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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2008-07-03, Page 1Livin’s easy After a cooling dip at the pool, Nathan Brown, left, and Reece Hamilton, hit the deck for a little suntanning. Brussels-area youngsters celebrated the end of the pencils and books for this year with a School’s Out Pool Party on Friday, sponsored by the recreation department. There were water games in the ball park beginning in the morning with lunch and swimming in the early afternoon. The fun continued that night with roller skating at the arena. (Bonnie Gropp photo) Students in five separate locations will no longer be required to apply for boundary-crossing rights within the Avon Maitland District School Board, following the realignment of several school catchment areas. “We make boundary decisions based on lots of consultations with parents and we try very, very hard only to make them when there is considerable evidence that boundary crossing has already been taking place,” explained education superintendent Ted Doherty, at a regular board meeting Tuesday, June 24. “We don’t make these decisions lightly.” Families from each affected area were officially supposed to attend a particular school, but had repeatedly been applying for border-crossing status to attend another school. According to Doherty, these requests were consistently approved, so changing the official destination for each area means the board is “merely aligning with the wishes of families.” Families will no longer be required to apply for border- crossing status. And Doherty says the actual enrolment numbers and funding levels will not change at any school as a result of the changes. Affected areas include: the area northwest of Main Street in Holmesville, where students have traditionally attended high school in Goderich instead of the assigned Central Huron Secondary School in Clinton; the south end of the former Fullarton Twp. near Motherwell, where students traditionally attend St. Marys DCVI instead of Mitchell District High School; the area east of McNabb Line in Grey Twp., where students will now be assigned to Listowel District Secondary School instead of schools in Wingham or Clinton; and Glen’s Hill Road in northwest Huron County, where students traditionally attend F.E. Madill Secondary School in Wingham instead of going to Goderich. One elementary school boundary, originally established in 2003 following the closure of Walton Public School, will also be adjusted. Properties along portions of Moncrieff Road and Walton Road, originally assigned to Blyth Public School, will now be assigned to Seaforth Public School. A Ministry of Environment hydrologist has expressed concerns about the level of some chemicals at both the Morris and Turnberry landfills in Morris-Turnberry. In a letter received by Morris- Turnberry councillors at their June 17, Mark Harris of the ministry’s technical support section, southwestern region suggested the explanations made by the municipality’s consultant B. M. Ross and Associates for the higher than normal level of chlorine found in monitoring wells at the Morris site might be correct but that further study should be done. He noted the level of chlorine had not reached the “reasonable use criteria” but study was needed to make sure the levels were not related to leachate from the site. Harris disagreed with the consultant’s explanation for high levels of iron in the wells, that the iron came from the bed rock. Highest concentrations of hardness seemed to be in wells that indicate the landfill is having an effect, he said. Levels of fluoride, nitrate, sulphate and manganese were also elevated, according to Harris but only the iron and manganese seem to have possibly been influenced by the landfill, he said. Meanwhile Harris called for installation of an additional monitoring well at the Turnberry landfill, which has been closed. He argued that some of the groundwater under the site flows between two monitoring wells. Harris’s comments were based on 2006 monitoring results at the two sites. Scott Gass, senior environmental officer with the ministry’s Owen Sound office asked for a response or work plan and implementation schedule, by July 31. AMDSB meets families’ wishes The Bluewater Kennel Club’s All Breed Dog Shows and Obedience Trials will be celebrating its 30th anniversary this year with its 2008 show in Blyth on July 8-10, although this is just the 26th year it has been held here. The show started in Exeter until the club fell in love with the Blyth Community Centre and has staged its shows here ever since. Clinton-area club member Florence Pullen says that not much will change as a result of it being the show’s 30th year, but there will be extra handouts to exhibitors and a new rally course, marking the first time the show has held this competition, a combination of obedience and agility. In addition to the new event, Pullen says this year’s show is being dedicated to two very important charter members of the club, now deceased, Hazel and Keith Weber. “The Webers raised German shepherds. They showed often and judged from time to time. They were longtime, faithful members of the club,” Pullen said. Pullen says that 30 years is a great milestone to reach. She also says it hasn’t always been easy, but that it has always been fun. “I can keep plugging away. We’re a fairly small club, so there’s a fair amount of work for everyone, but we enjoy it. We’re a fairly small show because we’re in the middle of the week, so we’ve never been able to draw the number of exhibitors that some of the weekend shows get, but we have a beautiful site,” she said. “Everybody that comes just raves about our site, and the food. The Anglican Church women always do a great job with the food.” As far as entries are concerned, this year’s show is right around where Pullen expected it to be. The confirmation entries are down slightly, but this slight drop was anticipated. “We were anticipating this because of the rising fuel costs. Typically between 40 and 50 per cent of the people who attend the show are American,” she said. “Those numbers are down slightly, but they’re not too bad. Obedience and agility entries are about the same as they were last year. In addition to that, we’re having the two rally trials this year. There are almost 50 entries per trial, so that’s pretty good for the first time.” Pullen says she’s expecting a good crowd and hopes that the weather will co-operate. At time of publication, the weather was projecting sunny skies sitting just around 20ºC. Pullen says the obedience trials will run through the morning and into the early afternoon. Rally will then take over later into the afternoon, while agility trials will be run behind Shed 3 of the fairgrounds. Admission this year has come up slightly from years past. It will cost $3 per adult to attend the show and $2 for children 12 and under, while pre-schoolers are free. All proceeds from the gate will benefit the Huronia Branch of the Humane Society. CitizenTh e $1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, July 3, 2008 Volume 24 No. 27SPORTS- Pg. 9Brussels students winat Regional meet THEATRE - Pg. 19 ‘Harvest’opens at BlythFestivalHONOURED- Pg. 2War memorial windowdedicated at United ChurchPublications 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: Blyth’s going to the dogs By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen M-T landfills concern MOE By Keith Roulston The Citizen Severe weather that swept its way through much of Huron County last week left approximately 2,800 homes without power. Homes in the Clinton service area, which includes Blyth, Goderich and East and West Wawanosh were hit with weather that caused power to go out at approximately 7:30 p.m. Thursday night. The darkness was short-lived, however, as power was restored to homes just before 11 p.m. Power out By Stew Slater Special to The Citizen