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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2002-10-16, Page 1When I grow up John David Nesbit, son of Johnnie and Krista of Brussels, gets an early lesson on being a firefighter as he gets behind the wheel of the big truck during Thursday night's open house at the Brussels firehall. wacky Bremner photo) Bd. talks over funding model i czen • t • i Volume 18 No. 40 Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2002 75 Cents (70c + 5c GST) Inside this week Pg. 3 Pg. 6 Pg. 7 Pg. 11 Bloom judges results are in Brussels postmaster retires Local CHSS grads get awards Home improvement section begins Pg. 27 BvviiittchhipeslnWsalk Man dies in single vehicle crash A citizen contacted Huron-OPP on Oct. 12 at 8 a.m. over a single vehicle crash on Baseline Road (County, Rd. 8) in Hullett Twp. located in Central Huron. Officers attended a location just south of Auburn. A black two-door 1999 Mazda was found on the west side of the road in a small park near the Maitland River. The driver of the car was found several metres away. Paramedics and the Blyth Fire Department also responded to the crash but were unable to assist the. driver Gregory McKeachnie, 39, -of Kincardine. who was pronounced dead at the scene by a coroner. Officers have learned that the driver of the Mazda had been northbound on Baseline Road and navigating around a curve in the road when the vehicle left the roadway entered the ditch, struck the bank of a private driveWay before going airborne. The vehicle rolled several_times and in the process the driver was ejected from the car and thrown several metres away from the car. Further investigation has indicated that the crash took place sometime around 2 a.m. that morning. Farmer finds pot plot On Oct. 8 in the early evening a farmer out harvesting his corn,- discovered 33 marijuana plants on Martin Line-in Morris Twp. The Huron OPP thank the farmer and remind all farmers to call if any plants arc discovered during the harvest season. Men back from cross- Canada tour . By Janice Becker Citizen sniff For the second time in 28 years, the Shorthorn World Conference was held in_ Canada, under the guidance of Ross Procter of Morris and his co-planner Ian McRae of Ayr. Every three years since 1974, shorthorn breeders and enthusiasts along with others in the beef cattle industry gather for an international conference on current issues and concerns. Procter and McRae, with the assistance of representatives from each province, created both a two- day conference, Sept. 21 and 22 in REL, and a three-week cross- country tour which highlighted the agricultural, cultural and scenic splendor of this country. Beef producers from Argentina, New Zealand, Australia, England, Ireland, - Scotland, Zimbabwe, United States and Canada, began their tour in Nova Scotia on Sept. 19. While there, they visited shorthorn farmers and attended a county fair in WindSor at which many shortltOrns and other cattle breeds were on display. The conference that weekend was held at the veterinary college in Charlotte, P.E.I. There were well-known speakers at the seminar and, according to comments expressed to Procter, they were exceptional. "I wanted to write a note to them to tell them there was only one problem with their talks," said Procter. "Everyone had a hard time sleeping through them." Dr. Otto Radostis, DMV, MS, spoke on infectious diseases and management vaccination programs and biosecurity and Charles Gracey, former CEO of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association, discussed new challenges for breeders. Dr. Rodger Hunsley spoke on ,challenges and opportunities for "'shorthorns and Procter talked about shorthorns being a vital link in the global beef industry. Representatives from each country also provided an update of their national industries. With the completion of the seminar, participants were on the bus and heading West. While in Quebec, they not only visited farms, but also toured some of the province's historic and scenic locations. A feature attraction was the Shadybrook sale, which drew 400- 500 people, said Procter. One bull at the auction sold for $100,000 and the average price was just over $10,000, he said. Continued on page 10 By Stew Slater Special to The Citizen As a follow-up to its recent oral presentation to an arms-length commission studying the provincial government's educational funding formula, the Avon Maitland District School Bqard will submit a specially- requested model for assessing the needs-of small schools. Following a board meeting Monday, Oct. 7, trustees briefly conducted an open public discussion about a draft "conceptual model for small schools funding," prepared -by Avon Maitland staff for the Education Equality Task Force. The government-mandated commission, chaired by University of Guelph official Dr. Mordechai Rozanski, requested the model from the board, among three of the questions it posed after board chair Colleen Schenk spoke to the Task Force during recent public hearings in London. Avon Maitland Director of Education Lorne Rachlis distributed the draft model to trustees, seeking their immediate thoughts as well as asking them to consider it prior to a planned discussion of the final document at the board's next regular meeting, Oct. 22. The Rozanski commission is expected to release . its recommendations to the education ministry in November. The draft document proposes two different ways of addressing -a concern which was mentioned by various presenters during the Task Force's public hearings: that small schools are inadequately served by the province's per-pupil funding formula. According to Rachlis, when the enrolment decreases by one student at some small schools, the amount of money needed to continue operating that school with the same level of service doesn't necessarily also decrease by the province's per-pupil amount. "It's really our contention that not all those expenditures walk away with the departure of the student," Rachlis explained. "For example„ you don't take away a fifth of a volleyball. Some of the equipment has to stay." Under the draft document's first option, expenditures are divided into "fixed" and "variable" components, with the cost of the variable portion decreasing proportionally with a decrease in enrolment. The , fixed component, however, doesn't necessarily decrease proportionally with a decrease in enrolment, and may remain at a previous level and, therefore, cause a deficit in the school's budget under per-pupil funding. These factors are used alongside a comparison between the "ideal" school size represented by the provincial funding formula (363 students, for elementary schools) and the average school size of any given board (275 in Avon Maitland territory). Under the board's proposed formula, Rachlis suggested, an extra $1.3 million in small schools funding would be available for the Avon Maitland board at budget time. The director of education credited South Huron trustee Randy Wagler for proposing the second option, which would broaden the concept of "top-up" grants which are already available to certain boards and schools needing facilities renewal. Wagler expanded on the idea, suggesting that if the government's ideal-sized elementary school receives adequate per-pupil funding to pay a full-time principal, then any school with fewer than 363 students must be receiving somewhat less than .that amount. He proposed that any school with fewer students, perhaps down to a certain level where low enrolment . might cause other problems, could receive a sufficient top-up grant to retain the same level of principal support. In the draft document, the top-up calculation is only applied to principals, and Wagler suggested he resisted applying it to other expenditures because they didn't lend themselves as easily to adapting the top-up model. But Stratford. trustee Rod Brown wondered if both the "fixed/variable" and "top-up" options might be rolled into one. And -he suggested Wagler's top-up idea might, be adaptable to other expenditures. Trustees Meg Westley (Stratford) and Charles Smith (East/Central Huron) agreed. Rachlis said all suggestions would be considered before finalizing the docuMent for trustee approval. He advised, however, that _it might be best to propose a concept that would be politically and financially attractive to government 'decision- makers. "My preference would be to have something that's as simple as possible and as defensible as possible," he said.