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Wednesday, 08 September 2010 14:41 |
It's time! The 49th annual Reunion of the Huron Pioneer Thresher and Hobby Association is upon us and crews were out on Labour Day MOnday, as is the tradition, setting up for the annual gathering. Reunion regular, Highgate's Mark Clarke, left, was in Blyth bright and early to unload one of his steam engines with the help of Edgar Daer. (Vicky Bremner photo) |
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Belgrave Hosts 90th School Fair - September 9 |
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Wednesday, 08 September 2010 14:30 |
While the annual Belgrave, Blyth and Brussels School Fair is celebrating its amazing 90th year next week, some can’t help but focus on the bleak and sober reality that this may very well be the final in a long line of school fairs in North Huron.
The fair, which will be held at the Belgrave Community Centre on September 15, will be celebrating a milestone in this, its 90th year. There is, however, a cloud looming as several area schools are marked for closure at the end of this school year and fair volunteers are at an all-time low.
Secretary Melissa Coultes says that it is currently looking like this will be the last in decades of school fairs in Huron County. The fair, which has been one-of-a-kind in Ontario for years now (Coultes thinks the fair is the only one of its kind in Canada, but says she can’t be sure), is facing the “very real possibility” of its last year in 2010.
There is still hope, however, but some things would have to change, or the Avon Maitland District School Board would have to make a shocking decision and decide to not close Blyth and East Wawanosh Public Schools.
Coultes says that if the schools close and students begin to attend the proposed “super school” slated for Wingham, a fair may be able to continue if the enthusiasm and volunteers are there, but because of government red tape, the name would have to be changed.
However, she said, with a dwindling number of volunteers, it looks more like organizers will hold the last fair next week.
“Because we’re listed as a non-profit, if it changed, we would have to have a new name and a new identity for the fair,” she said. “Some people said that perhaps only Belgrave children could participate, but that would work against the whole idea of a community-oriented school and I’m not sure that it would be appropriate.”
Coultes says that because of the delays with the Wingham site for the new school, it is possible that there may be one more fair under the current system, but that it’s unlikely.
This year, already, she said, the lack of volunteers has affected the flow of the fair. |
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Board Trustees Discuss Deadline - September 9 |
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Wednesday, 08 September 2010 14:24 |
Following a spring and summer of uncertainty punctuated by Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) challenges and a deadline for withdrawal from a proposed site for a new elementary school, the Town of Wingham and the Avon Maitland District School Board – albeit not entirely unanimously – finally seem to be singing from the same book.
And, after a special school board meeting Monday, Aug. 30, long-serving Wingham/North Huron trustee Colleen Schenk acknowledged the renewed unity by deciding she’ll seek a sixth term in office.
“I registered (for the Oct. 25 municipal election) yesterday,” Schenk confirmed Sept. 1.
Easily the board’s longest-serving trustee (the next in line for seniority, four-term veteran Meg Westley of Stratford, will not seek re-election), she cited an Aug. 30 board decision to rescind an Aug. 31 deadline for enhanced Education Ministry funding for a proposed Kindergarten-to-Grade 6 school on property adjacent to F.E. Madill Secondary School. The deadline had been put in place July 28, with the board explaining at the time that it needed an extra $1 million – over and above the $8.8 million announced in June, 2009 – to overcome what were described as “a number of hurdles.”
Chief among those hurdles were four separate challenges to the OMB. One, originating from the town of Blyth, contends the community’s well-being will be unduly affected by the school board’s decision to relocate students from four small elementary schools into the new school. The other three, originating from Wingham, revolve around issues related to vehicles getting into and out of the proposed site.
In an interview, board chair Jenny Versteeg offered that she doesn’t believe the Blyth challenge will be heard by the OMB. But she referred to the access-related challenge as “a real one. But I don’t think it’s significant. I believe (the board) will be successful.” |
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Bezaire Seeks PC Nomination - September 9 |
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Wednesday, 08 September 2010 14:22 |
With the deadline to file for nomination in the upcoming municipal election coming at week’s end, Central Huron Deputy Reeve and former Huron County Warden John Bezaire announced that he will not be running for a position on Central Huron Council this fall, but rather will focus his attention on becoming the Progressive Conservative candidate for the provincial riding of Huron-Bruce.
“While it has been a tremendous honour serving the people of Huron County for the past number of years as a member of council, I believe that my time will be better spent bringing new ideas and a fresh approach to Queen’s Park,” he said.
“There are a tremendous number of issues that greatly affect the people of Huron-Bruce that, quite frankly, the municipal governments cannot solve until a new relationship and partnership is created with the Province of Ontario. They (the province) set the rules, control the purse strings and ultimately create the environment that councils must work in. While that environment has changed drastically in the past decade, the tools needed by municipalities have not been provided by the province.
“And the issue is not simply one of money … the days of municipalities begging for much needed funding needs to be replaced with changes to the rules that would allow rural Ontario to find made-at-home solutions to their own challenges without being so financially dependent on the province.”
Bezaire, a father of three and a long time business owner from the Clinton area, has served in municipal office for much of the past 18 years. |
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