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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2001-09-05, Page 7IVES lksY/ ci INSURANCE BROKERS LTD. "All Classes of Insurance" DOUG GOUGH, Broker 184 Dinsley St. W., Blyth Tel.: (519) 523-9655 Fax: (519) 523-9793 Visit us at: WWWWESINSURANCE.COM The HURON COUNTY HEALTH UNIT and the Huron County VETERINARY CLINICS are offering: ANTI-RABIES CLINICS For dogs and cats over 3 months of' age. Please have them on leashes or in boxes when in the clinic Includes GST. Per animal vaccinated. Certificate provided. Tags for dogs. The following Huron County Clinics are participating: Cost: $15 Blyth Veterinary Clinic Queen St. S., Blyth Sept. 15, 2001 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Brussels Veterinary Clinic 61 William St., Brussels Sept. 12, 2001 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Sept. 15, 2001 12.00 noon to 4:00 p.m. Clinton Veterinary Services 275 Huron St., Clinton Sept. 12, 2001 2:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Sept. 15, 2001 9:00 a.m. to noon Exeter Animal Hospital 660 Main St., Exeter Sept. 12, 2001 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Sept. 15, 2001 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Wingham Veterinary Clinic 11 Alfred St., Wingnam Sept. 12, 2001 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Sept. 15, 2001 9:00 a.m. • noon Seaforth Veterinary Clinic Main St. N.,-Seahrth Sept. 12 2001 1.00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Sept. 15, 2001 8:00 a.m. to noon Zurich Veterinary Clinic 44 Main St., Zurich Sept. 12, 2001 .12 noon to 5:00 p.m. Sept. 15, 2001 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Goderich Veterinary Services R.R. #2, Hwy. #8 Goderich Sept. 12, 2001 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Sept. 15, 2001 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Kirkton Veterinary Clinic 19 Orange Ave., Kirkton Sept. 12, 2001 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Sept. 15, 2001 12:00 noon to 4:00 p.m. These Clinics are for Rabies Vaccination only. No other treatment will be available. Perth County is also holding clinics on the same date. Contact your area veterinarian for times. • Back in action The youngest arrivals at Brussels Public School lined up on Tuesday morning to begin the first day of a new school year. (Photo by David Blaney) A "BIGGEST, BEST, FIRST EVER" R :ANA Saturday, September 22nd 9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. ) , Huron County Museum / 110 North St., GODERICH „„„ A chance to "VVIN A DREAM VACATI ON - Night Stay For A Couple PA A Sandals Resort in JarflaiCa Details on website www.ettravel.com THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2001. PAGE 7. Community reps, consultants trade fit-for-tat By Stew Slater Special to The Citizen Partners in a consultant's group hired to analyze enrolment projec- tions for the Avon Maitland District School Board spent significant por- tions of a meeting Monday, Aug. 27 trading tit-for-tat barbs with munici- pally-appointed and community- based representatives looking into the same issue. However, despite the fact the con- sultants were being paid an addition- al fee for the meeting, on top of the fee already paid for their report, Avon Maitland officials expressed confidence the meeting was worth- while. "The very fact that we held the meeting was useful," argued Superintendent Bill Gerth, the man co-ordinating the board's current round of so-called Community Accommodation Study Committee (CASC) meetings, aimed at gather- ing information prior to looming decisions about tackling declining enrolment. A study by the London-based con- sultant's group. Urban Analysis Group, presents a series of long-term projections for Avon Maitland enrol- ment, then offers a wide range of possible remedies. Those remedies include many possible school clo- sures, but board officials have repeatedly stated these represent just one of the many factors to be con- sidered by trustees. "The fact that (the consultants) explained their methodology was very important," Gerth said. "Because, despite what some people suggested tonight, the methods used by the consultants is a very complex process and we need a lot of thought to work through it." Concerns about the complexity of those methods formed the basis of just one of the barbs tired during the meeting, which was called by Gerth to provide equal opportunity for members of all four regional CASCs to address the consultants, following a special request early in the summer from the Central/West region. "This (method) can be accom- plished quickly by a first year uni- versity student in geography. Why wasn't a more sophisticated approach taken?" asks a written sub- mission, distributed as information at the meeting, from Allan Stewart, who was identified as the "alternate" of two municipally-appointed South region CASC members present from St. Marys. St. Marys Councillor Kerry Campbell was the other St. Marys municipal representative. Previous to that question among a list of five queries, Stewart asks, "What are the qualifications of the Urban Analysis Group? Either they are demographic consultants or edu- cation consultants. I doubt that they are both — and maybe neither." Principle Urban Analysis Group partner Harry Taylor, asked by Gerth to respond to the two written sub- missions before taking questions from the floor, referred to the five- question list as "Mr. Stewart's mis- sive." He also made reference to a document prepared by Stewart, which was not made available to the general public but was circulated among members of the South region CASC, and suggested Stewart had accused Urban Analysis Group of conducting "unconscionable" and "duplicitous" work. • Then, when addressed by the only other person to submit written ques- tions, Seaforth lawyer Fred Leitch, Taylor said Stewart's questions "weren't very intelligent." Leitch, who acted in provincial court on behalf of the group which successfully challenged the 1999 Avon Maitland decision to close Seaforth District High School, was much more successful at eliciting reasoned responses from Taylor and his partner, Bill Code. His list of 12 questions included concerns about the group's use of 1991-96 Canadian census data — instead of numbers from a broader time period — and the level of consultation undertaken with the region's planners. Taylor responded point-by-point to Leitch's submission, arguing that the trend towards migration of younger adults out of the area means enrolment decline will continue. "What we would argue is that Huron and Perth are not going to experience the kind of growth that was experienced, as a composite, between 1985 and 1995," Taylor said. Probed by Leitch about the group's concentration on one partic- ular growth scenario, Code com- mented, "the problem is if you take the highest rate we gave you, you're still closing schools." To this, Leitch responded, "Yes, but not as many." F.E. Madill Secondary School council representative Bob Pike, from Wingham, sided with the con- sultants, suggesting CASC members should keep the quality of a student's education as the top priority and think less about saving particular buildings. "The real problem isn't the validi- ty of the projections. I think we already have an (enrolment) problem that exists today," Pike argued, before suggesting the board must decide how it can put as much money as possible into the programs inside each of its schools. Pike was eventually cut short., however, after Trustee Charles Smith observed that he seemed not to be working towards the formula- tion of a question. Later, Pike was challenged by Campbell. "Every town should have every opportunity to have its own school," the St. Marys councillor said. Campbell and Leitch also both challenged the consultants about the comprehensiveness of their list of closure recommendations. Leitch noted there was no mention of send- ing Grades 7 and 8 students from Seaforth Public School to Seaforth high school, nor of converting Central Huron Secondary School in Clinton to a junior kindergarten-to- Grade-12 institution. And Campbell wondered about the possibility of closing Stratford Central Secondary School and sending students to Stratford Northwestern and high schools in Mitchell and St. Marys. It was Gerth who responded, say- ing, "you're making the assumption that, because it wasn't cofisidered by the Urban Analysis Group, it isn't going to be considered by the board. And that's not necessarily the case."