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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1980-05-22, Page 1Despite weeks of practice in the classroom, seeing an audience and hearing the applause is a thrilling ex- perience for any young star and the junior choir at the sx Holmesville Public Scliool enjoyed being in the limelight at the school's spring concert on May 13. (News -Record photo) w u crs� okays New pr. by WU/Ma'Oke Tuckersmith Township Council will apply to the ministry of community and social services to have a day care unit established for the handicapped atthe Vanastra day care centre. Judy Cooper of the ministry was at the -council session Tuesday, night to advise council, She :suggested" that the Family and _ Children's Services at Goderich be contacted to prepare the proposal to the ministry tQexpand the present day care centre to serve up to 11 handicapped children from two to 10 Years .old, She said she could: see na reasonwhy the application would not. be approved, and said it must contain a description of the present facilities,. the need for a unit for the Ilan- , dicapped and a budget outlining the costs. Miss Cooper said the ministry would pay 87 percent of the costs for -----hantiieapped-ehhlldrenwfrom two -year -s ---- to five years and the family or some . local organization would have to pay the .other 13 percent ; but for children five years to 10 years, the ministry would pay 100 percent of the costs. Questioned about the cost of\ transporting these children to and from the centre, she said these could be covered by the local municipality or the ministry. She said usually the transportation service is purchased. am for Vanastra Councillor Robert Fotheringham stated that he had visited the day care unit for the handicapped at Wingharn where the children are transported in a van with only the driver looking after the children. He questionned the safety of this and wondered if an attendant should not be with the children (who would range from two to 10 years of age). Miss Cooper said there were no . rules on this but assured council it would be safe. .Miss Cooper said she had visited the Vanastra Day Care- Centre and she, suggested that the unit for the han- dicapped be put in the recreation room for the handicapped now being built at the Vanastra. Recreation Centre, thus, leaving the regular day care centre free to handle its regular children. She said the handicapped Would' attend half day sessions only from 9. 3 and h would be_I Two additional day care teachers would be required to handle these children, preferably with Early Childhood Education and in addition one would be required to have special training to handle handicapped children. Miss Cooper said the handicapped children would include those mentally retarded, or physically handicapped such as.. hearing, sight, speech (handicapped: means one-third in filmareas such as retarded and speech.). She said the children would have to be referred to the unit by an agency, public health nurse -- but not by'the family. Each child will have to be assessed�by a team following the referral before being accepted as a student . Hopefully the children will finally progress into the regular school system, she stated. The Vanastra unit would serve children between the present two units now in progress - one at Wingham 'and the .other at Dashwood - the ARC Industries for the mentally retarded - possibly a 20- mile radius of Vanastra. Questioned about the number from this area who might be eligible to attend the handicapped unit, Karen 'Mewing, dire 'torr- iif the Vanastra Day Care Centre said there .could be 19, but Miss Cooper said she had seenom applications froonly eight,ehildren, the rest were under two years of age. Asked about any changes that would have ',to bei made to the Vanastra Recreation 'Centre to establish this unit for the hal - • dicapp.ed, Miss Cooper said her ontly recommendation would be. to have a ehiid's wash basin and a child's toilet installed in the present facilities with • bars for the handicapped. Asked about new equipment that would be 'needed, she said sone would be and it would be funded 80 percent by the province. Councillor Fotheringham stated that at Wingham he was told that additional new ,equipment there for the han- dicapped had cost in the area of :m. to 11: 0 p.m, t ey $10,000. im�ited to 10 children. Questioned by Miss McEwin about_ a starting date, Miss CooPer said it was possible that it might be ready to go by September. Clerk Jack. McLachlan said the new addition to Vanastra Recreation Centre, which was to have been ready by. May 17, would be completed by the first of September at the latest. Miss Cooper pointed out that Miss McEwing would be in charge of both the regular day care centre and the unit for, the handicapped. In other business council endorsed a resolution from the Town of Exeter deploring the actions of the Soviet troops killing 60 school children in Kabul, Afghanistan on April 26, 1980 and asking the Canadian government to express to the Russian government. our disgust at these attrocities. Council also endorsed a resolution from the Village of Grand Bend asking that Huron - County courts revert to the higher fines which were recently reduced. These conform now with fines in most other municipalities in the province. A grant of $50 was 4pproved.for the Huron Plowmen's Association and a Turn to page 3 Wea th er 1980 1979 MAY HI LO HI 10 13 13 6.5 16 5 14 12 3 20 6 MAY 8 11 9 9 10 10 11 19 12 16 4' 28 12.5 ..1 29.5 14.5 .1 27 16,5 -1 29 16.5 7 17 6 ,ain4.0mm Rain 10.8mm Facelift proposed for Clinton's BIA By -Shelley McPhee If the business owners in Clinton's core area, and the town council give a nod of -approval, the downtdwn section coiild get a new facelift. Plans for the re -vitalization of the Business Improvement Area (BIA) were unveiled by Goderich architect Nick Hill at a Friday night meeting. The recommendations and changes for Clinton's BIA area will cost in the neighborhood of $65,000 and Mr. Hill explained that the changes planned are simple but effective ones. He noted that many municipalities must spend greater sums to beautify their BIA areas and said in Clinton's case, "The - . core--- area -here has great potential. It's attractive and functions well." A 30 page proposal, prepared by Hill and Borgal show that Clinton's major improvements would be made through landscaping with trees and expansion of parkland. Mr. Hill noted that Clinton already - has an attractive and useful park in front of the town library. He proposes that the area remain as a memorial park but is suggesting that the a portion of the park facing Albert Street be brick paved and furnished with benches, lights and a flower bed for pedestrians. In the plans the cenotaph +would remain where it is, but the sidewalk leading to the memorial would be shortened. The proposals also call for the creation of a park area on the corner of Huron and Victoria Streets and Mr. Hill explained, "This main corner is one of the most important crossroads in the county with major highways negotiating here." To create the "Corner's Park" however_, it isproposed to close off the north end of Isaac Street to traffic, but Mr. Hill +stressed that this would only be done with approval from the Isaac Street merchants. If this portion of the plan is ap- proved a large pedestrian area would be created, landscaped with trees, a brick paved courtyard and in the centre a raised podium with some type of sculpture. Benches would also be placed in,the area. Mr. Hill explained the merits of some type of scuplture saying, "It will act as a feature that people can identify with and will remember Clinton for." 1 If first column By Shelley McPhee This is may sound like it's tur- ning into the "Cry Wolf" story but as of presstime there's no new addition to the Fitzgerald house yet. Word from Editor Fitzgerald has it that the baby will arrive any day now and they've already had a few false alarms. So in the meantime, good luck Lois, and hurry up so your husband. can get back to work! + + + Mitk here in the office the ship is still afloat and we even managed to enjoy the holiday weekend, as much as anyone could. The weather really was literally for the birds, but of Ma Nature really knows how to foul things up for us humans and now that the holiday's over the weather has turned to out liking. ++± The sun was shining where I was, down Hamilton way and there was no problem with fog. Nature is one step ahead down there and the trees are out in full green and the fruit trees are showing their prettiest pinks. There can't be a nicer time of'year than this. +'++ Back home there was a lot of action and the Hullett Township skies were filled with a grand fireworks display on Monday night. Hully Gully and Pine Lake also held special Victoria Cay by jim fitzgerald celebrations and a record crowd turned out for one of Bayfield's famous pancake breakies. But enough of good eating and drinking. It's now time to get back to jogging and dieting, in preparation for those warm days on the beach. + + + And talking about preparations, everyone should be thinking Shriners -and Clinton Spring Fair by now. Let's give the thousands of people who will be coming to our 'town a good impression and a warm welcome. + + + The Clinton fire hall has already put it's best face forward and the building just been re -sided and painted to give it a fresh new look. + + + It nice to see things a little more peaceful in the `country, with Quebec voting to stay with Canada and rumors of a postal strike squashed. + + + The Main Street Wit is a fairly happy fellow this week and he reminds us, "The best things in -life are free, but it costs a lot of time and "money before you find this out." + + + And so, let's enjoy the great weather and the exciting events that are coming up for Clinton in the next couple of weeks! Mr. Hill said that an area of the BIA which particularly needs im- provement is the back of the conrr- mercial bldbleS„: frr nting Albert' ani Victoria Streets. The backs of these buildings face the Huron Street entrance to town and are very visible to traffic, he ex- plained. "The challenge is to maintain a functional quality but with an at- tractive appearance," the architect's report read. "One method to achieve this result is to establish a boulevard of trees to screen the back areas." The proposals suggest a similar row of trees along the backs of the com- mercial buildings seen from the east side of the town Firehall. Eight trees would-be planted along this area and to screen beneath the trees it is also proposed at the solid wooden fence be erected. It was ex- plained in the report that this would keep cars, garbage, containers . and service bays out of sight totraffic coming into town from the west. Improving and making parking areas more attractive were also in- cluded in the plans and a row of trees along the east side of , the parking lot behind the town hall has been proposed. This Mr. Hill said would act as a buffer between the commercial, and residential zones. Also proposed is the improvement of links between town parking lots to the rear of blocks and the main street. Mr. Hill said that the alley between the town hall, on Albert Street could be developed into such a pedestrian link • by closing the access, brick paving it and lighting the area. • Two crosswalks are proposed at the intersection of Rattenbury and Albert Streets. Plans show the existing sidewalks "bulbed" out to shorten the distance for the pedestrian between the street sides. Mr. Hill explained that a great volume of traffic passes this in- tersection and by shortening the walking distance across the road pedestrians could cross the street with less difficulty. It was stressed at the meeting that these plans are only preliminary proposals for the BIA and council to study and will not be carried out without council's approval and a majority of the 13IA members in favor. Thirty-five of the BIA member's who attended Friday night's meeting were in full support of the proposals and are anxious to have the plans circulated to the some 70 other members of the BIA who didn't attend the meeting. They are hoping to make a final decision by June in order to apply for a government grant as soon as possible. Mr. Hill said that a loan of up to $150;000 is available until March 1981. "It's one of the best deals going," Mr. Hill said and explained that the money is repayable over 10 years with an interest rate of one per cent a year. He noted that the various proposals for Clinton could be done in stages or completed all at once and the general feeling from BIA members at the meeting was to take advantage of the loan and complete the entire project, ._ at one time. If the project is approved it would be funded by BIA members however the plans must have council's support since the work will be done on, municipally owned land only. Mr. Hill that the town could take an active part in the project and said the town's public works department could help with some of the landscaping and in other municipalities the town is .helping to share the costs of the im- provements with the_ BIA. He noted that in Goderich the town is picking up the cost of new sidewalks and in Essex the town is paying for new landscaping. BIA chairman David Anstett noted , that in Clinton the town is helping to place flowerpots and trees in the downtown area and are picking up half the cost of these and the public works department is watering them during the summer. Rob Parr, Clinton council's representative on the BIA suggested that once the area +is beautified, people will take more pride in the area. "We want everyone it town to see these plans, the merchants and the private citizens," Mr. Anstett stressed. The plans will be circulated' to all members of the BIA and a copy of the proposals can be seen in many downtown stores 7 1' RNAL BANK ih 1f 1 ll 401 n41 I �J II I . 1, +ttVittl r ee ri J* `" 'lei .Ilei 14114 The "Corner's Park" at Clinton's main intersection is only one of the improvement plans for town's BIA area. Members of the town's BIA saw the first unveiling of the proposals at a Friday night meeting. Prepared by ar- chitects Hill and Borgal from Goderich the plans are a tentative re -vitalization planfor the BIA core area in Clinton. (sketch courtesy of Nick Hill) Council sets employees 'salari.s Council passed the 1980 employee bylaw at its regular May 20 meeting, setting new wages and salaries for town employees which represent about a seven per cent overall in- crease The town clerk will receive $23,000 a year, an increase of $1,500 over last year. The deputy clerk will also receive another $1,500) bringing her salary to $15,500. An office employee earns $9,100, and effective July 1, will get $10,920 per year. A $1,500 salary increase will be given to the chj„ef of police, raising his salary to $23,500. The -four constables' salaries are increasing from $18,958 to $20,450 per year. The office worker at the police station will receive a wage of $4.25 per hour. In the public works department, the foreman will earn $15,080 a year, while the class A employee receives $13,878 and the two'class B emplyees will receive $13,312. The custodian's hourly wage will be $5.50. Great growing season The recent showers, coupled with the present warm weather are making growing conditions for newly planted crops ideal. Agricultural representative Don Pullen reported that at least half of Huron County farmers, mostly those to the south, have their corn planted and it is already germinating. "Some might have been a little apprehensive °puttingit in so early, but so far we've managed to avoid frost of any con- sequence.” The rest of the corn will probably be put in at the end of this week when the ground is dry enough. All of the, spring grain is in, and Pullen said that the winter wheatwill be excellent this year. "There was next to no winter kill," he said. The winter wheat comes off in late July. Farmers are beginning to prepare land for bean planting which begins usually the first week of June.. Soybeans should be starting to go in next week. Torn to page 3