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26 Main St.,
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527-2222
In brief
Six white
spruce trees,
valued at
$300, stolen
from Huron
East bush
Six white spruce trees,
valued at $300, were
reported stolen from a 50 -
acre bush just off Blyth
Road in Huron East on
Dec. 15.
The property owner
told Huron OPP that
someone has been
entering the bush over the
past two weekends and
cut down trees. The bush
is posted with a no
trespassing sign.
The trees were 15-20
years old and were five to
eight feet in height.
Anyone with related
information is asked to
call the Huron OPP or
Crimestoppers.
Electronic and computer
equipment stolen
Close to $1,000 worth
of ,electronic and
computer equipment were
stolen from a Huron East
residence on Brussels
Line sometime during the
afternoon of Dec. 5.
Huron OPP say a door
to the house was forced
open during the daylight
break-in.
Anyone with related
information is asked to
call the Huron OPP or
Crime Stoppers.
Huron East man, 18,
charged with liquor
and traffic violations
An 18 -year-old Huron
East man has been
charged with a liquor
violation and two traffic
violations after Huron
OPP tried to stop a Jeep
on Vanastra Road in
Bluewater on Dec. 21.
After police tried to
pull over the gray 1987
American Jeep at 12:45
a.m., the vehicle pulled
into a farmer's lane and
three people fled the
vehicle.
The three were arrested
a short time later and a
15 -year-old female from
Central Huron has been
charged with a liquor
violation and a 16 -year-
old male from Central
Huron has been charged
with breaching probation.
The Huron East man
was also charged with
failing to apply for a
permit on becoming an
owner and permit use of a
licence plate not
authorized for the vehicle.
The three are scheduled
to attend court in
Goderich next month.
Christmas baby celebrates first birthday
despite rough start with heart surgery
By Susan Hundertmark
Expositor Editor
While a baby's first
birthday is always a
significant milestone for any
parent,'Doug and Stephanie
Hugill have been celebrating
their daughter Alexa's
Christmas Day birthday for
several weeks now.
Because she was born with
a serious congenital heart
defect that required open
heart surgery and close to a
month's stay at Sick Kids'
Hospital in Toronto, Alexa's
first birthday is being
celebrated many times this
month.
"The birthday parties
started two Saturdays ago
with friends and there's
another with family this
Saturday. Then, there's
Christmas, which is her
actual birthday," says
Stephanie.
Alexa is now a healthy,
active and engaging toddler
who likes to pounce on the
family cat and point wide-
eyed at Christmas
decorations around her
house.
But, Stephanie says
Christmas is just beginning
to provoke her memories of
Alexa's traumatic first month
of life.
Stephanie and Doug had
just returned from a family
Christmas Eve celebration in
Seaforth to their Tuckersmith
farm last year when
Stephanie realized she was in
labour.
By midnight, they were at
Stratford General Hospital
and phoning relatives in the
morning that they had
become parents of a baby girl
at 9:30 a.m.
But, at that point they had
no idea they'd be following
ambulances first to London
and then to Toronto by
Boxing Day night.
"We were in hospital and
•
doing quite well. But,
hindsight is amazing," says
Stephanie.
Although Stephanie had
planned to breastfeed, Alexa
wouldn't cooperate. And,
nurses noticed the baby's lips
were a dark colour, which by
9:30 p.m. Boxing Day
prompted one nurse to take
Alexa to the nurse's station
and calla pediatrician.
"We realized later that she
Doug, Alexa and Stephanie Hugill
wouldn't breastfeed because
she was short of breath," says
Stephanie.
After Alexa had been away
from her mother's hospital
room long enough to cause
Stephanie and Doug to
wonder what was going on, a
pediatrician came in and told
them he suspected something
was wrong and would be
sending Alexa to Children's
Hospital in London.
Susan Hurderhnork photo
I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus
Seaforth Public School students Alex Souk ond Bloke Songster act out the words of I Saw
Mommy Kissing Santo Claus during their Christmas concert last Wednesday
"Doug and I were very
worried but the pediatrician
wouldn't elaborate about
what he thought was wrong. I
kept pressing him and he
finally told me he suspected
it was cardiac," she says.
Because Stephanie is an
occupational therapist who
took courses in embryology
in school, she realized the
situation was serious.
"I looked at Doug and said.
`We're going to be in
Toronto tomorrow.' I knew
the cardiac program in
London had just had
cutbacks," she says.
They followed Alexa's
ambulance to London that
night where Alexa went to
the intensive care unit and
they spent the night in the
parent's room at the hospital.
"We slept because we were
so exhausted," says
Stephanie.
The next day (Dec. 27),
Alexa received an
echocardiogram and
Stephanie and Doug were
told she had one of the most
serious cardiac defects.
Alexa's heart had a
transposition of the great
arteries, which meant that
instead of her blood
travelling through her heart
in a figure, eight the way it is
supposed to, it was travelling
in two circles and her blood
was not being oxygenated.
Because the two main
blood vessels coming out of
her heart, the pulmonary
artery and the aorta, were in
opposite position to where
they should be, she needed
surgery.
"The good thing was that it
was actually fairly straight
forward surgery to repair the
problem," says Stephanie.
Alexa was airlifted to
Toronto that afternoon at
2:15 p.m. and her parents
arrived at 6 p.m. where Alexa
was again being set up in the
intensive care unit.
It was shocking to see their
baby hooked up to two IV
tubes and five tubes and
wires coming from her neck
but Stephanie was reassured
that the attending doctor was
one she'd had as a professor
in university.
Alexa received an
angioplasty as a temporary
fix to the problem.
SN HUGILLS, Pogo 2
Huron East will
pay to research
pipeline costs
By Susan Hundertmark
Expositor Editor
Huron East council agreed at its Dec. 16 meeting to pay up
to $6,500 for engineers to investigate the costs of joining the
Exeter pipeline project.
While some councillors wondered if Seaforth will be able
to afford anticipated costs of $20 million, others said it was
worth the $6.500 to explore the option.
"It may be a small amount to pay $6,500 to see about a
pipeline compared to what we spent on the water system last
year," said Deputy -Mayor Bernie MacLellan.
Public Works Coordinator John Forrest, who attended a
recent meeting about the Exeter pipeline with Seaforth Coun.
Lott Maloney, said Seaforth shares the same water problems
of groundwater getting into the wells - excluding the
existence of radionuclides in the water - with Exeter.
"All their wells are off the same acquifer too. Our problem
is we don't know where we need to go with Seaforth water,"
he said.
Forrest said that because hydrogeologists have suggested
that all the water from Seaforth's wells needs to be treated the
same way surface water is, the ongoing costs of treating
Seaforth's water could be expensive.
"It's an iffy thing," he said. •
Forrest added that like Exeter, Seaforth will not have a
second source of water if it continues to use the same well.
"You should always have two water sources and if we stay
with the wells we have now, we don't have a back-up
plan.They're suggesting now that we continue to look for
another source of water," he said.
An e-mail from mea Steve Burns of B.M. Ross and
Associates, encouraged Huron East to look at the pipeline
costs,
"If there is ever going t9 be consideration of Seaforth
See MUNI, Pop $