,” said Coates,
“especially given that she took on
this project aware of the risks, of the
kind of microscope she’d be under in
this community and she rose to the
challenge.”
Saying that this honour is also a
feather in the cap of the Festival,
which commissioned both this play
and last year’s nominee Reverend
Jonah by Paul Ciufo, Cooper gives
credit as well to Coates, director
Miles Potter and the cast in each of
the 2008 and 2009 productions of the
play. “Working as an actor and a
writer, I know it is rare for things to
all come together on stage. This was
one of them.”
“One of the really important things
to remember,” said Coates, “is that
it’s Beverley who’s the finalist for
this award. But I’m grateful this has
been recognized. It reinforces the
importance for a community to
embrace arts as a way to tell its
stories.”
“And in this case, it was a story
that people I think would have liked
to go away, but actually told in this
way it became a healing process.”
“This is why we do theatre. I have
nothing against light entertainment,
but it’s ultimately the provocative
works that make a significant
impact,” added Coates.
Plays must be published to be
eligible for the awards. A total of
1,541 books were submitted in
several categories this year. Thirty-
eight of the 75 finalists are
nominated for the first time, seven
are under the age of 35 and three are
aboriginal.
Each winner, to be announced at
La Grande Bibliothèque de
Bibliothèque et Archives nationales
du Quebec on Nov. 17 at 10 a.m. will
receive $25,000 and a specially-
bound copy of the book. Publishers
receive $3,000 to support
promotional activities.
The awards presentation is at
Rideau Hall, Nov. 26.
Before either of these dates,
however, Cooper has been invited to
the conference of international
playwright women in Mumbai,
India, to speak about the play.
CitizenTh
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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009
Volume 25 No. 41SPORTS- Pg. 8Hockey seasonunderway SPECIAL - Pg. 11Fall On The Road section beginsNEWS- Pg. 34 applicants vie torepresent Blyth on councilPublications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 PAP Registration No. 09244 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
N. Huron’s loss
N. Perth’s gain
Blyth play gets nomination
By Bonnie Gropp
The Citizen
BEVERLEY
COOPER
Nominee ‘thrilled’
By Bonnie Gropp
The Citizen
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen