HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1996-04-17, Page 1Vol. 12 No. 16
Wednesday, April 17, 1996
610 -4- 40 GST65174
The North Huron
itizen
Hoop dreams
Cole Stewart, left, hopes he makes this
shot, while Kirk Stewart, right is hoping
just as hard that he won't. Standing by
to step in is Devin Shannon. A group
of local men held a clinic last Saturday
at Blyth school. Youngsters were given
tips on dribbling, passing and shooting,
then played in a tournament. Every boy
and girl received a certificate for their
participation.
Education
Education's shrinking
share of the pie continues
to plague board
Sports
6 page section
commemorates local
hockey season
Milestone
Brussels Legion Ladies
Auxiliary marks 50th
birthday
See page 25 See page 6 Starting page 13
Tax revolt response
pleases Blyth reeve
By Bonnie Gropp
With what appears to be strong
support for the Blyth 'tax revolt'
Reeve Mason Bailey sought coun-
cil permission to continue pressur-
ing municipalities to get behind
them.
Clerk John Stewart told council
on April 15 that 83 municipalities
to date had voiced their support of
the letter sent requesting no further
collection of the education tax
through the municipal offices as of
Jan. 1, 1997. A total of 754 letters
were sent with 132 responding as
of April 15.
Twelve councils supported the
letter in principal regarding the
removal of education tax from
property, but 10 of these stated they
did not agree with the refusal to
collect, Stewart said.
Seven municipalities did not sup-
port the recommendation, while 16
others referred it to a committee of
council. Fourteen were received
and filed.
Bailey said that he had heard
from chambers of commerce and
other organizations from Sarnia,
London, Cambridge, Orangeville,
Kincardine, Huntsville, Coburg,
Kenora and Woodstock, who
expressed their support and agreed
to lobby their municipal councils.
Bailey is meeting with the Huron
Federation of Agriculture in the
hopes of gaining their support as
well.
He said he would like to follow
the letter with another that would
provide an update and encourage
further response. He also noted that
a request for funding assistance
might be included to cover mailing
costs for the village.
Stewart said he had estimated the
cost the first time at $1 per letter,
which he now believed might have
been a little inflated. It took office
staff three days to complete the
mailing, though they did not work
steadily at it over that time.
"I'm more than elated with the
positive response. I didn't expect so
much so soon, therefore I feel we
don't need to be too afraid to say
we're going to proceed. If all who
said they would support us will do
This year marks the 10th
anniversary for the Law Enforce-
ment Torch Run for Special
Olympic and Blyth's own Kendra
Carter will be leading the way on
her bicycle.
Const. Linc Dinning of the
Wingham OPP expects the run will
be going through Blyth at
the it I think the province will
respond."
Stewart said he had received a
letter from the Ministry of Educa-
tion, which had been informed of
the action by the provincial Finance
Minister Ernie Eves. "He told them
to prepare a report. I think the
province knows some change has
to come."
Councillor Rob Lawrie noted that
if support continued as it had the
province would be forced to fmd a
new method for paying for educa-
tion. "You can cripple the system
with the first payment. They'll have
to change it."
After Mason suggested that Blyth
"keep the pressure on", council
passed a motion approving the fol- .
low-up mail campaign.
During public question period,
Con van Vliet commended council
on their efforts with regards to this
matter.
After thanking him for his com-
ments Bailey explained his reasons
for action. "If we continue to lose
transfer payment, if the county con-
tinues to lose millions in transfer
payments, if they keep cutting pay-
ments to the board of education we
won't be able to pay. The reason for
our success in this is because other
municipalities without industrial
bases understand this fact. How
could we maintain roads and ser-
vices. We are going to have to raise
more money."
Van Vliet then asked if council
had considered how education
would be paid. Bailey recalled the
proposal made several years ago by
the Fair Tax Commission request-
ing that education be funded by
taxes collected from the people.
"We'll still be paying but not on
property."
"Our concern is for Blyth
ratepayers. We're concerned about
these other people, too," said Bai-
ley, tapping the list of other munic-
ipalities, "but we're concerned
about the future of Blyth. If educa-
tion is funded through one source,
it could solve a lot of concerns
about education."
"Little old Blyth can't do it all,
but we're going to do this,". Bailey
finished.
approximately 11:15 a.m. on
Tuesday,' April 30. A group of
students from Blyth Public School
are also expected to join in.
Anyone interested in making a
donation to this year's torch run can
drop it off at the Wingham OPP
detachment or the Blyth Public
School prior to April 30.
Spring raises water levels
By Janice Becker and cold," says Paul Weitendorf
With the last of the snowfalls with the Maitland Valley Conserva-
hopefully over and the spring thaw tion Authority.
well underway, streams and rivers
in the area are running above nor- Water levels are up, but are grad-
mal levels. ually receding, he says, and unless
"Parents are reminded to keep there is a lot of rain over the next
children away from water courses few days, serious flooding is not
because they are fast-moving, deep expected.
Blyth girl leads Torch Run