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The Citizen, 1996-05-15, Page 1Honoured Entertainment Smiling on the job Spring may be a long time coming, but the clean-up is underway. Students in Blyth Public School's Grade 3/4 class took advantage of the morning sunshine on Wednesday to do a clean up of the fairgrounds at the Community Centre. It might be work, but being out of school on a nice day brought smiles to Grade 4 students Katelyn Linner, left and Heather Elliott. Province pulls plug on CISC Community TV crew visits Blyth to film promo segment See page 3 Sports Olympian visits with Blyth Public School students See page 6 BMG Rec Board honours volunteer groups See page 21 Playwright brings story of deep affection to Blyth See page 23 The North Huron • t Crops lien okay... so far Builder buys HCBE office By Janice Becker Upon announcing the sale of the Huron County Board of Education headquarters building in Clinton and the probable September reloca- tion to Central Huron Secondary School, Paul Carroll, director of education says, "the move will have more of a psychological effect. We will be reminded daily why (the board) exists." Referring to the constant pres- ence of .students with a relocation to the secondary school, Carroll believes the move will have posi- tive benefits for both the adminis- tration and the school. "There is the potential for cost savings for both facilities with the sharing of services," he says. "It is possible the publishing (photocopy- ing, etc.) needs can be eliminated from one location." The purpose of the sale of the Education Centre was to reduce permanent operating costs for the administration as well as major repair costs required for the struc- ture. It is estimated those savings will be $1,000,000 over 10 years. Planning committees have been established to ease the move to CHSS. The school has a capacity of 1,450 but now accommodates only 650 students. The board offices will use space in the Centennial Wing, which is presently used by the Learning Resources Centre. Due to the administration reloca- tion, CHSS will get an upgraded Physics lab when it is moved to accommodate office space. Other cost savings will be seen through the integration of computer systems, video-conferencing needs and community resources such as the library and technology. "The incorporation of administra- tive services into CHSS guarantees the long term viability of the school as a full service facility, serving the needs of secondary adolescents, special programs, and adult popula- tions currently served by the school," says Roxanne Brown, chair of the board and trustee for Clinton. The Education Centre has been purchased by Doug Mason Build- ing Products Ltd., Dorchester. He intends to undertake major renova- tions to create a number of retire- ment apartments. Confirmation of the deal is expected at the June meeting of the board. Mischief at EWPS Officers from the Wingham OPP are investigating some mischief which occurred at East Wawanosh Public School on the weekend. According to school secretary Doris Robinson, damage was done to the playground by a vehicle. "There were a lot of ruts and tire marks all over the yard in a lot of different places." The incident was reported to police on Saturday morning by a passerby. No further details were available at press time. By Bonnie Gropp The shift of priorities that occurred with the new provincial government has resulted in the plug being pulled on a Huron County business venture. The Huron Business Develop- ment Corporation received word last week that there would be no provincial funding for its Commu- nity Investment Shares Corporation (CISC). According to Paul Nichol with the Huron Business Centre, the idea had been to establish a financial vehicle in small commu- nitites for the purpose of local investment in local business. Peo- ple now investing their money in traditional methods, such as mutual funds, would be given the opportu- nity to help local business with their investment. It would have been run by shareholders who would have made the decisions on the investments. "It is contributing to local devel- opment, and getting your share of the investment," said Nichol. The change in government, how- ever, put the project on hold last July. —The new government came in and asked themselves whether this type of project was what they were about," said Nichol. The let- ter sent to the HBCD from Assis- tant Deputy Minister Brian Riddell states, "The government is commit- ted to local economic development, job creation and to promoting a positive business climate, but believes these goals will best be achieved without government pro- vision of financial assistance to businesses." "So after 11 months of waiting, they've basically pulled the plug," says Nichol, adding by last summer the Corporation had developed marketing and investment strate- gies and were ready to sell shares. "Now we've lost the opportunity to help local people interested in helping local ventures. We have no plans to pursue this program at this time." By Janice Becker "The wet, cool weather continues to delay the planting of some crops, however, much of the spring grains and corn are in," says Tom Hart- man, a crop consultant with OMAFRA. Farmers are getting out on the land, but are delayed if the soil is heavy or the area has received greater amounts of rain, he says. The temperatures have been con- sistently cool so any crops that are planted have not yet started to grow and will not be affected by the low temperatures. "If we get some warm weather later this week or next, the crops should be fine. If temperatures don't increase by about May 20, we may start to slip on yield potential." Hartman says there have been no farmers looking into shorter day corns yet, but the next week will tell the tale. Johns feels budget full of good news By Janice Becker Huron MPP Helen Johns believes the recently-announced provincial government budget to be a good news budget which will stimulate the economy and help small busi- nesspeople. Wingham was among the stops made by Johns, May 10, as she toured the county explaining the Mike Harris budget and answering the questions of businesspeople and community members. It was a run down of Harris's Top Ten list as Johns detailed how vari- ous components in the budget would affect local ratepayers. Starting with the point of least impact, Johns said her government had gotten rid of some of the red tape associated with running a busi- ness. There would be a decrease in corporate taxes and accounting fees associated with filling out the forms. Corporations would now use the federal government's forms and rates. The tax on race track earning would be reduced to the same rate as casinos, making them more com- petitive and giving them the poten- tial to create jobs. Johns, who is against video lottery terminals located at raceways, was very inter- ested in speaking with the commu- nities involved to determine if this form of gambling would come to Huron County. "The community will have to decide," she said. The next tax reduction outlined affects the self-employed. They will no longer have to pay the employer health tax. "They will be Continued on page 19 Vol. 12 No 20 Wednesday, May 15, 1996 700 + 5c GST750