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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1987-01-14, Page 140 CENTSWEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 1987 Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn; Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships. Inside Brussels news Page 2 Blythnews Page 3 Editorials Page 4 Letters to the editor page 5 Sports Page 17 Classified ads Page 22 Movie ads Page 26 Local skaters win Twolocalfigureskating pairs scored successes at the Central Canadian Divisional Figure Skat­ ing Competition in Brandon, Mani­ toba last week. Kevin Wheeler of Brussels and bis partner Michelle Menzies who skate out of the Preston Figure Skating Club placed first in both their compulsory and free skating Toronto Mediator appointed in elementary pact negotiations A Toronto lawyer, David Fleet, has been appointed as provincial mediator charged with finding a solution to a number of items still under negotiation in the current talks between the Huron Board of Education and its 350 elementary school teachers. Mr. Fleet was the mediator appointed to similar negotiations Blyth hockey players find themselves out in the warm Bly th and Brussels have good reason to be proud of their young figure skaters, as teams from both places scored outstanding successes at the Central Canada Divisional Figure Skating Championships in Brandon, Manitoba last week. Kevin Wheeler of RR 5, Brussels, above, and his partner Michelle Menzies placed first in both their compulsory and free skating programs to take the gold medal in the Junior Free Skating Pairs Competition. At the same competition, local skaters Peter MacDonald and Kerrie Shepherd [see photo pg. 17] placed second in the Novice Dance Category to win the silver medal. Figure skaters and hockey and broomball players in Blyth are praying for cold weather for the next two weeks after a breakdown at the ice plant at Blyth and District Community Centre. The brine chiller, a major component of the artificial ice plant broke down January 6. The breakdown co-incided with a rare mild January to mean that the arena operations have come to a virtual stand still in the past week. Following a meeting of the arena board Monday night Blyth council­ lor William Howson said the new brine chiller is on order and had programs to win the gold medal in the Junior Free Skating Pairs competition. In October the pair had placed second in an interna­ tional competition in England. In the Novice Dance category, Peter MacDonald of RR 3, Brussels and Kerrie Shepherd of RR 1, Blyth placed second among the nine dance teams entered to win the for the Wellington County School Board, as well as for the Sault Ste. Marie Secondary School and Sud­ bury Separate Secondary School Boards. Wages are only one of 16 items which still remain unresolved between the two parties, despite the appointment late last year of a provincial fact finder directed to beenpromised within twoand a half weeks of when the order was placed last week. It is hoped that the ice-making plant will be back in operation by the end of next week. In the meantime all the arena management can do is hope for cold weather. Councillor Howson said that arena manager Dave Cook had said that one full day 6f -lOdegreeweatherwould allow enough ice making to get the arena back in operation. The return of artificial ice when it comes, won’t come cheaply. Cost of the new brine chiller is a chilling $23-24,000. Councillor Howson silver medal. Two Manitoba teams, Kim and Thor Weiden- bacherof the Winnipeg Winter Club and Erin Zuk and Jason Young of the Brandon SkatingClub placed first and third. Both local pairs will advance to the Canadian National Champion­ ships to be held in Ottawa in February. 1 assist both sides in reaching an agreement. There is no limit on the duration of this latest process, according to Jim Breckenridge, a spokesman for the Educations Relations Committee of the Mini­ stry of Education. The teachers have requested that the salary grid be amended to Continued on page 24 said the ice-making plant at the arena is now about 20 years old and is requiring more maintenance. Last year a new brine tank and water tank were replaced. Every year the compressor is checked over, he said, but a potential for breakdown in that area is still there becauseoftheageoftheequip- ment. While the ice-making system is being repaired and the pipes are empty, the staffwill also take a look at the end caps on the pipes under the arena floor where they are accessible across the end of the arena. County accepts resignation that hasn't been sent BY BILL BRAGG William Partridge, appeared to A long standing dispute be- have been resolved last week when tween the Huron County Library the board announced it had Board and its chief librarian,* accepted Partridge’s resignation. Crop Insurance changes proposed The Huron County Crop Insur­ ance Review Committee has final­ ized a proposal for crop insurance reform, and will present it to the membership of the Huron County Federation of Agriculture (HFA) for approval tonight (Wednesday). If approved by the HFA, the proposal willbe sent to both the federal and provincial ministers of agriculture, as well as to the head office of the Ontario Federation of Agricultured (HFA), the pro­ vince’s largest farmers’ lobby organization. Committee chairman John Van BeersofRR 1, Blyth refused to divulge details of the proposal, before it is presented to the HFA membership, but said that he was very well pleased with the final version of the reform plan. He stressed that he took little personal credit for the proposal, but said the document’s value was largely due to the input of such members of the committee includ­ ing Bev Hill, Art Bolton, Ken Campbell, Maurice Hallahan of RR 1, Belgrave, and Helen Johnston of RR 1, Auburn, also on the review committee, as well as HFA presi­ dent Paul Klopp of RR 2, Zurich. The HFA monthly membership meeting is at 8:30 p.m. on January 14, at Central Huron Secondary School in Clinton. The meeting is open to the public. But the problem was, according to Partridge, that “to date there has been no letter of resignation. ’ ’ This left board members trying to explain how it could have accepted Partridge’s resignation on December 4 when Partridge on January 8 said he had not resigned. So Huron County Council called on its solicitor, Dan Murphy, to help it out of the dilemma. His solution: The resolution passed by the board last month should have read “will accept.’’ Council also found itself in trouble with Lily Munro, minister of citizenship and culture, for not re-appointing Janis Bisback to the board for the final year of the three-year municipal term. In a letter to Warden Brian McBurney, Munro said that it had come to her attention that council had advertised for new library board members and that new members had been appointed. “1 must emphasize to Council that under Public Libraries Act 1984 library board appointments are for a three-year term concur­ rent with the three year term of Municipal Council," she wrote. “Unless the previous library board members who have not yet served a three-year term have resigned or Council has just cause under the Act for removing them, they would continue to be on the board." . Council has also called on Murphy to get it out of this predicament, and, according to McBurney, Murphy claims the council does comply with the act. Thomas J. Cunningham, Hullett Township Reeve and last year’s library board chairman, said coun­ cil would comply. ’ * 1 don’t think the county wishes to flaunt an act that says we must do Continued on page 24 BILL PARTRIDGE