The Ottawa Journal from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • Page 3

Ottawa Journal District Renfrew hoard gets 677-name petition "French parents demand-equal pupil-teacher ratio Tuesday, June 5, 1979 uwmw'ww. 111 s' If I I -t 1 the differences in PTR until the issue is discussed at a special meeting Wednesday. He promised a definite reply to both the board and teachers Thursday. High last week would further widen the PTR gap between the two groups. Board chairman Tom Egan said the board could not explain Wakefield numbed by family tragedy Bonnie Campbell Journal Union Star cheesmaker Gary Reid By Bonnie Campbell Journal Reporter PEMBROKE A delegation of parents presented a 677-name petition to the Renfrew County separate school board here Monday asking it to treat the board's two French-language schools equally with the board's English, schools.

At a board meeting, parent spokesman Vvette Graham said French schools have a much higher pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) than the English and therefore equality of opportunity does not exist. Projected figures for the 1979-80 school year indicate the French sector, which includes schools St. John Baptiste and Ste. Jeanne d'Arc, will have a PTR of 22.48 compared to 18.6-1 for the English schools. Graham urged the board to staff the French schools with the same PTR as the English schools and develop a new staffing formula to meet the particular needs pf the francophone pupil and community.

The same proposal was recommended to the board by 20 French teachers last week. She said teachers at the two schools carry the double burden of teaching course work as well as insuring that the students are fluently bilingual. Another parent, Dr. Pierre Prud'homme, said parents were not asking for a number of services such as a speech therapist, home economics or physical education teachers available in English schools, but just wanted to have the same PTR. Graham said this was the first year parents complained about the unequal PTR because teachers were being laid off in the two schools, thus making the situation ven worse.

The parents also told the board the rehiring of 16 English-speaking teachers at Catholic Cheesed off Douglas cheese factory blames quota for continued drop in cheddar sales By Jim Withers, Journal Reporter The two brothers became ongaged the same day. They married the same day. In the same church. A double wedding. They died the same day.

People in this Quebec village reacted with shock at the sudden loss of four of the area's well-known and respected citizens. "They were married together and they died together," said Gail Cartier, a lifelong Wakefield resident. "We've had accidents before, but this is a tragedy," said Dr. Stuart Geggie, commenting on the two-car. accident which claimed the lives of James Moore, 70, his wife Evelyn, 57, his brother Everett, 65, and Everett's wife Katherine, 57.

"They were really pillars of the community," he added, noting the Moore name? had long been prominent in the area. James, who was a carpenter, built many nomes in the area mine," Dr. Geggie said. "I used to go fishing and hunting with Jim and Everett," he added. "They were well-known and well-liked, and their wives equally so." Referring to the fact that Katherine had been a long-time teacher at Wakefield Public School, Dr.

Geddie said: "There's hardly a 20-year-old in the area who wasn't taught by her." Both James and his wife, who were residents of Wakefield, and Everett and his wife, who lived in nearby Rupert, were all active members of the United Church. "They are all going to be greatly missed," said Rev. Geerlof Lokhorst. "Jim Moore was an elder in our church. Being a contractor, he was always1 able and willing to help us out whenever we needed something done." "Jim was a real character, always joking," said Josie Pearson, proprietor of the Chateau Pearson Hotel.

"My husband hunted with him." Everett also had a sense of humor, recalled Gail Cartier. "He could hardly get one joke out in time for another." He had suffered two heart attacks in the past year, she added. "It's hard to believe that they're gone," said Charlie Gauvreau, shaking his head. By Bonnie Campbell Journal Reporter DOUGLAS The only cheese factory left in the Upper Ottawa Valley has expanded its operation into a new specialty cheese line a move necessitated by a continual erosion of its quota for cheddar cheese. The Union Star Cheese Factory, a farm cooperative, has watched its sales decline as a result of decisions since 1971 by the Ontario Milk Marketing Board (OMMB) to slash its quota by 49 per cent.

At one time, the cheese factory, located about 10 miles west of Renfrew on the Barr Line, had quota for five million pounds of milk. That is now down to 2' million pounds and the amount of cheese the factory can make has fallen drastically. Although the OMMB denies it is trying to wipe out the cheddar cheese industry, only cheddar cheese requires quota while specialty cheeses do not, said chee-semaker Gary Reid. In an effort to increase efficiency and production, Union Star is expanding into three new lines' of cheese, mozzarella, Colby and farmer's in a competitive move to increase sales. Athough cheddar is the mainstay of the plant, the new cheeses will help offset the effects of reduced quota.

Renovations include a new storefront area, cheese-making area and cutting and wrapping area. Reid hopes sales will increase from 350,000 pounds in 1978 to an estimated one-half million pounds in 1979. The company was promised a grant by ARDA for the expansion but termination of that program dried up all funds for the project. L--2 i. Investigators check Turbo train wreckage Although the factory has -many requests for orders from larger companies such as Black Diamond, owned by Kraft Foods, these orders go unfilled because the company does not have the quota to fill tljem.

The OMMB allows the factory to sell over-the-counter cheese quota-free and the factory is hoping the new storefront area will increase sales. Reid said it is frustrating to be in a business where you can't expand or meet buyers' needs because of a shortage of quota. "The company can't expand even if we have a good product that people want to buy. We could sell 200,000 pounds to a company like Black Diamond but we just don't have the quota to do it," said Reid. He said the only solution left for cheddar cheese factories in Ontario is to convince the government to give them more quota.

There hasbcen a continual decline in the number of cheese factories in Eastern Ontario. Many have been bought out by agri-business giants like Kraft and Ault Foods who take the quota and then close them down, said Reid. This is not a solution that smaller cheese factories can afford. The Ontario Cheddar Cheese Association now has a brief before the OMMB asking for more quota for Ontario cheese factories. But the ultimate decision for the allocation of industrial milk lies with the Canadian Dairy Commission and Reid says that avenue might be slowed down by the change in government In Ottawa.

Reid said the cheddar cheese industry might peak again if Canada got back into exporting the product. The department of industry, trade and commerce just signed an agreempnt for the sale of seven million pounds of cheese for Great Britain and this is a start, said Reid. "But this isn't going to do much good for Ontario because we don't have the quota to meet an order like that," said Reid. irai3rtCBiO" dit'iijilil fSltfliliiEKJuKfij: room fctnr flo-osju' ilir MB3uI3i SSEuBlh0 if. mi QHSt" caught fire a few miles west of here last Tuesday night.

Via Rail sent two gondola cars, a flatbed car and a crane down from Montreal Thursday but they are still here and will probably take the damaged units back to Montreal sometime this week. Investigators from Via Rail, CN, Pratt and Whitney and the Canadian Transportation Commission are in Morrisburg for the preliminary inspection. MORRISBURG (Staff) Via Rail's burned-out Turbo train is still in Morrisburg today undergoing a preliminary on-site investigation. Plans to take the train to Montreal for investigation and repairs on Friday were changed when officials of a number of the parties involved decided to make a preliminary check at the site of the accident. 7- The front three units of a nine-unit Turbo, bound for Toronto.

rn Brockville busing uncertain BROCKVILLE (Special) The question of Whether or not 1 students attending Brockville Collegiate Institute from the Britan-' nia Heights area in the northeast section pf Brockville will have to walk to school remained unresolved Monday night. The Leeds and Grenville county board of education's transporta-; tion committee debated whether to eliminate a Britannia Heights bus and then decided the plan needed further study and research. Britannia Heights is about two and a half kilometres from BCI, just under the three kilometre limit set by the board for busing students. An exception has been made in the past for the 25 students involved and they have been getting bus rides to school. Some members of the committee have been urging the bus route be eliminated.

road test and inspection at no charge free towing with service budget1 terms on approval service to all domestic cars and to most imports 90 days or lifetime written guarantee installation at no charge lifetime written guarantee service to all domestic cars and most imports 30 minute service ask about our Munroe shock absorber service full line of trailer hitches OIR37 Ingleside company floats loan Tent theatre won't fold INGLESIDE (Special) The show will go on! A Day to Remember, the George Blackburn musical performed last summer In a' tent theatre near here, would have been cancelled in its second season if a Cornwall bank had not the production company out of debt with, some interim financing. The Prince of Wales Theatre Corporation had not been able to raise even a reduced 1979 budget, originally $180,000, by soliciting private donors In large Ontario urban centres and was short $30,000, said Blackburn Monday. Now, however, the company can proceed with a "degree of security," he said. The play explores the effect of the Seaway construction on residents of seven flooded villages in this area. More than $70,000 of this year's budget will go to paying, off 1978 debts, while $47,000 will be used to produce the show this year.

The advertising budget has doubled to province-wide posterand pamphlet, campaign will be mounted Instead of concentrating only on Eastern Ontario. Blackburn hopes this will Increase box office sales on which "the fate of the theatre depends." Most of last year's paid amateur and professional cast will be returning for the July and August stint, said the author. Rehearsals will begin June 12 and opening night is June 30. 1.