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The Huron Expositor, 1995-02-08, Page 1wiHui'o x osto 70 cents plus 5 cents G.S.T. (75 cents) AGRI-BUSINESS Horses may find a home in Stanley Township if new project is approved. see page six. The Huron Expositor, Seaforth, Ontario, February 8, 1995 Investment and Tax Planning Seaforth RRSP Specialists AIDS isa reality in Huron. Someone with HIV comes forward to talk about it.• see page three. • ra Your Full Line Dealer FORD MERCURY Sales - Service - Selection Briefly Committee meets to discuss youth centre proposal The Seaforth Youth Centre Committee met for the first time last Tuesday. It established a goal of providing a centre that would provide recreational activities, and be warm and safe place to interact with peers and address Nocial issues. A small group of 10 youths discussed financial support and setting up a board at the meeting at the Women's Resource ('entre. The group also discussed coining up with a name for itself, and decided to set up a communication board in the .window of the, resource centre to communicate happenings to the community. Headstones are knocked over in Egmondville Vandalism has raised its ugly head again in our community. The Goderich detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police reports 21 headstones were knocked over in the Egmondville Cemetery sometime last Monday, Jan. 30. The cost of righting or replacement has not been determined. Goderich OPP also report someone pried open the locked door of a storage shed on Conc. I of Tuckersmith Township on Jan. 31, but it appears nothing was taken. From Jan. 30 to Feb. 5 the detachment investigated 33 occurrences, including nine motor vehicle collisions, seven minor complaints. six traffic • complaints and a couple of intrusion alarms. Seaforth woman wins $15,000 in Lottario draw Hilda Austin of Seaforth plans to bank the $15,968.20 she won iii the Jan. 7, 1995 Lottario draw. Austin has been a Seaforth resident for 59 years. She and lier husband, William, arc par- ents of two and grandparents of tour. The winning ticket was purchased at Beckers on Main St rect. Lottario was the first on -lint lotto game in the world. Last ) car, Lottario players won more than $54 million in cash prizes. More than half the adults in t mtario play OLC games. For .•very $1 spent on a lottery ticket, about 30 cents is made available for worthy projects across Ontario. Since 1975, lottery players have helped gen- elate close to $6 billion in profit, which supports• the operation of t )ntario hospitals, voluntary social service organizations iluuugh the Trillium Foundation :aid cultural, sport and recreation activities in the province. INDEX Entertainment... page 13. Sports...page seven. Letters...page four. "Your community newspaper since 1860...serving Seaforth, Dublin, Hensall, Walton, Brussels and surrounding communities." HART FORD MERCURY USED CARS "The Friendly Dealer With The Big Heart" CL %MING PHOTO SLEDDIN' - Josn Bell wasn't deterred by sub -zero weather and numbing wind chills on Monday evening when he took his sled down a hill in Seaforth. While some roads were dosed on Monday that didn't stop him from enjoying some sledding. Ontario favours urban doctors BY TIM CUMMING Expositor Editor Medical pay has favoured urban doctors at the expense of their rural counterparts, according to a report submitted by the eight hospitals of Huron and Perth Counties. "We believe that physicians should be appropriately remunerated for the services they provide, how- ever, this should not be directly from the hospital but should be from thc Ministry of Health," the rcport argues. Thc eight -page document is a joint submission to Graham Scott, a former Deputy Minister of Health who is on a fact-finding assignment on the emergency on-call issue in rural communities. The paper addresses the issue of rural hospitals paying money out of their own budgets to provide 24- hour, emergency on-call service at rural hospitals. Six hospitals in the F{uron-Perth arca arc paying extra money to doctors for emergency on-call coverage at a cost of 5531,000. Thc report argues that rural phys- icians must work longer hours, take more special courses, have a wider range of expertise and make more house calls than urban doctors. "With thc difficulties that face a rural physician compared to their urban counterparts, we need to have a certain understanding for the lifestyle concerns of our general practitioners'," the submission states. The eight local hospitals insist that emergency service is a funda- mental right under universal health care. They also say that 70 out of 79 community organizations rank emergency medical service as the highest priority service in the com- munity. "There have been no financial resources applied to the hospital budgets for this service and...it pits board members directly against their own family doctors, a situation that is very difficult." * * * Hospitals in the region may face increasing costs for the regional blood bank program. "We have some concerns," said Bill Thibert, Chief Executive Officer of Seaforth Community Hospital. The cost of regional laboratory services for Seaforth Community Hospital may increase $15,000-$2J,tJW. The Inter -Hospital Laboratory Services program serves 11 hospi- tals. They include the eight Huron - Perth hospitals as well as Palmerston, Kincardine and Hanover. The regional base is Stratford General Hospital. Thibert says the program has worked well for the most part but there are problems which now have to be addressed. Seaforth moves to OPP police service BY GREGOR CAMPBELL Expositor Staff It won't be a done deal until they sign the dotted line, but Seaforth has decided to continue negotiating a policing contract with the Ontario Provincial Police with a targeted implementation date of Nov. 1. After discussing in detail the various pros and cons of maintaining a local police force or opting for the OPP at a meeting at Town Hall last Thursday night, Seaforth Council and the Seaforth Police ' Services Board narrowly passed a resolution that reads: "The Seaforth Council and the Seaforth Police Services Board proceed with the negotiation of an OPP contract, and that the OPP and the towns of Goderich and Clinton be advised that an implementation date of Nov. 1, 1995 has been set, subject to a thorough examination of any additional public comment received by Feb. 8, 1995." The recorded vote was close, 5-3 in favour. Councillors or commissioners voting in favour of the resolution were Reeve Bill Bennett, Chair Lin Steffler, Deputy -Reeve Bill Teall, Coun. John Ball and Mayor Irwin Johnston. Opposed were councillors Brian Ferguson and Heather Robinet and commissoner Bob Dinsmore. Coun. Michael Hak was absent. The Seaforth Police Association "All we hear is money, money, money..." appears supportive of the motion and direction. Constable Harro Maydell, who sat in the public gallery, was asked for some input by the decision makers at -the table. He said although he might not speak for everybody, he and at least two others in the association are pro-OPP. He felt strongly the association should meet with decision makers and have some input into the process. Const. Maydell said in five years all the members of the Seaforth association would be over 50, and "you can't run a police force that way". He said new Police Service Act regulations mean certain decisions can't be put on the back burner any longer, and added the qualitative aspects of OPP versus local policing needs to be looked at more closely. "What happens at the end of the Social Contract?" he also asked. The local police officer said personally he would prefer the OPP to the "fishbowl" nature of a local force that leads to morale problems. He feels police service in Seaforth isn't as good as it was three years ago. "All we hear is money, money, money," he added. Council weighs pro, con of OPP service Seaforth Council and the Police Services Board weighed the pros and cons of OPP police service in Seaforth during a joint meeting Thursday evening. There were four pages of 'pros' listed for councillors and one page of OPP 'cons.' Here were some of the pros and cons: OPP PROS •Added coverage (20 hours per day, seven days a week). • No staff shortages (sick, holidays, etc.). • Added professionalism through OPP training. • Reduced legal fees. •Town not responsible for litigation and lawsuits. •Up-to-date equipment. •Genuine performance evaluations. •Increased advancement for officers. •Two-man patrols at night. . •No hassles re: major office and equipment upgrades. • Large labour pool to draw upon (for instance, if one officer is not compatible with community). •More consistent community pro- grams (eg., RIDE). • No lost time to Workmen's Com- pensation claims. • Professional leadership and admin- istration. -Meaningful foot patrols. • More proactive policing. •Town won't have to implement provincial programs (social con- tract, pay and employment equity). •Change in personnel possible. • Police Services Board can spend more time on policy, less on micro- management. • More consistent bylaw enforce- ment. ' No labour relations problems. OPP CONS •Increased cost of approx. $20,000. •Police office is vacant when officer in cruiser or on foot patrol. •Local identity is lost. • Town will have to seek alternative bylaw enforcement for animal con- trol bylaws, etc. •Less control over cost increases. - No turning back, • New officers unfamiliar with the town and its citizens. The negotiation of a contract with the OPP would not be a long pro- cess, the joint boards were told. see Town, next page TIM C1)b0411NO PHOTO WHITE-OUT CONDITIONS - The St. Columban sign (at far right) evening as two cars drive on the snowy toads. Eartler In the day can't even be read because of the snow sticking to it on Monday Highway t3 from Mitchell to Clinton was closed.