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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1983-02-02, Page 11351/EAR.--5 GODERICH SIGNAL STAR, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY • Fr 50 GENTS PER COPY decrease.in Trustees of the -Huron -Perth Separate School Board have rolled back their honorarium from an 11 per cent increase to a five per cent increase, The subject of rolling back the honorarium has been raised at almost every board meeting since the 1983-85 board, took over in December. The decision was approved at the board's Jan. 24 meeting. Last fall, the 1982 board had approved an 11 per cent increase for the trustees' stipend. At that time it was raised from $180 per month to $200 per month ef- fective Dec. 1, 1982, $225 per month effective Dec. 1, 1983 and $250 per month effective Dec. 1, 1984. For the provincial control . year of 1983, the. trustees will receive $189 per month. Chairman Ron Murray of RR 1 Dublin said trustees had not received an increase since 1980 and an in- crease of $9 over three years isn't high. "Sure It's not very much. In our case it is a six per cent decrease which is a matter of $11 per month, but it's such a . thorny issue that I though I'd bring it before the board," said Mr. Murray. "I thought we had decided to wait until the (provin- cial) government sent us the information we need- ed?" asked Trustee Vincent McInnes of RR 2 Wingham. He said he isn't opposed to taking the decrease, but thought that a decision had already been made. pay Trustee Louis Maloney commented that government regulations had already been made. Director of education William Eckert (although 'recuperating from, a heart attack suffered last fall,, was in attendance at the meeting).teld trustees that while the provincial legislation is in ,plate; the guidelines on how to implement the legislation has not yet been received by administration. "I am most willing to accept exactly what . the government says," stated Mr. McInnes. "Why does somebody else have to tell us what to do?" asked Trustee Louis Maloney of Dublin. He sug- gested the board show leadership by accepting the five per cent increase limit. "I am on both the personnel and teacher negotiating committees and if we don't roll back, we don't have the right to negotiate with other people," commented Mr. Maloney. Chairman Murray agreed stating, "If we don't take less how can we expect anybody else to take less." Trustee Ernie Vanderschot of RR 7 St. Marys said that for the $11 less a month, the trustees' honorarium should remain at the levels set by the previous board. "It's percentages, they (people) look at the percen- tage," commented Mr. Maloney. All trustees voted in favor of'the'roll back. With or without snow weekend blitz Snow or no snow, Goderich's second annual Snow- Blitz Winter Weekend will get underway February 18: 19 and 20. ' Robertson Public School will kick off theweekend events Friday with a winter carnival. from 1:30-3:30 p.m. It will feature many competitive events and parents and the public are welcome to attend. Also, starting Friday evening and all day'Saturday, there will be a camping display set up in the arena lobby by the Goderich Boy Scouts. Saturday A morning from 7:30-11:30 p.m. the Goderich Figure Skating Club will serve a pancake breakfast in the arena auditorium. At the same time, in the arena lobby, the Goderich Girl Guides will hold a cheese and bake sale and- a -garage sale of `kids' stuff'. Twelve teams will participate in the snow -pitch tournament sponsored by the Goderich Restaurant slow -pitch team on Saturday from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. For those people more interested in hockey than ball, there will be a road hockey tournament in the Suncoast Mall Parking Lot from 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. This tournament, sponsored by the Suncoast Mall Merchants, will feature Grades 3 and 4 school, teams from the three elementary schools in town. Depending on the weather, there will be free sleigh rides leaving from the arena parking lot between the hours of 1 and 5 p.m. At 1:30 p.m. you can take out your frustrations on a wrecked car when the Goderich Figure Skating Club sponsors Wreck -A -Wreck;. three swings for one dollar, at -the south end of the grandstand. will go A tug-ot-war will be held at Agriculture Park at 2 p.m. Sponsored by the Goderich and District Optimist Club, it will feature eight teams. All pre-school and elementary school age children are invited to participate in the fancy dress skating carnival at the arena from 2:15-3 p.m. The skating is free and every skater will receive asmall prize donated by the Goderich`Recreation Department or McDonald's Restaurant. Major prizes will be given for most comical and most original costumes in categories of five years of age and under, 6-9 years and 10-12 years. An overall prize will also be given for best costume. On Saturday night, you can take your pick of three dances, all from 9 p.m. -1 a.m. A hardtimes dance will be held in the arena auditorium, sponsored bythe Bedford Flyers with music by Dick Ernst. An Optimist dance will be held at Saltford Valley Hall with music by "Look Out". And a country and western dance will be held at. the Canadian Legion Hall with music by Chickory. . On Sunday from 1:30-4:30 p.m. the Colborne Snowmobile Club will be holding a "Family Day" east of Colborne School. Also on Sunday from 2-3 p.m. Lisi's Bubbatron Puppet Theatre will appear at Victoria School, the first of Four Great Shows for Children sponsored by the Recreation Department. A draw on a handmade round afghan will be held at the arena on Sunday. Tickets will be sold throughout the weekend by the Circle City CB Club. Mona Gleason and Joe Morrissey seem to be en- joying themselves at the GDCI dance-a-thon held last Friday in the school auditorium from 11:30.10:30 j�•'x;NF February came in like a lamb Tuesday and only a thin layer of ice covered Goderich Harbour. (Photo by Dave Sykes) p.m. Mona also sang with the high school rock band, Back Stage Pass, which ;played for part of the dance-a-thon. All proceeds' from the event will go toward school activities and will also help support the school's foster family. (Photo by Joanne Buchanan) Board could face tax charge Alexandra Marine and General Hospital cogld be charged an unexpected $10,000 in provincial sales tax on its newly built Intensive Care Unit but hdspital' board members agreed ata recent meeting not to pay any extra money until thoroughly researching the matter. The contract tor me new intensive are unit was signed on May 7, 1982. At that time, hospital con- struction was provincial sales tax exempt. Effective May 14, 1982, such exemption was removed. However, new legislation allowed for exemption of fixed price contracts signed prior to May 14, 1982. On the basis of this information, the hospital board was of the opinion that the ICU project would be completed on a provincial sales lax exempt basis. On checking for liens at the end of the 37 -lien period, the board was advised that • Bram-Kay Electric had in fact placed a lien on the, project. The lien resulted from the fact that they, had applied for a refund of provincial sales tax paid to suppliers during the project and were advised that the contract was not fixed price because of Article 15.2. This Article reads as follows: "Any increase or decrease in costs to the contractor due to changes in guch taxes and duties after the date of the tender shall increase or decrease the contract price accordingly." The contractors are now turning to the hospital to recover the sales tax paid to suppliers. To date, the total is $9,900.29 broken down as follows: Tonda Construction$5,068.64; Veel Mechanical -$3,214.21 and Bram-Kay Electric -$1,617.44, Further inquiries are being made by the board to determine if other suppliers have paid provincial sales tax. g The board passed a motion Monday night to seek legal opinion on the matter and to outline their con- cerns in writing to MP Jack Riddell, Ontario Minister of Health Larry Grossman and Ontario Treasurer Frank Miller. 'They will also request correspondence to date between the tax officeand the contractors. Hospital board 'member Bob Dempsey reminded the board that local money built and paid for the ICU and that It was built on the assumption that it would be tax exempt. "I think we should really'make waves. It is a cheap way for them (the government) to gather money and it is really in poor taste," he said. *500 offered to GOCT student The Bluewater centre Volunteer Association has announced that it will mike available a POO scholarship to a deserving graduate student of Goderieb and Plstrlet Coueglate.institute The scholarshlp winner will be selected by the administration of HMI and will be a student enrolled in a Mental Retardation Counselling program at a community college for the. 1983.84' year. The scholarship criteria asks that the student have one year. of volunteer experience and sunnier em- ployment experience at Bluewater Centre or with any other agency providing services for the develop, mentally handicapped. The financial needs of the student may be a con- sideration in awarding the scholarship but the association states that scholastic achievement, in terms of marks, is not to be a major determinant of eligibility, ' Pat Wheeler, volunteer coordinator at. Bluewater • Centre, said the scholarship was initiated by the 40- member volunteer association to recognize a student who works with the developmentally handicapped. "The association wanted to recognize young people who helped the developmentally handicapped and promoted volunteerism," she said. "The scholarship is just being offered this year but we hope that it could be continued." The association will not make any decisions on continuing the scholarship until the government announces closure dates for the Bluewater Centre. Wheeler said the association had boned. that in the event Bluewater Centre was closed, the name of the volunteer association would live on in the community through the scholarship. - Drivers better start to buckle up belts If you haven't been buckling up lately, you'd better start. The local police and the Goderich Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police are cracking down on seat belt offenders, inthis area. "People have had lot's oftimetogetused to wearing their seat belts by now," says OPP Constable Erie Goss. The fine for not wearing your seat belt is $28. Everyone in your car must be buckled up, including children, or you, the driver, will be charged. Police Chief Pat King says •a routine check by his force in conjunction with the OPP last Thursday revealed that 20 per cent of those drivers stopped Were not buckled up. On Friday it was 25 per cent. Trustees question development days. The need for professional development days was questioned as trustees of the Huron -Perth Separate School Board learned of the changes to the school year calendar at its Jan. 24 meeting. A memorandum from the Ministry of Education outlined that the board has the authority to' designate up to nine professional activity days each school year. "Does the administration feel nine professional ac- tivity days are needed?" asked Trustee Ernie Vanderschot of RR 7 St. Marys. Acting director of education John Mccauley stated:. ,{ that most of thegiet?V foss cp culum.�. riculum .in:order to implement the curriculum, it re - Mikes tune," stated Mr, McCauley noting that pro- fessional activity days allow administration to gather all teachers together at one time. The acting director of education noted the school system has gone past the days of handing curriculum material to the teacher without any in-service train- ing. Mr. McCauley added that professional activity days are also used for parent interviews and ac- tivities stivities of the identification, placement and review committee relating to special education. "It's a question on everybody's mind who isn't in- volved' in PA days," said board, chairman Ronald Murray of RR 1 Dublin noting that the Ministry has now requested evaluations of the days. INSIDE THE SIGNALSTAR Hockey tourney There was plenty of exciting action at the Fifth Annual Goderich Recreation Hockey Tournament on the weekend. Goderich Bedford Flyers prevailed as B Division champions with an exciting 3-2 win while Lucan captured the A Dvision title. All the details and pictures appear on the Recreation page. Curlers advance The GDCI boy's curling team will represent this region in the Southwestern Ontario finals of the Pepsi Cola Junior Playdowns later this month. a picture of the team and details appear onthe recreation front.