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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1999-11-24, Page 1616 Exeter Times -Advocate Wednesday, Novel, 1999 Council awards gitbage tender t By Scott Nixon 11MES-ADVOCATE STAFF LUCAN BIDDULPH — Preferred Waste is council's preferred garbage collection company after council awarded the garbage collection tender tothe compa- ny for 2000. Council debated at its Nov. 16 meeting whether to award the tender to Preferred Waste or Bluewater Recycling. Preferred Waste won after submitting a tender at $46,800 plus GST for each of the next three years. While Preferred was awarded the ten der, there was some debate over which company was cheaper. Bluewater didn't submit a tender with a guaranteed price, which Preferred did. Instead, Bluewater gave a price per unit. Units are house- holds, businesses or other buildings that would need garbage collected. Council couldn't predict how many units the municipality will increase by over the next three years, leaving Bluewater's price for garbage collection not guaran- teed. Administrator Ron Reymer said the Bluewater tender was slightly lower than Preferred Waste's in the first year of the deal, but years two and three were unknown in the Bluewater proposal. Coun. Harry Wraith supported accept - Ing the Bluewater Recycling tender because Lucan Biddulph is a member of •Bluewater and the company has done excellent work collecting blue boxes. He added that garbage collection and recy- cling should be done by the same compa- ny. Coun. Perry Caskanette argued there was no clear winner in which company's tender was cheaper and agreed Bluewater should get the job. The rest of council disagreed and voted to go with Preferred Waste with Coun. Preferred Waste Paul Wallis saying he is disappointed Bluewater Recycling couldn't have sub-' mitred a cheaper tender for the job. Airport Drive request rejected Council officially turned down landowner Fred Lewis's request to upkeep the portion of Airport Drive between the Salntsbury and Roman lines. The issue -began in September, with Lewis saying he needs the road upgraded to drive his farm machinery. He intends to build two buildings on property he owns on Airport Drive. Early In November township engineer Bob Stevenson estimated upgrading the road, which hasn't been.maintained by the municipality, could cost over $600,000. Reeve Earl French has said the matter could be solved in the courts as Lewis and council try to decide who is respon- sible for upgrading the road. • No library heating — yet When the new library in Lucan opens in December or January, one thing will be missing in the basement -- heat. Coun. George Marr informed council that properly venting the basement for heat and air conditioning will cost an extra $12,000, a cost he said is unneces- sary because there are no tenants for the basement yet. At council's first meeting in November, Marr said the library plans and estimate didn't account for heat and air conditioning in the basement. At that meeting, council thought the cost would only be about $2,000. Instead of spending the $12,000 to properly vent the basement, council decided to put the basic venting in for a bathroom. That should cost about $1,000, Marr estimated. Council agreed to think about venting the basement for heating and air condi- tioning when it is needed. Board flip fiops on UNICEF/Elections. Canada vote By Stew Slater SPECIAL TO THE TIMES -ADVO- CATE After passing an earlier recommendation to allow its schools to participate in an upcoming UNICEF/Elections Canada educational vote, the Huron -Perth Catholic District School Board made an about-face last week. Board schools will now be prohibited from taking part in the Nation*1 Election for the Rights of Youth, Fri. Nov. 19. "We've had various arti- cles sent to us outlining concerns with the pro- gram, and we've also received calls from a number of parents," said superintendent of educa- tion Ray Contois, in explaining the Catholic board's reversal. Though there was no special board meeting to reverse the recommen- dation, Contois says board staff conducted telephone discussions with each trustee last week before Santa coming to Centralia By Mary Peterson CENTR jj,IA_CORRESPONDENT CENTRALIA - Centralia United Church held a very successful turkey dinner on Nov. 20, with over 200 people enjoying the meal. During worship on Sunday, Minister Heather Scott thanked everyone for assisting with this fundraiser. Minister Scott also thanked everyone for par- ticipating in the hog dog lunch which was orga- nized by the children. of the Sunday School and their teachers. Another announcement was an invitation to chil- dren and youth to attend the next Fun Night at Centralia United Church on Nov. 24 at 6:30 p.m. The Official Board will meet at Zion on Nov. 25 at 8 p.m. Farmers are invited to Thamesview United' Church in Fullarton on Thurs., Nov. 25 from 8 to 9:30 p.m. John Field will provide a presentation entitled Family Farming: Consequences of the Harvest. The first Sunday of Advent is Nov. 28. The Sacrament of Communion will be celebrated at Centralia and Zion United Churches. The community will also be preparing for Christmas. On Nov. 27, the Santa Claus parade will be held at 12 noon in Exeter. Centralia will host its Santa Claus parade on Nov. 28 at 1 p.m. Euchre results At Larrys Restaurant in Crediton last week, the high point winners were Gert Eagleson and Andy Thompson. Lone hand winners were Shirley Martene and Betty Coates. Shirley Kirk and Alan Caswell had the low- est points for the day. POLICE BRIEFS Huskies return home SOUTH HURON — Two of the three Husky dogs reported missing and believed to be stolen last week have found their way home. Exeter OPP Const. Rob Kern said the dog missing from the Mount Carmel area returned home in the early morning on Nov. 16. The dog missing from Exeter was found and returned to its owner by an Exeter resident who read about the missing,dogs in last week's Times - Advocate. The dog missing from Crediton was still miss- ing at press but is not believed to be stolen. informing church officials about the change. At a meeting Oct. 25, trustees passed a recom- mendation suggesting the board "permit participa- tion of the schools" in the event. This came despite the fact that, at the time, the board had already received a letter from prominent anti -abortion group Campaign Life, suggesting UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) works to widen the acceptance of contra Op- tion and abortion, and that the election "may be used to undermine parental authority." Contois, however, stressed the Catholic board's major concern with the upcoming vote was not moral. The biggest problem, he sug- gested, was that Elections Canada, which is co-operating with UNICEF on the vote, sent its information directly to each school instead of going through school boards. "The people who called were concerned that school boards had not been able to look at this material and decide if it was appropriate for their students, prior to its going out to schools," he said. "And there were also some concerns that the parents themselves didn't have any choice about whether or not their chil- dren would be involved." Indeed, information pro- vided at the Oct. 25 meet- ing suggests the Catholic board had already dis- counted any moral objec- tions to the vote, which presents students aged between 6 and 18 with a list of 10 rights of children and asks them to choose which one is most impor- tant. "'the election has been ratified- by the Vatican as acceptable," the informa- tion states, and "there are no moral or theological issues." Still, considering the correspondence at Huron -Perth's other major school hoard, it's quite likely a significant proportion of the incom- ing complaints about Fridays vote dealt with moral issues. The Avon Maitland District School Board included various letters of concern in its information package when it dealt with the issue at its meeting Tuesday, Nov. 9. "Elections Canada .. . has now become a vehicle to implicate our children in the UN's highly contro- versial social policies," states one letter to the board, sent by right wing women's group REAL Women of Canada. There was also a lengthy information pack- age from the Reform Party of Canada's Children and Families critic, opposing the vote. At the Avon Maitland meeting, Bayfield -area trustee Abby Armstrong brought forward a motion suggesting such matters be dealt with by the school board instead of on a school -by -school -: basis. *The: motion from Armstrong, who said she had receid calfs from parents concerned with the vote, was seconded but received no further support. "I really don't see this as being something to be dealt with at (the board) level," said St. Marys -area trustee Maggie Laprade, in challenging Armstrong's motion. "1 think we should trust the staff at the schools to use their discretion." This month's vote marks the -10th anniver- sary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was adopted by the UN in November, 1989 and ratified by Canada's federal cabinet in 1991. Aimed at students not yet old enough to vote in general elections, the Nov. 19 vote is being pro- moted as an educational tool to teach students about the democratic process and about the rights of children. Seven schools in the Avon Maitland District School Board will make use of Elections Canada's mail -outs about the upcoming National Election for the Rights of Youth, co-sponsored by the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF). However, vot- ing will only take place in some schools. "The Grade 10 Canadian Studies course is looking at the informa- tion as a debating exer- cise," explained Deb Homuth, principal at Exeter's South Huron District High School. She says students in the course will carry out a voting exercise in the classroom, but it will not follow the exact format dictated by Elections Canada and UNICEF. The National Election for the Rights of Youth will not be used in any other classes at South Huron, she added. Other Avon Maitland schools which will use portions of the Elections Canada information are St. Marys DCVI, Exeter - area McCurdy Public School; Goderich's Colborne Central Public School, and Stratford ele- mentary schools Anne Hathaway and Hamlet. Director announces Task Forcean artici p p � SEAFORTH - Director of Education, Lorne Rachlis, is hers will be a -tremendous asset in this." pleased to announce that the following individuals have The Task Force is a central advisory committee agreed to serve on the Director's Task Force: Ron designed to bring together a cross-section of the district Anderson (Exeter), Sandra Burtch (Exeter), Cathy Hunt community to provide advice to the Director and senior (Stratford), Jeff Carruthers (Stratford), Daphne staff as the School Accommodation Review process pro - Livingstone (Stratford), Sandra Melady (Seaforth), Bob gresses. Pike (Wingham), Shelley Spencer (Clinton), Roy It is made up of five parents, chosen randomly from Tattersall (Granton), Murray Wickham (St. Marys). ` school council memberships, plus five residents with a Dr. Rachlis comments: "I am pleased with the positive business or financial background chosen through an response to my request for individuals to work with us application process. through the School Accommodation Review process. It The ten community members will meet monthly with is important to have people involved who are able to the Director and other senior staff during the course of take one step back and look at the district -wide per- this school year to brainstorm, provide feedback on spective on this emotional issue. Sometimes senior staff activities and information provided or which could be are so close to the situation that it is hard to recognize provided, and to make suggestions on the accommoda- the communications needs of the community and to tion process. bridge the gap in understanding the complex financial It will not be asked to help seIett any schools tor, realities from a business perspective. Task Force mem- potential closure.