The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 47

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2000 .1 THE OTTAWA CITIZEN SECTION Fearless storyteller Femme fatale from the age of five. F9 Bureaucratic mess Coming up with one set of bylaws. D3 1 A 4 TY ''f Forest fire rages -5s. A it ft near Luskville GatineauPark blaze consumes 16 hectares By Aaron Sands Quebec firefighters could on ly watch yesterday as a raging brush fire devoured a forest at the top of a small mountain in Gatineau Park, near Luskville. The fire was first reported around 2:30 p.m.

Saturday. By last night, with the help of a strong wind, the fire had consumed 16 hectares of woods between the Champlain Lookout and the Chutes de Luskville. No houses or lives were in danger. However, the Luskville Fire Department was keeping a close eye on the blaze to make sure it did not move down the hill and threaten residents along Highway 148. The National Capital Commission and the fire department called SOPFEU Quebec's forest firefighting authority on Saturday.

But because of dangerously strong winds, water-bombing planes could not be used yesterday. "It's staying at the top of the mountain," MRC des Collines police Const. Manuel Bandeira said, adding there are no campsites in the area that's burning. 1 it behind the gates of Devonshire school, Our Schools, Our Communities spokesman Mitchell Beer, pictured 4 An JULIE OLIVER, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN work together. 'It was he says.

debated school closings, for example, was in May. Last week, the Save our Schools committee at Elmdale School released a "hit list" of trustees voters should blacklist in the election. On the list were Ms. Hill in Zone 4 (Bay), Alex Getty in Zone 5 (Baseline-KnoxdaleMerivale), Russ Jackson in Zone 6 (Rideau-RockcliffeAlta Vista) and Pam Morse in Zone 7 (Gloucester-SouthgateOsgoode). Another parent lobby group, Our Schools, Our Communities, is expected to release a similar list this week.

Our Schools, Our Communities spokesman Mitchell Beer says parents are fed up with trustees ignoring what they have to say. "We weren't working together. It was war." And they're also fed up with the process. "If they had consulted us properly in 1998, it would have been over by now," he says. "They would have gotten what they wanted and they wouldn't have set up a firestorm across the district." See SCHOOLS on page D2 chool wars For nearly three years, the battle over school closings has raged in Ottawa-Carleton.

Bev Wake examines the issues that pitted parents against trustees and sparked a debate that continues to rage. ly lose after the next rounds of cuts. And she thought about her chances in the next election if she voted to close certain schools. "I wanted to think things through," she says. "I found I was wanting to please the community and get elected again and it had clouded the way I was thinking.

I could vote to save the schools and I could get re-elected again because everyone would like me. But what about (funding for) special education? "The whole process has been destructive and to close the schools is such a hard, difficult thing to do. But on the other hand, I have responsibility to all the children and that means making some terribly tough decisions. The responsibility eats away at you sometimes." join veterans children who came out with their families to the launch of Veterans Week, whose theme this year is commemorating a "legacy of peace." Bundled in their winter coats, their poppies proudly pinned on, the youngsters each carrying a lit, red candle formed a procession and followed a bagpiper across the street to Parliament HiLL There, the children mingled with veterans who had assembled themselves at the foot of the Peace Tower. As they made their way to the front steps to place their candles, they lifted their heads high to take in the splendour of the tower lit up at night 5 says parents and trustees didn't During one heated debate on school closings, trustee Patty Anne Hill told the public gallery: 'You can hate my guts and jeer me as much as you Trustees made their decisions less than three weeks before the next municipal election.

Although school boards throughout the province are also closing schools, it may not be as much of an election issue. The last time Ottawa Carleton Catholic School Board trustees war dead League, which sponsors two sea cadet corps. Mr. Fox fondly recalled the day he spent with a Brownie troop, showing them a book of pictures from the Second World War, and how enraptured they were with the stories. "They just ate it up," he said.

"Hopefully, they realize just how wasteful and cruel war can be." For Nicholas, the coming together of young and old, was an invaluable exercise. "I'm learning history at school," he said. "But it doesn't compare to learning the history from someone who lived through it" tutu "There are a lot of hiking trails up there. Except for trees, nothing else is burning. The fire department has no way of getting up there to fight it The slope to get up to the fire is very, very steep and very high.

No fire truck is able to get up there." Const. Bandeira said the police station was fielding 40 to 50 calls an hour yesterday fron) concerned citizens. "1 Fleurette Crevier first noticed something strange on the mountain behind her Highway 148 home in Luskville Saturday afternoon. "I thought it was 4 low cloud at first, but then we noticed it was smoke," Mrs. Crevier said.

"I let it go for about 10 minutes, but it seemed to be getting a lot worse so I called 9U." Last night, the usually dark mountain was glowing. "It's beautiful," Mrs. Crevier said. "I probably shouldn't say that, but it is a beautiful sight." The cause of the fire has not been determined. PATRICK DOYLE, THE OTTAWACITIZEK So much so that at one of the public meetings when trustees were debating school closings, Ms.

Hill told the gallery, "you can hate my guts and jeer me as much as you want." Last week, following a series of public meetings that stretched into the wee hours, trustees voted to close six elementary schools in the district Devonshire, Elmdale, Merivale, Mutchmor, Lamira Dow Billings and Overbrook. The decision ended three years of debates, brought the total number of schools shut down to 11 (Confederation High School and Whitehaven, Crich-ton, McNabb Park and Queensway public schools were closed in 1999) and, according to some, may change the makeup of the school board for the next three years. to remember In a moving speech, Nicholas Butt, li, admonished all young Canadians to take part in this week's ceremonies. "We, the young people of Canada, must learn about our history, learn about the brave sacrifices that were made for us, for peace, and must ensure that it never happens again." As Nicholas read his poem, The Dream of the Unknown Soldier, which was first presented at the unveiling of the tomb earlier this year, Alec Fox, a veteran who served in the British Pacific Fleet, proudly looked on. "I love to see the youngsters, it invigorates us," said Mr.

Fox, who now serves on the board of the Ottawa branch of the Navy Priro The weekend before trustees voted on which schools to close in the Ot- awa-Carleton District Board of Education, trustee Patty Anne Hill shut herself in her home. She locked all her doors, turned off her phones, avoided ier fellow trustees and didn't even leave the house to visit her grandchildren. I In her home, alone, she read over the reports school board Staff had prepared, analysing the numbers and what it would mean to children throughout the district if nine schools were shut in the fall of 2001. She thought about the angry phone calls and letters she'd received, the confrontations with angry parents. She thought about friends she had lost after voting for previous school closings, and the friends she'd like Children 1 BY DOUGLAS QUAN Under the glow of the National War Memorial last night, the children remembered I Eleven-year-old Kyle Bentley circled the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with a friend, pointing out the medieval fcword, the First World War hel-Jnet, the maple and laurel leaves symbols cf victory and death.

"There were soldiers who ivent out there and didn't come pack," said Kyle, whose great Uncle was killed while serving jui the Second World War. "We need to make sure they get the J-espect they deserve." jf Kyle was among dozens of GENERAL 2000 GMC Fleetstfe body option SL Model Eng. Vortec 4300 SFI Automatic transmission Air Condrtiomng 3 OS rtar axle Split front bench Chf omc rear step Chrome GnHe mctudinQ 16: Chrome wheels Floor carpeting, met custom doth seats per tmtmthSlOOO down, cash or trde vi .1 111 1 1 i 1 Av 1 i 7, Capt. Craig Bentley and wife Michelle, left, son Kyle, 1 1 and daughter Cara, 9, lay candles on the steps of Parliament Hill. 3XFS rxx Phot MOTORS CANADA WIDE CLEARANCE bsL 2000 G2colrmsTZ SIERRA NOW ON Vortec A 3 Litre 190 HP Ertgme 4 spd Automatic Transmission wrrh Overdrive 4 Wheel Disc Anti-Lock Bratong System Next Generation Driver and Front 2575 Bank St jus! south of Hunt Club Rd.

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