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Huron Expositor, 2001-04-18, Page 7News Susan Huhdertmark photo Last supper Shawn VanBakel holds the first communion for his disciples, including James, played by Ryan at St. James School's passion play last Thursday as the school celebrated Easter. Curtis THE HURON EXPOSITOR, April 10. 2001-7 OPP begin another campaign running spot checks in area for people not wearing seatbelts dyDave Et lie were 140 tickets handed Clinton News -Record Editor Motorists beware - the Ontario Provincial Police will be on the lookout over the next few weeks for those breaking seatbelt laws. The Spring Seatbelt Campaign, which runs until April 28, is a Canada - wide initiative, during which police will be conducting seatbelt spotchecks, to see who is complying with the law, and to lay charges where necessary. Last year, explained Senior Constable Don Shropshall, Community Services Officer for the Huron OPP, police working in Huron County stopped 15,847 vehicles during the two-week spring seatbelt campaign. From those stopped, he said 203 people were fined for failing to wear their seatbelts or to safely secure their children. This figure was up from the previous year, when there Smith accepts revisions made to board's school closure policy By Stew Slater Special to The Huron Expositor An uncharacteristically reserved East/Central Huron - area representative Charles Smith joined fellow trustees in a unanimous vote in favour of three "housekeeping revisions" to the Avon Maitland District School Board's Student Accommodation Review policy. But in an interview following the vote at a regular board meeting Tuesday, April 10, Smith said he hadn't been nearly so quiet during earlier considerations of the revisions. The revisions were brought forward as recommendations from the board's Policy Committee, which Smith chairs, along with requests for approval of two unrelated new policies. But they were far removed from the revisions Smith had proposed in a Notice of Motion to the b o a r d, submitted on Jan. 23, and Smith lamented following the April 10 meeting that "I have only one vote" on the Policy Committee. A rewritten Student A c c o m- modation Review policy. which sets Out the steps to be taken by the board if it seeks to close schools, was approved by the previous slate of trustees on Oct. 10, 2000, following an earlier ruling by the Ontario Superior Court suggesting supporters of Seaforth District High School (SDHS) had been treated unfairly when the board decided to close the school. Smith. who wasn’t a trustee at the time, spearheaded the successful campaign to save SDHS. In submitting his Jan. 23 notice of motion, he argued the revised policy still failed to meet the requirements for community consultation set out by the rulings of both the Superior Court and Stratford - based judge Thomas Heeney, who originally heard the case and sent it to the higher court. Smith proposed 12 different amendments, including measures to allow for community involvement through more stages of the process, a broader area of investigation for community study groups, and the potential ,for extending the length of the study process. At the time, trustees voted to refer the notice of motion to the Policy Committee. Along with rookie trustee Smith, that committee includes the only three trustees who returned from the previous board: Don Brillinger of the Listowel area, Colleen Schenk from the Wingham area, and board chair Wendy Anderson, who has "ex officio" membership on all board committees. "I voted in favour of each amendment (at the Policy Committee) and each time it was voted down," Smith explained. Instead, the committee put forward a much smaller Quoted 'I am still in support of more community input...(but) from a procedural standpoint, I've pretty much pushed it as far as I can' -- Charles Smith, East/C ntrd huron Trustee set of recom- mendations: one revision to prevent the selection of more than one community study group public representative from each of the board's municipalities, and two revisions stating the director of education must seek trustee approval before naming which schools could be studied for closure. Following the April 10 meeting, Smith explained he supported the less significant revisions because he agreed they effectively clarified portions of the policy which could lead to confusion or lack of trustee input. But he reiterated a board staff member's earlier explanation that they were "housekeeping" measures and called them matters of "semantics," before stating he would much rather have been defending his notice of motion before the entire board. "Obviously, if I were speaking to the issues in the notice of motion, I would still be greatly in favour of them," Smith commented. "I am still in support of more community input ... (But) from a procedural standpoint, I've pretty much pushed it as far as I can." However, though he stands by his argument that the board's Student Accommodation Review policy still contravenes the Ontario Superior Court and Heeney judgments, he offered no hint that legal action might be the next option either for himself or the still -existent group he founded to fight the potential closure of SDHS. But he didn't rule out the possibility that the rulings could once again become important to the board. perhaps indirectly through the activities of groups in other communities or districts threatened by school closure. "That could play itself out some day. It could very well play itself out in another town," Smith said. "I understand that a group from Arthur has been looking very closely at Heeney decision to see. if there's any way they can use it in their activities." out. Another 109 other traffic tickets were issued during last year's campaign, and a number of other criminal charges also resulted from the spotchecks. In all, Shropshall said, more than $40,000 in fines were issued as a direct result of the spring seatbelt campaign. The results of the police spotchecks, he continued, showed a compliance rate with the seatbelt laws of 98 per cent in Huron County. This figure took a real drop, however, when about 50 students from across Huron County conducted another survey, setting up at intersections and tallying the compliance results. In this survey, Shropshall said, Seaforth had the worst seatbelt law compliance rate, at 72 percent. Vanastra followed closely at 74 per cent, while Clinton came in at around 76 or 77 per cent. The municipality with the highest compliance rate was Exeter, at 80 to 82 per cent. The focus of this year's campaign, the constable said, will he on car seat safety. Shropshall noted that a car seat safety clinic will be held at the Huron County Health Unit this Saturday, April 21, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., where car seats will be checked for safety. Allan Carter, Broker • Home • Auto • Commercial • Farm 522-0399 Seaforth 1-800-265-0959 Strathroy A.G. HAYTER CONTRACTING LTD. 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