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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1998-09-30, Page 4Your Community Newspaper Since 1860 Terri -Lynn Dale - General Manager/Ad Manager Scott Hilgendorff - Editor Gregor Campbell - Reporter Larry Dalrymple - Soles Pat Armes - Office Manager Dionne McGrath - Subscriptions/Classifieds A Bowes Publishers Community Newspaper SUBSCRIPTION RATES: LOCAL • 32.50 o yeor, in advance, plus 2.28 G.S.T. SENIORS: - 30.00 a year, in advance, plus 2.10 G.S.T. USA & Foreign: 28.44 a yeor in advance, plus $78.00 postage, G.S.T. exempt SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Published weekly by Signal -Star Publishing at 100 Main St., Seaforth. Publication moil registration No. 0696 held at Seoforth, Ontorio. Advertising is accepted on condition that in the event of a typogrophicol error, the odvertising spoce occupied by the erroneous item, together with o reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged, but the balance of the advertisement wilt be paid for at the applicable rote. In the event of o typographical error, advertising goods or services at o wrong price, goods or services may not be sold. Advertising is merely an offer to sell and may be withdrawn at any time The Huron Expositor is not responsible for the bss or dosage of unsolicited manuscripts, photo's or other materials used for reproduction purposes. Changes of address, -orders for subscriptions and undeliveroble copies are to be sent to The Huron Expositor. Wednesday, September 30, 1998 adH•rfal and Business Offices - 100 Main SIrest.,f•af•rtlt Telephone (519) 527-0240 Fax (519) 527-2858 Melling Address - P.O. Fax 69, feelerth, Ontario, NOK 1 WO Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association, Ontario Community Newspopers Association and the Ontario Press Council Publication Mail Registration No. 07605 Schools mean more to rural communities Once again, the future of our communities. is being threatened. And once again, it's our schools that face the most current threat. This time, there are three possibilities being considered for schools in the Seaforth area that could see Seaforth District High School become an elementary school or hold students from Grades 7 through OAC. In ail 4he suggestion, Walton Public School faced closure and in once case, Seaforth Public School could close. Finger pointing has started between the Avon Maitland District School Board and the government as to who is responsible or who could prevent this from happening. Regardless, pressure needs to be placed on the board and the provincial government to realize what they are doing to the fabric of small communities. Virtually every aspect of life has changed in the past few years with restructuring in all forms and small communities are hanging on; some without their hospitals. Taking schools away will hurt more deeply than a Toronto-based policy maker understands. Schools are hearts of communities. In a place as small as Walton, the school can be as much a commynity centre as a place for education. The savings from closing that school couldn't possibly be worth the cost to the community. There comes STH Small savings from closing schools (The following was made as an announcement of the Avon Maitland District School Board) Dear supporters of public education: You will soon hear, if you have not already, that the Avon Maitland District School Board, along with most of the new school boards in the province, is embarking on a review of its pupil accommodation which may result in a number of school closures. Although we review our accommodations on a regular basis, this year is different. The provincial government has established a universal per pupil space allocation. If a school board exceeds this allocations, that is, if it maintains more school space and keeps open more schools than that designated by the province, that school board suffers two significant negative consequences. Firstly,. the government will not• fund • the maintenance of the "excess" and therefore funds would have to be diverted from other budget areas. Secondly, if the board does not. by December 31, 1998, announce which schools it will close effective June 30, 1999, then there will be, in effect, no provincial funding to build additions or new schools where they are needed for the foreseeable future. These conditions apply uniformly to all school boards, rural boards and urban boards alike. The Avon Maitland District School Board, like the Perth County and Huron County boards before it, is extremely cost conscious and cost efficient. The former boards had always been involved in sharing transportation with their coterminous board and have implemented cost saving measures such as extended school bus runs. Expensive programs such as paid noon hour supervision have not been in effect. We are Board offers sample letter to ( The following is a sample letter provided by the Avon Maitland District School Board that can be sent to MPP Helen Johns, Minister of Education Dave Johnson or Premier Mike Harris) Dear I am a citizen of rural Ontario and greatly value the rural way of life. As a resident of Huron County, I am a supporter of the Avon Maitland District School Board which provides public education in Huron and Perth Counties. It was my understanding that reform of education finance in Ontario would help smaller and rural school boards such as ours. It doesn't seem to have worked out that way. In fact, it now appears that the opposite is happening. The Perth County Board of Education and the Huron County Board of Education were among the most economical in Ontario. The new amalgamated board anticipates revenue from the provincial government nearly $1 million less than the Huron and Perth boards together received last year. inadequate funding will force the closure of many rural community schools and with the prepared to make and have made economies where they are needed. We recognize that some schools may need to be closed. However, we also believe that the "one shoe fits all" approach to funding education, based on provincial spending averages, does notrecognize that boards such as our have CONTINUED on Page 5 send to Johns loss of a school, a cherished way of life is destroyed. Since provincial funding is based on provincial averages, rural Ontario is disadvantaged. The population is spread out and distances are greater. Whereas a city school board may have greater English as a Second Language need, rural school boards need to help keep more schools open than in the city. As an example, we have over 20,000 students in 60 school buildings across 6,000 square kilometres. A big city board would have 20,000 students concentrated in a dozen or so square city blocks. And yet, we are being asked to reduce our student space by 12 per cent. Our school boards have always been careful with education dollars and will continue to be careful. Please help rural school boards like ours by providing grant money that permits sutdents in a large territory with a spread out population to receive an equitable education in their community school, the way children in urban centres are treated. Sincerely, Johns reads letter with `great sadness' (The following letter was sent to Avon -Maitland District School Board trustees with a copy sent to the Huron Expositor) Editorial letter to the trustees: It was with great sadness that I read the document prepared by employees of the Avon -Maitland School Board. that was forwarded to me by constituents. There is no question that we must address the issue of declining enrollment in the counties of I111Stt*and tr ees have only studied the issue, but school closures should be a last consideration, rather than the first. Declining enrollment presents real problems that affect real people. This is not about politics - it is about your kids and mine. The least we can do is provide clear, honest data to everyone involved. Everyone in the county is. aware that the student population has declined by more than 500 students in the last 10 years, and in fact we have more than 2,000 student spaces empty in the two counties. Having talked to previous trustees this week, they advised me that for years, both boards have had discussions about how to rectify the issue. So what has happened this year to alter the board's inaction?, T t - nmplogee+t ts�E' e board would have us behest that if decisions are not made by December 31, 1998 serious consequences befall the board. Thi- truth is that if the board at December 31. 1998 has excess capacity they will not be eligible for fund to build new schools. I believe that this is good public policy. Gone are the days when boards could build a new school when neighboring school had excess space. In our board, there are two schools that are substantially overcrowded and they are in Listowel and Stratford. it seems to me that the trustees should consider alternatives to new schools. For example, adjacent schools might he used to handle the overflow in Stratford since there are a number of schools within a small geographic distance and in Listowel, the high schooi and the two elementary schools could be utilized in a more optimal manner. The question trustees, parents, students and tax payers must ask themselves is, is there a problem if we cannot build a school next year?l do not believe so. The employees of the board further state that the board has received reduced funds from the government and is therefore unable to fund school operations as they have previously. From the board's filings with the Ministry of Eduction: In 1997, the Avon -Maitland Board received $126,100,000 from the Ministry of Education with approximately $1 million going toward one time computer costs. In 1998, the board has agreed with the Ministry of Education that they will receive $126,700,000 and negotiations are ongoing, for example additional dollars for rural transportation costs. plus they received $1.1 million for the sale of properties. Not only does the board have the same dollars as last CONTINUED on Page 5 Remembering Leo Hagan, member of The Expositor By Gregor Campbell He was a gentle man, a credit to his community and this newspaper. Quality was always of prime importance for Leo Hagan, who worked for The Huron Expositor for about a half -century, and died last week at Seaforth Manor. He was 87. Hagan moved to town in 1926, spent a year at St. James School and the next five at Seaforth Collegiate Institute. He loved reading and art work, but there was no money for teacher's college, so he answered an ad in this paper: "Boy wanted as apprentice in printing plant." Former publisher A.Y. McLean hired him a few days later. it was 1932. He first worked under shop foreman 'Alex Lowery, who himself had 60 years under his belt with this paper when he died in 1949. Hagan's first job as an apprentice was putting the McKillop Township voters list together, in an interview in 1982 he remembered: "Sweeping the sidewalk, washing windows, shoveling snow, sweeping the floors and keeping a fire going in the old Apt -bellied stove which heated the down and upstairs of the shop." He left town briefly to work for the North Bay Nugget in the 1940s. Hagan officially retired as shop foreman here after 43 years when he turned 65 in 1982, but he had ink in his blood and continued coming in a couple of days a week. He worked for three generations of McLeans. He also wrote a bit. Always a big local sports enthusiast, he wrote a column on sports called "Town Whisperings" for The Expositor for a spell, under the pen name Lee -Hee, and also submitted reports of a varied CONTINUED on Page 5 a time when you've got to say something about your beliefs I've been keeping a pretty big secret for a •few years now. • While 1 wouldn't necessarily have thought so because of a number of elements i was leaving out of my life, after a conversation with a close friend a few months ago. i realized 1 really was a Christian. That friend is a Christian and, with a handful of beliefs 1 had developed over the years, 1 considered myself one but had always kept my relationship with God between Him and me. As a child, there were many days of being dragged to -Sunday School and church by parents whose beliefs I knew nothing about. We were given Bibles in Grade 5 of which I had read a little. In high school, some of my friends were Christians. Somehow, I managed to learn a little from being in church. reading and listening to my friends (who also seemed to keep their beliefs pretty much to themselves). 1 was always drawn to the messages of Christians, stopping from channel surfing to listen for a minute or two to a preacher on Sunday until it got too complicated or something was said that I didn't want to accept. Looking hack, I can see where there were more opportunities than 1 realized to listen to the words of a Christian, whether 1 really accepted or followed what I heard. At some point, as a youngster, i was saved, following the lessons of a television preacher, but I believe, despite the young age, 1 understood what 1 was doing. As life progressed, 1 lost sight of that particular moment and began questioning; not the belief in God but in the church and religion. There were too many of them out there and i like to see things in black and white. That meant only one, if any of them, could be right and I chose to avoid them all as the safest route. it frustrated my father who wanted me to be confirmed in his church. During the past few years. I found myself gathering information and trying to understand more about Christianity. There .were situations for stories that allowed me to slip in my own questions and start looking for some answers. Al the same time, I still avoided the church, dealing with fears and stereotypes instead, while trusting what I felt on the inside. My relationship with God remained personal, talking to him from time to time but never as much as i should. Much of that has been changing in the past couple weeks. i made my fourth trip to Tennessee, staying with that friend mentioned earlier, Shann Wingo. We met last year when I was in East Tennessee and life hasn't been quite the same • since. He's always been open about his faith but never pushed. Sadly, I waited until circumstances made me feel it was necessary to tell him about my beliefs fearing they would clash too harshly with his own. i was amazed to find that on my own, I had managed to do a few things right, some of them the most important. During the trip, 1 knew I was going to be confronted with several opportunities to be open about my beliefs and I was pretty scared. Shann always gave me the opportunity to do something else rather than go into those situations but 1 plunged on, dealing with the stereotypes and fears of what to expect from Christians. There was no need to worry. The first step i took was going to a Fellowship of Christian Cowboys meeting. Shann is a bull rider and he and his best friend have founded a local chapter of the organization in the Knoxville area. It was going to be the first time I presented myself to anyone as a Christian, let alone to many of Shann's friends. Within minutes, the fears were gone. There was nothing scary happening; just a room full of people in one friend's home supporting each other, learning from the Bible and preparing for ways to show messages about Jesus and salvation. Becoming a Christian is simple. it's all a matter of acknowledging you have sinned, believing Jesus is the son of God and that he died to take away our sins. A Christian believes a person must do this to be "saved" in order to receive eternal life in heaven. Afterward, the hard stuff comes but even that's not so bad. it becomes a matter of living life as guided in the bible, a book that seems overwhelming but carries all the information anyone can use for living a good life. While accepting Christ and devoting life to serving God can be life -changing, it doesn't make a person more or less human. The struggles faced by a person who was not a Christian on Tuesday but became one on Wednesday remain the same but a new avenue of understanding and help is open to that person. Becoming a Christian is no different than becoming a doctor or a reporter. There are text books to read for all of them; a Christian's is the Bible. A doctor and reporter dedicate themselves to learning and understanding the material they need to know to be a good doctor or reporter. A Christian is dedicated to learning about God and the material in the Bible in order to be a good Christian. And while reporters and doctors have a job to do, so does a Christian; sharing the message of what Christianity is all about. It's a message that's given freely but never forced on anyone. While I took a number of steps in the past two weeks toward opening up about my beliefs, most of it's Rnlnq lo remain personal for now. Besides, I've still got a lot of homework to do.