The Citizen, 2004-07-01, Page 6Lining up to celebrate
There was a good turnout on hand for the Blyth community barbecue on
Friday evening, following the 'unveiling' of the new 'Historic Blyth'. (Sarah Mann
photo)
Blyth unveils new look
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PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 1, 2004.
HE councillor wages battle
It was a time of celebration,
renewal and introduction on
Friday evening as the historic
Blyth theme was unveiled at
Memorial Hall.
The event began at 5 p.m.
with an introduction by Steve
Sparling. He explained that
the Blyth Idea Group (BIG)
had hosted two public
meetings a year ago to discuss
the village's future.
"Initially many of us simply
wanted to develop a strategy
to fill the vacant stores," said
Sparling.
However, with the
resources of a modest grant
and support from North
Huron reeve Doug Layton,
clerk-administrator John
Stewart, and former
councillor. Jeff Howson, as
well as the economic
development committee the
group began to think beyond
the vacant retail space.
On one particular Sunday,
early in the process, Sparling
said, consultant Lynne
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen
The Huron-Perth Catholic
District School Board hopes
to dust off some neglected
bookshelves, open up some
creaky old trunks, and sift
through some yellowing
papers, as it seeks to
consolidate its archives.
At the board's final regular
meeting of the season,
Monday. June 21, director of
education Larry Langan
announced the hiring of Marg
Rowland, a former Huron-
Perth teacher who will begin
work next September, a few
hours per week as a "system
archivist."
"We're going to try to
organize our archives,"
Langan explained, following
the meeting. "Our records,
our history, our tradition —
they haven't gotten the
Ternosky of Stratford, drove
to Blyth to check out the "long
list of community assets we
had boasted about".
"And despite the fact she
was armed with the list and
knew what she was looking
for," Ternosky was unable to
find several of the assets, said
Sparling.
"As time went on the
message became clear: if
North Huron council and the
Blyth Idea Group are serious
about renewal and
development we need to have
something to sell and
something to promote. It's not
enough to say that 100 times
Blyth's population comes to
visit each year. It's also not
enough to promote the fact we
have available retail space - so
does almost every other small
town in North America. We
need something to sell and
something to promote that
will help package Blyth as a
product • we may effectively
take to market."
attention over the years that
we think they should have
gotten."
The move was praised by
South Huron trustee Mike
Miller, who's active with a
Zurich-based historical
society which is examining
the fate of hundreds of years
worth of information
compiled by the Catin family
— descendants of the founder
of the St. Lawrence. Seaway.
According to Langan,
records about Huron-Perth
Catholic schools are either
held within each school
community, within the county
towns of Stratford and
Goderich, or elsewhere. He
said Rowland's job will be
researching where those
archives are, as well as
researching how other school
boards have consolidated
their records.
"There's a great deal of
BIG proposed three phases
of the theme Historic Blyth at
a public meeting March 4.
Phase one is the Queen Street
signage and historic walking
tour. Phase two is the Queen
Street heritage facade and
phase three is historic murals.
The opening night of this
season's Blyth Festival, which
was June 18, was set as the
target date to launch phase
one. The signs which were on
display by that night were a
sample of what the final
products will look like, with
one exception, said Sparling.
"The permanent signs will be
approximately 30 per cent
larger.
Following the unveiling,
greetings were brought from
Layton and cheques were
presented on behalf of a
number of community groups
and BIG.
A community barbecue was
held following the official
launch at the municipal
parking lot.
interest in our board in the
history of our schools," the
director of education said,
when asked why the effort is
being made.
By Dale Newman
Special to The Citizen
On June 22 Huron East
council reviewed the tenders
for a new grader along with a
recommendation from John
Forrest, public works co-
ordinator. On June I, two
tenders had been opened,
Volvo coming in at
$277,610.00 and Toromont
Cat at $267,892.50, a
difference of $9,717.50.
Forrest recommended that
Council accept the tender of
Toromont. He believed both
With the recent events in
the Holly Jones murder case
in Toronto, local Huron East
councillor, Mark Beaven
introduced a bylaw at the
Huron East council meeting
on Tuesday, June 22 that will
require local internet service
providers to block websites
that promote child
pornography.
"Like many Canadians, I
was shocked and horrified at
the revelations (recently) at
the Holly Jones murder trial,"
said Beaven. "I felt a need to
try and do something to stop
this evil."
Beaven .then spent the next
few days researching ways
how the local municipality
could take the lead in the
fight.
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen
Additional staff will be in
place at nine Avon Maitland
District School Board
elementary sites for the 2004-
05 school year, as the board
begins implementing a
government-mandated
decrease in the average size
of primary-level classes.
Administrative staff
presented the board's
"Primary Class Size
Reduction Plan" for 2004-05,
at the final regular meeting of
the season, Tuesday, June 22.
On the list for additional staff
are schools in Clinton, Ethel,
Crediton, St. Marys,
Shakespeare and Mitchell,
along with three sites in
Stratford.
A goal of 20 students per
classroom from kindergarten
to Grade 3 was established as
an election promise during
last fall's provincial
campaign, and laterinstituted
by the ruling Liberals' on a
phase-in basis.
For 2004-05, the Avon
Maitland board received just
over $760,000, to be used
specifically for hiring
companies had met the
requirements of the tender,
with Toromont at the low end
of the specifications and
Volvo being at the high end.
Public works staff had an
opportunity to try out the
Toromont grader. Joe Ryan
felt the Cat had adequate
power in all gears.
Councillor Mark Beaven
felt that Forrest's
recommendation should be
accepted but in a recorded
vote a motion to accept
Toromont was defeated. In a
second recorded vote Volvo's
"I started thinking about the
lack of federal or provincial
legislation regarding intemet
service providers and I came'
up with an idea on how the
municipality can use its
business licensing authority
to help with the fight."
Beaven is referring to the
fact that municipalities in
Ontario have the authority to
license and regulate the
businesses that are located in
their respective boundaries.
What Beaven is set to propose
to council is potentially, a
giant step in the fight against
child pornography.
"I introduced a simple
bylaw that would require all
internet service providers
located in Huron East to have
a municipal licence," explains
teachers, acquiring supplies
and providing classroom
space.
"What we think (education
ministry officials) want to
know is, A: that we have a
plan; and B: when we report
back, that there's an actual
reduction of class size. And
we think this will achieve
that," said director of
education Geoff Williams.
One full-time teaching
position in the Grade 1-3
range will be added to the
staffing complements at
Clinton Public School, Grey
Central Public School,
Stephen Central Public
School, and Stratford's Anne
Hathaway and Avon
elementary schools. During
2003-04, average Primary
class sizes at Avon, Grey
Central and Stephen Central
were either at or only slightly
above 20, witIr the other two
schools averaging 23.3 and
24.5. But 2004-05 projections
at those same staffing levels
indicated all five of those
schools would have had
averages of between 23.6 and
25 during the coming year.
The addition of one teacher
is projected to bring those
was also defeated.
Council decided to seek
third party advice on whether
Beaven. "One of the
requirements of the license
will be that the ISP has
filtering software in place that
blocks the transmission of
websites with Child
Pornography material."
Currently, there is , no
legislation in Canada
requiring internet service
providers to have this
technology in place and
Beaven knows of no other
municipality that has a similar
licensing bylaw.
"So far I have not been able
to find any other municipality
that has taken this step",
states Beaven. "But I know
one thing is for sure, I will
make sure other
municipalities hear of Huron
East's efforts."
averages down to between 19
and 21.6 for 2004-05.
Half-time kindergarten
teachers, meanwhile, will be
added at Stratford's Romeo
Public School, St. Marys
Central Public School,
Sprucedale Public School in
Shakespeare, and Upper
Thames Elementary School
in Mitchell. Under previous
staffing levels, the average
kindergarten class size at
those sites was projected to
be between 22.2 and 23.6; the
addition of the half-time
position should decrease that
number to between 15 and
18.5.
According to the staff
report, decisions about which
schools would benefit from
the 2004-05 portion of
Primary Class Size Reduction
phase-in were based on a .
combination of: larger
projected size of the 2004-05
Primary classes; lower
success levels in provincially-
standardized tests; greater
number of Special Education
students; and the availability
of existing classroom space.
Under the plan — which
must be approved by the
Continued on page 7
or not both companies had in
fact met the tender's
specifications.
HPCDSB consolidates archives
AMDSB to hire more staff
Huron East council defers decision
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