Loading...
The Citizen, 2000-09-06, Page 1Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Volume 16 No. 35 Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2000 75 Cents (70c + 5c gst) Inside this week D r Advocate educates* g- 0 about FAS/FAE Couple plans frontier town Speaker addresses beef producers Co-ordinator’s job is volunteers Stratford’s ‘Tartuffe’ a hit with reviewer New faces at area schools There will be a lot of new faces as well as some returning familiar ones at public schools across the readership area this week. New Hullett Central Public School principal Lois Tcbbutt will have a staff with 10 changes. Mane Black and Audrey Kemp will share the kindergarten duties while Joan Vandendool will teach the Grade 2/3 class. Dave Medd will return to look after Grade 4/5, and Julie Gilroy will work part-time with the Grade 5/6 class. Other part-time staffers include Marie Webster, special education resource. Sue Richmond, resource education assistant and Susan Wyatt in music. Melonie Miller will greet visitors as the new secretary. Grey Central Public School students will be welcomed by former Walton Public School principal, Alice McDowell. The new teachers are Laura Scott for kindergarten, Robert Payne in Grade 6/7 and Emelie MacKay, SCC (self-contained classroom). East Wawanosh Public School has four new teachers on staff including Tanya Hodges for the Grade 3 class in the morning, Nancy Folkard, Grade 3/4, resource educational assistant Sonya Reay and supply educational assistant Juanita Smith. Brussels Public School welcomes Joyce Fell for music and Lisa Fritz as an educational assistant. At Blyth Public School, the Grade 5/6 teacher will be Jennifer Barnett; Grade 6/7, Bevan Moir; Grade 7/8, Sabrina LoStracco; educational assistant, Marlene Peck; school­ based social worker, Karen Fox and Dianne van Vliet filling in for a maternity leave in the Grade 4/5 class Enrolment has risen slightly at Blyth up from 204 at the end of last year to 207 this year. Students numbers were at 189 at the beginning of the 1999 year. Enrolment has remained relatively stable at Hullett Central with 209 and Grey Central at 223. No numbers were available from Brussels or East Wawanosh at press time. Blyth residents to get survey A team studying the Blyth Brook catchment area from the Maitland Watershed Partnerships is moving onto the next step - getting the community involved. The Total Approach Team of the Maitland Watershed Partnerships hopes to tackle the water quality concerns in the Blyth Brook by focusing on encouraging the adoption of best management practices by village and rural residents in the catchment area. The team, as part of the Maitland Watershed Partnerships, is working towards the overall goal of improving the long-term social, economic, and environmental health of the Maitland watershed. The use of the best management practices has proven environmental benefits although the economic benefits are sometimes more important to the landowner. Best management practices are defined by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Ready to hit the books It was back to school for thousands of students across the county as the 2000 school year began under cool but sunny skies. With closed schools and adjusted boundaries, students will be getting acquainted with new buildings and teachers as well as making new friends. A Grey Central Public School pupil leaves the bus for the first day of class, Sept. 5. Food and Rural Affairs as “practical, affordable approaches to conserving soil, water and other natural resources in rural areas” including nutrient management and appropriate cropping and tillage. In September, the team will be surveying landowners to determine the best management practices currently being used and to understand what prevents landowners from adoption of these practices. Landowners in the Blyth Brook catchment area will receive a survey in the mail within the next month. The returned surveys will all remain anonymous. Landowners may also be contacted by telephone to seek their approval for a survey to be done one-on-one with a member of the partnerships at their convenience. A financial token of appreciation will be offered to landowners who agree to participate. Later this year, the survey results and water quality testing results will be used to create a plan for supporting the community in the adoption or the continued use of best management practices. A public event is planned for Nov. 30 when the survey and water quality results from the Blyth Brook will be made available. At that time, the Total Approach Team hopes that enough support will be generated from the community to move ahead with the creation of a long-term strategy for the Blyth Brook catchment area. Water quality is a concern in the Blyth Brook, although it is not as unhealthy as other areas of the Maitland River. There has been previous rehabilitation work done in the Blyth Brook catchment area, however, water quality problems still exist. Recent test results indicate that E.coli counts in the Blyth Brook have reached as high as 24,000 per 100 millilitres of water. To safely drink the water, there should be zero in drinking water and not any higher than 100 counts per 100 millilitres of water in swimming water. Another detrimental bacteria. Pseudomonas aeroginosa has been found at excessive levels since testing began in April. Pseudomonas aeroginosa is an invasive bacteria which can cause eye, ear and throat infections. Nitrate levels in the Blyth Brook are well above the level known to interfere with the growth and development of the earliest stages of aquatic life. Following rain events, phosphorus levels have been found to be higher than the recommended level resulting in the nuisance growth of plants. For further information about the Total Approach Initiative or if you wish to volunteer to complete a one- on-one survey please contact Phil Beard, project co-ordinator, by e- mail at maitland@mvca.on.ca or phone 519-335-3557. Blyth arena needs new floor The board of the Blyth and District Community Centre held an open meeting on Aug. 28 to discuss the replacement of the arena floor. Representatives from several community organizations and interested citizens listened as Arena Manager Dave Cook outlined the board's concerns with the existing floor. He said that the floor presently in place is the original floor which was installed when the artificial ice plant was installed in 1967. He advised that the life expectancy of an arena floor of this type is 20 to 25 years and this timeframe has been exceeded. Cook indicated that problems have arisen during the start-up process over the past few seasons with leaking pipes and on one occasion the installation of ice was delayed until repairs were completed. The board felt that due to the municipal amalgamation process, it would be beneficial to establish a plan for the replacement of the floor at this time to ensure that the youth and citizens of the area would have continued use of the arena. Several citizens expressed their views during a question and answer period and the board decided to hold another meeting on Monday, Oct. 9 at 7:30 p.m. at the arena to receive further input and to provide an update on the project. This meeting is open to the public and all citizens are encouraged to attend to address the future of the Blyth and District Community Centre.