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Clinton News-Record, 1984-09-19, Page 1184CHF00000 >- J CCI 9 d 4 z n N. CLINTON-'Bell Canada will end its C iI- tsar longtang,e operatOr office services* Rabies vaccine drop to be tested Fourteen thousand plastic bags, contain- ing a simulated rabies vaccine, will be drop- ped' over the Townships of Hallett, Goderich, Tuckersmith, Stanley and Col- borne on September 25, Natural Resources Minister Alan Pope announced today. The bags will each contain a liver -coated cube, about the size of a golf ball. Beneath the liver is a small sponge, which has been soaked in a harmless liquid (the antibiotic tetracycline) and then coated with wax and fat. The liquid is used to simulate a rabies vaccine. "When the fox or other wild animal bites into the cube, the liquid in the sponge will squirt into its mouth. If this test is suc- cessful, we'll be able to place liquid rabies vaccine in bait as early as next year,", said Mr. Pope. The baits will be dropped from low-flying aircraft along the edge of woodland, on gravel pits and other rough land, and pasture, stubble and fields with low vegeta- tion.' The baits will be about 30-50 metres apart. No baits will be dropped within 100 metres of farm' buildings, houses, roads or recreation areas. A one -minute video tape, which explains the experiment, will be shown to all school children in the area before the drop takes place. Although the liquid is harmless, the video tape asks children and adults to help the experiement by not tampering with any bait bags they might find. , "This liquid vaccine approach, developed by my Ministry's research station in Maple, is a new way to deal with the problem of rabid foxes. In the past, we've ex- perimentedith another bait — a ham- burger ball In boratory experiments, we placed ' y pills ontaining vaccine in ham= burger balls. The hamburger was eaten, but . the pills did not prove successful enough for use in the field. The liquid vaccine approach has the potential of being far more effective in fighting this dangerous disease," he said. Ministry scientists will examine the teeth of foxes harvested by the area's trappers and hunters for traces of the liquid found in the bait. Tetracycline was chosen as the li- quid for the test because it can be detected on teeth under ultra -violet light. "This area is an ideal testing ground for our rabies research, since it is one of the top fox hunting and trapping parts of the pro- vince. That's why we have conducted several anti -rabies experiments here since the mid -70's. But this work wouldn't have been possible without the trei'hendous co- operation of the residents — and in par- ticular the trappers and hunters", Mr. Pope said. Rabies is still a major disease in Ontario. In 1983, 2,402 people received vaccine shots. Rabid foxes and skunks are the main source of the disease. Vaccinating pets is a simple process. However, developing a vaccine for wildlife and administering it has proven more dif- ficult. Between April 3, 1983 and March 31, 1984, 1,618 domestic and wild animals in Ontario were diagnosed as rabid. Red foxes and skunks accounted for 72 per cent of these cases. In 1983,x,402 people in Ontario received vaccine shots after being exposed to rabid animals. Humans are usually exposed to rabies by coming in contact with dogs and cats. It costs taxpayers over $15 -million annual- ly for diagnosis, vaccinations and other con- trolmeasures. pets and livestock can be vaccinated by a veinarian. Controlling rabies in wildlife is difficult. Laboratory work has shown that foxes could be vaccinated if the vaccine is pat into a special bait. A Wealth of Produce was on display at the September 12 Belgrave, Blyth and Brussels school fair held in the hamlet of Belgrave. Little Erin Cook, daughter of Ron Cook of Belgrave, proudly shows one of her exhibits to her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Alex Robertson. Exhibits number 3,000 at Belgrave School Fair By Mrs. Lewis Stonehouse BELGRAVE - .The little hamlet of Belgrave played host to students, past and present, on September 12 when the 64th an- nual Belgrave, Blyth and Brussels School Fair was held. More than 3,000 exhibits were displayed at the fair. The fair holds the distinction of being the only remaining school -centered fairs in On- tario. It gives local school aged children an opportunity to show their best skills and talents, from home economics to woodwork- ing, froth needlecraft to agriculture. ' The day's events began with a parade of school children, who followed -the Brussels Legion Pipe Band to the fairgrounds. There, various dignitaries took part in the opening President Murray Vincent 'welcomed everyone to the event. Others who took part in the opening included: Robert Allan, director of education with the.Huron County Board of Education; Don Pullen from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food in Clinton; Murray Elston, Huron -Bruce MPP; William Elston, Reeve of Morris Township and Neil Vincent, Reeve of East Wawanosh Township. Xhe fair was officially opened by Patrick Cull, a former Grade 8 student at East Wawanosh Public School, and now a student at F.E. Madill Secondary School in Wingham. East Wawanosh students send some 200 helium balloons skyward to honour the 64th school fair. Ministry of Natural Resources' (MNR) Dave Johnston holds a sample of the paraffin - coated sponge bait that will be dropped in the area on September 25. The bait, soaked in a harmless antibiotic (tetracycline) will allow MNR officials to determine its acceptability forr use once the Ministry embarks on its program to vaccinate wild animals against rabies. (MNR photo) n New road warnings posted as result of fatal accidents Fatal accidents on Huron County. roads have prompted.action from the county road department. At the September session Of Huron County Council, councillors were told that steep grade signs will be put up in .the area of Porter's 'Hill in Goderich Township and a large 4 ft. by '4 ft. stop sign will be put up at Winchelsea in Usborne Township. The steep grade signs at both the east and west approaches to the Porter's Hill ,area are a recommendation from a coroner's report on an accident which killed a Goderich OPP officer on Sept: 25, 1983. Goderich Township Reeve Grant Stirling said he did not think steep grade signs would be appropriate. Rather, he said, the county should improve the approaches to the Porter Hill. Two fatal accidents have occurred this past summer at Winchelsea where county roads 6 and 11 intersect. Clinton Seniors get $14,224 town hall grant CLINTON - The Golden Radar senior citizens' club has been successful in obtain- ing a $14,224 grant for the town hall. The club will hold meetings in the 'new facility and the grant will help equip and furnish the new facilities. As well it will ex- pand an exisiting program of activities in- cluding social events, music, sing -songs, film presentations, pot luck suppers, cards, bingos and games nights. Approval of the $14,224 New Horizons grant was announced by Health and Welfare Minister Monique Begin. New Horizons is a federal government program that enables retired people to create projects of their own choosing. It of- fers grants to groups who undertake ac- tivities for the benefit of themselves and others in their community. The accent is on local needs as seen by older people and on. their willingness to meet such needs. The Golden Radar Club has been working in conjuction with Clinton Town Council on the project. • County engineer Bob Dempsey said a large stop sign-drdered after the first fatali- ty has still .not arrived. County Road bis the through road at the intersection and Mr. Dempsey noted there are rumble strips on County Road 11. The county engineer said discussion with Exeter OPP has revealed that driver error was the cause of the two accidents at the in- tersection. However, the county will install the larger stop signs and the engineer will monitor the intersection to see if a flashing light is necessary. Up until last year, County Road 11 was a gravel road. ewtaoY;', ;2v , i11ge Ili pf dell Canada's move raffle Operato ' Position System (TOPS) program„ w, users•to dial' alltheir own long distance calls with ti tle o;1'4 operator assistance. 1 ►--embe1985will see the final stagesof Bansseven-year program to pro- vidservice„ It will represent a completer break froth the switchboards of the past, • Across the province, some 78 operators witl'be affected by the change. In Clinton, 14 full and part time operators will be affected. Operators have been offered other operator positions in earby locations. For those who choose not to accept, the contract between the company and the operators' union provides for financial •compensation. In addition, some operators will be eligible for retirement. Operator assisted calls handledby Clinton have been decreasing by an average of six per • cent for a number of years. The 10 - switchboard office on Rattenbury -Street West hasn't operated,at capacity for several years. Usually there are two or three operators working at one time. Peter Crooine, Bell Canada's manager for the area said, "There are several reasons for this decline in operator handled calls, Customers are probably more mindful of the reduced rates for direct dialed calls, fur- thermore, the introduction of Extended Area Service for example, between Clinton and Blyth, did have some impact." While the operator section will close in Clinton, the office will remain open, and will continue to operate as an equipment centre. Under the new TOPS system, calls nor- mally handled by the Clinton office will be routed to operators in London, with operators in Sarnia, Chatham and Windsor backing -up the London operators as re- quired, for example, during busy periods of it will enable most telephone 'The operators in those •locations w completely ;familiar With emergency numbers and',proeedures for people m the Cliµlton ars Croome said. a Sl ecific: ,tans show i oton, Be ve ont, Feterbo ough and Niagara, Falls changing to TOPStin the first quarter of 1985 C rn- wall and.: Fort Erie w ,l switch in May, followed by` Owen Sound, Lindsay and Strat ford the next .month Finally, in December 1985, Siiiith Falls customers will, change to the new system. Bell Canada will retain a total of 81 operator offices throughout Ontario. Mr. Croome noted that TOPS will allow easier direct dialing, in this continent,, and to overseas'countries. . Other types of calls currently requiring an, operator to place on behalf of the caller will also be dialed by the customer. Some ex- amples include: b}ll to third number; person-to-person , and collect calls. •The operator will use a keyboard and video.; screen to help complete the" call, recording special billing information. At the same time as TOPS conies into ef- fect, two other operator systems will be add- ed. . One is a directoryassistance system which enables operators'to Gall up telephone listings on'a computer rather.than, by':gomg through the pages of books similar to over- sized telephone directories. Mechanized Directory Assistance Records is the name of this system. Automatic Operator Services System pro- vides a more efficient distribution of direc- tory assistance calls from the public to the operators. With these two systems, customers are unlikely to notice any changes in the man- ner in which their calls are handled. Both provide Bell with more efficiency and flex- ibility in the way calls are handled by staff throughout the area; Mr. Croome noted. French expansion favored By Stephanie Levesque The majority of Catholic school sup- porters in Huron and Perth are in favor of expanding the Core French program. This was the overriding result of a French survey conducted by the Huron - Perth Separate School Board and released at the board's September 10 meeting. No action was taken on the survey as trustees agreed to' take some time to study the survey further. The survey was not ex- pected until the end of September or early October. Superintendent of education John Mc- Cauley said the survey follows a request from a parent group in Goderich for. French Immersion and a Stratford parent group's request for French as a first language sellopl ....� . . There were 814 surveys'returiied *to the board office. McCauley noted that the response numbers don't agree' with the number of surveys returned because some respondents only answered certain sec- tions of the survey. About 2,000 surveys were sent out to separate school ratepayers in Huron and Perth Counties. There are approximately 1,500 families with children attending Huron -Perth Catholic schools. 'The numbers in the survey show that 464 people would like to see the Core French expanded, while 264 said they wouldn't want it expanded. Core French is current- ly taught from Grades 4 to 8 with 20 minutes per day for Grade 4 to 6 students and 40 minutes per day for Grade 7 and 8 students. A high number of respondents, 549, in- dicated they are satisfied with the length of time Co e N rench is, now taught. Trustee 'pointed out the discrepency between the number of people saying yes they are satisfied with the current level of Core French in the schools and the number wanting Core French expanded: Stratford trustee Ron Marcy said those numbers in- dicate that while in general parents are satisfied 'with 'the " current French pro- gram, they would like to see the length ex- panded. Marcy remarked that some of the com- ments from the parents, included in the survey results, indicate that at least some parents think French, Immersion and French as a First Language, school. . would have compulsory attendance.' It was noted that enrolment in such clases would . be voluntary.. .,d,1;. The niiiribers in. the suriiey show that 130 people in the 'WO counties are in favor of French Immersion while 508 are not. Strat- ford and, Goderich have the highest con- centration of people wanting French Im- mersion. Goderich has 24 people in favor of French Immersion and 34 against it. Strat- ford has 37 people in' favor and 146 against the French Immersion program. The only concentration of people desir- ing a French as.a.First Language School is in Stratford where .25 people want it and 171 don't want it. The survey also includes a section where the numbers have been compiled into zones. The four zones represent school areas which are geographically close. In.the first zone, which includes the five. Stratford schools plus the schools in St. Marys, Kinkora and Hesson, 226 Turn to'page 3 • Report on Blyth-Hullett' dump site in final stages BLYTH - Council is preparing to submit the final . report on the hydro -geological study of the waste disposal site to the Ministry of Environment. The study, which has been in the works for two years, consists of various tests to determine if there is any seepage of chemicals at the site. Problems at the Blyth-Hullett dump started when the Ministry of Environment said the dump was too small. In order to 4.i keep the dump operating, Blyth purchased 25 acres of land for $41,940. Blyth Clerk Larry Walsh explained that the report to the ministry is to make sure the site is up to standards. Clerk Walsh also stated that there. have been several meetings with members of the ministry, and the future of the waste disposal site looks promising. giva ,, These two farmers demonstrated an early method of plowing using heavy horses and a hand held plow during the Huron County Plow- ing Match. Contestants had to cope with a rainy afternoon Sept. 15 7 to complete the competition, one of the largest held. (James Friel photo)