Vol. 10 No. 18
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THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2013
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USS marks 90 years in June
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Concerns raised over Scugog Fire response model BLAKE WOLFE The Standard
DARRYL KNIGHT The Standard
UXBRIDGE: Later this year, Uxbridge Secondary School will be hosting a party that’s been 90 years in the making. Several events have been planned between Friday, June 21 and Sunday, June 23 to commemorate the 90th anniversary of Uxbridge Secondary School. Since October 2011, a committee made up of former staff and students, as well as current staff has been meeting monthly in preparation for the celebration in the hopes of providing a memorable experience to all former students at USS. The official kick-off for the event occurs with opening ceremonies, which will be held in the USS gym on Saturday, June 22 at 10:30 a.m. “We are planning to showcase current student talent at the opening ceremonies,” said Peter Morris, a former teacher and principal at USS, currently serving as Chair of the Reunion Committee, to The Standard. “We plan to have dance, drama and bands perform as well as unveiling our athletes of the decade and our Athletic Wall of Fame.” Events continue during the day on Saturday with a
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SIGNS OF SUMMER: Emily Furlotte was just one of the many local tennis players to return to the Port Perry courts last weekend, as the warm weather BLAKE WOLFE The Standard returned in between the rain. staff luncheon and golf tournament. On Saturday night, there will be a pub night at Uxbridge Arena, with organizers expecting almost 2,000 people to attend. Those interested in attending the
Pub Night as well as other 90th anniversary events will have to pre-register at www. USS90.com and purchase tickets in advance in order to avoid disappointment. “In 1998 at the 75th anniversary, we had people
coming to the door buying tickets, and we ended up exceeding capacity,” explained Regional Councillor Jack Ballinger, who also sits on the reunion committee. TURN TO PAGE 4
SCUGOG: Scugog’s full-time firefighters and Chief Richard Miller remain in talks over recent changes to the department’s response model, stemming from the new four-day work week for fulltimers implemented this week. Firefighter Clint Walker, president of the Scugog Professional Firefighters Association IAFF Local 4679 representing the department’s full-time personnel, said that “a number of solutions” have been presented to the chief to remedy what the full-time firefighter described as the potential for delayed responses in the return to an all-call paging model, in which volunteers are called to every emergency. The system, which the department used until the hiring of Scugog’s third full-time firefighter in 2007, was reinstated Monday (April 29) as the department’s full time staff moved to a four-day schedule working from 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., with only one or two days during the week where all three full-timers work together. The four-day schedule was part of an arbitration award to full-time firefighters announced in February, which also included a pay increase of more than 26 per cent retroactive to 2009. The reason for the return to the all-call model, said Chief Miller in a recent report to Scugog Council, is to ensure all responses, no matter the time, are covered by an adequate number of firefighters. He added in his report that he doesn’t expect response times to be affected due to the schedule change. Chief Miller said at a recent council meeting that an organizational review of the department is also in the works. While Mr. Walker declined to detail his proposed solutions due to the ongoing discussions, he said that he is concerned that response times will be affected if full time staff are required to wait for a sufficient number of volunteers before responding to emergencies. “The problem is that during the day,” said Mr. Walker, “you don’t know how many volunteers you’re going to get. They have other responsibilities like family and jobs. We (full time firefighters) were hired to guarantee response and responses will be hindered (if we are required to wait for enough volunteers).” TURN TO PAGE 5
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