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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1998-05-06, Page 1A;e i x.ositor Your Community Newspaper Since 1860 — Seaforth. Ontario May 6, 1998 -- $1.00 includes GST Board• ng for calli� a truce Fate of school delayed Board won't close any school for one year BY TRISH WILKINSON school. CintonNews-Record Staff After several reports, public meetings and community input, a board site -review committee bad recommended closing Seaforth District High School and turning the building into the new headquarters. However, this recommendation was later withdrawn and instead, trustees agreed unanimously to defer all discussion and decision making on both the new headquarters and school closures for an indefinite period of time. Now, following the approval of this latest report, the board has narrowed this period of time down to a two-year study period where they Aiillialtsditettaythomphthlif Ands}ystematie scl:ios review process" for all sites 1 where enrollment, building capacity or other circumstances may be creating a concern. "The review of school system accommodation needs to be conducted in an informal fashion, in partnership with the local school comtitunities, resorting only to a formal review where serious concerns are raised at a future date," the report .continued. Trustees also recognized the necessity to re -organize headquarters .staff in order to conduct the business of the new board, and approved the recommendation that "senior administration be authorized to redeploy staff and re -locate various departments within the two existing Education Centres or to other appropriate locations to address current operational problems." • Seaforth District High School has been spared for at least one year. In a report that outlined strategies for dealing with ache. Avon Maitland District *Awl Board's (AMDSB) lquarters question and School accommodation review, one of the approved recommendations was that there would be "no action taken on any school closure matters for the school year 1998-99." `The board is trying to act in a sensitive manner," Board Chair Abby Armour* said. "We'd like people to know what is haPPenin&" The report, ,which was t' ne t n4oraa rmanent headquarters be taken for at least two ';.years, pending the availability of an appropriate alternate site." "T isplanning framework is presented to the board to help trustees and administration define .apeeific.courses of action," -Armstrong noted in the information report. "It is designed also to alleviate public anxiety about .a atuntiter of critical issues and to re -assure the community of Avon :Maitland that a longer term, .consultative approach will ;;he: taken on the matters of hecto (quarters location and School accommodation " veview. rte recommendations How months of it atroversy regarding (Shiite the board's new "iiiiiiidquarters would be located, and if it would involve the closing of a Chair sets up meeting to find high s icor alternatives BY SCOTT HILGENDORFF Expositor Editor Eccles. Supervisory Officer in Charge of High Schools, Jim Moore. Paul Carroll. director of the hoard. Maureen Agar. A truce could be to the works between chair of the high school's school the Avon -Maitland Distnct School Board advisory council. Dick Buutgess of and members of the Seaforth community Friends of Seaforth Distract High School fighting to keep its high school open. and Mayor Dave Scott. "I'm quite hopeful we can come up The, meeting comes after the hoard's with something positive." said Ahhy decision at its meeting last week•to delay Armstrong. chair of the hoard and any decision •affecting the Seaforth Seaforth's school hoard trustee. • . District High School until 1999. She called for an informal meeting Since the hoard began deliberations between herself. SUNS Principal Bruce about closing the school several weeks ago. the issue has been extremely emotional in -the community,and.led to Carroll's resignation from two town committees. . This marks the first time the two sides have come together since the- fight to keep the high school open began. Armstrong said it's a chance to find • some common ground between the hoard and the community.... "We really do all have the same goal." CONTINUED on Page 6 Just ducky - A111.000 ducks were sold for the Seaforth Legion's annual duck race held Saturday afternoon at Silver Creek. As the ducks reached the finish line, rain started to pour but it didn't chase away the crowd that gathered to see whose duck would take first place. Dave Watson waited at the finish line.to scoop the first three ducks opt_ of the water. PHOTO BY SCOTT HILGENDORFF Work on Seaforth water tower almost done Scatorth's new water tower is 86 per cent finished and ft could be in use next month. Right now. PUC manager 'Iona. Philips said workers are preparing the inside- of the towc,r. sandblasting and getting ready to coat the inside with a •protective sealant. He said the project. for which plans had begun about 14 years ago. 1s running right on schedule. Work began last summer with Seaforth residents seeing the steel bowl placed on top of the tower around November before progress slowed. as expected. for the. winter. Since then. work has continued on other aspects of the tower from placing an identification light on the top to work on the control room Area cops face close shave Familiar faces shave heads to raise funds for cancer research By SCOTT HILGENDORFF Expositor Editor Not only will Huron OPP officers. be recognizable by their uniform but many will be sporting thc same, new hair style next week after a special fund -razor for cancer. On May 9, 30 OPP officers will be gathering in Goderich to have their heads shaved after collecting pledges for cancer research. Its part of thc Cops for Cancer program and marks the first time officers from the Huron detachment have taken part in the program. "Wc want to raise public awareness. Wc want to show cancer patients we're thinking of them," said Const. Steve Beasley. Beasley is one of the organizers for the event and said they were originally hoping to find 20 officers from across the county willing to take part in the program The list reached 30 and already the officers have raised about $10,000 in pledges. Beasley hopes they can double that - by Saturday. Three heads familiar to Seaforth residents will be shaved: Hal Claus. Harrow Maydell and Chuck Akey. "It shows people we're involved with them, not just writing tickets." said Maydell The program first came to Ontario last year when two officers had their heads shaved at centre ice during a Senators/Bruins hockey game. At the same time, 51 other officers were taking part in the event at another Ottawa location. The program evolved from a situation where an oft icer was having his photograph taken with . child who had cancer and lost his hair to the treatment. In support of the child. the officer had his head shaved. The boy had been the victim of teasing at school and several other officers also shaved their heads to show support. Locally, officers arc taking part in the event for a number of reasons. Some have family members who have had cancer. others are taking part in the camaraderie and to' help the community. .Officers at the Huron detachment have patrol areas across the county and Beasley said this is also a chance for them to come together in a mutual event for a good cause. • "We're a team. This gets us all together." he said. At the same time. he said they arc doing it to help raise awareness of the needs of cancer patients. Most of the money raised goes directly toward cancer research. Some of thc projects funded arc developing effective treatment for children with eve tumors. finding ways to improve survival and quality of life for men with aggressive prostate cancer and improving. treatments for people with cancers caused by viruses. Locally, the shave -off takes place at thc Canadian Tire Storc in Goderich on May 9 between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. There will be food and drinks, and other events. CONTINUED on Pagc 6 for the tower. Performance testing has -also been done• on the town's two wells. Work.will soon be finished on the inside of the tower and Seaforth residents will soon. sec priming and painting happening outside: "At the present .time. we're looking into the lettering." said Philips. The PUC still has to determine the style and size of the lettering for the outside o1; the tower. The computerized controls that will allow the tower and water to he controlled from the PUC office were ordered in January and should he arriving this month. Performance testing has been done at the town's two wells. The tower itself is costing CONTINUED on Page 5 Buchanan named to broomball hall of fame BY SCOTT HILGENDORFF Expositor Editor As Janet oucnanan prepares to wrap up her career in broomball, the Seaforth woman is seeing it conclude on thc highest note possible. She has already seen the ,team she coached take a -provincial championship and place fourth at the national level but now, Janet Buchanan is being inducted into the Ontario Broomball Hall of Fame in Orangeville. "It's a pretty big honor in my mind.: It's the highest honor you can get." she said. But that's not why she's been involved in broomball .for about 25 years. "With or without thc ,award, I'd do the same ,thing." she said. "It gives much more than you give it." The sport has taken her across Canada from Newfoundland to the • 1 Janet Buchanan Northwest Territories. While Buchanan said it's not a high profile sport, the people involved arc one .of the attractions. She only played the spore for three years before a knee injury forced her to quit playing. .But she didn't give up the sport. spending 23 years coaching the Parr Line team; CONTINUED on Pagc 6