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Times Advocate, 1998-03-04, Page 2Page 2 Times -Advocate, March 4, 1998 iNLTHE NEWS_ Regional wrap up Forest Standard newspaper sold PARKHILL - Owners' of the Parkhill •Gazette, Carl and Joyce Hayter, .have purehased the. For- est - Standard, -reported the Ga- zette. . These two newspapers arc among--thc---f'ew—independently owned community weekly news- papers remaining in Ontario. Most -are now owned •by large .corporations. The Standard has a larger cir- culation and advertising Kase than the Gaicttc. Bend couple survives tornado GRAND BEND - Reg and Hilda Crowe of Grand Bend re- turned to the Ponderosa Park Campground in - Florida • last Tuesday unscathed after a torna- do ripped through the park, re- ported the London Free Press. • Reg. whose 16 -loot trailer suf- fered minimal damages. • last week made plans to go fishing Wednesday with a park neigh-- bor. Unfortunately. the neighbor was one of at least 38 killed by the tornado. • Caught breaking into own store HANOVER . - Randy Bruce Thompson. the former owner of inc`Tomato's Restaurants in .Hanover and Owen Sound, pleaded guilty on Feb.. 20 in Owen Sound court to his part in . a faked break and ;enter at the Hanover restaurant . in July. 1995. stated the Saugcen City News: Thompson faked the break-in atter removing almost 525,000 of computer equipment from, the restaurant and was ordered to pay hack $24.854.74 to four in- surance companies His sentence was suspended and he was put on probation for one year. Province seeks options for youth NORTH HURON - The Onta- rio government is -looking at ways to • improve opportunities for rural youths: reported the North Huron Citizen.: • Last week, Helen Johns hosted. a round table discussion in Clin- ton with arca youths and busi- ness leaders to talk- about the is- sues - of employment opportunities for rural youth. . Three main.issucs arose at the • meeting. The first being that there is a need for .rural Ontario to he promoted as.a place to in- vest:- the second issue was that job skills should he incorporated into eduction and rural youths need more infomtation on such subjects as resumes. how to find jobs and doing murk interviews. There third issue was the need 'for for more community links so that youths can find out about job opportunities. Flu bug worst in decades WALKERTON - The influen- za -A (flu) hug sweeping across Ontario has hit Walkerton like a • tornado. reported the Walkerton Herald -Times. Over the last couple of weeks attendance has been sometimes cut in half due to absenteeism resulting from the flu. Grant to preserve heritage CAMBRIDGE - A $400/0 grant to help to train volunteer groups 10 preserve and improve their own downtown heritage ar- eas was announced -last week by Citizenship, Culture and Recrea- tion Minister Isabel Bassett. re- ported the St. Marys Journal Ar- gus. Lucan's centre Open for s 'e. Right photo: About 60 people were on hand to watch Perth -Middlesex MP John Rich • - .,,n free ceremonial balloons on Friday night to officially open the Ausable Centre 0 Main St. in Lucan: Established by the Friends of the Lucan Library as a sat- ellite auit,inistration centre for the library to offset the lack of space there, the Ausable Centre also serves as an art gallery/performance arts centre, continuing education centre and tourist information centre and much more. The Friends have applied to both the pro- vincial and federal governments for grants to fund the Ausable Centre's projected. $100,000 per year budget. ''It's marvellous to see this happen from the grassroots, Rich- ardson said of the Ausable Centre, adding his door is always open -if the Friends need addi- tional -help. "it's a -great start," Lucan Reeve Robert Benner said on the opening. "Now it needs a gust of wind to remain afloat." Top photo: Lucan artist Jan Brouwer kicked off the Ausable Centre's first exhibit on Friday with his 'The Elements' show that runs till March 25. Here he's seen with his 'Harbor Lights' paintings: The Friends are expanding their board of directors and elections will be held at the general meeting on March 25, 7:30 p.m. at the Ausable Centre. For more information on the Ausable Centre and courses of- fered ffered there, call 227-1453. • Discussion continues on .new headquarters • By Michele Greene Special u, the Tithes Advocate . CLINTON - Parents arc fighting harder than student trustees to save an arca school from closure as the Avon -Maitland .District School Board looks for a location - for its amalgamated admirfistrativc offic- es. Student Trustcc • Brent Cameron- told-trustees•last Tuesday: Feh. 24 in Clinton that students transferred to larger schools. -as a result of school closures would have better course selection. After being transferred to a sec- ondary school in Wingham, _Stu- dent Trustee Cameron said he got a better program which was worth the added time travelling toschool... After checking with colleges. • Maureen Agar, of the Seaforth Dis- trict Secondary School Parent Council,. said students • don't need extra - courses to qualify for en- trance to past secondary institu- tions: They can get the necessary skills in Seaforth. she said: She said the loss of Durham's high school was detrimental to the community. The new Avon -Maitland hoard is considering closing. Seaforth Dis- trict gccondary School or sharing the building with the student body. Student Trustee Holly Beth Mathers aid Seaforth would not he in the sante situation as Durham. Its school closed and nothing took its place. she said. In Seaforth. the stu- dents may' (cave hut the hoard em- .ployces would he in the building. having an economic impact on the community. - - "it's better to close and put some-. thing else there," she said. Student Trustcc Mathers' school Mitchell District High School is no longer considered for closure to make room for the hoard's office. has been determined to he a growing community and it's not feasible to ,close the school." said Trustee Colleen Schenk. Trustee Atjc Tuyten said she wouldn't support closing any schools to suit administration. Federal government adopts rural impact test OTTAWA - Paul Stecklc. Member of Parliament for Huron - Bruce expressed his pleasure at a recent announcement by the Minister of Agriculture and Agri - Food Canada and the Minister Responsible for Rural Affairs The announcement. by Minister Vanclief, commits all federal departments and agencies to con- sider the impact on rural Canada when formulating and implement- ing policies. programs and services. "By considering -the impact of federal programs on rural commu- nities. the needs of rural Canada will come to the forefront in the minds of those who develop these programs," said Mr. Stecklc. "i am very pleased that my government has recognized, and endorsed, the special problems faced by rural • communities and that they are com- mitted to ensuring that every gov- ernment program is examined from a rural perspective. • "1 don't believe that'sthc right ap- proach." she said. • Two too many schools? • However. the hoard has up to two additional secondary. schools,. said Stiperintcndent Janet - Baird - Jackson. Paul Carroll. director of- educa- tion, said reducing thc hoard's total - number of buildings would reduce its costs. -By• using space in the schools Which are already -heated- and maintained. the hoard could be • - come more efficient. he said. . The hoard would sell its two Stratford buildings. to move.- into one of the schools. "It seems the two buildings in Stratford could tie looked at as as- sets to -.the predecessor board ( Perth 1, said Trustee Wendy Ander- son. "ft bothers me that when 'there wasa shortfall„ it was assessed on _ the door of the predecessor board. Now. we're looking ac this windfall and spreading it across the district. I. would support selling the Strat- ford buildings if we put junior Jcin- dergarten in the Perth schools," Trustee Anderson added. Chairperson Abby _Armstrong said trustees must soon matke a de- cision tin board location. Principals must know now how many students they will have so they can plan for Septemher. The item is on. the agenda of the -hoard's March 10 meeting in Strat- ford. , Trustcc Leslie Wood. co - chairperson of the headquarters site review work group, said the board has to decide if wants one head- quarters or satellite offices across the district. According to the work group's re- port. satellite offices could be set up at Central Huron Secondary School, Clinton: Seaforth District High School: .Stratford Northwest- ern Secondary School: and Strat- ford Central Secondary School. Residents want change in Targe. garbage pick-up • Continued from front page After further discussion, coun- cil decided not to change the dales for 1998 to avoid confu- sion but to consider changes for 1999. No tag? It's your bag. Armstrong also raised the top- ic of bags of garbage being picked up without lags or with only partial tags. Kells said Town staff have left hags behind in those instances. However, he has faced criticism. When the bags were not picked up, the people would put a tag on the bag and then phone the Town office or a councillor to complain. "They (staff) do look for the tags and do look for the part tags," he said. "They're attempting to do their best," Triebner maintained. Some Titanic prose from the Bard of Biddulph BIDDULPH TWP. - The • fanfare over James Cameron'.s 'epic movie Titanic has unearthed a gem of a poem by a late man known as the Bard of •Biddulph. ' William Wakefield Revington was horn in 1843 and lived all his life in Biddulph, Township before dying in 1920. Known as a great Canadian patriot, Rcvingion wrote scores , of poems, about many things including memorials to -the deceased, places, nature and his favor- ite topic, Canada. Despite never venturing far from» his home, Revingtgn-knew much about the world through voracious reading and keeping scrapbooks. Here is his poem dedicated to the Titanic disaster titled The Loss of the Titanic from a compilation of his work called The Bard of Biddulph put together 'by his descendents and published by Cambridge's Pawel Punishing: The greatest venture of the day has caused the greatest panic, If true the news we hear to -day concerning the Titanic. One of the best and grandest ships the hands of men could make. Or the White -Star Line of. England did make a great mistake. It's captain was successful as a captain -of thc - The Bard of Biddul.'h . past. . His first trip on'that gallant ship has proved to be his last. Experts declared that monster ship c<►uld not sink out of sight. And seamen boasted of that fact up till last Sunday night. But now they tell us that the ship has disappeared from view. With more than sixteen hundred souls, Oh dear can this he true? But for the.hand of Providence all the survivors say.- ' None of the seven hundred saved would be alive to -day. •For if that wireless message was delayed ten minutes more, Not one Titanic passenger - would even see the shore. The costly gems of millionaires are buried in the sea' - Their owners have no use for Ahem as far as we can see. -There were some useful people lost that will deserve our praise, I cannot give you all the names, but one was Charles Hayes. . Survivors say the hand did play. 'Nearer My God To Thee" Just as the ship and passengers did sink into the sea. , The Atlantic.telis of many sad disasters, it appears The Titanic was the greatest in the fast two thi usand years. The hook containing the poem was brought to the Times -Advocate by Lucan local historian Jean Hodgins. She said many of Revington's•descendents still live in the Lucan-Biddulph area. Heart Heroes Heart healthy heroes. Peggy Bondy's Grade 8 class at Exeter Public School was rec- ognized for being heart smart by the Huron County Health Unit. At left is teacher Peggy Bondy. At right is Deb Campbell from the Huron Heart Health Network. in between are students from the health -conscious Grade 8 class. The students were awarded for being involved in some form of physical activity every school day since the beginning of Sep- tember.