Huron Expositor, 2001-12-05, Page 1In brief
Drawings
ready
for new
ambulance
stations
New ambulance stations
in Goderich, Exeter and
Seaforth took another step
forward at Huron County
Council on Nov. 29, when
concept drawings for the
three stations were
approved.
Gail Lamb of Gail E.
Lamb Inc. the county's
architect for the stations,
made a presentation to
council, about the
structures at its meeting.
Lamb's company was
selected to provide
architectural services at a
fixed cost of $47,300 plus
taxes, at the Sept. 6
meeting of Huron County
council.
She said the three
stations will each have
three bays and the same
floor plan.
"This will make the
transfer of staff from one
station to another.
seamless," she said about.
the layout of the stations.
The ,3500 square foot '
buildings will have a
stone base and a metal
sloped roof. There will
also be glass doors and
lights on the inside walls
to highlight to ambulances
at night.
Coun. Lin Steffler,
Huron East, said she was
pleased with the layout,
but wanted to know about
t h e
24-hour station, and how
quiet it would be for the
staff trying to sleep there
when they are on-call.
The lockers have even
been tested for quietness,
said Lamb, noting they
had taken the concerns of
on-call staff into
consideration.
The county took over
the management of
ambulance services from
the province on January 1,
2001. As part of this
process, they decided to
amalgamate and close
some stations, leaving the
county with four
ambulance stations.
The four ambulance
location sites are in
Wingham at the Wingham
Hospital, in Goderich at
Alexandra Marine and
General Hospital, in
Exeter (a combination of
the Dashwood and Zurich
stations) at a temporary
location on Highway 8 (a
combination of the former
Clinton and Seaforth
stations).
By Sarah Caldwall
Lighting the way...
Amanda Ryan and Laurie Broadfoot were dressed in Victorian winter costumes as they walked
in the Seaforth lions Club Santa Claus Parade held Saturday night.
Scott Hilgendorff photo
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gar makes
63rd pitch
to keep
high school
By Stew Slater
Special to The Huron Expositor
Seaforth District High
School (SDHS) school
council chair Maureen Agar
began by stating it was her
63rd presentation before the
Avon Maitland District
School Board. And Lisa
Campbell, representative for
Seaforth Public School,
started her presentation by
saying, "here we go again."
So began the Seaforth
portion of a special meeting
Wednesday, Nov. 28, to
allow for presentations from
schools which could face
potential changes in the
board's current
accommodation review.
Campbell and Agar appeared
one after the other,
sandwiched between
presentations from several
other schools in the northern
portion of the- board's
territory.
Before beginning her
formal presentation,
Campbell asked for
"clarification" about what
could happen.
Recommendations from a
recent Avon Maitland staff
report lists only "program
change" for the elementary
school, although the body of
the report states the current
Seaforth Public School
building would be closed and
the students moved to the
building currently occupied
by the high school. This is
the same scenario suggested
two years ago, when SDHS
was approved for closure but
eventually saved by a
community group's
successful legal challenge.
This time, Grade 9
students from Seaforth could
also be included in the
relocated elementary school,
before moving to Central
Huron Secondary School in
Clinton for Grade 10.
Campbell asserted,
however, that she had been
told by a board official that
she could not address any
other possibilities in her Nov.
28 presentation. This time,
Seo THREAT, Pogo 2
Urban and rural schools o 1 face o s off
at meeting
Jacqueline Waechter (who graduated
in 1990 from the school and
predicted her son would do the same
in 2011) led the Brussels'
presentation with the presence at the
podium of five students and a
supporting letter from last year's
valedictorian, both had similar
content.
"I feel that a dollar value cannot be
placed on having our children attend
a school in our town," Waechter
concluded, following a presentation
which highlighted various reasons
why Brussels Public School students
should feel safe. Reasons included
the proximity of emergency services
and the presence of municipal water
service as opposed to an on-site well.
Blyth Public School representative
There were friendly offers to Maitland trustees and staff.
rename schools and pledges to stand Councils from two schools --
by nearby facilities threatened with CHSS and Listowel Central Public
closure but, through it all, there was School -- chose not to make any
an undeniable difference of opinion submissions, while six others --
about the merits of town and rural Wingham Public School, Listowel
schools, at a special Avon Maitland Eastdale Public School, Listowel
District School Board meeting District Secondary School, Howick
Wednesday, Nov. 28 in Clinton. Public School, F.E. Madill Secondary
The meeting, part of the board's School and Clinton Public School --
current "accommodation review," provided written submissions but
which could see several schools made no oral presentation.
approved for closure by February, Reports were not requested from a
2002, was held at Central Huron few schools, including Goderich
Secondary School (CHSS). School District Collegiate Institute, because
councils from 22 facilities facing they aren't affected by any proposed
potential changes, ranging from changes.
closure to border adjustments to The first two presentations of the
additional pupil spaces, were invited evening cam a from elementary
to make presentations to Avon schools in Blyth and Brussels.
Hitmen win
provincials again
By Scott Hilgendorff
Expositor Editor
Already qualified for the
nationals based on last year's
victory in Palmerston, the
Seaforth Hitmen came out
on top at the national
qualifier last weekend, but
not without a struggle.
"We used this as a warm-
up to compare ourselves to
the other juvenile teams in
the province. We realized we
had some waking up to do,"
said coach Robert Hunking.
By winning the nationals
last year, the team
automatically qualified for
this year as the defending
champions but Hunking
wanted to enter the team in
the qualifiers in Barrie Dec.
1 and Dec. 2 to see how well
they would do.
They weren't easy wins.
"We scored three goals in
three games. That's how
close the competition was,"
said Hunking.
The team played Windsor
first defeating them 1-0 in
overtime before going on top
play the Embrum Ice Dogs
for another 1-0 overtime win
with six seconds left in the
game.
The Ice Dogs are one of
the Hitmen's rivals and
Hunking said it's a running
joke that they normally can't
beat them until overtime.
He said it happened in.
three games against the team
last year.
The win against the Ice
Dogs put the team in the
finals where they played
Windsor again and also won
1-0 but in regular play this
time.
"It's a tougher year," said
Hunking
But he also said this was
the Barrie qualifiers was the
first time the entire team
played together all year.
He said several players are
away at school or on jobs
and it has been hard to have
a complete team for all their
• See HRMI N, Page 9
Deanna Ducharme expressed similar
sentiments. "Municipal services,
including water and sanitary sewer..
. must be a significant health and
safety issue," she argued.
Other advantages of town -based
schools, expressed in various
presentations, included the
opportunity for students to walk to
extra -curricular activities at no cost
to the board. -
A representative from Goderich's
Victoria Public School suggested
students could walk from one
elementary school to another within
the town, should the board decide to
offer particular programs at only one
of the locations.
See RURAL„ Page
Taking a peek
Ell Honderkh of Huntsville looks at some ceramic figurines with his Seaforth cousin, Jordan
Murray at the Seaforth Agrkufural Society s farm toy, ddi and craft show Saturday.
Scott Hilgendorff photo