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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1981-01-21, Page 17CLIMIING THE HILL AGAIN — Carrying the big inner tubes up the slope was well worth the fun on the trip down. Richard Brown, Scott Boyd, Chris Bressette, Steve Lingard, Bob Young and Mike Bressette didn't mind the climb. Staff photo Council gives approval, but... Many criticisms of Burgerfest Grand Bend council gave their approval in principle for the Chamber of Commerce to hold a Burgerfest this summer, but not until councillor Dennis Snider had expressed mis- givings about the event. Snider told Bob Simpson, who came before council representing the chamber, that consideration should be given to increasing the scope of the people involved in Burgerfest. He said that less emphasis should be put on the beer tent, and there should be other activities for people who don't like to drink. "A lot of people in town don't like the image Burgerfest has. It's just like Octoberfest in Waterloo it's a big drunk," Snider said. Snider suggested that there had been no incidents or rowdiness at last summer's Burgerfest. He said that the beer tent had ' closed up for two hours at supper time, and it had been successful in preventing ex- cessive drunkeness. Simpson and Councillor Keith Crawford also pointed Question need for rec committee The existence of Grand Bend's recreation com- ittee was questioned at th last week's rec meeting, and Monday night's meeting of council. In his report on the rec meeting to his fellow council members, Dennis Snider said that many members of the rec committee were unsatisfied with their S $ The committee working to prevent Grand Bend Public School from being closed is busy sorting the results of their recent survey. They received 169 replies to the 1000 surveys which were sent out. Organizer Art Read said that the response was good considering the time of year. He also pointed out that they were not able to give the public much time to complete the survey. Read said he was pleased with the number of com- ments written on the sur- veys. He was not yet sure how they would go about compiling the written com- ments. He said that Gail Lawson and Pauline iLingard have gone over the papers once, and sorted them into areas. They received 148 replies from Lambton, and 21 from • Huron county. The results of the survey will be given to the school study committee when they meet at Grand Bend Public School on January 29. Grand Bend's representative on the study committee is Dr. Robert Glaskin-Cla}i. ortout urveys progress. Snider added. that it was a "total waste" to have two council members sit on the rec committee. "The people sit around and question why they're there," Snider said. He said that the group isn't sure of what it is supposed to be doing, and they haven't made any progress in promoting recreation. Councillor Keith Crawford questioned Snider on night school classes, the care of the old river bed skating rink and the winter frolic which the rec committee looked after in past years. Snider said that the night school was discussed, but• nothing had been done. Snider added that care of the skating rink had been turned over the the Optimist Club. Council agreed that the rec committee is supposed to organize things, until they can become self supporting. No plans have been made for a winter frolic at the skating rink. In past years, the rec committee organized a day for family skating, with hot dogs and hot chocolate available. "The easiest way to get others interested, is to get started , at it yourself," Crawford said. Crawford said that if they weren't able to get the community interested in caring for the skating rink and the winter frolic, then they shouldn't be con- sidering building a com- munity centre. "Are we ever dreaming," he said. Reeve Robert Sharen advised Snider to read the terms of reference for the rec committee to determine what they should be doing. out the various events that went in conjunction with Burgerfest. Simpson said that Main Street was crowd- ed for the bed race, and that the chain sawing contest was popular for all ages. Craw- ford said that the children had enjoyed the obstacle course. and the Optimists dunk tank was very popular. Snider said he was also against the Chamber of Commerce competing with area hotels for business. Reeve Robert Sharen said that the beer tent was full, and that there was plenty of business for everyone. Simp- son said that the chamber needed the beer tent to raise funds.' Snider said he would go along with the idea of Burgerfest as long as no mention of beer was made in the advertising: Simpson said that the beer tent had been down played in the 1980 advertising. Sharen said he would like to see the chamber consider a location other than the beach for the beer tent. Simpson replied that he would take that back to the chamber. In another delegation before council, Jeff Quick bias given permission in princip le to operate a water ski service off the beach in Grand Bend this summer. Quick presented council with a feasability study for the business which he had Please turn to page 24 Mary's musings BY MARY ALDERSON I came home from the school district study com- mittee last Wednesday night very confused and upset -- and I don't even have children in school!! I can certainly sympathize with the worried parents. Grand Bend parents have stressed that they don't want to get emotional about the school study -- after all, it is just a study, and no one has said their school will be closed - yet. Refraining from making it an emotional issue is probably a good idea. Emotions were running high at Kinnaird school last Wednesday evening, and some rather rude and un- necessary comments were made. But at the same time, Grand Bend parents should not appear uninterested. They may find their school locked up next September, if they don't remain aware of what is going on. Only one Grand Bend parent besides Dr. Clay was present at last week's meeting. The villages of Thedford and Arkona lost their schools without a fight. Because Thedford school was crowded, different grades were bussed to Bosanquet Central. Then the school began to need repair, and all the children were sent to Bosanquet. Now, what could �t•y A: r 4 ICE FOLLY — children stay o • Julia Brown, Leanne Jennison, and Debbie Sawyers try to help smaller n their feet when Grand Bend Public School visited Pinery Park Friday. be a beautiful, old ilding sits empty and rotting in the middleof the village. Grand Bend won the first battle when they kept their small kindergarten class this year.. But the fight may not be over. Kinnaird area residents are now looking at Grand Bend and saying "one of us has gotta go, and it ain't gonna be me." They fought a bitter battle to have their schoolbuilt in 1962, and they aren't going to give it up easily. It seems simple for Grand Benders to say they never even heard of Kinnaird before, and since it is out in the middle of nowhere, it should be closed. But it just doesn't work that way. Because it is so com- plicated, I would like to see all three schools remain open -- the status quo maintained. No one has been able to point to any substantial savings that could be made if a school were closed. The amount saved doesn't ap- pear that great when you consider that the board handles a 82 million budget. They will still need all the teachers even if a school is closed, so there will be saving in salaries, which is the board's major expense. Closingany of the schools will mean more bussing - and with rising gasoline costs, this cannot beviewed as a saving. The bussing costs would be expecially evident if Grand Bend, where a majority of the pupils are within walking distance, is closed. I also feel that the enrolment may soon begin to go up again. In any case, it shouldn't get any lower. Maybe no one has noticed - the baby boom babies are now having their own babies. I know an astounding number of my friends are expecting their first children. Recently an article in the London Free Press said that more and more women are waiting until they are 30 plus before starting a family. The population will soon be increasing. I also think that Bosanquet township is due to grow. The town of Forest is planning on getting a new water supply andattractingindustry. Many new residential areas are in the planning stages. A few years down the road there will be a comfortable enrolment at all three schools. The ministry of education says that the board must do a study on schools where enrolment drops below 60 percent of capacity. The ministry does not say that the schools have to be closed. School stud Residents of the Kinnaird school ares came out in full force Wednesday night to voice their opposition to the p�ssibWty of their school being closed. The school district study committee took time to listen to their comments, but not until after one man left in disgust, saying that he couldn't hear proceedings anyway. "I thought we'd be more in- volved. I'm leaving,' the unidentified man said. The school district study committee was set up by the Lambton County Board of Education to look into the problems of declining enrolment at Grand Bend, Bosanquet and Kinnaird schools, Kinnaird school is located on the Proof line, north east of Forest. The committeemade up of three board of education trustees and a represen- tative from each school area. Dr. Robert Glaskin-Clay is representing Grand Bend, while Susan King represents Bosanquet and Don Lithgow represents Kinnaird. Also on hand at the meeting were the principals of three schools,. Kinnair principal William Shepherd handed out a five page report on the attributes of his school. More than 120 concerned parents and taxpayers crowded into the resource centre at Kinnaird school to hear the study committee's findings. Discussions on the estimated kindergarten enrolment figures for Sep- tember, bussing routes and school boundaries were carried on by study com- mittee 'until it became ap- parent that the audience wanted to speak. Chairman of the committee Dorothy Wight agreed to take time from the committee work to hear the concerns of .the public. Board of Education bureaucrat Douglas Barber was asked why native students at Kettle Point were bussed to Forest when Kinnaird school was closer. Barber explained that the federal department of Indian Affairs had made an agreement to send their children to Forest to school, and had helped pay the Times -Advocate, January 21, 1981 Page 17 problem heats up building Costs of Woodside School in Forest. Barber said that the agreement could not be changed. Another man asked if his taxes would go down if the school were closed. Barber told him that if the borad continues to maintain 44 elementary schools, no doubt the taxes will go up.The man replied that he was sure his taxes would rise anyway. As talk became more emotional, one woman suggested that it would be better to close Grand Bend school than Kinnaird, because the board would be better able to sell Grand Bend school since It is in a village. She was told that any sale has to meet with zoning restrictions, and that a list of who the schools can be sold to has to be followed. It was also suggested that if any school is closed in this area, it would probably be "moth- balled" --kept with minimal heat in case it is needed in the future. It was pointed out by the public that if the school is "mothballed", the amount saved by closing it would be minimal in comparison to THREE TUBES DOWN - - The boys of Grand Bend•Public School piled themselves on three giant inner tubes as their teacher Mr. Moore pushes them off at Pinery Park. Staff photo Visions of summer fun, Chamber plan The Grand Bend Chamber of Commerce still has visions of bikinis and hot, sandy beaches, despite the fact that the beach is covered with huge snow drifts. At their meeting Tuesday night, the chamber Snowmobile driver injured A snowmobile driver received serious injuries when his machine collided with another snowmobile on the Ausable River Cut in Port Franks Monday. James John Boere of RR 6, Forest was injured Driver of the other machine was John Joseph I,eliveld of RR 1. Arkona. There were no damages to either snow vehicle. The crash was in- vestigated by Constable R.M Brown ofthe Pinery detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police. During the week of January 11 to 17, Pinery police laid six charges under the liquor licence act, and three highway traffic act charges One charge was laid under the narcotic con- trol act. and one charge was laid under the motorized snow vehicle act. One impaired driver was charged. while another driver was charged for driv- ing while under suspension. In addition the Pinery detachment investigated 13 miscellaneous occurrences. went ahead with plans for next summer's Burgerfest. Dates for the summer festival were set for June 19,20. and 21. Secretary manager Bob Simpson said that he will be ordering the tent, and bands have already been booked for that time. Summer scenes were also on the chamber's mind when 25,000 new coloured brochures were ordered. The new brochures will cost 815,000 and will be placed at all border crossings and tourist information centres in Ontario. As well, the chamber voted to renew their halt page ad- vertisement in the Bluewater guide. Obtaining photographs for the brochures has been a problem for Simpson. It was suggested at the meeting that the chamber sponsor a photo contest for Grand Bend and area residents so that they could submit a photo depicting Grand Bend as they see it -We'd like to get six good scenes for use in future years.' Simpson said. Representatives of Knapps Amusements attended the meeting to show Chamber members their plans for renovating the amusement park. Simpson said that the chamber would be pleased to see any area businesses upgrade their facilities, and added that the chamber will support the proposed changes at the amusement park. About 21 people attended the meeting. Simpson said SALE CONTINUES Still a nke selection of sweaters of greatly reduced prices. Closing Jan. 31 for the season Open daily 10-5:30 Sunday 12.5:30 E2O f CTORY OUTLET 16 Main St. GRAND BEND 238-8007 fest that the attendance was good for a January meeting. The next meeting is scheduled for February 3. Committee plans dance for Mcllroy day The Lionel Thornton Casa Royal Orchestra has been booked for the gala dance planned for Eric Mcllroy memorial day June 6. The committee planning the events met Thursday, and put together ideas for the dance. The dance is to be held at Huron Country Playhouse. Committee chairman Mae Morenz says that most of the major plans have been settl- ed :1t present the Com- m tttee is looking for volunteers to help with lighting. serving and other duties It was decided at the meeting that tickets for the dance he sold at 850 per cou- ple Mrs Morenz said that hr(s.eeds will go towards setting up ;n scholarship fund tor music students. The group is hoping to be recogniuol as •I charitable organization. she added. Several special guests have been sent letters in- viting them to the memorial day the board's 82 million budget. "1f we all chipped in a coffee a day, we could keep it going" one man said about Kinnaird school. Barber said that if one of the three schools is closed they will not be firing any teachers. He said that the only job lost might be one part time secretary, but added that they could possibly find a position for that person at another school. Salaries are the board's major expense. It was also suggested that Grand Bend school take in more students from Huron County who live closer to the Grand Bend school, but are bussed to Stephen Central School. Barber told him that it was a political matter, and the study committee would probably not be able to solve • it. The study committee discussed five different options for the three schools. The first option was main- taining the status quo -- keeping all three schools open. with an empty room at Grand Bend and Kinnaird, and two empty rooms at Bosanquet. The enrolment for the schools in September is projected to be 355 at Bosanquet, 133 at Kinnaird, and 119 at Grand Bend. Options 2A and 2B suggested that Kinnaird school be closed, Grand Bend school would remain the same while half the Kinnaird children be sent to Bosanquet and the other half sent to Aberader school which is south of Forest. This would create a need for a portable classroom at Aberader, which brought loud laughs and comments from the audience. The same situation would take place if the southern Kin- naird students were sent to Forest Public school, or Woodside school, which are filled to capacity. Kinnaird students were forced to use portables until a large ad- dition was made in 1975. Parents living in the southern portion of Kinnaird area made it clear that if Kinnaird school was closed, they would prefer their children to attend a rural school such as Aberarder Central, rather than having them go into a town school in Forest. In his report, the principal pointed out that the parents have chosen to Live in a rural setting and would prefer them to attend a rural school. The third option suggested that Grand Bend school be closed with the total enrolment moving to Bosanquet, and 17 students in the southern limits of Bosanquet area be sent to • Kinnaird. Bosanquet would be filled, but Kinnaird would still be left with an empty room. Option 4A would see those same 17 students sent to Kinnaird, and Grand Bend boundaries extended to take in 39 students on the north and south side of the Ausable River cut. This would fill Grand Bend and possible Kinnaird, but leave four empty rooms at Bosanquet. In option 4B the same thing would be done, but only taking the south side of the Ausable River Cut to Grand Bend. Options five A and B are similar, but closing Kinnaird school and sending the students to Bosanquet, and relocating some of Bosanquet to Grand Bend. This might create a need for a portable for one year at Bosanquet. The study committee decided not to pursue the options of closing Kinnaird school and sending students to Forest or Aberarder schools any further, because those schools do not have any room. The next school district study meeting will be at Grand Bend Public school on January 29 at 7:45. Prior to that the working committee supporting Dr. Clay is ex- pected to meet. suuut►nnnnnunununrnuunnn:., ADAMS Heating & Cooling • Heating Systems of All Types INSTALLED, MODERNIZED and MAINTAINED • General Sheet Metal Work • Air Conditioning • • Humidifiers • Ventilation 235-2187 133 Huron St . East. Exeter c# At The Grand Bend Gospel Hall January 26th - 30th Mon. - Thurs. 7:00 - 8:00 p.m. Friday - Supper served at 6:00 p.m. Adults As Well As Children Are Welcome SPEAKER: TIM WALKER - former teacher from Niagara Christian College Fort Erie, On- tario - using pictures that talk speaking volumes to young and old PRIZES:for attendance and bringing friends PURPOSE:to teach your children the basic, fundamental truths concerning the way of salvation as found in God's Word, the Bible INFORMATION:Phone Don Gratton: 238-2820 Bill Sharrow: 238.2234 Tim Turnbull: 238-2576 COME AND BRING YOUR FRIENDS TIRED OF A 70° HOUSE THAT FEELS LIKE 60? 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