The Citizen, 1992-12-09, Page 1Government ■ Feature ■ Farm ■ Entertainment
Huronview salaries
will cost taxpayers
$180,000
See page 7
Ethiopian woman
talks about her
home and Canada
See page 10
Experts talk
about the
corn situation
See page 19
‘Second City’
troupe provides
plenty of laughs
See page 27
CitizenTheNorthHuron Secondary teachers
get tentative contract
approval from Board
VoL 8 No. 49 Wednesday, December 9,1992 60 cents
The Huron County Board of Edu
cation accepted a tentative contract
agreement with the secondary
school teachers at their Monday
Board meeting.
Though details of the agreement
aren’t being released to the media,
the board did vote on the issue with
10 voting for it and six against it.
Hullett Twp. Trustee John Jewitt
Smiles for Santa
Christmas and toys go together and always bring a smile afternoon, from left are: Michelle Smith, Samantha
to a child's face. Members of the Brussels Figure Skating Thomas, Jamie Thomas and seeing the parade route from
Club, dressed as toys, were all smiles as they rode this Mom’s lap is Bailie Thomas.
float in the annual Santa Claus parade on Saturday
Brussels council supports youth centre
Brussels Village councillors gave
their support Monday night to a
plan to create a drop-in centre for
youth in the village.
Sallianne Patch, R.R.4, Brussels,
outlined her plan for a non-profit
centre to provide social and recre
ation opportunities for youth from
the area in a new centre she hopes
to open in the former Grey Owl
building. She said she had conduct
ed surveys among students at local
high schools and determined young
people feel there is a need for such
a centre. The centre would be open
Thursdays and Fridays from 4-10
p.m. and Saturday from noon to
midnight. The centre will have
facilities like ping pong and a pool
table and because the building is
large, might be able to house some
more active sports such as dodge
ball. The centre would have a small
kitchen for people to prepare food
in. "The boys want to lift weights,"
Ms Patch said. "To make this work
the kids must feel it's their own."
Several prominent local people
have agreed to sit on an advisory
board for the start up of the centre,
which it's hoped will be open in
February, she said. Several local
service clubs have lent their sup
port to the project as well.
The centre would be staffed
entirely by volunteers, Ms Patch
said. Already some volunteers have
come forward and she is looking
for more.
There are hurdles to be over
come, however, council told Ms
Patch. For one thing the building is
incorrectly zoned for the centre.
Currently the building has a special
class R1 zoning for the activities
that took place when Grey Owl
made small boxes there. A new
special designation would have to
be made and a zoning change
would have to be made.
The next hurdle is the cost of lia
bility insurance which might add
substantially to the costs of running
the centre. Council agreed to set up
a meeting between Ms Patch and
the village's insurance company to
explore the possibility. One of the
alternatives councillors agreed to
explore, after Ms Patch had left the
meeting, was to see if the advisory
board of the centre could be named
Continued on page 22
Cunningham Bridge open... finally
Grey township residents are trav
elling easier now that the Cunning
ham Bridge on Huron County Rd.
16, near Ethel is open again.
Denis Merrall, Huron County
Engineer told Huron County coun
cil on Thursday that the bridge is
open for traffic again even though
there will be work needed in the
spring to finish the project.
The deck of the bridge has not
been paved because the county
road bridge building crew lost a
race with weather and the closing
date of area asphalt plants. Mr.
Merrall said it had been intended to
waterproof and pave the bridge but
with the asphalt plants closing and
the weather poor, he didn't want to
take a chance on getting a poor job.
The pavement on the highway has
been ramped to smooth the bump
as much as possible and signs have
been posted.
Next year the deck will have to
be paved and work done on the
approaches to the bridge and on
guard rails. There will be a short
period when a detour will be need
ed again in the spring.
The project has been delayed
because of all the rain this year
increasing the level of the river.
The forms have not been removed
from the pillars of the bridge and
may have to wait for freeze-up
when the river level will drop, he
said.
voted for the agreement.
"I know the pressure the econo
my is under but I believe the per
sonnel committee has done the best
they can and I will support the
agreement."
Wingam Trustee Liliane Nolan,
who heads the personnel committee
said, "We've worked really hard on
this agreement and I'm asking for
your support."
However, she didn't receive it
from all trustees, notably Bob Hey
wood, trustee for Stephen Twp.
"I'm voting against this. We can't
go to the taxpayers and ask for
more," he said.
Goderich Trustee Rick Rompf
agreed. "Times are too tough in
Huron County to go for something
of this magnitude."
Doug Gamiss, trustee for Morris
and Turnberry Twps. said with
decreasing funds from the govern
ment, the "largest risk for us is to
increase expenditures."
Now that the Board has accepted
the agreement, the secondary
school teachers will have to vote.
They're required to decide by Dec.
12.
RIDE
program
underway
The Ontario Provincial Police
(OPP) in partnership with other
police services in Ontario launched
its 1992 Reduce Impaired Driving
Everywhere (R.I.D.E.) campaign,
Dec. 1. The five week program will
end Jan. 2.
A spokesperson from the Wing
ham OPP said members of the
detachment stopped a total of 738
from Nov. 29 to Dec. 5 in the area.
Of that number there were only two
liquor related charges laid.
The program, began in 1987 and
has proven to be an effective deter
rent to drinking drivers. During the
last three years, officers throughout
the province have checked 864,642
vehicles resulting in 2,803, 12 hour
suspensions and 1,483 charges.
Penalties have been increased
over the years. According to a
police report, a first offense means
a penalty of $300 and a one-year
suspension. A second offense
results in a minimum two-year
license suspension and a minimum
14 days in jail. A subsequent
offense is a three-year suspension
and a minimum 90 days in jail.
If an accident is involved and
injuries result the penalty can be a
prison term and 10-year license
suspension. If a death results, the
penalty can be a 14-year prison
term and a suspension for life.
However, the efforts of all the
officers and the increased penalties
have not sufficiently reduced death
and injuries on the highways. In the
last three years, during the R.I.D.E.
festive season, there have been 189
fatal accidents resulting in 216
Continued on page 7