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The Times Advocate, 2008-12-17, Page 88 Times -Advocate Wednesday, December 17, 2008 Construction on schedule at Blue Water Rest Home ZURICH Construction of the new Long -Term Care areas at Blue Water Rest Home is mak- ing significant progress, and re- mains close to the anticipated schedule. Blue Water board chairperson Ron Heimrich said recently, It s very gratifying to see so many local trades on site. Well over half of the successful tenders were submitted by area compa- nies, and this represents nearly $4 million of stimulus into the local economy. Our forecasts of the benefits of this project for the region are beginning to be real- ized. While much of the work done to date may not be visible from the highway, there is a lot to re- port. Currently, the new em- ployee parking lot and access road has been created, and new site drainage has been installed. All the footings have been exca- vated and poured for the new construction areas of the rede- velopment, and the steel frame- works for the new bed wing are close to completion. There have been few significant weather- related delays. Recently two underground wa- ter storage tanks were delivered on four trucks and installed using a 90 -ton mobile crane. These two tanks, with a capacity of 12,000 gallons each (nearly 110,000 litres total) will hold water for fire suppression. Modern fire codes for a new healthcare facility re- quire a significant water reserve in order to pressurize the home s new sprinkler system, and that pressure is not available from the municipal supply. Above the tanks there will be a separately powered and heated pumping station, so that the sys- tem is completely independent and fail-safe. Administrator Martha Craig said, There are many benefits to living and working in a rural area, but we have to make con- cessions when building large modern infrastructure and keep- ing our residents safe. We did not originally anticipate the need for our own water supply to meet fire code, so this instal- lation alone represents an addi tional $175,000 above our origi- nal construction cost estimates. Classroom targets met By Stew Slater SPECIAL TO THE TIMES -ADVOCATE HURON -PERTH Both school boards in Huron and Perth counties achieved provincial targets for class sizes between Kindergarten and Grade 3, according to a news release from Perth -Wellington MPP John Wilkinson. I am proud of the accomplishments made by our local school boards that are in turnmaking a huge impact on the quality of learning of our students, stated Wilkinson in the Dec. 3 news release. The benefits of these smaller class sizes will become even more evident as our students continue to excel over the long term. Avon Maitland District School Board hu- man resources superintendent Jim Shep- pard confirmed the news release s numbers stating that, among the board s primary classrooms, 90.2 per cent have less than 20 students, and none have more than 23. That s the province s expectation that at least 90 per cent will be at 20 or less, and there will be none over 23, Sheppard ex- plained in an interview. Sheppard also confirmed it was increased grants from the provincial Education Min- istry that made it possible to meet these targets. We re very pleased that the funding has been made available, he said. Education superintendent Pat Stanley, meanwhile, offered praise for the 20 -or - fewer target, suggesting studies have shown that smaller class sizes can be effec- tive. Research talks about the optimum size being around the 20 -student range, Stan- ley commented. And we know that the smaller class sizes have to be in place for more than just one year in order to get those advantages. According to the Dec. 3 news release, 90.4 per cent of primary classrooms in the Hu- ron -Perth Catholic District School Board have 20 or fewer students. Men's charity breakfast meets Saturday CENTRALIA Our daily life is con- trolled by many factors. To narrow the field down considerably, we can lump our activi- ties into two categories: what we have to do and what we like to do. For Harold Burgin of Kirkton, making maple syrup in the spring is one of the things he likes to do, but getting to the bush through deep snow or sticky mud is hard work and not a fun activity, and snow shoes do not work well in mud. At this point there are several alterna- tives. He already had two old tractors with no cabs, not good when a nasty spring rain hits. But he zeroed in on using a Second World War army truck. A machine like this has four-wheel drive and a cab, and it is a rather unusual machine for this kind of work, which makes for some interesting conversations. Harold found an army truck in Orillia. A collector there had an assortment of army surplus equipment, had sold them keeping one for doing odd jobs around his place and had finally quit using it in 1967. It now just sat taking up space, and in the mid 1980 s he sold it to Harold. Brother George hauled it on his flatbed trailer and the old truck had a new home in Kirkton. The vehicle is a 1944 Chevrolet, model 84, with a body serial number 208, and com- monly referred to as the 1500 weight. It is a typical army truck with right-hand drive, but what is not so typical is its blue colour, which was painted over with its present colour. Another interesting fact about this truck is that it never had a box on it and was never put into active duty. The engine had been changed over to a civilian Chevrolet Blue Flame engine. The first task in making the truck complete and usable was to find a cargo box. Harold didn t have to go too far away as Larry Selves had one on his farm which had been used as a catch-all bin. When they emptied it of its metal pieces, they found that it had no inner fenders, no tailgate and lots of holes in the bottom. It was a sad -looking affair. It was taken to R & R Body Repair in Woodham to be rebuilt for use. A lot of work was necessary to fabricate parts with no pattern to follow. It was painted a brown colour to match the rest of the truck. When assembled, the truck needed a lot of work to make the brakes work properly, but when that was done, Harold had a usable vehicle that had its original rifle carrier, observation door in the roof and spare tire carrier. Hauling maple syrup from the shanty in the bush was now a pleasure, not a burden. The We Care Men s Charity breakfast will meet at the Malibu Res- taurant near Centralia this Saturday. Contribu- tions to the Canadian Food Grains Bank this year have been most gratifying, and our discussion this month will be Memorable Family Christmases. For more information, phone George Burgin at 229-8833 or Dave Hern at 229-6339. article submitted by George Burgin Construction site Work on Rest Home continues.Two underground water storage tanks to meet modern fire codes were recently installed. (photo/submitted) the upgrades at Blue Water Exeter Seniors meeting EXETER Seventy members and guests of the Exeter Seniors enjoyed their Annual Christmas meeting Dec. 4 at the Exeter Le- gion for a delicious turkey dinner catered to by the Exeter Legion Ladies. President Dorothy Taylor welcomed everyone to the meeting and called upon Olga Davis, zone president to ask the Blessing. The person at each table who didn t re- ceive a table favour made by Judy Ley- bourne received the poinsettia which dec- orated each one of the tables to take home with them. Dorothy introduced eight members of the Exeter Chime Ringers from Ex- eter United Church who played several Christmas Carols under the direction of Bob Robilliard which was enjoyed by all present. Cliff Leybourne thanked the group and presented them with a gift of appreciation. A short business meeting followed pre- sided over by President Dorothy. 0 Canada was sung and everyone repeated The Lord s Prayer. The secretary s report was read and approved. The trea- surer s report was given by Murray Taylor. Judy Leybourne presented cheques to treasurer Murray Taylor from Hansen s Your Independent Grocer and Holtzman s Foodland. These cheques represent earnings from cash register receipts col- lected. Judy was thanked by Dorothy for all her hard work in collecting and adding up total sales. Keep saving your receipts from these stores and give them to Judy. Gerald Dearing will be in- stalled at the January 2009 meeting as first vice-president. Stuck in a. J Search Rut! .� Get the knowledge you need to be competitive in your job search. Attend a FREE Workshop in... • Resume Preparation / Interview Techniques / Job Search Strategies Call your local Centre for Employment and Learnin,, Exeter 519-235-0471 EMPLOYMENT Employment Ontario Programs are funded ONTARIOin part by the Government of Canada Dorothy closed the business portion of the meeting with the reading, Twas the Night Before Christmas. Door Prize Winners: ladies, Lee Thomas; men, Bill Irwin. Myrtle Pengally gave the humorous reading, The Potato Family. Dorothy thanked Shirley Kirk and her committee for doing the decorating and looking after the program. She then in- troduced Harvey Smith, Don Finkbeiner, Ivan Norris and George Mathonia, who played and sang for our enjoyment. Many of our members enjoyed a time of dancing to old time waltz s etc. A good time was had by all in atten- dance. Season s greetings from the Exeter Se- niors. See you for the next meeting Jan. 6, for a potluck supper at 6 p.m. Westland Greenhouses Open 7 days a week 8 - 5pm Kids make a FREE Christmas Arrangement • Cedar Roping • Boughs • Amaryllis • Poinsettias • Fresh Floral Arrangements • Cut & Potted Christmas Trees Ph. 519-238-1321 Fax: 519-238-1429 10133 Lakeshore Rd., Hwy. 21 3km South of Grand Bend FREE Christmas Pepper Plant with any purchase with this coupon LOVE YOUR PETS? We do too! North Fork Kennel & Grooming ouA, Pete. Jfotne, A44 111,0w4, JFont L 0,= 0 A. for Christmas or your winter vacation 69484 Parr Line, Crediton Ph/ fax 519.234.6879 north_forkkennel@hotmail.com www.northforkkennel.com "We treatyourpets like our own!"