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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1979-03-08, Page 1• 1 We meet again Pick new slate Business Ass'n fights apathy • Glen Lockhart and Bob Fotheringham don't usually spend their Saturday afternoons this way, but last Saturday the two "met" at the corner of Orange and Huron Streets in Clinton for an unplanned visit. (News -Record photo) Although it was a dinner meeting and the election of officers was on the agenda, only 19 members of the Clinton Business Association turned out at the Clinton Hotel on March 5. The Association has a total membership of about 60 local merchants. "There's an awful feeling of apathy amongst the business people. So we'll really have to campaign to get more out," regular +Meeting attender Bob Campbell noted. In `the future, the association hopes to see 40 or 50 members at the meetings. To try and promote a higher at- tendance, it was decided that instead of the monthly meetings only four general meetings a year will be held. The management committee, the proposed promotion committee and the membership committee will meet by, themselves and as a group more frequently. They will be discussing such projects as'tryrngto get the local merchants crit to improve the community, to make the town look better and make it a better place to shop. To enforce this, they plan to continue the tree planter project and hanging flower pots in the downtown area. As well, they will continue the Christmas decorating scheme. "You can have a million things suggested," Mr. Campbell explained, but the association wants to emphasize a project to spruce up the downtown buildings. They will be looking into restoration grants that are available from the government. . The question of snow removal on the sidewalks is also concerning the, association. In reply to a letter sent to them from the town cduncil asking that merchants clean off the' walks, three members of the association will attend the council meeting on Monday night to discuss the problem. Despite the small turnout, an election was held rind the new officers for the upcoming year were chosen. They will be: chairman, Noah Zeeman; vice- chairman, Steve Gerofsky; past chairman, Heather Ross; treasurer, Rosamund Garrett, temporarily until a permanent one is found; secretary, Bob Campbell. The promotion and membership committees must still. be formed. The officers will make up the management committee. Quick thaw, rain turn roads... into ;qwgmires In scenes reminiscent of the old pioneer days before good roads and pavement became. pavement, gravel roads in Clinton and area townships looked more like swamps in places than roads. And the cold weather is to blame. "It's the worst I can remember seeing them," said Clinton Public Works foreman Harold Gibbings, as some unpaved roads in town and in the townships look more like plowed fields than something to drive on. The problem started last week with the 'sudden thaw that sent tem- peratures into the 10 degree C range (50 column For the first time in what seems like a year, (actually about two months) the grass is showing through the decaying ,mounds of snow, the calendar says that spring is only two weeks away, and everyone's spirits seemed to be charged up again. Yours truly and spouse Lois had our spirits renewed on a trip to Toronto last weekend for the annual Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association's convention. Not only did we enjoy some stimulating conversations and seminars, but the News -Record was a recipient of a coveted award, this time for best local advertising in our class, thanks to our hard working ad manager, Gary Hoist, But as big and distant as it may seem, Toronto was swarming with Clinton and area people, not only at our convention, but at a hairdressers convention across the road at the Sheraton, and the Municipal Electrical Association gathering down the street at the Royal York. And earlier in the week it was the Good Roads Convention and the Association of Rural Municipalities, both .of which had excellent representation from local politicians and road superintendents. One highlight of our trip was breakfast last Saturday morning at the lofty CN Tower, where we sat with Stanley Township Reeve Tom Consitt and his wife Barb. 1 -1- + -1- Even though spring is still of- ficially two weeks away, and the gardening season is at least six weeks away, local green thumbers, like myself, are busy in 'obi- basements 'ourbasements and greenhouses sowing what we hope will be the start of an excellent crop. -}- -1- + . The February weather records are now all compiled and have been compared to previous years, and it won't be anything new to most of our readers to 'learn that the shortest month was ii deed a st ange month. to fact, 'f it hadn't been for a - warm spe 1 that last week; of February, nearly all the record books would have had to be rewritten. According to Graham Campbell at the Goderich Weather Station, February of 1979 was the second coldest month in our history, sur- passed only by February of 1934. The mean temperature for the month of minus "10.7 degrees C was far below the normal of minus 5.6 degrees C, while many individual daily records were snapped during the month. It was, however, a very dry, sunny month, with only 45.6 mm of precipitation falling, compared to the normal 77.0 mm, and the sun- shine was the second highest on record. A new record high barometric reading was also established, but thankfully, it's all over. , There is no truth, however, to the rumour that the public works department are going to hire a diver to search for four ca -s, reported lost this week in the quicksand they call streets in this town. All that mud is really being sent to show area mothers just how good Tide is at washing junior's clothes. -1- -1- + Well mud dr no mud, it's only a few weeks now until the soccer and baseball fields dry up, so a couple of important meetings are scheduled for this week. ._Tonight (Thursday) a meeting will be held at 8 p.m. to try and form a minor baseball association, while on Sunday evening, March 11, a im- portant meeting of the Minor Soccer Association will be held at the Town Hall at 7 p.m. Both meetings would welcome new members and a decent turnout of old members, especially the minor ball association, which was only attended by two souls last month. +++ aIn a story in last week's paper bout the donors at Las Vegas night, he names of the Cloud Nine and the izza Express were left out. degrees°F) after a prolonged cold snap. Then last Sunday, thunderstorms added another 13 mni of rain atiltifit problems started. Mr. Gibbings said the roads were frozen down three to five feet, but the frost has only come out of the top three to six inches, so the water has no way of draining off, leaving half a foot of quagmire on top: Mr. Gibbings was hoping for colder, dryer weather to stiffen the roads up, but conceded the situation could get worse before it gets better, it just depends on the weather." All area roads are posted with half - load limit signs but Mr. Gibbings says that even some of the paved streets are suffering from .frost heaving and he and public works chairman Ernie Brbwn are keeping their fingers crossed that they too won't suffer long term, and expensive damage. ?T14thyear -No. 10 Thursday, March 8, 1979 35 cents 11 teachers may lose jobs BY JEFF SEDDON The effects of declining enrolment were felt in Huron County for the first time Monday when the board of education reduced its teaching staff by 11 for the 1979-80 school year. In three seperate reports the board approved recommendations to reduce kindergarten staff by one, elementary staff by three and secondary school teaching staff by seven. The staff requirments for next year were determined by director of education John Cochrane by applying the pupil - teacher ratio in teaching contracts to the total number of students expected to enroll in schools in September. Cochrane said Monday the reduction Of staff will mean layoffs for at least three secondary school teachers and possibly more. He said the Huron board has not laid off teaching staff in its 10 year history adding he knew of no other way of reducing staff. Cochrane ex- plained that natural attrition should, permit the board to •reduce staff in elementary schools but there appeared little hope of that happening at the secondary level. The director said layoffs were not a certainty but were a projection. He said the board now employs 274 teachers in the secondary panel and next year needs 267. He said several teachers are eligible for early retirement but are not required to announce their intentions until the end of May. He added that two teachers had applied for one year leave of absence which will delay two layoffs for at least one year. He said teacher resignations, transfers or retirements could allow the board to staff the schools with no layoffs. The board's personel committee chairman Shirley Hazlitt reported that according to projected enrolment and pupil teacher ratios the board will require 324 elementary school teachers next year, a reduction of three teachers. The Goderich-Colborne township trustee added that according to staffing guidelines and enrolment in kindergarten one less kindergarten teacher will be employed in the 1979-80 school year. Kindergarten enrolment will ac- tually increase next year according to board statistics but distribution of those students require one less teacher to be employed. The total number of kindergarten students expected next year is 728, up from 712 enrolled this year, but enrolment in two of the schools is down sufficiently to warrant dropping half time kindergarten teachers in each. Hazlitt said the personel committee had used the 22-1 pupil teacher ratio for elementary schools when determining staff needs for the coming year. She said the board is bound by the 22-1 ratio across the county She said this year there are 7,112 elementary students in the system and that figure is expected to drop to 7,028 in September. The largest reduction of students and staff will be in the secondary panel where the pupil -teacher ratio is lowest. The board's contract with the teachers sets the ratio at between 16.8 and 17.2 pupils per teacher. This year the total enrolment in secondary schools is 4,498 and that is expected to drop to 4,617 when school opens next September. No patients to be left out Not, all chronic patients will be required to pay $9.80 a day for their hospital care. The fee, set by the ministry of health in its recent budget begins on April I and will be administered in chronic ' care , pubiic or private hospitals, chronic care units in active treatment hospitals, nursing home beds approved for chronic 'care, and in provincial psychiatric hospitals. However, according to Clinton Public Hospital administrator Doug Coventry, "If they can't pay they won't." Mr. Coventry explained that no patient would be refused care if' they Turn to page 3 • Tuckersmith awards gravel tender • By Wilma Oke Tuckersmith Township council Tuesday awarded the contract for gravelling township roads to Sandy Contracting Company Limited, Goderich. The contract, the lowest of three tenders, was for $32,290 fore 16,000 cubic yards on the roads and 1,000 cubic yards stockpiled. Allan Nich,olson, road superin- tendent, said road employees have been busy repairing washouts on roads throughout the township following the recent rains and warmer weather. Joe Gibson, RR 2, Seaforth, was appointed weed inspector for the township. He is the weed inspector for the County of Huron. Council approved grants for the following who have requested them (amount of grant given last year in brackets) : Seaforth Agricultural Society, ($100) $125; Hensall-South Huron Agricultural Society, ($100) $125; Huron Central Agricultural Society, ($100) $125; Huron Plowman's Association, $50, same as last year; Salvation Army, $25, same as last year; Mental Health Association, $25, same as last year; all 4-H members in Tuckersmith, $4 per member, same as last year. Three groups asking for grants were refused, the Huron County Historical Society, Huron County Playhouse and Blyth Centre for the Arts. Council discussed the cost of building permits with the possibility of in- creasing the rates but decided to leave them the same for this year. Passed for payment were the following accounts: Vanastra Day Weather Feb. 27 Mar. 18 2 3 4 5 1979 NI LO C C 1.5 —11 3.0 —9 —3 —2 —1 —2.5 7 —2 7.5 2.5 4 —1 Snow 17.0 m 1978 NI LA F F 26 —4 25 12 21 4 22 ,-18 21 —2 18 3 21 —11 -lo Snow assed choir attracts 51XJ By Jim Fitzgerald Even if they had a shoehorn, the ushers couldn't likely have squeezed in another person at Wesley -Willis United Church last Sunday night for a festival of sacred music. Over 500 people jammed the church for two hours of the music at the event, which was a first ever for the area. The two-hour concert featured choirs from seven churches in the area, in- cluding Northside United in Seaforth; Ontario Street United,- Wesley -Willis United, St. Paul's Anglican, and the Clinton Choral Society from Clinton; and the Goderich Concert Choir, Knox Street United, and St. 'George's Anglican from Goderich. The highlight of the concert, the Goderich man is killed in crash A Saturday evening crash on High- way 21 north of County Road 18, claimed the life of a Goderich man. ' Gordon L. West, 46, of West Street, Goderich was killed instantly after he was thrown from the car he was travelling in. The car, driven by Michael Budney, 16, of Bruce Street, Goderich hit a snowbanks then crashed into a farm fence, rolled and landed in a bush. Both West and Budney were thrown from the vehicle. Budney received major injuries. The Goderich Ambillance and the Goderich OPP attended and coronor Dr. Brian Lynch pronounced West dead at the scene. Budney, who was interested in buying the car, was .test driving the Ford model 'owned by West when the accident occurred. Damage to the car was set at $2,500. brain child of Mary Hearn of Wesley - Willis, was the singing of three selections of the 150 voice massed. choir 'at the end of the night. The huge choir, which was composed of all the choirs who sang individually throughout the evening, was under the direction of guest conductor Alex Clark, who is choir leader and organist at Metropolitan United Church in London, and music consultant for the Elgin County Board of Education The massed choirs' near perfect harmonization of the "Hallelujah Chorus" from Handel's "Messiah" near4y took the roof off the church, and could likely be heard several blocks away. Rev. John Oestreicher, minister of Wesley -Willis, which sponsored the concert, said he was extremely pleased with the dedication and enthusiasm shown by all who participated in the event. He said that the choirs practised at Wesley -Willis all afternoon, and were fed supper by the ladies -after rehearsals. 10' Care Care Centre, $3,972.60; Vanastra Recreation, $6,902.07; roads, $15,319.84; general accounts, $5,303.67, for a total of $21,498.18. Council accepted the resignation of Lawrence Young, the • janitor at Vanastra Recreation Centre. An ad- vertisement will be placed in the local paper for a replacement. Tuckersmith Township council ac- cepted an invitation to attend the March 1980 session of Huron County Council, as spectators. Road superintendent Allan Nicholson was authorized to attend the C.S. Anderson road school at Guelph University for a threeday course in May. Con b�ys solicit funcls At least two complaints have been reported from Clinton residents after three boys, pretending to be Scouts, attempted to solicit. funds for the Ice Capades. Scout leader Wayne Wigelsworth explained that the boys, aged 13 or 14, were unsuccessful in their attempts to get donations in their door-to-door canvass because they weren't in uniform. He explained that area children on Scout or Guide business are always uniformed. Mr. Wigelsworth also noted, "We don't openly solicit funds. We usually give out apples or have some other type of sale to raise money." This incident comes only weeks after a similar attempt where some children from the Clinton Public School were illegally trying to get money around town by using the March of Dimes campaign. ecA Guest conductor Alex Clnrk, centre, of London takes a bow during a concert of sacred tnusic at Wesley -Willis United Church in Clinton last Sunday night that featured a 150 voice massed choir. t ver 500. people Jammed the church to hear the two hour concert. (News -Record photo)