HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2001-04-18, Page 20gloW Pek
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All up for grabs
Community people turned out to support the Brussels Optimists in their fundraising for Sick
Children's Hospital at the dinner and auction on Saturday night. Those in attendance crowded
around the grand prize of a wide-screen television donated by five area insurance companies.
The support for the event surpassed even last year's auction with a total of $20,000 coming in.
(Vicky Bremner photo)
Farmers urged to attend
foot and mouth info meeting
Farmers and the farm community
need to be better informed and
prepared for the chance that Canada
may someday face a potential-
foreign animal disease outbreak such
as the foot and mouth (FMD)
outbreak currently affecting the
United Kingdom and Europe.
For this reason, the Huron County
Pork Producers, the Huron County
Milk Committee, the Huron
Federation of Agriculture,- and the
Clinton OMAFRA office have
joined together to host an
information meeting set for
Wednesday, April 25, 7 - 10 p.m. at
the Seaforth Agri-Plex.
The meeting will feature Dr. Jim
Clark of the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency, Dr. Ernie
Sanford of Boehringer Ingelheim
and a representative from
OMAFRA. Discussion will focus on
how producers can take steps to
protect themselves and their farms
against au. outbreak.
They will also learn what would
happen if a disease like FMD
reached Canada. Eradication
N Please Recycle
Air/ This Newspaper
Old Zpme
Tountrp )3reakfast
Sunday, April 29
9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
at Londesboro Hall
• Eggs • Bacon • Sausage
• Pancakes and Hornet ries
Adults $5.00
Children Under 12 $3.00
Sponsored by Londesboro Lions Club
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
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Thank you everyone
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Thank you
isn't enough.
The Brussels Optimists
were overwhelmed this
past Saturday night by the
generosity of the entire
community for the many
forms of support shown for
their hospital fundraiser.
Early results show we
exceeded last year. Over
$20,000. profit will be entirely
donated to the children's
hospital fund.
PAGE 20.THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2001. r
Smith regrets single vote
on accommodation policy
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen
An uncharacteristically reserved
East/Central Huron-area repre-
sentative Charles Smith joined
fellow trustees in a unanimous vote
in favour of three "housekeeping
revisions" to the Avon Maitland
District School Board's Student
Accommodation Review policy.
But in an interview following the
vote at a regular board meeting
Tuesday, April 10, Smith admitted
he hadn't been nearly so quiet during
earlier considerations of the
revisions.
The revisions were brought
forward as recommendations from
the board's policy committee, which
Smith chairs, along with requests for
approval of two unrelated new
policies. But they were far removed
from the revisions Smith had
proposed in a notice of motion to the
board, submitted on Jan. 23, and
Smith lamented following the April
10 meeting that "I have only one
vote" on the policy committee.
A rewritten Student Apcom-
modation Review policy, which sets'
out the steps to be taken by the board
if it seeks to close schools, was
approved by the previous slate of
trustees on Oct. 10, following an
earlier ruling by the Ontario Superior
Court suggesting supporters of
Seaforth District High School
(SDHS) had been treated unfairly
when the board decided to close the
school. Smith, who wasn't a trustee
at the time, spearheaded the
successful campaign to save SDHS.
In submitting his Jan. 23 notice of
motion, he argued the revised policy
still failed to meet the requirements
for community consultation set out
by the rulings of -both the Superior
Court and Stratford-based judge
Thomas Heeney, who originally
heard the case and sent it to the
higher court. Smith proposed 12
different amendments, including
measures to allow for community
involvement through more stages of
the process, a broader area of
investigation for community study
groups, and the potential for
extending the length of the study
process.
At the time, trustees voted to refer
the notice of, motion to the policy
committee. Along with rookie
trustee Smith, that committee
includes the only three trustees who
returned from the previous board:
Don Brillinger of the Listowel area,
On April 15 just after 445 a.m.
Huron OPP were called to a
residence on Gypsy Lane in Blyth
over a theft. Sometime between 5
p.m. and 4 a.m. a person entered into
the backyard of the home and stole a
2000 red Honda Model RXCRA
ATV valued at over $9,000. The
keys had been in the ignition.
Anyone who knows the
whereabouts of the stolen property is
asked to call the Huron OPP or
LAWN
QUESTIONS?
Call...
Wed7iNaii®,
524-2424
Colleen Schenk from the Wingham
area, and board chair Wendy
Anderson, who has "ex officio"
membership on all board
committees.
"I voted in favour of each
amendment (at the policy
committee) and each time it was
voted down," Smith explained.
Instead, the committee put forward a
much smaller set of recommen-
dations: one revision to prevent the
selection of more than one
community study group public
representative from each of the
board's municipalities, and two
revisions stating the director of
education must seek trustee approval
before naming which schools could
be studied for closure.
Following the April 10 meeting,
Smith explained he supported the
less significant revisions because he
agreed they effectively clarified
portions of the policy which could
lead to confusion or lack of trustee
input. But he reiterated a board staff
member's earlier explanation that
they were "housekeeping" measures
and called them matters. of
"semantics," before stating he would
much rather have been defending his
notice of motion before the entire
board.
"Obviously, if .I were speaking to
the issues in the notice of motion, I
would still be greatly in favour of
them," Smith commented. "I am still
in support of more community input
. . . (But) from a procedural
standpoint, I've pretty much pushed
it as far as I can."
However, though he stands by his
argument that the board's Student
Accommodation Review policy still
contravenes the Ontario Superior
Court and the Heeney judgments, he
offered no hint that legal action
might be the next option either for
himself or the still-existent group he
founded to fight the potential closure
of SDHS.
But he didn't rule out the
possibility that the rulings could
once again become important to the
board, perhaps indirectly through the
activities of groups in other
communities or districts threatened
by school closure.
"That could play itself out some
day. It could very well play itself out
in another town," Smith said. "I
understand that a group from Arthur
has been looking very closely at the
Heeney decision to see if there's any
way they can use it in their
activities."
Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477
(TIPS)
procedures and the compensation What producers can do on their
program will be highlighted as part own farms will also be a key
of the program. component of the meeting.
Honda ATV stolen in Blyth