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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Times Advocate, 2008-02-20, Page 1MES ADVOCATE Exeter, Ontario, Canada Wednesday, February 20, 2008 $ 1.25 (includes GST) HURON TRACTOR EXETER 519-235-1115 0 www.hurontractor.com JOHN DEERE WHAT'S INSIDE Exeter skaters Members of Exeter Skating Club enjoy success PAGE 18 Spring safety ABCA takes message of safety to local schools PAGE 26 INDEX Editorial 4 Sports 17 Announcements I9 Classifieds 2I TIMES ADVOCATE 424 MAIN ST. Box 850 EXETER, ONTARIO NOM 156 TEL: 519-235-1331 FAX: 519-235-0766 WWW.SOUTHHURON.COM Schools face changes By Stew Slater SPECIAL TO THE TIMES -ADVOCATE MIDDLESEX — Supporters of Prince Andrew Public School near Bryanston are fighting to either save their school or — at the very least — prevent the school's stu- dent body from being split in two by poten- tial accommodation changes at the Thames Valley District School Board. The communities around Biddulph Central, Plover Mills and Leesboro schools, meanwhile, face the prospect of losing their schools in favour of larger new facili- ties in Lucan and Thorndale. It's all part of the London-based board's facilities review process — ongoing since April 2007 — that has 10 separate Accommodation Review Committees (ARCs) hosting public meetings across the counties of Middlesex, Oxford and Elgin and the City of London. The final scheduled meeting for the Middlesex Study Area 2 ARC, which comprises the five schools in the Lucan/Thorndale area, takes place Feb. 25 at Plover Mills School near Belton. The previous meeting, held Jan. 14 at Leesboro (between Thorndale and Thamesford), was attended by over 60 members of the public. But a good propor- tion of those observers were from the Prince Andrew community, and Granton resident Melanie Dodds suggests that's because the Bryanston school "has the most to lose" from the proposed changes. "It's the division of our community, and See MIDDLESEX page 2 DVD depicts local history By Nina Van Lieshout TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF HURON — "Stars of the Town," a collec- tion of 85 black and white films depicting day-to-day life in small towns across Southwestern Ontario, features Exeter, Hensall, Lucan and Zurich. The films captured by the late Rev. Leroy Massecar, who died about 20 years ago, showcase everyday life from 1947-1949. The University of Western Ontario (UWO) converted the films to DVD format after See LOCAL page 2 EXETER HAWKS vs MT. BRYDGES FRI., FEB. 22 8:30 P.M. SH REC CENTRE SAT., FEB. 23 8:30 P.M. SH REC CENTRE COME AND CHEER ON YOUR LOCAL TEAM! Innovative Communication Services www. hay. n et "Ss Internet Service Security Systems Long Distance 1-12 Packages Luuanruirivatiur� 519-23£-4333 Winter fun —The annual Stephen Central School winter carnival last Friday enjoyed per- fect winter weather, as the students had fun participating in a variety of activities.Above left are Michaela Schwartzentruber,TloraAllsopp, Kirsten Schellenberger and Derriane Riley. See page 12 for more photos. (photo/Scott Nixon) T -A's Beckett retires after 33 years By Scott Nixon TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF EXETER — After nearly 33 years and approximately 1,800 issues of the Times - Advocate, publisher Jim Beckett has retired. Beckett, who started at the T -A in November 1975, announced to staff a couple of weeks ago he was retiring. Sixty years old and in the newspaper business for 41 years, Beckett said he had been thinking of retiring for a while and, when parent company Metroland Media Group gave him the oppor- tunity, "I took it." In 1975, new owner Lorne Eedy hired Beckett to come to Exeter to manage the T -A — three key staffers, Ross Haugh, Bill Batten and Ted Rowcliffe had left to start a rival paper, the Exeter Independent News. "It was a battle for advertising revenue with two papers in a small community," Beckett says. The Independent News lasted for several months until the T -A bought it out and Haugh and Batten returned to the T -A, while Rowcliffe went to the St. Marys Journal Argus, owned by Eedy's father at the time. Eedy would eventually own the Journal Argus as well as several other weeklies. When Beckett first took over the T -A, he had three rookie reporters working for him straight out of journalism school, competing against the veterans at the Independent Jim Beckett News. Beckett says one day there were events in Lucan, Hensall and Zurich and, while it took all three T -A reporters to cover those events, Haugh, work- ing for the Independent News, covered them all himself. "That showed what we were up against," Beckett says. Beckett, who had previ- ously worked at the Chatham Daily News, Orangeville Banner and Brampton Daily Times, told his wife, Barb, that they would be in Exeter for no more than five years — thir- ty-three years later, and after raising their sons Derek and Ryan here, the Becketts are still here with no plans to move. "It's a great community to raise kids," Beckett says. He says the thing he enjoyed most about his job over the years is that every week is dif- ferent. "It's constant change," Beckett says, adding there isn't anything he didn't enjoy about the job. He says one of the T -A's biggest accom- plishments took place in the 1990s when South Huron Hospital was under threat of closure. While the decision was eventually See PUBLISHER page 2 TODAY IS A GOOD DAY TO START BUILDING FOR TOMORROW Retirement awaits. Plan for it. Know your options. George Godbolt CFP CLU Paul Ciufo CFP Godbolt, Ciufo Insurance & Financial Services Inc. 519-235-2740 © Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada, 2008. Fred Godbolt BASc I► Sun Life Financial