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Huron Expositor, 1999-12-16, Page 134 -THE HURON EXPOSITOR, December 15, 1999 Foyeux-cori e itor Ti* 19.1 011114 ARM Your Community Newspaper Since 1860 Terri -Lynn Hart - Publisher Pat Armes - Office Manager Scott Hilgendorff - Editor Danne McGrolh - Subscriptions!Cbssifieds Susan Hundertmark - Reporter Bowes Publishers Limited Suhadwn n' f.. Memo (zi.+W,e+ - t LLeer a lo.ya E-mail us at seaforth@bowesnet.com SUBSCRIPTION RATE LOCAL 32 50 a year, in odvance, plus 2 28 G S T SENIORS:, 30.00 a year, in advance. plus 2 10 G S T USA & Foreign- 28 440 year in odvonce, plus 578.00 postage, G S T exempt SUBSCRIPTION RATES• Published weekly by Signal -Star Publishing of 100 Main St , Seaforth. Publication moil registroti9n No. 0696 held at,Seaforth. Ontario Advertising is accepted on condition tttot;in the event of o typographical error, the advertising spoce occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reosonable allowance for signature, will not be charged, but the balance of the odvertisement will be paid for of the opplicoble rote. In the event ofa typographical error, advertising goods or services at o .iron price, goods or services may not be sold Advertising is merely on offer to sell and may be withdrawn at any time The Huron Expositor is not responsible for the loss or donwge of unsolicited manuscripts, photos or other materials used for reproduction purposes. Changes of address, orders for subscriptions and undeliverable copies are to be sent to The Huron Expositor. • Wednesday, December 15, 1999 Editorial and 8asiness Offices - 100 Main Street.,SeeforHi Telephone (519) 527-0240 Pax (519) 527-2058 Mailing Address - P.O. Box 69, • SeaferH*, Ontario, NOK 1 WO Member of die' Canadian Community Newspaper 4r Association. Ontario Community Newspapers Association Publication Mail Registration No. 07605 Editorial Police presence only serves to, antagonize While not unusual for a police presence' to be called when there's going to be a large gathering of people, the school board has again taken steps that have served to only antagonize the; community they are supposed to be representing. • At a meeting last/ Tuesday to hear public concerns about possible school closures, the community had to walk past two police officers to get inside. Sadly, the board's media relations officer thought the Expositor was making too big an issue about the police being there. Actually, the board made it an issue when they decided to call them in at the last public meeting it held when the public was stifled from speaking and the mayor.insisted on being heard. That alone caused outrage in the community and by having a police presence 'again, whether for Tess severe reasons or not, it became an issue The Expositor can't ignore. BoardChair Wendy Andgrson openly said the board asked them to be there because of the large crowds expected and possible traffic problems associated with the bus loads of people expected. The sincerety of this reasoning tested by the fact that the OPP Staff Sergeant assumed the officers were patrolling the area in case they were needed but did not realize they had actually gone inside the meeting: From the police perspective, the board did nothing unusual by calling for and OPP presence. .In situations where' there are going to be Targe crowds or Targe groups of people with opposing views, the staff sergeant recommends the police be called. The board was Well within its rights to have a police presence there but it doesn't appear as if its intent was truly for traffic control. They again, deserve criticism for overreacting, poor judgement and doing further damage to any attempts at improving communication with the public. There.was nothing for the police to do the last time they were called when faced with an angry crowd that was not allowed to speak. This time, the public, was invited to have their say, eliminating the frustration•feit by being - stifled last month with procedure and police. The board must stop antagonizing and start working with the community. Scott Hilgendorff How to access us Letters to the Editor and other submissions can be made to us by noon on Mondays at: . seaforth@bowesnet.com All letters and submissions must be signed and accompanied by a day -time telephone number. All submissions are subject to editing for both length and content. Don't forget to check out our homepage at: www.bowesnet.com/expositor/ tor/ Opinion Letters Town of Seaforth not an island unto itself To the Editor: Mayor David Scott of Seaforth desperately needs to go back to school as he needs a lesson in Huron County geography. The Town of Seaforth is not an island unto itself, but is one of twenty-six municipalities that make up this great County of Huron. Mr. Scott has gone into the deep end of the political swimming pool when he states that the Huron Centennial School could be closed and not hurt any communities. Closing any school in Huron County is not going to be a benefit to any municipality in the county, as it was with local tax dollars and great community spirit that all of our schools were designed. built and operated. 1 would remind Mr. Scott that the Huron Centennial School serves the municipalities of Bayfield, Stanley and Tuckersmith, and has had an excellent record of service to all of its students. Mr. Scott appears to have lost sight of the enemy in the school closure situation. The enemy is not the Seaforth Mayor's neighbouring municipalities and their schools. The enemy is the Ontario Provincial Conservative Government and their policies of forcing Toronto based policies on the rural municipality of Huron ' County. By picking on his neighbours. the Mayorrof Seaforth will lose his battle. To win, all of the people of Huron must remain united and not get caught in a trade off war within our own county. James I. McIntosh A Tuckersmith Resident Board had a budget surplus, editorials resorting to ridicule To the Editor: elementary students move have been reduced from 15 There has been into the vacated space. The in the two predecessor considerable misinformation resulting elementary school boards in the early 1990s to printed about the school would be one of the larger five today, including a board recently in your elementary schools in the reduction by .one last year. newspaper. While 1 district with excellent We have given out much understand the need for facilities to serve children • information recently about editorials to be thought- well into the future. If this the reductions in central provoking, 1 believe it is actually occurred. the town staffing since amalgamation. usual for editorials to reflect would not be left without a In fact the Board spends less on factual information and school as has been on its central administration not to resort to personal suggested. than the government attacks and ridicule. 2) The Board had a provides, directing some of Letters to the Editor no budget surplus last year that money into the schools. doubt contain opinions from which has been placed in 5) The staff Christmas readers which you may or reserves. This information is party last year referred to as may not see as representing available in our audited a "lavish catered party" in a publ'c opinion, but you have financial statements which recent Letter to the Editor the option not to print those will be available next week was a potluck lunch with the more outrageous on our website and in the organized by office staff and statements' such as the Board and school offices. held in the school cafeteria recent letter from Helen 3) My salary is 5109,000 after the student lunch Vock. Here is clarification and I receive no personal period. There was no cost to of just a few of the many commuting allowance or the Board for this event. pieces of misinformation payment of any kind other 6) Each delegation to the generated or printed by your than for travel on board poard this fall has been newspaper in recent weeks: business. My salary will be given a full 10 minutes to Dr, Lorne Rachlis 1) The proposal regarding announced publicly each speak. There have also been Director of Education closure of schools in year in accordance with six regional information Seaforth is that the high provincial law. sessions around the district tschool clorse and that the 4) Supervisory Officers to provide information and Board urged to reconsider closing schools to give people the opportunity to ask questions. There will be more public sessions in the new year. In your December 1 editorial -you invite letters and state "Every submission ' is subject to editing for space and content but usually only when the ,_ subject matter is libelous and unfair." It is my hope that you will provide people with all of the facts presented around the school accommodation issue, not just one side. I believe that the media have a key role to play . in communicating about issues that concern their communities. Misinformation hurts communication and thereby hurts the community. To the Editor Being a concerned citizen of this community for all my life. almost fifty years, I am interested in the well being of our town and the outcome of the decisions that are being made of late. r• Is there not another plan that could work better'' It seems a bit harsh that three schools be closed. - Would that not mean a lot more busing, when a great many of the children, teens walk to school? • Does busing not cost? How many would be needed and at what cost? What good is the schoot board (in the well built, but costly new addition to the school). if there is no school? 1 thought the board was there to help children and parents. If you close all the schools. you may as well say goodbye to possibly the clinic, after the hospital and other businesses eventually close. The reality: no schools. no clinic. no hospital. no town. Who wants to buy property and live where there is nothing? Without children, teens and adults from these three important places. the downtown businesses would suffer because these people are a real big part of our full main street which is looking very promising now. - 1 strongly urge the school board to reconsider this decision and come up with another plan (with the help of the people) that will not affect the whole community in which I live. work and spend my money. Sincerely Louise Dick People are abandoning animals to die at the sides of roads in area To the Editor: To all of you people that are too lazy or too naive to keep your animals on your own property and too cheap to get your animals fixed, and in turn. drop, them and their offspring off on the side of a road. or at a dump. or drown them. etc. Shame on you! 11 is a sad commentary on how little some people regard the world and how little respect is shown for life. One pair of fertile cats. and subsequently their offspring. can produce approximately one million kittens in 10 y_ears._If you don't want their_ offspring. then spay and neuter your pets. Yes, it costs money. It also reduces their risk of cancers and also means the pet won't go into heat every few weeks. and therefore you won't end up with up to four litters a year to feed. That is assuming you even feed them, or perhaps they get to try and survive by mousing. competing with a million other stray cats, that are not being fed. In one week I received three phone calls from concerned citizens, about animals that they had picked up that had been abandoned by thoughtless people. 1 also found two "former" pet rabbits that had been dropped off in a bush right along the road. 1 tried to gain these friendly, rabbits trust by feeding them: and was as close asgetting to stand within a foot of them. Almost inevitably. by Friday and Saturday both had been killed on the road. As for the three kittens that sgmc,:ne dropped off in a field. one had died by the time they were discovered. and the other two were still clinging to him. Two concerned citizens tried to help by trying to rescue them. Unfortunately . one Was caught and the other ran away. We set my live trap up to catch this other frightened. starving- and cold__ kitten. and although fresh food was put in the live trap daily. the kitten was found dead within the week. People can literally torture them. This year in Toronto more than six cats were decapitated. One man beat cats over their skulls, and then while they were still alive, suffocated them with plastic bags. and then put them in Tupperware containers. Every town around here had a minimum of 10 animals each go missing this sumpler - never to be found. Even if they are lucky enough to be found all I can do is put them in my weekly column, on my posters, website. and try to get onto the Swap 'Shop radio program, and hope they get adopted. There is no pound around here for us to put these animals in. There is no funding to pay for their medical attention they may need. There is no funding to board them until a foster home is found. There is no funding to pay for their food. There are usually no foster homes willing to keep them at all. So dogcatchers pick up most of them and then if not placed within three days they are euthanized.' There is no fairy tale -6'1164-16i Ihe animals-thaf- are dropped off by people or for those animals that simply wander, and get- lost from your property. The dogcatcher's phone numbers are not easy to find. and many people do not even know where to begin to look for their lost pet. In one week, I had a Collie, a German shepherd, Hound, Lab cross, and three kittens, found. This does not include the 10 animals that not been claimed from before, that have been listed for weeks that are lucky enough to have, been picked up by kind hearted people willing to keep them until a foster home can be found, or those that are in one of our two foster homes that we have. 1f you insist on letting your pet roam. please have them wear a safe collar with several identification tags.. Although it is wonderful to place a pet that would otherwise be euthanized, unless you have chosen the pet carefully, and intend to keep the animal for its lifetime, they are probably better off dead, than to be adopted on the spur of the moment and then to be dropped off to fend for themselves. 1 have placed more than 400 animals since April, 1998; my two friends that foster also place a large number of animals. These animals ate from -all ateac, as far spread as Clinton, Owen Sound and Zurich. Two foster homes certainly don't have the space to keep all these animals. To ensure you are doing your part in guaranteeing your pet and its offspring won't end up unwanted; please follow theses rules before getting a pet: Be careful when choosing a pet- consider the breed carefully, research how large it will get. if it sheds a lot, if its lifestyle matches yours. ex. Does it require a lot of exercise? Does it need a lot of companionship? Will you have enough time for the animal for the next 5N SOCIETY, Pep 1