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Vol.5, No.3, Folio 5 Friday, January 16, 1981 Penetanguishene, Ontario That's my song. Boutique Chez-Nous manager Jeanne more than approximate 100 songs in the second publication of the Centre d'ac- Forget, left, and Jeanne Belcourt look at Jeannetton, a song first sung by Belcourt when she was five years old. Two of the book. Trouvailles d'hier et d'aujourd'hui, were contributed by her. The book, the tivites francaises, is a cullection of local popular songs and folklore. Permission refused FLAC won't get in on debate by Murray Moore The area French Language Advisory Committee's bid to the Tiny Township council, meeting in Perkinsfield on Wednesday, endorsed the contents of a letter from the Town of Lincoln calling for removal of the ceiling on interest charges on municipal tax arrears has been circulated to all municipalities with populations of over 5000 in Ontario. According to the clerk of Lincoln, Michael Duc, the present interest charge of 1% per- cent translates into simple interest of 15 percent per year. In view of present borrowing rates for municipalities of near 17 percent, Lincoln is recommending that the Municipal Act be amended to permit a charge of 134 percent as a minimum action. As an alternative, the letter suggests '"'the answer may be in completely removing any limitation on the Act which would allow Councils to set rates that are realistic in light of borrowing costs." "Tf the rate remains at its present level...It will be cheaper for people to let their taxes fall into arrears rather than obtain financing from lending institutions. This will adversely affect the financial position of local Municipalities and will be especially unfair to those taxpayers who will be directly sub- sidizing the sector of the community which does not pay its property taxes," the letter continues. submit a brief written with the help of ESPSS and LeCaron students to parliamentary committee studying the constitution was turned down Wednesday night by the Simcoe County Board of Education. FLAC Chairman Claudette Paquin said she was very disap- pointed students would not be allowed to par- ticipate in the writing of any brief that might be produced. Her committee would seek permission at last night's FLAC meeting for FLAC to continue without student par- ticipation, she said. The exercise may prove to be academic. Wednesday night at the board meeting a trustee reported reading in that night's paper that the parliamentary com- mittee would not be considering any more submissions. The FLAC chairman answered that FLAC had received an acknowledgement to the telegram FLAC sent to Ottawa on Jan. 5, and that the parliamentary committee would continue to sit until Feb. 6. Paquin added that if FLAC representatives are not permitted to go to Ottawa in person, or to send a brief, as FLAC, by the board, that FLAC members will act as private in- dividuals. Disappointed She was particularly disappointed about the board's decision because, she said, the participation of students from both schools in the writing of the brief would be the first liaison between the two schools after a year of fighting. John McCullough, trustee for Midland, criticised FLAC for not asking permission of the board before it applied to appear before the committee studying the constitution. FLAC, he said. is an advisory body to the Simcoe board of Education. Some board members expressed their op- position to students possibly going to Ottawa as part of a group presenting a _ brief seemingly with the encouragement of the board. Brief The text of the planned brief would be concerned with education as a_ basic right and as a survival tool for French Canadians. The board did ap- prove a FLAC request that its monthly meetings be held on a rotating basis at Ecole Secondaire LeCaron, Ecole Secondaire Penetanguishene Secondary School, and Ecole Saint-Joseph. FLAC's reasoning was that such a rotation would encourage people to attend FLAC meetings. FLAC meetings have been held at Le Caron in Lafontaine since the _school onened ESPSS girls face good competition Ecole Secondaire Penetanguishene Secondary School's three girls volleyball teams played Tuesday in ESPSS gym against teams from Orillia District Collegiate and Vocational Institute and Brock High School. The midget girls dropped their first match with Brock 15-9 and 15-13 but came back to win the match with ODCVI 15-4, 16-14 and 15- 10. ESPSS junior girls won their match with ODCVI but gave up a hard fought match to Brock. Flotation tanks may raise sunken machine Don Sherk has settled on trying to salvage his 11 ton front end loader from Penetanguishene Bay with flotation tanks, perhaps making the attempt as early as next week. Empty tanks will be attached to the front of the loader which is sitting 25 feet below the bay's surface. The theory is that when the tanks are filled with air they will rise to the surface, pulling the front, lighter end of the loader with them. Once the light end of the loader is bouyant, the loader will be winched to shore with cables. The weather will in part decide when the salvage effort will be made. Finding help is getting tough This year's Winterama might come and go in Penetanguishene without a skating rink or races on the bay. Nick Boudouris, owner of the Dock Lunch, says he was supposed to be involved in sponsoring carnival activities to be held on the bay. But since a Victoria Harbour man inside an 11 ton front end loader went to the bottom of the bay last Friday while clearing snow off the ice to make a race track, he hasn't found anyone willing to go onto the ice in any size machine. The man was saved from drowning. School fire's cause remains unknown A laboratory report on samples taken from the scene of the fire at Ecole Le Caron, Lafontaine, Nov. 2, have been returned from the Centre of Forensic Science, Toronto with a negative finding. The report from the Centre concluded that traces of flammable materials or substances were not detected in the exhibits forwarded for analysis. Midland OPP and the Ontario Fire Mar- shal's office have recorded the blaze that inflicted considerable damage to the school structure as arson. The answer as to how the fire began remains undetermined, Midland OPP say. Town's guess about snow close Apparently the lack of heavy snowfalls in the latter half of last winter helped balance out the amount of extra snow that fell last November and December. Penetanguishene budgeted $45,800 for snow removal in 1980. The amount actually spent was a little less, $42,913. The money spent on sanding and salting Penetanguishene streets in 1980 exceeded the budgeted amount by about the same amount as the snow removal budget was below estimate. $17,096 was spent on sanding and salting while $14,150 was budgeted. Chimney fire Sunday last local fire As of yesterday the Penetanguishene Fire Department's last call was to 247 Church St. midday Sunday to extinguish a chimney fire. Sunday's fire was the fourth time this winter that the fire department has been called out because of a fire in a chimney, Fire _ Chief Ted Light said. The mid-morning Sunday alarm attended by town firefighters was in fact a mistake. The alarm was for the Tiny Township Fire Department. Licence stickers selling slowly A minority of people in and around town have been into Chalet Sports to buy their 1981 licence plate sticker. The deadline is Feb. 28. A way to make the process simple is to pick up the form every car owner has to fill out each year and bring it back completed when you decide to obtain your sticker. Stickers cost $30, $45 and $60 for four cylinder, six cylinder and eight cylinder vehicles respectively. Ice carries weight Although Penetanguishene harbour, ice- covered for the past few weeks, still isn't safe enough to drive heavy vehicles on, the story is different at the north end of Tiny Township where residents of Christian Island this week have been driving back and forth from the island to the mainland in their ears and truck.