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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Times Advocate, 2007-11-21, Page 66 Times -Advocate Wednesday, November 21, 2007 Opinion Forum News Thieves will be caught Marion Kerslake, we are so sorry to hear about someone stealing one of your pre- cious possessions. We too have had items stolen (precious stepping stones, gnomes, frogs, little critters, etc.) Things that have been given to us by dear friends, some are no longer with us. One of our friends had their lighted palm tree stolen while they were away. The cowards waited till they were gone and stole it. It was from a dear friend that has since passed on. (Did you smile into their four cameras, two inside looking out and two outside?) They are hoping you will return it. We older people move to town after working in salt mines, Ford plants, hard farming, etc. to enjoy what life we have left. I'm curious, what do you tell your family, friends etc. when they ask where you get these things? "Oh, I stole them, I'm too lazy to work and I had to have them." I guess you lay on your lounge with a drink in one hand, pot in the other under my friend's palm tree dreaming of warmer places. You wouldn't put it outside like our friends or the police would catch you. Some of you will be caught sooner or later. Some of you sooner than you think. What goes around comes around. The church will receive gifts from Dec. 10-14 from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thanks to our local businesses, drop off boxes are now in place and will receive gifts until Dec. 14. Drop box locations are: Crediton - Jordy's Gas Bar; Dashwood - Allen's Restaurant; Exeter - Bank of Montreal, Canadian Tire, Hansen's Independent, Heartland Credit Union, Maclean's Home Hardware, McDonald's, Purple Turtle, Royal Bank and Saans; Grand Bend - Home Hardware; Hensall - Bank of Montreal. Suggested items for donation are new clothing - pajamas, underwear (especially boxers), hats, socks, mitts, sweatshirts, jeans; personal care items - shampoo, soap, deodorant, toothpaste, tooth- brushes; paper products - diapers, toilet paper, paper towels, facial tissue; non-perishable food such as baking products, cereals, canned meats (salmon, tuna, ham, chicken), baby food, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, puddings, canned fruit, soup, crackers, canned beans; toys - games and books. The bureau is especially in need of items for teens up to age 16. Financial donations will also be welcomed (tax receipts given) and used for the purchase of food certificates and clothing from local businesses. To date, there are two events supporting the Christmas Bureau. On Nov. 24, the Exeter Lioness Club will receive donations on their float during the Christmas parade and the Exeter Hawks will have their annual Teddy bear/PJ toss and food collection at their game Nov. 30. If you know of any families who would benefit please call the Goderich Bureau at 1-800-265-5198. All calls are confidential. Individual appointments are made for pickups. If you would like to join the team of volunteers in this worthwhile cause call Debra Johnston at 235-0741 or Ruth Mercer -Ross at 235-0342. For more information contact the Exeter United Church at 235-0860 or email ucexeter@quadro.net Your help and support is very much appreciated. Letters to the -Editor MAXINE AUGER Join the team of volunteers Thanks to the Christmas Bureau and its many volunteers and generous contribu- tors, 128 local families had a brighter Christmas last year and 289 children from infants to 16 years of age benefitted from our community's thoughtfulness. The Bureau started in 1967 with the Children's Aid Society and our churches throughout Huron County working together for a great cause. Did you know that this bureau is the only one of its kind? This year Exeter United Church at 42 James St. in Exeter is the South Huron host. DENNIS HOCKEY, Publicity Come out and enjoy the Exeter Santa Claus parade SOUTH HURON — Saturday is the Santa Claus parade in Exeter. Parade time is 11 a.m. and the Main Street will come alive with the best parade around. The parade is sponsored by the Exeter Lions Club and the Exeter Business Association and will kick off the Christmas season in South Huron. Last year, being in the parade was the first thing I did as your mayor elect. n't even sworn hi yet. Before the parade started, I walked down the line of the parade to see who was participating. To my amazement there were floats from all over South Huron participating in the parade. It was truly a South Huron event. It was a warm, sunny day and the crowds of people lining the parade route surely numbered two or three times the population of Exeter. Again, to see the support made me proud to be mayor of such a municipality. Some said it was the biggest parade Exeter has ever seen and it was probably the weath- er that brought out the floats. People who build floats and plan to be in a parade will show up regardless of the weather. Weather might affect the spectators, but it would have been a crying shame to miss that parade last year. Ken Oke Someone made a comment that we should be trying a night parade like some of our neighbours. Night parades do limit what you can do and why change to keep up with the neighbors when you already have the envy of the neighboring I was - municipalities? People of South Huron, please participate this year to make this parade an even better event than it was last year. This is our municipality, so let's show our pride by making this the largest Santa Claus parade ever. What is in it for these two organizations that plan this parade? To start, the Exeter Lions Club has a reputation of just giving to the area. Look around Exeter and see what the Lions Club has touched. It's just people with a Christmas spirit agenda all year long. What about the Exeter Business Association? There is no admission, there is nothing to buy. You can come out and enjoy the parade and leave without spending any money. Maybe it is their way of saying thanks for the support you have given them for the year and this is their Christmas pre- sent to you given in the spirit of the season. While you are in town to see the parade, I challenge you to walk the streets and see what Exeter has to offer. Your generous Christmas spirit towards these businesses in Exeter will guarantee this fine tradition of the Exeter Santa Claus parade for the citizens of South Huron in the future. To make the Municipality of South Huron strong means helping and sup- porting the people in our community. Principal's message EXETER — Last Friday students received their Semester One Mid -Term Reports and were asked to complete the Response Form that accompanies them. This form needs to be signed by a parent and returned to the students' Day One, Period One teacher. We would like to have these forms returned to us by Nov. 30 so we can file them in the students' Ontario Student Records file (OSR). Students who were absent on Friday should see their Day One Period One teacher to get their report cards. Students who have a spare in first period can get their reports in the office if they were absent on Friday, and they should return their completed Response Forms to the office as well. We received a little reminder from Mother Nature last Friday as well, letting us know that winter is not far away and that it is time to start getting ready. So, I thought that perhaps this week I should review our inclement weather policies and procedures. The decision to cancel buses and close schools is made after consultation among bus contractors, the roads crews and school administrators. We try to do this as early as possible so we can announce the cancellations in a timely manner. Normally we try to have a decision by 6:30 a.m. so that the announcements can be on the radio by 7 a.m. However, it is not always possible to do this. Snowsqualls are unpredictable and sometimes we have relative calm up until 7 a.m. and then squalls set in, causing us to make the decision far later than we would like. Our normal procedure when we cancel the buses is to close the elemen- tary schools and keep the high school open for study purposes only for students and staff who can safely get there. This means the building is open, but there will not be any classes, since the majority of our students are bus students and the majority of our staff live outside of the Exeter area. This is true for the elementary schools as well, and we do not want students or staff taking unnecessary risks trying to get to school in bad weather. My rule of thumb with South Huron is that the school stays open unless the high- ways are closed or we lose power or water. Students can come in to pick up books or homework and to get help from any teachers who have made it in, but since most of our staff live out of town, there will be relatively few staff in the building on snow days. Bus cancellations and school closures are announced in several ways. The notices are e-mailed to radio and television stations (provided we don't lose our electricity), but the best source of information is our school or board website. Assuming that parents or students have Internet access, the information can be found at one of the following websites: www.shdhs.ca, www.yourschools.ca, and www.ourschoolbuses.ca/delaysandcancellations.htm. All three of these websites should have the same information about which buses are cancelled and which schools are closed. As I mentioned earlier, most of the radio and TV stations in the area will get the cancellation information as well, but we recommend that students, parents and staff listen to either AM 980 in London or FM 102 in Wingham. In the event that we have to change or update the information, or in the event of a power outage that prevents us from e -mailing the information, these are the two stations we will call. I would like to caution students and parents about one source of information that was rather confusing last year. The A Channel announced bus and school cancel- lations by running a notice across the bottom of the TV screen. However, the announcement was rather general and their intent was for viewers to go to the A Channel website for more specific information. For example, if buses were can- celled or schools were closed anywhere in the Board, the announcement sometimes read "Avon Maitland District School Board: buses cancelled and schools closed." They expected viewers to then go to their website or listen to their news telecasts to find out which buses were cancelled and which schools were closed. This created considerable confusion at times for some of our students and parents when schools in our area were open but other AMDSB schools were not. Hopefully that won't happen this year. Finally, I would like to remind students and parents of the AMDSB policy when bad weather arises after students have arrived at school. We do not generally send students home before the usual dismissal time. First of all, if the weather is bad and road conditions have deteriorated, the last place we want students is out on the road. We will instead keep them at school where it is safe and warm until the weather conditions improve and it is safe to send out the buses. Secondly, the local road crews know when our buses will be on the road, and they try to make sure the roads have been cleared. If we send the buses out early, the roads may not have been plowed. Lastly, we need to ensure that someone is at home, particularly for younger students, and we do not want to risk sending them to a home where the doors may be locked and no one home. In a worst-case scenario, we would keep students at the school or find billets in town, rather than risk sending them out in horrible weather. If you have questions or concerns about these procedures, please contact me or your elementary school principal. JEFF REABURN PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE