The Citizen, 2010-06-24, Page 18PAGE 18. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 2010.Optimists submit ball park project to TSN contest
Cookin’
The Brussels Firefighters held their annual Father’s Day breakfast on Saturday, cooking for
hundreds of diners who lined up for hours. (Vicky Bremner photo)
Continued from page 1asking council for, saying just thatthey were looking for some financialsupport for the project, pointing tothe group’s record when the order ofthe steps of the project were called
into question.
“Anybody who knows about the
Optimists knows what we’ve done. I
think we’ve done our fair share,” he
said. “If we got a grant, we would
have had to hire out all the work, but
we have 25 members capable of
swinging hammers and we would
have had to wait a year.”
Before Huron East had finalized
its budget last month, Sholdice said
the Optimists had sent a letter, but
that it didn’t have a specific amount
attached to it when council was con-
sidering community grants.
Despite several councillors lobby-
ing for the 50 per cent figure as a
donation, Sholdice said that wasn’t
what they were looking for when
they came to the meeting that night.
“We’re not asking for 50 per cent.
We’re capable of raising a bunch of
this money. We’re just asking for
some help,” he said. “We savedsomeone paying out for the labourand if it’s paid through the munici-pality, we could save the GST. We’dtake that.”The bills had already been author-
ized to be paid through the munici-
pality, saving the organization pay-
ing the tax on the materials and with
the amount being carried by the
municipality, it saved the Optimists
paying interest while the remainder
of the money is being raised within
the community.
Sholdice said that several
fundraisers were lined up for the
summer to help raise money to pay
for the project.
Sholdice said that he felt the proj-
ect was important to the community
and that was why he and the
Optimists decided to do it, not for
any kind of personal gain on his part.
“I didn’t spend all those hours
there so I can use it,” he said. “I
don’t even play ball.”
McArter said that in the few weeks
since the improvements had been
made, which included levelling the
field, installing red clay, a new back-stop, a new home run fence, newlights in the outfield, new bleachersand a new indoor pavilion, severaldoors have been opened for the com-munity as far as baseball tourna-
ments and provincial exposure.
In fact, McArter has entered the
arena into the TSN Kraft
Celebration Tour contest. The con-
test, which is held by the Canadian
sports channel, puts its news show,
Sportscentre, on the road in late
summer for 10 days, appearing in a
new town each day. However, the
real drawing point to the contest,
McArter said, was that each commu-
nity chosen will receive $25,000
towards a community project.
In addition to the Brussels Ball
Park, McArter said, the Auburn Play-
ground has also applied for the tour.
Both sites can be viewed on the
contest’s website, www.kraftcele-
brationtour.tsn.ca
After the discussion, the grant was
approved and is set to be paid out
from the Huron East Parkland
Reserve.
A letter will be drafted by Huron
East and sent to the Local Health
Integration Networks (LHIN), the
Ministry of Health and Huron-Bruce
MPP Carol Mitchell expressing
councillors’ distaste for the Huron
Perth Healthcare Alliance’s (HPHA)
Vision 2013 plan.
The proposal, brought to council
at its June 15 meeting by councillor
Joe Steffler, says that he and the rest
of council don’t feel that Vision
2013 is in the best interest of
Seaforth and Huron East as a whole.
The plan says that emergency
departments in both Seaforth and St.
Marys will only be open for 16 hours
each day and Seaforth Community
Hospital would be converted into a
15-bed rehabilitation institute after
receiving 15 rehabilitation beds from
Stratford General Hospital.
A decision regarding permanent-
ly-reduced hours at the Seaforth
Community Hospital’s emergency
department is expected within the
next year.
Steffler said the plan, that would
keep Seaforth emergency depart-
ment’s hours reduced, leaving a
large gap between hospitals between
Clinton and Stratford and practically
orphaning the northern area of
Huron East in a medical sense.
Steffler expressed his anger to his
fellow councillors over the situation,
saying that HPHA CEO Andrew
Williams said that the Seaforth
emergency department would be
restored to 24 hours of service as
soon as a registered nurse was
obtained for the hospital.
“An emergency room nurse from
Toronto moved to Seaforth, but was
sent to Clinton part-time, even
though she requested to work in
Seaforth,” Steffler said.
In addition, the beds being pro-
posed to be lost in the Vision 2013
plan, Steffler says, will continue to
have a negative impact on doctor and
nurse recruitment in the area.
“I agree that changes must be
made in health care, but I would sug-
gest not at the expense of the small
rural hospitals,” Steffler said.
Steffler said residents in Grey and
McKillop will be very far away from
an operational emergency room if
the plan is approved, which led
McKillop councillor Bill Siemon to
joke, “it’s surprising any of us are
still alive.”
Deputy-Mayor Bernie MacLellan
said that in his repeated conversa-
tions with Williams at several public
meetings, that Williams had “never
told him the same story twice”.
MacLellan also said that he could
see this coming for the municipality
for a while, saying he just wasn’t
sure exactly what final form the
healthcare cuts at the Seaforth
Community Hospital would take
until now.
“We all had a pretty good indica-
tion of what was happening,” he
said. “And this is it.”
Ross Taylor celebrated his 90th
birthday on Friday, June 11 at his
home with family.
Taylor was born at his parents’
home; Melvin Taylor and Jean
(Smith) Taylor in 1920, and the doc-
tor’s housecall cost $10.
Taylor attended SS #13 Public
School in East Wawanosh, and was
given his first gun at age eight. The
year he received it, he shot 80
groundhogs.
Taylor married wife Ada Dow on
June 2 of 1956, and had two chil-
dren, Muriel and Eric Taylor.
A beef, pork and cash crop farmer
by trade, Taylor continues to raise
cash crops in Belgrave, where he
moved in 1990.
Tayor’s grandchildren are Nick
Taylor and Ben Taylor of
Sudbury.
Being a 25-year member of the
Maitland Valley Conservation
Authority and a lifetime member of
the Trappers Association, Taylor has
spent a lot of time outside.
His other hobbies include being a
moose hunter, fisherman, gardener,
and card player.
Over his lifetime, Taylor has
shown and won prizes in several dif-
ferent categories for his canning and
preserves at the Brussels and
Lucknow Fairs.
Taylor was predeceased by his
brother Bill and sister Eleanor
Dane.
Continued from page 16
Ralph and Mary Arends.
He was predeceased by brothers-
in-law Bouke Hovius, Joop
Grootveld and Jake Arends.
A Celebration of the Life
of Abraham VanderVeen was
held on Thursday, June 17 at 2 p.m.
at the Blyth Christian Reformed
Church with Pastor John
Kuperus officiating. A remembrance
of Bram was given by his daughter
Sylvia and special music was
performed by granddaughters,
Andrea and Janelle VanderVeen as a
tribute.
Interment was in Brussels
Cemetery.
As an expression of sympathy,
memorial donations may be made to
Living Truth, Station B, Box 6100,
Toronto, ON M2K 2Z5.
Online condolences may be made at:
www.schimanskifamilyfuneralhome.com
Council letter drafted regarding state of hospitals
Local man celebrates
his 90th birthday
VanderVeen remembered
Baseball bucks
The Bookies Brussels Ladies Slow Pitch team donated
$250 to the Brussels Optimist Club for the Optimist
Community Park renovations fund. Shown is Michelle
Blake (right) and Sherrie Oliver giving the cheque to Don
Sholdice of the Optimist Club. (Denny Scott photo)
A milestone
Ross Taylor celebrated
his 90th birthday last
week. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen