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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2004-10-20, Page 5Opinion `Little people' are weary of stream of rhetoric and endless runaround From Page 4 three or four times more in trying to dissolve those mega - governing units? How many more times are we going to be sold a silk purse, only to discover the sow's ear underneath? Now before all you politically savvy people take pen or keyboard in hand to tell me how I don't have the correct facts and figures, and I don't really understand what it is 1 am talking about, and how all the "little people just don't understand" what it all really means, I am going to save you the trouble. SAVE IT. I am one of the "little people" who live here. I am one of the "little people" who are weary of promises and cutbacks and a constant stream of rhetoric from the "powers that be." I am one of the "little people" who are trying hard to understand. I am one of the "little people" who takes great offence at governing people patting us on the head and saying that it really is none of our concern. I am one of the "little people" who take even greater offence at those among us who smugly tell us to "not worry our pretty little heads about it, because we really don't know everything that is going on." I am one of the "little people" who just wants to take my children or my parents to the hospital if they are sick. And as our community gears up for yet another "issue," 1 for one am tired of fighting. 1 am tired of funding, formulas and student ratios and per capita expenses and target numbers and governmental quotients. Not many of us are stupid - give us the plain simple facts. andwe could probably understand. I am tired of the runaround. But mostly, I am tired of promises. My two nine -year-olds go to elementary school in the old high school, and my 17 - year -old is bussed out of town to high school. So much for promises. News Seaforth man part of second crew to help restore power to Florida By Susan Hundertmark Expositor Editor Cars buried in four feet of sand and boats washed onto shore were the most dramatic evidence of hurricane Jeanne that Mike Durst, of Seaforth, saw while helping restore power in Florida with a Hydro One crew from Clinton. "I was surprised. I thought I'd see houses levelled but mostly it was roofs blown off and big highway signs damaged," he said after returning recently with the second Hydro One crew to help out in Florida. Durst with the second crew to clean up after hurricane Jeanne on the same day Bob Carnochan, of Egmondville returned home from the clean- up of hurricane Frances. "Jeanne ripped down what the first crew had done. We were in the same area as the first crew," he said. While the first crew contained 270 workers, the second c r e w numbered 220. W thought our work in Florida was complete but under these extremely unusual and devastating president and CEO Tom Parkinson in a press release. "1 think it's a tremendous tribute to the quality and professionalism Quoted 'We were continuously thanked and people really .appreciated us but that's just our normal jobs:— Durst, of Seaforth circumstances, we've got to help out our friends in the U.S.," said Hydro One of our staff that Florida Power and Light was so insistent on wanting our people hack." Like the first crew, Durst was working 16 - hour days in sweltering heat and swampy terrain. "It was very humid. You could almost cut the air with a knife. I never drank so much water in my life and sometimes I'd pour a warns bottle of water over my head because I'd he sweating just standing there," he says. He worked repairing lines in heavy brush - "I called them jungles' - of palm trees and vines and while he spent some time working in an alligator sanctuary. he didn't sec any alligators. "I didn't realize it (was an alligator sanctuary) until 1 got out," he said. While the people of Florida showed their appreciation for the Canadian hydro workers, Durst says the work was just part of his job. "I've been to ice storms and tornadoes - it's always interesting to see those things." said Durst. "VVc were continuously thanked and people really appreciated us but that's just our normal jobs." he said. Ontario rural school funding initiative called `patch on a patch' for local woes By Stew Slater Special to The Expositor The eventual injection of approximately $7I0,000 of one-time government money into the current year's Avon Maitland District School Board budget "certainly goes some way to helping (the board) recapture the amount" it already spent to ensure each school had a full-time principal and secretary. - Still, according to business superintendent Janet Baird -Jackson, it means the board won't be able to re -allocate about $414,000 it took away from other 2004-05 expenditures to provide those guarantees. On Sept. 22, the ruling Liberals provided estimates to each , school board, detailing how $31 million for the rural school portion of the so-called "Good Schools Open" initiative would be distributed. In short, education ministry officials expanded upon the previous government's definition of "rural," declared each school should have a principal and secretary, and based its allocation formula on 93 per cent of the salary earned by such employees under existing benchmarks. Then on Sept. 27, ministry officials stated the formula would be used only to decide how much new funding each school generated; school boards can then decide how and where to spend the funds, based on what are expected to be a broadly -ranging set of yet -to -be -released parameters. Baird -Jackson, speaking to trustees at a meeting Tuesday, Oct. 12, called the $31 -million initiative "a patch on a patch (for addressing rural education woes): the Good Schools Open on top of the Rural Education Strategy." She said one reason why the Avon Maitland budget will still show a shortfall in principal/secretary funding, if the ministry estimates hold true once the final calculations are made early next year, is that the salary benchmarks used by the government are five years old. Trustees also questioned the preliminary calculations provided during the Oct. 12 meeting; one education ministry document indicated Seaforth Public School remains a secondary school (which ceased to he the case in 2002). Interviewed after the meeting. Baird -Jackson stressed it's not yet known how broadly -ranging the parameters will he for spending thc Good Schools Open money. for boards which have already provided full -tine principals and secretaries in every school. Shc noted previous budgetary decisions have frequently taken money ass ay from transportation. How ever. both she and education director Geoff Williams cpressed confidence the soon -to -he - revamped rural education strategy will take into account the struggle of rural hoards to finance such things as transportation. "Facilitics.is one area that gets hit all the time to fund the programming." t he business superintendent commented, adding thc Good Schools Open money might he used to fund structural renovations or upgrades. THE HURON EXPOSITOR, Oct. 20, 2004-5 Car Oiling at Lee's Service Centre (formerly Dave's Car Oihng) Hood Trunk Lid Inner Fenders inner Fenders Underside Doors & Door Panels Dog Legs We use Hot, Acid Free, New Oil CARS & LIGHT TRUCKS Hours: Mon. - *Thurs. 1 pm - 9 pm; Fri. 1 pm - 6 pm; Sat. 8 am - 12 noon (Weather permitting) 348 Dinsley St. E., Blyth 523-9151 FLU SHOT CLINIC DR. SALSBURY'S PATIENTS Thursday, Oct. 28, 9:30am -12 noon DR. SALTER'S PATIENTS Wednesday, Oct. 27, 9:30 am-12noon Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2 -Spm NO APPOINTMENT NECESSARY Please wear a short sleeve shirt BEREAN COVENANT CHURCH A BRANCH OF GRACE TRINITY COMMUNITY CHURCH Orange Hall, Seaforth 527-0029 4 pm Worship Service Pastoral Team: Pastor Bob Penhearow Pastor Ron Matthews Pastor Royal Hamel You are invited to attend these area churches , • St. Thomas Anglican Church A Congregation of the Parch ef The Holy Sent Jarvis St. Seaforth . Fr Michael Atkuu Pansh Office 527-1522 Sunday, October 24 The 21st Sunday after Pentecost Sunday Worship - 9:30 am Mondays- Prayer Group at 7 pm Growers Group at 730 pm 'Everyone Welcome Catholic Church St. James RC Church • 14 Victoria Street. Seaforth 527-0142 Weekend Masses: Sat 5:15 pm Sun. 11:00 am St. Columban RC Church Saturday Mass at 7:30 pm Father Lance Magdziak Bethel Bible Church Gospel Church An Associated Gos P 126 Main St Seaforth 527-0982 Sunday Worship Hour 11 am Sunday School 9:45 am Jim Wyllie Pastor Y Egmondville United Church Sunday, October 24 Worship Service at 11 am Sunday School - Ages 6 & up - 10 am Steve Hildebrand Lay Pastoral Minister In Training Everyone Welcome - Turkey Supper Wed. Oct. 27 "Gospel Songfest 2004" Sunday, Oct. 24, 7:30 pm at Egmondville U.C. NORTHSIDE - CAVAN UNITED CHURCHES Cavan 9 30 a m 11 00 a.m Northside Winthrop 54 Godench St W Minister Rev. John Gould Sunday, October 24 Cavan Anniversary Service - 11:00 a.m. No service at Northside First Presbyterian Church Goderich St. W.. Seaforth SUN., OCTOBER 24 CHURCH CLOSED Please come to St. Andrews Church, Clinton to celebrate their .. Anniversary Service 10:30 am Lunch to follow Out of the Blue... The Bluewater Recycling Association is proud to report that out of the bluebox you have managed 4111116 to reduce the waste generated in the area by over 70%. As a matter of fact, the Association has been recognized by the Recycling Council of Ontario each of the last seven years for having the highest waste diversion in the Province. We would like to congratulate everyone for such a recycling effort. ismoimmosi The Bluewater Recycling Association is "Your Environmental Alternative!"