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the HERALD WEDNESDAY DECEMBER II ltTS Home Newspaper of Hills Drinking problem among students Drinking among high school students at Georgetown District High School Is a mounting problem the consequences of which principal Michael Furlong freely admits frighten me In an Interview last week with the Herald Mr Furlong noted that drinking among students particularly at high school dances has always been a recurring problem but the increase In alcoholrelated incidents at GDIIS over the past three months has become a much more serious problem than ever before A November dance at saw so many students drinking the organizing committee of the dance made up of students met afterwards with the principal to voice their concern on the situation A teacher supervising the dance con curred Ho estimated that the vast majority of the students attending the dance had been drinking Weve always had a drinking problem at dances noted Mr Furlong but It was always so minimal we couldnt really term It a serious problem However number at Novembers dance was quite high Although only four were obviously drunk the super vising teacher estimated that the majority had had a drink probably before entering the school Last week four students finished off a bottle of vodka between morning classes They returned to school where in the midst of a science lab one of the youths became violently 111 The ages of the students ranged from to IS My greatest concern noted Mr Furlong Is that those two Instances are Just the tip of the Iceberg The consequences of drinking In school become more com monplace frightens me It has reached the point where the students themselves ore concerned not Just about the drinking Itself but about the potential problems It may be creating Mr Furlong pointed to the decision lost week by provincial AttorneyGeneral Roy to reexamine the lowering of the drinking age from 21 to 18 as a sign of the seriousness of the problem on a province- wide level I agree with Mr McMurtrys concern over the problem he said but Im not sure raising the drinking age will be the solution It would effectively handle the school problem however Im not entirely convinced thatlByearoIdscantcopewithlt If the age limit was IBand thats stopped there would be no problem The wide variance in the ages of students enrolled in la one of the contributing factors behind the spreading drinking problem Mr Furlong said The students range from 12 years old to years old Its inevitable that some of the more Impressionable younger students will through their close connections with the older ones became involved with drinking However they may be totally unprepared or not mature enough to handle It Another serious factor is that of Indents coming onto school property during lunch hours or at a dance and providing students with beer or alcohol The school is powerless to press charges Immediately A person doing It must first be sent a registered letter warning him not to return Should he do so and is seen on school property he can then be Immediately charged with trespassing The most effective means of controlling nonstudents is frequent patrols of the property by town police but as Mr Furlong pointed out they cant provide continuous patrols Ifwe could solve the problem of the non- students we would have a lot of the problem licked He appealed to the students to meet their friends somewhere else We must all work together to solve the problem of drinking in the school As long as one student gets drunk even out of a total student population of we have a problem The Implications of that one incident upon the atmosphere of the entire school are critical He explained that those students who do have problems are treated as If they are sick The treatment for the growing problem Is not strictly found In enforcement of rules such as cancelling of school dances We all have a responsibility to deal with the drinking student but we must deal with him or her not with a punishment attitude but rather with a preventative manner Its not the fault of the student Its not the fault of the parents Its not the fault of tbepollceanditsnotthefault of the school everyones fault and everyones problem Halton statistics show young regular drinkers Early deadlines The Herald plans to be ready for Santa Clans but we need your help To allow the staff to bead borne early Christmas Eve we will be producing the Herald In time for Tuesday morning December one day early As a result our copy and advertising deadline have all been moved ahead The final deadline for classified display advertisements will be 2 oclock Monday December We would request all our correspondents and news contributors to submit their copy if Its at all possible week Alarming statistics came to light recently In Toronto during the inquest into the death of a 15yearold North York schoolboy due to alcohol Dr James Rankin bead of clinical research for the Ad diction Research Foundation gave out the figures during his testimony at the inquest According to Dr Rankin per cent of Canadian school children between 11 and 10 years of age drink regularly In Grade 13 the figure has risen to per cent Peter Marks community consultant for ABF In related these figures to the situation in our corn- In a recent study done by the In he summer of In the following question was asked of the students being polled What per centage of the students do you feel drink hard liquor per day The students poled were from nine different high schools in the area The study done in gave the following results per cent drink hard liquor per day per cent once per week percent once or twice per month This alarming rate in the consumption of alcohol by students Is the result of many contributing factors notes Mr Marks The lowering of the drinking age to 18 has cer tainly had Its effect but the abuse of alcohol among students is more closely related to attitudes towards the handling of social pressues he said We have to educate the public to develop personal responsibility In basic at titudes and values Education It perhaps the only overall effective use against alcohol abuse explained Mr Marks In a recent Interview with the Herald from bis Ottawa office Dr Frank MP for carried that point one step further You cannot effectively legislate peoples behaviour he said By trying to control drinking abuse by such measures as pricing liquor beyond reach which Is a form of prohibition you would In crease the crime rate In bootlegging and the of cheap alcohol I think the basis of the problem Is to put the responsibility back to the people Teach people how to handle stress In a more ac ceptable manner be said II were getting Into un desirable drinking trends due to the lowering of the drinking age and Im not absolutely sure yet that Is the case then perhaps the government should take a step backwards But legislation alone Is definitely not the complete answer be said Dr Hugh a psychiatrist told a recent seminar In Toronto that the lowering of the drinking age creates alcoholism by law Dr Missildine found the excessive liberalism of todays society was dangerous to persona growth develop ment and potential Statistics of a 93 per cent drinking rate amongst Grade students Is almost an epidemic proportion figure Unfortunately the public acceptance of alcohol and consequently alcohol abuse keeps the public from becoming appropriately alarmed be said Social values and at titudes said Peter Marks will have to change if we are to see a decrease In these alarming figures Board okays sale of Norval school The negotiations over the Norval school are finally over As soon as the documents are signed the school and acres of surrounding it will be officially turned over to Halton Hills for development as a recreational centre for the village of After one year of almost continuous negotiations between the Halton Board of Education and the town both sides agreed hut week to the latest offer made by the town That offer places a price tag on the entire property consisting of both the old and new Norval public school plus 43 acres surrounding It Thetownlselaoprohibltedby terms of the contract from selling any portion of the property for five years representative on the board Tom Watson presented the terms of the contract arrived at he previous week in a meeting between board and town officials to the board last Thursday during a committee of the whole session The board during Its regular meetings unanimously approved the sale Since the closing of the public school two years ago the board and town have bees negotiating back and forth on a proper selling price or the property The town originally took a stand that the school having been built from public funds prior to the formation of the Halton board should be returned to the public for a token figure The board however had the value of the property set much higher basing their price estimates on the zonula of the Later the town offered to purchase only the schools with a small portion of the land but the board requested that the entire property be sold as a parcel With the settling of the Norval Issue some attention la now turning towards the other school property available to Halton Chapel Street Public School Georgetown trustee Ernie Bodnar said at Thursdays meeting that neither the board nor the town have addressed themselves to the Chapel Street Issue but I Imagine that it will be discussed in the near future Georgetown Knights of Columbus set the pace report of the help which the Knights of Columbus have given to the society The Knights of Columbus throughout the whole of On tario have contributed more than since the of the Arthritis Society as their principal charity In The Georgetown Knights of Columbus Council NoBOlO through the generosity of tbe people of Hills presented a cheque of to Mauri Valiee a regional director of tbe Canadian Arthritis Society last week Mr Valiee a guest with the Knights of Columbus at their December 9 meeting said much to thesurprise of many members that the Georgetown Knights of Columbus had been the first council In Ontario to campaign behalf of the Arthritis the Knights of Columbus began to campaign In response has grown tremendously Also because of this venture many arthritis cures have been discovered Mr Valiee presented a film MOW THATS DONATION The Georgetown Knights of KarlKlein Columbus presented a cheque for to Mauri Grand Knight Mauri William Kent chairman of the way of research and regional representative of the Arthritis Society the Arthritis Society campaign for Georgetown and Doug u society is the chief charity of the Tucker vicechairman for Georgetowns campaign treatment He also gave a Helping tl Farmers citizens all voice concerns on problems created by drivein The Ontario Municipal Board hearings Into the proposed driveIn at Ashgrove continued on Tuesday Mr Barry Allen who owns a 100acre site in Ashgrove wants to develop 25 acres of that site for a drivein theatre The Official Plan of has the land designated as rural and agricultural Mr Allen through solicitor Monty Hyde has been seeking an amendment of the land designation for acres of the site The remaining acres be proposed as a possible orchard Tuesday morning session began with the cross- examination of town planner Mario VenatU by Solicitor Hyde Mr Hyde cen tered his crossexamination around the poult that any drivein site In tbe ares would have to be bv amendment to the Official Plan Solicitor Hyde called An thony Miles of and Smith a firm of consulting engineers who have prepared a traffic survey for Mr Allen Mr Miles testified that in his opinion traffic would be of Level D rote a condition of stable traffic flow During his cross- examination by the towns solicitor Ray Steele it was pointed out that the population figures used In the traffic hsporl were indirect Mr Miles concurred that if this proved so then certain areas of the report would have to be corrected but this would have Utile effect on the raffle computations according to Mr Miles testimony began with Solicitor Dick calling Henry Slanley of ministry of agriculture and food Mr Stanley testified that the land on the proposed site was prime agricultural land with soil of the I and Class II variety suitable for growing almost anything Mr Stanley pointed out that In the Code of Agricultural practices set up by the ministry If at ail possible agricultural land should s kept In blocks so as not I Mr Stanleys centered on the value of land from an agricultural point of view He voted on tbe 100- farm adjacent to tbe drivein the fanner uses liquid manure which mutht not be During Mr Hydes cross- examination Mr Stanley pointed out that tbe proposed orchard on the remaining acres would not be profitable if driveIn patrons could have easy access to it as Mr Allen had suggested Solicitor Steele called Rob Austin to testify In his capacity bs town engineer He estimated that road im provements around tbe drive- in site would run about per mile with an additional for an asphalt surface on roads presently with Just a gravel top Next to be called was Frank Crana principle planner for the Halton pluming depart ment He testified that in his capacity as planner he did not believe that the surrounding agricultural community would be compatible with a drivein theatre More on