HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1997-02-05, Page 1WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY fi„ 1997
65' INCLUDES G.S.T.
Special Qlympic World Gay>ri eo.
Kick-off ceremony
was a of 9n l one
by Pat Livingston:
The televised opening ceremony of the Special
Olympics World Winter Games was an emotional
event to. watch.
Over 2,000 Special Olympians 'from around the
world, including our own Sam Mayer, were welcomed
to the SkyDome on Sunday by an estimated crowd of
20,000. It was the prelude to five days of events where
athletes,. from more than 80 countries will compete in
figure skating, . speed skating, eisstocksport, floor
hockey,;elpine skiing,: cross country, and snowshoeing'
Strain my eyes as I ..may, I wasn't able to catch a
glimpse of Sam 'as the proud Canadians made their
• way into the Dome. Sam was featured in a picture in
thee Toronto Star on Saturday and in Monday's there
just a wee glimpse of her.
High-profile personalities,.on .handfor the.opening
ceremony, included former Canadian Olympic skater
Brian Orser, Nadia Comaneci the Romaniangymnast
who stared at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, Go-: error-
General Romeo LeBlanc, Premier Mike tris,' and
Deputy, Prime Minister Sheila Copps.
Sam's figure, skating events .take place•;at the North-
York
orthYork Centennial Arena, 580 Finch Avenue ; West,
Toronto, if you .have. the'. opportunity of attending.
Dint 'Recreation Board
pprove
old cost
reduce
by Pat Livingston •
The joint recreation board has approved a lottery
that willareabeneft
youth and inthe longrun all four
municipalities,. by •• holding registration costs at an.
affordablelevelandredcing"he recreation eationp deficit.
After two meetings, the boar,d approved proceeding,
with the.lottery'and' ironed out the structure last week.
• `;Two
thousand tickets will:be printedd and sell for.
0 each. Plansaretotickets
�S ch have the - available,: as the
minor :hocke 'seasonwra .s up.in.A ril and re gYistra'
Y F P ...J
tion for summer programs' approaches.
Weekly Friday 'draws will be made for $150, $75
and $50. Thefirst Friday of each month an extra droit '.
will be, held for $500. The early bird draw takes place
orf July. 18. Ticket holders at that time will be'eligible
for one Of 20 free lottery 'tickets, as well as. $500 in
cash. The lottery will run for 44 weeks with 'grand
prizes of $7500,, had; five $1;000 winners drawn on
June 6, 199g at a dance. .
The consensus 'of opinion .at last week's meeting
was that°the more successful .the. lottery, the better the
results that filter down to the four municipalities ben-
efitting everyone.
The proceeds will not be targeted to any one pro-
gram but will go into a central recreation pot. If the
l deficit on recreation can be reduced, .the board
believes,; thatregistration costs can be kept at a level
that, will allow area youth to access. ,the programs,
In 1995, the recreation deficit was $92,326, which
.was paid for. by Lucknow, Ashfield, Kinloss and West
Wawanosh. Subsequently, in 1996, the registration.
costs for hockey and figure skating increased.
Tickets will, be available through youth and parents
involved in the program and probably •at area busi
nesses..
lentahst keeps
hem guessing
unng showr
by Pat Livingston.
"%Iowdid he do that?"
Time'; and time again.
Friday, evening that was
the quer tion as psychic
entertainer Norman
,Barlow ...entertained at the
Lucknow Legion: `The'
event was sponsored .;by
the • Optimist Club of
Lucknow and District.
.Barlow continually
wowed the'crowd with his
ESP and psychic powers.
In one demonstration,
four people wereeach
given a different colored
balloon: ' Loraine Barry.
was asked to assist Barlow••
who pot four small 'discs
of the same• color in his'
pocket.- Barry selected one
from his pocket - the red
one. Theother participants
were then told .to release
their balloons', three went
to the floor while thered
balloon' went to the- cell -
mg.
Barlow, who has 'enter
tained in bigger city
venues, says he finds rural*,
people to be more suspi-
cious of the psychic phe-
nomenon„
All. in all it was an.
entertaining evening, and
those who were chosen; -#o Loraine Barry was one audience member;nslled
Cake parrare probably still '
tiPOI to;.as&st m1% ;1 n o f whhn::'
asking : themselves, "flow he'entertained it luckttoMr last.lsneek• event
g ' was sponsored by The. Optimist Chub 'of
did he da that?"
. Lucknow and. District. (Livingston. photo
Wingham action committee
by Pat Livingston
"It is important to know
that the (Wingham) action''
committee is very pleased
with the .task' force's rec-
ommendation,
ec
ommen dation, but•: ewe.' do
have concerns ' about .the..
beds approved ':and , the
governance Of ' a single
administration," said Andy
McBride, when about 200
area residents.g athered at
the Lucknow 'Coimnunity`,
Centre last Thursday.; They`
had come to hear. what the.
impacts on this community
will be if . thhe;;THuron Perth
District °Health : Council's
(DIC) .task force reeom
mendation . • (see . preferred
r' option sidebar) is accepted
by .the 'provincialrestruc-
turing committee. •
"They listened to what
we said.as community and
they made 'a ` tremendous
change .from what their
options were in November,'
obvious that a hospi-
•tal with 182 beds and the
next largest one has ".59,
there is :possibly going to -
be some dominance` there
and we'll have to make
sore' thatdoesn't occur,"
said McBride. •
Committee member;.
RN Debbie Ritchie, said
shee"didn't believe that four
'intensive care .beds recom-
mended for Huron County
by the task force is suf-
cient. Ritchie works at
Wingham hospital:
"I've goneto work and
been in a = ` situation where -
you
n whe r
you would see '. four
patients who were critical.
enough they couldn't be
transferred. Those . (four.)
beds would be' needed just
in • our facility,'' . said
Ritchie' "I know 'that'
Goderich has a big concern•.
with the number of inten-•
sive ,care beds too." . The •
recommendation is that
Goderich.. and Wingham
would, each. have two ICU
beds.
Ritchie said that the 35
beds a1loeated to Wingham
were based on .a population
of 10,999 within a 15 kin
radius of Wingham used'
Eby, the task force.
"Lucknow isn't there."
Dr. Greg Antoniadis, of
Wingham, believes the
new. option is much •better
since all communities get
to keep the ' hospitals they
have built and: use. "This •
option could be quite, read
sonable. , But there are
some serious issues -which
if not addressed properly,
we would all really lose,;,.
he said. " '
Dr. Antoniadis . , said
Wingham; hospital is actu-
ally using 68 beds 'now.
The new.'option` (35 beds)
almost cuts that number in
half. The average occupan-
•' cy, is 50 per cent, . which •
means that in any one peri-
od
.in time, over a "whole
ear, the hospital ital is•.utiliz
ing.50.per cent of the beds.
`'But as you know, if
any, of you: had to be
admitted: : to the hospital
over the Christmas period;
the hospital was complete-
ly full,"' said the doctor. "f
think it isunrealistic for
the task force to ,ni:ake the
assumption that each ,host
pital should always be 100
per .cent 'full. •Thfat's ' not
possible: 'Ycy and f know,
that when there is a flu epi-
demic more people need to.
,. be' inhospital, and that at 1
other times in the year, '.
when there arenot as many
viruses, the hospital: is not
that busy," he' said. "But,
still the average occupancy
has . been about 50 per
cent." • . •
He too questioned. the
service`. area considered by '
the task force. "They arbi-,
trarily used a 15 km radius
which ' actually ' leaves
•
Lucknow and 1-Iowick out.
I'.m: not sure they Cook into
account.the Amish 'popula.
tion . that Wingham ser-
vices." 'turn to page 3
fi w
•
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single hospit x cyst i.
with. a single bfd..
one' admiiustrativc team
to .be in pace liy Septi'
1997. .
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hiring
the:. CEO':, a the
system;
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