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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1983-10-12, Page 1r., Incorporating Brussels Post c per copy i uru IV 1SEAFORTH. ONTARIO, Wg.DNEFDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1983 - 18 PAGES United Huron county is one of the best places in Ontario for seniors to live, says zone eight president of the United Senior Citizens of Ontario, Percy Blundell. "Because they can be so isolated in the country, 1 would think urban centres would be the best place for seniors to olive. But, seniors are well looked after in Huron (fxpositor eniors meet in Seaforth county. You don't hear as many complaints here as you do in other districts. Ours was the best report of any in Ontario," he says of the recent 1JSCO convention in Windsor. Mr. Blundell told the 145 seniors who attended the'zone eight fall rally in Seaforth last Wddnesday that Huron county's resolu- tion to reinstate capital punishment •was not Good turn -out here for anti -rabies shots READING IS FUN -The best part about being In grade one is that you learn to read and write. The pictures in a kid's favorite book finally mean something. But even without reading the words, kids make up their own stories as was the case In Mike Park's grade one class at Seaforth Public School. Some students who wrote their own stories are, back row, left, Rebecca Broome, Chris Dalton, Dennis Beuerman, Sandra Dale, -Jamie Somerville, Steven Mclnally, Billy Schenck. front row, Tony Kiritsis, Krista Geidanus, Gaby White, Tabbetha Glanville and Sarah Powell. See next week's Huron Expositor for a feature on how kids learn to read. ()Aasslnk photo) Smoking n the schools sets a bad example? Smokers in schools beware - the Huron County Board of Education may be asking ' you to butt nut. Trustee Tony McQuail said he had been contacted by a ratepayer who, because of an allergic reaction to cigarette smoke, had to stop volunteer work at her neighbourhood school. Mr. McQuail indicated the smoke wasn't from the students, but from teachers and other parent volunteers. He noted the ratepayer, besides her own health, was con- cerned about the example being .set for students. The board's personnel and management committees will -.consider the question of smoking in schools at a joint meeting later this month. Trustee John Jewitt said, while cigarette smoke doesn't bother him, any policy established for the schools would have to be implemented system -wide. That would in- clude the administration building and specifically the hoard room. Currently, smoking is allowed in the board roonl area and some trustees and press representatives puff their way through the board's monthly sessions. Dog and cat turnout for the fret year, there probably wouldn't be as great anti -rabies vaccination clinic in Seaforth on a turnout." Tuesday was excellent. Pets vaccinated were "People are more aware of the rabies almost double from two years ago with 303 problem and there was more media attention dogs and 374 cats. The 1980 turnout was 204 this year." says -Dr. Brian Nuhn of the dogs and 153 cats. Seaforth Veterinary Clinic. "We were pretty The total for Huron county was also higher happy withthe turnout." than 1980 with 7,716 dogs and cats vaccinated this year compared to 4,952. There were 14 clinics in the county this year, two more than the previous. The main reason for the Targe increases is due to a major outbreak of rabies. In the Seaforth area, 13 people have taken post -anti -rabies vaccinations and three cattle herds were quarantined for 40 days. "Publicity had an influence on the number of people attending," says Dr. Bill Thomp- son of Cana$a Health and Animals office in Scaf,'rth "But if clinics were held, every The 1980 clinics were plagued with poor weather conditions. "We had excellent weather conditions this year which helped a lot," said Dr. Nuhn. Rabies is a disease which runs in cycles. "1 think it's peeked this year and will drop off," said Dr. Thompson. 'Rabies kills off a lot of skunks and foxes. If the number of wild animals drops, there will be less rabies." "The incidence of rabies will probably decline in 1984, but 1986 could be a bad year." he said. Huron may set up reserve fund The Huron County Board of Education may establish a reserve to reduce next year's budget impact on taxpayers. At its, Oct. 3 meeting,' the board turned down a recommendation from its executive 'committee which suggested establishing a $25,000 reserve. The $25,000 represents the half a year's salary' saved since former superintendent of operations Robert Allari became director of education. The vacant position won't be filled until Jan. 1. s turned down would meeting, the executive committee will con- sider the board's financial statement to date and a general reserve fund could be recom- mended. - The board's financial statement to Aug. 26 shows that 60 per cent of the elementary budget, 57.7 per cent of, the secondary budget and 61.2 per cent of the administra- tion centre's budget have been spent. With four months remaining in the year and roughly 40 per cent of the budget left, Mr.pec Allan ex is the budget will come in near target. His only concern is the $50,000 for roof repairs which was notincluded n e "How much: contracted 'services do we budget. have?" asked -John Goddard. ruetee Ari Gluge said since. the ex - The a The director education said' tlle Merai•, c'cutive' (.tMnmittee will'be-Iooking at"tfte •. report was the only specific contract service -financial statements, and since the recom- for 1983. To a later question, superintendent mended $25,000 would be restricted to its of personnel Peter Gryseels said the report use, the board should leave the question of a is confidential. reserve for another month. But the board didn't completely wipe out Other trstees agreed, as they turned down the possibility of reserves. At its next the recommended $25,000 reserve adopted at the 25th annual convention. . "If you remember two years in a row we sent in a resolution from our zone to reinstate capital punishment but unfortun- ately it was non -concurred again." Other resolutions discussed at the conven- tion whi. h „represented 1,170 clubs for the elderly in Ontario concerned health. hous- ing. world disarmament and acid rain. Housing resolutions were concurred includ- ing one to ensure rent is not increased more than six per cent every year and that pensions be increased to $650 a month to compensate for inflation. Five resolutions requesting Canada be kept free of nuclear weapons and be a voice for world sanity were concurred while a resolution requesting Bell Canada use larger print in phone books was turned down. Mr. Blundell says he's disappointed about that because "I am sure I'm not the only one to hate the small print." The 16 clubs that attended the zone rally came from as far away as Dungannon and Grand Bend. Members from Seaforth totalled approximately 55. Egmondville new sidewal BY WILMA OKE Tuckersmith Township Council accept- ed the quotation of 54,807 from Jim Holland • of Egmondville for removal of 570 feet of sidewalk on Centre Street and construction of a new sidewalk four feet wide to replace it. It was the lowest of four quotations for the work. A by-law establishing new dog licensing fees was approved --one male dog or spayed female, 58; second male or spayed female, 525, and' an additional third male or spayed female, 537.50; female dog, 515: a second female 537.50 and a third $62.50. A bylaw setting water rates in Brucefield included -520. service charge per year for each household and 520 for each apartment. DAY CARE RATES Rates for the daycare children at Vanastra as of Nov. 15 were set at: full day $8.50 up from 57.85 and for each half day $4.50. unchanged from former rate; and for eacl. half day with lunch 55.50 unchanged. For two children from one family the rate will be raised from $6.80 to 57.25. Mervyn Falconer, who represents Tucker - smith Township on the Ausable-Bayfield Conservation Authority Association, report- ed to Council on Authority work.. The Authority is leaning more toward erosion work now rather than to parks he said. He admitted the Authority does spend more on will get ks the Ausable River end of the area rather than the Bayfield River area. NEW ENTRANCE Road superintendent Allan Nicholson reported the work is completed on the new entrance to Vanastra at Seventh Avenue and it will be open to the public in a couple of days. This replaces the former Main entrance to the Canadian Forces Base several rods south which was closed after the base became Vanastra. It was considered dangerous for traffic as it was below the blow of the hill. The new entrance will be especially convenient to trucks entering the hamlet. Mr, Nicholson said Ministry officials will be testing the Flewitt Bridge on Concession two on Friday. Deputy Reeve William Brown, the town- ship representative on the Seaforth Fire Board said the new firehall will be officially opened on Thursday Oct. 13 and that Fire Protection Week will be Oct. 9-15. Passed for payment were the following accounts: Day Care at Vanastra, 56,642.27 and special daycare at Vanastra, $3,372.17; Vanastra recreation centre, $11,146.81: roads, 523,410.80; and general accounts, $64,659.19 for a total of 5109,231.24. Following the end of the general meeting, about midnight council went into committee of the whole. ministrative services. The reserve which wa have been used for future contracted ad- h' h i 1 ded ith Longtime Brussels Human interest stories are most popular BY SUSAN WHiTE The typical reader of The Huron Expositor has lived in the arca more than 10 years, is a high school or college graduate. and shops in Seaforth. Those are some of the findings of a survey of nearly .300 Seaforth and area people conducted this summer by the Small Business Consulting Program of the Univer- sity of Western Ontario. Those questioned were a random sample. chosen from telephone nembcrs in the Expositor's coverage arca. Names were not used and participants were assured of confidentiality. After teams of students polled readers and non-readers by phone. asking then 20 to 30 questions, survey results .were computer- ized: The resulting detailed printouts, and a report by survey director Penny Cavanaugh of UWO will be used by Expositor management to assess the paper's accept- ance, to plan for the future and to make changes that readers want, says publisher Jocelyn Shrier. "We'll be running stories about what we plan." LIVE IN SEAFORTH While 48.2 per cent of readers surveyed live in Seaforth (the others are in Brussels. Dublin, tiruceficld. Walton and elsewhere), all but nine per cent of the non-readers consider themselves outside the Seaforth area. Nearly half. 45.5 per cent. of the readers are under 39. while 39.4 per cent are over 50. About half the readers surveyed live on farms. Town and rural people are interested in much the same sort of news in the paper. but the survey says rural people tend to read more of it. more often. "Perhaps this reflects only the fact that farm dwellers cannot pop out and talk to their neighbors, so read the paper more thoroughly. but it might also show a higher interest level," says Ms. Cavanaugh. Town readership of farm news is quite high. reflecting. she says "the close relationship between the health of the agricultural economy and the health of the regional economy is general." Human interest stories have the highest readership...90.8 per cent of those polled read them at least sometimes. Classified ads have the next highest readership, 96.8 per cent. News of community and service groups is read by 88.5 per cent and correspondence by 88.1 per cent. although the majority read just the correspondence from where they live. Older people are more likely to read correspondence than younger. Council and other political news is popular - 87.68 per cent say they always or sometimes read it. Editorials are read by 85.8 per cent of readers (more people over 50 and more women) than men always read them). and editorial page columns by 84.9 per cent. Kids' news is read by 55 per cent. (only adults were polled). Sports. is read by 62 per cent. Those over are more likely than younger people to never read it. The page 1 index, is read by 65.1 per cent. School news is read by .67 per cent: church news by 69.7 per cent and farm news by 77.5 per cent of Expositor readers polled. LOOK FORWARD While 69.2 per cent of those surveyed say they look forward to reading The Expositor, 92.2 per cent say they're satisfied with the paper's appearance. "A high level of satisfaction in general." says Penny Cava- naugh of UWO. Four of those surveyed volunteered that the Expositor's general appearance is "above average". Others wanted bigger Non Expositor readers say they're not part of Seaforth Most people in the area who aren't leaders of The Huron 'Expositor don't consider themselves part of Seaforth, a survey conducted this summer by the Small Business Consulting Program of the University of Western Ontario says. When nearly 300 local people were selected at random and interviewed over the phone, non-readers answered a different set of questions than did Expositor readers. For example, they were asked where they'd spent time shopping during the last week. Clinton and Exeter headed the list. Non-readers weren't much different from readers when it came to age, education and whether they are farm or non-farm dwellers. But 89.7 per cent of non-readers consider themselves part of a community other than Seaforth and 4.4 per cent say they're part of Seaforth and some other community equally. NEVER SUBSCRIBE Reasons for never subscribing to The Expositor range from preferring another paper to "not enough local news ' or "not interested in local affairs." Most non-read- ers get their news and buying information from TV and other papers. While 51.5 per cent of non-readers have lived in "the area" for more than 10 years, 61.8 per cent say their friends live more than five miles away. Most, over 80 per cent, belong to some sort of community group, but just over 60 per cent do not have children in school. These questions weren't asked of the readers' group. When asked "what is it about The Huron Expositor that you don't like?" 92.6 per cent had no answer. Although they aren't readers, 4,4 per cent volunteered that they get information on products to buy from The Expositor. Only 38.2 per cent of non Expositor readers clipped coupons from newspapers or magazines the week before the survey was conducted. print, more photos and colored photos. Often the words used in the paper are too big, another reader commented. Depending on where they live some readers called for either more or less Brussels news. Others want more pages, in the paper. Statistically 87.2 per cent of those polled are satisfied with the number of pages, while 84.9 per cent are satisfied with The Expositor's completeness and 83.5 per cent with its accuracy. Do readers feel they are getting their money's worth, the survey asked.' Yes, said 79.4 per cent. One respondent "whiz' said no, buys The Expositor from "a sense of obligation" and criticized the paper as printing gossip instead of tackling contro- versial issues. DETAIL YES Readers war details in The Expositor's coverage of councils, school boards and other political news. Just 28 per cent want "high points only", while 67.9 per cent want either all the details or the "high point?; plus the details if they are important." Also in the political vein, most readers feel local issues, even if they directly affect only a few, should be written about in The Expositor if they are important. , Some readers have suggestions about what else they'd like to sec in The Expositor. More coverage of cultural events, for one thing. Two suggestions, a recipe column and horse racing news, were adopted this summer. Readers want to see ads for local movies and theatres in Stratford, Wingham, Listowel, Blyth and Grand Bend. They suggested more services, like painters, advertise. Most readers, 82.6 per cent. buy things they see advertised in The Expositor. Purchases (besides food. which nearly everyone answered) range from bikes to a couch, a dryer; a dress, a cat or a calf. Yard sales are popular, Expositor readers volun- teered. "Your business directory is excel- lent," said another, Nearly 90 per cent of readers who shop in Seaforth rated those who work in local stores as courteous, helpful. speedy and making an effort. rec chairman, 'Lowe resigns Wayne Lowe, chairman of the Brussels Recreation Committee, has resigned. Brus- sels council was informed of Mr. Lowe's decision at their Oct. 3 meeting and were asked to appoint a new chairman. Representatives on the committee, coun- cillors Betty Graber and Gord Workman were informed that the committee must appoint their own chairman. Other Brussels representatives on the board are Rob Demaray, Jerry Dillow, Jim Oldfield and Karen Hastings.' "The council only appoints people to sit on the committee," said Cal Krauter. reeve. "The committee will have to pick their own chairman to the best of their ability. but you won't get another one like Wayne Lowe." Council credited Mr. Lowe for showifig an interest in the town. He organized ball diamond and arena schedules, assisted in the maintenance at both locations and dealt with the public. He was paid 5300 a year. WAYNE WOULD DO IT "Nobody worried about anything because they knew, Wayne would do it." says councillor Hank Ten Pas. "It will be hard to replace him. 1 can't blame him a. bit for resigning." Councillor Jerry Wheeler was concerned that Brussels may end up hiring a recreation director. "People are getting tired of putting time and money into recreation." "We're going to wind up paying somebody $25.000 a year to do Wayne's job," said Mr, Workman. The Brussels, Morris and Grey Commun- ity Centre built in 1975, is one of few arenas in Ontario which does not have a deficit because of volunteer help. "You can have a good chairman," said Mr. Ten Pas, "but he doesn't have to do all the.tivork, he should delegate it." "Too manyeople have received too much, too long forPtoo little and it's time it changed." said Mr. Workman. ARENA ELEVATOR When the arena was built. an elevator was Please turn to page 17 SISTER TOWN VISITS -PUC manager Tom Phillips smelled a rat Friday when he found a magnetic sign on both sides of his truck. He soon discovered It was a prank pulled by Tom Jeffries and Ron Dunbar, two friends from Seaforth's sister town, West Branch, Michigan. (Hundertmark photo) Raspberries in October? /A3 Chimney sweep kept busy here /A9 Perth taxpayer goes through school's garbage /A5 Dedicated volunteer loves ringette /A13 8lrths /A7 Brussels news /A16, 17 Classified /A14, 15,.16 Community Calendar /A3 Dublin news /A5 Entertainment /A10 Fatuity /A7 Farm /A6 Hensel( /A11 Kids /48 Londesboro /A10 Obituaries /A7, 16 People /A10 Sports /Al2, 13 Walton 1A16 1 cimminim