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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1979-12-13, Page 1•Usborne township reeve Bill Morley accepted the warden's chain of office " at Tuesday's inaugural session of Huron county council. Morley defeated Tuckersmith township reeve Ervin Sillery and Goderich reeve Eileen Palmer on the first ballot to take over the warden's chair from Hay township reeve Jack Tinney, reeve of Hay township. (photo by Jeff Seddon) Goderich reeve loses out sborne man is Huron. warden BY JEFF SEDDON Huron county council chose Usborne reeve Bill Morley as warden of the county for 1980 leaving Goderich reeve Eileen Palmer. and Tuckersm ith township reeve. Ervin Sillery with another _year to consider running for position. On the first ballot, at Tuesday's: inaugural session council gave 31 of a possible 57 votes to„ Morley. Sillery received 18 votes and Palmer eight. In his short electioneering speech to council the Usborne reeve told council 1980 will be the "most challenging year of my life" if elected warden. He said council faced a tough year restructuring council in preparation for the departure of deputy -reeves in 1981. He said the county's committee system would have to be revamped to prepare for doing as much, if not more, work with fewer members of council. He told council after the election county representatives faced the challengeof main- taining the "high level of service" in Huron in 'el -interest -rates. He said enormous increases in fuel and materials would make the road committee's lob a difficult one in the coming year and that wage negotiations with county employees could also mean critical decisions. He said council would have to bear in mind the needs of county employees but would also have to attempt to keep' wage hikes moderate. Palmer, the first woman to ever seek the warden's chair, • told council 1980 would be a pivotal year in the operation of county council. Teachers ratify new pact She said the warden would have to be a "knowledgeable" person that was "innovative and conversant with legislation and govern- ment programs that could benefit rural and urban municipalities in the county". She told council that the warden's job could no longer go to someone just because they're well liked. "It's, not sufficient to be a good guy or gal you have to be qualified to be warden," she said. Sillery warned council that in the next year Huron would have to be "progressive". He said the county was being threatened by others that "have their eye" on the county and can see what it has to offer. He said those people are making an effort to control the resources of the county by "coming in and buying" which is something county council has to guard against. Secondary school salary up 7% BY JEFF SEDDON The Huron county board of education and its 258 secondary school teachers settled on a 1979- 80 contract Monday calling for a seven percent wage increase for teachers. Shirley Hazlitt, chairman of the board's negotiating committee, and Shirley Weary, head of the teachers' negotiating team, an- nounced in a press conference Tuesday that the new pact had been ratified. The seven percent hike is an across the board raise for all teachers, vice principals and principals in the five county secondary schools. Coupled with the raise are new clauses in the contract dealing with teacher workloads, leaves • of absence new staffing guidelines aimed at reducing the impact of declining enrolment on teaching jobs. Both Weary and Hazlitt were a little reluctant to say whatthe average teacher's salary would be. after the increase. Weary said she did not calculate an average teacher's wage because there were no "average teachers". THURSDAY,,DECEMBER 13, 1979 35 CENTS PER COPY Dismiss charges for sec nd time BY JEFF SEDDON Charges against Goderich businessman Cayley Hill stemming from $25,000 that can't be accountedfor by his former employer Champion Road Machinery Ltd., were dismissed Wednesday for the second time. Crown attorney Garry Hunter attempted to bring Hill to trial on charges of theft but Waterloo County Court Judge Roger Salhany was not convinced there was enough evidence to bring the matter to court. In a preliminary hearing earlier this year charges of fraud against Hill were dismissed by provincial Judge C.E. Perkins. The 52 year old former vice-president at Champion was ac- cused of fraud. after $25,000 in American Express travellers cheques could not be ac- counted for by Champion. Hunter not only appealed that decision but asked Salhany to use evidence from the earlier hearing to send Hill to trial for theft. Following the two hour hearing Wednesday Salhany said Hunter's application for an in- dictment on a charge of theft not only required him to decide if Perkins had erred in his use of evidence from the earlier hearing but also to decide if there was enough evidence to commi•tt Hill to trial for theft.. He told Hunter he was "not satisfied the judge had erred" and dismissed the case. Following the hearing Hunter said unless some new evidence was discovered he was going to let the matter die. In his submission to Salhany the crown at- torney reviewed evidence against Hill revealed to Judge Perkins claiming Perkins had made "several serious errors" in applying evidence. He suggested Perkins had treated some im- vn r� t O „Si �, Winter -just for the fun of it is an exciting ad- dition to this weeks's Signal -Star outlining hundreds of seasonal activities available in the area. This edition explores a myriad of winter ac- tivities, programs, night classes, clubs, vacations and places where you can enjoy your favorite winter activity. The weather does not have to limit the range of activities in the area and we're sure you'll enjoy; winter -just for thej fun of it II portant evidence too lightly and placed too much importance on thin evidence. The $25,000 in question was money Champion owed to a .Turkish agent who put together a contract for 163 Champion road graders. Hill was given the task of taking the money _to.., Turkey and giving it to the agent as his com- mission. The charges were laid because Hill never delivered the money but rather deposited some in a Toronto bank account and spent the remainder on a variety of things according to Hunter. The crown attorney told court Perkins ap- peared to accept a receipt from a businessman in Turkey with whom Hill had dealings with as an indication that Hill had .delivered the money just as he was supposed to. - Hunter said Champion executives did not consider the receipt valid and suggested court should not consider it valid either. He said top Champion officials considered the document as an indication Hill had not delivered the money. The then vice-president at Champion was confronted with the letter and as a result of that confrontation -offered to makerestitution to the firm resignpost. Hunte said- Perkins considered the letter a receipt indicating Hill had taken the cash to Turkey and given it to the agent. The crown attorney suggested there was no evidence to that fact. He added that Perkins' Turn to. page 9 • That jolly, old gent himself was in Goderich Saturday and held court at the Park Theatre to give youngsters in town an opportunity to -tell him first hand what they wanted for Christmas. The arrival of Santa was preceded by the town's annual Santa Claus parade which this .year consisted of over 35 floats and entries. Hundreds of kids and their parents braved chilly winds to line The Square and watch the parade. (photo by Jeff Seddon) ' More parade pictures inside Hazlitt said it was difficult to compute the average now becaupe of fewer numbers of teachers but said according to her figures the average salary in the county would be $25,752. Weary said teachers in Huron were still among the lowest paid in the province. She said the maximum salary paid in the contract put Huron at "rock bottom" in the province. Hazlitt pointed out that the maximum wage available in 'this contract may be the lowest maximum wage in the province but in other areas Huron is not the lowest. She conceded that teachers in Huron are "not the highest- paid" but ighest•paid"butadded that "on the wholeit's not that _. . bad". The minimum wage In the contract for a - teacher with the minimum qualifications and no experience is $13,135. The maximum is $29,184. Weary said 60 percent of the teachers in Huron County were at their maximum wage level and that 60 percent of the teachers were in the highest pay category available in the contract. The teachers' negotiater said teachers. ratified the contract Monday night by a margin of between 60 and 65 percent. She said the'slim margin of acceptance may have been due to the fact -that -teachers -at -the bottomendof the pay scale -were -not happy -with their wage increase. But she said enough of those teachers were • impressed with other clauses in the contract to accept the slim wage settlement they received. She added that without those clauses the contict may have been refused. Hazlitt said the board unanimously voted in favor of the pact but added it took a couple of hours. to ,explain,.the pact. The contract does away with pupil -teacher "ratios, a major stumbling block in the 1977 negotiations that ended up in a strike situation. Those ratios have been replaced by a maximum number of students enrolled in a credit course which according to Weary meets the needs of both the teachers and the students. She said the under the new contract the number of teachers needed in the system will be determined by principals doing class timetabling. She said that timetabling will • determine how many teachers are needed and where they are -needed. N .......� --- Another innovation in the new pact is leave of absence clauses. The, leaves now available to teachers range from one year without pay to one year with 80 percent pay. Under the leave with pay clause a teacher must work for four years receiving 80 percent of his or her salary and then can take one year off with pay. Weary would not say the leave of absence clause is designed to encourage people to stay' out of the classroom but hinted that the option is there for any teacher that thinks they may want to retire or change jobs. She said there are a number of teachers in the system that would take advantage of the leave clause to become mothers, work on farms they have bought or just get away from the classroom. She said every teacher that uses the leave of absence will allow another teacher that does not want to get out of the classroom to retain a job. •.. Both Weary and Hazlitt agreed that the negotiations this time around were improved over the 1977 ordedal. Both said teacher -board relations are "much improved" indicating , teachers and trustees are starting to deal with concerns in education rather than just contract items. Publishing dates new for Christmas The Goderich Signal -Star, will be publishing on a different schedule for the week of December 27 only. Deadlines will be changed accordingly. The deadline for classified ads for the issue of The Goderich Signal -Star to be published December 27 will be noon on Friday, December 21. Deadline for display advertising will be Friday, December 21 at 2 p.m. Deadline for news copy for the issue of December 27 will be Friday, December 21 at 10 a.m. The office of The Goderich Signal -Star will be open Saturday, December 22 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will remain closed Monday, December 24, Christmas Day and Boxing -Day. The office will reopen Thursday, December 27, at9a.m. The office will be open Monday, December 31, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed for New Year's Day and open again at 9 a.m. Wednesday, January 2. The 'January. 3 issue of The Goderich Signal - Star will be published on a regular schedule. The issue dated December 20 will include The Goderich Signal -Star's annual Christmas greeting edition.