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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1979-03-21, Page 1The Huron Federation :of Agriculture prepared abrief stressing their concerns about Hydro's plans for Huron County to the Porter Commission hearings. in Winghamn., this week.- Members of a panel, including left, Tony McQuall;, centre BW Fear and on the right, Andre Durand told the. comudssion'the federation would resist strongly any effort to force a transmission line through';Huron County. They said thefarmers oppose a bulk generating plant in this area because of the impact it would have on the economy and agricultural industry in the county. . [Sentinel Staff Photo] A panel of Huron farmers told the Porter Commission Hearings on Electric . Power Planning in Wingham, Monday, they would, resist strongly any effort to force a transmission line through Huron County. ' Panel spokesman, Tony . McQu'ail, West Wawanosh, told ,the commission, the. farmers take this stand because of the direct impacts which such a line would have .on the Huron agricultural community. They are also opposed, said MeQuail, to the location of a power plant in this area and view a line through Huron as tempting this type df development, The brief to the commission who is holding hearings at F. E. Madill Secondary School. in Wingham Monday through Wed- nesday this week, • was prepared by the CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 Sh A Year In Advance 521.50 To U.S.A. and Foreign - WEDNESDAY; MARCH 21, 1979 . Single' (,opy . 25c '28 PAGES Boar *BY HENRY HESS Wingham and District Hospital has.- decided it will not submit to the closure of beds ordered by the 'provincial health • ministry. Instead it will join forces with the • citizens' corhmittee formed to . fight the cutbacks in attempting to convince. Health, Minister Dennis'. Timbrellto reconsider his • stand. In the meantime the hospital will .continue' to operate at its full 100 -bed capacity .andno staff . will be laid off, even if this means running into the red .by. the end of the year. At a special • meeting . last' : Wednesday night the hospital board of governors,. spurred by pressure from a public meeting held the previous night, voted unanimously to fight by any . means' at its disposal the closure of -even a single bed. (Six menibers of the 17. member board were absent from the meeting.) The board:.elected five from its ranks to sit down witli the citizens' group : and help prepare a brief •to the healthminister as. the next step in the campaign to save the beds. The motion opposing the bed closures• was put forward by Dr. R. D. Wilkins, president of the medical staff, who vigorously: argued the case for meeting the cutbacks head-on. This is a . community hospital - financed originally' on a private basis, he'pointed out: When the government took over the funding of health care it contracted with the board for • supply' of medical services. The hospital has kept up its end *of, the Hydro answers council charges of inefficiency. T.A..,McConkey, consumer service super- visor for • Ontario Hydro, Georgian Bay Region, wrote a letter to Lucknow reeve George Joynt answering charges made by Lucknow Village Council, at their Febr }ary meeting that Hydro's inefficiency contribut- ed • to the length of a power outage in the ' village on February 10. • . The letter requested by the reeve was read to councilat the March 13 regular meeting. At the Februaty meeting, Councillor Ab Murray charged . Hydro was inefficient . because there was no spare transformer for Lucknow in stock in .Walkerton. Power was Off in the village on February 10 from 4 p.m. - and some customers did not have their power restored until 1 a.m.. on February 11. McConkey said in the letter, Ontario Hydro maintains 'three mobile unit substa- tions in the Georgian Bay Region. One, a 4000 kVA unit is stored at Hanover Service Centre.: The mobile substations \are main- , tained for use in . emergencies such as the one in Lucknow on February 10. They are hauled 'by transport tractor and. Hydro uses independent transport com- panies to haul the units when required. Hydro stated in the letter the closest available contractor with a tractor big enough and licensed to haul the unit is near Owen Sound. On February 10 the tractor had 1 to go from Owen Sound to Hanover to .picle up the unit and .then haul it to Lucknow. Councillor Murray told council, Reeve Joynt showed hire Hydro's letter on Sunday, March 11 previous to the council meeting and he did some research in the meantime. He said there must be some 40 trucks within a, few miles of. Hanover which would be capable of hauling the mobile substation to Lucknow. Whether or not any of these tractors are licensed to haul mobile sub- stations, Murray said ' he didn't know. Murray commented however, "You don't need a licence in an emergency." "If a child is struck by 'a car, do you require an ambulance' driver's licence to drive. the :child to a hospital?" he asked. Eldon Mann wondered whether Ontario Hydro would have brought, a truck from Owen Sound to Hanover to pick up the unit and then bring it to Lucknow in a raging blizzard. Murray said since the power outage in February he has talked with several farmers and Ashfield farmer's have told him the lines in their township are closer to 40 years old. Murray had remarked at the February council meeting that many of the lines in this area were about 25 years old: • "ft doesn't take much of a limb to break CONTINUED ON PAGE 5 �ec� closur agreement splendidly, he declaredpointing to its recent ::three-year..accreditation as . a "Blue ribbon of excellence",. f It . has consistentlyoperated under budget and has more 'than met , all other health care guidelines. °`We have kept the bargain and now the • government is trying to sever it unilater= ally," he 'charged. He urged the board not to give up on the idea of hauling the .government. into court over the bed issue, although it had been; reported the previous night that hospital ' solicitor Jack Goodall doesn't think the board hasa legal case for an iinjunction to halt •the cutsr .It was noted the board could. consult experts in this field, such as the lawyers_ who successfully defended a num, her of hospitals faced .with closure several .' Years ago.•. Dt. R, :Treleaven asked what will 'happen if the hospital runs out of money by contlnulng to operate fullscale in the face of budget restrictions, but the,board decided to cross that bridge when it comesto. it.. "That's not the point," Dr. Wilkins told him; . "We want the government to change its mind." - Unless the minister can be .persuaded to revoke the penalty clause which deducted $12,000 from the hospital budget for eac'Iu of the 14 beds declared surplus this year, the board will face a deficit in. the .neighbour-., hood of $150,000 by the end of the. year, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Sisters— � celebralte birthdays These two sisters celebrate their birthdays in March. Minerri MacEwan, left, celebrated her 98th birthday on March 17 am"' her sister, Olive Philips, was 96 en March 15. Born 'h Milverton, their maiden name was Attridge. Minerva we married to the late John A. MacEwan of %/Ingham and I've most. of her life In this area. Olive was married to the lal Elmer Phillips of Springfield, IWnols. They Ived In Fl1fl Mich' an fohowhig-thelr marriage and ,retired in Florida 1 1959. She carne to Wingham to live with her niece, 011* Cowan and has llved at Pine Lodge since February, followir her niece's death last Summer. [Sentinel Staff Phot f •