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The Citizen, 2003-02-05, Page 1Serving the communities-of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Volume 19 No. 5 Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2003 75 Cents (70c + sc gst) I NORTH HURON PUBLISHING COMPANY INC. Inside this week Pg. 2 Pg. 6 Pg-9 Students take geography challenge Sparling’s earns special recognition Skaters do well at Interdub Pg-10p« 1A Loca! women quilt *8' - for a cause Blyth Festival Pg-23 unveils season* image Fire dep’t. gets training site By Janice Becker Citizen staff Il’s a remarkable coup for the Blyth and District Fire Department. Thanks to private arrangements, a deal has been worked out for the construction of a firefighter training facility on the outskirts of the village. The joint-venture between the Municipality of North Huron, Sparling’s Propane, the Blyth fire department and a silent partner, will result in the construction of a state- of-the-art training centre. Blyth Fire Chief Paul Josling said the two-storey tower will allow firefighters from the local area as well as many other departments training for flashovers, confined space rescues, fire simulation for structure fires, high-angle rescues, sloped roof ventilation and simulated basement fires. “It is expandable beyond that,” he said. “There are no limits.” Josling said the facility will have “cutting-edge technology” and is completely computerized. Previously, area firefighters had to travel to Cambridge or Gravenhurst for similar training. Departments could therefore only send a few men at a time so that the village remained adequately protected. “This will allow the entire department to train together,” said Josling. The facility will be available to any and all departments on a cost basis. “There will be no taxpayer money spent,” he said, as the silent partner is providing funding. Continued on page 3 Learning on the job A Foundation for Enriching Education project, sponsored by Passport to Prosperity, through the Ministry of Education, enable Grade 8 students from Hullett Central Public School to job shadow Monday. Bev MacDonald of the Blyth Veterinary Clinic assists student Shawn Martin as he checks out the feline scheduled for surgery on Tuesday. As well as clinic observations, Martin and fellow student Jade Laxton also had the opportunity to visit farms with vet Phil Garrioeck. (Janice Becker photo) Hullett students in pilot project By Janice Becker Citizen staff Students from Hullett Central Public School were given on-the-job experience Monday when they participated in the Groundhog Day Job Shadow Pilot Project. The project co-ordinated through the foundation for Enriching Education and sponsored by Passport to Prosperity, put Grade 8 students into the workplace with several employers. Jade Laxton and Shawn Martin spent the day with veterinarian Phil Garrioeck and the doctors and office personnel at the Blyth Vet Clinic. Though Laxton said she had chosen to visit the clinic as she is interested in pursuing a career in animal medicine. Martin found the experience somewhat disturbing. While Laxton spent the morning observing small animal surgeries in the clinic during the morning, Martin travelled with Garrioeck to a Belgrave area farm. He witnessed surgery on a cow and a bull castration. It was a little hard to stomach, he said. The students switched positions for the afternoon. The job shadow initiative is meant to show students the connections between academics and careers and hopefully allowing them to see the relevance of classroom work and understand the requirements needed to pursue various professions. It also helps build a community link between schools and business­ es. Following lhe day on the job, classroom work will continue to reinforce the lessons learned. The students will also be required to answer questions about the experience, forcing them to focus on the skills required. Policing raises debate By David Blaney Special to The Citizen Huron East will soon be into budget discussions and if a recent discussion concerning the cost of policing is any indication council may see some turf protection this election year. At the time of amalgamation it was determined that the cost of the police budget would be divided among the five wards in Huron East according to the number of households in each. The three rural wards had their costs capped at $90 per household, which is what their costs would have been if amalgamation had not taken place. The remainder of their share was covered from provincial grants. When Treasurer Brad Knight presented the OPP calls-for-service statistics at the Jan. 28 meeting of municipal council the report provoked a short but sharp exchange between Seaforth and Brussels councillors. Knight’s report detailed the number of calls in each of the five wards of Huron East for the years 2001 and 2002. Of the 3,369 police calls during those years Brussels averaged 14.5 per cent of the total with Seaforth at 37.5 per cent. Grey at 15.3 per cent. McKillop at 9.1 per cent and Tuckersmith at 22.5 per cent. Seaforth Councillor Bill Teall was quick to point out that Seaforth ward ratepayers were paying a greater percentage of the cost of the police contract than he felt their percentage of calls for service warranted. This caused Brussels Councillor Joe Seili to interject, “Don't get my dander up. Seaforth wanted a cruiser in town all the time - that doesn't happen in the rural areas.” To this Teall shot back, “I thought that was why we put a new station in Brussels.” At this point in the discussion Councillor Greg Wilson of Brussels pointed out that the statistics only represented calls for service. “You have to take everything into account not just calls for service,” he said. The apparent reference was to the fact that some calls take longer than others and can be of a more, or less, complicated nature. Deputy-Mayor Bernie MacLellan expressed the opinion that the report was probably a fair representation of the time spent in each area, but seemed disinclined to get much deeper into the subject. Eventually the discussion ended with the idea that it might be taken up again at budget time. Later Jack McLachlan, Huron East clerk-administrator, suggested that numerous situations make the exact apportionment of policing costs difficult. He mentioned calls that begin in one piace and end in another, the effect of the presence of a cruiser in an u.ban area and the different types of calls as all having an effect on any a tempt to exactly assign costs to an individual ward.