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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1983-12-07, Page 1ly,r 11 incorporating awls c per copy 1�. ":SEAFORTH, 'O(NSrAiR10, , WEDN.ESSDAY ECEM 7r _S 22 ES A two year study by B.M: Ross' and , Associates, a Goderich engineering firm, to find out why, Seaforth sewage flows`. are,„ exeeSSive, is at a standstill. The study cannotf be'.cotnpleted because treated sewage' is being discharged iuto the Crozier drain. The drain is considered a natural stream and discharging into it is considered illegal. The study was initiated when an applica- tio ` htee years ago, for plan of subdivision ve Certs on Brantford Street south was net down because the lagoons did not ve sufficient storage, "We knew -sewage ow's Were high and knew we had a problem," said Jim Crocker„ clerk. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the Seaforth sewage situation and find ways to reduce sewage flow. The report, which is 95 ppeer cent complete, _was submitted to the tlistry of the Environment in March for Comments and suggestions. "There are approximately 15 kilometers of sewer and 985 sanitary sewer connections," Steve Ross, engineer said at a special Seaforth council meeting Tuesday, Nov. 29 called to consider the situation. All sewage is discharged into a three cell lagoon located ' on a 36 acre site in Tuckersmith west of town. The lagoons are' discharged twice a year into the Crozier, drain which drains into the Bayfield River,' THREE PROBLEMS Seaforth :is facing three major problems. "The first is of a public health nature," said Fostering is a w BY SUSAN HUNDERTMARK As Mary Van Dorp sorts through about 25 snapshots of the many children she and her husband Tonyhave fostered over the past .15 years, she makes comments on each one. There was a little girl who learned to walk during her stay at the Van Dorp farm and a boy who became such good friends with her son,alason that Jason still talks about him, Each one is and in ividual . who shared their lives for bile. 'Fostering has become a w�j df life f us. We started because we felt that eve child has a right to ed be loved and h mom inrout hearts and our home. a plan to be foster parents as long as we're able, ' says Mrs. Van Dorp. When the Van Dorp received an award recently from the H r n County Family and Children Se ' s fo' their 15 years of fostering,Mrs. an D says theymade Y • Mr. Ross. 'Spring overflow discharges directly . into Silver Creek because ,tie i pumping Station can't, .handle the tlo)v t Standards are more stringent now Alan when the lagoons were,built•'in'1953 so there is not sufficient treatment. The town faces -?a e, growth restriction. Additional subdivisions.:? or new lots cannot be created. 3 ' The sewage system is overloaded becaifse' of ground water infiltration as' high as 3a to; 35 per cent. (eavestrough,and cellar'dfains connected to sanitary sewers). Rain water; makes up for five to 10 per cent and only 60.1 per cent is sewage. Ground water is also, entering the system through cracks, in the'; SEE SEWAGE' ON PAGE 3 of life for Family sure the `plague included "and family" since their own four daughters and one son were small children when they began fostering. The Van Dorp children have grown up along side the foster children. Without our kids, we wouldn't have been able to do fostering because they've always helped. And, they've had to share us. Sometimes they had a little resentment but that's healthy; they've never been really jealous." The snapshots show the, Van. Dorp children holding foster babies in their laps and groups of children playing on the dairy farm. The Hullett townsh' i farm has been a wonderful aciniplace for it ren to p grow up, 4 says Mrs. Van 1 orp, ce it gives a lot freedom but a • ! e responsibility of chores. A near .and is the place where many children have learned to swim or skate. "The farm has allowed both of us to be full-time parents. Whatever we do, the 'children are always with us and that really helps;" she says. STAY ONE YEAR Averaging a year stay each, the Van Do s' foster children have mostly been babies or young children because they felt children younger than their own would fit into the family easier. "Once we had a nine month old girl and all she could say was, "Bad." Children may do bad things but they're never, bad; they're just inquisitive. We tried to tel her she was a good girl while she was with us." "Another came to us in diapers and a dirty undershirt. For about three days she just sat therewith her head down. It felt so good when she finally put her arms up to Tony as if to say, '1 trust you.' " One of the most rewarding moments of SEE FOSTERING ON PAGE 3 OVER 300 people have signed letters supporting John Jew's effort to sponsor his 75 -year-old mother to move to Canada. The application was turned down by the Canadian High Commission In Korea because John cannot prove his mother Is his mother. Larry Dillon, left, has helped John interpret government correspondence and Initiated the letter writing campaign. (Wassink photo) THE SEAFORTH POST OFFICE warns that they will not let cards and letters with 10c stamps go by without a penalty of 44c postage due during the week of Dec. 11 to 17. Barn, machinery, livestock lost in in Sunday fire A barn, on a farm owned by Jim Miller of R.R.2, St's a was destroyed by fire Sunday and claimeut270pigs, hay, straw, feed and machinery. • Tbe.tre..wbieh.'appatently started_ in the, - second storey was spotted by neighbors,' about 3 p.m. They managed to save about 30 sows and called the Mitchell fire depart- ment. Damage to the contents and structure which had been renovated a couple of years ago. will reach at least 5100,000 said Mr. Miller. Mr. Miller who runs the operation with son Bruce were not home at the time of the blaze. Police and fire officials were on the scene Monday to try and determine a cause. ST. JAMES SEPARATE school In Seaforth le • participating In a pilot project enrichment program. All students benefit from the prograrut 28 students have been chosen to participate in a talent pool. Linda Kistner of Seat rth is the organizer and teacher. Shown wit Linda from left to „right Is\1oJr ny Sills, Joseph Kenny and David Mlddegaal. The three grade one students are In the talent pool. • (Wassink photo) ograrn.'.benefits all students BY RON WASSINK Though students ants at St. James Separate School, Seaforth are. taught three forms of education - remedial, regular and enriched - students will now receive further enriched studies through a' pilot project t;p p }act in Huron County. But the. project will benefit all students at the school, including the gifted students. Linda Kistner of Seaforth, has organized the new program which is taught each Tuesday and Thursday, and ends in May. Presently it's the teachers who provide enrichell studies for,, gifted students. The new program will have total school participa- tion but 28 children who show the potential to display gifted behavior will participate in a talent pool. This will be in addition to.their regular school studies. THREE TYPES The program is broken down into three types. Type one will stimulate hew interests above and beyond regular curriculum. This will include guest speakers, and field trips. Type twtr mvolyes,group training. Stud-. encs will f'oetis„ oifws'ppec�5e sskil{s ti Udlt as creative aildfcultutal think -digs afdthey.*ill learn how to be independent problem solvers. "This involves teaching thinking skills and we have found these -skills can be taught," says Mrs. Kistner. Type one and two involves all students, but type three is only for the 28 students in the talent pool. The students, from grades one to eight will be involved in indepth projects. "We want them to be producers of knowledge. to become autonomous learn- ers," says Mrs. Kistner. "We will be focusing on higher levels of thinking skills, where motivation will come from within and where we can refine such- skills." Kids who are creative or have above average ability and show task commitment will make up the talent pool. "Marks aren't reallygonsidered in this program," says Ray Contois, principal,., "Instead of talking marks, we're talking children." "Some kids -have been collecting • stamps for 10 years." Mrs. Kistner says. "That's showing task commitment. Being a teacher pleaser isn't important. We want motivation to come from within, rather than totally teacher directed." Bill 82 adopted by government. two years ago states schools must meet the needs of all students, including exceptional students. "School boards adopted program, to meet the needs of all students but it meant a lot of extra work for the teachers," says Mr. Contois. r "The pilot project means we can now develop the program even further. If it's successful we try ll continueit next ear he Says', -or Teachers. oviftsbs werkiii p iii ' through the year with Linda, .The.project not only benefits students but also the teach- ers. ' EXCITING "We will be doing a lot of exciting things." says Mrs. Kist "Teachers are always bringing i speak rs,'byt we're going to bring in more. ry ne in s ool will get an overview in pr.-,, l so ng. but the talent pool will be or depth." The pilot . , e1 uses the Renzulli method. Inste. d of : , Ther method where Over 300support mot BY RON WASSINK Chances are slim that John Jew's mother will immigrate to Canada before Christmas but John, his family and over 300 people who sent letters to Employment and Immigration Canada are keeping their fingers crossed. Ove a year ago, Mr. Jew applied to the gration department in hopes of sponsor- ing s 75 -year-old mother as an immigrant. But t a Canadian High Commission in Korea turned down the application on the grounds that Mr. Jew and his mother could not prove a mother -son relationship. . An article in the Expositor two weeks ago explained reasons why proof is almost impossible to obtain. Mr. Jew has no birth certificate, nor does his mother, who he hasn't seep in 33 years. If any records do exist, they would be in China, the birthplace and home of John, his mother and two sisters until 1950. RESPONSE OVERWHELMING But local response to•John's problem has been overwhelming. John has had. over 300 people come into his restaurant, Wong's Grill, to sign letters destined for John Roberts, federal minister of Employmbnt and immigration. "1 didn't know there were that many people behind me," says John. "i didn't expect that many lertters to be signed. People are still comin only three or four per cent of the school population is chosen to participate in an enriched program, the new p gr m, method has star participation --28 P 8per cent at St. James. in both cases, udents are all - academically able "but in M. James it will be more involved." Mrs. Kistner says. The Renzelli method uses a three ,ring diagram to show what giftedness means. The rings include above average ability, task commitment, and creativity. When the three rings overlap. "The child is p using knowledge rather than cons ming. This is when a child is internally otivated. It is then, when all skills learne in class and in the first two types are pulled together, Once the three rings key in, we can then do a type three," says Mrs. Kistner. MEETING NEEDS - Two enriched pilot project programs have been set up this year, one in Perth and the second in Huron, "They've been in the works for at least five years but we had hoped to get the pilot programs started three �teassrpgo says;Bal Eckert, director of f�edtttatiorf4fdr4:thib rznxeceiij aSep fes;.,,:.f:;.,,- -School Board. "We knew there were exceptional child ren in' our schools and their needs weren't being met. We recognized a need and , determined to set up two programs. We a now meeting the requirements .of Bill 82." The programs will end in May at which time the school board will discuss possibili- ties of adopting one, both, or -a combination of the two programs. "I wouldn't be surprised if we adopt both." says Mr, Eckert. er/son. reunion Larry Dillon, Kinburn pork producer and real estate agent, has helped John fill in forms and decipher overnment letters since the beginning of John's sponsorship cam- paign. 'I started the letter writing but i didn't organize anything. Not one groupis canvassing -- people are just coming in on their own," says Mr. Dillon. John's goal was to send 50 letters to Mr. Roberts' Ottawa office. "We started out with 20 letters. and I've only canvassed about 20 signatures," says Mr. Dillon. "Many people are writing their own letters. but John's had over 300 photocopies made for people wanting to sign." Alt the letters are mailed in separate No 10 cent Christmas mailing Ten._..haven't cent stamps haven't been appear- ing on letters at the Seaforth Post Office yet but during the past week employees have been busy answering questions about the one week cut in postal rates announced recently by the inside workers' union. "Questions are slowing off now but a lot of people were asking what the story was," says Seaforth postmaster, Clarence Holmes. "They think it's 1 good idea until they find out that the people who received the mail have to pay 44 cents postage due on , each letter with a 10 cent stamp. President of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), Jean-Claude Parrot announced last week that mail -sorters would process any cards and letters with a 10c stamp during the week of Dec. 11 to 17 without penalty. The reduced rate is a protest of the reductions in service and the bulk rates as low as 13.5c to companies for first-class cards. "We don't belong to the union so we won't be letting the 10 cent stamps go through. 1 don't think it''s rjght- Employees shouldn't be able to tel what price to sell their merchandise," says Mr. Holmes. ,/ The postmaster says that companies that get a reduced rate must send out 5000 pieces of pre-sorted mail at one time. "They spend the difference in rates paying labor to get it ready," he says. There are 14 different rates which are determined by the volume of the mail. Seaforth's PUC gets a rate of 23 cents and companies such as Charger pay rates as low as 21 and z2 cents. "1 think i would try using 10 cent stamps if 1 lived in the city. It's not fair that big business gets a cut rate; they have more money than i do," says one patron of the post office who added she doesn't send as many cards al Christmas as she used to because of the price of stamps. "I admire the postal workers for their spume," says another woman. "But, 1 don't want to inflict double the difference on my relatives so I'm not using the 10 cent stamps. I'm not sending Christmas cards anyway; i'ln going to phone everyone." "if 1 had to pay 44 cents each when 1 picked up my Christmas cards, i think I'd 'leave them at the post office," says Ron Blanchard. "it's a business like anything else. Would any other business let its employees sell oods for a third off at Christmas time?" Getting a break at Christmas would be great, says Brian Murray. "i was thinking about sending a few with 10 cent stamps,' says another man. "But, I'm not going to send as many as 1 usually do." envelopes and most include the return address of the sender. Letters are being mailed in bundles of 25 each day. "Mr. Roberts will have to answer each letter and 25 letters a day are going to make an impressive pile on his desk, says Mr. Dillon. "They're going to know in Ottawa that Seaforth exists • before this is all over." RESTAURANT LIKE PY DAYS The reason so many people are supporting John is because "John and hi wife have been a part of almost every family in Seaforth," Mr. Dillon says. "Thetrtdtaurant is like the one on the Happy Days show; it was a SEE REUNION ON PAGE 3 Public school students learn Suzuki method/ A2 Theatre administrator turns playwright / A8 McKillop man traps bear in 1883/ A3 Senior girls basketball team wins WOSSA "A" championship/ Al2 Former Seaforth doctoe gets five years probation / A7 Births /48, 87 Brussels /B2, 3 Classified /A10, 11, 12 Community Calendar /A3 Dublin /A4, 5 Entertainment /A8 Family 86, 7 Farm /85 Hansel /A1.2 Kids /81 Londesboro /A7 Sports /49, 88 Obituaries /A6, 88 • S tr