HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1998-04-29, Page 1Your Community Newspaper Since 1860 -- Seaforth, Ontario
April 29, 1998 •-- $1.00 includes GST
Friends of high school urge action
Forty at meeting encouragedto write letters, exp heir Frio
BY GREGOR CAMPBELL
Expositor Staff
. Organisers tried to tan the flames of their
•crusade to keep Seaforth .District High School
• from. closing. at an open meeting.billed
• "urgent" at Town Hall last Thursday night,
Maureen Agar. 'Dick Burgess and Jane
Powell. (long with'Charlie Smith and other
"Friends of Seaforth District High School"
who spoke at the front of the room, urged the_
40or so people in the audience to keep the
faith - and the pressure on, by bombarding
trustees with their points -of view -and filling
letters to editor columns; among other tactics.
it was a lot like a,pep-rally.
The speakers and their argtiments in favour"
keeping the 120 -year-old local high school
Carroll
resigns
from town
committees
The director :. of the Avon
Maitiand'D}strict School
Board, Paul Carroll of
Seaforth,.has withdrawn
from participation in two of
this town's committees I
the business retention and;
expansion committee andf
the "Celebrate °Seaforth's
History" (museum)`
committee. '
,MAAMAIVII a. mem
both since near "t a t,
beginnings.
Carroll gave notice of his!
decision to Seaforth's`
deputy -clerk Cathy Garrick`
by fax on April 16
The notice noted the'
withdrawal was "until std
time as the issiteSl
pertaining -to :Seaforth!
District High' School have
been resolved."
';Given the recent
personalization of the
issues by an elected official
of the lbwn," his fax reads.
"I feel that: it is necessary
toseparate my professional
duties from community,
volunteer work at --this''
time."
In an eruption at the Avon
Maitland District School
Board meeting last month,
Seaforth Mayor Dave Scott
said Carroll was a turncoat
for bringing the issue of
Seaforth high school's
declining enrollment to the
fore.
He implied, as have
others, that Carroll's
calling for radical changes
to the way programs arc
delivered at the school to
alleviate low enrollment
has driven some students to
enroll elsewhere, and made
the problem worse by
becoming in essence a self-
fulfilling prophecy.
C( „t1,,NTLESS HOURS
Carroll has defended
these charges at public
meetings by stressing that
he is an educator first and
foremost and that's where
his first allegiance lies.
The long-time Seaforth
resident has devoted
countless hours to
community work of a wide
and varied nature over the
years.
His wife is a teacher at
Seaforth Public School and
both their sons went to high
school in Seaforth.
Mayor Scott is also a
member of both the
museum and business
expansion committees in
Seaforth.
Former Seaforth
councillor John Ball has
also been highly critical of
the local education director
raIMIKULU on Pate 2
(
with a dwindling. enrollment open have been
much -publicized lately.
• The high school is essential to the
infrastructure of our rural community. Agar',
chair of the SDHS parent council; said; a
theme the others repeated.
Everybody in attendance was urged to
express themselves, in no uncertain terms, to
everyone who can he swayed to their point of
view.
Conspiracy by the Avon -Maitland District
School Board was strongly implied but
nothing much new was said.,
Director of education Paul Carroll of
Seaforth, from the recently much -maligned
public hoard, sat in aback corner.
Nobody specifically asked him anything.
although the odd general accusation was
aimed his way.
Few who spoke had anything good to say
about their public school hoard. Most remain
offended at the recommendation, that arose
from a hoard site committee in early March.
that the local high school he closed with
students shifted to Clinton, and a new.
administrative centre of thc recently
amalgamated Huron -Perth public boards he
established here.
That committee's recommendation was
withdrawn at the start of this month.
'ASHAMED'
"The school hoard ought to be ashamed for
even thinking of it," commented Harold
Coleman from the audience. The John Street
resident was a member of the public school
hoard for a decade along -time ago. .
But organizers of last week's meeting
reminded those in attendance that though the
skirmish may have been won. the battle hasn't
gone away. nor have the issues that led to it.
been resolved. .
Overcapacity remains a crux of the hoard's.
stalled direction. The old Huron hoard
identified an overcapacity of about 4.300 in all •
county schools three years ago.
Seaforth is the smallest regular high school
in Huron, in its smallest town. Enrollment at
the school is officially projected to decline
even further in "the next couple cit years. due to •
the growth of St. Anne's Catholic High School
in Clinton and evolving.provincial education
policy.
All speakers said enrollment shifting to St.
Anne's was a myth and not the problem. rather
the original loss of Catholic high school
CONTINUED on Page 2
GREGOR CAMPBELL PHOTO
IT WAS NOT A GOOD MORNING TO BE A TROUT- at Lips Park early Saturday where the annual Seaforth fishing derby was being held. The event
was blessed with sunshine for a change, although the temperature *as chilly. The biggest trout was hooked by a local lass. 24 inches. Organizers say
this year's derby was one of the most successful ever. More pictures,and a story are on page T.. -
Edge launches $1. billion law suit
Pork '
industry
named
in law' suit
BY ELLEN DOUGLAS
Lakeshore Advance Staff '
The Huron's Edge. an anti-
pollution group, is planning a
$I -billion class action suit
against the provincial
ministries of energy and
agriculture and the Ontario
pork industry.
A recent study by SOLVE, a
group made up of Huron's
Edgc. farm groups and
municipalities. found that
much of the E -coli bacteria in
Lake Huron is resistant to one
or more types of antibiotics.
(and conservation
authorities, health units)
Bacteria become resistant to
antibiotics when they arc
exposed to' low doses .for. long
periods of time. As a result
antibiotics can become
ineffective for treating people
infected by the bacteria.
Joe Gleason, hander of the
Huron's Edgc. said in an
interview that while the hog
industry may not he the only
source of bacteria. he believes
it may be a large source.
There were eight types of
antibiotics looked at by
SOLVE'to try to pinpoint the
source of the bacteria. said
Gleason.
Four of these antibiotics arc
used on animals and four
were thought to he mainly
used on humans.
Thc bacteria in the lake
seems to be resistant to
human antibiotics, he said.
However. when the group
analyzed effluent from hog
farms they found that 100 per
cent of thc samples from
every farm tested contained
bacteria that was resistant to
human antibiotics.
Many farm samples had
bacteria with multiple
resistance to antibiotics
normally used on humans,
said Gleason.
This is significant because it
means that the hogs have
been exposed to human
antibiotics. it also means that
it will be difficult to tell
0
where the bacteria arc coming
from. •
What's interesting. however.
is that of all the control
samples taken from human
septic systems 47 per cent
had no resistance to any of
the antibiotics.
Gleason said that while it
can't yet he proven that thc
hactcria in the lake come
from hog farms. thc studies
still show that the waste from
these operations is dangerous.
"This stuff truly is a
biohazard;" hc said.
Thc group budgeted
$100,000 towards the lawsuit.
This . summer they will
attempt to find a type of
antibiotic that is used mainly
on hogs and that is present in
the lake.
If thc group wins the
lawsuit. Gleason said the
money will go towards
monitoring, prosecution and
cleanup.
"1 know there are other
sources of the problem," said
Gleason. "But we have to put
it into perspective. One hog
operation of 5,000 pigs
produces far more waste than
the town of Goderich.
"'There arc somewhere
around 450,000 to 500.00(1
hugs in Huron. versus around
60,(X)) residents. People need
to he brought hack to
comparing apples to apples.
He added that if hog effluent
requires no treatment then
municipalities must he
wasting millions of dollars on
sewage treatment facilities.
John VandcrBurgt, a
councillor with the Huron
County Pork Producers, said
that hc docs not disagree that
hog farmers arc a purl of the
problem.
"But so arc people lining 111
urban areas and so arc all
livestock producers." he said.
"Are we going to slice off the
lake and say that this part has
more of a problem is ith
livestock and this part has
more of an urban prohlcm''"
He added that this is not
only a problem on Lake
Huron. but also on Lake Eric
and Lake Ontario .to -name
CONTINUED on Page 2
aness couple
go to trial in London
A judge has ordered a London couple to stand trial on
two charges of obstructing justice in the second-degree
urder trial of Steven Murray. Murray was found not
ilty in May 1997.
Robert and Robin Maness, of 457 Ontario St.. appeared
fore Judge N Douglas in Goderich Criminal Court on
an. 26 end April 20 for a preliminary heating. The details
f a pretimtnary heating cannot be reported
The 51 -year-old man and 43 -year-old woman arc
charged with obstructing justice in the Murray trial by
falsely swearing! to an ,i" I iVit
They 3r,' s 'it 'hied It, appear in ignmcnt court in
;London on June 9 at 10 a,m. to set their trial date.