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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1978-03-30, Page 1Clinton, Ontario 30 cents Thursday, March 30, 1978 Weather 1978 1977 HI LO NI 10 MARCH 21 8 32 22 . 40 29 23 40 27 24 35 12 25 33 15 26 34 26 27 35 31 Rain 1.41" 113th Year —No. 13 40 26 35 27 41 17 22 13 28 12 33 16 60 32 Rain .30" Snow 2" • High schools remain empty as teachers, board quit talking BY JEFF SEDDON When Huron County's 4,500 secondary school students left for school Tuesday morning any hopes +that classes would be held were dashed when the county's 270 striking secondary school teachers chose to stay home. Tuesday was the first day since February 23 that the teachers had an option to return to the classroom and after an Ontario Secondary SSchool Teachers' Federation District 45 executive council meeting Monday night the teachers elected to continue their 23 day old strike. The teachers were invited back to the classrooms by'the county board of education March 20 when the board lifted its teacher lockout on the county's five secondary schools. The lockout was imposed February 23 after a series of rotating strikes by the teachers fouled up student transportation systems for the five schools.. The board decided rather than send the students to school only to have the teachers refuse to go into the classrooms it would lock the teachers out until the matter yips resolved. The 1 ckout proved to be a retrograde step in negotiations which had broken off February 14. The teachers began the rotating strikes , the next day and with no sign of settlement the board, the following week, tee, ved doubts abWrit, Whe er schools would be open by imposing the lockout. Both sides were optimistic Good Friday after a series of proposals were shuffled back and forth between negotiating 'teams for both parties. The board lifted its lockout and offered to negotiate two one year' contracts with the teachers if they would return to the classrooms with the stipulation that no work sanctions would be taken until September of 1978. The teachers countered with a proposal for the two parties to sit down to a marathon bargaining session Good Friday in the hopes of • thrashing out an agreement for the Tuesday morning deadline. Shirley Weary, spokesman for OSSTF District 45, said she was not sure the teachers could return to the classrooms with the guarantee they would stay there for the remainder of the school term. She said the board's latest offer prior to the start of the marathon session showed some hope but was not substantial enough for her to be confident an easy settlement could be reached. Cayley Hill, spokesman for the board negotiators, said the board felt it had done everything possible to open an avenue for the teachers to return to the classrooms and re -open serious negotiations. He said the board was anxious to get students back to school and had lifted the lockout and set the stage for the Good Friday marathon meeting. Weary said the teachers had made a proposal for the board to consider at the marathon session claiming it represented a reasonable salary increase for the 1978-79 contract year as well as suggestions to end the strife over the teacher workload clause and sickleave gratuity clause in the 1977-78 contract. The marathon bargaining session lasted about 45 minutes. Of that over half the time was spent with the two sides huddled in separate corners in caucus meetings. The end result was a total impasse with the situation seemingly worse than it had ever been. All that remained was for the teachers to decide whether or not they would be in front of classes Tuesday morning. Both negotiating teams were disappointed and disillusioned after the Good Friday meeting. Board spokesmen said they were dumbfounded by the teacher proposals claiming they were harsher than the original demands that were the centre of the strike. Cayley Hill, in an outburst following the 45 minute marathon session, said he had never encountered such militancy from teachers and said the board of education "will not be blackmailed by the teachers and will not have the children of Huron County put up for ransom as far as their education goes". Hill said the teachers came into the meeting with a proposal that amounted to demands that must be in the contract and weren't negotiable. He said the teachers made it "abun- dantly clear" that the working conditions they proposed "must be in the contract". He said the teachers gave no indication they would back off and that the apparent refusal to budge brought the marathon session to an early end. He added that no other proposals were even discu§sed1. Hill's disappointment was increased by teacher salary requests for the 1978-79 school year that the board of education simply 'couldn't pay. He said the first proposal for salaries for the next contract year amounted to a 13.5 percent increase. He added that the parties didn't discuss salaries for the coming year and that he didn't know how adamant the teachers were about the proposal. Shirley Weary said the fiasco on Good Friday clearly showed that as the con- troversy wore on both sides became more firmly en- trenched. She said the teacher have become "in- creasingly militant" and have as much as said to her "we've gone this far don't even dare to ask us to go back for that (the latest board offer) after what we've given up" She said last Friday's session left her with the feeling that things had never been worse. She said it was as though "someone had driven a bulldozer between us". Weary said she planned to go to the Education Relations Commission and request that a mediator be appointed to assist the contract talks. She said she felt there was no way the two parties were going to come to any agreement and it would take a third party to settle the matter. She said the request for a mediator was the first step in obtaining ERC intervention. "I don't think there's anything more we can do directly," she said. "The board won't talk to us directly but maybe they'll talk in- directly through a mediator." Hill said he was surprised with the attitude of the teachers and felt the board could do no more to settle the situation. He said the teachers today wanted , a "crown in heaven" and that the contractual problems basically boiled down to who was going to run the education system, the teachers or the board. He said lie felt the board had done everything it could. He said it had lifted the lockout, agreed to pay the teachers under the terms- of this contract despite the fact it hadn't been settled, and had set the stage for a settlement of this contract and com- mencement of serious negotiations for the next pact. "They won't negotiate," he said. "We can't bargain with a gun at our heads. As an elected body of public of- ficials we are not, in my opinion, in a position to ac- cept that kind of an ultimatum." Hill said the board had been accused in the past of not being conscious of public needs. He said that if the public was not satisfied with the board's efforts to protect ratepayers they (the public) had better let it be known. He said ratepayers should make their opinions known through signed letters to the editors of community newspapers or letters to the board office. The board negotiator said he felt "professionalism" was lacking in Huron's teachers. He said he hoped that the teachers would realize what Turn to page 3 Board wants volunteer teachers The Huron County Board of Education is in the market for tutors for Grade 12 and 13 secondary school students. The board announced Tuesday morning that it is considering the use of adult volunteers in the secondary schools who feel capable of acting as tutors or discussion leaders at the Grade 12 and 13 level. The board has asked that anyone in- terested in providing the service for the students contact the school principal in their area or contact the board office. When the board has dptprminAri hnur First column: April Fool By Jim Fitzgerald It seems I went off half-cocked last week (so what else is new) in predicting that spring is here. Bet- ween the ice storm on Easter Sunday, and the cold, northwesterly winds of late, it seems more like the first of March than the last. April Fools Day is here, but the post office has assured us that it's no joke when the postal rates jump on Saturday. First class mail, for in- stance will now go for 14 cents instead of 12, and most other categories are up as well. My guess as to why they didn't settle on a 13 -cent stamp is that the post office is alteady having enough bad luck. Seriously though, there aren't many things one can get today for 14 cents, and I say that the local post offices are, for the most part, speedy and efficient in carrying out their task. +++ The end of March also signals the deadline for all truck and van owners, including yours truly, to get their new license plates. Unlike car owners who just have to put a new sticker en top of the old One, truck owners have to, change both plates and the air sometimes turns blue when one discovers the bolts are rusted firmly in place, and that cold weather isn't conducive to bare hands ! I've always wondered why the government couldn't have license plates expire in July or some warm month, when it isn't such an arduous job to change them. +++ The Ontario Hydro, Clinton office, hockey team is in pretty rough shape, in my humble opinion, as the Sunday morning Interfaith Hockey team thumped them 11-9 last week in our final game of the year, even with an imcompetent like yours truly playing. And on top of that, we even loaned them several of our players! +++ From the Lake Park (Iowa) news, by way of the Bradford Witness: If you think you have troubles, pity the poor editor. If he attends a meeting he's being nosy; if he doesn't, he isn't interested. If he writes an in-depth story, it's too long; if he condenses one, it's in- complete. If he takes sides on an issue he is prejudiced; if he doesn't, he is a coward. If he asks for advice, he's in- competent; if he doesn't, he is a know- it-all. If he expresses an opinion, he wants to run the show ; if he doesn't, he lacks guts. If 'he misspells your name, you never forget it; if he doesn't, you didn't read that story. many volunteers it has to work plans on making a decision on implement the program. with it how to Daffodils start canvass As April draws near, the annual canvass for the Canadian Cancer Society is being prepared and this year the objective for the Clinton area is $6,800 The Huron County Unit of the Cancer Society has set this year's objective $1,000 over the 1977 objective of $4,$00. The local fund raising drive, which will begin on April 1 and continue through to the end of the month, will encompass Clinton and the villages of Bayfield and Blyth along with Hullett Township, part of Stanley and Goderich Townships and the northwest section of Tuckersmith. ()n the county scale, the Unit has set a $40,200 goal this year. In 1971 the target for the entire county was $35,000. Along with the canvass, members of Clinton's Exemplar Sorority of the Beta Sigma Phi will be selling bunches of daffodils for the Cancer Society from March 30 to April 1. The daffodils will be available at various locations in town as well as Mitchell's Family Market in Londesboro. The Clinton Girl Guides will help to sell the flowers, door to door. Along with the 6,000 daffodils to be sold, there will be a complimentary coffee available at the town hall on Friday, March 31 and Saturday, April 1 from 2 to 5 p.m. Mr. and Mrs. Allan Betties of Clinton marked a milestone in diamond wedding anniversary. The couple were married 60 their marriage last week when they celebrated their, years ago in Goderich Township. (photo by Elaine Town- shend) Bettles mark danniversary by Elaine Townshend Allan Betties and Annie Weston grew up on the six"th concession of Goderich Township within a mile of each other. They were married on March 27, 1918, at the home of Annie's mother, Mrs. Walter Weston, with Reverend W. Ashe-Everest of Bayfield officiating. The couple had no attendants. In those days, few bridal couples had attendants. The wedding was followed by a dinner, also at the bride's home. They did not go on a honeymoon. "In those days, with the war on, it really wasn't safe to go away," Allan explains. They took over the home farm from Allan's father, Thomas. When their son, Alvin, got married, they moved to their other farm across the road, where they lived for thirty-three years until moving into Clinton in 1973. Recalling their years on the dairy farm, Allan maintains, "Milking cows ties a person down, but it's a business and you can't expect to run here and there and make it go." Allan served on the Board of Stewards of Porter's Hill Grace United Church and Annie was a member of the UCW until the church closed. Then they attended Bayfield United Church, and since moving t' Clinton, they have become members of Wesley -Willis Churh. Mr. and Mrs. Bettl, s have one son, four grandchildren and six great- grandchildren. On Easter Sunday, they expected to have a quiet family gathering at the home of their son and daughter-in- law, but the gathering turned into a surprise party with 45 friends, neigh- bours and former neighbours coming to call. The bride of 60 years was given a corsage of pink roses and white stephanotis; the groom wore a red rose bud in his lapel. The tea table was adorned with purple candles in silver candelabras and an arrangement of purple scotch heather, white daisies and pink carnations. Mrs. Theron Betties, sister-in-law of the groom, and Mrs. Peter Young, sister of the groom, poured tea. Mrs. Don Harris and Mrs. Clarence Ball, friends of the couple, and Mrs. Kelso Fitzsimmons and ' Miss Mary Jean Betties, granddaughters of the couple, were in charge of the tea room. Mrs. George Robertson, cousin of the bride, looked after the guest book. Annie admits she was a little suspicious, "I thought some of the old neighbours might be there, but I didn't expect so many of our neigh- bours from town and I was especially surprised to see my cousin from Kincardine, Mrs. Robertson." Allan thanked the guests for their cards, gifts and good wishes. "We got a telegram from the Queen," he added, "and I don't know how we'll thank her." The couple also received com- memorative plaques from the Federal Government and the Provincial Government as well as letters of congl-atulations from MPP Jack Riddell, MP Bob McKinley and Progressive Conservative leader, Joe Clark. To round out their diamond an- niversary celebrations. Mr. and Mrs. Bettles took their family out to dinner on Wednesday evening, after their grandson and his family had returned from a holiday in Mexico. When asked if they could give any tips on making a marriage last successfully for 60 years, they said no. 2 but Allan quipped, "I don't know whether it will last for another 60 years!" /one Commander George Campbell presented membership chairman Bob Irwin with a pin recognizing 30 years of active service with the Legion. Over 40 mem- bers of the Clinton Legion Branch 140 including Mr. Campbell were presented with the pins on Monday night. (News -Record photo) .1.112wtR YmTRawIDCm "Beeper".system examined here A new communication system was demonstrated at a display night last week at the Clinton Area fire hall, but no action was taken on starting the system. Three companies demonstrated their products, most of which are based on the "beeper" system, where a person carries a small signalling device telling him or her to either go to a phone and receive a message, or the unit can also give a message. The demonstration night was set up by Clinton Area fire board and was at- tended by 30 persons representing the fire board, the firemen, the Public Utilities Commission, the hospital board, doctors and the public works department. Several firemen had complained that they can't hear the fire siren to come to the firehall during emergencies and the problem is particularly acute for those firemen living in the south end of town known as "Little England". There are a number of different op- tions available with each system, depending on how many groups of people ended up using them. Plaque to be unveiled ' On the final night of hockey in the Clinton arena this year, Friday night, a plaque will he unveiled in memory of the late A. Laurie Colquhoun who bequested $15,000 to the arena last year. The recreation committee has had a bronze plaque struck denoting Mr. Colquhoun's donation and will unveil it at 8:15 p.m. between fun games in the novice and mites divisions. Bill. Crawford. secretary of the fire board. said the hoard made no decisions on the system, and will further discuss the proposals at their next meeting on April 12, Fire chief Clarence Neilans said 'his volunteer department had discussed the beeper system and some were in favor of it, while others thought it was un- necessary. Each unit, to he carried by an in- dividual, would cost about $300 to $400 depending on its sophistication and a central switchboard would cost $1.000. As well, it would cost another $20.000 a year for salaries if a 24-hour answering service was set up. "The ftre hoard would like to see what the county is doing first," said Mr. Crawford about a discussion of a county - Wide police dispatch system that could also he used for ' other emergency dispatching services like fire and am- bulance. Buses cancelled The Huron County Board of Education announced Tuesday morning that in' view of the secondary school teachers failure to report to school Tuesday morning the hoard was withdrawing bus service to its five secondary schools. In a release Tuesday the board said in view of Tuesday morning's development whereby 100 percent of the secondary school teachers of Huron decided not to report to school the buses would not be operating until further notice.