HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2005-02-03, Page 1I----------------------------------------------------------------
' -I_____________________________________
sThe Citizen
Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County
Volume 21 No. 5 Thursday, Feb. 3, 2005
NH
I NORTH HURON PUBLISHING COMPANY INC. |
Inside this week
Pg. 6
Pg. 7
Pg-8
Pg. 11
Morris discusses
landfill site
Skating Club
presents awards
Midgets tie second-
round series
February Heart
&Stroke Month
Pg-12 Financial pages
begin
Clubs
report
trails
in bad
shape
By Jim Brown
Citizen staff ■
The trails wei;e open, locally, on
the weekend for the enjoyment of
snowmobilerss
However, things could be
different this weekend.
Bruce Howson, trails co-ordinator
tor'Blyth Snow Travellers, said on
Monday morning their trails could
be closed as early as Tuesday if the
predicted warm weather passes over
the area.
He said there is not enough snow
on the trails as it is, but with
temperatures predicted to be slightly
above 0 C “We would prefer if
people stayed off the trails,” said
Howson.
Even though there is snow on the
trails, the snow is not deep enough
for good, sledding. As well as
chewing up the trails, there are also
safely concerns along the trails,
■ uch as open waterways and unseen
icks.
President of the BW Trailblazer
nowmobile Club, Don Blake, said
le trails are very limited for
se.
“We are not complaining right
aw if they run the trails, but if we
jt plus temperatures, they’ll be
inning on lawns and fields planted
winter wheat,” he said.
He indicated the trails in the
itchell-Monkton area are closed,
hile those in the Seaforth area are
in.
Blake said it is best if a person
ing the trails drives them slowly.
they are trying to maintain the
sc of the trails.
“They really can’t go from town
town.” he said. “Going cross-
untry is very limited.”
Crunch
Blyth firefighters responded to a collision Wednesday, Jan. 26 around 3 p.m., just outside
Queen’s Villa on Queen Street in Blyth. Ann Hollinger of Blyth struck a parked vehicle on the
west side of the road, facing south. She was taken to hospital and as of Monday had not been
released. No further details were available. (Dianne Josling photo)
Focus group docs SCH study
By Bonnie Gropp
Citizen editor
Concerned by what they see as “an
attempt to get rid of our hospital” a
volunteer focus group has completed
a report which they believe defines
the attitudes of Huron East
constituents towards the Seaforth
hospital and health care delivery.
Ken Larone, who along with Dr.
Ken Rodney, Maureen Spittai and
former Huron East mayor Lin
Steffler worked on the study, said
they formed to set in motion a plan
to find out what the community
thought of its hospital. What they
discovered was a bit of a surprise,
even to them.
“We did not expect the
overwhelming support that this
document shows,” said Larone.
The concerns began after the four
hospital Huron Perth Healthcare
Alliance, of which Seaforth
Community Hospital is a member,
began to look at ways to keep all of
their facilities open, while meeting
the budget set by the province. Four
options were considered. The one
Shotgun fired at Brussels store
Sometime after midnight Jan. 28,
someone drove by the Turnberry
Street restaurant, Grumpy Old Men,
in Brussels and fired a shotgun
blast through the front win
dow.
Police later learned that earlier that
night, the businessowner had
returned to his home on Palmerston
Street in Lucknow. He left his van
chosen would see a reduction in the
number of active beds from the
present 23 to six, while the present
11 continuing care beds would
remain at SCH.
Larone said the decision led many
to believe that the long-term
sustainability of Seaforth's hospital
was jeopardized. “The
announcement had many frustrated
and calls were made to Alliance
board members expressing
displeasure.”
“We saw a need to reserach the
attitudes and expectations of the
Huron East community.”
Twp separate qualitative surveys
were addressed: to special interest
groups through structured forums,
and the broader community through
a newspaper questionnaire. A
telemarketing survey was designed
to canvass 10 per cent of Huron East
households in a fashion
proportionate to their distribution in
the municipality.
There were 310 respondents from
the Seaforth catchments and 168
from the Brussels catchments, which
included Grey and part of McKillop.
parked at the side of the road and
someone had also taken a shot at it.
According to police the culprit had
stopped beside the van and fired a
single blast from a shotgun through
the driver’s side.
It exited through the passenger
window.
The damage at the restaurant was
noticed at 9 a.m. Saturday morning.
Within the latter grouping 95
respondents or 57 per cent use
Seaforth hospital. Ninety of the 168
have a closer hospital in Wingham,
Listowel, Clinton. Stratford.
Asked if they knew that when an
ambulance is called it transports to
the closest geographic hospital, 131
of the Brussels respondents anwered
affirmatively.
The questions regarding usages of
hospital services deemed most
services as being very important or
important. Topping this list was
patient stabilization which 92 per
cent of the telephone survey
respondents believed very
important. This was followed by
emergency department, 88 per cent;
x-ray facility. 70 per cent; lab work,
66 per cejit and heliport, 73 per
cent.
Of least importance was
orthopaedic surgery /clinic, which
still saw a 40 per cent response for
very important.
The focus group’s interim report
has been distributed to council and
has been turned over to the Alliance
Hospital Board.
A number of pellets were lodged in a
wall inside the restaurant. The large
double-pane glass window had a
single hole in it.
The OPP investigation is
continuing. Anyone with
information is asked to contact the
detachment at 519-524-8314 or
Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477
(TIPS)
Program
targets
cyber
bullying
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen
Two teenaged girls “lured" to a
Stratford motel by a 36 year-old
male using an internet chat room; an
angry ex-boyfriend charged with
filling an internet website with
formerly private “webcam” photos
of his former high school
sweetheart; and news reports from a
nearby municipality about a teenage
suicide prompted, in part, by on-line
bullying.
These represent the most troubling
and fear-inspiring cases on a
continuum of offences being
addressed by a new program
presented jointly by the Avon
Maitland District School Board, the
Stratford Police, and Ontario
Provincial Police (OPP)
detachments in Huron and Perth
Counties.
“It does happen locally. It’s not
just big cities that get this kind of
thing and it’s our job to get the word
out,” said Sebringville-based OPP
officer Glen Childerley, during a
presentation to Avon Maitland
trustees Tuesday, Jan. 25.
Under the program, schools
receive visits from a police officer,
and Avon Maitland IT (internet
technology) co-ordinator Jacquie
Vercruyssen, for a presentation
about internet safety, online
bullying, and the ways in which
computer activity can be accurately
retraced by investigators.
Vercruyssen has also created two
sets of resource materials — one for
students and one for parents and
teachers — which are available on
the board’s website at
www.yourschools.ca
According to Vercruyssen, “one of
the reasons (students) are breaking
laws on the internet is that they
believe they’re more computer
savvy than adults. And statistically,
they’re right.”
She describes the new set of
resources as a tool for getting
relatively computer-illiterate staff
and parents up to speed.
It can sometimes be a long
learning curve. According to
Childerley, internet features like
bashboards, guestbooks and shout
boxes are often media for on-line
harassment, yet parents may have no
idea what they are.
And the users of technologies like
photo- and internet-capable
cellphones are predominantly young
people, while parents may have no
idea they could be used to take
embarrassing photos in the gym
locker room and posted on a website.
He adds, however, that when
students are shown a demonstration
of how easily their activities could
Continued on page 6