Glebe Report

SCHOOL NEWS
Glebe students protest OC tare increases
BY MARK ROBERTSON
A group of Glebe students
(numbering around fifteen)
boarded a Number 6 bus outside
Glebe Collegiate Institute
on December 10th at
noon and refused to pay the
fare. They were protesting
the upcoming six percent
fare hike. Their reasons
for such an action were out
of desperation since a set of
of petitions protesting the
last major fare hike went
unresponded to by OC Transpo.
The most that was left in
the collection box was ten
cents. Ten minutes after
the students boarded the bus,
four OC Transpo ticket
inspector cars rolled in
behind. Four ticket inspectors
boarded the bus and
ordered the protesters to
disembark. Cole Rheaume
challenged their authority
to do so.. The ticket inspector
told him to "shut up",
and eventually Rheaume told
the ticket inspector to
"shut up".
I attempted to photograph
a ticket inspector on the
bus from outside. Before I
was able to do so he held
his hand out in front of
my camera. He threatened
to sue me if a photograph
of him was published.
The protesters disembarked
to continue the conflict
outside the bus. They joined
a crowd of observers. Cole
Rheaume led the argument
with three OC Transpo ticket
TERRY PENNER
BOOKKEEPING AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
SERUICES FOR SMALL BUSINESS.
14 PREPARATION AND RECONCILIATION
I am interested in
your views on our
schools and on Board
business
737-2932
JOHN SMART
TRUSTEE
Ottawa Board
of Education
563-2332 (Days)
234-5058 (Evenings)
inspectors. They informed
Rheaume that he alone might
be charged. Rheaume did
not believe that they had
the power to single him out.
The ticket inspectors explained
that, because he was
the voice of the demonstration,
they had the right to
choose to charge him.
The ticket inspectors
retiredto confer, and about
ten minutes later visited
the principal's office.
Rheaume was called to the
main office, and after waiting
a few minutes, was asked
to enter the principal's
office. I asked the princi-
Photo: Mark Robertson
pal if I could take notes.
"As far as I'm concerned
I'm not having any reporter,"
he replied.
Whereupon Rheaume refused
to be involved in any further
discourse because, as he
said, all technicalities
had been revealed on
the street before a
Citizen and a student reporter
on the street.
The Principal Mr. Harvie
explained in an interview
that he had no previous
knowledge of the protest. He
accepted the ticket inspectors'
right to seek to have
the way it works in our
society," he explained.
Mr. Joyal (a Vice Principal)
disagreed with the means of
protest. "It's unfortunate;
the other passengers may have
had emergencies," he said.
I asked Mr. Stitt, a law
teacher, if it is legal to
charge one person in such
a protest. "It's up to the
police's discretion to charge
whomever they want, if they
don't feel that the others
were a threat to safety."
The charge would be causing
a disturbance.
I questioned Mr. Cummings
(a Physical Education teacher
teacher) on his opinion of
the fare hike. "All they're
going to do is keep raising
the fare and less people
will be using it. It's
going to become a 'white
elephant.' They've got
this grandiose scheme. It's
going to affect us because
the sporting teams use the
bus. We're going to use
some other means of transportation."
Rheaume hopes to raise
greater numbers of protesters
for a future protest.
Mark Robertson is our
Student Correspondent from
one person charged. "That's GZebe Collegiate.
First Avenue School will be celebrating its 90th
anniversary in 1988. We are looking for former students
and interesting memorabilia from the school's early days
as we are planning to publish a historical booklet as
part of the anniversary celebration. If you have any
information or an item of interest, please contact
Steve Thomson, VP, First Avenue at 239-2261.
First Avenue's year end
SPORTS NEWS
The Junior Boys Team was
This has been a very grati- represented by Michael
fying fall season for First Bayne, Kevin Robinson, Tyler
Avenue School in all areas Benedict, Matthew Moore,
of team sports.
David Pergant, Phil Dzidah,
VOLLEYBALL
Dorion Berg, Jonah Bernstein,
First Avenue finished with Aaron Fransen, Adam McIssac,
Junior B titles in Junior Jessie Savage and Claudiu
Girls and Mixed Teams, and a Luchian.
second place with the Junior SOCCER.
Boys Team in the A Division. First Avenue won the
The winners for the Junior Junior A Championship this
Girls Team were Andrea Hawkes, fall.
Joanna Langley, Monika
CROSS-COUNTRY
Schneider, Alexandra Taggart, Our school finished in
Amelia Croll, Erin Pattee, second place and is a future
Valerie Jones, Natasha
contender for the first
Poushinsky and Amanda Foran. place. Our medalists were
The Junior Mixed Team was Dylan Weese, Julia Berg,
made up of Mark Johnson, Kaelin Shea and Amelia Croll.
Nicola Stephen, Amanda Lawes, We at First Avenue are
Robert Keith, Susie Wolf, very proud of our teams and
Lorne Gavsie, Kaelin Shea, our athletes. We surely will
Adam Wilson, Meredith Ryan, try our best in the New Year
Matthew Devlin and Robyn to keep our high standards
Domina,
of achievement.
January 15, 1988 Glebe Report - 22