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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Times Advocate, 2004-05-19, Page 66 Exeter Times -Advocate Wednesday,May 19, 2004 Opinion Forum News Seniors' perspective Continued from page 5 1st and arrived in Liverpool England on Nov. 12th 1916. Private Laing was transferred to the 24th Battalion, which was with the Canadian Infantry (Quebec Regiment) before going into action in the front lines.He was in the battle at Charleroi, Belgium, when a casualty list was reported in the Exeter Paper that he had been wounded in action, dated October 3, 1918. Daniel was hospitalized with his wounds in Charleroi. He passed away on December 20th 1918 at the age of 19. The cause of death was from wounds and finally turning into pneumonia. He was buried in the Charleroi Cemetery at Charleroi, Hainaut Belgium, which is located between Mons and Namur. He was the son of Thomas and Annie Laing, Exeter Ontario. Before moving to Exeter, his family lived in Hay Township, whose boundaries start at the north-west edge of Exeter. Next week: Elmer Leroy Hunkin PEANUTS A preacher visits an elderly woman from his congrega- tion. As he sits on the couch, he notices a large bowl of peanuts on the coffee table. "Mind if I have a few?" he asks. "Not at all!" the woman replies. They chat for an hour and as the preacher stands to leave, he realizes that instead of eating just a few peanuts, he has emptied most of the bowl. "I'm totally sorry for eating all your peanuts, I really meant to eat a few." "Oh that's all right" the woman says. "Ever since I lost my teeth, all I can do is suck the chocolate off them." Centralia volunteer firefighter aids worker Dear Edi or: Yesterday while I was at work something hap- pened that I would like to bring to your attention and your readers. We often don't realize how important we are to others around us until some- thing goes wrong. I work for Keller Roofmg, and while on a job site in the Toronto area I witnessed something rather impressive. In a simple act, following his training as a fireman for the Centralia Volunteer Fire Department and his training in First Aid from Keller Roofmg, Ralph Wells went to the aid of a worker from another company. Ralph, while working, was called by another worker unable to help his own co-worker that had fallen due to a diabetic reaction. Ralph rushed to his aid and took control of the situation. He found the worker down and bleeding from a head wound. Ralph recognized the signs of a diabetic reaction and calling to another worker from Keller Roofmg, sent him for an orange to raise the injured worker's blood sugar level. He sent the downed worker's partner to call for emergency help while Ralph and a co-worker stayed and aided the injured man to a cooler place out of harm's way until paramedics arrived and took con- trol. When police and paramedics arrived Ralph went back to work as if it had all been part of the day-to- day routine. I wonder if being a firefighter is the reason it seemed like that. It was still and all a job very well done. It was impressive to see Ralph take control and handle a situation that could have easily turned serious and keep it under control. I am pleased to say I work for the same company that Ralph Wells does. More so I am glad we have people like this, volunteer firefighters, in our home towns and com- munities. MIKE BLOIS, Sheet Metal Safety Rep, Keller Roofmg Government continually modernizing agricultural sector Dear Editor: Farmers today do much more than simply produce food. They also help to preserve the environment, pro- tect our natural resources and create jobs in rural communities. In short, farmers are the backbone of the Canadian economy; the engine that drives both rural Canada and the nation as a whole. It is not an over- statement to suggest that agriculture is a business like any other business. They need predictability and finan- cial support to prosper and, when agriculture prospers all parts of rural Canada will share in that success. That is why the Government of Canada is taking action to continually modernize our agricultural sector, to build a future for our rural communities and to protect consumers. The new Advancing Canadian Agriculture and Agri - Food (ACAAF) Program was announced on April 7, 2004. With a budget of $255 million over five years -or $51 million annually -it will enable Canada's agricul- ture and agri-food sector to seize new opportunities. The ACAAF is the successor to the Canadian Agriculture and Rural Development (CARD) Fund. The new federal funding program will continue to support the goals of the Agricultural Policy Framework but with a broader and more forward-looking mandate. It will, for example, have the flexibility to allocate funds where the need is greatest and deliver initiatives not only at the national level, but also at the multi-regional and regional levels. Players within the sector will remain responsible for formulating and implementing the various projects. In addition to the above, the ACAAF also looks at the long term and is being funded accordingly. The new program will contribute proactively to mapping out strategic directions for the sector. It will also expand the sector's capacity to identify and respond to current and emerging issues, and there will be an emphasis on forging new strategic alliances within the sector. The ACAAF will also establish "collective outcomes" as a key objective of the new program. Collective outcome projects are aimed at areas in which greater industry collaboration will be encouraged to maximize benefits to the sector. By undertaking collective outcome pro- jects, the 14 industry -led provincial and territorial councils will have the opportunity to further increase available funding. The $25 million in funding available under CARD will increase to $27.3 million under ACAAF, and could go as high as $31.7 million annually when the collective outcomes are factored in. ACAAF is based on a three -pillar approach that will allow it to remain in step with changing conditions in the agricul- ture sector; industry -led solutions to merging issues; capturing market opportunities by advancing research Panther Profile EXETER — This past weekend was the Formal. It was a great night of dancing in the tropical par- adise created by the Formal Committee. Thanks to Sarah Parker and her committee for working so hard to make the night a memorable one for everyone who attended! Also, thanks to Mr. Convay for providing the music, Mr. MacLeod and members of OSAID for providing drinks, and all the staff who helped out during the night. Congratulations to Jessica Bray and Curtis Pfaff for achieving the titles of female and male student of the year! Today, at lunch, medical students from the University of Western Ontario will have a display set up in the main foyer about the medical pro- gram at Western. The med students will be happy to answer any questions. This Saturday is Jennie Rowe's 75th birthday. She has run the school's cafeteria for 39 years. Thanks for all your hard work and everything you have done for the students! Next Tuesday, members of the Senior Band will depart for Montreal to attend Musicfest Nationals. The band plays early Wednesday morning and has a variety of activities planned for the rest of the week. Good luck! Coming events May 19 — Rugby tournament at Stratford Northwestern — Track & Field WOSSA in London — Grad meeting at 10:20 a.m. — Medix school display at lunch — Boys' soccer May 20 — Track & Field WOSSA in London — Girls' soccer — Peer tutor meeting at lunch May 21 — Girls' rugby Huron -Perth in Wingham — Student Council election assembly and voting May 22 — Happy Birthday Jennie Rowe! May 25 — Boys' rugby Huron -Perth at Stratford Northwestern — Senior Band leaves for Musicfest Nationals in Montreal May 26 — CLN Trip to Storybook Gardens May 28/29 — Relay for Life ASHLEY ERB results; and sharing information to advance the sector. Applications are now being accepted for national project proposals and must be submitted by May 31, 2004. For further details, go to www.agr.gc.ca/acaaf. PAUL STECKLE, M.P. Huron -Bruce Principal's message EXETER — You may recall we had planned to have Professor Michael Katchabaw from UWO attend the community forum we held last month. Professor Katchabaw is in the Computer Studies Department at Western and is an expert on the effects of computer and video games. He had planned to give a presentation on the addictiveness and violence of these games, but unfortunately, he was ill and unable to attend. Several of the audience members at the forum indicated they had come in particular to hear Professor Katchabaw and were disappointed he was unable to make it. As a result of their comments, we have invited Professor Katchabaw to visit us this month, and he has agreed to be here May 31. We will hold his pre- sentation in the school library at 7 p.m., and while the focus will be on computer games, I am sure he will also discuss other computer concerns that par- ents may have, such as inappropriate Internet sites, chat rooms, e-mail, and MSN. As I have pointed out previously, the computer has taken over from the television as the item that occupies the greatest chunk of time in the lives of young people. So, if you are concerned about the amount of time they are spending or the nature of the activities your kids are engag- ing in at the computer, this should be an informative session for you to attend. As I mentioned last week, SHDHS and the School Council are conduct- ing a series of surveys to get some feedback on how well we are doing. A large number of students will be bringing home this week a survey for parents to complete. We would appreciate it if parents would com- plete this survey and return it to us as soon as possi- ble. So, you might want to ask your kids if they received such a survey. However, the survey is also available online on our school Web site: www.amdsb.ca/SHDHS/current/. When you visit the site, you will actually see two surveys, one from the board and one from the school. We would appreci- ate it if you would do both of these surveys, and if you would like to, you may fill out one for each child you have attending South Huron. The survey will only be available on our Web site for a couple of weeks, but we really would like your feedback as parents. We will also be completing surveys this week with the staff and students, and a survey for community members is being sent out with the bag of flyers that residents of Huron County receive each weekend. These surveys may be dropped off at several loca- tions listed at the bottom of the survey. All these sur- veys are intended to give us feedback on how we are doing as a school to help us identify our strengths and, more importantly, the areas where we need to improve. You have probably noticed we are making more and more information items available on our school Web site. For example, the final exam schedule is now posted there so parents and students can check the dates and times for exams whenever they wish. We are hoping parents and students will get into the habit of visiting the site on a regular basis. We have added links for the School Council and for the vari- ous community service agencies available for par- ents and students. The Web site will also be used to provide important information from our Guidance Department, and, of course, if you forget to read one of my columns, you will find it archived online. So please visit our site often to keep informed of what's happening at South Huron. Finally, I would like to congratulate all the stu- dents who were nominated for Student -of -the -Year, any of whom would have been a deserving recipient. Special congratulations go to the winners, Jessica Bray and Curtis Pfaff. A huge thank you should go out to Sarah Parker and her formal committee who did an excellent job planning and organizing this year's formal. The gym was decorated wonderfully and the whole evening ran flawlessly Thank you to all of you for your hard work in making this year's formal such a great success. JEFF REABURN PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE