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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1997-10-29, Page 1SEIP'S valu-mart 4 tk 83 Exeter 2350262 Agentfor Sketch,ley Cleaners Serving Exeter and area since 1873 SEIP'S valu-mart Teachers walk out in massive illegal strike By Kate Monk T.A,$eporter EXETER - Withtalks underway between Ontario's teachers' unions and Education Minister Dave John- son, 650 Huron County teachers hit the streets on Monday. The illegal strike closed area schools as part of a province -wide job action to protest Bill 160, the Education and Quality Improvement Act, 1997. Eileen Lennon, president of the Ontario Teachers' Federation said that in spite of the assistance of For- mer Chief Justice Charles Dubin, agreement could not be reached. "After months of denials, the gov- ernment has finally admitted that the real aim of Bill 160 is to slash close to $1 -billion dollars from the provincial education budget," said •Mary Ann Cruickshank, President of District 45 of the Ontario Sec- ondary School Teachers' Federa- tion. "The bill shifts control over ed- ucation from Huron County to the provincial cabinet. Local decision- making for Huron County schools is effectively eliminated, as all de- cisions that affect our local schools will now be made by the Cabinet in Toronto. Huron County teachers are standing up to protect quality publicly -funded education for our students in Huron County. We will not let them down," claimed Cruickshank. Nearly 99 per cent of Huron County's teachers met at the South Huron Recreation ;Centre in Exeter on Monday morning to discuss strike strategies. On Tuesday morn- ing, teachers listened to a speaker from the provincial office of the Ontario Teachers' Federation. After the information sessions, the teachers marched along Main Street past. the office of Helen Johns, Huron's Member of Pro- vincial rovincial Parliament, creating a loop Huron County teachers demonstrated anday and Tuesday in protest against Bill 160a The st word on progress in the bitter dispute is the government is seeking an injunction which could force a return to the classroom. Keep your eyes open for fake bilis About a dozen counterfeit $20 bills found in Exeter each week By Chantal! Van Raay T -A Reporter EXETER If you're even a little skeptical about a $20 bill a customer hands you in ex- change for a pack of gum, go with your in- stincts. There has been an upsurge of $20 bills. float- ing through Exeter and the OPP are on the chase to extinguish that flow. On October 21, Senior Constable B.J. Mie- dema gave a presentation in the Ranch House conference room about the flow of counterfeit money in the Exeter area, and how businesses can detect counterfeit money if it is brought into their store. Huron County OPP detect about a dozen counterfeit bills a week. Most of the hills are ar- riving from Hamilton, Oshawa, Toronto and even as far away as Burnaby. Miedema said if a customer or merchant de- tects counterfeit money and they don't report it to.the OPP, they arc at fault and can be liable of an indictable offence. Meidema said creating counterfeit money is not an easy task, and is difficult for someone to get away with. How do you detect counterfeit money? Most counterfeit bills arc created through pho- tography, scanning or photocopying. Real bills are produced in such a way that they can not be reproduced easily through any of these methods. True bills have planchettes in them which are green circular discs embedded in the paper and scattered at random. Although difficult to see, planchettes can be found when the bill is held up to a' light. Planchetles cannot be reproduced through photocopying, scanning or photography, meaning if someone holds a bill up to the light and does not detect planchettes, the bill is prob- ably not genuine. Planchetles can also be felt by running your fingernail across the bill. in 1986, bill's were produced with a gold holo- gram (seal) in the top left corner. Reproduction of a bill turns the hologram black. "When you hold a real bill directly to your face it will appear gold, when you take the,bill away it is green," said Meidema, adding that a counter- feit bill found in Exeter a few weeks ago pos- sessed a counterfeit foil hologram that almost fooled him. or Continued on page 2 on both sides of Main Street be- "How legal is that? is that.what tween Sanders and Huron Streets. we want in a democratic society?" Huron Womens Teachers' Fed- he asked. erasion President Alma Westlake " Unlike other areas of the prov- said union leaders received good ince,. Huron's teachers are not pick - suggestions on Monday morning eting at area schools saying the dis• - regarding how teachers would like pure is with the province, not the - to see information presented tel the school boards. - public. Committees The local • school have been set up to "Huron County teachers are organize community forums and prepare daily newsletters. Westlake said the response of the af- filiates has been ex- ceptional and she has been particularly impressed with the HWTF. There is no strike fund for the il- legal walkout. Westlake said they are losing pay on a day -for -day ba - sit and are also paying child care costs while the teachers who also parents are away from home. Terry Wilhelm, President' of the Huron -Perth English Catholic Teachers' Federation said while many people are concerned the teachers are breaking the law by striking, the government is not fol- lowing Bill- 100 with its proposed changes to the teachers' working • conditions without negotiating with the teachers and their con- tracts. standing up to protect quality publicly funded education for our students in Huron County." boards have re- sponded to the strike by closing the schools to students. The Hu- ron County Board of Education has can- celled_, all night, school programs, including interest courses, dur -, ing the withdrawal of services, according to Paul Carroll, Director of Education. "We regret any inconvenience which this action may cause, how- ever the safety and well-being of the students in the Huron public_ ed- - ucation system is our prime con- cern during this challenging time," said Carroll. Middlesex County Board of Ed- ucation schools will also remain closed to students until appropriate staffing is available. Announcements on radio and tel- evision will be used to advise of de- velopments, as would. he done in the event of inclement weather or . any other emergency. Lucan renter finally warm Jennifer Gridzak had no heat last week as the first snowfalls of .the season blanketed the area By Craig Bradford T -A Reporter • LUCAN - Jennifer Gridzak wasn't a happy or warm tenant last week. Gridzak, 23, has gone without heat at her apartment at 178 Main St. since April. She was promised a gas -heating unit by her former land- • lord, Karl Rawlinson, when he fin- ished renovationsto the huilding before the snow flew this fall. But he failed to deliver before he was forced to declare bankruptcy in Au- gust. The new owners of the. huilding, Laurentian Bank of Toronto, were working on the situation through MFS Realty of Markham, a prop- erty management firm. But the corporate hand doesn't often act as fast as small business or entrepreneurs, and Gridzak was caught in thc middle. She had only 'an electric base- board heater to. heat thc one bed- room apartment till Monday when Laurentian finally owned up to Itawlinson's promise and had a $2,000 gas heater installed. "My bedroom is the only place it's warm because I have five zil- lion blankets on," Gridzak said. She contacted Lucan ad- ministrator Ron Reymer who tried to rectify the situation for Gridzak. Reymer had some municipal am- munition to throw at Laurentian and MFS Realty if they were slow on responding — the village has a property standards bylaw that re- quires. all dwelling units to be main- tained at 21C. Gridzak also called the rent con- trol board for help, but it turns out MFS Realty had the go ahcad from Laurentian by Friday to have a heating unit installed as soon as • possible. "It's not that had but it takes them forever to do things," Gridzak said. MFS Realty principal owner George Miller said property owners are obligated under the Landlord - Tenant Act to provide adequate warmth in apartments. "A lot of the time in this situation when a bank or financial institution takes over they also inherit all the prohlems," he '.said. "Unfortunately the process sometimes doesn't hap- pen as fast as the tenant; wants:" If her apartment continued to be like a freezer this week, Gridzak could've stayed with her parents in Bayfield, meaning a much longer commute to her job at Morello Manufacturing in Mitchell. Gridzak said the entire building went without hot water for :about three weeks ending ahout a month ago. She said she had to heat water on the stove son she could have baths, the entire, process taking about 45 minutes. Chilly tenant. Jennifer Grid- zak holds the baseboard heat- er eater that has been her apart- ment's sole heat , source since she moved into her apartment at 178 Main St., Lucan in April. The building owner, Laurentian Bank, had a gas heater installed in the apartment on Monday. Inside Christmas Tour See Second front Hawks & Irish clash on Sat. See page 19 JUNE BALL LAURIE RUsuII KRISTYN DARUNG BONNIE SITTER SARAH DARUNO JUUE CAMPBELL VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT www.e ttraval_Qotm CIIcIc Asn Tria ' I LIbrary 1-8 t I .. t or 235-_ t' 0