Huron Expositor, 1999-05-05, Page 1May 5, 1999
$i
(includes GST)
Local weather
Wednesday --Sunny with .
cloudy periods, High 23. '
Thursday --Mainly cloudy,
scattered showers."High
23
Friday --Mainly cloudy,
showers. High 22. Low 12.
Saturday--Moinly cloudy,
scattered showers: High
near 21. Low near 12:
From Envrronment,Canada
In brief
Museum
planning
July
opening
The Seaforth Museum
could be opening_ its
doors as early as July 1.
Tentative plans for the
museum will have it
open in conjunction with
the heritage walk held by
the Local Architectural
Conservation Advisory
Committee on Canada
:Day.
Museum, Committee
Chair Irwin Johnston
said they are preparing
eight display cases for
the opening but at this
time, thg plans remain ,
tentative.
• _Once, open. Johnston
said they are still trying
to, determine if a student.
is available, to staff the
itiuseum or whether or
notit would be ope>i
during Town Hall hours.
It will be 'located on the
second door of Town,'
fHall. J
They also have to
41gtgrmiags laftwmud] it
will cost to tour the
exhibits and how that
money will be collected:
More exhibits will be
prepared with much of
the museum's contents
coming from the Frank
Sills collection; a
collection of thousands
of Se}tforth artifacts
recently donated to the
committee for the.
museum..
—Those items -are -still-
being catalogued, sorted
and cleaned for exhibits.
EMA site
to be . .
cleaned up
Owners of the property
of the former LMA
Grocery Store are,
expected to be cleaning
up the property soon;
Town staff recently
met with the owners who -
came to see the site
where the building
collapsed this past winter.
Initial contact with the
. owners had been difficult '
but Administrator Jack
McLachlan recently told
councilt,hey_.wett able
talk with the owners.
Staff were told once
the site is cleared, a new
building would possibly
be erected in its place.
An inside
look. at library
fines
Pope 7
lions Club fish
derby
Page 14
Spring concert
Page 14
Shootings spark reviews
of school emergency plans
By Susan Hundertmark
Expositor Staff
Seaforth District High
School' principal Bruce
Eccles. along with the rest of
rhe• principals of Avon.
Maitland schools, is in the
process of reviewing the
school's • emergency
• procedure, after last week',
shooting in Alberta.
"In light o,f what's
happened. you have to -
review. You `- try and
.:imicmate what chuld happen
here and what ,the response
could he. he says. •
Eccles says that ;titer the
shootings in Culuradn.
someone at: a gas station
remarked to hint that a
similar incident could never
happen in Seaforth. But. atter
the' shootings On :Taber.
Alberta.he's not so .urea
-- "I've heen 'to Taber. It's a -
small rural agricultural, towrj
_just like Seaforth. That kind
of blows that, theory t that it
'could never happen here) Out
of the water. "=he says..
Reviewing -:the emergency
procedures. will nvolve'
taking a dose look at both
incidents and trying -to tigure
out what went wrong and
whether thete.'night ha•e
been' a 'hetter way : to
respond. .
"In Colorado. they rang, the
Mire `alarm io get kids out of .
• the school but that put all
those kids_ in the hall. where
they were shot so maybe that
wasn't such a good idea." .
Nays Eccles. ,
He adds that "one never
really .knows until it happens
what the response will he.-
...Short of hiring 'police
officers to 'patrol school
hallways: the Avon Maitland
District School Bi>ard -has
done everything possible to
prevent or deal with :in
emergency like the recent
shootings in Colorado and,
Alberta. says superintendent
Mane Parsons. -
"You can.never prevent the
unexpected or the bizarre. hut..
-we have strong programs
already in place and 1 don't
think hiring police Officers
would he :i good . use of,
taxpayers' money; Both of
.those schools had security
The lure of fishing
Reilly Rightmyer of Seaforth, Amber McCulligh of Mitchell and Billy leppington of Seaforth fish from a bridge at tions Park during_
the annual fishing derby for youth on Saturday morning. See Page 14.for mor a photos.
Scott Hlgendorff photo
•
City looking for its lost sister
West Branch would like to renew ties yOung people.
Copies of the e-mail message have
with Seaforth, its. sister city from the 7oS made their way to Seaforth Recreation
Director Marty Bedard who remember.
Sy Scott NNgertdorif
Expositor. Edttor
administrator). taking part in' those'exchanges as a
He has sent email messages to a few youngster. •
Seaforth area organizations ,that heHe said about 400 young people
Seaforth's "sister city" is attempting found with web pages qn the Internet,
to renew its ties to the town. •
West Branch. Michigan, named
Seaforth's sister �Itv in the late 1970's,
has reached out again in hopes of
restarting comtnunication between the
two towns.
"Maybe we could get this kicked off
again," said Patrick McGuiness.•West
Branch's city operator (similar to the
Canadian position .of town
hoping to generate interest.
He began the search after an Ogamaw
County committee organizing
International Year of the Older Person
events, suggested contacting Seafonh, to
see if.a similar committee in that area
would be interested in an exchange with
seniors.
Back in the late 70s and early 80s,
exchanges often took place between
would compete in baseball, track and
field, swimming and basketball
competitions, with the sister cities
taking turns hosting the events on
alternating years. '
Bedard said it would have been a lot
of work organizing the events and
finding homes for the children to stay at
when they visited and suggested that
could be one of the reasons it faded
See WORK Pepe 1
officers and. it didn't seem to
. matter." sh
. Parsons says site has.
cantidence in the many
programs the hoard offers to
both staff.andstudents to
deal with_ violence. resolve
conflicts. holster -.ell -esteem
and learn erripathv and
communication .kills.
'The programs. which .ire
mostly aimed at elementar ' ..
school -aged children, include
the ViP program in Grade -b.
the LionsQuest program in •
Grades, 7 and S. the
. : See PARENTS, Page 14
Policing
for whole
county
approved
By Blake Patterson
Goderit_h Signal -Scor Staff
..The county has decided to -
create it county -wine 1)Otice
.force.. _
County 'Council save its
approval Aptit .29 for the
Warden and the _Clerk-
ldministrator to Sign ;t
county -wide Contract with
the OPP..
There.Is still uncertainty..•
however, whether or not the
province:, Solicitor General_
will ever .)gree to the
: i attract.
Two letters have heen
receive trottl t the-:Mir-US-trS --
,t the Solicitor General
regarding • the proposed
• county contract. One letter
says the contract is line.. the
other says it cannot. he•
signed until the 'the: town ut
Winghain is included in the
_aunty-wide'package.. . •
it present. the new
count gide contract. 11.
signed. vitt not include.
Winghatn and will he based" •
ul •hr urrent•-le1'els of
pultcutg service being
provided to the county's
other 25 municipalities:
The S5.8 -million price tag
for the force _includes the
salaries •and benefits of
uniformed .tnd• Civilian •
members .of the staff, and
other expenses Such ,ts
police cars: :buildings..
4quipment and
c:otttmunicamin cgsts. •
The first letter from the
Solicitor General's otticer
was dated on,March 9. and
was from Moe Hodgson. a
police _ern Ices'advtsor. .
>.cc udiitg to Hodgson,
the . proposed county
policing. 'hy-law is. "in
accord with . .. the'
requirements of the
Ministry:"
• He said the ministry .has
reviewed the contract "with
positive results" and thinks
the by-law addresses the
provincial: interest in
policing." 'Hodgson called
the by-law "an important
first step in the county -wide
policing contract process." •
The second letter from the
ministry wasn't quite so
supportive. .
The second letter was•
dated March 25 and came
Soo W1P4 HAM Page 6
Your community newspaper since 1860