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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1977-12-08, Page 170 • • 4 O Brd. of Ed. ignores football ban The Huron County Board of Education ignored a request from the Ontario Chiropractic Association to phase out high school contact football and replace it with non -contact football or some other potentially less dangerous sport. The board chose to file a letter from the chiropractic association at its Monday meeting despite the protests of Goderich trustee Dorothy Wallace. Wallace told the board that she didn't think the matter should be dismissed "just like that", She said the board had to make its decision considering the physical hazards of a teenager playing body contact sports adding that she didn't think the matter should be "tossed in the trash. basket". Board chairnian Herb Turkheim asked Wallace if she thought football was any rougher than hockey, a sport almost every youngster plays during childhood and usually with his parents' support. "I don't think you can stop—young people from playing at sports," said Turkheim. "If the board barred it in the schools it would just start up on its own in parks and empty lots." Clinton trustee Dorothy Williams supported the chairman's theory pointing out that at least in the high ,school programs the athletes were provided with protective equipment which lessened the chance of injury. She said that if youngsters were going to play football she felt it was better they play in a high school program rather than out of one. Wallace pointed out that if youngsters played hockey they did so with parent's approval and that hockey programs were not offered by schools and that the schools were not responsible for injuries to students playing hockey after school hours. Turkheim pointed out that the only difference between hockey and football was that schools did not sponsor hockey programs. He said the body contact is the same. Wingham trustee J.P. Alexander told the board that high school football programs were offered to students wanting to play the sport. He said football was not mandatory, and that if a student's parents didn't want him to play the game they could stop him from doing so "Girls are wanting to get in football programs now, said Brussels trustee D. McDonald. Separate school trustee Eugene Frayne, the trustee responsible for the motion to file the letter, said he felt the board didn't have enough information to comply with the request of the chiropractic association. He said if the association backed up the request with facts and figures regarding an alarming number of serious injuries the board would tfave to take a second look at the subject. The resolution from the association recommended the phasing out of high school football because of a potential danger to adolescents. The letter said adolescent bodies are not sufficiently developed to be safe from spinal and neck injuries as a result of heavy body contact in football. Superintendent' of education Jim Coulter said he had kept a list of injuries to students at school during the last three years and that he has not had a football injury reported to him. He said children have broken arms falling off swings but he has not been made aware of serious football injuries. He added that it was possible any injuries received in the game may not have been reported to him. Child abuse program must be dropped .• A program operated by the Huron County Family and Children Services (formerly the Children's Aid Society) aimed at preventing child abuse in the county has been cancelled due to a lack of financial support from the Ontario ministry of community and social services. John Penn, director of family services, said Friday that budget restrictions placed on the Huron County agency forced him to cancel the child abuse program. Penn said that the lack of financial support was not the sole reason for cancelling the program. He said lack of funds coupled with a high workload for Huron County agency workers gave him no alternative but cancellation. He said that the staff to case ratio in Huron was one of the highest in south-western Ontario and that by failing to permit' the Huron agency to add one staff 0 member and reduce the workload of the workers the ministry had forced him to cancel a program. Penn said the ministry does not consider the . child abuse prevention progr"ani as part of the agency workload. He said the ministry calculated the Huron agency's workload and budget on it 1975 files and ' did not permit'"' ex' pansion of programs since that time to be considered in the 1978 budget. Penn said he could abide by ministry judgment if the workload ratio in Huron was not sohigh. He said the ratio, here is w 36.3 cases to one worker, the highest in south-western Ontario 'and one of the hikhest in the province. He said neigh- boring agencies have ratios in the low 20's and one has a ration of one worker per 19 cases. The agency director said the child abuse program had to be the one eliminated because it was not recognized as a budget item by. the ministry. He said had another program been eliminated the Huron agency yvould have faced a budget cuf which would have made it almost impossiblefor staff members to function. He said he is very proud of the effort his staff is making despite the high case load. He pointed out that the only way .the workers can handle their duties is to work overtime, either -by pay or time off. Penn said that if the ministry allowed the Huron workload ratio to be reduced and allowed the agency to take on another staff member he felt the child abuse program could be maintained: He estimated the move would 'cost the ministry an additional $20,000. The program was started a little, over a year ago and was aimed at public eclucation, identification and reporting procedure involved in cases of child abuse. He said it enabled community resources such as doctors, police, teachers, ' hospitals and the general public, to become aware of child abuse and to report actual cases or potential . Hensall UCS meet by Hilda M. Payne Mrs. Cecil Pepper, Mrs. John Corbett, Mrs. Elizabeth Riley, Mrs. Albert Alexander, Mrs. Vera Brinthell and Mrs. Carl Payne were guests at the regular meeting of Hurondale Women's Institute on Wed- nesday, November 30 and enjoyed their, hospitality. Mrs. Daisy Ivey, who celebrated her. ,90th birthday last week, has now received congratulations from the Governor General Jules i Leger and his , wife of Government House and from the Prime Minister, Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Mr. and Mrs. Alf Smith have moved into the senior citizen apartments in.Zurich. We are sorry to lose them, but wish them many ,years of happiness in their new surroundings. The Hensall Women's Institute will be holding their Christmas meeting in 'the Legion Hall on Wednesday, December 14 when Mrs. Jean Durst of Seaforth will be demonstrating Christmas decorations. 0 Unit II UCW The Christmas meeting of Hensall UCW Unit II was held on Thursday December 1 in the Fellowship—Hall and was chaired by the president, Mrs. James McAllister who opened by reading from the Upper Room on "Meanings one can obtain from a Christmas tree." Mrs. Albert Alexander gave the devotional with readings taken from Luke WE WELCOME LETTERS TO THE EDITOR and Matthew. Instead of a study, each member gave a reading, inspirational, in- formative or humorous. The. program consisted of carols, a reading by Mrs. C. Britton and a piano solo by Mrs. Laird Mickle. The 20 members present reported a total of 75 visits to the sick andshut-ins and Mrs. Len Purdy read a card of thanks for— 54th wedding anniversary remembrance received from. the Friendship and Visitation committee. The slate of officers was read and the meeting closed with another carol and the benediction. United Church news Holy Communion was administered at the service on Sunday, December 4 at Hensall United Church, the second Sunday in Advent. The service was conducted by Rev. Don Beck and the second Advent candle was lit by Mrs. Howard Scane, recording steward, to signify the Gift of Jesus the Light of the World. The choir, under the direction of Mrs. John Turkheim sang "Watchman, tell us of the night". The sermon was on repentance, which has to penetrate the crusts of piety and dig in deeper and deeper. God's forgiveness is our salvation. An arrangement of flowers was placed in the church in memory of the late • Laird Mickle by his family. +++ Miss Grace Bird, Huron County Home Economist, visited with Mrs. Albert Alexander on Sunday. The general meeting of the Hensall UCW, which had to be cancelled on Monday because of the snowstorm, will be held next Monday, December 12 at 7:30 p.m. This will cause the can- cellation of the Unit II meeting, so all members are asked to bring embroidery needles to help with tray favours for Queensway. • s problems to the agency for assistance. Penn said the program was very suc-, cessful and that the agency planned to expand it. PROGRAM SUCCESSFUL The program was started in March of 1976 and at that time 17 child abuse cases were on the agency files. By March 1977 26 cases were on the files and a high of 32 had been recognized in August of 1977. Penn attributes the increase to the child abuse program pointing out that before the establishment of the program the cases would have'gone unreported. The director did say that the can- cellation by the agency will reduce the effectiveness of the program but that the. groundwork done by the community, child abuse committee will not be, in vain. He. said that the education of the community would allow the agency to help in many cases but that some. children would have to live in a situation where they are being abused and not, have any group or individual aware of it to -offer them help. Penn said that the community could support the child abuse prevention program through donations but pointed ,put that the program has to be an ongoing thing.. He said if the community donated funds to" keep the program operating it would have to be- a con- tinuous thing with the guarantee that the following year the financial support would be there. He said the only way it can be successful is if it has a sound future. d CLINTON NEWS -RI ,CoR ?, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8,1977 --.PAGE 17 One of the best decorated Santa Centres in this part of Ontario is located at the Clinton- . Town Hall. Here Santa Claus and his two elves pose with the centre, decorated by the Marketing 400 students at Central Huron Secondary School. (News -Record photo) Latin, German may be dropped The Huron County Board of Education wants to take a second look at implications involved in -cancelling language programs in two of its secondary schools. The board looked at two recommendations for can- cellations at its Monday meeting, one to eliminate German classes at Seaforth District High School, and one to cancel Latin classes in Central Huron S,pcondary School in Clinton. Goderich trustee Dorothy Wallace said she felt the board had to examine the whole question of education priorities before making a "snap decision based on five minutes discussion". Wallace added that due to declining enrolment in secondary schools the board may be forced to cut back programs and cancellation of subject instruction now may have an affect on decisions the board has to make in the future. Wallace said the matter should be turned over to the education committee for investigation. She said the c in "m ittee -should look at sirrtilar programs offered in other county secondary schools and should consider the number of students in- volved. She added that the board had to consider students .that really want to "OK, December 4 is the Tellmeagainhow Unemployment Insurance qualifications are c 55 learn languages. "Ism sorry it was left so late before it was brought to the board," she said. The requests were made with a reminder to the board that it had to deal with the matter quickly since school calendars and option sheets for students were in the process of preparation for distribution in January of 1978. The sheets are given to the students for completion to allow the board to determine the number of students wanting to enrol in a program the following year to permit the board to make staff ad- justments in the schools. The German program offered at Seaforth involves 17 students in" two classes. The language is ' taught to students in senior grades and has faced declining enrolment since 1974-75. Four year ago 27 students were taking German. In 1975-76 the number dropped to 20 and in 1976-77 it remained at 20. This year the 'number dropped to 17 The Latin program in Clinton has not faced declining enrolment but a " request from the' head of the . language department at that school suggested ' that the program was not involving a sufficient number of students. Marlene Gowanlock, head of the language department, said in a letter to ,G.O. Phillips, principal of CI -ISS, that three teaching periods are being used for 39 students taking Latin. She said the situation did not seem to be a wise use of teaching poten- tial. Gowanlock said many people consider Latin to be a valuable discipline because it provides a basis for proper use of English vocabulary and grammar but she added that a well -organized modern English . program could achieve the same goal. In 1974-75 the three senior grades at CHSS were taught Latin in two classes involving 29 students. That number rose to 34 in 1975-76 and one more class was added. In 1976-77 41 students took Latin and this year 39 are studying the subject. . Wallace said she was puzzled that a teacher would recommend her. course be dropped and wondered- what the board would replace it with. She added that when one considers that schools in other areas are introducing Latin as - a, --means of upgrading English programs it was a wonder to her how a teacher could make a statement like that. The matter was turned over to the education committee for its December 19 meeting. New legislation has changed some of the ground rules of our UI program. Parliament has decided that people who live in areas of high unemployment will be given certain advantages over those who live where jobs are more plentiful.. Which means that, as of December 4, you'll need more insurable work weeks to qualify for Unemployment Insurance benefits. "1F0 to 14 weeks, depending on where you live, right?" Right again. In regions of low unemployment, claimants will need up to 14 weeks of insurable employment to get UI benefits. This will. only happen in places where it's easier-o,get and keep a job. In regions of high unemployment, claimants will need as little as 10 weeks to qualify. But until December 4, the entrance requirement remains at eight weeks wherever you live. "How about the two week waiting period?" No change. The basic two'week waiting period remains the same everywhere. And so do the rules on the waiting period when a claimant has left his or her job for no good reason or been fired for misconduct. In such cases, a claimant may have to wait up to eight weeks from when employment ends until benefits start. 4 Constance By Mary Merner The Foresters. _ hed their Family Day on Sunday December 4th. The afternoon started with a program. Bob Jamieson played his. guitar, and solos were sung by Mary Hunt, Jane Anderson, Sharon Bos, Kenny Bos and Ronnie Wammes. Mary Lou Anderson and BIlly Jewitt played selections on their horns, Steven Bos gave some riddles, and Mary Riley led a sing -song. Jimmy Campbell and Karen Cam- pbell both gave recitations, Following the program, Santa Claus arrived and gave out bags of candies to the children. Over 60 ,people sat down for a pot luck supper. Personals ,Mr. and Mrs. Mike Ritchie, Mark and Jtalie, Bayfield spent 'Sunday with Mr. and Mrs. Dave Preszcator, Christine, Lisa, Christopher and Greg. Mr. and Mrs. George Counter, Kassandra and Vicky - spent Friday and Saturday with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bun McConnell and Cheryl, who have just moved from Ottawa to Strathroy. Mrs. Paul Southgate and baby Sean returned home on Thursday from Seaforth Community Hospital. Mr. and Mrs. John Thompson and Sharon and Brian Nesbitt of Stratford spent Sunday with Mr. and Mrs. Jim Thompson and Leisa and Mr. Terence Hunter of Colborne Township. Bob Thompson - returned home having spent the weekend in Colborne Township. Mr. and Mrs. Carl Merner, Sandy, Julie, Michael and Shelley, and Mrs. George Mcllwain spent Sunday with Mr. and Mrs. George Mcllwain, Lynn and Steven of Stratford. Visiting at the same home were Mr. and Mrs. Jack Crozier, Paul, Kevin and Lori of Kincardine, and Mrs. Andy Crozier of Seaforth; when they celebrated Lynn, Steven, Lori and Sandy's birthdays. Your Voice in. • Clinton and Area since 1865 CLINTON NEWS -RECORD • Right now, we measure unemployment by dividing Canada into 16 economic regions. Later, in 1978, we kill fine-tune the program to 54 regions so that, UI «•ill he even more closely related to the local labour market"conditions. Also, -there's maternity, sickness and age 67 hen.elits. • Previously, sickness benefits were only payable during the first 39 weeks of the claim. • Now they are payable at any time during the entire benefit period. Maternity benefits of 15 \weeks and the special one-time benefit (equal to three Nveeks' benefits) at age 65 remains the same. The same people still pay for the program in the same proportions, and the types of employment insurable for t'I remain the same, too. And, as explained in the box.below, you still go to the familiar locations for both UI office,s and Canada Manpower Centres. Watch for changes in your area. "Has the amount of the benefits changed?" Absolutely not. The UI benefit rate stays at two-thirds of your. average weekly insurable earnings. The maximum is $147, less tax. "Anything else I should know?" The maximum time for which anyone may receive benefits has changed slightly. The old maximum was 5 1 weeks. Now it's 50 weeks. • • But since September 11, the total number of weeks for which a claimant qualifies has more closely reflected the unemployment rate in his or her region. i The Unemplownent Insurance Commission and the Department of Manpower and Immigration have become the Canada Employment and Immigration Commission. For a time, you'll still see our local offices identified as Unemployment Insurance offices or Canada Manpower Centres. W7ren they're together inane location:they'll be ' called Canada fimplovment Centres. Working with people who want tirork. 14, Employment and Immigration Canada Emploi et Immigration Canada Bud Cullen Bud Cullen Minister Ministre 0 r •