Clinton News-Record, 1980-05-08, Page 1ucation taxes
BY DAVE SYKES
The taxpayers of Huron County will
face a 14.65 per cent increase in public
school education taxes this year.
Theurian Cou to v , Boar 1.,__of._-
Education approved its 1980 budget at
a special meeting Thursday, en-
dorsing expenditures of $25,452,768.
That represents an increase of 7.9 per
cent -over the $23,583,350 spent by the
board in 1979.
Much of the almost $2 million in-
crease is blamed on inflation and
declining enrolment which sub-
sequently resulted in less provincial
grants.
The biggest portion of the budget
goes to teaching instruction where the
board has set aside $18,637,191 an
increase .of 8.1 per cent over the 1979
allocation.
The budget tendered lengthy debate
and much of it centered on the
provision cutting the board members
honorariums by $600 to $3,000 a year.
Trustee, Dave Gower, .suggested the
move was necessary in reducing
costs.
"We shouldn't get emotional about
the cuts but we better start looking at
long term ramifications," he said.
"We- haven't: done any- -long range
planning and ---political aspirations
aside the board has to look -at school
closings to reduce the budget. The
honorariurris is just one step in cutting
back.
Trustee John Elliott argued that
board members spend a good deal of
time away from their jobs,..and added
that he attended over 100 meetings a
year as chairman of the board.
"Now the budget committee says
we are not worth the money and I
think they are overreacting," he said.
"You've skrimued and embarassed
J
the trustees and at the same time
reduced supplies and services that
hurt the students.
Elliott was concerned about a 14,5
—leer -- int_ reu tion in _.the..a3ducatkm_
services and supplies budget., He
maintained that cuts in that area
would only cripple the education
system.
"We stress impact to the taxpayer
and not the student," he claimed.
John Henderson refuted Elliott's
arguments about: _the honoriarium
decrease claiming the board has to
set examples?
"If we aren't willing to take a cut
then how can we talk about
decreasing the budget," he said: 'If
you can't accept that well, it's your
decision."
Elliott said his complaint was that
the board nickeled and dinged the
budget and services while greater
savings could be realized with co-
operative busing. Henderson ex-
plained that there is the same amount
of money allotted to each student in
services but declining enrolment has
forced the budgeted figure downward.
Herb Turkheim claimed a cut in
trustee pay was bad move and
-suggested- that -. trustees who;
sugg a y only
attend a few meetings could donate
some of their money. He later added
that trustees perhaps, should have $50
or $100 taken from their pay for
missed meetings. -
Elliott said the reduction in
honorariums was not important but
that the principal was.
"I am prepared for the reduction
and further reductions of the money is
used in supplies and services," he
said. "Give the money back to the
students."
Elliott claimed that most municipal
employees in the county have
recieved increases this year and
insisted the board's cut in pay was a:
move just to suit the taxpayer.
Gower charged that board or '-
education trustees don't do nese
work of municipal councillors.
"There is no comparison between
this job and municipal one," Gower
said. ''We do not earn the $3,600 and,I.
would like the secretary to prepare
number (on the number of meetings
trustees attend)."
' Elliott made an ammendment to
the motion calling for an additional
$200,000 to be placed in the budget to
be used for supplies and services or if
not needed, to be placed in "a reserve
fund.
Earlier in the meeting; R.B. Dunlop
pointed fout that the reserve account
was in bad shape. He indicated that if
all the county teachers retired the
board would owe over $2 million in
gratuities and benefits.
"It's a dangerous thing," he said.
"And we know that money will have
to paid sooner or later,"
He said that the board usually
knows a year in advance in a teacher
is retiring and the gratuities are in-
cluded in :the following year's budget.
under benefits. A teacher is entitled to
a pension after 12 years service.
Two years of hard work and persuasion ended for the St.
Joseph's Catholic School PTA when a_ new addition to the
school was officially opened last Sunday afternoon in
Clinton. Monsignor Mahoney, left, gave the official
blessing to the large structure, which includes several
classrooms,, a large gymn-library, a kitchen, and a
classroom for special education. Several hundred people
and children attended and heard remarks from
dignitaries and later toured the school. (News -Record
photo)
Town to welcome 2,000 Shriners
=,.by Shelley McPhee
Clinton will experience the most
visitors to the town at one time since
the Centennialn 1975, when on May
31, 2,000 Shriners will celebrate their
spring ceremonial.
The Shriners, from area clubs and
from branches as far away as Ohio
and Michigan, will be in Clinton and
Goderich to honor Spence Cummings,
of Clinton who has been chosen to
Serve as the club's Potentate and also
install over 100 new Shriners. It is he
ouse problem over
;BY CATH WOODEN
The Huron County Board of
Education, at its regular May 5
meeting, turned down an offer from a
pest contr.ol.company for regular
mouse control tactics in all Huron
Liquor fines drop down
By Shelley McPhee
Illegal consumption of liquor and
unnecessary noise are no longer
expensive habits in Huron County.
Despite initial' objections, police
forces in Clinton, Goderich,
Wingham, Exeter and Seaforth plan
to maintainthe recently set fines of
$38 for consumption of liquor, having
liquor and unnecessary noise set by
the province.
The fines will remain at $38 even
though approval was given on April 13
by provincial judge William Cochrane
to raise them to $104.
The increase put the fines at the
same level as they were before the
new legislation was introduced on
March 31. The new act which lowered
the penalties, took the fine setting
powers out of local hands and put
them under provincial jurisdiction.
Working under a new section of the
act, Judge Cochrane was able to
reinstate the higher fines for Huron
County. However, the police were
Hi, it's me again. Contrary to
what you read in last week's
column, I'm not on vacation yet,
but hopefully it will be soon, when
Mother Nature sees fit to take her
course.
It just doesn't make sense. Here
we are in the 20th century and can
put:.::..an on 'the moon with pin
point accuracy from tens of
thousands of miles away, we can do
complex mathematical
calculations with the speed of
lightening on a hand-held $5
calculator, but man (and woman
too) haven't mastered the art of
making a baby come on its due
date.
But it is nice to know that some
things are still spontaneous' and not
pre-programmed, making life
exciting Whit can be more
thrilling than to wake up in the
middle of the night and here those
stimulating words from an about -
to -be mother "Honey, it's time."
So hopefully, I'll be home • the
next two weeks on vacation and
side -kick Shelley McPhee will be
handling the reins.
+ ++
With Mother's Day coming up on
Sunday, maybe my better half will
wait until then to have the new
arrival. At least that way she
would get her breakfast in bed!
And please, try to remember
mother this Sunday,. I , only with a
phone call.
+ + +
The Mairi Street Wit, in honor of
Mother, says this week that nobody
notices a woman's work in the
home - except when she doesn't do
it.
+ ++
Despite all the talk of recession,
recession, recession, you wouldn't
know it by looking around at some
parts of Clinton. Why just in the
last month or so a couple of new
businesses- have opened and
several more have put on new
faces.
New on the scene to the Frills and
Fancies on Isaac Street and the
BIue Fountain restaurant and
steak house on Albert Street, which
is so tastefully decorated that it's
bound to attract a lot of new
business to town.
In ° the renovation department,
there's Doug Norman on , King
Street who with contractor Don
Bell proved that .you can make a
silk purse out of a sow's ear, with
the transformation of thee
Norholrne Decorating Centre..
Clete Holland has also completely
revamped the interior of Holland's
Shoe Store and Bryan Lavis has
done a complete facelift of the
corner of the Lavis building on
King and Isaac Streets.
On top of that, the Royal Bank is
putting up a new building, and the
Bank of Montreal is planning a
major addition to their main
corner premises.
This is Education Week
Ontario and many of the area
schools are holding many special
events and open houses, including
the technical classes at Central
Huron Secondary School. In con-
junction with the CHSS technical
department, the News -Record is
presenting a two-page spread on
their accomplishments over the
past 15 years, thanks to director
Bill Craig who didtheresearch.
You . can find that feature in the
second section.
This may be the last report of
monthly summaries available,
from the Goderich weather station',
as a move is afgot, to close it Wthe
public and just have a cgttple of
machines sending, the
measurements to Toronto.
Anyway, acodrding to
weatherman Torry Chir, April
around here waS normal as far as
temperature. was concerned, but
wetter tilan normal. The mean
temp %as 5.5 degrees C at
Goderich, dead -on the long term
average, while 114 mm of
•pi ecipitation was recorded, nearly
double the normal 59.2 mm.
• •
again
required to do more "work in orderip
carry out the higher fines under the
new section.
Police chiefs and officers in the
county are opposed to the extra paper
work involved and have agreed to
keep the lower fine structure.
Clinton Police Chief Lloyd Westlake
said he was reluctant to except the
lower fines but noted, "It's too much
bother to issue the higher ones." ,-
Following the lower . fine system,
the police officer issues a offence
ticket to .the accused at the scene of
the incident. The person who is
charged has the option of going to
court or paying the fine out or court.
Police are opposed to the higher
fine system were the officer lays the
charges and issues an offence ticket.
The ticket must be brought back to
the ponce station were it is signed by
the justice of the peace and then the
officer must personally deliver the
summons to the -accused. The person
who has been fined must appear in
court.
Chief Westlake is not in favor of the
lower fines and he hopes that
amendments and procedural changes
will be made to the act to allow larger
fines to be issued with less difficulty.
"I don't think this system will
work," he said about the lower
penalties. "The only way to control
this is to have the fines set higher if
they aren't going to jail."
Chief Westlake said he considered
leaving the fines at $104 in Clinton, but
agreed to go along with the other
system.
"You can't buck the system," he
said: '
He also said that he would be
evaluating the situation and note
that anyone charged with a secon• sr
third offence could be penalized - ore
County public and secondary schools.
In a letter to the board, the General
Pest Control Company Limited stated
that it is presently doing a rodent
cleanout treatment at Central Huron
Secondary School in Clinton which
involves three phases at a total cost of
$420. The company suggested a
monthly service at a rate of $45 a
month for the school or a different
deal to do all the schools in the board's
.jurisdiction. i.
"Anybody can set a mouse trap,"
member John Henderson said. "Out
custodians should be able to do it. if
they got hold of the same kind of
mouse killer." The substance used in
Clinton was a kind of poison that the
mice ate. It caused them to dry up and
disappear after they died.
Board member David Gower said
the board should consider the fact
that the rodent problem is not as
serious elsewhere as it was in Clinton.
"I understand that there was a bit of a
problem in the Goderich high school
cafeteria a year or two ago."
He also stated that he understood
that the reason that the mice were
bad in Clinton this year was that there
was a lot of water underground and
mice were driven indoors. Henderson
added that, "if the children keep their
lockers cleaned out, the problem
won't be so bad."
first time 'lit 17 years that the
cerebi fny has been held in Huron
County.
As Potentate, Mr. Cummings, a
member of the Bluewater Shriners,
heads the Mocha Temple of London
for 1980-81. The last Clinton man to
hold the post as Potentate was Johnny
Parker in 1963.
Mr. Cummings is in charge of 18
Shrine clubs in an area from Windsor
to Brantford and from Lake' Erie to -
Sault Ste. Marie. The clubs in this
district have a membership of over
4,400.
Only 2,000 members and their wives
will be attending the convention and
installation ceremonies in Clinton and
Goderich. Even with only half of the
Shrine members in attendance, every
motelroom in a 50 mile radius of
Clinton has been booked for May 30
and 31 and the delegation from
Toledo, Ohio has alone booked 250
rooms. School gymnasiums, the
Clinton Legion facilities, the arena
and the park -wil=l also be in full use
over the weekend.
Shriners will be arriving in Clinton
and the area on May 30 and on
Saturday the, activities begin. A
parade will be held in Goderich in the
morning and it will be held again in
Clinton at 3 pm. It is expected that the
parade will take one hour to pass any
given point and it will include bands,
floats and • many other parade
novelties that the Shriners are famous
for. In Clinton, the event will start on
Victoria Street, by Fabian's Fur-
niture and will go up Albert Street to
Princess Street. From there t
Shriners will go past the Cli on
Public Hospital, to John reet,
Whitehead Street and dow Beech
Street to the Clinton arena. There,
special installation services for close
to 150 new Shriners will take place.
The ladies attending the spring
ceremonial will be entertained at a
special luncheon in Goderich on
Saturda, ) and eight buses will tran-
sport , the Shriners and the ladies
between Clinton and Goderich.
Although the Shriners are well
known far their parades, their real
purpose as -'an nni2a.tion- is. to raise.
P tr g
funds and publicize the 19 hospitals
they support for crippled children and
three hospitals for severely burned
patients. They raised .over $46 million •
in 1978 for those hospitals and
research.
To help in, the celebration, Mayor
Harold Lobb of Clinton has
proclaimed May 31 as Shrine Day for
the town. The town council is also
lending their support and hospitality
by flying banners acros's the ma
entrances to Clinton to welcome he
club members.
r
Weath
1980
HI
29 l 6 8.5 -2
30 14 7 11 2.5
Apr.
1979
HI 10
MA
1 16
2 19.5
3 23
4 24
5 26.5
Rain 8.0 mm
7 8 1
4 14 1
8 13 4
4 6 0
8 10 -3
Rain 10.3 mm
0/
Weath' statin. n may close
B I AVE SYKES
Someti es things aren't ap-
preciat: until they are no longer
Vandalis own
in are drools
The Hon County Board of
Educati9grf received the vandalism
report./at its May 5 meeting for the
first/ three months of 1980 and
statistics show that the number of
incidents and damage done is about
half as bad as it was this time last
year.
This year, there have been 72 in-
cidents costing the board $2525.48
while last year $4418 was spent un-
doing the damage of 148 act of van-
dalism to Huron County schools.
The elementary school have ac-
counted for 23 of the incidents causing
$1742.86 damage. Huron Centennial in
Brucefield was victimized the most,
with $674 damage.
The other 49 incidents took place at
the five secondary schools, totalling
$782.6/. The 15 incidents at South
Huron in Exeter accounted for $545.69
of the total damage.
Judy Torrence was crowned Queen at the formal dance at Central Huron
Secondary School last Friday night in Clinton. Karen Bolger, standing, last
year's queen, put on the crown (photo by Jack Hunt)
available.
And that may aptly apply to the
Environment Canada Weather
.Station at the Goderich airport.
The Ministry of the Environment
has announced plans to transform the
Goderich weather office into an
automated weather station by June 1.
Which means the station will be
manned by only a machine that will
feed statistics and data on weather
conditions to the network. That will
virtually cut off weather information
in this area.
With the decision by Environment
Canada, there are still some available
options. The station could be machine
manned with no staff as planned or it
could be turned over to private in-
terests or private airways to operate.
If there is a definite need for this
service in the Goderich area the
support has to come from. the public
and the users.
A similar situation occured in
Geraldton in northwestern Ontario a
few years ago, where public petitions
encouraged the government to reopen
a station there.
The automated station offers 24-
hour observation but is relatively
useless for aviators and others who
require updated weather' information.
The Goderich station was
established in 1973 and has main-
tained two full-time employees.
However, weather records have been
kept in Goderich since the 1880s. But
the station has not mainatained a high
visibility here and most people aren't
aware of the service available. In
short, the facility is not properly
utilized.
The weather station is invaluable
for boaters, aviators, farmers,
anyone interested in weather and also
acts as a valuable warning system
against natural disasters. If a
weather warning is to be issued the
Goderich station phones local police,
PUC, municipal authorities and
county officials requiring notification.
The station has averaged 150
inquiries per month but receives as
many as 350 per month during busy
periods in the winter. •
Turn to pogo 3