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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 1999-06-16, Page 1June 16, 1999 Si (includes GST) Local weather Wednesday --Sunny with cloudy periods. High 17. Thursday --Mix of sun and cloud. High 22. Low 10 Friday --Mainly sunny. High 24. Low 11 Saturday --Mainly sunny. High •25. Low. 12. From Environment Canada In brief Lions Park getting facelift Lions Park will be receiving a. $30.000 facelift for the 75th anniversary of the Seaforth Lions Club this year, says club chairperson Bob Beuttenmiller. The playground equipment built 15 years ago by Lions Club members will be replaced and, brought, up to today's CSA standards: 10 new benches will be installed around Lions Pool, 12 new picnic tables are being . built by Lions Club members and new garbage receptables will be placed around the park. "We thought we'd do this for the community instead of a party." he says. • Beuttenmiller says standards for playground equipment have changed a lot sincemembers built the present structure, adding that the height of it is one of the biggest concerns. "It's quite a drop from the top of the slide. The playground equipment needs quite a few renovations to bring it up to standards. We've gone all these years without problems but you never know." he says. • The new playground equipment,- which will be installed at the beginning of July. is aimed at children aged toddler to 12 and includes climbing equipment,' several slides and three springy toys children sit and bounce on. The playground will be closed down for about a week while the old equipment is removed and the new equipment installed. However, the present swings and teeter-totter will remain. The 10 new benches will be cemented into the ground around the pool for people wanting to watch swimming lessons. Beuttenmiller says the Lions Club hopes the new benches will prevent the need for people to move picnic tables over beside the fence surrounding the pool. By Susan Hunderimark Surprising donations made for Girls Band Wonderful." she says.., However Agricultural Society president Jim Floyd says support of the band is not.yet "official and woldn't reveal if.or how the society plans to suppnrt the band. • Seaforth Mayor Dave Scott says town council will be, discussing a possible donation towards the band during its budget session next week.. - He also said that a recent decision by Seaforth groups to make the band the focus, of a downtown nitiral was a: direct result of the recent funding difficulties the band has been experiencing. "1 think everycme realize,S how important the band is to the town.',he says. Ross Ribey. director of., Whitney-Ribey Funeral ,H the. says he will make a., donation tbut doesn`t-want- to reveal' how much r towards .a .mural of the marching band because. "it's. outs." - "A mural of the hand in parade fashion would be unique and hopefully make a stronger tie . between' Seaforth and the band. I'd hate to see the band slip away to Goderich." he says. - "In this .day, of amalgamation • and restructuring, we need to. do everything in our power to keep our identity. Seaforth should he as proud as proud of the band,: i wonderful and 1 hope that the town and. townspeople will get behind it." says Ribey. _ _ Avon Maitland District School Board director Lome Rachlis say. the board '. om't make a decision about funding the band until the budget session on June 22. "I'm under the assumption that the band will receive some funding." he say s. By Susan Htntdertmark Expositor Staff Donations continue to come - "out of the woodwork" • while . the Seaforth District• 'High' . School All -Girls Marching Band waits to hear if it will receive f,unding from the Avon Maitland District ;School Board for the coming . school year. "We're really pleased that public support is coming in," says band e!tectitive . member Shirley Brugger. "We never even approached local businesses and they're • responding." Bob- Fisher. owner of 'Pizza Train in Seaforth. has pledged a, donation of $100; . every year for the next five years towards the band. "The band. is. a great diptomttt,for this area and 1 wanted to support it. Supporting the community 'is just what you do in a small town.' he says. John Mimic. iic. 'of .1 and J Pharmacy in Clinton- has given the band a $,500 donation: "it's so beautiful that small towns have a band that's trained those •girls to. stand up straight and march so nicely. if 1 can help. Fm more than delighted to, do. so." he says. -Alilovic adds that it "made him so mad when he - heard that various_Goderi4h. groups had suggested the band might want to consider a name change if it received donations from Goderich groups. Brugger says the Seaforth -_ Agricultural Society has offered to support the band and will put the proceeds from its recent yard., sale. towards the band. . "They said they didn't •make enough at the yard sale and were going to top it up for u.. w hich Was just Susan Hundertmar)c photo Ian Johnston of Egmondville spent three weeks as a page in the Ontario legislature Page sets record in legislature By Susan Hundertmark Expositor Stott lan Johnston's team of 20 • pages earned a $10 bonus this spring for delivering the - provincial budget package •to- house. members in the. Ontario legiklature taster : than any pages eser had .before. "Wedid it in 28.5 • seconds." says the Grade -8 ,student -al Huron Centennial Public Se -hoot. "They timed how long -it -took -us -to -get it into their t MIPP.' 1 hands in 'the house 'walking quiet.(,. No running is allowed.•' tan. from Egmondsille; '.was one of the last group of pages to serve the provincial legislature in Toronto this spring before the recent. election: kis four-week term was cut down to three weeks by .the election call last month. returned home. with a picture of himself with, Premier Mike Harris and was itiupressed by the Tory leader's politeness whenever tan delivered •eater to him in :the legisla•t'ure. ian :says he: wouldn't have,voted for Harris if' he could have voted during the Month's election. • "Harri i v • w 11 And. even though he'• spoken and• very out -going. 1 See PAGE, Page S Rural medical experience eye-opener for students By Stott Hilgendorff.' • Expositor Editor Munsif Bhimani hated his family' doctor. . . Now he wants to become one. And a four-day. whirlwind exposure to -rural-rnedicine-'is helping .him and. fellos . student, Joe Chan see this is the type•of setting in which they would like to set up. practice. • "It's opened my eyes to family medicine," said Bhimani. Growing up in Toronto. he said. " 1 really. didn't find my family doctor to be doing a• good job.". He said the doctor would spend only a few moments with a patient and would refer them to specialists or prescribe medication instead of trying to figure out in more detail what was wrong. Seeing how doctors work in the Seaforth Community Hospital and the Seaforth Medical Clinic. Bhimani said he has seen doctors taking care of patients the way they should -be providing more encouragement for, him to come back to a rural area when he is finished medical school. Getting doctors to set up practice in underserviced areas is the goal of the program that brought Bhimani and Chan to Seaforth last Monday. The program was implemented last year through the University of Western Ontario and requires first-year medical. students to spend about a week in rural hospitals working with staff in areas•from the emergence room to the carious clinics offered by the hospital. •• Thirty-two hospitals took part in the .program. coordinated by the Southwestern Ontario Rural Medicine Unit in Goderich. .l'd. do it_ again in second year if I had a chance." said Chan. ___ While the program hopes to interest medical students in rural medicine, both Chan and Bhimani already had an interest in. rural medicine. Bhimani knows. what it's like to live in an area where there are few doctors. Before coming to Canada. Bhimani lived in Kenya where his father was the only surgeon. "He used to fly all over Kenya ,doing surgery," Bhimani said, adding. for a while, he was the only surgeon in the country.. . • Chan had been taking elective courses related to rural medicine and said this experience has been a catalyst for him, inspiring him to work further in that direction. He said a doctor needs much more knowledge and skills in a rural setting than city doctors who aren't called on to treat as wide a variety of situations as doctors in smaller areas. It's a much more.challenging job." he said, adding, "I think medicine is more affective when you have a good relationship with your; patient." See RURAL, Pogo 7 Medical students Joe Chan and Mansif Bhimani speak to students in the Human Biology class at the high school. Your community newspaper since 1860