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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1999-01-06, Page 1Your Community Newspaper Since 1860 — Seaforth, Ontario Sandra and Tony DeCorte of Egmondville hold their frist baby, Jenna, born Jan. 4 at SeaforthCommunity Hospital at 10:03 a.m. Jenna is the. first baby of the new year, born about five weeks party, weighing five pounds, two ounces. HILGENDORFF PHOTO. Snowcross will heat up Walton track facility out there. We've had a lot of snowmobiles ask us about. it," said Chris -Lee whose family is being assisted by the Walton Brussels Trailblazers to get the parking lot cleared and the tracks groomed. There are snowcross events all over the province from Ottawa to Sault St. Marie and Lee decided to BY SCOTT HILGENDORFF Expositor Editor , Normally quiet in the winter, the. Lee family's motocross park in Walton will be the site of its first Ontario . Snowcross Championship Series. event, starting this weekend. "From the motocross, we've got the track• and join ,forces, with a Durham motocross track to hold the _ Ontario: • Snowcross:. Championship Series which began in Durham . last weekend. It's a series of five races between now and the end of March with Walton's taking place .January 10 and January 31. . CONTINUED on Page 3 January 6, 1999 — $1.00 includes GST Grant helps hospital fight Year 2000 computer glitches BY SCOTT HILGENDORFF Expositor Editor A $174,896 Ministry of Finance grant will help • Seaforth Community Hospital solve potential - computerized trouble from anti by computers trying to read the date January 1, 2000. "The uses will be fairly focussed," - said Administrator . Andrew Williams. While problems could_ result from any technology • using computers, including the hospital elevator, Williams said the grant is being' directed at any equipment that comes' into contact with patients. The "overall 'concern around the world is that many items from video cassette recorders to. microwaves could suddenly stop working because of a virtually universal glitch involving the date. The glitch could cause: computers to stop working because they cannot read the double zeros in 2000: • - Municipalities, hospitals, • public utilities commissions, corporations and more are working to -sort out the potential. problems with their equipment Williams said the Seaforth hospital is progressing well with the. problem. . Equipment in question, such as heart monitors, have been identified and letters are - being sentto manufacturers looking for input on, what needs to be done to ensure that next Jan. 1, the equipment -continues to function. "A lot of it will probably be software upgrades," said Williams. - - . With less than a year now until the potential problems arise, he said there is a certain amount of pressure. "I think Seaforth .is doing well," he said, where there is a limited amount . of equipment that could be affected. . "It's a bigger issue, in my - view, in the teaching hospitals that have a huge amount of equipment that's going to be affected.".. Locally. be said the grant will at least help with upgrades and potential equipment replacements that might -be needed before next year but there's no way of knowing how- much it's all going to cost at this point. "Our first priority is the items that come in direct contact with patients," said Williams: r Then, the hospital team assigned -to the problem. will look at equipment like elevators. The grant is part. of $300 million made available by the Ministry of Finance. for -- medical equipment across the health sector for anticipated glitches caused by computers trying to read the date - January 1, 2000: . Tax breaks may be taken back in provincial clawback, Bill 79 BY GREGOR CAMPBELL 'Expositor Staff Commercial, industrial and multi -residential ratepayers whose local taxes went down last year could')iave some of those decreases clawed back so that others in the same categories won't have tax increase of more more than 10 per cent. _The municipal tax cap and _ clawback is contained in pending provincial -legislation, retroactive to the start of 1998. "It's going to be mass confusion," • clerk/administrator Jack McLachlan predicted at Seaforth Council on Dec. 22. Council resolved, with encouragement from the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO),to write the Minister of Finance requesting an extension of its Dec. 31 deadline for Bill 79 (the Fairness for Property Taxpayers Act, 1998) so that the town can "adopt transition or tax mitigation methods." • McLachlan said Monday that deadline has nowbeen extended to Jan. 31, but the problem hasn't gone away and the exact effect of the legislation onratepayers in the three categories is still impossible to say. He said a complicating problem is that any appeals on last year's assessments still haven't been heard by the court that deals• with them, so that municipalities' don't know for certain what some ratepayers in the three categories are .the paying in taxes for last year. McLachlan said he's. attending a seminar on the problem next week, and clerks of all Huron municipalities will. probably get together, between then _and theextended deadline at_ end of this month to ponder and clarify Bill .79's ramifications: "It's the wbrst possible timefor the government to do• it because everything's unstable right now," he said Monday. • Area cancer survivor using flail BY MICHELE GREEN Special to The Expositor At the beginning of the 20th Century, women often met around the frame of a quilt, stitching the patches together. As the century draws to a close, that happens less often: But a Russeldale woman could be changing that Carol Miller is encouraging people across Canada to take their place __around a quilt for the sake of an issue that affect all women: -lire -asp cocker ` - A long-time quitter and a breast cancer survivor, Miller launched a national exhibit of quilts entitled The Quilt: A Celebration of Survivors. It will feature quilts made by people across Canada and will be displayed at the Stratford -Perth Museum from April 1999 to October 1999. The exhibit will end with a gala auction of the quilts on Nov. 12 at the Church Restaurant in Stratford. Proceeds from the sales will be donated to breast cancer research through the Canadian Cancer Society. "I thought about doing something for quilts and cancer.' Now's my chance to do that," said Miller, who is from the village on Perth County Rd. 83 which is on the border of Huron and Perth counties. In April 1997. she went to the doctor for a routine physical and mammogram which showed a cancer cells in one of Millet's breasts. A biopsy confirmed the mammogram results and the doctor recommended surgery. Miller and her husband Tom took the trip to England they planned first. Then. she underwent a mastectomy and a breast reconstruction in July. "it was scary --the surgery as well as the cancer," said Miller. She took six months off from her work as owner and manager of Miller's Barn, a quilt and craft store in St. Agatha. to recover. it was during this time that Mier put together the idea of a . national quilt exhibit to raise money for breast cancer research. She took her idea to a breast cancer survivors' support group, which she recently joined. Miller hoped this Stratford -based group,w,.ould_make the first quilt for the exhibit. Although the group was supportive of the idea, none of the members could quilt. • That didn't stop Miller. She selected a quilt • pattern and a fabric by Northcott Silk Inc. which makes a donation to breast cancer research with each purchase of its Quilt -for -a - Cure fabric. Together. the support group cut out the patches and sewed them to make a quilt top. A group of quitters in Monkton agreed to do the quilting for the exhibit's first quilt. "You're in a group, laughing and enjoy something together. It's healthy," said Mille who fends healing qualities in the activity. Besides quilting, organizing a quilt festivals is one of Miller's skills. She was one of the founding organizers of the of the Waterloo County and Area Quilt Festival. She is drawing on her contacts with the, in fight against breast . cancer Miller using quilts in fight against beast cancer. Festival and • contacts she made when she worked in the store, which she has since sold to new owners. Now, Miller's national quilt exhibit is an official part of the 4th annual Waterloo County event. It is the first satellite location for the festival. • Miller js hoping at least 35 quilts will he donated to the exhibit and that each province will be represented. Quilters have been notified through quilters guilds, a national quilting magazine and by word of mouth. So far, quilts . have been donated by Bradshaws, a Stratford store, and Femme and Co., a Stratford accounting company. A group of surgeons from Stratford General Hospital are also working on a quilt together. Stratford Festival actor Michelle Fisk also plans to make a quilt from fabric donated by the theatre's wardrobe department. Quilters from British Columbia, Ottawa, Mississauga, Elliott Lake, Winnipeg and Saskatchewan have all asked for more information on the exhibit before beginning their own projects. They are making the quilts for many reasons. Some are being made in memory of someone who fought cancer. An Ottawa woman is making her quilt to dedicate to a friend's daughter who is battljng cervical cancer. "You don't have to be a quitter to make'a quilt. There are lots of ways for people to be involved in a quilt," said Miller. People can choose to donate the batting or the fabric, she said. They could make coffee and refreshments for the quilters,- Most of all- Miller said people can get involved by developing their own group of people committed to donating a quilt to the exhibit. "If they did it as a group, many hands make light work," she said. The group can include people who will donate the Materials and then branch out to others who will do the actual quilting. "it's fun that way. Everyone has a hand in it." individuals, groups or businesses can sponsor a quilt with a donation of $5(X). $2,000 or $20,000. The money covers the costs of the material and Miller said the exhibit committee will find a group to do the quilting. Although the exhibit is organized by Miller and proceeds from the sale of the quilts will be handled by the Huron -Perth branch of the Canadian Cancer Society, she said the money won't stay in this area. Proceeds from the sale of each quilt will go back to the home branch of the donors. "They still have ownership of the project," she said. Potential quilters are asked to complete a call for entry, declaring their intentions, by the end of February. They are available at any office of Canadian Cancer Society in Huron or Perth counties. Quilts must be submitted by the end of March.