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The Citizen, 1997-04-09, Page 1News ■ Sports_____■I:Special Business Provincial ministries join offices See page 6 Speed skater glides to gold at competition See page 8 Face of volunteer changing in today’s society See page 10 Counselling centre opens in Auburn church See page 11 A bear in the wood Residents of Brussels have been fascinated by the emergence of a carving, done at the home of Eric Ross and Deb Trollope this past week. When a large 100-year-old spruce tree died, the family called in chain saw sculpter Peter Mogensen of Mount Forest to work his magic. The work took roughly two days and cost approximately what it would to have the stump removed. Mogensen has being sculpting from wood for five years, travelling as far away as Pheonix to create his masterpieces. With a catalogue from which clients may choose, Mogensen says he can sculpt any animal. A water sealent and minimal treatment will keep the art in top form for a lifetime. Festival names new AD Ed. programs in jeopardy Bly th Festival has chosen award winning playwright and dramaturg Anne Chislett as the artistic director designate, to succeed Janet Amos for the 1998 season. The choice was made by the board of directors Sunday after a four-month search process in which 25 candidates were considered. Six people were interviewed for the job on Saturday and Sunday. "The candidates gave the board a range of different directions for the Festival to proceed in," said Keith Roulston, board president. "Although choosing a writer to head the theatre is a departure from having actors and directors, the board felt that it is entirely appropriate with our mandate of creating new plays. Anne Chislett brings a proven ability to help playwrights groom their scripts for best production." Chislett has served as a dramaturg (coaching playwrights as they prepare their scripts) for the Festival under the leadership of Janet Amos over the past two years. In that capacity she worked with first-time London playwright Nora Harding, whose play This Year, Next Year was a hit in the 1995 season. She has also served an internship in dramaturgy at the Banff Playwrights Centre and Canadian Stage. She has taught playwriting with the University of Western Ontario's Faculty of Part Time and Continuing Studies (1995) and in various courses for Theatre Ontario. As a playwright, Chislett was a winner of two Chalmers Awards, the most recent in 1996 for Flippin' In, a play for young audiences, produced by Young People's Theatre in 1995. She won the Chalmers Award in 1982 and the Governor General's Award for Playwrighting in 1983, for Quiet in the Land, which is being brought back to Bly th by Janet Amos as part of the 1997 Festival season. Her plays, including Quiet in the Land, Yankee Notions and The Tomorrow Box, have been produced by many theatres in Canada and abroad. A Japanese production of The Tomorrow Box received the "best production" award in Hiroshima in 1989. She has also written for radio and film. Chislett has a long association with Bly th, being one of the founders of Continued on page 23 By Janice Becker Citizen staff It’s budget time once again and for the Huron County Board of Education there is little good news mixed with a lot of bad. “Though the minister of educa­ tion stated there would be no fur­ ther reductions to education spending, I’m not sure what he meant by that,” said Director of Education Paul Carroll. “There are no more cuts than those he started a year ago, but those could result in a shortfall of $1.6 million.” “As the lowest spending public board in Ontario, we can no longer sustain spending reduction without severe jeopardy to student pro­ grams,” he said. On the block could be programs such as adult education, the French program could be reduced to core French, which could also be eliminated for Grades 1 through 3, or building Bly th has surplus By Janice Becker Citizen staff Blyth councillors received good news from Municipal Auditor Paul Seebach, April 7, when they learned they had attained a $50,633 surplus for 1996. However, that good news is tem­ pered by the fact that Blyth began 1996 with a net revenue of $113,273 and will go into 1997 with $58,533. Noting all village and district boards had a surplus for the year, Seebach said the fire area board made $5,000. “The water rates are now at a level which sustains the system,” said Seebach. “But,” added Councillor Rob Lawrie, “we don’t have enough to cover major expenses.” Child dies in hospital Funeral services were held Mon­ day afternoon for a 27-month-old East Wawanosh girl, who died trag­ ically last week. According to OPP, Shannon Vin­ cent, daughter of Neil and Joan of RR3, Wingham, was playing in the barn April 2 at approximately 11:20 a.m., while her parents worked. She wandered off and was found by her father, floating in a flooded run-off area, police said. With the help of a neighbour CPR was started until the ambu­ repairs may cease. HCBE did receive an increase in the board specific grants based on declining enrollment, board and school size, which could total $400,000 as well as a special assis­ tance grant for low spending, assessment-poor boards worth $380,000. Counteracting this is the fact that the per pupil grant has dropped 12.2 per cent, resulting in a $2.3 million loss. Considering these factors, the net reduction in grants to the HCBE will reach approximately $1.6 mil­ lion. In keeping with changes begun four years ago, the provincial gov­ ernment will ask property taxpayers to pick up an additional 3.3 per cent on the provincially-set standard mill rate. (Ratepayers must may 3.3 per cent more of the same total Continued on page 9 Seebach agreed. When questioned by Reeve Mason Bailey on the financial ben­ efits of amalgamation, Seebach said, “This level of government is the most responsible. With a small budget each dollar means more. The closer you are to the money, the more you look after it” “We would be betraying our peo­ ple if we just went along with amalgamation unless we are going to save money,” said Bailey. “We have control over the money now where we would have none (with amalgamation),” said Coun­ cillor Doug Scrimgeour, (in response to Seebach’s statement that a small municipality keeps its money in the community.) Seebach agreed that small munic­ ipalities would be similar to minor­ ity shareholders, with little say in matters. lance arrived. CPR and treatment for hypothermia continued until she was stable at the Wingham and District Hospital, before being transferred to London. Shannon passed away on April 4 in hospital. Besides her parents Shannon is survived by a sister, Margaret, grandparents Harold and Edith Vin­ cent of Belgrave and Robert and Muriel Osborne of RR5, Lucknow. Funeral services for Shannon were held Monday at Knox United Church, Belgrave.