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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1995-02-15, Page 1SEIP'S valu-mart _4 & 83 Exeter 235-0262 `L Try our Hot Soup & Sandwich Special vi 1,:; E xt't('r • SEIP'S va1u: mart 4 & 83 Exeter 235-0262 Q NEW! Frozen Food Club /avg -, Packs ran no me me am •SUBSCRIBE!, IIIc you aren't subscribing to The' Times -Advocate, you're missing out. I Use the coupon below and subscribe today.! 1 Name: I Address City 1 Prov 'Postal Code SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada Within 40 miles - (65 km) addressed to non letter carrier addresses 533.00 plus $2.31 G.S.T. Outside 40 miles - (65 km) or any letter carrier address $63.00 + $4.31 G.S.T. Outside Canada -$99.00 ono see «) poa,9•t USE YOUR CREDIT CARD 00000000 1 1 1 1 1 ' 1 1 1 00000000 Card No. 1 1 I Expiry Date ❑ Visa 0 Master Card 1 ❑ Cheque enclosed Return to; TIMES ADVOCATE ' 424 Main St. Exeter, Ont. NOM 1S6J MNati arta ta. EMI NM Dragons an bears Interria lOrral snow sculpting de- r•ssroa•s front Wednesday, February 15. 1995 Parents ask for French immersion A Board of Education survey says Exeter parents showed keen interest in having a program for their children By Heather Vincent low for a regular size class to be T -A staff created. EXETER - Interest in elementary The question of space for an im- school French Immersion is great- mersion program in Exeter was dir- est in the Exeter area. The results cussed by the board. of a survey sent to parents in Jan- "There is no space in Exeter for uary indicate that a middle immer- Junior Kindergarten, "where is an sion program would be well re- immersion class going to go?" ceived at Exeter Public School. asked trustee Doug Garniss. The survey revealed that 57 in- The issue was addressed by Gino dividuals would be interested in Giannandrea, superintendent of early immersion, 65 in middle im- schools. Building on to the public mersion and 24 in late immersion. school as part of the J.K. addition The interest in immersion in Gode- would be considered if the program rich tas less than one half of the is approved. If capital grant moity what s noted in Exeter. One is not available, space will be a thousand surveys were returned by problem. parents in Huron "You're right, there will be a County. space problem," said Giannandrea. The survey is a reaction to de- The retention of students in the mand for immersion and competi- immersion program will have to be tion from the separate school sys- evaluated before the issue of a high tem which could draw students school immersion program can be interested in French away from the addressed. public schools. "Interest in immersion across the A middle immersion program province has levelled," said Gian- could begin in grade four, five or nandrea. Four years down the line, six, or in combination. The Board the board will need to consider im- of Education which met last Tues- mersion at the high school in Exet- day reported that the program er. would not require additional staff, If everything falls into place, an only different staffing arrange- immersion program could be in- ments. The numbers of individuals stalled at Exeter Public School as inteic .s ' 'n immersion would al- soon as September of 1995. Howling cold Chelsey the dog was having a howling good time at the Grand Bend Winter Carnival's parade Saturday morning, keeping in tune with the North Lambton S.S. Jazz Band. Below, Cam Haist and Tom Lawson cool their heels in ' the "jail" on Main Street -someone paid to have them arrested, and their bail was also to be donated to the youth centre fund. Teen drop-in program dies Sudden lack of interest puzzles organizers, volunteers By Adrian Harte He said a meeting may be held in September T -A Editor with volunteers and interested parents to re - EXETER - What other local communities assess the program, and see if there is a con - are trying to get started, Exeter is closing tinued need for it in Exeter. down. In Grand Bend, there are fundraising "I don't think we should be discouraged, nor efforts to purchase a building for a youth cen- • should we be upset," said Godbolt. tre for the village. In Hensall, the Optimist When a revised program with regular vol - Club wonders if they could find a way to open unteers, or "coaches" was launched in the fall of 1990, it was well at- tended on alternate Fridays by groups of grade 7 and 8, and grades 9 and 10. An evening's activities might include ping pong, tele- vision, music in the lounge, basketball, volleyball, or floor hockey in the gymnasium, and im- promptu meals organized by the volunteers in the kitchen. The program was fine tuned over the years, leading to the discontinuance of separate nights for different age groups, and shorter opening hours. Organizers, however, realized that other activities were beginning to draw teens away. Junior D Hockey games on Friday evenings do attract a fair number of teens; more in that age group are working or babysitting; and a a place for older children and teens to just "hang out". But on Friday night in Exeter, volunteers gave up early and closed the doors on the Youth Drop -In Club at the Lions Youth Centre after Another no-show night. Monday, George Godbolt, who has organized the program since 1989, announced that there would be no more of the Friday night sessions this season, which would have run until March break. Attendance at the evening program since September had been dismal, even though it was essentially the same program that at- tracted up to 60 teens a night only last year. "It's not a dead isstte,' said Godbolt. "The nature of the group changes from one year to the next." "Maybe in Exeter there are other things that take up that Friday night time slot and give kids things to do." video arcade is now open in Exeter. Godbolt said the lack of interest in a youth centre is perhaps a good sign. "Maybe in Exeter there are other things that take up that Friday night time slot and give kids things to do," he said. hut acknowledged a big part of the issue may be the finicky na- ture of teenagers. Next year, the youth centre could be the biggest hit in town once more. Godbolt said the biggest challenge to the program over the years has been to find a slate of volunteers willing to give up their Friday evenings. "Kids would rather have young single adults (as coaches] rather than the parents...it's hard to find these people," said Godbolt. When demand on the centre required the presence of three coaches instead of two, opening hours were decreased in an effort to lessen the demand on volunteer time, but God - bolt acknowledges that by not opening until 7 p.m., many teens might have already made other plans for the evening. "I'm not sure what we do next year," said Godbolt, but said he welcomes any input from people with ideas, suggestions, or a will- ingness to volunteer. 11 -car pileup EXETER - OPP officers had to contend with 13 accidents this past week on local roadways, most of which were the direct result of weather conditions. One of the most dramatic was a chain -reaction just south of Exeter Saturday afternoon just before 5 p.m. OPP constable George Finch said that when one vehicle slowed and another followed suit, a third one collided with the rear of the second due to poor visibility. Eight more cars piled up behind them. "Eleven cars total in three differ- ent accidents in the same area," said Finch. "Vehicles all smashed up everywhere." Four of the cars had to towed from the scene, and there was one serious injury suffered by Brenda Biesinger, of Londesborough. Blowing snow and high winds were also cited as the cause of a head-on crash just south of Winchel- sea around 4:15 p.m. Saturday. Matt Williamson of Exeter, and Wayne Rumford, of Dublin suffered major and minor injuries, say police when a southbound vehicle entered a whiteout and crossed into the northbound lane. Theatre renovations running out of steam There may not be enough money available to do all the work as originally planned By Fred Groves T -A staff GRAND BEND - While renovations to the Huron Coun- try Playhouse continue, there have to be some mod- ifications to the plans. Recently, Max Reimer, artistic director of the Playhouse came to Grand Bend Council and was looking for the vil- lage's annual contribution to the very popular summer thea- tre. ' "We do a million dollars at the box office and bring in 66,000 people," said Reimer. Mayor Cam Ivey could not guarantee that last year's $2,000 donation would be matched in 1995 simply because council has yet to begin working on its budget. However, while council could not commit as of yet the amount of their support, Reimer was eager to point out that rentVhtions are continuing at the Playhouse. "We are going to very quickly reach the halfway point. We are almost there now. We'll have to have assurance from the province the money is coming," said Reimer. Huron Country Playhouse took on a massive phased ren- ovation project about three years ago. The first major un- dertaking saw the demolition and replacement of the work- shop space. Upgrading for the future include renovations to the ad- ministration and box office and renovation and restore the Farm House Gift House. It's questionable whether or not these will go ahead. "They [provincial government] want to approve of our,fi- nancial responsibilities scaling down to our means rather than push on with a $2 million phase," said Reimer. In 1993, emergency renovations were undertaken. in- cluding installation of a sprinkler system and panic hard- ware and automatic door closures installed in all public ex- its. Also, the main auditorium has gone through a big re- vamping as a new roof and roof support system was com- pleted and the theatre was made air -tight. Last year the biggest and most expensive part of that phase was building the flytower. "We're out of money so we're looking at doing things on a smaller scale," Reimer told council. Currently the Playhouse is doing minor renovations to the dressing room and actors washrooms and want to start rais- ing funds to fix up the rehearsal hall. "There was some illegal wiring so we re -wired. That's al- ready been completed," said Reimer of the dressing rooms. "The washrooms looked like they were from the third world." Last year one performer couldn't go on because of the amount of pollen that was circulating through the rehearsal hall in the old barn. Renovations to the rehearsal hall could cost as much as 3200,000. "We are interested in dealing with the rehearsal facilities. There are problems relating to heat and cold." In the past, the provincial government has been keen to financially assist the playhouse as it is a large tourist attrac- tion to the area and employs a lot of people in the summer. Early in 1992, the theatre received a jobsOntario grant for $299,267 which was one-third of the renovation phase be- ing done at that time. Reimer said the playhouse has to be accountable to five different government ministries now. "What we need at this point is that we need to dem- onstrate to the province we have the support of the com- munity."