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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1988-07-20, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, July 20, 1988 Time, Established t8- Advocate Established 1881 Afiatgamated 1924 BLUE RIBBON AWARD 1985 • Ames - dvocate Published Each Wednesday Morning at tzeter, Ontario, NOM 1S0 Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone 519.235.1331 • ent2. €NA ccnu ROSS HAL CH llM Bl(kIII • Editor Publisher & Adsenising %tanager HARM Int Rill DO . sstirii ( umpusdion Manager Business Manager SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $25.00 Per year; U.S.A. $65.00 sx Need. conformity' The current- strike- by.- foster parents in -Metro Toronto points out not only the lack of conformity in provincial finan- cial support throughout the province, but the possibility of losing more parents. • Although, Community Services Mini-- - ster John Sweeney announced increases in daily rates for. foster parents on July- 4, those in •the.Toronto area are not satis- fied with a small increase. The latest increase of $1.50 a day in Toronto brings the daily average pay- - ment to about $23:69, including expens- es. Striking foster parents are seeking $26 a day plus expenses. Diane Cresswell of the Ontario Associ- ation of Children's Aid Societies says her group is very concerned that more foster homes will be lost unless training and payments improve. • About 225 foster parents left the busi- ness in 1986; primarily because pay- ments didn't keep pace with expenses while the number of difficult children being placed in care was increasing. Norm Tait of Exeter, a representative for Foster Parents in Huron, Bruce and Grey region agrees the reason for thc,de- cline in foster homes in Ontario and across Canada is because of the lack of adequate compensation and recognition of services required. Tait added, " In Huron we do not feel action similar to that taken by Toronto foster patients is a good alternative, al- though it -could be the only way to get the attention of authorities, "like getting a donkey's attention with a two by four." According to Tait, not many problems exist in Huron outside of compensation because of the -openness of communica- tion with director John Penn. In Huron, . two foster parents are members of the board of the Children's Aid Society. . The rate paid to foster parents in Huron is the lowest in all of Ontario. It ranges from $7.36 per day for youngsters up to seven years of age to $9.73for those. 16 or over. Rates are different for each of • the 51 foster parent agencies in the prov- ince. - - These are 1987 figures quoted by Norm Tait, but there has been only a four per- cent increase in 1988. Tait adds, 'Would you be willing to babysit 24 hours per day for 31.9 cents an hour?" The rate of reimbursable expenses is also in question. Clothing, milk and dia- pers are expensive and the reimbursable allowances are not in line. If foster parents in Toronto refuse to take on new children it will put social workers in a bind and the Children'sAid Society will have to find alternative ac- commodations in "professional care".These. children will have to be placed under professional care in an insi- tution-like setting with costs ranging any- where from $85 to $132 a day. This type of institutional care will not be the same as that provided by foster parents on a much more personal basis. Although the .situation in Huron is unique with excellent co-operation from all involved, except for low rates, some- thing.ne to be done in the province as a whole. Hard labour • At school; Alcxandcr belongs to a trio of boys who have a_ knack for getting into trouble. They egg each other on. They dare " etich other to do forbidden deeds. They're bad for each other. They should be separated. And so they will be in the fall. , Just before thc holidays started, Alcxandcr and one of the other steers fiddled with a delicate weight scale the teacher had set up to. demonstrate flu: difference between grams and kilograms. "Don't touch this instrument," the tcachcr had warncd thc class, "it is easy to break and expensive *to replace. Lcavc it alone." • What was it that God had said to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? I can't rcmcmhcrthc exact. words, and I'm not going to read Genesis to find thr"quotation right now. But let's agree that God said. something like this: "You can do• What you want in (his place, it's your's to • egen v i_fy „pe r,- ,4 I'm asking you to leave alone is my apple tree. If you take one .bitc from a single apple, you've had it." Well, I don't know if they keep . snakes in the grade 3 classroom of McNah Public School. but somebody or something put •lhc idea into the mischievous heads of Thomas and Alcxandcr. 1 don't have the full story, but 1 bet. it -watt like this: . Alexander to Thomas: "Let's knock the thing just a lint PETER'S PO I N'I' • Ry Ross Haugh ch idren in the class — who were ca cr to learn — were missing ou on a learning opportunity. WIodone it? °body owned up. She in mined them that unless- the c bit' `''culprit would confess immediately, she would turn him (assuming that it was one of three boys) over to the local who in turn would engage the fingerprint division of thc RCMP and, if necessary, Scotland Yard and Interpol. Under that kind of pressure, both Thomas and Alexander caved in and" confessed. Simultaneously and sec what happens". Nothing happened. Thomas to Alexander: "One more twist of this little knob wouldn't hurt anybody, would it?" Alcxandcr, to Thomas: "You put your elbow on this side, and i'll sec if I can lift it up from that side". ` They fid an(f Iwicl('d inti pressed and did the precision instrument in. Naturally Mrs. McKinnon was indignant. Who wouldn't bc? A new, .sophisticated teaching aid had bitten the dust. Her program had hecn disrupted. The other Sheepishly. The wise tcachcr told both boys t� inform their respective parents that they were -expected to pay for a replacement weight scale. When Alexander came home, we all knew that something was wrong. After a bit of shilly- shallying, he told us what happened. Later that evening, the -(.:a;sl r .- a1 ' `tic":- b' ",isms ► pertinent facts or the case. 1 assured her that i will pay "our share", i.c. S15, immcdiatcly, and Elizabeth apologized on behalf of our offspring. 1 gave Alexander the choice of Please turn to page 17 HAVE AN OPINION? The Times -Advocate welcomes letters to the editor. They must be signed and should be accompanied by a telephone number should we need to clarify any information. The newspaper also reserves the right to edit letters. Letters can be dropped off at the Times Advocate Office or mailed to: Exeter Times Advocate Box 850, Exeter, Ontarlo '0 NOM 1S�` Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by 1.W.Eedy Publications Limited u ss GEtt+wf �%ooNtl wA�a O ►rEcx! C6,..c. btrl..X tit' rpU N a NA \t t' u ss DEStrr _._. ",7 A:: ""tt — _ u ss DESttwf - ate+`--- -- - - -- - u ss DESti 411011.. N�A ti (OY A cuQMaRI N (3U /5/s - /5/s -cc 7 A quickix time to make repairs of such a large nature. ' Officials haven't determined what caused the three leaks in the 14 inch pipe. It was installed when the main street was recon- structed just 20 years ago in 1968. * * * * * Tile weekend rains while late by more than a month to do what they should for arca crops, were still very much appreciated by all •The heading on this column may bc a bit misleading. No, we are not talking about drugs, but an excellent job fumed in by em- ployees of the Exeter Public Utilities Commission: The July 13 watermain break on Main street did not cause too much discomfort for Exeter resi- dents. Thanks to the quick response and expert workmanship dis- played by PUC employees Bob Pooley, Vern Postill and Ron Moore and company under the direction of manager Hugh Da- vis, the leaky pipe was quickly removed and replaced.. Also very involved in the repair pro- cedure wcrc the Reid's from .I(ensall with their backhoe equipment. While on duty with the camera to get somc of the action on film, we were among the many sidewalk superintendents who wcrc curious to see what was going on. In less than six hours from the time the water was first shut off, the service was back in action. That's a pretty short span of /at the editor's disk by (25 Ross Haugh facets of our population. The biggest response to the welcome moisture will likely comc from lawns throught the arca. Now in a very brown state, they should revive within a week and get some of us back with the lawn mowing equipment. It must be at least six weeks since our lawn mower has been in action. We haven't reported for some time on thc progress of our gar- den mainly because little has hap-. pcned due to the extremely dry ground. Our quest for a championship size pumpkin has been thwarted. At the moment we have several the size of golf balls, but look out for the next few weeks. With lots of loving care and the addition of a fcw secret ingredients we should get to at least 1(X) pounds. We would hope the same rains hit the Niagara region on the weekend: The community of Nia- gara -on -the -lake were. ready to impose some fairly harsh water restrictions if the drought contin- ued. They were going to prohibit the flushing of toilets and the use of dishwashers. When we wcrc at the quilt show at the Lambton Heritage Museum, south of Grand Bend almost two weeks ago, the regu- lar washrooms wcrc closed bc- causc of a shortage of water and portable facilities were in use out- side. Historic base When people think Penctan- guishenc, Ontaro, they usually associate it with a somewhat in- famous hospital- r a'fl st as tiic arca from which Brian Orscr, world champion figure skater comcs. Recently I paid a visit with a. school class to the Naval Estab- lishment which is located right on thc bay at Pcnelanguishenc. This naval base is an important part of our history and is well worth an.aftcmoon's visit if you are in the Midland area. The naval base was created df- -tcr tilt War of 1812 between the British and the Americans. Though the war itself was somewhat of a stalemate, neither side trusted the other very much. One 6f thc terms of the treaty which followed the war was that only four warships could be ac- tively.maintained on the Great Lakes. If an American attack on By the Way by Syd Fletcher York (now Toronto) came down from the north through Lake 1Iu- ron, Pcnctanguishene would bc thc route through which the thrust would come. Consequently the base was maintained in a state of readiness for about twenty years after the war. It has been restored to its original status now, complete with thc sailors' quarters and thc huge storehouse where weapons and matcnals weir kept-- People ept:--People in period costume, in- cluding soldiers and the shore - based captain roam the grounds greeting the visitors. Excellent tour guides arc available to ex- plain the different buildings. You can actually explore a life- size schooner which sits at the dock on the bay. it's almost Iikc stepping into a different century as you walk through the grounds, although it is hard to believe the feeling of animosity which existed between the two countries at the start of the 1800's. We arc very fortu- nate to have the easy relationship which is now taken so much for granted.