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
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