HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Times Advocate, 2008-01-09, Page 66
Times–Advocate
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Opinion Forum News
Christmas Bureau says "thanks"
We would like to extend a big thank you to southern Huron County for the over-
whelming generosity to the Huron County Christmas Bureau. Thank you to the staff
and congregation of Exeter United Church for graciously hosting and dealing with
the extra work and challenges involved. Thank you to all the churches, schools,
businesses, organizations and individuals that responded with open hearts
and wallets. Thank you to the amazing volunteers from Exeter and the sur-
rounding communities who generously donated their time and talents.
It all started in November, when our volunteers began delivering
brochures, placemats, hanging posters and arranging donation sites. Our
publicity co-ordinator arranged publicity as needed. Next was the setting
up of tables for donations and clothing racks. The amazing two weeks
involved a large dedicated and tireless group of volunteers. We had helpers
sorting clothing, toys and food donations. We had drivers who picked up
donations from surrounding communities; shoppers who made sure each child
received a toy and clothing in their size; hard working individuals who carried
countless boxes filled with food and gifts; kitchen helpers who ensured the volun-
teers had morning and afternoon coffee/tea and snacks; helpers who filled
Christmas stockings for each child; and fmally helpers who were there to clean
everything up when we were through. A special thank you to Deb Campbell, for
devoting two weeks of her time to co-ordinate the sorting and boxing up of the food
donations. To all of you, we give our heartfelt thanks and grati-
tude. You should all be proud of a job well done.
We are happy to say we were able to
make Christmas extra special for 126 fami-
lies and 273 children and spread the
Christmas spirit throughout our commu-
nity. When we saw the smiles and tears
of joy on the parents' faces it showed us
that Christmas is about giving to others.
Thank you to everyone for their generous
donation of time and talents to make the
Christmas Bureau in South Huron an
overwhelming success.
DEBRA JOHNSTON AND RUTH MERCER -ROSS,
Co -Managers
i
Letters
to the
Ecol for
Update from SH mayor
SOUTH HURON — I had the
opportunity to hear a speech by
the economic development officer
for the City of Woodstock. I
thought it would be interesting to
know what it takes to land a big
auto plant.
According to him, it is the
choice of the company to
locate in your municipality.
They find you, you do not
find them. Once they decide
to look at your municipality,
you must move fast to
accommodate them to fit
their needs. Transportation
is the most important and
utilities follow. Ken Oke
That being said, "shovel
ready" land is necessary.
South Huron has pluses and
minuses when it comes to trans-
portation. We should be set with
regards to utilities. We have
"shovel ready" land in both
Exeter and Huron Industrial Park
areas. As of the last meeting of
the year in 2007, South Huron
will have more available land in
the Exeter area.
We had a public meeting for an
Official Plan amendment and
rezoning for the expansion of the
urban settlement area boundary
of the Exeter Ward. The land is
in the Usborne ward and is the
parcel of land behind Shoppers
Drug Mart through to Canadian
Tire. The area consists of 43.5
acres and is zoned agriculture
and will now be rezoned 12 acres
to Highway Commercial and 31.5
acres to General Industrial. It is a
logical solution for the economic
expansion in South Huron. Easy
to do? You judge.
The province has a book of
rules called the "Provincial Policy
Statement."
Any expansion must fit the rules
of this policy statement. In my
opinion, the statement is to curb
rapid growth near the cities and
tends to be slightly
unfair with small rural
municipalities having a
problem with any type
of growth. Needless to
say it has its place and
the positives outweigh
the negatives.
All municipalities
must have an Official
Plan that outlines zon-
ing and growth areas.
These Official Plans are
subject to provincial laws. For an
expansion such as this, the
landowner must complete a
Comprehensive Growth Review
(CGR). The CGR is a report that
clearly states that the proposal
meets the criteria of the
"Provincial Policy Statement" in
every detail. Once this is accom-
plished, the municipality gives its
blessing and applies to the county
for approval for an Official Plan
amendment.
After municipal, county and
provincial approval, the land is
ready for the municipality to
rezone it to the proper zoning as
approved. Hence we will have
more "shovel ready" land.
Our next step will be to adver-
tise the land we have available
through our website and possibly
the government website. It will
be interesting to see what the
results will be.
Lucan Motor Vehicle Licence Office closes
By Nina Van Lieshout
TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF
LUCAN — The Motor Vehicle Licence Office
and Photo Site has closed in Lucan.
Owner Donna Shipley is retiring after almost
25 years.
Lucan Biddulph council is focusing on
reopening the service, which at council
Monday night was described as useful for the
community.
"This is a service the municipality enjoys,"
says clerk administrator Ron Reymer, adding,
"We don't want to lose that service."
Council is sending a letter to the Ministry of
Ontario Government Service, which in turn
completes a review to determine if Lucan
should continue this service.
Lucan Biddulph Mayor Tom McLaughlin says
the licence office, in addition to being benefi-
cial to the community, also attracts other peo-
ple to the area.
"It is really important that we maintain this
service. It is good for the community and good
for the travellers," says McLaughlin.
Other news from Monday's council:
Granton hydro outage
About 840 households were affected during
a hydro outage in Granton and area Dec. 31,
beginning around 1:30 p.m. The hydro outage,
caused by a motor vehicle collision on Clarke
Side Road, lasted about eight hours with the
hydro coming on again shortly after 9 p.m.
Ward 3 Coun. Alex Westman says although
the hydro was off for several hours, since it
was a mild day for winter, residents he visited
seemed to be dealing well.
"I went around town checking on some
seniors and people with small children," says
Westman, explaining everyone was handling
the situation.
In with the new year — From left, Blue Water Rest Home residents Elaine Prouse, Sandra
Thorogood, Helen Geiger and Jo Darragh rang in the new year Dec. 31 with a lunch and bal-
loons dropping at noon. (photo/submitted)
Principal's message
EXETER — The arrival of the new year on the calendar means we are
closing in on the end of the first semester, and that means fmal exams are
not far off.
In fact, exams start in less than three weeks, running from Fri., Jan. 25,
to Wed., Jan. 30, followed by a PA Day Jan. 31, and the start of the new
semester Feb. 1. The exam schedule has been created and can be found
by scrolling to the bottom of our school webpage: www.shdhs.ca. Copies
of the exam schedule will be posted in the school this week.
Students and parents are asked to check the exam schedule and to re-
schedule any medical or dental appointments that may conflict with stu-
dents' exams. Students are reminded they will receive a zero for any
exams they miss without a legitimate cause. In the event of illness during
exams, students may be required to provide a doctor's note to confirm
the illness, and in such situations parents are asked to contact the school
as soon as possible.
Students are also reminded that during the exam period they are required to
attend only when they have an exam to write. If they have an afternoon exam, but
no exam in the morning for example, they are not required to be at school in the
morning. If they choose to be at school at a time when they have no exam, then
they must stay out of the areas where exams are being written — the large gym
and some classrooms on the second floor. The library will be open during exams
for quiet study purposes only.
Should there be a snow day during the exam period, the exam schedule will be
pushed back: for example, if there is a snow day on the first day of exams, those
exams would be written the next day and the schedule would be pushed back by
a day. We encourage students to plan ahead and make sure they have at home
any study materials they may need to prepare for exams, just in case we
have bad weather at any time in the next three weeks. Students should by
now be preparing for exams to avoid having to cram at the last minute.
A small number of students will fmd that they have exam conflicts — two
exams scheduled for the same time slot. These students should speak to
our vice-principal, Mrs. Goetz, to fmd out how the conflicts will be man-
aged. Similarly, students who are entitled to exam accommodations should
speak to their classroom teachers to ensure they know where and when
they will be writing their exams.
In addition to final exams, students in most classes will also be working
on other kinds of final assessments over the next three weeks. These will
include final projects, tests, essays and presentations, and in a few cases,
some in -class exams. It is important that students manage their time wise-
ly to ensure they get all their work done to the best of their ability and still
leave themselves time to study for final exams. This is particularly important for
students who also have part-time jobs or are involved in activities outside of
school, like hockey for example.
As an added bonus, students taking Grade 9 Academic Math this semester also
have the EQAO test to do in the next couple of weeks. This is a provincewide test,
part of which is used as a portion of the final assessment mark for the course.
In short, this is a busy time of year for students and teachers as we work hard to
finish off the first semester and get ready for the second. Hopefully, Mother
Nature will co-operate by not throwing any snow days into the mix.
JEFF
REABU
PRINCIPA
MESSAGE
RN
L'S