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Clinton News-Record, 1978-04-13, Page 1Clinton, Ontario Weather 1978 1977 APRIL 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 47 34 44 31 39 32 48 34 37 29 47 25 55 33 Rain 1.37" Smokey battle Thanks to an observant driver on the highway, and quick action by the Clinton fire department, little damage was caused to a large chicken barn on the Hank Gelling farm, three miles west of Clinton last Thursday afternoon. Fire broke out in the boiler room of the large barn, but firemen quickly halted it, limiting damage to several hundred dollars. No o ie was home at the time. (News -Record photo) Strife over, schools open today BY JEFF SEDDON Huron County's 274 high school teachers were expected to exchange picket signs for textbooks this morning and return to the classrooms ending a 31 day strike. The teachers voted Wednesday night on a contract proposal hammered out in. a weekend marathon bargaining session that lasted 33 hours. The county board of education ratified the pact Tuesday night by a 12 - 1 vote. The agreement covers both the 1977-78 and 1978-79 school term and if accepted by the teachers ends almost 15 months of negotiations that included the eight week strike. The contract problems were ironed out in a gruelling negotiating marathon that began 11:00 Saturday morning and ended at dawn Monday. Provincial mediator. Harvey Ladd set up the marathon session last week on a request by the teachers and kept the two sides at the bargaining table for 14 hours Saturday and 19 hours Sunday under a news blackout. Exhausted negotiation teams emerged from the session at 5:45 a.m. Monday with a tenative agreement to. be voted on by both the teachers and board. Ladd set up the marathon bargaining session and immediately imposed a news blackout to prevent either party from publicly commenting on the bargaining. The black out was left in Exeter supports Clinton site by Shelley McPhee savings on the use of relay towers and Clinton council members learned that less distance to install Bell Telephone the Exeter Town Council will consider lines, therefore resulting in lower rental Clinton as the centre for the county -wide charges since the Bell Telephone Main /Mike' %iS unications system if Clinton Syttemis'located-11WC!MU:n Aibng with can prove a swings greater than Gode the Bell Telephone the letter stated that ich. Ontario Hydro is also located in the "centre of the county - the Town of Clinton." While the Clinton council brought up these and other points, this only remains a proposal until the specific costs and needs are given by the Ontario Police Commission. In other correspondence, council defeated a motion, by a small majority, stating objections to the novels "The Diviners", "Catcher in the Rye" and "Of Mice and Men" being used in the Huron high school English curriculum. The motion was brought about after a letter from the St. Joe's Catholic Clinton council received correspon- dence from Exeter at their regular meeting on Monday evening as a reply to a letter sent by Clinton to the various town councils, Exeter, Seaforth, Wingham and Goderich urging them to reconsider Clinton as a location for the communications system. In the letter, Clinton explained that they have submitted plans to supply accommodation, staff and 24-hour policing for the communications system. They noted that travel wise, Clinton is the central location in the county; for installation they said that there would be Man dies from injuries A Clinton area man has died in a London Hospital from injuries he suf- fered in a March 2 accident. Carman Dale, 49, of RR 4, Clinton, died in Victoria Hospital on Monday after battling serious injuries to his legs and back for more than a month. He was injured on March 2 when a wall of a house he was helping to tear down in Hullett township collapsed on him. Mr. Dale was helping tear down the house, owned by his nephew Milton Dale, that had been heavily damaged in a fire in February. As one of the walls was coming down, Mr. Dale attempted to get out of the way when his foot caught in the debris and his was crushed. • He is survived by his wife, the former June Alcock of Brussels; two sons, Bruce and Daren at home; three daughters, Donna, Brenda, and Joan also at home; two brothers, Allison of London and Ernest of Clinton; five sisters, Mrs. Myrtle Reid of Clinton, Mrs. George (Jessie) Cunningham of Seaforth, Mrs. Thomas (Martha) Smith of Exeter, Mrs. Reginald (Ethel) Smith of Clinton, and Mrs. Jack (Josephine) Harding of London. He was predeceased by one brother, Elmer in April of 1977. A private funeral service was held from the Ball Funeral Home on April 12, 1978, with interment in Clinton Cemetery. First Column: Nerve By the time most people read this weekly column of "this and that" the teachers'strike will be over, the kids, or most of them, will be back in school, and the federal budget will be more or less history. The budget offers a substantial reduction in sales tax, which here in Ontario will mean a cut from seven to four per cent. My problem, though, has not been one of paying the sales tax, it's being able to afford the item in ,the first place! Political pundits have hinted that the budget means there will be an election "this June and if it proves to be true, then one must admire Mr. Trudeau's audacity. With more than a million out of work, a dollar worth only 87 cents, and inflation running at over eight per cent, he has the nerve to ask for another four year mandate. My, my, we must all be real suckers. +++ But election or not, spring is here and among the many activities many in the area indulge in is a trip to'the great outdoors. So starting this week, the News -Record will be publishing an outdoors column, called "Naturally speaking" written by Clinton's own Steve Cooke, who besides being a skilled florist, is also an outdoorsman, and a widely published author. Steve's column appears for the first time this week, and hopefully from time to time in the future. Get your fishing poles ready! +++ "Talk about inflation!" the newest joke goes, "Even mailing a tax return costs 30 per cent more than it did a year ago." -i-++ It appears, despite the damp cool weather, the ball and soccer season is upon us in the Clinton area, whether the weatherman likes it or not. Two important meetings will be held within the next week to discuss both sports. The first meeting this Sunday is a get acquainted practice for the Clinton Colts to be held this coming Sunday April 16 at the Clinton arena at 11 a.m. The second meeting next Thursday evening at the arena is open to all teams and will divide up the diamond time. .+ Women's League asked council to study, what they called pornographic excerpts from the above mentioned novels that are presently being studied in some ��Huron hikh schools. _ . "We have an elected Board of Education to look after this," Councillor Ron McKay explained. Councillor Roy Wheeler added, "These are just excerpts taken out of context and I can't judge these." However, Councillor Rosemary Armstrong replied, "I can't see why a child should read these. If they want to read them let them do it on their own time under the blankets, but this is horrible. I think it's my responsibility as a parent to tell the board what I want my children to learn." "I'm not saying I approve of the literature," Councillor McKay added, "but if I had to take a stand on cen- sorship, I don't think that anyone should •tell me what and what I shouldn't read." He went on to say, "As soon as they say that these books are not to be taught in school, they would become the most popular novels around." Mayor Harold Lobb offered, "Lawrence (the writer of "The Diviners") is a top author." In financial business council passed a .motion" to pay F. J. Thomas $2,100 for tree cutting in town. Some councillors expressed their concern over the number of trees that are being cut down and noted that residents have been complaining, however Councillor Ernest Brown assured them that the trees being cut down were bad or diseased, and no good trees were being destroyed. Another motion was passed to grant the rec committee an additional $10,000 to their 1978 budget. In new business, Councillor Ray Garon informed the council that the town's businessmen's association is planning to ask council if they can have the use of the town property behind the Wesley - Willis Church for the 1978 farmer's Turn to page ;S • Stolen van burned Arson is suspected by the Goderich OPP in the investigation of a van stolen from an area Clinton home. The van, registered to Eleanor Con- nelly, was stolen from the Connelly's driveway at RR 5, Clinton on Sunday morning and was recovered by the OPP the same morning in Logan Township, Perth County. The van had its inside 'burned out, at an estimated value of $5,000, and was -found abandoned. The incident is still under in- vestigation by the Goderich OPP. The Clinton News -Record would like to give an apology to Corporal Ray Primeau of the Goderich OPP. It was incorrectly reported last week that Corp. Primeau was involved in a car accident during the recent inclement weather conditions. However Corp. Primeau was investigating the accident and Constable Eric Gosse was involved in the accident. The News -Record fiopes that this correction will clear Corp. Primeau of his newly acquired nickname "crasher". effect after the marathon session ended because, according to Ladd, the teacher negotiating team wanted to explain the agreement to their members themselves 'rather than have them read about it in a newspaper or hear it on the television or radio. Despite the blackout a negotiating team spokesman who wished to remain anonymous said Monday that the workload issue had been settled and that wage demands for the teachers 1978-79 contract would be decided by third party intervention (arbitration). The spokesman said negotiations had been slow during the marathon and confrontation between the teachers and board had been avoided. The session was handled by Ladd and a lawyer from each side. The settlement according to the spokesman was basically a saw -off on teacher workload, a clause that the teachers wanted expanded on in this year's contract and the board wanted removed, and sends salary demands and the sick leave gratuity clause to an arbitrator. The workload clause was the main stumbling block in the 1977-78 Town employees get 5% Despite an inflation rate of over eight per cent, Clinton town council decided Monday night to only give their employees an average of 5.5 per cent raise. Council had voted in a motion not to release the figures to the public, but when informed that under the Municipal Act the information must be made public, they released the information to the News -Record on Wednesday morning. All public bodies including municipalities, county councils, boards of education, and public utility commissions are required under the law to open their books at any reasonable hour to any member of the public. Both News -Record reporter Shelley McPhee and editor' Jim Fitzgerald were refused access to the town's books on Tuesday, but Fitzgerald was given free access to the books on Wednesday. The salary schedule for town em- ployees is as follows: chief of police, $19,880; three first class constables at $17,885 each; one second class con- stable, $16,555; clerk -treasurer, $18,640; deputy clerk -treasurer, $10,230; office clerk, $6,825; public works foreman, $13,010; one class "A" equipment operator, $11,905; two class "B" equipment operators at $11,355 each. As well, the constables and regular members of the public works department receive overtime pay, and all employees receive a fringe benefit package that included 100 per cent payment of OHIP premiums, and life insurance that ranges from $20,000 to $25,000. As well, employees of the public works receive $5 a day standby time payment for Saturdays and Sundays in the winter time. Clinton councillors decided not to give themselves a raise this year. agreement. The clause governed the Pupil Period Contact (PPC) which is the number of students a teacher sees in a day, the average class size and the number of periods a teacher is required to teach during the school day. The teachers proposed the workload terms to expand on a clause already in their contract for 1976-77. The clause in the old contract read that the board "shall endeavour" to meet the terms of the workload clause. The tea.:hers wanted the clause made binding and the board claimed that would erode its management rights and wanted it removed altoghether from the pact. The board argued that if the workload clause was made binding it would determine how many teachers the board was required to hire to staff its five secondary schools. The board negotiating team claimed the workload clause would conflict with the pupil teacher ration, a figure written into the contract that is used to determine how many teachers are required for the county's students. The PTR allows the board to deter- mine how many teachers it must hire based on total school enrolment. The old contract set the PTR at between 16.8 and 17.2 meaning one teacher would be hired for every 17 students in the system. The teachers hired by the PTR system in- clude non teaching personnel such as principals, vice -principals, guidance counsellors and librarians. The board agreed to write the workload clause into the 1977-78 contract along with the stipulation that the PTR is made the deciding factor. It agreed that it could live with the workload clause that made the PPC binding only if the workload demands could be met with Turn to page :3 • w Stanley finances in the black Stanley Township council have learned that their financial statement shows (that the township is in the black with $9,000 less in the surplus fund and $27,000 more in reserves. The council discussed their 1977 financial statement at their regular meeting on April 3. In other financial business, the council accepted the 1978 budget from the road superintendent, for a total of $148,600. The cost of maintenance will be $92,800 and for reconstruction, $55,800. This budget is subject to approval from the ministry of Transportation and Com- munication. Also in roads, the tender of Lavis Contracting was accepted to supply, crush and haul gravel at $2.18 per yard. The other tender was from Gennison in Grand Bend whose price was $2.20 a yard. Pollard Brothers from Harrow were accepted by council to supply 140 tons of calcium and chloride at $96.50 per ton. Council learned that tile drainage allocations for 1978 are $101,300 which is up from $78,000 last year. Council also approved two tile drainage loans for $19,000. As of April 1, council leanred that they have $13,200 in tax arrears, which represents 2.5 per cent of all the taxes. Council agreed to pay the township's share of the Bayfield Senior Citizens Horne, amounting to $707.25. This is for three Stanley residents who have ac- commodation at the home. Stanley council members also agreed to support a resolution from Turnberry Township to support the position of the Huron County Board of Education in its current dispute with the secondary school teachers. The resolution noted that in the past the board of education had been criticized for its spending practices. However, now that the board seems to want to curtail its spending, they should be supported. Council also offered its support to the Canadian Cancer Society with a donation of $50 and they also gave a donation of $25 to Muscular Dystrophy. Arena floor delayed At a special meeting last week, the Clinton recreation committee agreed to delay replacement of the arena floor until August 1st. Members felt that it was rushing it too much to try and have the floor ready by the start of the Spring Pair on June 2. Tenders were just called last week, and final specifications are not in yet, so with the contractor asking the new floor to sit at least six weeks before being used, the committee felt time was too short to have the old floor torn up and a new one in, and still give it time to cure. Because of a number of bookings scheduled to take place in June and July, the start on the new floor won't take place until August lst. If reconstruction, estimated to cost between $100,000 and $150,000, goes smoothly, then ice could be put in by the middle of October. The arena floor fund was enriched a further $150 when Molson's Brewery gave a grant this week. About two-thirds of the cost of the floor will be covered by grants, while the rest must be raised from non tax dollars. Ready to roll lifter sitting idle for eight weeks, the school buses to Huron eourrty's five high schools will likely start rolling again, as the teachers strike is over. The board trustees ratified the new two-year contract Tuesday, and the teachers were • expected to pass the pact last night (Wednesday). The 34 - day strike was the longest in Huron hisotry. (News -Record