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Clinton News-Record, 1983-06-22, Page 1v In .45 0 a c5 s.. .0 0 .11 0 00 Pu s ' i G LE Wedn 50c fn is No. 25 incorporating sday, June 22, 1983 118th year y Shelley McPhee A group home for the mentally han- dicapped will not be established in Clinton until a public meeting is held. To be announced in the near future, the meeting will give information regarding the group home and will be held to hear any citizen concerns or suggestions. Clinton council at their June 20 meeting agreed to support the Goderich and District Association for the Mentally Handicapped in their effort to establish a group home in Clinton. Similar homes are being set up in municipalities throughout Huron County to ee ing to compensate for the closure of the Bluewater Centre. The proposed Clinton residence will house between six and eight people who are able to live in an in- tegrated, community setting. It will also employee six to eight qualified staff members. Allowing the home would mean changes to the town's zoning bylaw since it presently does not include group home allowance. Town solicitor Beecher Menzies suggested that this could either be done through spot zoning, a bylaw regulating the establishment of certain group homes in particular areas of town, 1SCrLLtSS or a complete across-the-board zoning allowance. Mr. Menzies explained that Goderich Council has proposed a complete zoning change to allow group homes. It is an in- volved process since it means that every property owner in town is given the op- portunity to comment on the proposal. Any complaints or concerns will go to an Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) hearing, however Mr. Menzies noted, "Complaints are common, but unless they're com- pelling, there's a 99 per cent chance the proposal will go through the OMB." He noted, "The province has made a Clinton can boast the best euchre players in the province. A team including John Semple, Eric Switzer, Fred Jackson and Ed Deeves competed in provincial Legion euchre tournament finals recently and came home with the championship trophy. The fellows are still practicing, in readiness for next spring when the Clinton Legion will host the tournament. ( Shelley McPhee photo) Liberal task force study problems of particular concern in Huron By D. Kloeze A provinci.:i task force set up to assess problems in rural municipalities held its first meeting in Goderich June 8. Judging by the scope of the presenta- tions given to the panel of six Liberal members of the provincial legislature, the task force will have quite some job in store when it comes time to write its report. The committee heard reports from 17 delegations, from town and township coun- cils, from unions and businesses, from farmers, and from the county board of education and health unit. Although many of the same ideas were repeated throughout the day, a lot of con- cerns were presented to the task force. Assuming that the other hearings to be held across the province will be equally fruitful, the committee will have a lot of in- formation to assimilate for its final report. Among the variety of subjects brought up at the meeting were included: harbor facilities at Goderich, tax rebates on farm land, waste disposal sites, education grants, farm foreclosures, absentee ownership of farm land, alcohol and drug use, ambulance and hospital services, and many others. A fairly comprehensive overview of Huron County was presented during the course of the day. The speakers were not necessarily only telling their problems to the task force; most of them were describ- ing the major concerns of their organiza- tion or community. The task force was announced last February by provincial opposition leader David Peterson in a speech given to the association of municipalities in Ontario. Eight Liberal MPP's are assigned to hold hearings at least twice in each of nine zones in Ontario. The chairman is John Eakins ( Victoria-Haliburton ), and the panel includes ,Jack Riddell ( Huron - Middlesex 1 and Murray Elston ( Huron - Bruce) . The other members present in Goderich were Herb Epp ( Waterloo North), Robert McKessock (Grey), and Gordon Miller (Haldimand-Norfolk) . Jack Riddell said after the hearing was completed that he was very pieased with the quality of the presentations the task force heard that day. He said the panel had expected to hear some of the problems, such as mat municipal councils were suf- fering because of reductions in provincial transfer payments. Farmers` difficulties was another im- portant theme of the day that the MPP's must have been anticipating. Many concerns mentioned by the delega- tions certainly were not new to the MPP's, as they concerned grants and programs either already in effect or proposed by the government. Most of the speakers were people like township reeves or agricultural representatives that are in regular contact with their MPP's, making them aware of their concerns. For example, a delegation of farmers came to voice their opposition to proposed tax rebates on farm land, sentiments which have already been made known to the minister of agriculture and to local MPP's. One of the things that did surprise the task force, according to Riddell, was Dorothy Wallace's statement that the Board of Education was forced to close a machine shop in the Clinton high school. The panel was concerned that technical courses were being cut when Ontario com- panies were still importing skilled workers. A lot of questions were raised about the practicality of government grants. Mur- ray Elston summed up the general feeling of the day, saving, "People don't mind raising money for services they have plan- ned, but they sure don't like paying for pro- grams in which they don't participate. This was especially clear in the speech given by the Reeve of Exeter, William Mickle. He said Exeter takes advantage of few programs for which they pay a lot of tax money. Dorothy Wallace also voiced another common concern about government grants, wondering who would fund such programs as French immersion education after they had been established by govern- ment grants. John Eakins, the chairman of the com- mittee, said in his opening remarks that the role of an opposition party in govern- ment is not simply to criticize, but it must offer positive recommendations. The report written by the task force will be us- ed in the Legislature to offer alternatives to government programs. Riddell repeated these sentiments, say- ing, "No party is effective if they criticize without suggesting alternatives." He said experience has shown that opposition recommendations are usually incor- porated by the party in power, although it may take a period of up to three years. Examples of the above include Liberal task forces on education, highway safety, and most recently on health. The members of the task force hope to finish their hearings and have the report written by February 1984, a year after it was first announced by Peterson. Food stores going metric Clinton area food stores are scheduled to convert their scales to weigh food in grams and kilograms during the second half of June, as part of the conversion scheduled in Huron County for June and July. A Metric Commission Canada spokesman says the conversion is part of the national changeover from Imperial units like pounds, ounces, yards, miles, gallons and degrees Fahrenheit to metres, kilometres, litres and degrees Celcius that began in 1971. Shoppers have bought pre-packaged food in metric units for several years, 1 often without recognizing the change. But now, in the last stage of conversion to world -standard metric measures of all kinds, items that are individually weighed in stores will also be purchased on a metric basis. items affected include meat, poultry, fish, cheese, fruit, vegetables, nuts and candy. To make this possible, scales in all local stores will be changed to metric during the conversion period m this area as part of the Canada -wide program The changeover began simultaneously Torn to page 3 me very powerful statement in support of group homes," and the government has suggested that they shouldn't be confined to one zone. Mr. Menzies told Clinton Council that by making an across-the-board zoning change, "you're not discriminating. Most people think group homes are good, as long as they're not next to them." A regulating bylaw, to apply in con- junction with zoning change, would give council the power to control the type and number of group homes that may be established. Presently Clinton is one of the few Huron municipalities without a group home, but Mayor Chester Archibald is anxious to help the Association for the Mentally Retarded. He instructed Mr. Menzies to prepare the necessary amendment to the zoning bylaw and urged Clerk Cam Proctor to set- up a public meeting with a government representative as soon as possible. Huron will host Soil Conservation meeting By Stephanie Levesque Experts in the field of soil conservation ill belscussing the grass roots efforts in this area at the 1983 sumrner meeting of the Soil Conservation Society of America (SI.A) in Holmesville on June 24. The. recently formed Huron Soil Con- servation District, a sub -group of the On- tario Chapter of the SCSA, will be the main topic at the meeting at the Goderich Township Community Centre. Jane De Vito of the Burlington area, president of the Ontario Chapter, will start off the day at 9:45 a.m. Other speakers in- clude the president of Ecologistics Limited, Dave Cressman of Kitchener; Don Lobb of Clinton and Tom Prout of the Ausable-Bayfield Conservation Authority, both HSCD directors and Carol Thompson of Clinton, the 1-ISCD agrologist. At 11 a.m., the soil conservation district concept will be discussed by a panel con- sisting of Bruce Shillinglaw of the Huron Soil and Crop Improvement Association, Carl Schenk of the Ministry of Environ- ment, Russ Powell of the Association of Conservation Authorities of Ontario, Mike Garrett of the Ministry of Natural Resources, Rob McLaughlin of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food and Art Latornell of the Ontario chapter of SCSA and past president of the international organization. Maitland Valley Con- servation Authority general -manager Bryan Howard will be the moderator for the panel discussion. Question and answer periods will be held throughout the morn- ing. The afternoon activities will include tours of selected conservation tillage demonstration projects of the Huron Soil Conservation District. r z s o n to close lace agrees ustnness doors By Shelley McPhee Thomas Fowler summed up the con- troversy in these words, "It was much ado about nothing." Clinton council took the opposite view and stood betund their decision to close Branson Place, an antique shop owned by Mr. Fowler and Enunanuel Nikalaou. The store operated illegally on a residentially zoned section of Ontario Street until June 20, when the owners agreed to permanently put up the closed sign. A final warning went out to Branson Place earlier this month in the form of a letter from the town solicitor Beecher Menzies. It put an end to a heated dispute that has concerned council, local citizens and Branson Place owners for the past three months. While it had appeared that Branson Plano 1...111,4 fi.rht tho rnnnr•ii nrripr drsallowutg the business a spot Lone change, Mr. Fowler said ►n a telephone interview on Tuesday evening, -We either had to close or pay a fine. " Although still angered at cow ►cil's decision, Mr. Fowler did admit, "We are technically violating the zoning bylaw." "We have a business that's ready to blossom. They Ithe town council have lost, we haven't," he remarked. While Mr. Fowler earlier stated he would bring to council's attention other Clinton businesses that are violating the zoning bylaw, he now simply says, "I can't waste my time." The Branson Place owners have decided to set up their antique business in another municipality. Council received word that the store would be closing at their June 20 meeting. A letter was sent by Branson Place's lawyers, Troyan and Fincher. r-: Three-year-old Aaron Bromley of Blyth thoroughly enjoyed the task of putting his penny sale tickets in the boxes for the more than 138 draw prizes. The sale put on by the Legion Ladies Auxiliary raised several hundred dollars for the Blyth Legion. (Shelley McPhee photo) Blyth` new sewage plant will he dedicated, June 23 by ministry officials Blyth's $3.3 million sewage treatment plant will be dedicated at a special ceremony on June 23, Environment Minister Keith C. Norton announced today. The Reeve of Blyth, Mr. Tom Cronin, will officiate at the dedication at the plant at 2:30 p.m. D.A. McTavish, director of Environment Ontario's Southwestern Region, will represent the Ministry. The general public is invited to attend and tour the facility. Representatives of the federal, provincial and municipal govern- ments will also be in attendance. Fifty seven per cent of the total cost of the treatment plant was provided to the community through a grant by the provin- cial government. An additional 39 per cent was provided by the federal government and the remaining cost was covered by the municipality. The grants were applied to the construction of both the plant and a network of sewers and service cunner- tions. The plant purifies the raw sewage from the village through a series of processors which begin with the screening and aera- tion of sewage, followed by chlorination and a final filtration of the water before it is released into Blyth Creek. The plant has a design capacity of 730 cubic metres per day, for a population of 1,300. This is not only adequate for the current population of 920, but will also be able to supply airy foreseeable growth in the village. The consulting engin(cr on the village's new sewage system was 13, M. Ross and Associates Ltd., Goderich. The general contractor for the plant was Maple Engineering, Brantford, and for the two contracts for the system of sewers: Omega Contractors, London. and 11a1 1 city Brothers, Brantford. Salaries hell to 5% Elementary teachers accept contract BY STEPHANIE LEVESQUE Huron County elementary school teachers and the Board of Education have ratified the teachers' 1983-84 collective agreement. Under the inflation restraint legislation, salary increases are limited to five per- cent and the only changes to the collective agreement are of the in -housekeeping nature. Recognizing the fact that there was no choice on the salary settlement, the presi- dent of the Huron Federated Women Teachers' Association of Ontario (FWTAO) Dixie -Lee Arbuckle said, "we appreciate the fact that we had the oppor- tunity to talk to the board." Both sides met several times and superintendent of personnel Peter Gryseels praised the teachers for taking "a very realistic approach" to the bargaining process. He noted they realized the dollars were fixed and they didn't re- quest increased benefits. The new salary grid, effective Sept., , ranges from $16,230 per year to $42,05 The previous year's salary grid ranged from $15,460 to $40,050. The average elementary school teacher's salary is $36,419 with the 1 average principal's salary at $44,819. ')'here are about 360 elementary school teachers in Huron County. Special allowances under the collective agreement also increased by five percent. These allowances are paid over and above the salary grid. Principals receive an allowance of $8,400 up from $8,000 in 1982; vice -principals' allowance ranges from $3,360 to $4,095, up from a range of $3,200 to $3,900 in 1982; co-ordinators receive an allowance of $4,620, up from $4,400 last year and principals of trainable mentally retarded schools receive an allowance of $4,820, increased from $4,590 in 1982. Other allowances are as follows with previous year's allowance in brackets. Special education teachers receive $105 ($100 i for an elementary. certificate, $315 I $.300) for an intermediate certificate, and 1525 1$500 for a specialist's or supervisor's certificate Resource teachers receive $525 11500‘for an elementary certificate, $73,5 ($700) for an intermediate certificate, $945 1$900 i for a specialist's or supervisor's certificate. Extra degree allowances stayed the same at $300 for a bachelor's degree and 1800 for a master's degree The total cost of the collective agree- ment, includrni fringe benefits is $12,820,981, up from $12.22(i.360 in 1982, representing a 4 8 percent overall in- crease. The housekeeping rhaflaes include establishing a committee to review the staffing of elementary schools on an ;an- nual basis and havini; the staff improve- ment plan under the direction r)f the staff improvement plan cornrriittee. Weather 1983 1982 .11 INF HI 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 LC) HI 14) 32 14 29 17 28 15 21 11 22 ra 19 11 22 8 22 11 12).',06) 6 + 2 ).20 12(i l.> 8 Hare 24 torn 1