HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2005-06-02, Page 1The Citizen
Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County
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Volume 21 No. 22 Thursday, June 2, 2005 $1 (93c + 7c GST)
NH
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Inside this week
Brussels Lions elect
executive
Local girl off to
OFSSA meet
Brussels Legion
installs officers
Local chosen Ont.
Pg- 21 Command vice
chair
p j 2 Memories of the
* "J campout
BMF
marks
silver
occasion
Brussels Mennonite Fellowship
(BMF) invites everyone to help it
celebrate 25 years of ministry in the
village of. Brussels and surrounding
area on the weekend of June 17-19.
A congregation of 125 members
and participants. BMF was birthed
out of a vision to be a mission-
focused church in this community -
actively sharing the love of God and
inviting others to become disciples
of Jesus Christ.
Begun by five families from
Listowel Mennonite Church and
Dungannon Christian Fellowship,
the church began to meet for Sunday
evening worship in January 1980 in
the basement of Melville
Presbyterian Church. The pastor of
Listowel Mennonite Church at the
time, Brian Laverty, provided
spiritual oversight until Doug Zehr
was called as pastor in June 1980.
In February 1981 the group began
to meet publicly for Sunday morning
worship in the Brussels Public
Library. In June that year, the
congregation purchased a house
from Clark and Hazel Mathbson and
renovated it for use as a worship
centre. Over the years, the
congregation has added a sanctuary,
gymnasium and office space to
support its growing ministry.
Anniversary celebrations are
focused on the invitation. Grow in
love with Jesus together. On Friday,
June 17 at 7 p.m. is the Youth Group
reunion. Saturday, June 18 at 5:30
p.m. is the pig roast supper. (RSVP
by June 6 to
brusselsmennonite@on.aibn.com,
519-887-6564 or 519-291-2659).
There is an outdoor musical concert
with Henk and Janet Sonnenberg at 7
p.m.
Then on Sunday, June 19, 10 a.m.
there is a worship celebration with
guest speaker Doug Zehr. A potluck
meal will follow at noon.
Afternoon jam
There were a number of jam sessions held outdoors in the camping area of the Jamboree
Camp Out Weekend on Saturday afternoon in Blyth. At one such session, from left: Devin
Martini of Exeter; Bill Murray of Stratford, Ken Jacobs of Durham and Bruce Coulter of Corbett
entertained. (Jim Brown photo)
Devereaux explains health teams
By Jim Brown
Citizen staff
Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance
recruiter Gwen Devereaux attended
the May 30 meeting of Huron East
council to clear up any
misconceptions about the Family
Health Teams (FHT).
She indicated there will be 150
FHTs throughout the province when
the program has been finished being
established in 2006. She added the
province recently announced the
first 52 FHTs, with teams being
announced for Seaforth. Goderich
and Stratford in Huron and Perth
Counties.
The proposals for Seaforth and
Stratford were county wide, while
the proposal for Goderich was
geared towards its new medical
clinic.
Devereaux said she has attended
meetings in the larger cities and
there is still a lot of
misunderstanding regarding the
FHTs.
She stated the province has
guaranteed $300,000,000 in
funding. This funding will not be
downloaded onto the lower-tier
municipalities.
However Seaforth, she said, is a
unique FHT.
“Seaforth is one of 14 community-
driven family health teams,” said
Devereaux, explaining that when all
150 FHTs have been established
only 14 will be driven with the
community in mind.
By this she means the proposal for
Seaforth was directed at the
1,000,000 orphan patients in the
county. Through an FHT, a
physician may see 52 per cent more
patients.
Each FHT may be different in its
make-up, with the team in Seaforth
being comprised of a physician, a
physiotherapist, a nurse, a
respiratory specialist and a dietician,
the team enables patients to access
specialists they otherwise may not
be able to.
“Every team is different,” said
Devereaux.
When new physicians are
attracted to Huron County they will
HE discusses library
Huron East is still in a quandary
when it comes to the Brussels
Library.
However, the picture became a bit
clearer following a meeting of
council on Monday evening.
A consultant had been hired to
look at four proposals, including
maintaining the current facility.
According to Huron County,
2,500 square feet of space is
required which may mean adding to
the current facility. The facility will
also have to meet accessibility
standards.
have a ready-made patient list to
draw from, while being assisted by
other members of the FHT.
She said in a worst-case scenario
in regards to a pandemic, the FHTs
will do the front-line immunization.
The FHTs will immunize the
front-line healthcare workers.
Devereaux said they are hoping to
have the FHT up and running by the
fall. They hope to have the
implementation in the hospital, with
two members of the team located at
the clinic.
In regards to the 14 community-
driven family health teams, they are
planning to meet in order to come
up with a set of governances so they
are following a basic set of
rules.
Another proposal was for a site at
the Brussels, Morris and Grey
Community Centre, but the
committee was against this one.
The other two proposals were for
vacant buildings along the main
street.
It was even suggested that perhaps
another storey could be added to the
current facility.
Costs for the proposals for the
current facility range from $970,000
to $1.25 million.
Council decided to send it back to
the committee for further study.
Deadline
nears
for
AMDSB
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen
Class trips and other extra
curricular activities may again be in
jeopardy if the Avon Maitland
District School Board fails to reach
a collective agreement with its
elementary teachers by this week’s
June 1 deadline.
As is the case with teacher unions
at both secondary and elementary
schools, and in both the Avon
Maitland and Huron-Perth Catholic
school boards, the local chapter of
the Elementary Teachers Federation
of Ontario (ETFO) saw its previous
agreement expire on Aug. 31, 2004.
Since then, all four union locals
have been operating without a
contract, but only ETFO has
escalated its pressure beyond
standard negotiation tactics.
In March and April, Avon
Maitland elementary teachers joined
many counterparts province-wide in
a work-to-rule campaign, limiting
their non-teaching activities. That
was suspended when the Ontario
government agreed on a
“framework” with the provincial
ETFO leadership, establishing a
suggested level of salary increase
over four years and leaving school
boards and district teacher groups to
work out local issues. Subsequently,
almost a dozen boards settled with
their elementary teachers.
Under that framework, however,
boards were given a June 1 deadline
for signing deals. Once that passes
this Wednesday, it’s expected the
work-to-rule will be reinstituted,
and perhaps heightened, if no deal is
signed.
Avon Maitland director of
education Geoff Williams was tight-
lipped about negotiations, saying
only that “progress is being made.”
Negotiations also continue with
the district’s three other main
teacher groups.
In Avon Maitland secondary
schools, members of District 8 of
the Ontario Secondary School
Teachers Federation are also looking
at a June 1 deadline for the expiry of
a provincially-negotiated
“framework.” That local strongly
supported a strike vote prior to the
creation of the framework, but
hasn’t yet advanced through the
other stages necessary before a
work-to-rule campaign is put in
place.
In the Catholic system,
meanwhile, the ruling Liberals
failed to broker an agreement
between the Ontario Catholic
School Trustees’ Association
(OCSTA) and provincial Catholic
teachers’ union leadership. Instead,
the Catholic boards were asked to
work within the frameworks for
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