HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1988-06-01, Page 1Dublin - A7
Sports - A8, A9
Obituaries - All
Births - A11
Graduations - All
Weddings - All
Walton - A13
Hensall - A18, A19
Serving the communities
and areas of Seaforth,
Brussels, Dublin, Hensall
and Walton
WHO'S WALKING WHO Gresham Bayley tries to keep his Great Dane "Dancer"
from running all over the place at the Hensel) Community Yard Sale on Saturday. Cor-
bett photo.
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CSSB sets asi
BY LOURDES RICHARD
A budget with ample funds for building
projects was passed Monday at a special
meeting of the Huron -Perth Roman Catholic
Separate School Board.
The board will be spending $17.6 million in
1988; about $13.9 million for elementary
education and $3.7 million for secondary
schools, according to Ron Murray, chair-
man of the board's finance committee.
The total amount budgeted has increased
approximately $4 million over last year; a
33 per cent increase. But, as superintendent
of finance Jack Lane pointed out, the figure
is severely inflated due to a $2.5 million
capital projects works which is being 85 per
cent government. Mr. Lane added that
without the capital projects figure, the in-
crease would be closer to 13 per cent.
The building projects in the budget in-
clude $400,000 for portable classrooms and
$100,000 for fire marshal requirements
throughout the system.
Reassessment in Huron County to 1984
market values had delayed the completion
and adoption of the 1988 budget.
" It's been a difficult time for budgeting
because of of the Huron County reassess-
ment. We would have normally had the
budget adopted six weeks ago," Mr. Lane
attested.
Huron County has been the first in this
area to set a common mill rate for the coun-
ty. Instead of equalization assessment fac-
tors and separate mill rates, the county now
has one mill rate for secondary school sup-
porters and one for elementary, Mr. Lane
said.
Although Huron County was delayed the
board was required to set its mill rates in
Perth County to assist ,the municipalities
there in establishing their budgets.
Perth Countyelem enta separate school
pay per cent in-
crreeasserton the mW rate. It*secandary school
supporters will pay five per cent more on
the mill rate.
As an example, a taxpayer in the City of
Stratford with an assessment of $3,500 will
French exchange benefits all participants
classes at SPS, teaching english students
new French songs and games, and seeing
how English schools are run. Later on
Wednesday the Grade 7 class and their
French twins were at the arena for
rollerskating.
Thursday a small tour of Huron County
was conducted. Students saw the Hulled
Conservation area, the Clinton School on
Wheels, the Goderich Gaol, and Benmiller.
Later Thursday, the students from
Chicoutimi were received at Town Hall by
Mayor Alf Ross and Mainstreet Coordinator
Tom Lemon, and formally welcomed to
Seaforth. They were each given a souvenir
town flag and Seaforth pins. Later Thursday
evening a dance for the Chicoutimi students
and their Seaforth twins was held at SPS.
Goodbyes were said early on Friday mor-
ning as the bus set out once again for
Chicoutimi. But the goodbyes were only
temporary as Seaforth students will soon be
with their twins again, this tirne in Quebec.
Julie Holmes, French teacher at SPS, has
organized these exchanges for the past
three years.
Mrs. Holmes got in touch with the Society
for Educational Visits and Exchanges in
Canada (SEVEC), and they referred her to
Cecile Legendre and Julien Tremblay of
Ecole Laure-Conan in Chicoutimi, Quebec.
It's one thing to tell students in school that
Canada is a nation of two languages and two
cultures, but it's another thing to show them
this by having them live with someone from
that other culture, who speaks that other
language.
That's exactly what Grade 7 students at
Seaforth Public School have been doing, as
students from Chicoutimi, Quebec were in
Seaforth as part of a student exchange
recently. Each of the 25 students from
Chicoutimi was matched with a "twin"
from Seaforth Public School, who they lived
with during their stay in Ontario.
The students arrived by bus on Friday,
May 20, and stayed for one week. During
that week they went on field trips, par-
ticipated in sports activities, visited classes
during the day, and returned home with
their twin in the evening.
The first day was a slow one for the
students from Chicoutimi, and after their
long trip they spent most of it getting to
know their twin and their twin's family, On
Monday there were sports activities
organized for the exchange students, their
twins, and the twins' families.
On Tuesday the students saw Toronto and
made stops at the Science Centre and the CN
Tower. On Wednesday the focus was on
school, with the French students visiting
e ample funds
pay $608 in educational taxes for both
elementary and secondary schools in 1988,
an increase of $38 over that paid last year.
Due to a change in the equalization factors
introduced by the Ministry of Education, the
rate of increase varies dramatically from
one municipality to another from a low of 1.6
per cent to a high of about 20 per cent.
Huron County, on the other hand, with the
uniform mill rate will have substantial
reductions to the amount otherwise required
from certain municipalities and .quite
substantial increases from others. The
overall assessment revised to market value
across the county is 20 times greater than it
was under the old system. A taxpayer with
an assessment of $65,000 will pay -$608 in
educational taxes for both elementary and
secondary schools in 1988. Since this amount
is subject to some provincial subsidy direct-
ly to the municipality, it is possible to in-
dicate the extent of the education tax in-
crease over that paid in 1987.
Other contributing factors to the in-
creases in this year's budget are due to the
extension of Catholic education to Grade 11
and French Immersion to Grade 5. Enrol-
ment will increase this September by about
160 students. There will be an increase in
teaching staff of 10 teachers at the elemen-
tary level and eight at secondary.
The major cost for the board this year is
$9,048,100 for salaries and benefits, an in-
crease of $1,299,300 over last year. Other
major expenses include $1,147,500 for plant
operation and maintenance; $2,582,000 for
capital additions and building repairs; and
$1,630,200 for school bus transportation.
The budget also includes an expenditure
of $153,000 for additional educational com-
puters, making a total investment in this
area to about $1,200,000.
The board also has in its budget a minor
deficit of $185,000. The board started out the
year with the deficit being $315,000. '
"We've reduced it substantially
throughout the year and we're going to whit-
tle away at it again this year," said Mr.
Lane.
After a lot of phone calls and organization
the exchange was set up. Students were
chosen to participate based on their attitude
toward French language and culture, their
ability to house a student for a week, and
their ability to stay caught up in classes
while missing about two weeks of school.
The parents of the twinned students who
were interviewed-MaryAnne McNichol,
Debbie Dillon, and Joyce Ribey- had a lot of
positive comments about the exchange. All
said they found the French students who
stayed with them to be "very appreciative
of everything, well mannered, and polite."
They also said their kids picked up a lot of
French language from their twins, and Mrs.
McNichol said she was getting better and
better at speaking French herself. The kids
used dictionaries to communicate and didn't
give up until they had gotten their point
across. Mrs. Ribey said on the way to a trip
to Canada's Wonderland her children and
her twin were playing "I Spy" using an
English -French language combination to
communicate.
"They learned that there are different
cultures in our country," said Mrs.
McNichol. "It's a beautiful experience, and
I'm so thankful to Julie for it."
Mrs. Holmes says she tried to arrange the
Turn to page 3A •
AN AUTO FIRE summoned the Brucefield Fire Department out to the Brucefield road
on Sunday morning to extinguish a car driven by Robert Mitton of Brampton. Mr. Mitton
apparently hit a hydro pole, and when he tried to drive away a short in the engine caus-
ed the fire. Nobody was injured in the accident. Corbett photo.
Car burns off Brucefield road
A burning vehicle on the Brucefield Road
prompted a fire alarm Saturday at 2:15 am.
Robert Mitton of Brampton hit a
telephone pole on his way toward Egmond-
ville early Sunday morning, damaging the
front end of his car. Mr. Mitton continued
driving the car, until an electrical short
caused a lot of smoke to issue from under
the hood. He stopped and was picked up by a
passing motorist who took him back to
Brucefield where he called the fire
department.
By the time the Brucefield fire depart-
ment arrived on the scene the car was in
flames, and before the fire was out enough
damage was done to total the vehicle's front
end.
The Seaforth Fire Department was
assembled by the fire siren, but did not have
to go to the scene of the fire.
Tuckersmith boy hit by car
A Tuckersmith boy is in critical condi-
tion in London's Sick Children's Hospital
as a result of an accident Saturday night.
Colonel Rick ITiuser of the Goderich
detachment of the Ontario Provincial
Police said five-year-old Craig Traquair
was riding his bicycle in front of his
parents' Lot 3, Concession 14 home at ap-
proximately 6 p.m., when he was struck by
a car. The car, driven by a 19 -year-old
Clinton woman, was travelling west on the
concession road at the time.
The accident is still under investigation
and charges are pending.
SOUVENIRS OF SEAFORTH were given to each of the 25 exchange students from
Chicoutimi, Quebec on Thursday, before they returned home. The students were in
Seaforth for one week, and SPS students will be reciprocating the visit in another
week's time. Here, Seaforth Mayor Alf Ross presents one of the exchange students
with a Seaforth pin. Corbett photo.
McKillop Township
The official Opening of the McKillop
Township Works Centre took place on Satur-
day.afternoon, and revealed a new exten-
sion and upgrading of the original building.
The revitalized building is located on County
Road 12 in Winthrop.
The new addition is 46 feet wide and 45 feet
long, bringing the building to a total length
of 106 feet. This includes four and a half
bays. Formerly there were only two bays,
but another two have been added, one of
which is large enough to be a bay and a half.
The original building was insulated and
painted. New windows and doors were in-
stalled, and the building was rewired to
upgrade it electrically from 60 watts to 200
watts.
The centre was built by general contrac-
tor Carl G. Reinhardt Limited, and designed
by W.E. Kelley and Associates Limited.
Work began on September 23 of last year,
the building was enclosed by December 21,
and work was completed in January.
The total contract amounted to $195,369.
Of this $176,000 was paid for by the provin-
cial government. The municipality of
McKillop Township took on the retraining
expense.
McKillop Reeve Marie Hicknell said the
township was surprised to have received the
amount of funding it did for the building.
Last year the township got $73,000 and didn't
really expect more funding this year. Mrs.
Hicknell says if the township hadn't receiv-
Works Centre officially opens
4
THE PLAQUE UNVEILING at the McKillop Township Works Centre took place on
Saturday, and Bill Kelly, the building's designer, and McKillop Reeve Marie Hicknell
did the honors. Corbett photo.
ed the money it still would have completed back. As it is the works centre was built
the shed project, but the road construction without rears construction suffering.
program would have had to have been cut Turn to page 3A •