HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2000-05-10, Page 1The Citizen
I______________________Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County
Volume 16 No. 18 Wednesday, May 10, 2000 75 Cents (70c + 5c gst)
Inside this week
Family celebrates
50 years in Canada
Former Brussels
Bull Owen Sound’s
head scout
Special insert for
home and garden
Goderich woman
copes with
Huntington
Madill bands win
gold, silver
Special care patients
may move to Huronlea
In order to meet provincial
standards that require 97 per cent
occupancy of homes for the aged to
receive full funding, Huron County
may close “special care” beds at
Huronview in Clinton and shift
patients to Huronlea at Brussels.
In a report from the health and
seniors committee, county council
was told there are currently 20
special care beds in secured housing
for patients with dementia in both
Huronview and Huronlea.
The size of these facilities was set
by the province when the homes
were designed in the 1980s but since
then the direction of provincial
policy has been to encourage people
to stay in their homes longer. That
has led to these secured areas not
being full.
Families get trees
The ceremony was light-hearted
and fun on a warm May afternoon,
but there was a tingle of sadness in
the air.
Each family of Walton Public
School, teachers and a few notable
others were recipients of an
evergreen tree, May 4, as the school
held just one of the many events
planned to commemorate the school
and its impending closure.
The gift was made possible
through a donation from the Earth
Friendly Garden program and
acquired from Maitland Manor
Nursery with the assistance of
parent and nursery employee Carol
Reinink.
Local people honoured
Several local families received
recognition for their years of
contribution to a worthy cause
recently when the Familyhome
Program held an appreciation night.
Sponsored by the Ministry of
Community and Social Services, the
Familyhome Program provides a
home setting for those with a
development disability. By offering
their homes, the award recipients
make it possible for the disabled to
County landfill woes may soon be solved
A solution to the long-running
issue of waste management in Huron-
County may be at hand, a consultant
told county council Thursday.
Steve Janes of S. Janes Associates
said a major change in the Ministry
of Environment's regulations would
simplify the process of one
municipality using another
municipality’s landfill site. The
most urgent situation is for
Wingham, whose licence for its
landfill has been extended to the end
of June while it tries to work out an
agreement with Exeter to take its
garbage.
The change would allow the entire
county to be designated a waste
service area. This means instead of a
municipality requiring an environ
mental assessment before it can take
However, because the province
requires 97 per cent capacity
utilization in the homes, Huron has
not been receiving full funding. At
the same time there is a waiting list
to get into the regular beds in the
homes.
The solution may be to convert the
special care beds at Huronview,
where the waiting list is longest, to
regular beds, leaving only the 20
special care beds at Huronlea. This
would require a considerable
amount of time to accomplish, the
report said.
Before any change is made, the
committee asked the Ministry of
Health and Long Term Care to
provide statistics to show the
secured beds would not be needed in
future.
Grade 4 student Jamie Reinink
read a poem about trees prior to the
ceremony.
C. Reinink presented the first tree
to the school before Principal Alice
McDowell completed the task,
calling each child by name to
receive the gift.
As the school closes, the children
of Walton Public School could
disperse to as many as six other
facilities.
A school trip, commemorative
pictures, a memory box, video and
numerous other activities are just
some of the things planned for
before the official closing ceremony
June 25.
leam to live more independently and
become active members of the
community.
Receiving recognition for 15 years
of service were Francine and
Michael Bechard and Lorraine and
Jim Main of Ethel.
Elizabeth and Beat Leuenberger of
Bluevale were recognized for their
contribution and Nancy Lusk-Boed
of Blyth was given special
consideration.
another municipality’s garbage, all
that will be required is a revision of
the design and operating plan for the
site.
This, he said, will both speed the
process and cut costs.
While the whole county would be
treated as a service area, ownership
of the landfill sites would remain
with the municipalities, said Gary
Davidson, director of planning and
development. There is capacity for
about 60 years of the county’s
garbage in the various landfills,
Davidson said. The new method
would allow optimization of that
Getting and giving a little guidance
OPP Senior Constable Don Shropshall teaches some Walton area youngsters how to cross
the road safely as part of the Avon Maitland District School Board’s pre-school bus safety
program. Kurtis McNichol, in front, Brandon Holtuysen and Edward Glanville concentrate on
the instructions while Shropshall tells them to look both ways before proceeding beyond the
bumper of the bus. Walton Public School hosted the course May 2. It will be held at Hullett
Central Public School, May 9, and East Wawanosh Public School, May 16. Blyth’s was held
May 3.
capacity.
But Wingham Reeve Bruce
Machan complained that if
optimizing landfill sites was the
goal, Wingham could still use its
landfill for two more years, but the
MOE won’t give it permission.
Janes said the ministry’s certificate
of approval for Wingham’s landfill
has a different timeline than the
capacity of the site.
Wingham, he said, has been
greatly reducing the amount of waste
going into the site thus extending its
potential life. However, the ministry
has also agreed to work with the
county to “mothball” sites so that
they can be brought back into use
later, he said.
Brian McBurney, reeve of
Turnberry Twp. expressed
skepticism that the end of the road
for the landfill site could be at hand.
Noting the issue had been on the
table since 1988 McBurney said
“Some of us have grown old waiting
for a solution.”
In answer to McBumey’s question
about how long it could be before
the solution was in place, Janes said
it could be six months but “it’s a
moving target.”