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The Lucknow Sentinel, 1978-11-01, Page 4Page 4-,-Luc1 0, Sentinel. Weds . eade�►, Noweml�►e� �, 19!'1'$ Electio Ashfield reeve challenged About 30 ,people attended the Ashfield ratepayers' meeting in Brookside School on October 24, There will be an election for reeve this , year as Finlay MacDonald, former deputy -reeve, is challenging .Reeve .. Warren Zinn who has: held the position for four years. John Austin has been'acclaimed deputy - reeve to replace MacDonald and incum- bents Allan Gibson and Grant Fairish sit on council by • acclamation. Grant Curran. will be -the fourth member of council, 'sitting by acclamation to fill the vacancy left by Austin's move up to deputy -reeve. Candidate MacDonald said he is not running for reeve because he holds. any dislike for Reeve Zinn, on the contrary, he and Zinn are "the best of friends". Finlay said he has been on council for nine years and "I don't want to sit there forever". He said he wants to move up and he doesn't want the boys behind him to sit there forever, either. "It is a custom in Ashfield to work your way up," said MacDonald. He added that he feels confident he can handle the position. MacDonald sat for three years on the Huron County Council committee for social services and on the board of directors of the Children's Aid for the county. He said he was pleased to see that very' little of this money was needed in Ashfield and he thought that this speaks well for Ashfield. FLOOD PLAIN MAPPING MacDonald is Ashfield council's repres- entative on the Maitland Valley Conserva- tion Authority and, while council could'''not see the advantage to joining the Authority at first, he sees the Flood Plain Mapping, done by the .authority for the township to have some purpose., 'MacDonald said that the map `'shows 'the flood plain where building permits will not be issued and the fill line areas where building is permitted' but not advisable. The map protects the home buyer who could be taken in by the developer who will build 'a house any- where, sell .it and leave the owner with a house that is surrounded : by water the following ,spring. MacDonald said he believes the flood plain mapping protects the township in this - type of situation. MacDonald said that likewise council could not see the benefit of a waterfront study on the Port Albert and lakefront area of the township, but : they now are watching, with interest, the area below Goderich where a gully erosion project has been undertaken by the Maitland Author- ity, the township and the Ministry of Natural Resources. He said he was keeping an eye. on the. outcome of ,this, project because Ashfield has erosion problems along some of its lakefront property. He added . that the township may, at some, time, study the Lakeshore not covered in the waterfront study at this time. SECONDARY PLAN MacDonald said he wants council to "drag its. feet" on the township's secondary plan, The council is in the midst of the plan now and he thinks it is a good time for an election because it is future councils and the new councillors who will have to live with it. He said it is time to get. new people on council. He wants the plan to be prolonged to allow Ashfield the opportunity to learn from the mistakes made. in the plans already instituted by other municipalities. Amendments are costly and take time and he wants Ashfield to be satisfied with the plan when it is brought in. Reeve Warren Zinn told the meeting that he allowed his name to stand for another term because he wants a part in finishing the secondary plan. He wants to see it through. He agreed with MacDonald that council should take their time because the more often you work on the plan the better you understand it and sometimes you change your point of view about a part of it. Zinn agreed with MacDonald that to take more time on the secondary planwould not be the wrong thing to do at all. The meetings in the last several months have allowed council to learn from the mistakes made by others. The legal profession deal with such plans every day, he added, and they know about the amendments that have had to be made in other plansafter they were brought in. "There is a wide diversion of people in the township," said Zinn; `and we want everyone to be satisfied with it." Ashfield's plan will be different, he added, because of the diversion of interest in the township. Zinn told the ratepayers that there is no extra funds 'expected this year for tile drainage loans as in the past when additional funds' were allocated through the year. He said that council is looking at $100,000 of loans still to be allocated before the ,applications already made are filled. $8 MILLION BUDGET Zinn- spoke about the Huron County budget of approximately $8 million to operate the county. He was chairman of the Huronview Board of Management and noted that more people are able to pay. their own way, than before. He mentioned the forming of a fire area board with Lucknow and West Wawanosh, Kinloss, the building of the medical centre, the dental clinic and the senior citizens' residence which were other projects the four municipalities have co-operated on. "We haven't always agreed," said Zinn CONTINUED ON PAGE 5 Acclaim Ashfield council There will be no election for council in Ashfield on November 13. John Austin has been.acclaimed as deputy -reeve and Grant Curran: who was nominated to council was acclaimed to. take the vacancy left by Austin. Incumbent councillors, Allan Gib son and Grant Fairish were returned by acclamation. The four councillors for the 1978-80 term. spoke to those who attended the town- ship's ratepayers' meeting at Brookside School' on October 24. Councillor John Austin, Ashfield's dep- uty -reeve for the coming; term, said he is glad to have a local council in Ashfield where people can present complaints to elected officialswho are living in the township themselves. Ashfield ratepayers do not have to go to Clinton or Dublin to speak to their representatives, as they do with the school boards or present a brief to get into a meeting to make a complaint. Austin who was on the recreation committee said that Ashfield had slow pitch mens ball and ladies ball teams this past year. Eight hundred dollars was spent on ball equipment and $100. was donated by the Ashfield_ Federation of Agriculture. The Dungannon, ball diamond was com- pleted last year at a total cost of $8,500 with grants available amounting to $4,300. ost board to settle by arbitration Eugene Frayne, Catholic' representative for the township of Ashfield' on the Huron County Board of Education saidlast week that , the school board was not hesitant enough in going to arbitration to settle the teachers' strike last winter. Frayne, speaking to the Ashfield rate- payers' meeting said the strike was rough on everyone; the teachers, the parents, the trustees' and the students. He said the board was influenced to go to arbitration by the parents of the students who on one Book,. controversy...... CONTINUED FROM P.:1 teacher and discussing it . with them. privately. She said it is more effective if a parent goes to the teacher and has it done quietly. Grace Austin said that Zinn had not answered her question and asked again if Zinn would continue to vote for books, such as the Diviners, which she called "imnior al" Zinn, replied that the books were being taught to a class of grade 13 students at Exeter high school. "You are dealing with students but they- are also adults, said Zinn. "But the school is to instil the principles the parents are teaching at home," said Austin. "I would sooner have a book read In a controlled classroom situation than lave it. tucked under a students pillow and read by flashlight," commented Zinn. Mrs. Austin went on to say that there are pa .. ,, rts of the "The Dtvitiers that she was sure, Mr's. Zhu would net 'want to read in front of the meeting -assembled before her. Zinn replied that there were parts of the "The. Diviners" that she would not feel comfortable reading to a room full of people, -but there were also parts of the Bible that she would not want to read in front of a room full of people. Mrs. Austin • said that is a different situation when a book Is taught in school because it gives respectability to a book to consider it in school". Mrs. Zinn then remarked that after teaching Sunday School for 35 years, "I have my principles." She went on to say that if you have been teaching a child since he or she was knee high, when' that child comes to be an adult, he or she knows what to do, %en Alton asked 'Zinn if she would vote to keep a book such as the "The Diviners" on the school . curriculum, if such a vote carne up in the "future, and Mrs. Zinn answered that she would have to read the book before she decided. hand said "don't give those teachers one cent but get our kids back in school The board•hesitated to go to arbitration because they had been warned it would cost the board to settle through arbitration. As it turned out, it cost the board more money than it wanted to spend, to get the school system going again. On the book issue Frayne said he had disagreed with, . the use of the three controversial books in the -school system. He said that books of the type of Catcher in the Rye, : The Diviners and Of Mice and Men should be kept on .a minimum .in the schools:.. He • said that °they, :should ;be restricted to grades, 11 - 13. "There is, a danger in our permissive society to allow them into the lower grades," he said "In the end, is the quality of the product, worth the bad parts?" Frayne said he was not impressed by Catcher in the Rye, yet a techet` he knows thought it one of the best being used in the schools and said that it had been in use in the system for years. Teachers. in Huron, have a Christian background and live a Christian life and we are very fortunate to have them said Frayne. "But what happens if the book "Of Mice and Men" is taught,by a person who believes in euthanasia, because the end of that book a man shoots his friend's brains out and thinks he is doing his buddy a favour?'' Frayne also 'said that he wondered if parents were aware that. the health pro. gram in, the schools is as broad as it is and that it covers every detail and every scope. The teachers are told to teach with sensitivity but it is difficult to teach moral standards in secondary schools with so many beliefs, said Frayne. It is not hard to CONTINUED ON PAGE In reference to the Lucknow District Swimming Pool, Austin commended Bill Hunter who is chairman of the Lucknow Recreation Committee. "You have no idea the work that man goes through," said Austin, "He is an excellent, dedicated man." Ashfield's share of the deficit for last year to operate the pool was $1,000 and this year is $500. Under the fire agreement with Kinloss, Lucknow and West Wawanosh, Ashfield pays $100 a fire and the remaining opera- , tional costs of the fire department are split four ways. The other three municipalities have bought into the Ashfield tanker truck and Ashfield has bought into the Lucknow Fire Department equipment. The depart- ment has two pumpers, a tanker and a fire car. The budget for the past year was $12,030. Austin said a great deal of time ' was spent on drains and that anyone who hasa municipal drain which breaks up should notify council to have it repaired. FOREIGN OWNERSHIP Austin said that he is concerned about the forejgn ;ownership of land; in Ashfield Township. A considerable 'amount of property • in the township has been purchased by a German company and, while the • land is• being farmed, the buildings are being left to fall to pieces: As oneperson said to Austin, "Do you want this township to look like Hillbilly land?" The municipal council cannot do much to stop foreign ownership, but the rapepayers should try to do something through their local associations and members of parlia- ment. Councill Allan Gibson sits on the fire committee for the Goderich Fire Depart- ment, which served the southern end of .the township, outside the Lucknow fire area. The total budget for expenses of the Goderich department was $65,032 for last year and, the proposal presented to Ashfield was to charge the township 24 per cent or $2,379 for fire protection. In addition Ashfield would pay four per cent toward the $12,000 spent for new equip- ment each year. Council decided that Ashfield just could not spend this much on fire protection for the southern end of the township. They are awaiting a proposal for a flat rate per fire. Gibson said that he and council have spent so many hours working on the township's secondary plan that he is "almost getting,sick of the sight of it He said if anybody has a problem on it, to speak up now, not after it's passed. He added it will probably take another year or two before the plan is passed. Grant Fairish of the'arena board told the ratepayers that, alongwith the Lucknow and District Kinsmen, the four municipal- ities who are represented on the Lucknow Arena Board have completed improve- ments to the arena. Vinyl has been installed around the ice surface, a new roof and floor have been completed in 'the front area and the exterior has been painted. Dressing rooms to be built on the south Side of the arena are being considered by the board, the Lucknow Kinsmen and the Intermediate Hockey team. Grant Curran, who was elected to council by acclamation, told the ratepayers that, if there is anything he could do, he would sure give it a try. /le said he was looking. forward to the pleasure of working with council and wishes the candidates for reeve of the township the best of luck in the upcoming election: