HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1996-06-19, Page 1Sports
Seaforth's Boyd
Devereaux is invited
to Canada'snational
junior hockey camp.
See page 8
Close Up
A half century
of service at
Egmondville Cemetery
for Norman MacLean.
See page 5
Hospital Auxiliary
Members
honoured
at annual meeting.
See page 6
Your Community Newspaper Since 1860 - Seaforth, Ontario
Briefly
People on
probation to do
community work
Deputy -clerk Cathy Garrick
was on holidays_ for last
Tuesday's regular meeting of
council, but her regular report
noted she is "looking into
having persons on probation
do their community service
work in Seaforth.
"Specifically, the individual
will pick up litter in the back
alleys behind Main Street, in
the John. Street parking lot
and on Main Street -itself,"
her report continues:
"The individual will also
sweep the sidewalks in front
of the vacant stores and
remove any signs taped to
street posts on Main Street
and Goderich Street.
"There is no cost to the
town and only !minimal
supervision is required. I am
waiting for the Probation
Officer to confirm that some-
one will be doing their com-
munity service work in
Seaforth."
New parking bylaw
Seaforth Council passed
eight bylaws at last Tuesday
night's second meeting in
June, among them a bylaw
prohibiting parking on public
and private property without •
consent.
A tax hylaw also carried
"for raising by way of assess-
ment the sum of $221,242 for
the County of Huron,
$621.268 for thc Huron
County Board of Education
and $211,884 for the Huron -
Perth County Roman
Catholic Separate School
Board."
Concerns on roads
Reeve Bill Bennett warned
Seaforth Council that.Huron
County has real concerns
over the province turning
over Highways 83, 84 and 86
to it, under the changing rules
for Ontario road mainte-
nance.
Thc reeve is Scaforth's rep-
resentative on county coun-
cil.
"Road 86 from Exeter to
Grand Bend is in terrible
shape at present," Bennett
reported to Seaforth Council
last Tuesday night . He sug-
gested in might have to he
scraped right down and
almost started from scratch.
which would be pricey.
"Thc county is seeking to
find out how funding will he
given out whcn these roads
arc taken over." his report
states.
Blyth trying to meet
education minister
• Blyth Council is trying to
meet with Ontario's educa-
tion minister on education tax
reform, and/orthe provincial
committee dealing with the
Issue.
Clerk John Stewart reported
to the June 3 meeting of
council that "to date 321
municipalities have replied
and momentum continues."
He said 201 councils have
indicated full support oI
Blyth's decision to stop col-
lecting education taxes at the
start of January, 46 councils
have sent letters to support in
principal, 21 referred it to
committee, 36 received and
filed and 17 council's don't
support the protest.
June 19, 1996 - 75 Cents Plus GST
PHOTO BY-GREGOR CAMPBELL
STUDENTS ENJOY SUNSHINE - The roving camera caught these Walton Public School, Grades 2 and 3 students, playing a game called cat -and -
mouse at their pioneer picnic on the sunny grounds of the Seaforth and District Community Centres last Friday afternoon.
Can't get service 98.9 per cent of province has
`No - budgnlg-Sell Oil
upgrading phone system
BY GREGOR CAMPBELL
Expositor Staff
Bell Canada has "absolute-
ly no plans" to modernize
Scaforth's telephone system,
so local people and business-
es that are bothered by this
had Netter not plead "too
busy" and leave their con-
cerns on the back burner.
That, in a nutshell; is what
Clerk Jim Crocker said in
Tuesday night's report to
Seaforth Council.
Council is planning to for-
mally petition the utility to
upgrade Seaforth's telephone
switching system so local
users. who pay thc same
rates, can receive the same
service 98.9 per cent of the
province now gets.
Deputy -Reeve Bill Tcall
said the othCr 1.1 per cent
represents about 65 commu-
nities, like Seaforth still ana-
log.
Bell shelved its previous
timetable to upgrade the
switching system, telling the
town it would cost too much
to justify the return. '
Clerk Crocker said that in
discussions with officials of
the telephone company that
it is "Very clear" they are
serious.
• . Seaforth doesn't meet thc
three biggest criteria Bell
uses to override this cost -
benefit approach to service,
he said: the town's system is
not "overloaded", its building
is not "too small", and, there
arc no plans for for an
"exchange expansion."
Crocker said the "business
community carries some
weight" everywhere with
Bell though. and because the
Huron County Board of
Education is a big player and
partner of this community
here it might help Scaforth's
cause.
Council agreed last week its
bottom line with Bell is "no
plans is unacceptable" and
that it will exhaust formal
procedure before deciding
what to do next.
"This is going to be an
ongoing issue for awhile,"
commented Coun. Brian
Ferguson.
Teen drug 'use on rise in Huron County
Workfare begins in Huron
More than 400 welfare
recipients will be working for
cheques this September
There were an average of
574 General Welfare cases per
month in thc county in 1995.
Of those, 78.5 per cent or451
of those cases are considered
employable by the county.
"We want to get people out
into the community with the
long-term goal of getting them
back to work." said Huron
MPP Helen Johns.
"Thc municipality (Huron
County) has put together a
proposal that, if we can tic it
together and get people out
working, it would be a won-
derful proposal," she said.
Huron County was chosen
on the merits of its proposal,
the agreement of municipali-
ties and the fact it already has
some social service organiza-
tions, such as the Huron
Employment Resource Centre,
which Johns says can easily
take on the functions of work-
fare.
Onc of the reasons Huron
was selected was the wide
variety of support the program
BY JOHN GREIG
SSP News Staff
About 450 welfare recipi-
ents in Huron County will be
working 17 hours per week
for their cheques starting in
September.
Huron County has been
chosen as one of 20 sites for
the first stage of workfare, or
Ontario Works. as it's called
by the provincial government.
Welfare recipients, other than
those who arc disabled, and
seniors will he required to par-
ticipate: Single parents will
not he required to participate
until the program expands.
Welfare recipients, who.
have been on social assistance
. for three to four months, could
he out doing a variety of tasks
not now done by paid employ-
ees including creating parks,
cleaning roadsides. They
could help fight fires, accord-
ing to Huron MPP Helen
Johns.
had across thc county. The
county itself and Warden Bill
Clifford were supportive.
Clifford said "Huron
County -submitted its name as
a pilot project site in order to
develop a. local program and
avoid having a program devel-
oped elsewhere imposed upon
us which may not reflect local
needs and services."
There was also strong sup-
port from municipalities and
the Huron'County board of
education.
"I know that the people of
the county want it, thcre's. no
doubt about it, they've told
me in droves," said Jbhns.
Goderich submitted its own
proposal to Johns to have
workfare recipients clean up
Maitland Cemetery, stop ero-
sion at the beach, paint fences.
and help in community polic-
ing. • .
Dave Overboc, county pro-
gram _ supervisor said the
county is putting together a
CONTINUED on page 3
BY AMY NEILANDS
SSP News Staff
Drug use among teenagers
has been on the rise for tl .
past two years, reportid
Meryl Thomas, program
director for the Huron
Addiction Assessment and
Referral Centre at a parent
information meeting last
week.
The meeting, held at the
Huron County Health and
Library Complex, provided
parents with information and
the opportunity to ask ques-
tions concerning drug use
among teens.
A drug is any substance put
into the body that affects the
way the body physically
works and the way thc mind
works as well, explained
Thomas to thc small group of
parents in attendance.
There arc four main classifi-
cations of drugs that are used
by teens in Huron County, she
added. Thc first arc depres-
sants, including alcohol and
,ctrnabis, which have a relax -
`Mg affect on the body, said
Thomas. Hallucinogens dis-
tort reality and include LSD
and magic mushrooms.
Stimulants speed up the body
and include cocaine and ben
zedrine. Narcotic analgesics
deaden pain and provide a
feeling of euphoria and
include such drugs as heroine.
"Do we have a drug problem
in Huron and Perth
Counties?" asked Thomas,
answering that, "Yes we do,"
A few years ago; she
explained that drugs used in
larger cities like Toronto dif-
fered greatly from what was
available in Huron County.
"Now there is no difference."
Alcohol is the "drug of
choice" among teens in
Huron County, said Thomas,
providing some national sta-
tistics on this , drug use.
Among Canadians 15 years
and older, 82 per cent use
alcohol, Among teenagers
alone, 58 per cent use alcohol
on a regular basis. Five per
cent have. 15 or more drinks
daily, eight per cent drink
once a week, while 5.5 per
cent drinktwo to three times a
week. Five per cent of teens
who drink have been arrested
or warned about their drink-
ing, 10 per cent would like to
use less and nine per cent of
teens feel guilty about their
use.
"Teens still drink way too
much and much too haz-
ardously," said Thomas
adding that drinking is the
number one cause of death
among teens.
While the legal age of drink-
ing. in Ontario is 19, use
among teens in Grade 9 to 13
is increasing steadily, she
said, adding that use among
students in Grade 11 is the
highest. Teti AM that
while talkhittOithurin arca
high schools, she found that
at parties, teens drink an aver-
age of 12 drinks within four
hours. "We have a serious
problem.
Statistics on drug use among
teens have shown that use had
been decreasing but over the
last two years has started to
increase. Thc increase in use
of such drugs include nico
Linc, cannabis, heroine, LSD,
cocaine and ccstacy.
The second "drug of choice"
among teens is cannabis,
including marijuana and
hashish. Use of marijuana has
almost doubted, said Thomas.
Between 1993 and 1995,
cannabis use among teens
increased from 12.7 per cent
to 22.7 per cent. "Students are
not viewing marijuana in the
same light as a few years
ago," she added. "They don't
think ,it is as harmful...but
marijuana is .just as harmful
as other drugs."
Mixing with alcohol is
"even worse. The affects
increase dramatically."
Alcohol decreases night
vision and cannabis decreases
peripheral vision and both
drugs ate ,depressants. "If
you're in a car and need to
react quickly you've got a
problem."
One parent asked why drug
use was increasing. Thomas
said that the reason for the
increase had not been deter'•.
mined but guessed that
because students view it dif'
fcrcntty now, that could
attribute to the increase.
CONTINI JH) on page 1