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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1988-04-13, Page 36Page 20A Times -Advocate, April 13, 1988 HENSALL MINOR HOCKEY - Everyone got together at the year-end which saw the Atom and Pee -Wee teams rise to the top of their divisions banquet in Hensall *Sunday evening to celebrate -a minor hockey season as grand champions. Huron towns agree on police communications Continued from front page the spirit of co-operation...We offer to go to the purchase of service if someone else takes the system." Goderich Mayor Eileen Palmer further explained why her town chose to make this proposal. " From the comments we've heard here tonight, no one seems to give a damn about the liability the Town of Godcrich could be left with...If someone else is ready to assume the responsibility of liabili- ty, then it's yours, she said. These ncw proposals were cause for each municipality to meet pri- vately once again before another vote was taken. Upon re-entering the council chambers, Clinton's representative, Mr. Cochrane, said Clinton likes the Scaforth propo- sal, but would make one amend- ment. "No one seems to give a darn about the liability Goderich could be left with" "We'll vote for thc Scaforth pro- posal, if included in the responsi- bilities of the advisory committee is that they examine the relocation of the system to Clinton." Exeter's Police Committee Chair- person,. Dorothy Chapman, said they would agree to the same idea and Goderich's Erskine stated they would do the same "in the spirit of co-operation." Seaforth's Harry Hak, Chairman of thc Police Com- mittee, also agreed. However, Sea - forth Mayor Alf Ross after said he did not understand that the reloca- tion was being looked at specifical- ly for Clinton, therefore, Clinton was dropped from the motion and it read simply the relocation of the system. Relocation implications Erskine pointed out a fact that should be taken intoconsideration if the system was toorelocate. "You have to maintain thc CPIC (Canadian Police Information Com- puter) system. It has a 24 hour cap- ability, and Godcrich is the .only force that operates 24 hours a day, including thc Godcrich OPP," he said. Clinton Clerk -Treasurer Marie Jefferson said, "It doesn't have to be a S40,000 a year sergeant (as a dis- patcher)" Raike agreed with Clerk Jefffcr- son, adding, "It has to be a member of the police force...lt can be an of- ficer or a civilian, a qualified civil- ian." Consultant Erskine then suggested a consul- tant be hired with the municipalities .sharing the costs equally. Another suggestion was brought forward to have the four committcc chairpersons meet and decide wheth- er a steering committee could be set up to look at the possibility of relo- cating thc system, or whether they feel a consultant is needed. Mayor Palmer said, "Not taking anything away from anyone, but we're all laypcoplc - not one of us here is qualified to do a feasibility study." Exeter Chief Larry hardy suggest- ed the OPC could provide that ser- vice and Raike said, "We're obligat- ed to. "I'd like to point out that there will be a cost of relocating, you have to terminate. five dispatchers and you'll need OPC approval," he said. Mayor Shaw said, "Not if they arc offered jobs in Clinton (or where ever the system is moved to), there wouldn't be a problem" "There may be," said Raike, ad- ding that thc OPC could see it as moving their people. Goderich's Clerk, Larry McCabe stated, "This is an exercise of futili- ty. The system is efficient and eco- nomical right where it is." Scaforth Police Chief Hai Claus said, "You can hire all the consul- , tants in thc world:but you'll still need a Meeting like this...you still have to make the decision." When the vote was taken on whether to hire a consultant, all t 1 four municipalities were in favor of it. Wingham out McCabe also pointed out that with the signing of thc agreement, Winghaln was now officially out of the Huron County Police Commu- nication Systcm. Wingham pulled out of the sys- tem because they found a less ex- pensive deal with Hanover, reducing the Godcrich system from five to four municipalities. During the opening of the meet- ing, each of the four remaining mu- nicipalities were given an opportu-, nity to present any suggestions thcy may have concerning the 10 -year- old system. Scaforth s Police Chief Claus provided the most indepth suggestions. He opened his remarks stating his concern. "I have attended numerous meet- ings that were called to establish an agreement between the five munici- palities in Huron County having their own police force to operate a modern communications system. To date the process of coming to an agreement has failed miserably to the .point wnere one municipality, Wingham, has opted out of the sys- tem all together and purchased ser- vices from Hanover. This leaves the other four municipalities to tither pick up the increased costs of oper- ating the communications centre or to let it deteriorate further," he said. Chief Claus then went on to make observations to why an agree- ment had not been reached. The first of these observations was, "There is nothing broken, so we have no reason to band together to fix something." The others were lack of goodwill by all to share the responsibility of providing the best protection for po- lice personnel and citizens at the least cost to the taxpayers; the ten- dency of meetings to stray from the subject at hand and a personality clash between those involved. Chief Claus also provided four reasons as :o why the system should be maintained. "It doesn't have to be a $40,000 officer as dis- patcher" "All efforts must be made to keep the system on a county wide basis as our court system is a county sys- tem," he said. His second reason concerned the emergency plans each municipality has in place. After the Mississauga rail disas- ter, it bccamc obvious that cach municipality must have an emer- gency plan. These plans have all been established within each munic- ipality with provisions that in case of evacuations we require.a common communications system to co- ordinate lodging, emergency sup- plies and the orderly movement of traffic." Reason three stated, "All of re - (pike a system operated by police personnel to maintain thc CP1C ter- minal. The CPIC; System, con- trolled by the RCMP, requires that there be absolute security as to the personnel and that the integrity of the system cannot be compromised in any way upon penalty of being denied access to the CPIC system.' And reason number four concerned the safety of police officers. "The safcty of personnel on the streets of our towns must be of par - "All we need is the will to succeed" amount concern. The assistance to a policeman in trouble can only be accomplished by direct communica- tions to the scene of trouble," said Chief Claus, later adding, "The present system can be salvaged, but we must make some changes." Explaining this last statement, Chief Claus said that the changes did not have to be major and thcy have nothing to do with the techni- cal set up of equipment or the loca- tion of the centre, rather the changes should be made at the "political lev- el." "Without usurping each others power of authority and at the same time staying within the law, we can set up a political committee of rep- resentatives from each community or board. All we need is the will to make it succeed," -said Chief Claus. He suggested that a.committee be made up of one representative from each town council and one from the Godcrich board. This committcc provides direction to the Godcrich board and will disseminate all con- cerns brought to them by a commit- tee of chiefs regarding operation problems and proposed capital ex- penses. he also suggested the corn: miucc recommend a budget to the force managing the communications centre. As well this committcc will be responsible for attracting new businesses to increase revenue. Chief Claus said, in this idea, the Goderich Board of Commissioners and their chief arc responsible for day to day operations; the chiefs committee (made up of the four po- lice chiefs) meet on a regular basis to discuss problems; and in the event the Godcrich board feels they can't comply with the committee's recommendations, a meeting will be called to inform the committcc as to why. "I further recommend that a small management fee be included in the centre's budgct. This should be small as there arc also certain bene- fits to the force where the centre is located," said Chief Claus. At this point, Raike said that ne- gotiations are up to Godcrich as the Police Act says who will and who will not bargain tor who. "It isn't a joint system," he said. "It is Goderich's system (to man- age), they're host, the others are sat- ellites..." Next up was Exeter. Mrs. Chap- man said, "I agree that,jt is Gode- rich's systcm, there's no other way it can function, therefore, in the fu- ture, we should have something in writing as to what happens to the equipment we all purchase." Mrs. Chapman went on to say that Exeter has looked outside the Goderich System and has been ac- cepted into another at a "reasonable cost savings." "We're still here. We believe in the system and feel .it (leaving) would be detrimental to the others," she said. Mrs. Chapman said, that since the town is buying a service, they should pay for it, including line cost, mailing and so on. "From there, go to a per capita cost - that too to be worked out." Erskine spoke for the Town of Godcrich, saying, "Godcrich is quite willing to co-operate. We believe the system can only operate with four partners - if one leaves, it would be too expensive to operate with only three." Cochrane, of Clinton, said the town had no proposals, however, he felt the suggestions made by Sea - forth had merit and the user fee sug- gestion by Exeter was good. Raike made a few comments on the suggestions. First, commenting on his previous statement, he said that as satellites, the other towns "A municipality can't fust stand up and leave" did not play any less a significant role. "Collectively you can afford a More sophisticated system." And speaking to Chapman's com- ments on being accepted into anoth- er system at a savings, he said, "They can probably give it to you cheaper, but arc you getting the same sophistication?" Agreement The agreement that was adopted was drafted by thc mayors' of Huron County and allows each municipali- ty in the police communications system to have equal say. "The big thing is input," said Clinton Mayor John Balfour, who was also thc chairman of thc April 7 meeting. "Right now we have no say 'in the cost - we just rubber stamp it." The agreement allows direct input into the budget, capital expenditures and also introduces a termination clause. According to Mayor Balfour, this added clause stipulates that a munic- ipality "can't stand up and leave. They have to wait until the end of the year and they have to give six months notice." This six month notice has been referred to as a safety valve, provid- ing time for the remaining munici- palities to try and correct the prob- lem or see if an agrcemcnt can be coached. GET CCAT HOCKEY AWARDS - Coaches Rob Funston at the left and Frank Funston at the right are shown with the top players on the Centralia College Saints hockey team Greg Darlington, Brian Carruthers, Todd Jenken and Joe Triest. Cooking for a healthy heart classes to begin April 27 The Huron County Chapter of the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Huron County Health -Unit will be offering the "Cooking for a Healthy Heart" course this April and May. We have an abundant variety of foods to choose from each day. Step into any supermarket and the number of products is almost overwhelm- ing. Fast food -establishments, doughnut shops and restaurants confront us everywhere we look. Unfortunately, this very abundance and easy ac- cessibility has lead to dietary excesses and consequent dangers to our health. The typical Canadian diet is high ip energy (calories), fats, choleste- rol, sugar, sodium and low in fibre. Fat contributes 42 percent of our calories and sugar approximately 24 percent. This means Ihat'2t3 of the calories we cat everyday comes from fat and sugar. • About half the foods we eat are processed or packaged. These foods are -high in sodium. The average Canadian eats the equivalent of three teaspoons of salt a day. These dietary habits are related to the diseases of lifestyle prevalent in our society - heart disease, cancer, obesity, etc. Research has shown that the food choices we make can greatly impact on our chances pf developing heart disease and other diseases of lifestyle (obesity, -diabetes, cancer). The cooking principles and techniques that you will earn throughout this course arc based on the Nutrition Recommendations for Canadians which were established by Health and Welfare Canada w response to our increasing knowledge of disease prevention. These recommenda- tions arc: 1. Consume -a nutritionally adequate diet by following Canada's Food Guide. 2. Reduce total fat consumption. Include a source of polyunsaturated fat. 3. Increase dietary fibre. Emphasize whole grains, fruits and vegetables. 4. Minimize sugar, salt and alcohol. 5. Prevent obesity through dict and exercise. This four-week course will teach you how to improve the nutritional quality of your family's meals, how to modify your favourite recipes, plan menus, lose weight, and how to entertain and cat out in new and healthy ways. Delicious recipes will be demonstrated and sampled in each class. Participants will be provided with many recipes and other useful information. Classes will be held at two locations. Clinton: Huronvicw Auditorium Mondays 7:30 p.m. -9:30 p.m. April 27 - May 16 OR Exeter. South Huron District High School Wednesdays 7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. April 27 -May 18 •- Cost will be $24.00 per person and registration is limited, so call now. To register call the Huron County Health Unit, 524-8301. Two accidents in OPP area Only two accidents were investi- gated this week by officers of the Exeter detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police. Thursday on Columbia Drive in Huron Park, a vehicle driven by Martin Overholt of Exeter collided with a parked vehicle owned by Richard Parsons of Huron Park. Damage was minimal. Vehicles operated by Bonnie Grecson, RR 7, Owen Sound and Arnold Cunningham, RR. 1, Lucan were in collision on Huron road 11 at the junction of sideroad 1 in Us - borne township at 3:45 p.m., Fri- day. Both drivers reccived.minimal in- juries as did Nancy Heathers, a pas- senger in the Grecson vehicle. During the week Exeter OPP offi- cers laid 83 Highway Traffic Act charges, 11 Criminal Code charges and five Liquor Licence Act infrac- tions along with two impaired driv- ers and one driving with licence sus- pended. Five driving licence suspensions of 12 hours each were issued. . The RIDE program will be in ef- fect this upcoming week with spot checks on arca roads including Highways 4, 83, 84 and Huron Park. Alr Canada's "Heart of Gold" Award in partnership with your To rind out more about how you can say community newspaper 'Thanks'. call your local weekly newspaper. HELP US • HELP YOU SAY - "THANK YOU" to someone who goes out of his or her way to make your community a better place to live. Celebrate Diamond Month with A BRILLIANT PROPOSAL AShes wonderful, unique, special. She's a woman who deserves nothing less than an ANSTETT DIAMOND. ANSTETT DIAMONDS, CHOSEN FOR THEIR MATCHLESS FIRE and BEAUTY. An ANSTETT DIAMOND, it's the diamond that says I LOVE YOU ... brilliantly' ANSTETT JEWELLERS SPECIALISTS 8 Albert St LINTON SINCE 1950 284 Main St CEXETER 26 Mat, St S . SEAFORTH • /mow 135 Oueen St East ST: MARYS 203 Durham St E . WALKERTON 2 Square. 000ERICH w