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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2002-12-18, Page 1Spreading Christmas cheer Members of Duff's United Church in Walton spread Christmas cheer and enjoyed a fun family night with a hayride and carol sing on Friday. (lAcky Bremner photo) NORTH HURON PUBUSHING COMPANY INC. Inside this week pg. 2 .J pickbest Pg 6 Wescast donates to schools Pg. Brussels Bantams 0 win tourney A School donates to r• -LI food bank Di, 12 People get chance to learn about NMA e Citizen Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Volume 18 No. 49 Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2002 75 Cents (70c + 5c GST) Festival cuts deficit At its recent annual general meeting the Blyth Centre for the Arts (Blyth Festivapannounced that its operating deficit had been slashed by more than $60,000. The deficit, sustained in 2000/2001 stood at more than $125.000. The 2001/2002 operating surplus of $63,010 cuts the operating deficit in half. 2002 Festival ticket sales of almost $600,000 and a $90,000 reduction in operating expenses were the two main reasons for the deficit reduction. "This is a great result for 2001/2002," said General Manager John Shaw. "Our goal for 2002/2003 is to reduce the deficit even further." The Outdoor Donnellys and Bamboozled: He Won't Come In From The Barn, Part II were the best-selling productions of the 2002 festival and enjoyed many sold-out performances. By popular demand, Barnboozled will return to Memorial Hall's stage in 2003. Sales for Goodbye, Piccadilly, Filthy Rich and The Drawer Boy were all better than anticipated. "Our mandate to produce Canadian plays that reflect the local area, the region and the country clearly sets Blyth apart from other theatre companies and gives us a formula for artistic and financial success," said Shaw. "This company has an energy and a vision that is driven by its determination to develop and produce new Canadian plays. Building on its success in 2002, ticket sales for 2003 are almost 60 per cent ahead of the same time last year. The Perilous Pirate's Daughter by former Artistic Director Anne Chislett and David Archibald heads the playbill followed by Leaving Home by David French, Hippie by Jonathan Garfinkel, Kelly McIntosh and Paul Thompson and Having Hope At Home by David S. Craig. The remount of Bamboozled rounds Out the 2003 season. By Stew Slater Special to The Citizen Renovations will definitely take place within the recently-closed Seaforth District High School (SDHS) to allow for the relocation of students now accommodated at Seaforth Public School. But trustees of the Avon Maitland District School Board decided not to grant space inside the building to the other agency which currently uses the Seaforth Public School property: a provincially-licensed daycare centre called Seaforth Co-Operative Childcare Centre, Inc. At a regular meeting Tuesday, Dec. 10, trustees unanimously approved a plan to relocate the students. The $680,000 plan includes changing the former technology wing of the high school into a library, computer resource centre and kindergarten classrooms, alteration of the outdoor grounds to accommodate an elementary-leel playground area, and other changes both inside and outside the building. There's also almost $125,000 in renovations to the board's administrative offices, which were added on to the SDHS building when the Huron and Perth County boards of education underwent amalgamation in the late 1990s. That part of the plan would see adminitrative space expand into what used to be the high school's library, cafeteria, and an isolated southeast wing that's separated from the rest of the school by a small flight of stairs. Prior to considering the plan, trustees heard a delegation from Kevin Williamson, a representative from the daycare centre. ' He explained that the organization currently owns and uses two "portable" structures located on the Seaforth Public School grounds, as well as hosting an after-school program inside a board-owned portable at the same location. Williamson asked trustees to grant space to the childcare group within the southeast wing and cafeteria, stressing that the location of the daycare centre adjacent to the elementary school has worked well in the past and is ideal for both agencies. He noted that an offer had been made to provide land behind the existing tennis courts at the SDHS site, for the relocation of the portable structures. But he said there are significant costs to such a relocation, including moving the structures and paying for the extension of water and sewer services. Stratford trustee Rod Brown wondered about the possibility of making no changes to the administrative offices, but still making the -necessary changes to allow for the relocation of students. "The perception will be that we're spending $125,000 on ourselves," Brown said. But Education Superintendent Bill Gerth, who authored a staff report about the plan, reminded Brown that this would force many administrative staff to-cross through part of the elementary school to use the washroom. According to Gerth, that's a scenario which has been rejected by members of the Seafortli Public School community, and it was rejected again at the Dec. 10 meeting, in a public delegation from school council chair Kim Hill. Gerth added that constructing new washrooms within the existing administrative space would be impossible, without incurring significant added costs. "If you look at our offices, every time you walk through the hallway, another bookshelf has sprouted up on one wall," Gerth told Brown. "Because we have no administrative space left." Northwest Huron trustee Butch Desjardine wondered about .' Williamson's contention that the board has rented meeting space in the past in community centres in Seaforth and Mitchell. Williamson suggested the board could continue to do so, and let the childcare group have the excess space. Education Director Lorne Rachlis responded by saying that practice has ceased in the months since space within the building' was made available by the closure, of SDHS. He suggested hosting meetings in other locations was an act of necessity, rather than preference. And he added that granting space to the daycare centre could actually set an unwelcome precedent for the board, since it already has more equitable cost-sharing agreements with on-site daycare facilities in Mitchell and at Anne Hathaway Public School in Stratford. East Perth trustee Wendy Anderson, who was with the board when amalgamation brought .the board's offices to Seaforth, came down firmly on the side of allowing for administrative expansion. "For me, this is an opportunity to correct some of the errors of the Bulls reunite The Brussels Bulls Junior Hockey Club will take a walk down memory lane with a reunion game and social evening. The game is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 21, 7:30 p.m. at the Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre. The match will pit the 1983-1984 Junior D Bulls against the 1988-1989 Junior D Bulls. "We hope to make this an annual event" said. Keith Mulvey, organizing committee member. "The response by the ex-players has been outstanding and they are looking forward to seeing teammates they have not seen since their playing days." The Bulls were organized in 1983 and competed in Junior D until the 1988-1989 season. The organization then jumped to the Western Junior C League where it remained until the club ceased operation. The Bulls have a number of league championships to their credit, as well as back-to-back Exeter Junior D tournament titles from the mid 1980s. Upon their arrival in Junior C, the Bulls engaged in many memorable battles with perennial Junior C powerhouse, Hanover Barons. past," Anderson said. "1 admit I was a part of some those errors, but it was certainly a false economy to make such a spartan work space for our staff at the time we moved into this facility." Prior to the vote, trustees accepted a minor amendment from Seaforth- area trustee Charles Smith. Smith, who expressed general support for the plan, asked that the space taken over by administration be provided back to the elementary school if enrolment increased at some point in the future. General support on behalf of the school community was also expressed by Hill. Her public delegation--Consisted mainly of requests that the board keep in mind such considerations as improved safety in the gymnasium balcony, limitation of non-school personnel within the school portion of the building, alteration of washrooms to accommodate smaller students, tighter controls on parking and on- site traffic, fencing off of the playground, and assurances that all renovations will be completed by the time students arrive in September. 2003. In an interview following the meeting, Gerth said he now expects the childcare group will give serious consideration to moving the three portable structures to the tennis courts site, and launch a fundraising campaign to finance- the move. He suggested avenues of funding may be the public, provincial government initiatives like the Trillium Foundation. the municipality of _ Huron East. and possibly an appeal to the school board to help relocate the structure& Relocation means .SDHS renovation