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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1978-06-07, Page 1Board should trust teachers to choose books for study BY JEFF SEDDON The Huron County Board of Education was told Monday it should trust the judgement of its teachers when deciding if literary pieces to be used in high school classrooms are fit for educational purposes. Three delegates attending Monday's board meeting explained to trustees at considerable length why three. English literature textbooks should not be banned from secondary school book lists. The books - Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, The Diviners by.Margaret Laurence and Of e Mice and Men by John Steinbeck - were considered blasphemous and obscene by a group ofparents from Kingsbridge who started a campaign to have them banned from school booklists. Dr. Tom Collins, chairman of the English department at the University of Western Ontario, told the board that the three books were not all blasphemous or obscene but rather were of "superior quality". He said the books all had excellent educational value. Collings said the purpose of a literary piece was to educate the imagination of readers by creating "construct" worlds CKNOW S10 •A Year In Advance $14 To D.S.A. and Foreign Lucknow students star in "Fiddler" Pictures on page 14 Lightning causes blackout The village was without hydro power for about 3 hours on Tuesday, May 30, when lightning struck a pole and insulator at the G & E Massey -Ferguson dealership, just north of the village on Bruce County Road 1. The lightning caused the insulator to break which allowed the conductor to come to the ground. An automatic switch near Kinloss opened and the power shut off. The switch pens to shut off the power automatically when a fault in the line occurs.. Power went off at 6.25 p.m. and was restored at 9.44 p.m. Ontario Hydro area line foreman, Lloyd Worsley said temporary repairs were made to restore power. A complete power outage is scheduled during the construction of County Road 1 and permanent repairs will ,be made at this time. Worsley said the people of Lucknow will be notified of the time of the power outage' well in advance. Door kicked in The burglar alarm sounded at Umbach's Pharmacy on main street around 2i5 a.m. on Saturday morning. The alarm went off when the glass in the front door of the store was kicked in. Store manager, John Kreutzweiser, said that no one entered the store and there w,as nothing stolen. Police who investigated do not believe there was any attempt to break in. that the reader can become familiar with without actually living in them. He said the worlds created are usually ones people wouldn't normally live in but can become aware of through the books. Ile suggested the worlds could be "better ones created in fairy tales or terrible ones lived in by Hamlet". - The professor said. the books in question may contain portions that will be offensive to some people but added that. if only material that could be offensive to people was sought out The Bible or the works of Shakespeare could also fall into CONTINUED ON PAGE 6' L WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7, 1978 Single Copy 25c 24 PAGES Do we need Block Parents? "Do we really need a Block Parent PrograYnin Lucknow?" is perhaps-tlie most obvious question said Margaret McGee, chairman of the Ontario Block Parent Advisory Committee, when she spoke to a public meeting at the Town Hall on Tuesday, May 30. "You are a close knit community, and you all know one another. So there may be the attitude that there is no need for a program in. Lucknow," she said, "But, the danger is one that comes in from outside the community or passing through." People who harm children will not operate in their own community, but, it is a highly mobile society we live in, and these people will drive 40 or 60 miles to an area where nobody knows them. If their 'area is protected by a Block Parent program; they will drive to an unprotected area. Margaret was chairman of the first Block Parent program established in London in 1968 by the Clara Benton School area, after the murder and sexual assault of a London school boy. She has also been chairman of the London Central Block Parent Committee established when the program went city wide. She is now'serving as chairman of the Ontario Block Parent Advisory Committee and travels to communities throughout the province to speak to interested groups about establishing a program in their community. She was asked to speak to a public meeting in Lucknow by the Lucknow District Kmettes. Because of the number • of tourists who pass through Lucknow on highway 86 during the summer, it was observed during discussion at the .meeting, that a program would protect our children from any potential danger passing through. In a small community, incidents involving crime against children are usually kept quiet because they do involve children said Margaret, but, the police are aware of incidents. Several of the people who attended the meeting mentioned incidents they had heard about in 'the immediate area. The Early morning. fire Lucknow Fire -Department answered a call when the alarm sounded on Tuesday morning at 2.00. a.m. A car struck a utility pole one-half mile west of Kinloss on Highway 9 and burst into flames. The driver of the vehicle was pulled free and the Lucknow firemen were called because it was believed there was another person still inside the burning car. Deputy. fire chief, Bud Hamilton, said when the Lucknow firemen arrived, they distinguished the blaze and found no one else in the car. The driver of the car, Norman Trafford, is iii serious condition in Victoria Hospital, London. problem of rabid foxes was also discussed. Margaret told the meeting that Block Parents are encouraged to jook out for children during severe weather conditions. The principal of the school will phone the chairman of the Block Parent committee to tell her that the children are being sent home early and the members of the committee will phone the Block Parents to ask them to be on the alert. She felt that this.would be a real situation where a program in Lucknow would benefit the, children of our community. About 15 people attended the meeting including two representatives from the Ontario Provincial Police, Walkerton, and Andy Burgess, Kincardine detachment, who will screen potential Block Parents for the Lucknow program. The principal of the Lucknow Central Public, Charles Davies, who will spearhead the education of the children through the teachers in the classroom at the school, also attended. It is difficult sometimes to prove the effectiveness of the Block Parent program in a community because the statistics are negative, said Margaret. No one knows how many times Block Parent signswill ward off a potential molester who drives into a community and leaves because the area is protected. In the ten years that Margaret has been a Block Parent she has hada child come to her door only once, because children are taught to use the home of a Block Parent only in a case of real ,,necessity. If a program is functioning properly, the program will not be used. "You cannot prove something you are preventing," said Margaret. In London however, the police department has observed that, while the crime rate in the city has risen with the increase in population, the incidents of crime against children have not risen alarmingly. The Block Parent program indicates the community cares, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 • Students at Lucknow Central Public were up to their elbows in soap and water on Saturday when they held a day long car wash at the school to raise money for graduation ceremonies later this month. The wash, rinse, and wipe dry special raised S91.20.