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Home My WebLink AboutThe Huron Expositor, 1996-11-06, Page 1----- �Vea Recent high winds do damage to buildings. See page 3 In Remembrance The HwronExpasitor presents its special Remembrance Day . section. See pages 9-12 Sports SDHS-girls basketball action shots. See page 8 Your Community Newspaper Since 1860.- Seaforth, Ontario Briefly i Board to sell its eight buses The Huron -Perth Roman Catholic Separate. School ard will sell. its eight sol buses. d 3. t the Oct. meeting. tees agreed to sell the ses and contract all busing to local bus operators. Gerry Thuss, superinten- dent of business and finance, said the board will, have to begin replacing school buses next year. However, the • Ministry of Education' and Training no longer provides funding to purchase buses. - ."[Selling the buses] will be a savings because we have to start replacing them," he said. The buses will be put up for sale immediately and the board hopes they will be sold by the end of December. " - 'Workshops for new County plan Workshops arc being held now in Huron -County to develop the New County Plan. "This is an opportunity for Huron residents to shape the future of their communi- ty", according to a press release from thc. Huron' County Planning and Development Department. A workshop focusing on sand and gravel resources will be held 'Wdnesday (today)'. November 6 at 7:30 p.m. at the OMAFRA: office in Clinton. • A workshop to discuss set- tlement issues will he held on Thursday, November 7 at 7:30 p.m. at Central Huron Secondary School in. Clinton. This will he the first of two workshops to discuss settle- ment patterns and issues such as service coordination. lake- front devclopmcnt. and development in and around urban areas. Layoffs at factory Dashwood Industries at Centralia has permanently laid off 54 hourly production employees. some with senior- ity dating hack to 1981, because of corporate restruc- turing. Management says additional seasonal layoffs arc expected. Lottery calendar for Huron Tourism For the second year in a row the Huron Tourism Association .and county plan- ning and development office arc promoting a lottery calen- der with more than $11.000 in weekly. monthly and grand prizes. In Seaforth it can be bought at Town Hall. Soccer mteting Friday night St. Columban has its annual soccer meeting Friday night at 8 p.m. in the church base- ment. Nominations for next year's executive will he opened and it is also coaches' appreciation night. November 6, 1996 — $1.00 includes GST Photos by Gregor Campbell NUTS TO ALL THAT WHITE STUFF! An early snowfall in Seaforth on the weekend had various critters adjusting in different ways. Warmer weather Monday soon got rid of it. roup rallies to keep hospitals open BY DAVID EMSLIE SSP,Ncws Staff A political group is trying to keep Huron hospital. open. Through petitions and reso- lutions, the Political Action Committee will he working to let the provincial government know that the residents of Huron do not want to see any hospitals closed,in the county. The committee was formed last week .when the meeting was, held to start up a cam- paign to keep Clinton Public Hospital (CPH) •open. However, according to Carol Mitchell, the chair for the Political Action Committee, that committee's goal will be' farther reaching than working just to keep CPH. "We're sup- porting the five hospitals. We don't want closures of any hospitals." she stated. She also noted that the com- mittee will be looking at all five hospitals, as the message has come from the task force that small. localized cam- paigns will not make any dif- ference. Both the petition and reso- lutions that will be going to area councils state that while residents of the county under- stand that cuts and reductions will be coming, "...restructur- ing and financial responsibili- ty can he accomplished with- out direct hospital closures." Mitchell explained that pre- sentations will be made .to eight area councils with the hope that they will pass a res- olution stating council sup- ports the residents of Huron County in their campaign to save the hospitals. and that councils will. "...immediately petition the Parliament of Ontario through direct appeal to the Premier, the Minister of Health and our local MPP Helen Johns to give every consideration to ensure that the reductions to health care not result in the closure of any hospital in Huron County." Huron County Council. the local board of health, along with . area school boards, schools and farming groups will also be approached for their support. JK program could be terminated BY AMY NEILANDS SSP News Staff The junior kindergarten (JK).program could be termi- nated by the Huron . County Board of Education due to proposed changes that would impact on local taxpayers. Director of Education Paul .Carroll brought forth the issue at Monday's regular board meeting and said he would recommend at the board's .Dcccrnbcr meeting that the action be taken to terminate the . program effective June 30, 1997. Pressure from the clemen-' Lary teachers' federations against the staffing formula used with junior and senior kindergarten has been mount- ing. explained Carroll in his director's information report. A grievance has been received from the federations about the class sizes at seven of the 24 elementary schools, he reported. At the staff level. there is a divided opinion. he stated. "The new divisors, and the addition of an educational assistant at lower than the for- mer level. which improves the adult:chitd ratio from that in previous years but allows the total class size. to rise. is in dispute." Carroll reported. For the schools that have changed the delivery of. the programs. the new staffing approach has been successful: he said. but for those who have not made changes, the new staffing approach is unworkable. "The reason we supported to continue the' program last year was that it would not cost the local taxpayers," said Trustee Bob Heywood. Rebate from Bell after overcharging for faxes A Seaforth businessman took a good look at his phone bill and found he had been paying far too much for. phoning and faxing, because of thistown's obsolete switching system. . . Gerry "Nobel discovered he was being charged' $5 to $6 too much per single overseas fax, because he was being billed for' "operator assis- tance." The standard charge for faxes overseas is from 300 to 60¢ a page. It is impossible to send an overseas fax from Seaforth by Bell without operator assistance because. our switching system can't accommodate a direct dial. Bell operators used to know this, but because of a n,ew system at the telephone com- pany they are no longer auto- matically aware of it. Nobel says when he checked into this over -billing • he got a $312 credit from Bell for the past year. But Bell will only go back • one year in its records and the Nobels have been faxing overseas for seven years. There are lots of Dutch. German or British people . around here who phone or fax overseas, Noble notes. He warns them to check the codes ort their phone bills - it's either a 1 or a 0. The.O -means dial direct, but the operator comes on and you have to tell them it is a "direct dial." Check your codes. especial- ly on faxes, he advises. Auction to burn mortgage Where can you shop for such diverse bargains as a whale watching rip to New . Brunswick, handmade quilts. one -of -a -kind pieces of art- work, autographed novels, posters. scripts and CDs. and theatre. spa. fishing and golf packages' 'All of these items and. more will be offered to the highest bidders at the Blyth Festivals Gala Auction Saturday. November 9 at the _Blyth Community Centre, accord- ing to a press release from the Blyth Festival. The auc- tion, held every second year. is one of the Festival's biggest fundraising events and organizers hope that this year's proceeds will help burn a large chunk of the Festival's mortgage. The auction will feature live music by Cedric Smith form the legendary Perth County Conspiracy as well as Kim Souch and Arlene Darnbrough from Bayside Blue. Another highlight will be the gourmet dinner which precedes the bidding. Judie Glen of Glen Farms Herbs & Preserves Inc., Listowel, has planned a mouth watering menu including endive and radicchio salad with raspber- ry dressing, miniature harvest loaves, rolled turkey breast with fruit and madeira sauce and pork medallions with rosemary and calvados. MOCK DISASTER - There was much activity at the Seaforth and District Community•Centres last Wednesday morning For more information, call as various groups took part in a mock disaster to see how they co-ordinated emergency their emergency response. the Blyth Festival at (519) 523-9300. 1