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Clinton News Record, 2015-12-23, Page 5Wednesday, December 23, 2015 • News Record 5 www.clintonnewsrecord.com Letters to the Editor Huron -Perth Children's Aid Society Dear Editor, On behalf of the staff and Board of Directors of the Huron -Perth Children's Aid Society I thank everyone who con- tributed to our Christmas Bureau Cam- paign this year. Your generous dona- tions allowed us to assist over 450 families and 1000 children during the Holiday Season. Whether it was a contribution of your time, talents, monies, shopping, trans- portation, wrapping, and phone answering or hosting your own fund- raiser; all acts of kindness help with the success of this annual campaign. Thank you for your generous gift. Sincerely, Shaun Jolliffe MSW, RSW Executive Director Huron -Perth Children's Aid Society Response to Community Living article Dear Editor, I read with interest your article about the withdrawal of funding for the Com- munity Living operations. I believe I could add some clarification to one part of the article as I was the Principal of Huron Hope School in 1969 when those children who were identified as men- tally challenged first came under the auspices of the Boards of Education. There is an error in the article indicating these children were at the McCurdy School prior to 1968. Prior to 1969 edu- cation in the school system was denied to these children and many will remem- ber what was then called the Associa- tions For The Mentally Retarded set up their own schools in halls and church basements. Locally Bonnie Graham ran the Queen Elizabeth School here in Goderich. Florence Reavie was Princi- pal of the Golden Circle School. (By 1975 all three Huron County schools for the mentally challenged were accom- modated in our Elementary Schools). The Huron County Board of Education led the way and became the first Board in Ontario where all children had class- rooms in the Elementary system. In 1969 two classrooms were located in the J.A.D. McCurdy School in Huron Park to house Huron Hope School. To my knowledge it was the first school in Ontario where children who were then labelled "retarded" had class- rooms adjacent to the classrooms of all children from Kindergarten to Grade Eight. This was not accepted as the norm for many and in 1972 an article I wrote on the integration was published by the Canadian Associa- tion for the Mentally Retarded and distributed at an International Con- gress as a "unique Canadian story': By 1983 it was recognized, as Bruce Shaw pointed out, that this integration could be carried further if the older children could be accommodated in the High School where they would be with their own age group. I remember doing a slide presentation to the staff who were somewhat hesitant in their expectations for the outcome of this venture. However Principal Bruce Shaw had a vision and it was carried through for those teenagers. The younger pupils remained at the J.A.D. McCurdy School. Sadly the McCurdy School was later closed, then vandalized and burned. But for many these classrooms were an affirmation of their rightful place in the community. Eleanor Smith Thank you from St. Paul's Anglican Dear Editor, The Huron Children's Christmas Bureau had another successful year thanks to the generosity of residents from Bayfield through to Blyth. On behalf of St. Paul's Anglican Church in Clinton, I would like to thank all the volunteers that gave their time to this worthy cause. We couldn't have run this program without your support. Have a very Merry Christmas knowing that you have given another family one as well. Marlene Van Riesen St. Paul's Anglican Church, Clinton LETTERS TO THE EDITOR The News Record welcomes letters to the editor. All letters must be signed and include a daytime phone number for verification purposes. Letters can be sent care of the Internet at clinton.reporter@sunmedia.ca, sent via fax at 519-482-7341 or through Canada Post care of The Editor, P.O. Box 39, Clinton, ON NOL 1LO. From the archives... 15 Years Ago... • Liquor valued at over $8,000 was stolen during the height of the winter storm last week. On December 12 a citizen contacted the Huron OPP over an alarm sounding at the LCBO Store in Clinton on Maple Street. Officers responded to the call to find the front door to the store had been smashed out. It was discovered a large amount of alcohol had been stolen. Police learned that a black 2000 GMC 4X4 pickup truck had been backed up to the doors while three men loaded the stolen liquor into the bed of the truck. Officers came across the truck south of Clinton on Highway 4 where the truck left the roadway and became stuck in the snow. The culprits then stole a maroon 1995 Chev pickup truck, removing the load of alcohol from the black truck and placing it in the other. The next morning a 2000 Cherokee Jeep was found stolen from a residence in Hensall and witnesses saw the stolen truck from Stanley Township at the scene. • On December 14 a theft was reported from a resident on Blair Street in Bayfield. A person removed three strands of red icicle lights from the area of the front door of her resi- dence. The value of the theft was $30. The owner wishes the lights to be returned. 25 Years Ago... • Plans are on the drawing board to establish a new health program, Hos- pital in the Home. Although funding confirmation had not been received, representatives from the Huron County Health Unit and Clinton Pub- lic Hospital (CPH) were working out the details that would lead to the pro- gram's implementation. • With the corn harvest completed, local churches were starting to plan ways to share the harvest with others. For each of the previous two years, area congregations had worked together to purchase 140 metric tonnes of Ontario corn for the Cana- dian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB). • The Huron County Board of Edu- cation is moving one step closer to forming a policy on drug education. All county schools are involved in helping the board of education develop a drug policy. The School Action Plan On Drug Education will be developed in fall of 1991, when staff training will occur. 35 Years Ago... • The Christmas spirit was alive in the Varna area, after dozens of people came to the aid of a hamlet family who lost all their possessions in a Sat- urday night fire. The ruins of the John Coultis home in Varna were still smoldering Monday morning as neighbours and friends banded together to help the family start over. Thanks to the generosity of the com- munity, the Coultis family had another home to live in, rent free until the spring, cloths, groceries, and even Christmas gifts. None of the family was at home at the time of the blaze. It was the second major fire in Varna area in the week as a large chicken barn on the farm of Stan Vanderwal burned to the ground killing 25,000 broilers. • Paul, 22, son of John and Marga- ret Robinson of Huron Street, was in the Gulf of Siam, in the South China Sea, near Thiland, working as a deep sea diver on an oil barge, laying a gas pipeline. Paul headed his class of 55 men from Canada, U.S.A., Brit- ain and New Zealand, at a 10 -month course at the Commercial Diving Centre in Wilmington, California in 1979, and was one of seven hired there to assemble and test a new Bell Saturization System for the Centre. He then spent eight months in the Gulf of Mexico on an oil rig inspection crew. get it r Get all of your news, �Imo. n� sports and more. 4411 Serving Huron County clintonnewsrecord.com