HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1984-11-21, Page 6Lucknow Sentinel, Wednesday , November 21, 1.984—ragli 6
• "The Sepoy Town"
The Lucknow Sentinel, P.O. Box 400 Lucknow NOG 2110
Telephone: 5284822
Established 1873
• Pat Livingston General Manager
Thomas Thompson - Advertising Manager
Sharon Dietz -Editor
Joan Helm - Compositor
Merle Elliott - Typesetter
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BLUE
RIBBON
AWARD
1984
Public input necessary
•Two public meetings. this -week will address the
proposal to locate a sewage treatment facility in West
Wawanosh Township just south of the village to service,
the Lucknow sewage works and the proposal by the arena
board to build a new arena. It is good that Lucknow
Village Council and West Wawanosh Township Council
have called these meetings to give the public the
opportunity to express their concerns.
While the members of both councils and the arena
board are elected representatives of the ratepayers, both
proposals •require direct public input before the councils
make, final decisions.
In the instance of the sewage treatment • facility,
• controversy has developed because •West Wawanosh
residents believe the location of the facility behind their
homes will reduce the real estate value of their properly.
The meeting Thursday night may also serve to indicate to
• Lucknow Village Council there is considerable opposition
to the proposal from .Lucknow ratepayers as well.• •
The meeting Tuesday night to discuss the. arena,
proposal was called 'by West Wawanosh Council when
they were asked to back the borrowing of funds to build
the new arena while the community raises the money. It
is possible that if West Wawanosh Township council had
not called a ratepayeri meeting to discuss the proposal, it
• would have been approved by all four municipalities
• involved in the operation of the arena without the rate-
payers knowing a new arena was being proposed or how
• much it is estimated to cost: •
Such a decision should not be made without public
input. It is the ratepayers who will foot the bill if the
community cannot raise the funds through a fund raising
• campaign. Judging by the controversy which developed
• the last time a new arena was proposed, the ratepayers
want a say in whether or not a new arena is built and how
' much it will cost.
If the four municipalities had agreed to back the
proposal in principle, it is possible the project could have
been approved by the arena board and the commitment
to build a new arena would have been made without any
consultation with the ratepayers. Such a project requires
•, public input and West Wawanosh Council made the right
decision in calling a ratepayers meeting to discuss the
proposal. ••
There is a great deal of controversy at present over the
lack of public !input regarding the construction of a new
outpatients and emergency. wing at Wingharn and
District Hospital. Hospital association members are
barred from attending hospital board meetings and the
press was asked to leave a •recent meeting which
discussed the progress of .the new wing. -
• The decision to launch a fund raising -campaign and
• proceed with 'the ,construction of the new wing Was also
made behind closed doors in a closed session of the
hosiiital board. :This meeting, in its attempt at secrecy
broke alltraditironal ,rules of procedure; as the board
passed the motion to proceed behind closed doors.
Procedure dictates that following discussion in closed
session, the, motion is to be made in open session.
• At its November session Huron County Connell closed
the doors to the council chamber while .the. entire ',county
• council. met in closed session for "open and frank
't discussion" on a recommendation to reconstruct the
• pioneer museum in Goderich.
• In the case of the hospital the public has been asked to
• contribute to the fund raising campaign to build the new
wing and the public has supported the hospital gener-
• onsly: In the instance of the county museum, whether the
council decides to replace the museum with a new,
• building or restructure the present building; the taxpayer
is going to foot the bill.•
The public/ has a right to know what is being said at the
closed sesions of both the hospital board and the Huron
• county council because they will pay the price.
West Wawanosh council's decision to call a ratepayers
meeting to discuss the arena proposal is an example to
other pubiically elected bodies. Public input is necessary
in making such significant decisions.
• The Lucknow meeting• to discuss the location of the
• sewage. treatment facility is long overdue. Perhaps
Lucknow Village council should have considered such a
meeting with West Wawanosh council and the township
ratepayers before they proceeded to take an option to
purchase the property.
• • "
•
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;•tr•''' •
•
•
•tt
Despite the chill in the air these mornings, the creative
• ;playground at Brookside Public School is still as popular as
ever as the children gather to play before the nine o'clock
bell. • • (Photos by Sharon Dietz)
• 11
Early second language education important
To the Editor:
••_,,
•
There has been quite a lot written in TO THE EDITOR
, the last few weeks about the French
Immersion question in area schools.
Unfortunately, many of the letters
• have revealed a lack of awareness of
the k importance of early second
language education, and more import-
antly cif the need for effective French
language instruction in our schools.
Although I am not directly involved
with the education system, many of
my friends have children in French
Immersion programs/in different areas
of the province. If these children are
typical of the products of French
immersion, then parents have little to
fear of the effects of such $raining on
their children. •• !
After several years. in which the
• English portion of their education may
suffer slightly at first; they are able to
express themselves better in two lang-
uages .than most of their peers can in
English only. In addition the exposure
to another language and culture seems
to make the children more aware of
the structure and usage of their own
language as well. Studies made under
the auspices of the Bilingualism Com-
missioner have suggested that biling-
ual children may indeed be higher
achievers academically than their uni-
lingual friends.
It is difficult in Huron or Bruce
Counties to readily sed the advantages
of being bilingual. There are few
native speakers of French resident in
either county,:,and little need to speak
any other language than English. Un-
fortunately, the future of many child:
ren in ,ourt area schools will involve
looking for employment opportunities
outside of southwestern Ontario., If
only for the sake of these people, ant
opportunity to acquire a basic ground-
ing 'in French in our local schools is
essential.
It has been stiggested by many
arguing against French Immersion
that the Core French program current-
ly in our schools is adequate to give a ,
basic grounding in French. I would '
suggest that this is not the case. Most
people have been exposed to just this
style of French instruction, and will
recall just how little was ever learned,
and how little has been retained.
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