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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2000-07-26, Page 1July 26, 2000 $1 lincludes GST) • Local weather Wednesday --Mainly sunny. High 28. Thursday --Sunny, then mix of sun, cloud and showers. High 28. low. 17. Friday --Cloudy. Showers. High 27. Low 18. Saturday --Mainly cloudy. Scattered showers. High 27. Low 19. From Environment Canada In brief Main Street closed for Madness Main Street in the downtown core will be closed from 4 p.m. until 11 p.m. this Friday as the Business Improvement Area offers its annual Moonlight Madness event. This year promises to have even more events for children with expanded play areas, a large -size tiddly winks game and a giant caterpillar fun -run among the many planned events. The caterpillar features a 50 -foot long inflatable adventure that lets kids slide or crawl_their way through. There will also be a games area this year for. people to play checkers, cards, and other board games. The" night features live entertainment and back by popular demand is "jousting," where opponents face off against each other on ariel platforms with giant but soft jousting action. Local skateboarders will bring their ramps • downtown to put on, a demonstration and the OPP will be there with their seatbelt convincer, first-hand demonstration. The evening holds plenty of fun for the whole family. And don't forget the sales. Individual stores will be putting together their own activities for the event' and will feature street and in-store sales that evening. Stores are open until at least 10 p.m. that night. Because of complaints about water guns, last year., a water gun zone was set up but still failed to keep people from squirting each other on the streets. The BIA is asking people not to bring water guns downtown because of the damage the water can cause to merchandise and the annoyance it presents to people trying to enjoy the events. The event wraps up with a streetdance on Gouinlock Street which will also be closed to traffic. • By Scan Hilgendorff Three -on -three basketball event on.. Page 3 J , Susan Hundertmark photo Sasha Tsibouk, a.Belarussian child spending time in Seaforth, cuddles the Dawe family dog. Child of Chernobyl visits for a breath of fresh air By Susan Hundertmark Expositor Staff When nine-year-old Sasha Tsibouk first arrived from Gomel, Belarus a few weeks ago to Jim and Lynn Dawe's Seaforth home,there was a lot of quiet play and frequent trips to the Russian/English pictionary. But now, Sasha and the Dawe's 10 -year-old son Cory "are just two boys. fighting over TV channels and preferred seats in the car.". says Lynn. As.a*participant in Huron County's` chapter of the Canadian Relief Fund for Chenobyl Victims in Belarus, the Dawes say the main purpose of Sashes visit is to give his immune system a restt_.fro n the radiation - contaminated soil. water and air in Belarus caused by the 1986 explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. Sasha is one of 15 :Belarusian children visiting Huron County this summer. The' Dawes decided to get involved in the Canada -wide program. which has been operating since 1989 but only for three years in Huron County, after reading a newspaper article about the children of Chernobyl last winter. "If we could help even one child.. we thought it would, be worth its' says. Lynn. "The six-week visit is supposed to give their immune systems a fighting chance," she -says.. And, while the Dawes have been questioned why they Sa. SASHA, Page 2 Firefighters in town to train Courses a lead into fire. convention By Scott Hilgendorff Expositor Editor More than 110 firefighters will be in town next week for training courses being offered by the Ontario Fire College. This is a lead-in to the Firefighters' Association of Ontario's convention starting on the civic • holiday weekend. "This is a good opportunity" for any firemen in the area to take these courses rather than having to go all the way up to Gravenhurst," said Seaforth fire chief, George Garrick. Gravenhurst is home to the Ontario Fire :College but the college is sending instructors to Seaforth. starting Sunday. to teach the courses. Sunday. firefighters will be at Seaforth District High School to take a one -day officer's course covering topics such as fire legislation. Monday is the start of a five-day course on fire prevention theory and inspections and another on pumper operations. also at the high school. A two-day course, starting Monday, will take place at the. Seaforth Agri-plex where firefighters will learn ,about handling propane emergencies. Starting Wednesday through Friday. at the fire hall, firefighters will be firefighters*. aboutrescue operations involving farm equipment which will include some hands-on training on Thursday when they tear into some real farm equipment. Garrick 'said firefighters earn certificates for ,completing the courses and improving their abilities. The courses are open to volunteer departments first but some full-time firefighters usually attend as well. Town preparing to sell PUC to Sword By Susan Hundertmark Expositor Staff Seaforth's town cquncil voted ,during a special council meeting last Wednesday to enter into negotiations with the City of Stratford to sell the town's PUC. " Despite a'joint press re -lease from both municipalities stating that Seaforth has'. accepted Stratford's proposal for the purchase of Seaforth PUC's electrical assets, both Seaforth. Mayor. Dave Scott and Seaforth administrator • Jack McLachlin said council has notlgiveri its final agreement to the deal. "The press. release is a little premature." said Scott Tuesday morning. "We are still in negotiations and nothing has -been signed yet. Everybody's being supercautious because we're dealing with a figure over S1 million." Scott said council has accepted the agreement in general terms with 19.99 figures and while a preliminary sale price has been agreed upon. that number may change. Council went in -camera at its. July 18 meeting to discuss the different avenues to take—with provincial deregulation of the PUC and passed •a motion after agreeing to explore the option of selling the PUC. Council had been working • with PUC manager Torn Phillips for the•past several months, trying to determine what to do with the PUC." In addition to the option of selling it, council was looking at amalgamating with other PUCs or the possibility of operating the PUC themselves. A special council meeting was called last Wednesday night to discussthe issue but the public was not made aware of it. • " "We -didn't call you because it was a closed meeting dealing with a. property issue." McLachlan said. although. council needed'tp come into public - session following that portion of. the meeting to pass any • motions. Themeeting was held in -camera because it involved the scale of the PUC and there /were other companies interested; other than Stratford. However, ' council reached a decision that night to negotiate with Stratford. Despite a call from The Huron Expositor regarding the PUC -issue .the. next day, following up council's July 18 motion to explore the sale, town. administration did not make The Expositor aware council had made any new decisions about the fate of the PUC. Council decided to wait to issue' a press release about the. PUC decisions until Tuesday morning to give Stratford council a chance to look at the issue at its meeting Monday night. ' McLachlin said the offer to purchase from the City of Stratford will be discussed at the next regular council meeting on Aug. 8. "It's not a completely done 'deal but it probably will be." he said. Seaforth council first received an offer from the City of Stratford in May.. which was then revised this month. "The Seaforth PUC investigated every option before them " and concluded. when all the information was analyzed, that -the decision to proceed Soo MAYOR, Page 2 Seaforth hospital working to keep ambulance here By Scott Hilgendorff Expositor Editor Seaforth Community Hospital is not about ro let the ambulance service go. While Huron County Council passed a motion that could see the Seaforth service either moved to Clinton or a point between the two towns on Highway 8, the hospital is preparing a submission to the county that proposes keeping the service in Seaforth. ' "The hospital had taken the position it would,put up a facility," said Michael Hak. chair of the Seaforth Community Hospital board and a town councillors. The hospital announced late last month it was willing to bear the costs of a new facility in Seaforth as the Huron Perth Hospital Partnership told the county it believed ambulance services should be kept at or near hospitals in the two counties. The offer was made as county council prepared to make a decision earlier this month on how ambulance services should be provided in Huron County. The provincial government is downloading ambulance services to the county level in January. Seaforth council was surprised to find that all but two county councillors voted in favour of moving the service out with the county willing to bear the costs of building a new facility. Since that vote. the county has advertised for "expressions of interest" in providing facilities for services. The expressions of interest are asked to include a description of the facilities and the proposed location. The proposed stations,can be new facilities or existing ones, designed to meet Ministry of Health requirements. Despite the county vote to move the service out of Seaforth, Hak was expecting the hospital board to go ahead and prepare a response to the advertisement, offering to construct a facility at See HOSPITAL„ Pogo 111 Your community newspaper since 1860