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Zurich Citizens News, 1978-04-20, Page 1s 5 NO. 16/ '' r\ FIRST WITH LOCAL NEWS THURSDAY,APRIL 20,1978 Ten drop out Price Per Copy 20 Cents Highschool loses few students ._South Huron District High School lost about720students because of the teachers' strike, principal Joe Wooden - said Friday. "I was afraid we would lose about 50 students, but we only lost 20 as a direct result of the disruption. About half of the 20 transferred to other schools and the other half dropped out," Wooden said. Most of the students who ' transferred to other schools will likely transfer back to South Huron, Wooden said, Three students transferred back on Friday and three or four more will be back next week. There is no way the time lost because of the strike can be made up -in the classroom before the end of the school year, Wooden noted. "We lost about 20 days in- structional time. It would be ridiculous to say we haven't . missed important work." The local high school prin- THEY-(RE BACK — Secondary school students in Huron County returned to the school room Thursday morning for the first time in over a month. At South Huron District High School in Exeter teacher Pete Connon gave some early morning instructions to his grade nine class. T -A photo Council supports removal of books from Huron secondary schools Contrary to a move by their Hensall counterparts, Zurich council backed a letter from the St. Joseph's Catholic Women's League that called for the condem- nation of several books that are in use in Huron's secon- dary schools. The letter in- cluded excerpts from the books which the league labelled as pornographic. The letter called for representations to be made to teachers, school boards, and MPP's concerning the alledged pornography in the schools. Several council members expressed disgust at the ex- cerpts cited. Reeve Fred Haberer said "There's gotta be something else in school to study other than that (the books named in the letter)." . Claude Gelinas remarked "They've got oddballs in the education system just as anywhere else .. If there is no protest from any direc- tion, what's next." This prompted Haberer to say "We have a sick society and if we condone it, it will get worse." The role of the building in- spector came under question Thursday as council attempted to define the ac- tual role which he should play. Councillor Ray McKinnon said he saw two important reasons for having a building inspector: enfor- cing the structural quality of a building and determining the amount of assessment on a property. Haberer concurred and said that if the assessment department did not know about building alterations the aim of equitable asess- ment would be hard to reach. Leroy Thiel wondered if it was specified in the building code the amount and type of ' work that is to be inspected. Council took no action on the matter. Streets in the village are due to have some work done on them, council Learned. Streets and sidewalks committee chairman Gelinas said that the few remaining streets in the village that are not surfaced should be done this year. While expressing pleasure at this, Thiel said "I realize you've only got so much money to work with but I'm disappointed in your, sidewalks." The village was a year behind in its paving schedule Haberer said and that reconstruction of certain sections of sidewalk will be the next priority. Latter in the meeting Haberer said that an engineer will examine Goshen street, north from Park agreement is progressing Slowly but ever so surely an agreement between the village of Zurich and the Ausable-Bayfield Conser- vation Authority for the development of lands near the arena is coming to fruition. Councillor Ray McKinnon said that Peter Rumble of the authority informed the recreation, parks and community board that a similar agreement between Exeter and Stephen town- ship will be used as a basis for the agreement between Zurich and the authority. Once the Stephen, Exeter agreement is concluded the village's agreement should proceed without haste. ' Rumble also said that the authority has hired a London landscaping firm to develop some drawings for the project and that funds have been set aside to carry out brushing and clearing of the site this year. The board received the final bill for the dressing room addition to the arena this week. "We've had a rude awakening", was the way that Claude Gelinas classified the final figure. In a remark that drew laughter from his fellow councillors, Gelinas said with reference to the in- verted roof for the addition, "Everything is upside down including the final figure." The addition had an estimated cost of $13,800. The renovations to the front of the arena will commence as soon as the weather gets warm, Gelinas said. Plaster is to be applied to the upper half of the ex- terior of the auditorium. The possibilities of having a summer playground in the village were enhanced'when the board announced that the Chamber of Commerce would have free use of the recreatiion facilities if the playground became operative. the intersection to deter- mine the amount of work that is to be done. The reeve stated that sidewalks, curbing and street renovations should be done at the same time. Dogs and their actions continue to cause problems in Zurich as council received a letter complaining about the village's canines. Murray McAdams ex- pressed concern about the actions of one dog which ripped his wife's dress and the continuous barking of another animal. Council said they felt powerless over the control the dog's barking with Thiel. remarking "If they can come up with a way short of shooting the dog, we'll listen." Clerk -treasurer Sharon Baker was instructed to send a letter to the McAdams to that effect. In other business, council: Approved the payment of $15 per committee of adjust- ment meeting to the clerk - treasurer for acting as secretary. • Learned that the village had made application to the Ontario Home Renewal Program for an additional $10,000. The village present- ly has $20,000 available for home renovations. Approved the attendence of the clerk -treasurer at a seminar in Vanastra dealing with the 1978 standard assessment system and at the annual conference of the Association of Municipal CIerks and Treasurers of Ontario. Passed a bylaw to licence, regulate' and govern the keeping of billiard, pool, bagatelle tables and pinball machines. Wrote off taxes totalling $21. cipal said adjustments would be made to courses and in some subjects sec- tions would have to be cut. He said the missed work could have an adverse effect on students going into post- secondary school. "It will depend on what the student is going into. I don't think they will suffer in a major way, but they won't have as broad a background as they would have had," he said. Teachers of the grade 13 math and sciences courses will concentrate on the areas the students will need to know if they are going on to university. Wooden said there was no tension between teachers and students following the 31 day strike. "Everyone seems to be pleased to be back and eager to get things done. The at- mosphere is just great." The school year at South Huron will not likely be ex- tended Wooden said. Final exams will be written in the latter part of June by students who don't qualify for an exemption, he said. Director of the Huron County school board, J.D. Cochrane said the board will consider what action might be taken to make up for the lost time at the board meeting on May l.. Stanley adds to reserve fund At the last meeting of Stanley township council a reserve fund of $27,000 was set up for the following items: $10,000 -land acquisi- tion, $8,000 -equipment ac- quisition and $9,000 for fire equipment acquisition. According to clerk - treasurer Mel Graham, the above funds were derived from the general levy with the $10,000 for land acquisi- tion coming from the sale of the old dump site in 1977. The $27,000 which is being set aside is in addition to the $50,000 working capital reserve fund which the township normally has on hand. A surplus of $10,000 which Stanley did have has been reduced to $1.000. The township had tax arrears totalling $13,200 or 2.5 percent of the total amount due. Graham said that "This is the lowest that they have ever been." In other business council: Approved tile drainage applications totaling $9,000. Accepted the tender of Pollard Brothers of Harrow for the supply of 140 tons of calcium chloride at $96.50 per ton. Accepted the tender of Lavis Construction, Clinton for the supply of 16,000 yards of gravel at $2.18 per yard. Agreed to pay $707.25 for the housing of three Stanley residents in the Bayfield senior's apartments. Made donations of $50 to the Canadian Cancer Society and $25 to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Accepted an invitation to attend the Bayfield Lion's Club civic appreciation night on April 25. Cars collide In Zurich The area's accident total remained low again this. week, with only three ac- cidents. Two of those were of a minor nature. On Saturday, vehicles driven by Charles Browning Jr., Crediton, and Gail McNeil, RR 1 Hensall, were involved in a collision on Highway 83, east of Exeter. Damage was listed at 1,200 by Constable Jack Straughan. One of the minor accidents involved vehicles driven by Francis Forrest and Vera_ Smale. They collided in Hensall on Monday, while vehicles operated by Hen- drina Erb and Mary Clausius, Zurich, were in- volved in a collision on Friday in Zurich. VICTOR TAKES THE SPOILS — Following the conclusion of a most successful businessmen's bowling tournament on Sun- day, Marlene Bedard presented a prize to top finisher Steve Huras. Staff photo