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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1994-05-04, Page 2Page 2 Times -Advocate, May 4, 1994 ITV THFI NFiWS Regional wrap up Police search high schools for drugs GODERICH - Classes at Goderich District Collegiate In- stitute took an unexpected twist last Friday morning. That was when police hit the school, in what turned out to be a two-hour drug search, netting an undisclosed quantity of nar- cotics. Students had to stay in either classrooms or the cafeteria until the search was over. Central Huron Secondary School, in Clinton, underwent a similar search later the same day. Police services involved were the Goderich OPP, Goderich Municipal Police, Clinton Mu- nicipal Police and canine units from London OPP, Chatham OPP and Sarnia Police Service. Police searched 35 lockers at GDCI and 25 at CDSS. "We've been meeting with po- lice on a regular basis for a long time now," said GDCI principal Bruce Shaw. "The school was very clean this time," he added. A similar search was conduct- ed at GDCI almost four years ago to the day, it was reported in the Goderich Signal -Star. Bruce board against JK CHESLEY - With only five months to go before the deadline for mandatory junior kindergart- en, the Bruce County Board of Education is still fighting to be exempt from the program until 1997 or later. Board chairman Barry Schmidt says that providing the $2.8 million to build Junior Kin- dergarten classrooms. combined with the cost of running the pro- gram, would jeopardize existing programs like coop education, out -door education, music, arts and sports. "We are requesting, very seri- ously, that we not be expected to put some of these programs in jeopardy by demanding that we provide Junior Kindergarten against the wishes of the com- munity, Schmidt said in a letter tot e Ministry of Education and Training. The board's letter also let the ministry regional office know that geography, climate and so- cial factor are part of its argu- ment against junior kindergart- en. Schmidt said the board is "ad- amantly opposed to mandatory Junior Kindergarten in Septem- ber 1994 or at any subsequent date," it was reported in the Wingham Advance -Times. Fight to save VIA FOREST - With the future of passenger rail service for south- ern Ontario in doubt, Lambton- Middlesex MP Rose -Marie Ur has joined to fight to save exist- ing services. Ur, along with six counter- parts in the Liberal caucus, hopes to convince VIA and the public that trains are an essential mode of transportation and the Toronto -Sarnia route shouldn't be touched. "It's going to be a real trying time to try and convince govern- ment and users that it's an im- portant service," Ur said. "It is really the best mode of transportation for your money." she told the Forest Standard. Bluewater hits town St. MARYS - On Monday, St, Marys became the 48th munici- pality in Huron, Lambton, Mid- dlesex and Perth Counties to choose Bluewater Recycling. Town Operations manager Bruce Grants says Bluewater isn't the cheapest way to go, but it offers much more service for the dollar than other recylcers. "We actually become a part owner of the company," Grant told the Journal Argus. Your Views Letters to the editor J Mayor defends council's stand "To say that we have already pre- determined where the money is being spent is nonsense." Dear Editor: In the interest of trying to make clear one of those issues that are of a concern to some of your readers, I submit the following explanation of what the Town is proposing. Very seldom do municipalities have public meet- ings any more. because, by and large few people at- tend, and the preparation necessary does not seem to justify the results. Exeter, has, however, had sev- eral public meetings since I have been mayor in an attempt to gauge public opinion. One of those meet- ings was held recently (March 30) with a surprising- ly large turn -out considering the topic. We held the meeting for two reasons: i) to give everyone a chance to discuss where Ex- eter, as a community. should be headed; ii) to give us an idea as to where we might spend up to $800,000 in special funding. We received many ideas, but the over -whelming sentiment was that we should spend money on what I called the "heart and soul" (originally from John Hilborn) of Exeter rather than just the "body". Since I have been Mayor, we have spent prob- ably, without exaggeration, $10,000,000 on the "body"; roads (remember the dust), sewers (not nearly the flooding we used to have), drains, side- walks. By contrast to the dismay of some, we have spent much less than 1/10 of that on recreational and cultural capital projects (the "heart and soul"). We spend upwards to half a million dollars each year on public works with little or no public input; $500,000 on policing; all told, our budget over the years has grown from less than a million dollars to over $3,000,000 now. But in those years, we have kept tax increases to a minimum, and that is still the case. Increased revenues have come from increased assessment not tax increases. (If you would like to discuss any of this, please give me a call at home.) To say that we have already pre -determined where the money is being spent is nonsense. We have a tra- dition of listening and acting in the best interests of what we, council as a group, believes is best for Ex- eter, but remember, for every cause, there will be those who support it and those who oppose it. If you want to hear all sides of issues, come to Council meetings; listen to the debates. You will find, as I have over the years, that all the best cases have ex- cellent arguments for and against. The special committee struck to advise us what we should do to the "Corner" will, we expect, sub- mit a proposal which all members will support and will come in at a cost that we can reasonably afford - that has been our practice since I was elected may- or, and I expect that is the formula we will follow this time as well. To those of you who have a tendency to be nega- tive, suspicious or even paranoid, get out of the way; we've got work to do! If you have ideas, sug- gestions, hop on board, we can use your•help. Yours very truly, Bruce Shaw Mayor Protest continues against joint school By Catherine O'Brien T -A staff . CLINTON - Plans to share Cen- tral Huron Public Secondary School as a joint public and Catho- lic school are being re-evaluated by the two boards involved in the ven- ture as they try to get a sense of what the majority of ratepayers want. Whether or not the Catholic board goes ahead with the joint school, a new Catholic school will be built. The Catholic board origi- nally intended on sharing facilities at the Clinton High School as long as there was cooperation and pro- vincial funding. But on April 25, Catholic trustees decided to go ahead with plans for a second Catholic high school, which is expected to open in 1995, even if they have to build the school instead of sharing. This decision came about be- cause of negative reaction to the joint proposal expressed at a meet- ing put on by the Clinton high school's parent liaison committee two weeks ago. On Monday, a delegation from the parents liaison committee made a presentation at the Huron County Board of Education to stress their opposition to the proposal and speak out against recent reports that they are a hostile minority. "Wc oppose this proposal. We are disappointed with the trustees. We are angry that segregation has been portrayed as sharing. But we are neither unfriendly nor enemies, as hostile would suggest," said Su- san Beard, a representative of the parent committee. During her presentation Beard also said neither board has been able to provide evidence that the proposal can work and questioeed whether the venture was worth tak- ing the risk. "The Parent Liaison Committee does not dispute the separate board's right to extend education to secondary school. However, the committee wants to see a right deci- sion made that will work positively for everyone; students, taxpayers and both boards," she said. At the end of Beard's presentation Bill Steenstra, who is heading the parent committee said Catholic rat- epayers are also outraged this idea is on the table. Trustee Bob Heywood said he has also heard that from the com- munity members, but a group of Catholic ratepayers has yet to ap- proach either board against the ven- ture. "I think you should encourage the Catholics in your group to get out and be more vocal," Heywood said. "It's absolutely ludicrous that if thc Catholic element is so strongly against the deal , they are not speak- ing out against it to the Catholic board. It makes me think it's not so strong." Other trustees also urged the dele- gation to make a similar presenta- tion to the Catholic board. "If the community doesn't support this, or both boards, then it won't succeed," said trustee Doug Garniss. There were also questions of the actual cost of the proposal. Paul ttarroll, director of the Huron board said funding will come from the Ministry of Education and addition- al local costs will be picked up by Catholic ratepayers. He said thc only cost to public rat- epayers would be if the public board decides to enhance or add equip- ment to the school that would be used by public school students. Steenstra said the two boards have to look at the social factors of the venture. "You have to face the fact it hasn't worked at a lot of schools," he said. "Right now were still in negotiat- ing stages with the separate board," said trustee Jim Chapman. 'Maybe we misjudged. We have to weigh all the facts," said trustee Don McDonald. Twenty -live years of memories were on display Friday evening at the Ilderton Community Cen- tre as the Middlesex Board of Education celebrated its 25th anniversary. A hundred and forty- two special gold pins were handed out to those teachers who had been with the board since its start. From Lucan Public School were recipients Bev Hughes (left), Helen White, and Grant Wales, who were looking over the clipping books before the dinner and presentations. County announces 11 possible sites for county -wide landfill By Fred Groves T -A staff GODERICH - Southern Huron County received some good news Thursday, none of the 11 candidate sites for the new landfill is in its portion of the county. However. for those living in the townships of Ashfield, Colborne, McKillop and West Wawanosh, it's a different story. All 11 of the sites announced on Thursday in Gode- rich are in those four municipalities and one of them on property owned by warden Allan Gibson of Ash- field. "I will no longer participate in any capacity." said Gibson, remov- ing himself from the chair due to a conflict of interest. "As an interest- ed member of the public I will at- tend the meetings." The biggest concern about the 11 sites was what happens if property owners do not allow the county onto their land to conduct further testing. "The only way to eliminate a property is to get on the property," said Huron County Waste Manage- ment Master Plan Co-ordinator Craig Metzger. He said if permission is not grant- ed, the county has the right to go through expropriation proceedings. "We'll he negotiating with the property owners to get access. We want to get on as quickly as possi- ble so those sites that will be elimi- nated can be eliminated," said Metzger. John Doherty of Goderich said he hoped the county would not go to that extreme if they had tested the other sites first and found a suitable site for the landfill. "It still has to be examined," said Metzger. "Unfortunately the pro- cess has strict rules. Just because someone doesn't give you access doesn't mean it's eliminated." The county had previous candi- date sites but none of them met the required criteria which meant Metz- ger and consultants Gore and Stor- rie had to go back to the drawing board. "Within this group there is a good possibility of finding a suitable site," said John Grey of Gore and Storrie. "It's our second time around," said Hay Township reeve Lionel Wilder of chosing candidate sites. "We've spent a lot of money, let's get on with this." Huron County is anxious to get a new landfill site as several of the smaller municipality -operated ones are reaching capacity. The new landfill will take up a to- tal of 62 acres including the buffer arca. Fines levied for impaired driving, mischief, fraud, resisting police EXETER - In Exeter Provincial Court on April 26, Judge R.G.E. Hunter levied fines and jail sentences in eight of the cases brought before him. Impaired charges Ronald Eldridge of Listowel will pay $750 for having care and control of a vehicle while in an impaired condition. The incident occurred on February 6 of this year when police found El- dridge behind the wheel of a vehicle on the side of Highway 4 in Usbome township. The motor was running and the lights were on. Judge Hunter sentenced James Hayter of Crediton to six months in jail on charges of operating a vehicle while impaired and with an al- cohol level above the limit. Hayter was stopped on June 1R. 1993 by police when they noticed the vehicle was weaving back and forth. Breathalizer tests at the Ex- eter OPP detachment revealed readings of 230 and 210. The accused's solicitor said he would be working in Windsor in the near future and Judge Hunter agreed to the jail term being served on an intermittent basis in Windsor. Mischief A fine of $300 was levied against Steven Heywood, RR 3, Exeter on charges of mischief and failing to leave premises. In an intoxicat- ed condition; the acccused kicked and smashed doors and windows at Lester's Roadhouse in Exeter on February. 6 at 1.30 a.m. and refused to leave the premises. Fraud Bruce Joyce, RR 1, Lucan was placed on probation for 12 months after pleading guilty to fraud on November 26, 1993 when he paid for $234.74 of groceries at Seip's Valu Mart with a cheque which was returned NSF. A search of Joyce's bank account revealed a bal- ance of 70 cents at the time of the purchase. A restitution receipt was produced in court. Dianne Susan Todd of Grand Bend will appear in Exeter court on June 4 for sentencing after pleading guilty to a charge of fraud in- volving $8,276.23 from Gerry MacLean and Sons Automotive which occurred when she was an employee of the Exeter north firm. Resisting arrest As the result of an incident on November 17, 1993, Steven Dett- mer, RR 2, Zurich was fined $400 on a charge of break and enter and jailed for 30 days for assault and resisting arrest. Dettmer removed a door and punched a window at 143 Simcoc street in Exeter. After this he sat in his vehicle and was found with paper towel wrapped around a bloody hand when police arrived. The accused grabbed Constable Chisholm around the neck and a second officer was needed to subdue him. Due to employment re- sponsibilities, Dettmer will serve the jail term intermittently. Dangerous driving David Rader of Dashwood was fined $500 and his driving licence suspended according to statute after pleading guilty to a charge of dangerous driving. The incident occurred on October 30, 1993 during the supper hour when Rader's family was eating at their residence in Dashwood and heard noise outside and found someone had thrown eggs against their windows. On information received from his son regarding the vehicle in- volved in the egg throwing. Rader chased a vehicle driven by James Hay of Exeter which reached speeds up to 140 kilometeres an hour. Hay testified that he had nothing to do with the egg throwing and reached the high speeds because he was afraid and went as fast as his car would go. He said the Rader vehicle drew alongside and a passenger leaned dut the window and pounded on his window hollering at him to pull over. The chase over the roads of the Goshen and Bronson Lines in Hay townsip ended in Zurich when Hay ran into his grandfather's home. Rader testified that he was following Hay's vehicle because he want- ed to make a citizen's arrest over the egg throwing incident. After hearing Hay's testimony and a conference with his lawyer John Get- liffe, Rader changed his plea to guilty. Disobeyed court order A fine of $300 was levied against John Brock of Crediton on a charge of disobeying an order of the court. Disobeying the order to stay away from his former common-law companion occurred at a dance at the Crediton Community Centre on December 5, 1993.