Loading...
Times Advocate, 1984-11-28, Page 18Page 18 Times -Advocate, November 28, 1984 CONFIRMATION — Father Paul Mooney, priest of St. Boniface parish, hands out certificates of confirmation to some of the 25 grade seven and eight students who were confirmed last week. Shown with Father Mooney are Darcy Vanneste (left back) Todd La Porte, Mike Hoffman, Raymond Regier and (front) Wade Souplat, Scott Merner and Jeff Keller. Riddell charges students to be denied their rights Hearing handicapped students at the Robarts school in London are being denied equal rights by the provincial government, Huron Mid- dlesex MPP Jack Riddell, charged Monday. They are being denied equal rights or a just place in Ontario society because it is already a "Fait acompli" that secondary school programs at Robarts will be terminated after a review committee sub- mits its report, he told the legislature. That committee "is heavi- ly weighted with ministry personnel who definitely favor terminating the pro- gram and feel it is a fait ac- compli", Riddell said. Education Minister Bette Stephenson was enraged. "That's the most ludicrous idiocy I've heard for some time," she told Riddell. Should the secondary Parents tell council Roberts may close The education ministry pro- posal to wipe out the secon- dary school program at the . Robarts School for the Hear- ing Handicapped could lead to closure of the facility, a Lon- don council committee was told Monday. Members of the Robarts School Parents Association said the ministry intends to transfer about 74 secondary school students to the pro- vince's only other school for the deaf in Milton. And they feared this would The readers write Dear Sir: Another winter has just begun, and with comes the frantic pace of perparation for Christmas. For Canadians of all beliefs it is a time to share our good fortune. It is a time for family visits, for goodwill and for the first hint of our New Year's resolutions! Sadly. it is also a time of misfortune for some. Ac- cidents or chonic illness mean that many people will spend this time of year in a hospital bed. For some of those, their only gift, their only hope, may be the Gift of Life. It may be. your precious donation of blood. Our next blood drive is be- ing held on December 17 in Kirkton at the Community Centre, Hwy. 23 from 5:00 to 9:00. A local volunteer will telephone to ask for your sup- port as a donor. Please say yes, and feel welcome to bring your best friend. Amidst the noise and confu- sion, please find the time to show that you care for so- meone else. Think of a close friend, then give blood as your gift to their happiness and well being this season. Thank you for your Christmas wishes to patients in Southwestern Ontario. We will see that your precious Gift of Life is safely delivered to someone who truly needs your help. Yours very truly. Susan Eckhard Acting Area Manager Southwestern Ontario pave the way for ending the elementary school program at Robarts, in which there are about 50 other students. Of the 74 secondary students, about half live at the school during the week and the rest are commuters. Association spokesman Gerda Brouwer said several families with deaf children moved to London because of the school. A transfer to Milton would have "detrimental effects on our children," who would "become alienated from their community." Added Brouwer: "We feel families will leave London and those considering making London their home will not do so'!. She said the ministry action is because of declining enrol- ment. By closing the secon- dary program, there would be an added strain on attendance in the elementary program, with parents perhaps choos- ing to have their children educated entirely in Milton. Mayor Al Gleeson said "there is a very good chance that if the secondary school goes, the elementary school will go after it." He told reporters that while the ministry might be looking at the economics of maintaining the secondary program, he felt "human considerations" - should also be taken into account. Ile said he understood from the parents they would be willing to accept a reduction in the number of subject op- tions, concentrating instead on "core subjects" as a cost- saving measure. Alderman George Avola won committee approval to recommend that council sup- port the parents' group. with the boards of education being asked to back the city's position. Another association member. Joyce Jacques. said London board of education trustees were approached for support about a month ago, but "they more or less said just wait and see" what happens school close, said Riddell, many of the students will refuse to move to the nearest school for the deaf in Milton. They will drop out of school or ask their local school boards for special education programs. Stephenson emphasized that no decision has been made to close the high school portion of Robarts. "That is not a fait accompli". Robarts cannot offer the proper programs with a pro- jection of only 30 secondary school students, she said. "We don't want to limit the secon- dary school programs - for those students at the Robarts school." Some may choose to go to Milton to obtain the widest range of programs, the minister suggested. She rejected Riddell's ac- cusation that the study com- mittee is weighted with ministry staff who have already made up their minds. "It is weighted with people who have pedadogical ex- perience in teaching those handicapped people." Riddell said the students' situation is the same as that faced by residents of seven centres for the developmen- tally handicapped who were moved into the community when the province made the decision to close the facilities. Some of those residents are now walking the streets wondering where to find their next meal, said Riddell. "Now you're attacking the deaf students," he said. Awards set for 4-H kids Huron County continues to have an active, successful 4-H program. This is demonstrated by the fact that thirty-five clubs will be taking part in the 37th Annual Huron County 4-11 Awards Night. The 4-11 slogan, "Together Today for a Terrific Tomor- row" will certainly be ex- emplified at the Awards Night as 4-H Leaders, parents and award donors join in con- gratulating members on the competion of their 4-11 projects. As well as being recognized for completing their 4-H pro- jects, numerous members will be rewarded for outstan- ding achievements. The Awards Night will take place on Friday. November 301.11 at 8:00 p.m. at the Cen- tral Huron Secondary School in Clinton. en Rodman. Rural Or anrzation Specialist l Agriculture ) - We can't give our children the future. strive though we may to make it secure. But we can give them the present. Board recognizes problems Could be Ctitkolle hlgh school In There may be a Catholic blgh school serving Huron and Perth Counties by 1906. At its November muting, the Huron -Perth Roman Catholic Separate School Board approved forming a panning committee to look at the feasibility of such a school in 1996 "if sufficient numbers warrant". The idea of forming a plan- ning committee was a recom- mendation of the board's secondary school steering committee chaired by board member John Devlin of Stratford. Board chairman Ron Mur- ray emphasized that the steering committee is respon- Bible for "steering" the plan- ning committee into one direction. The steering committee based its recommendation on the philosophy brought out in the Second Vatican Council. This philosophy centres around the idea of "an at- mosphere enlivened by the Gospel spirit of freedom and charity", "to help the young person spiritually" and "to relate all human culture to the news of salvation". However there are pro- blems recognized by the school board in setting up a Catholic high school. The main problem, said Devlin, is the geographical area served by the Huron - Perth board. It covers a distance of about 10,000 square kilometres. Another problem in setting up a Catholic high school is the small number of students in the large area. There are about 1,300 Catholic students in the 10 public high schools in the two counties. Also relating to the large area are the possible bus routes "and consequently the cost factor" said Devlin. The steering committee looked at two possible loca- tions for a Catholic high school, but came to no firm decision. One area is the most populated area, which is around the City of Stratford. The other is Dublin -St. Columban-Seaforth which is more centralized for the two counties. The only other suggestion made by the steering commit- tee is to have a Catholic high school in each of the two counties. "When establishing loca- tions) it is recommended that the appropriate objective might be to locate where the least number of student bus kilometres need to be travel- led to serve the largest number of students," states the report. • The steering committee report also pointed out the necessity of communicating both with parents and the two public school boards - Huron County Board of Education and the Perth County Board of Education. Director of education Bill Eckert said contact has to be made with the two boards im- mediately and should be made by the administration and trustees. The director also com- mented on the fact that a high DEMONSTRATION Sherrie Cushman (right) explains what is done with a blood sample in the lab of South Huron Hospital to Mono and Arnold Gaiser and Mrs. Cola Wein during the hospital's annual open house. I J YOUNG ARTIST — Stephanie Rau works on a master- piece at the Bean Sprouts Nursery School in Zurich. It finally happened. I was waiting for the bad luck to strike ever since I ignored all those chain letters. The bad luck struck recent- ly when our home seemed to be the only place hit with an eight inch snowfall. It was in- credible. If you turned in any direction you could almost see the line where the blanket of snow ended and the green grass began. Just in our small area on the bank of the Ausable River Cut did the snow pile up. Friends didn't seem to have too much sympathy. I struggled to work in Exeter, wearing boots and mittens, only to find bare pavement and sunny skies. People out- side the small snow belt would make comments like, "It's just the way you live out there." Well, folks, I don't think we got the snow storm because of the way we live. It's just bad luck that made it snow on our house. And why did I deserve that bad luck? I chose to ig- nore three chain letters I received recently. Three chain letters, bearing different postmarks, arrived at our home over the past few months. Obviously someone thinks I need good luck, as that appears to be the entire purpose of the chain letters. Maybe they heard about my dismal failure as a gambler in Las Vegas. But since I don't buy lottery tickets, I haven't really found out if my bad luck is continuing. So I didn't give much further thought to having any luck, good or bad, until it snowed - just in my subdivision. And if eight in- ches of snow in mid- November while everyone else enjoys balmy weather isn't bad luck, I don't know what is. The chain letters arrived anonymously. I guess the senders are embarrassed about threatening someone with bad luck, or else they are embarrassed about being superstitious. All three letters were typed on differernt typewriters, and each is uni- que with its own spelling and grammatical errors- There are differences in the messages, but essentially they are saying the same thing. One letter arrived in the guise of a prayer. A Bible verse opens the story. This one left me perplexed as somehow I think the good Lord is a little too busy to worry about chain letters. It says the original is in the Netherlands, while the other two say that the original is from New England. I wonder if the originals are from the same place, and at some point in the chain, someone couldn't read someone else's hand- writing. All three letters go on to say that they have been around the world nine times. I am still wondering who kept Mary's musings By Mary Alderson count. The gist of the letter is that you must give out 20 copies of the letter to 20 friends within 96 hours in order to have good luck. But if you do not, you will have bad luck. Sounds simple enough - but I don't have 20 friends I would wish all guilt on, for breaking the chain. Worse yet, I would have had to find 60 friends to send on all three chain letters. To make the point clearly, the letter goes on to give ex- amples of good and bad luck. In all three versions, an RAF officer received $70,000.00 after he sent out the letter. But poor Joe Elliott got $40,000 (or maybe $450,000) but then lost it when he broke the chain. In the Philippines, General (or maybe that was Gene) Walsh (or maybe Welch) lost his wife when he failed to circulate the chain. But don't dispair, before she kicked off, he got 7 million dollars - or $7,775,00, or $750,000, depending on which version you want to believe. We're still not sure if he con- tinued the chain, but he had both good and bad luck - depending on how he got along with his wife, I guess. Now, we had already established that the original letter came from either New England of the Netherlands - but then the letter says that it was started in Venezuela by a missionary. I'd say he had little to do - 1 sure hope he wasn't collecting funds from any charity to which I have donated. The examples of bad and good luck continue. One poor fellow. Carlo or Carle Dedditt or Dedit or Dadditt, forgot about his chain letter and lost his job. Then he found it and sent it out. Just five days later he had an even better job! That was only one good thing about these chain letters - they all stressed "Send no money"! All three letters said that "fate has no price" - whatever that means. But if no money was ever sent, where did all the cash come from that those lucky people received? The letters end with an ominous threat. Earl Child or maybe Dolan Fairchild, not believing in the chain letter, threw it away. Nine days later he died. Well, that convinced me. I didn't throw out these chain letters. No, I hung on to them, figuring that they might make good material for my column sometime. But alas, I couldn't fool the evil spirits. Next time you get a chain let- ter, it will probably have an additional paragraph on the bottom. "Mary Alderson (or maybe it will read Marj Anderson) failed to circulate the letter and eight inches of snow were dumped on her house overnight, while everyone else had sunny skies. ADVANCED IN 4-H — Obtaining Advanced Honours certificates at Tuesday's Perth 4-H Achievement Night at Kirkton were Diana Vandersleen, Trudie Vandersleen, Marlene Kernick, Lorrie Siemon and Kathy Lamond. T -A photo Tuckersmith agrees with citizens' concern Tuckersmith Township council agreed with over 25 of its citizens Tuesday night who attended a council session to protest the possibility of the new Seaforth and area dump (landfill site) being located on land adjoining their backyards. The proposed site is on the western outskirts of the town on 20 acres which the town owns beside its sewage lagoons. This site is to serve the town and the Townships of Tuckersmith and McKillop. The three . municipalities have spent over $125,000 in their futile two-year -search for a site to replace the pre- sent dump located in Tuckersmith south east of the town. The ministry of the en- vironment has ordered this site to be closed in April as it is filled. The lagoon was chosen for testing to see if the soil would be suitable. Tests have been made by the engineers and the landfill committee is waiting for a report. Two previous sites, first found to be satisfactory, had to be abandoned when engineers' tests at the Mcllwain former gravel pit showed varied soil conditions deem unsuitable by the ministry of the en- vironment and the Varley farm site was declared unac- ceptable because of numerous springs on the farm. Tuckersmith Councillor John Brownridge, represen tative on the landfill commit tee, explained that 42 site had been proposed and that 17 , of them were looked at but they held no promise at all. He said as far as investigating the rest of the sites, they are former gravel pits which the ministry of the environment now feels are not the best for • landfill sites. "I think they should be scrubbed," stated Councillor Brownridge, "and we have decided it would be agricultural land we look at now. We don't have the final say, the ministry will make an environmental assessment." Harpurhey resident Carol Baker asked why the landfill committee would spend more money on testing the lagoon site which is near a residen- tial area. "First of all there are three municipalities, not only Tuckersmith involved, but Seaforth and McKillop. Tuckersmith pays 44 percent of the costs. They want the lagoon site investigated. In my own opinion if testing is not done then the other municipalities would not be willing to go on to test other sites. Perhaps the most significant factor is that the lagoons are there", said Brownridge. Mrs. Baker replied, "They (the lagoons) smell. There are flies. But they aren't smoking yet!" referring to the burning problem at most dumps.) Councillor Brownridge said the leachate from the dump could be pumped in to the lagoons and could be treated there. Durl Hopper said the leachate would migrate through the soil and would threaten the wells in the area. Reeve Robert Bell said there was no alternative but to test the lagoon site. "As John Brownridge pointed out, we are just at the end of our rope," he said. John Longstaff asked about an incinerator but was told by the reeve that it would be too expensive. Fred Tilley asked if there were not institutions in the county which could harness the energy from an in- cinerator. He was told that most of the other municipalities in Huron Coun- ty are operational at this time and do not need a new site. Mrs. Baker cautioned that we should not think only of to- day or tomorrow but that we should be looking ten to twen- ty years down the road. Durl Hopper said the whole town of Seaforth should be concerned as it is downwind from the lagoon are and he compared it to the Seaforth golf links where. smoking of the present dump has been a problem. Reeve Bell agreed that "Windwise the dump site would be in the worst position (if put in the lagoon area)". Alex Stephen, who was spokesman for the delegation, presented council with a peti- tion signed by 96 percent of the residents of Harpurhey. He identified the reasons the lagoon site should be aban- doned: The location is con- trary to the townships propos- ed secondary plan, also the townships zoning bylaw, and that if located so close to the residential area it would threasten the wells in Har- purhey and the smoke would be dangerous to those with allergies and lung problems. He asked why the other pro- posed sites in remote areas were not being considered in- stead of the lagoon area. This statement was echoed by Neil Hopper and Stewart Whit- more and others at the meeting. Mrs. Baker said to council, "We elect you as a council to look after our best interests and we expect you to see there is no smoke and that no wells are contaminated. The traffic (of people driving to the dump) is not the problem. The main concern is that our water system is not con- taminated and the health of our residents not affected." Later in the meeting when council discussed the landfill site, Deputy Reeve William Brown made a motion that no other tests be made on the lagoon site unitl after more isolated sites are investigated and this was unanimously endorsed. In other business some members of council express- ed unhappiness with a new fee schedule for Vanastra Recreation Hall and asked for time to consider them and get more information. '86 school will only be establish- ed "if sufficient numbers warrant". "There is no magic number," said Eckert. Devlin pointed out that a high school is being started in Owen Sound with only about 35 students in Grade 9. He suggested that initially 125 students for Grades 9 to 13 would be ideal. The planning committee will be made up of parents (a minimum of three from each county) , board members, clergy, teachers and ad- ministration. Trustees will be bringing forward names of in- terested parents at the board's December 10 meeting. The planning committee is to submit its plan to the board and in turn the board has un- til May 31 of next year to sub- mit its plan for approval to the provincial planning and implementation commission. The readers virile Dear Editor, I read with great interest the three letters published in the November 21 issue of the Times -Advocate regarding the acquittal of Dr. Henry Morgentaler and two other doctors on charges of perfor- ming illegal abortions in Toronto. All three letters defended, the "pro-life" position. Unlike the authors of those other three letters, I was glad to see Morgentaler acquitted. I believe the "pro -choice" position is correct for three reasons. First, if abortions are made illegal, or even more difficult to receive, the inevitable result will be an increase in unsanitary, dangerous, inept, and generally barbaric illegal abortions. making abortions illegal in Canada will not stop them from being performed. Second, if the "pro-life" ad- vocates get their way, wealthy women will still have access to safe abortions in clinics in other countries. Poor people, however, will not have this option. Finally, the moral question which appears to motivate most "pro-life" supporters is by no means black and white. For example, scientists can- not say exactly when "life" begins. The circumstances surrounding every pregnan- cy, as well, are different. Ob- viously in questions of this sort, the woman who is preg- nant must do the deciding. Others should not at- tempt to force pregnant women to submit to their uns- cientific, backward, and reac- tionary opinions. Women should, of course, have control over their lives and be free to resolve pro- blems, particularly with regards to reproduction, ac- cording to their own beliefs. Sincerely, Ken MacLeod Enjoy it to the fullest with a visit to... SOMETHING FOR THE LADIES... AFTERNOON TEA SERVED 2:30 to 4:30, 7 DAYS A WEEK. You will enjoy a cheese scone, muffin, tea biscuit, jams and Devon cream, short bread, pastry, coffee or your choke of leas. Relax and lake in the unique surroundings as we serve you in front of an open hearth log fire in one of our two lounges- Come alone or as a group. *5.95 per person. Complete your outing with a visit to The Gift Shoppe Unique gift ideas just steps from the Inn. OPEN 7 DAYS A WE E K...10 am -5 pm Now accepting Bookings for your Christmas Parties. V For Reservations please phnnr:� Benmiller 524-2191 Inn Nestled ,n 13enm,ller. Ont.. lust 7 kilometers east of Goderu h on 1 luron County Road 1. Turn north off 1 fighway 8. LICENSED UNDER THE L LB.O. "A world class country inn ... "