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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1986-01-22, Page 11 � P()RAT1NG-THE: hLi TH STAM)ARl)-T "'NO.4 121 YEARS WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22,1986 50 CENTS FRIENDLY COMPETITION The Clinton Arena was filled with the spirit, of competition on January. 19 when the Clinton Figure Skating Club held their sixth annual club competition. During this event, competitors,,, showed • their earn- " ra`dgship,..Cheering:.and:urging-•each other on. When the event was completed, it was Jacquie Draper who became the club champion. She won this honor by winning three senior events. Among the other com- petitors was Lori Powell, above. During this performance, Lori finished second in the intermediate free state competition. Also taking part in the day's activities was Heather Royal. The 10 -year-old is in her first year of skating with the Clinton Club. Heather is wearing the ribbon which all skaters receive -for participating in the competition. For complete details on the winners, see the sports pages. ( Anne Nare- jko photos) PrivAte,Catholic boards should meet eet ,lic board By Stephanie Levesque a high school in l:Iuron until 1988. That The Huron County board of education same board is putting a Catholic high has to take the initiative to meet with school in Perth County this September. representatives of both the Catholic school "But other groups are also °on - ,board and private schools, says its new templating separate secondary schools chairman Art Clark, of Wingham• and that contemplation is going on now," ' Clark gave his inaugural address at the said Clark. board's Jan. 13 meeting. The address An interdenominational group from focused on the question of full funding, not north Huron, Perth and parts of Wellington only for Catholic secondary schools but for Count soutd h considered f nsideredWingharnbuilding u l ing as now h private schools. "During the election the most frequently on hold. asked question that I had to address was, • Clark suggested the school board start 'What is your position on the extension of advertising the good things about public funding?' In true political fashion, I did not education. • directly answer the question - my response "We must also look at what we are doing was and still is 'I am pro -public educa- and discuss the concerns that various tion'," he said. - groups have with public education. He verbally slammed all provincial Perhaps some adjustments and accom- politicians, regardless of their political af- modations will have to be made to keep filiation. various groups within public education," "I am, very frankly, ashamed of our pro- he said, adding, "I feel we have at this vinciy l politicians. They do nut have any time a particularly unique opportunity in vision of the future for this province. They Huron County to enter into discussions have lowered the`ms`elves to the position of with the various groups; an opportunity self -preservationists saying whatever they which if not seized may not present itself think will get them re-elected with no con- again." cern for the long termeffects on our socie- Clark said the discussions have to in- ty," he said. elude all those involved in the education Clark said the Huron school board has to system including students, parents, put the question of full funding on its own teachers, administration and school agenda, because the issue won't get before boa them any other way. "Our challenge is to take whatever ac - "I feel that the exposure to and the shar- tions are necessary to ensure that all the ing of experiences with people of different children of Huron have that same oppor- backgrounds leads to the trust, co- tunity far personal enrichment," he said to operation, understanding and tolerance bis fellow trustees. that this society so desperately needs. The The chairman recognized that the in - public education system provides that op- augural address is usually a time to iden- portunity for interaction that is a prere- tify the topics to be considered during the quisite for the acquisition of those coming year. qualities," said Clark. "If I were to adopt that approach, such The new chairman said he grew up in an topics as liability insurance, technical area where separate schools were education at both the elementary and available at both the elementary and secondary levels, special education, secondary school level. He said that pre- employee relations and such would be up school friendships dissolved as he and his for discussion today. However, those"items friends went their separate ways. The new will appear on our agenda in the upcoming chairman added that derogatory terms for year of their own accord." each other entered their vocabulary. "When I came to Huron County I was "We must continually look around and pleasantly surprised. The elementary remind ourselves about what Ontario is. school where my children would attend To be very basic, it is a collection of im- had integrated the mentally handicapped migrants, descendants of immigrants, and into the school.program and has since in- a few natives. In order for this con- tegrated the physically handicapped. The glomeration of humanity to function as a secondary school was also integrated since society, there must be trust, co-operation, no separate secondary school existed. My understanding and above all, tolerance for children would have opportunities that I those in society that we see as being dif- was denied," he said. ferent from ourselves. These qualities are Clark acknowledged that the Catholic not natural attributes; they have to be school board in the county, the Huron- learned.public education system can Perth Roman Catholic separate school pro - board, has decided to not consider putting vide that learning experience," said Clark. Potential students fill Vie -assessments can be questioned BLYTH — The Regional Assessment Of- fice will hold three open houses in the coun- cil chambers here this week in order to answer questions about the recent re- assessment of village properties and to ex - •plain new assessment rates to taxpayers. In an attempt to bring more .uniformity to property assessments, a study recom- mending an across-the-board increase in assessments for 1986 was passed by Blyth' Village Council last year. Using a formula which took 1980 property values as the basis for assessment, the study called for an average tax increase on residential pro- perties of $13 per assessment unit. As a result of the study, 75 per cent°of the 385 residentially zoned properties in Blyth are now experiencing an increase p taxes of less than 20 per cent over last year's bill and 19 per cent of the properties are ex- periencing an increase greater than 20 per tinue to get further out of line. t yyAccording to Regional Assessment Com- missioner John Garrett, the land values in 1975— the last time the village's properties had been assessed — Were extremely low compared to the property values now. Property experiencing the most in- crease is the vacant land in Blyth. 'Co'm- mercial assessments have also increased an average of $17 per assessment ' unit while farm assessments have increased an average of $10. The assessments on farm land which increased the most significant- ly were those properties without houses or out -buildings. The re -assessment study was done on the r'quest of the Huron County Assess- mentfOffice and council was warned that if the re -assessment wasn't accepted, the taxation/. system in the village would con- - Village Clerk Larry Walsh said some property owners who "have noticed quite a swing" in their taxes have' complained since receiving their assessment notices earlier this month. Although they were previously made aware of the re- assessment study, "many of them have no idea what it means until they get the „dollars in front of them" said Walsh. Property owners can have their com- plaints' heard and their questions answered at the open houses, beginning to- day, Wednesday, January 22 from 1 to 8 p.m.; Thursday, January 23 from 1 to 8 ppm.; and Saturday, January 25 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The appeal process is also open to property owners who feel their assessment is wrong. If an appeal is to be. filed, it must be filed before March 4. Council to consider expansion at marina HAYFIELD - Council here received a, re- quest from the chairman of the marina board to consider a "modest expansion of dockage space at the municipally -owned 0 marina in the village. Councillor Jim Quick, chairman of the marina board, told council the Marina could easilybe expanded to the east to include six giimore berths or three docks for sailboats. "There's a waiting list of that many (six) for docking space. I think we can easily achieve it and the village, could use the revenue. I don't think it would be a problem, " said Councillor Quick. p The tnunici al• maims currently has dockage space for approximately 48 boats on a permanent basis and space for dockage of another '10. to 12 transient boats. said Councillor Quick, ` Reeve lave Johnston was demented the e expansionnail eliminate the area ri ar the bridge where sports fishermen eat tie their boats fora short length of time, Councillor Quick assured him there would be robin left for'fishernnen to dock. "The expansion should be kept down so we know we have wall left for people to tie up to go fishing," said Reeve Johnston. Councillor Quick said he would have a firm proposal on the dock expansion to pre- sent to council at the next council meeting on February 3. In 'other marina business, council passed the new 1986 dockage rates at the municipal marina. The new rates are, dockage - $20 per square foot; winter storage - $65 flat rate and summer storage - $15 flat rate for the storage of boat cradles. Council also accepted the quotation of Kimball. Contracting Ltd. of $1,700 for pile driving at the Marina. They were awarded the contract over one other bidder. The piles for the . boating seasonwill be in place by April 15.. Long HiloRoad to responeto the "lw priority ankfng. the Long Hill Road project red eived as described in a letter from Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) Minister Vincent Kerrio, council has written a letter to the out applications for s clpol By Stephanie'Lt'vesque grades to the other four Catholicschools in An annual ritual is taking place over the . Stratford. Those schools are now only nie%t,few-weeks:, ` .,w Kinderga'ttentot rade6•schools Grade 8 students across- Perth .and Huron° Alsoy the French : imntiersion'- Or (gram' Counties are taking tentative steps to higher 'which is now operating out of St MVlt' ; ael i4 education as they fill out "option, sheets"..expected to be moved • to St.,'`'a°` oysius These forms indicate the courses students separate school: - intend to take when they actually take the The Catholic highschool received a boost big step to high, school this fall. last week when the school, board announced However, in Perth County and possibly that bus transportat dti '11 be available to parts of Huron, some students hove anValter ' st idents within a 40 h` ius of the school. native from the choices previous Grade 8 Bishop said stud eaing fromoutside students had. The Huron -Perth Roman of Stratford will al ` able to participate Catholic separate school board's new high in after school activil:es because a bus will school is also taking option sheets now. be available at a later lime besides the 3 In fact, St. Michael Secondary School p.m. dismissal time. principal Daniel Bishop said students have A full list of course's will be available, but. until Jan. 27 to hand in their option sheets. it depends on the number of students enroll - He admij' he has no idea of the number of ing, before a course will actually be offered. sttidoiiCs that will be enrolling at the high The difference between Grade 9 at St. school located in Stratford.' Michael and any other high school in Huron "My own feeling is that 100 per cent (of and Perth is that it will offer a compulsory religion program at every grade level. Bishop said the school will also offer courses at every level, basic general and ad- vanced as the Ministry of Education dic- tates. There . will also be a full range of, business and academic courses offered. The principal said negotiations between the Catholic school board and the Perth County board of education are being held regarding the use of technical equipment at Stratford's Northwestern secondary school. The school will also be the third high school in the area to be semestered. Cur- rently, Stratford's Central secondary school and Seaforth District high school are both semestered. "1 don't see us suffering in terms of facilities," added Bishop. To him, it is the teacherswho will help make the school work. "I'm looking for teachers who are dedicated to kids," he said. . The principal doesn't expect any dif- ficulties in accepting teachers from the public school board who have been declared redundant because of the new high school. "In my experience, teachers we get are excellent," he said. "There are excellent general manager of the Ausable Bayfield. Conservation Authority (ABCA), the local branch of the MNR. In the letter, council enquired haw the AB - CA had ranked the Long Hill Road project as a priority in their budget. At the ABCA's January, meeting, they had .already agreed to take on the project in 1986. As yet, council has not received a reply. Council also received a letter froth MPP Murray Elston acknowledging the receipt of a letter sent by council updating hitn on Long Hill Road situation. Council Briefs The. Optimist Club of Bayfield has named Bruce Johnston to the Arena and Communi- ty Centre Hoard and Bill Talbot to the recreation committee. A letter was received from 'resident Charles' Rogers• regarding the re lacement basin which . ea tying of a obsolete catch', drainage problems near his home, Road p• erintendent will include, the installation �• Turn to'gait those now in Catholic elementary schools) should attend," said the former principal of a Welland Catholic high school. But the school board, in its implementa- tion plan, anticipates about half or 70 students will attend the high school this September. "If Catholic education is valid, what changes at Grade 9?" Bishop asks of parents. "High school years are the most critical years of a person's development." The principal of the high school defends the Catholic philosophy in education and states, "we're not creating an academic ghetto." Bishop said the Catholic high• school is of- fering "schooling in a particular philosophy which is unavailable in the public system." He didn't criticize ` the public school system, but said it has to have a more cosmopolitan nature by being open to Chris- tians, Jews, Muslims and those of other faiths. Bishop said society gains by having more than one education system. Sti Michael will continue to have Grade 7 and 8 students next year and Bishop will run the whole school. The future of current prin- cipal Larry Cook of Dublin has not yet been decided. The school board's plan is to phase Grade 7 and. 8 out of St. Michael returning those To ban o: To ban or not to ban, smoking that is, h become a perennial question faced by. public bodies. This month, school boards -in the area are dealing with the question after the On- tario Medical Association wrote a letter asking f9s, smoking by students, teachers and staff Tn the schools to be banned. Both the Huron County board of educa- tion and the Huron -Perth Roman Catholic separate school board filed the letter at their respective meetings' on Jan. 13, And, although " the, letter f om the medicalassociation did not point a finger at smoking in board rooms, there were more than one or two guilty faces at both board meetings. In fact, smolling is allow- ed at both these meetings, and that doesn't. sit right with at least one trustee. Sally Itathwell of Clinton, a new trustee, to the Huron County board of education, said shewas told during in the election ca n- lid mine people are unableltb at- tend -boardneetingsbecause of allergies tb smoke; teachers in the Turn topage 2 not to ban Shhe;*l$o.,noted'that at some times during the year, students -are brought into the board room for,seitie recognition and see board members smoking. "We wouldn't allow our staff to do that," corrlmented Rathwell. Earlier, director of education Robert Allan said smoking by teachers is confined to staff rooms and by custodians is allowed in their lunch rooms. He added that smok- ing by students is allowed in designated areas in all five secondary schools in the county. Allan saidthe students are being educated about the hazards of smoking and this same information is being bom- barded at staff. He didn't think banning smoking on school property would be beneficial. The director suggested students would -find sortie place off of , school property to smoke, However, the board's executive commit- tee will conaider the question of smoking further and report back to the Huron board of education