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Times Advocate, 1997-12-03, Page 1SEIP'S valu-mart . & 83 Exeter 235-0262 ' ' AGENT FOR •:-% SKETCHLEY Vda DRY , CLEANERS SEIP'S valu-mart 4 dt: 83 Exeter 235-0262 Wednesday. December 3, 1997 Giving,to the giving tree. Huron County Christmas Bu- reau 'giving trees" are all over town. Shown here is one at The Purple Turtle. Clockwise from top from left are "giving tree" supporters James Taylor, 4. Nathan Mar- tens, 3 and Scott Taylor, 1. Christmas Bureau "giving trees" are up HURON COUNTY' --if you're in a hank or a store and you see a. Christmas tree with angels on it -and presents beneath, you're prob- abl l,okin * at- .: - .ing tree, the--next-initiative-by-the-Hurarr` County Christmas, Bureau in helping needy children. Most hanks and stores in the Exeter -Grand Bend area are dis- playing '"giving trees" this season where people can donate clothes and toys for others, who'.would Ciotherwise lack. these. It also gives people a chance to buy a present for those who may not receive a present for Christmas. . brop boxes, located in most grocery and variety stores are boxes where people can donate non-perishable canned goods, peanut but- ter, cake•mixes, pasta items or low -spoilage fruits and vegetables. said Conrad Sitter,,managcr of ,the, Ca,yen Presbyterian. Christmas Bureau. Sitter said monetary donations .will he accepted at the church. add- ing this year it seems especially needed. • "I think, we'll be short'tood this year," he said adding donations of money are already down. He couldn't explain why this has happened•but said, "Things are a little tight this year. it's a real competition with the charities and I think charities all over are hurting." Financial contributions can'be mailed to the Children's Aid So ciety of Huron County, 413,MacEwan St. Goderich, Ont., N7A 4M 1; or dropped off at Caven Presbyterian Church on Main Street. Exeter and Morris develop proposals for landfill sites By Kate Monk T -A Reporter . EXETER - The councils for Exet- er and Morris Townships. are • de- veloping • proposals that would see their landfill -sites used by other Hu - .ren Coupty, municipalities. -The councils met in -camera for nearly two hours last Monday night. • . Huron County is in the final phases of developinga waste man- agement master plan which iden- tifies the Exeter and Morris, landfill sites as the destination of municipal garbage in the.future. However. the Exeter. and Morris councils think the county • waste management master plan takes a, specific ' approach to the artange- ments for the use of the two landfill Sites which may or may not be'con- •sistent with the approach being de- veloped by Exeter and Morris. At the meeting last Monday night.. the. councils concluded county council would be acting pre- maturely if it initiated the adoption process for the plan at this time'. The ,councils would like Huron County to defer the formal intro- duction- of the plan at county coun- cil until the host municipalities' plans_ and any required discussions - between the county and host mu- • nicipalities are .completed. Exeter and Morns councils feel their plans may lead to changes in.the county's plan. • The staff of Exeter and' Morris as well as consultants will collaborate . to consider the plans further and Make. recommendations to the two councils. • . It was also recommended that the draft plan for the shared use of the Exeter Landfill Site prepared by B.M. Ross not be released at this time. The B.M. Ross plan is a business plan forthe landfill site which con- tains details on costs. fees and re- turn on investment figures. Exeter was ready to release the plan but wanted to first add an idea from the Morris Township plan which came to light last Monday night. "If the report was released right now. it would be sending the wrong message to the county." Exeter 'chief administrative officer Rick Hundey said. A meeting with county council, Exeter and Morris Township repre- sentatives will take place early in the new year. Education in Ontario enters new era Teachers federations promise they will remember what the government has done when they go to the, polls in two years By Kate Monk T -A Reporter . HURON COUNTY - With the_ passing of Bill 160 on Monday, local teachers federations are preparing to deal with the new reality of education in Ontario. "Right now we're mourning,the death of de- mocracy. The••government has passed this bill and they haven't listened. to us." John Clarke, the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation District 45 officer said on Monday af- ternoon. • Clarke said the list of people the government has ignored includes not only teachers but parents, "members of the pub- lic and the opposition parties. "Italso spells the end of public education, as we know - it. This is the first step to start- ing ` charter schools . which mean the people who can afford to have a pri- vate -education will continue to have a good level of education but the people who can't af- ford it will see a ,decimated public education system," he said, • in the short term, the .federation will support the 40 teachers in Huron County who will lose their jobs, according to Clarke. -"We'll tryto help- them find other employ- ment," he explained. Clarke doesn't see a way of fighting the bill once it is passed. He said the federation has been working with school advisory councils ' over the past few week; to express their- con- cerns but 'the government has ignored their messages. - - . "Once it's passed, it's passed. There's ttoth- ing much we can do about it except fight hack in two years "There's nothing and- make 'sure Helen Johns much we can'do doesn't get •re-elected," - Clarke said. bout it except fight . Alma Westlake, president back in two years of. the Huron . Women's and make sure Teachers Federation. said she Helen Johns doesn't ' doesn't sec the passing of Bill 160 as an end to their con-. get re-elected." cern. - "Parent groups and cdm- munity groups have --. become aware of the situation and have taken up the• cause to a great extent. Westlakc-.aid. - Westlake would like to see everyone take a role in public 'education. • • • "Teachers are facilitators -hut they are mit wholly' responsible for it. It's time for teachers to return to their classrooms and do what. they do best. They will assist in furthering- the ac-' Min but from a different stand point, not direct but indirectly at this point." she said. .• The primary concern now for the WTF is to ensure the rights and needs of the principals and vice -principals are provided for and pro- tected so that_ there is no•lapse in the cover they had • asmembers of the Ontario Public School . Teachers Federation or Women's Teachers Federation; "It certainly. isn't a time of laying back or stopping. It will be a continued effort to keep the public aware. We hope to also show the public the. positive thingss that teachers do and. may not be able to do if -they • become too threatened," Westlakeexplained. - Marshall Jarvis, president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association said teachers will not stop the campaign to protect Ontario's publicly funded education system until a.:government is elected that respects the contribution a quality education system makes to our society. _ • Bill 160 may be law. but Ontario teachers will not he •quiet as long as this government threatens our students'. future. When we go to the polls for the next provincial election, we will remember what 'this government has done." Jarvis promised. Goderich man hurt in truck/bus accident But the five children that were on the bus, the one ready to get on and the bus river.. v>✓er-e-not..seriously-hur .-in.-the-accident on-Wh-alen-Line--on-Thursday --morning By Craig Bradford ' T -A Reporter WHALEN CORNERS 'Though a Goderich man is in stable condi- tion in London's Victoria Hospital, a truck/bus accident: on Whalen Line west of Whalen Corners just before 8 a.m. on Thursday could've been much worse. A sport- utility.' vehicle 'Jimmy') driven by John 40 of Goderich slammed back of bus after Stanley couldn't stop on • black ice, London OPP Const. Donna Shulist said. . Stanley was admitted to hospital in se- rious condition. Four of the students on the bus were sib- lings: Crystal Davis. 15. Harley, 11, and twins Starr and Travis, both 8. Jocelyn Alce. 15. had just gotten on the bus and her r brother Mat- thew. 13 and a Gr. 8 student at Us - borne Central School. was just get- ting onto the bus. The four Davis children and Joce- lyn Alec -were taken to South Hu- ron' Hospital and were treated and released for various minor injuries. Stanley was taken by ambulance to South Huron Hospital and was later transferred to Victona. . Mike Davis said his daughter Crystal was x-rayed at South Huron Hospital andwas' diagnosed with muscle strain to her back. She stayed home from South Huron District High -School on Thursday. Davis said he picked Starr and Tra- vis up from school early on Thurs- day because Starr had a headache and Travis a stomach ache. Harley re-injured his shoulder he hurt after a recent motorcycle accident. but Davis said his son'was well enough to •go, to school on Thursday. All the Davis children were :back at school on Friday. . Davis,had been returning home from delivering some phone books with his father when ' he saw .fire (a G.M. Stanley,. into the trucks rushing to the accident scene. Davis described the roads at the time as icy. , "I feel big time lucky." Davis. said. "rice heard. about bus ac- cidents where people weren't .so •' lucky." The Davis children were 'the first bits. driver Nick Littlechild of •Zu rich picked- up on his route on Thursday. The Alce home is the second stop on the route. Matthew's father. Jim Alce, said• his son caught the oncoming Jim- my out of the corner of his eye and jumped out of harm's • way into the ditch. "if (Stanley) had been another two sec- onds (earlier) my kids would've have been crossing in front of the bus." Jim Alce said. . Matthew went- to school on Thursday but Jocelyn stayed home on Thurs- day and Friday due to some hip pain and trauma. Jim Ake said. Usborne Central principal Jim • Binns said it -was fortunate the ac- cident happened at the beginning of the route than near the end since there would be many more children on the bus. ' "We've offered support to the students and their families if need- ed frbm our school social worker," Binns said. Charterways Transportation Ltd. Exeter branch manager Ken Ogden said Littlechild had the bus • stop sign and flashing red lights in use when the Jimmy hit the bus. Lit- tlechild went to South Huron Hos- pital for - a. check up and was re- leased. Ogden said. Whalen Line is well known as a 'shim 'cut''to get to Hwy. 23 and to get to Hwy. 7 • to- bypass Lucan. Ake said many vehicles speed down Whalen Line • in front of his home. • "Everybody is in such a big 'rush," Alce said. "Is five .minutes going to change rhe world?" Shulist said the investigation con- tinues. • "I feel big time lucky. I've heard about bus accidents where people weren't so lucky." Lucky to be alive. Top photo: This G.M. sport utility vehicle driven by Goderich's John Stanley, 40, slammed. into the'back of a bus that was picking up children along Whalen' Line Thurs- day morning. None of the six children involved or the bus dri er were seriously hurt. Stanley remains in stable condition in. London's Victoria Hospital. Horn blowing Sweet music. Don Easton was just one of many band members who blew their own hom during the Exeter Com- munity Band concert at Trivitt Memorial Anglican Church on Sunday. " on alt regular priced merchandise G8 or ((V G • EXCELLENT SELECTION • FREE DELIVERY • HUGE SAVINGS Thurs., Fri., Sat., Sun. Fine Furniture 467 Main St. Exeter 235-J173