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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1978-06-08, Page 1NO. 23 FIRST WITH LOCAL NEWS THURSDAY, JUNE 8, 1978 Book controversy continues Price Per Copy 20 Cents Board told to trust teachers By JEFF SEDDON The Huron County Board of Education was told Monday it should trust the judgement of its teachers when deciding if literary pieces to be used in high school classrooms are fit for educational purposes. Three delegations at- tending Monday's board meeting explained to trusetees at considerable length why' three English literature textbooks should not be banned from secon- dary school book lists. The books - Catcher in the Rye, By J.D. Salinger, The Diviners By Margaret Hay goes computer for 1979 tax year In a move designed to cut costs and to improve ef- ficiency, Hay will be switching to computerized tax billing for the 1978 fiscal year. Hay approved the move at their regular council meeting held Monday night. The firm employed will be Northern Telephone Limited of New Liskeard, the same firm which handles the bill- ing for the Hay Municipal Telephone system. Clerk -treasurer Joan Ducharme said the move should cut down on the amount of labor involved and should in the long run, save money. Council approved the application of the South Huron Sportsmen's Associa- tion for the establishment of a gun club on lot eight, south boundary of the township providing that written con - Honour retiring minister Sunday A person who has made many contributions to this community and surrounding district will be honoured this coming weekend. Pastor and Mrs. Andrew Blackwell of St. Peter's Lutheran Church will be the guests at a congregational dinner to be held this Satur- day. On Sunday, a retirement tea will be held at the com- munity centre with members of the clergy and classmates and friends of Reverend Blackwell atten- ding. sent from adjoining land owners with regards to noise and the club's operation is received by the township prior to the club's operation. Compliance certificates from the ministry of the en- vironment for renovations proposed by Raymond Hart- man and Bill Degroot were approved by the township. Hartman plans to remodel an existing barn and con- struct a new barn along with a covered 100,000 gallon capacity liquid manure - storage tank. The extension of an ex- isting hog barn and the con- struction of a liquid manure storage tank will be the ex- tent of Degroot's renovations. In other business, council: Did not accept a tile drainage loan application from Dennis Ducharme for $500. Approved -an application for a tile drainage loan for $4,000 from Laird Jacobe. Passed a bylaw authoriz- ing the maintenance and repair of the east branch of Black Creek. Authorized special drain tilage rates to be imposed on properties owned by Harold Dignan - $231.03, John Paul Rau - $1494.90 and Bert Visscher - $774.63. The amounts are to be imposed annually for ten years and are for the repayment; of drain tilage loans. Granted severance applications to Harry Dougall, Barbara Rau and Gordon Ramm. Denied a severance application requested by George M. Harvey. CHAPLAIN HONOURED — Rev. Andrew Blackwell who has been chaplain of the Hensall Legion branch for a.number of years was honoured Saturday night. Above, Rev. Blackwell receives a pen and pencil set from Legion past president Murray Traquair. Laurence and Of Mice and Men By John Steinbeck - were considered blasphemous and obscene by a group of parents from Kingsbridge who started a campaign to have them banned from school booklists. Dr. Tom Collins, chairman of the English department at the University of Western Ontario, told the board that the three books were not at all blasphemous or obsecene but rather were of "superior quality." He said the books all had excellent educational value. Collins said the purpose of a literary piece was to educate the imagination of readers by creating "con- struct" worlds that the reader can become familiar without actually living in them. He said the worlds created are usually ones people wouldn't normally live in but can become aware of through the books. He suggested the worlds could be "better ones created in fairy tales or terrible ones lived in by Hamlet." The professor said the books in question . may contain portions that will be offensive to some people but added that if only material that could be offensive to people was sought out The Bible or the works of Shakespeare could also fall into that category. He said the definition of pornography is material used for the purpose of provoking sexual arousement for its own sake. He said the material in the three books in question was not pornographic in the context in which it was used in the books. Collins suggested that students have two major environments in which they function, school and the rest of their time. He said the time they spend away from school is consistently filled with material "I truly label pornographic." He said he stopped in at a drug store on his way to the meeting and picked a magazine and a novel off the store shelf. He said the two were what he called pornographic adding that he would "refrain from being truly offensive and will not read from the book or show you pictures from the magazine." Collins pointed out that the material he had purchased was available to all students any time without any real attempt by parents to control it. He said the students constantly face ob- jectionable material in films, television, magazines and trash novels and parents seemed unconcerned about the matter. He said schools control the use of such material through trained professionals trained to use judgement and ex- pertise putting such material into proper perspective rather than sensationalizing it as the letter from the parents had done. He said the board must trust its teachers. "Banning the books is the surest way I know of getting the students to seek out the books, read them, and have them adversley affect them by not having the contents put into proper perspective, he said.' Collins said the alleged blasphemous material was not blasphemous but was language commonly used in every day life. He said blasphemy is taking the Lord's name in vain or making a deliberate attempt to dishonor God. He said just Please turn to Page 11 ON TOP — Suspended animation is something which we won't see in our life time but Edward Meidinger does his best impression. Edward was competing in the boy's high jump at the field day held at St. Boniface school on Tuesday. Properly damage from accidents drops The number of area ac- cidents and the resulting property damage and in- juries dropped sharply this week. There were four crashes with four minor in- juries being reported. Two of the accidents oc- curred on Friday, the first involving three vehicles which collided on Usborne concession 2-3, south of ® Highway 83. Drivers in - Call b''� RRvol3d were ; risG l ertWestlake, RR 3 Exeter; Gilbert Dow, meeting Exeter; and Mervin Jones, discuss sWalton. to bExeter OPP Constable Jack Straughan listed total damage at $1,300. A car driven b Susan As the school year draws to a close, the debate over three books presently available for teaching in Huron county's secondary schools continues with the announcement Friday of a public meeting to discuss the book situation. The meeting which is. slated for this coming Tues- day at 7:30 p.m. in Central Huron Secondary School in Clinton is being organized by Bill Johnston and Colin Lowndes, two teachers at South Huron District High School in Exeter. Expected to be in attendance at the meeting are several members of the writer's guild of Canada in- cluding June Callwood and Alice Munro. In an article on the CBC national news aired Friday evening, Ms. Callwood said "They're (the people calling for the book banning) saying the writer is someone who is a pornographer or is obscene and that's defam- mation of character which is going to have to stop." The report said the Guild was ready to sue anyone who labelled them as por- nographers. A fundamentalist religious organization known as Renaissance Canada was said to be spear -heading a nation wide campaign aimed at the removal of certain books from the school system. In some New Brunswick schools, books have already been removed the report said. Charge three over breakins As a result of investiga- tion by Exeter OPP into the recent series of breakins at Cedar Bank and Poplar Beach subdivisions in Hay Township, three Wallaceburg men have been charged. Patrick Calvin Deschamps, 19, RR 5 Wallaceburg, faces seven counts of break, enter and theft, while William Sterl- ing, 19, and Andrew Taylor, 25, both of Wallaceburg, face three charges each. The three have been released on bail and will be appearing in court later this month. None of the stolen property has been recovered to date. y Whitson, Sarnia, went out of control on the same day on Highway 84, west of Hensall. The driver and a passenger, Mona Dedobbileer, Tupper- ville, sustained minor in- juries. Damage was set at $1,500 by Constable Wally Tomasik. In the first of two Satur- day crashes, a vehicle driven by Donald Minzen, Grand Bend, was forced off the road by an unknown vehicle and struck a sign on the Crediton Road, east of concession 18-19 of Stephen. Damage was estimated at $825 by Constable Tomasik. The other crash involved a vehicle operated by Hugh Stride, Kitchener, which skidded onto the shoulder of Highway 83 west of the Huron -Perth line and struck a culvert. Minor injuries were sustained by the driver and a passenger, - Vicki Parks, Kitchener. Constable Jim Rogers investigated and set damage at $800. During the week, the local detachment officers laid 11 charges under the Highway Traffic Act, seven under the Liquor Licence Act and 13 under the Criminal Code. FRIENDLY SKATERS — One of the more popular pastimes for Zurich and area youngsters is a night of roller skating at the Zurich arena. These two skaters are obviously enthusiastic about the night's activities. Staff photo