Huron Expositor, 2003-10-22, Page 7News
Progressive Turf adding painting plant
By Sara Campbell
Expositor Staff
Progressive Turf Equipment Inc., a Seaforth manufacturer
of world class rotary finishing mowers, is expanding to make
way for a painting plant.
Luke Janmaat, owner of Progressive Thrf, said the company
is adding a 17,000 -square -foot addition to the northwest
corner of the present building for the new painting plant.
"It's been a long process but it is something we've been
looking forward to," he said. "We will now have the
convenience of a paint system right on site for the products
we manufacture."
Janmaat said he purchased a painting system earlier this
year from their contractors, Kongskilde Ltd. in Exeter, before
the industrial agriculture equipment plant closed this past
Although the concrete for the addition is all ready in place,
he said the building, constructed by Vanden Heuvel Structures
Ltd. in Clinton, will not be completed for four to six months
depending on the weather.
Janmaat said the final cost of the addition and paint system
has not been finalized as the older system is having to be
updated as it is installed.
With 17 employees at Progressive Turf so far, Janmaat said
it is unknown how many additional staff will be needed for
the painting plant. However, he said that it's possible he'll
hire employees from Kongskilde Ltd.
Since 1990, Progressive Turf has been producing rotary
finishing mowers for golf courses, municipal grounds, park
areas and general lawn care mowing. Progressive Turf has
dealer representation throughout Canada and about 55 dealers
within the United States.
May.
Local board scrambles to identify
problems with rural funding plan
By Stew Slater
Special to The Expositor
Facing a deadline of
Friday, Oct. 17, school board
administrators serving rural
Ontario scrambled last week
to identify deficiencies in the
education ministry's
calculations for using up the
recently -announced $50
million Rural Education
Strategy fund.
And, according to Avon
Maitland District School
Board business
superintendent Janet Baird -
Jackson, those deficiencies -
including a theoretical
formula which suggests Blyth
Public School and Hullett
Public School are 400 metres
apart, when the actual
distance is 6.5 kilometres -
are numerous.
At a regular board meeting
Tuesday, Oct. 14, Baird -
Jackson told trustees the
policy for distributing the
fund, established by the
recently -defeated
Conservative government, is
weighted heavily towards
schools which are a greater
distance from other schools,
and less towards another
perceived drawback of rural
schools: that they're often
small in size.
That means just two of the
board's 10 secondary schools
- in Wingham and Listowel -
currently qualify for Rural
Education Strategy funding.
When it comes to
elementary schools, Baird -
Jackson said her analysis of
the fund made it clear that, in
order to obtain funding for
certain schools which are
close to the distance
threshold, an argument could
be made for closing down
neighbouring facilities.
"The irony is that this grant
was supposed to provide
reasons to keep rural schools
open but, in fact, it's going to
make boards consider the
costs of keeping them open,"
she said in an interview,
following the meeting.
Baird -Jackson's initial
comments, alone, were
enough to anger Central/East
Huron trustee Charles Smith,
who added he has already
made his opinion on the issue
known in some area
newspapers.
"The way this money has
been crammed into nooks
and crannies in the existing
(education funding) formula
is pretty damn disappointing
to a lot of communities that
want to keep their schools,"
Smith said. "With all due
respect to my fellow trustees
from Wingham and Listowel,
gosh, not a bloody penny for
Goderich or Mitchell or
Exeter or St. Marys?"
Further comments from
Baird -Jackson, however,
revealed the education
ministry isn't even
adequately calculating the
factors which affect funding
allocation.
A preliminary assessment
of what's coming to the Avon
Maitland board - to which
administrators had to respond
by Oct. 17 - was received
earlier this fall, and the
distances between schools
were only accurate,
according to Baird -Jackson,
in 10 of the board's 53 sites.
In one case, Blyth Public
School and Hullett Public
School are listed as being 400
metres apart, even though a
distance of 6.5 kilometres lies
between the two facilities.
"Obviously, because (the
two schools) have the same
postal code, (ministry
officials) think they're in the
same neighbourhood," Baird -
Jackson told trustees.
In another case, the closest
school to the Grade 4-8
Arthur Meighen Public
School in St. Marys is listed
as St. Marys Central, which
is a short walk across town.
But St. Marys Central
serves only Kindergarten to
Grade 3, and would be
unsuitable for Arthur
Meighen's students. Baird -
Jackson says the true
counterpart (and closest
school) is South Perth
Centennial, about five
kilometres away.
What's the over-all result?
Baird -Jackson says that, as it
stands, the board could
receive considerably less than
her original projection of
$690,000 from the $50 -
million fund, even if the
obvious distance errors are
corrected.
A revised projection,
provided to trustees for the
meeting, suggested a total of
$605,808. But she cautioned
that one French -language
board, which was able to
jump ahead of the Oct. 17
deadline and already had its
re -assessment analyzed by
the government, saw its total
drop more dramatically than
that.
At the Oct. 14 meeting, the
board's representative on the
Ontario Public School Boards
Association (OPSBA),
trustee Don Brillinger,
relayed a strong sense of
optimism which had been
evident in the first OPSBA
meeting following the Oct. 2
provincial election.
Brillinger suggested
OPSBA members are
heartened by comments made
by the newly -elected
Liberals, regarding such
things as implementing the
Huron East youths charged with assault
A 14 -year-old
female and a 15 -
year -old male, both
Huron OPP
from Huron East,
have been charged with
assault after an incident that
occurred on a school bus
from Listowel High School to
Ethel, reports the Huron OPP.
On Oct. 15, the female was
called several names on the
bus' and had some items
thrown at her by the male.
She struck the male and later
the male went to her seat and
struck her.
The two youths are to
attend court in Goderich on
Jan. 8.
Newfoundland man
loses licence in Seaforth
A 37 -year-old
Newfoundland man was
given a 90 -day suspension of
his driver's licence after
failing a roadside breath test
when he was stopped in
Seaforth on Oct. 3 at 3:15
a.m.
His gold 2004 Chrysler
Sebring LX was stopped for
driving in an improper
manner on Goderich Street
and open alcohol was found
inside the vehicle.
Police found alcohol on the
driver's breath and he was
taken to Exeter for breath
tests after failing a roadside
test. His breath tests in Exeter
were below the level for
criminal charges but he was
charged with a liquor
violation.
ATV stolen in Grey
A $4,000 all -terrain vehicle
was stolen from a driving
shed on McNabb Line in
Grey on Oct. 1.6 sometime
gvernig
•
The red 2000 Honda
Fourtrax Model #TRX300 is
a 300 cc two -wheel drive
with Ontario
licence plates
TB979.
Anyone
with related information is
asked to call the Huron OPP
or Crimestoppers.
i)
I;.' ''i'•',/
.11
3
Municipality of Huron East
LEAF PICK UP
'for Seaforth Residents
will take place beginning
Monday, October 20, 2003
until
Friday, November 14, 2003
Please have leaves raked to
the edge of the street.
No branches or brush.
\\
•
or.m� Hr.w, r�.d.
FLU SHOT
CLINICS
NO APPOINTMENT NECESSARY
Monday, Oct. 27 7 pm - 9 pm
Monday, Nov. 3 7 pm - 9 pm
Wednesday, Nov. 5 7 pm - 9 pm
Rozanski Report on
education funding and
repealing a tax credit for
people using private schools.
Asked by reporters if she
shares this optimism, Baird -
Jackson said she has been
more interested in comments
made by the Liberals about
the state of the province's
financial affairs.
Experts have been called in
to see how much money is
truly available, she noted,
before expressing skepticism
about the new government's
immediate ability to follow
through on campaign
promises.
"In some respects, we're
kind of in limbo," she said.
"But I'm not confident that
the ministry is going to look
at a change of policy which
might take some of the
weighting away from the
(Rural Education Strategy's)
distance factor."
114E HURON EXPOSITOR, OCTOBER 22, 2003-7
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