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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1981-10-28, Page 1THE RAMP THAT CAN'T --This new ramp for the dieatiled at Seaforth's post officecan't be used by the people it was built for, at a cost of abbut S12,000; because it is impossible for standard wheelchairs to negotiate this sharp first turn. The ramp is the respensibility of the federal government's Department of Public Works. (Photo ,by Campbell) 13IA board named A DOLLAR A DAY Katimavik is a volunteer-action plot ram for young Canadians sponsored by -the federal government. A group of 11 volunteers has been working living and learning in the Seaforth area since early Sipterriber: Front row , (left to right):, Heather Finlayson Danielle Dias, (with Gontrand), Ian McQuade, Dianne Loesch, Eileen Saunders, Middle row (kneeling): Sylvia de Vattern, aria Sadler, tack row: Georges Roussel, Serge Martineau, Walter R an, Ed Hurniihrey, {Photo by Carttobolb 122nd Year Whale No. son $17.00 * year in **we A single copyMAO SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, weDNEs moga 23, 1981 22 PAGES can't use P.O. .ram • OSIEGORothealw41, Thews," nice, new rampfor the disabled at Seaforth e$ post office. ft . haa, hapi)rails, Minted ksciTY. rust red,- took a te0.404t past suinnwr. to 'NV.% and cost 4othow:here in the ,vicinity of 412A00 40oti* to the 'building: permit. The infoirnatiOn isn't easy to come- -by at the *0104. • And:odds are this ramp will stay spiffyantl nice and new. for the time being .at least; because its been built so nobody ie a standard wheelchair could ever get up it. • Aige Dale of Seaforth uses a wheelchair- and says he can't really say how well the ramp works up top because his wheelchair, anilall the other wheelchairS he 'know's fOffia, can't negotiate the first tarn. They've tried but can't even come close. And it's little wonder. If you're manouver- ing a wheelchair, getting up this ramp would . be like trying to fit the proverbial square into that round hole. Thtgeemetry wrong. Common sense is lacking somewhere in this .structure, , though. it was a positive and concrete gesture in this International Year of the Disabled, Mr. Dale! wheelchair is approximately 28 inches wide and 51 inches long, nothing way out Of the, ordinarpas far as wheelchairs go. This rough rectangle must make a 90 degree turn through a much smaller roue- rectan- - gle of approximately 30 inches by 32 inches. for .theiramp. to suers-ed. in performing its function,: It's impossible. NARROWS The ramp is about 32 inches wide Mims starts its journey upwards from the sidewalk on the east side. f Main Street, but narrowstd about 30 inches entering the first turn, which is squared. The width, coming out of this turn is again about 32 inches. This- is merely academic, in any case, because a wheelchair' won't make it this far, needing another' 20 inches from somewhere to accomodate, the owing of its normal length 'when making the sharp turn. Don't blame this simple, ramp that, doesn't, SeeM to work very well On. Canada's born-again post office. 'Richard; 00WIle.$5: head of public affairs for the ,Canatii. Post . Corporation at tendon (Which OVOTWOA this part of qte plVtincel. cheerfully. says, the Seiforth\postoffice is merely a tenant in the building and had "minimal input" into- the ramp's design or construction. Mr. Bowness - adds the Treasury Board recently decreed all such federal public buildings must provide access for the disabled .by 1983. The Department of Public Works owns the, buildings and is responsible for the building of the ramp. But any problem at Seaforth's post office was news to the area manager of the federal Baseball memories Baseball was a popular !port in Seaforth and Huron County lOnCbefore the first official World Series game in 1903. Frank Sills has an interesting scorebook that shows the-way it was. See pg. 10. Great basketball Seaforth District High school's girls' basketball teams were racking up the • pointO in a couple of matchup last week. Pictures on pg. 11. public w.orita department at LondOrt fvfOudaY mornin* Ed Uwleititermed the inforination. "unusual" and said, he hatInIteard of any problems at Spareritt, there, hat Some PrPtilen1101 tt, tit alepe 0 ramps elsewhere in the area, the rite14 were 1,.Pled-etmnimr and not designed hythe department anyway, therlepartment scraMblingtO fat In at lotcof these ramps aft over. the place these daYS. he'd look ,into it., what was tity,. name again anyway, and he'd' call back but not today. He hadn't at presiiinte Wednesday. But his. department' is going to be getting a reminder. Huron-Bruce MP Murray Cardiff (PC) thinks the ramp was a good idea to begin with,-'but if it's gone astray and the ramp- is inadequate something is going to have to be done to make sure that it's fixed. 'lithe ramp is useless for wheelchairs it's a little like buying a' dead horse." he says. The riding's htember of .ferliaMent just found out 400 the problem *11444*mtKle contact with dle appropriate department and 060401 **forth• photographer Frank *ISO recently-, got; together with 011ie disabled' local peoPle and their ivheeiehttits or a. seSSietteitherstrip would like to point, out. that as yet unattainable Iper reaches ofthin new structure are''situated directly under eaves where-large icicles hive a habit of forming every,winter, so maybe it's a Wising in disguise the ramp's first turn is the way it is. Anyway he produced a little booklet, politely buf with tongue, in cheek. that dramatically shows just what is what when it comes to square pegs and round holes as they apply to ramps and people in wheelchairs. Mr. Phillips mailed it off to the Department of Public Works people earlier this week. e•---Inside this week----- Crowd in Hensall Hensel, Lodge No. 223 of the Independent Order of Oddfellows of, Ontario cele- brated its„ cefftennial Satur- day. A big crciwd was there. Pg. 15. Oeto,,ber \Seaforth wls hoping for an Indian. summer but got a freak snowstorm instead last weekend.. Our photographers were out in full force. See pg. 21. ensall downtown change proposed The' fink Ward Of mausigentent ht besrt 4 Gained for Seaforth's Business Improvement " Aka** 031A1.1 Chairman is Jerry Hetherington of Hetherington Shoes, and members are Charlie Campbeli of Campbells Crown Heirdirare; Bob Beutenmiller of Bob and Betty's Variety; Ken Roth of Roth Food Marker 'Guy Boyle of A & H TV and Bob 'Fisher of Pizza Train. ' Anotherrepresentative will be named from Seaforth council, which also must formally The board will be holding a series of meetings to draw up' a proposed budget , and promotions for 1982, according to a newslet- ter sent to businesses inside the WA boundaries. Draft plans will be presented to the B1A membership early next year. A Christmas promotion for Seaforth is also in the planning stages. All businesses in town are invited to send a representative to a Christmas meeting on Tuesday. Nov. 3 in the town hall at 7:30.: A nine point plan to make the downtown core of Hensall a more "beautiful and humanistic" setting was presented to the village council by architect Nick Hill; Monday. The proposed plan was presented in the form of a booklet. to council members and - representatives ,from the*Ffuron ‘,Cotirregi. planningdffice, the ministries fa transporta- • titre and communication • (MTC) and the ministry of housing. The report states: "Improvements to the business district are urgently needed and this is recognized clearly by the village council and business community. The physical fabric of the district, especially the street and sidewallti: have been punished severely by heaet+ traffic and accompanying noise and ' dui/. There <is also a lack of pedestrain amenity and(a generally-uninviting envirott ment prevails that lacks warmth. texture and appeal. The report also notes that MTC will be rebuilding sections of King Street in' Hensall and Work can be coordinated with MTC construction. Mensal!' s centennial in 1984 is a second impetus for completing the improve- metitC• Discussion at Monday's meeting centred on the traffic problems and the costs of the project. The plan as proposed. calls for a series of sidewalk projections. 'the width of a parking space. onto King Street/ Highway 84. The 'islands' would be the starting points for marked cross walks and would be -create space for planter/street light units. The MTC representative , Gary Todd. complimented Mr. Hill on his useage of off street parking, but said the islands would create operational and maintenance prob- lems. A TERRIBLE MESS Mr. Hill reminded council the point to keep in mind that. he downtown is a 'terrible mess": "We're trying to make a more beaetiful, humanistic settfn,-J.. Mr. Hill said. He said he thought* probleiiis Wotild be WO'ribit , in creating something out of a nothing down- town area. Mr. Todd- also questioned the turning radii of some of the corners leading to the side streets„ In terms of traffic, he said Hensall has a very low volume, but during harvest season there is a high percentage of truck and farm machinery traffic trying to negotiate village streets. Other points in the plan include: replacing existing King Street sidewalk with, brick paving: adding planters and park benthes on the Wellington Street car park (next to the railway tracks): ere ating a, civic garden and sign opposite King Street on Highwa y 4; proposing a general maintenance program along the CNR railway property; and landscaping -dip* the King Street *pm -etch' -attif theArbiWrittairn • " • " Though the plan is described as "small but significant" Mr. Hill said unit prices -were expensive but added costs are flelible depending ore the final plan. . Reeve Paul Neilands asked if Mr. Hill was scared to put a grand total in his plan. Mr. Hill replied that no total- was included so those looking at the report could key in on individual prices and see where money was spent. It maintainsthefloworthe project he Please turn to page 3. BY GREGOR CAMPBELL They, only met each other recently. But Heather, Danielle, Ian, Dianne, Eileen, Sylvia, Jane, Georges, Serge. Walter 'and Ed all live together in an old farmhouse on the outskirts of Seaforth with a cat Called Gontrand. Larry lives there too. He'S their leader. None of them is from around here. They are part of a nation-wide program sponsored by the federal government for your Canadians called Katimavik (Ka-TIM- a-VICK), which means meeting place in Inuit. And that in a nutshell is what they're doing - meeting; They have stepped off the high school to university treadmill for a year to meet, learn, grow and explore their alternatives. They never, or very rarely, hafe nothing to do. The group arrived at the farmhouse rented from James Scott at R.R. 2, Seaforth Sept. 9. Two weeks of orientation followed heft.° group members began work on three main community projects that were waiting. .for them; restoration work at the Van Esmond House, working as teachers' lids at Seaforth. Public School and fixing banks along the stream and generally upgrading facilities at Lions' Park. _ Four weeks had been budgeted for the latter project. They did it in two, "They are a very good bunch, quite diligent, a good gang." Says Dr. John Turnbull, chairman of the lions Park and pool committee. HARD WORKERS Susan Dunlop. project manager at the. Van Egmond House, echoes these senti- ments. "They're nice, really pleasant and hard workers.'' she says. The group was a hit help at Ciderfest, and more recently members have been p ainting. scraping down furniture, and doing Joe jobs such as movies fiveions of brick from one place to another. " Paul Carroll-, principal of SPS and a moving force behind Katimavik coming to this part of the province for the first time, says he is "very pleased" with the group "which has provided some really positive things". For instance, using Katimavik people for support under the direction of teachers has enabled those teachers to devote a higher percentage of their time to teaching. It has alio enabled some students to receive more intensive, ongoing support on a one-to-one basis daily. Mr. Carroll adds he has used special talents of group membem to the school's advantage, for instance this week a franeophone from the group has been working as a teachers' aid enabling youngsters who might never have met a French-speaking personl,ticilo so, There are 37 KatimaVik projects in Canada, seven in Ontario including the Seaforth group which is part of another two groups of 22 individuals doing similar work at Goderich. Charlene Sheard is co-ordinat- or for all three area groups. Larry McKnight,31, froin P.E.Lis the Seaforth group's leader. He's big on energy conservation and environmental aware- ness, and recently worked with problem teenagers in a group home on the east coast. MORE APPLICANTS There were 5,000 applicants for 1,500 Keitimasiik openings in Canada this year. Groups were matched by computer to ensure the proper French-Englilsh and malevfeniale mix. The volunteer-action program is for youths ages 17 to 21, but the majority Ofthe present local group is 18 or 19 years old. Most members of the group are from big cities: Vancou ver, Toronto, Please turn to. page 3 .46:x4k' '