The Citizen, 2005-10-27, Page 1X
Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County
Volume 21 No. 42 Thursday, Oct. 27, 2005 $1 (93c + 7c GST)
| NORTH HURON PUBLISHING COMPANY INC.
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Inside this week
Pg. 6
Pg. 7
Pg. 10
Pg-13
HCFA holds annual
meeting
Huron East looks at
zoning amendment
Madill students get
awards
Fall car care
section begins
p Belgrave student
rg. wins award
Witches ’
Walk
Saturday
By Heather Crawford
Citizen staff
Saturday, Oct. 29 the annual
witches walk will be returning to the
Greenway Trail in Blyth with more
ghoulish action than before.
“It's going to be wonderful?’,
organizer Bev Blair said. “We’ve put
a lot of work into it.”
Blair said there are a few new
tricks this year but “I don’t want to
give my secrets away.”
There will be a pumpkin carving
contest for participants of all ages.
Anyone interested can drop off their
pumpkin at 1 p.m. behind Howson’s
" sheds.
The fee for the walk is by
donation and most of the money
goes towards the firefighters. “It’s a
good cause,” Blair said. “The
firefighters could use the money for
the emergency training centre.”
Blair said the walk is for people of
any age but it gets scarier towards
the end. “Smaller kids can cut off
through the gazebo,” she said. “Last
year we had some very small kids
and elderly who went all the way
through, though."
The greenway trail is located at
the sheds at Howson’s Mill. The fun
will start at 7 p.m.
“Anybody who comes will have a
good time,” Blair said.
Time to
fall back
It will be an extra hour of sleep
this weekend as we fall back to
Eastern Standard Time, which
arrives officially at 2 a.m., Sunday,
Oct. 30.
Remember to turn the clocks back
one hour before retiring on Saturday
night or be early for church the next
day.
Digging in
It’s the time of year to celebrate the bounty of the harvest and three-year-old Cole Elliott
thoroughly enjoyed the home-cooked meal served up at the Ethel United Church supper on
Sunday evening. (Vicky Bremner photo)
Grade 9s
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen
Significant gains were achieved in
2005 provincially-standardized
Math tests by applied-level Grade 9
students in the Huron-Perth Catholic
District School Board.
A 12-point jump in the percentage
of Huron-Perth students scoring at
or above the standard set by the
provincial government’s arms-
length Education Quality and
Accountability Office (EQAO)
brings them much closer to the
success rate of their Avon Maitland
District School Board counterparts,
and much further ahead of the
Ontario-wide average.
Results were made public last
week from the EQAO’s 2005 tests
for Grade 3 and 6, in reading,
writing and math, and Grade 9
applied and academic-level math.
Province-wide, the applied-level
Grade 9 test has been the most
heavily scrutinized, due to the
consistently low percentage of
students who achieve the EQAO
standard. That pattern continued in
2005, with a zero per cent
improvement over last year leaving
the province-wide average success
rate stalled at 26 per cent.
In 2004, the Avon Maitland board
boasted results atop Ontario, with 42
per cent of Applied-level students
improve on math
meeting or surpassing the EQAO
standard. In 2005, 44 per cent of
Avon Maitland students achieved
similar results.
This year, students at Clinton’s St.
Anne’s and Stratford’s St. Michael
Catholic secondary schools went
against the provincial trend of
stagnation, and made steps toward
matching their Avon Maitland
counterparts. They achieved a 12 per
cent improvement over the 2004
results from their schools, boosting
the Huron-Perth board’s overall
success rate among applied-level
math students to 36 per cent.
Huron-Pert h's academic-level
Grade 9 students also made
significant gains, increasing the
board’s success rate to 69 per cent,
up 11 points from 2004 and enough
to bring the board in line with the
provincial average. At Avon
Mailland secondary schools,
meanwhile. Academic-level results
remained steady al 76 per cent of
students scoring at or above the
EQAO standard.
A news release from the Huron-
Perth board stated education director
Larry Langan and trustee chair
Bernard Murray were “pleased, to
report the board-wide increase.”
And an Avon Maitland news
release stated the board’s Grade 9
math students “continue to be
among the provincial leaders.”
In Grade 3 and 6 standardized
tests, meanwhile, trends from past
years generally held true for both
boards.
Avon Maitland students surpassed
the provincial average in reading
and mathematics for both grades. In
the writing test, Avon Maitland
students were two points below the
provincial average in both grades.
“However,” the board’s news
release states, “the number of Grade
3 students reaching standard
improved by three points (compared
to 2004), and the Grade 6 students
improved by eight percentage
points.”
The most significant level of
improvement came in Grade 6
reading, where the percentage of
Avon Maitland students meeting or
surpassing the EQAO standard rose
to 66 per cent, up nine points from
2004.
In most cases, these improvements
bring the Avon Maitland board
closer to the Grade 3 and Grade 6
results achieved consistently in the
Catholic board, since the inception
of EQAO assessments in 2000.
The top result for the Huron-Perth
board this year was in Grade 3 math,
where XI per cent of students met or
surpassed the EQAO standard.
Other success rates ranged from 69
per cent in Grade 6 writing to 79 per
cent in Grade 3 reading.
Home
tour
next
weekend
By Bonnie Gropp
Citizen editor
Five houses and a'businesses will
be opening their doors to show off
Christmas splendour as the Brussels
Skating Club hosts home tour, Nov.
4, 5, and 6.
The event also ties in with the
Legion craft show.
A 1904 Edwardian home owned
by Merle and Rhonda Hoegy at 640
Turnberry St. offers beautiful
stained glass windows and
mahogany woodwork. Built by the
Baker family, who also built the
home of the first reeve, the house
was owned in the 1960s by Dr.
Kelly, a veterinarian. The entrance
off the dining room was his office.
Dublin Mercantile will be
dressing the Hoegy home for the
tour.
Sandwiched between the Legion
and the Hoegys’ is the home of Don
and Janna Dodds and family, a
lovely white-bricked Victorian with
stained glass and two bay windows.
Built circa 1872, the house has
wood floors and wainscotting \^ith a
cherry banister in the central
stairway.
The Dodds family's love of
antiques is evident throughout the
home.
Decorating the house will be
Shirley Dodds of Floral Designs in
Harriston.
Moving into the 21st century,
visitors can sneak a peek at the four-
year-old house of Grant and Cindy
Jarvis and Salon Secrets, at 54
McDonald Dr.
The raised bungalow has two
baths and three bedrooms. It’s an
open concept design with dining
room, kitchen and living room
There are ceramic and hardwood
floors.
Decorator is local resident Debbie
Campbell.
In 1990 Henk Vendenbroeck built
the home at 817 Turnberry St. in
which he and his wife Ria now live.
The ranch-style bungalow has a
finished basement. There are
ceramic floors in the kitchen,
laundry room and bath.
Luann’s Country Flowers in Blyth
will be making the home festive for
the tour.
The home of Jack and Esther
McCutcheon at 53 McCutcheon Dr.
is a beautiful angelstone two-storey
that was constructed in 1983. There
are sliding glass doors from the
upstairs bedrooms and a spiral
staircase goes up to the sundeck
from the breezeway.
It will be decorated by Jill Fritz of
Jillian’s in Mitchell.
The ‘bonus’ stop on the tour is
Solace on Turnberry, a wellness
centre and spa at 435 Turnberry St.
Continued on page 2