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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1993-05-12, Page 1tesSes -A.h k 4sarry COGIIMT f (*IQ M ftweStMONS itSP's Rte's Seg fiords 2314420 I Halals Drop ,season opener page 18 Humphreys will be missed EXETER - Town councillor Tom Humphreys died last week, a victim of a heart illness he had suffered for years. A funeral was held in. Exeter Sat- urday for the man who had served only half of his fourth term on Ex- eter council after being re-elected in 1991. Humphreys was first elected to cosmcil in 1980, was re- elected in 1982 and '85, but satout one terra after the 1988 municipal election. "Howes someone who was realty committed to public works," ex- ld mayor Bruce Shaw,.atiding ;that Humphreys spent a lot of time orrvith.that committee of council, and :once served as its chairman. .. At: the time of his .death, Hum - .4410/4 ,etas a member -p ,beth, the =it caommistev-ai d thee - Shaw described Httmeys:rar "good and gentle. :-He tookshis . work seriously." Humphreys, ran:'rntrmployee prof Northern- Teleran iia.London, suf- fered:iaains:in.bis:chest last week,' and was in kith Huron Hospital and :absent _Ilan last Monday's council meeting. He was trans- ferred to the intensive care unit at University Hospital where he passed away last Wednesday. Shaw said council will wait a "re- spectful" period of time before making a decision son dem : to. ; ji1I Humphrey's chair at the cotrncilaa- ble. r Tom Humphreys in the 1991 municipal election. .Oi3hHd Plod of Huron County held a Kid Check at Exeter Public School Saturday moming and afternoon. Here Brendan .13hapton, a year and a haff old, gets his fingerprints taken with much assistance from volunteer Annette Mayer (left), fa- 'ther Bevan Shapton and mother Joan Shapton, who is also. a Child Find volunteer. After a bit of struggling, Brendan decid- ed the black sticky stuff on his hands was more fun than he first thought. Child Find recommends children be fingerprint- ed every year up to age six. Hensali ..MSALL =6lumbeasdara4uc MC Seep closer to getting their own •akata—ark in Hensall as council .agreed to a proposal by the Opti- mist Club last night. "This a popular sport in town and :they need some constructive activi- .situ pork IWI reality ta ilelipdangt Iub itiliostric t. • The Optimists, she said,, - proached by 16 local teeaagerswho wanted help getting a ..pie .to skateboard safely tharfauairter the parking lot across from the postof- ftce „en Wilson Street were dis- cussed. Councillor Jeff Raaburn said tilt. parking lot at.the arena wouldn't be tursin home residents to pay s... mte By Fred Groves T -A staff EXETER - In an attempt to equalize the payment methods be- tween Homes for the Aged and Nursing Homes, the provincial gov- ernment announced last week that both will now have a flat rate of $37 per day. The difference between the two is that Homes for the Aged are usual- ly run by municipalities such as Huron County's Huronview in Clin- ton while a Nursing Home is pri- vately owned, such as the Exeter Villa. On Friday, four days after the new law came into affect, Thomas Kannampuzha, Chief Executive Of- ficer for. the ExeteriVilla, explained to the Times -Advocate that this will help eliminate the large differ - race in the costs. "There's been a lot of discussion going on for two or three years," said Kannampuzha who heard ,bout the new law through media Monts. "What the government is trying to do is reduce the gap.'. Exeter Villa's per diem rate is 326.50 for a standard ward, which means the residents will be paying an additional $11. Kannampuzha said the total cost is $77.23 as of Ntiy 1. In comparison, Huronview's per diem is $26.31, however total cost there is $108A1. The government feels with the raised per diem rate, the two total costs will eventually become -eloper. ,: hat the .. vernment .Is Ing to do, Is uce the •r r "Right now some of the residents are paying $90 [or in the case of Huronview $108.41]. They will be paying less so everyone will be paying the same," said Kannampu- zha. Which means the subsidy per res- ident to the Homes for the Aged will be decreased and the patients will have to contribute more. Prior to the new law, the Homes for the Aged came under the juris- diction of the Ministry of Social Services while the Nursing Homes weresseder the eye of the Ministry of Health. Now, both will come un- der the two ministries. The new law has other areas of concern such as a subsidy for low- income residents which will come into affect sometime this summer. Also, there will be a central co- ordinator in each region who will screen all patients and decide which type of home they will enter. "Low income people will get sub- sidy from the government which will leave them about 3112 a month," said Kannampuzha. But no one will be turned away, income or lack of income will not be a factor in determining care. ;'All the people will be taken care of." According w Kannampuzha, the , 'E phen T 11V • nursing homes save the provincial ' government about $1.5 billion per boasts surplus day. He also said the government has 3206 million they can put towards CREDITON - Tlnc Township of *mg terra care, 3150 of that has Stephen had a $277,000 surplus it *me from the residents them- was reported at flat May 4 meeting. eves. The surplus was noted in the As far as the future is concerned, 1992 financial report for the town- Kannampuzha said the 577.23 total ship as was possible because all Be- rate at the Villa may be increased. parunents came within budget. "When they increase it, there will Most of the money will be put be strings auached like increasing back into reserves, said Larry staff." Brown the clerk -treasurer. ' e be>pngate . ' as full, riath the second area proposed bout 75 x40 feet on the north west comer of the lot would be marked off exclusively for the teenagers and ramps they have con- structed. The equipment could be moved if the lot was needed or if there was vandalism "We should try -it for a couple of months and see if it works," said councillor Butch Hoffman. Councillor Dick Packham agreed that the teenagers should be given the responsibility of keeping the area clean and using it at their own discretion. Before council can nnake•a final decision, the proposed space has have to be measured and marked. Another stumbling block is liabili- • ty. "If liability is a problem," Reab- urn said, "we could probably lease the lot the the Optimists." "The kids are using public areas to skate now," Wood said. They would use the lot at there own risk and abide by whatever guidelines council put in place, she said. ABCA staff accept pay cut EXETER - Ausable Rayfidil Conservation Authority employees voted Friday to take a six percent cut in pay rather than see one or two fellow employees laid off. That decision was triggered by the latest round of provincial cut- backs in which the Ministry of Nat- ural Resources slashed yet another $10.6 million in funds to Ontario conservation authorities. Tan Prout, general manager of the ABCA, said the decision to make cuts in the budget had to be made, because there was no way lo- cal municipalities, the other part- ners in the authority's revenues, could afford any higher levies. "It's bad enough we get hit in the fifth month of the year. We can't download that onto the municipali- ties," said Prost. One main component of the cut- backs is the loss of the Conserva- tion Land Tax Rebate. While the ABCA pays taxes on the land it has purchased for environmental con- servation, those funds have been re- bated by the province to the tune of $52,000. Rather than lose those lands or fellow workers, ABCA staff agreed to a six percent pay cut across the board. "They've agreed to do that to help the cause," said Prout, noting the pay cut works out to about four per- cent when factored over the year - the equivalent of about one two- week paycheque. The alternative, said Prout, was to let go one or two staff members. What disturbs Prout, however, is that thej inistgcJmis ant antro Oata- ..wirsameeFiamisessuyipedgets deeper than its own. By slashing $10.6 million in grants to the au- thorities, from a total of $49 mil- lion, some 22 percent has been cut In contrast, notes Prow, the MNR's own budget is down only $70 mil- lion from $635 million, only 11 percent. The Association of Conservation Authorities of Ontario (ACAO) has since challenged the ministry to equalize the cutbacks. "We will accept our share...we have said we will take an equal cut," said Prout, but the challenge to the province is to reduce waste- ful duplication of services and rein- state the land tax rebate. Prout said he has seen estimates of up to $100 million in wasted du- plication of programs, such as wa- ter quality or soil conservation be- cause they are being delivered by several ministries and agencies, in- cluding conservation authorities. "We believe we can provide pro- grams more efficiently because were local, more accountable to the public," explained Prout. respite the wage cuts, Prost said he understands other authorities arc harder hit by the cuts. The Grey- Sauble Conservation Authority, for example, stands to lose a quarter million dollars in rebates on lands it bought on the Niagara Escarpment under provincial programs. Are there more cuts in store? Prout isn't sure. "We don't know if the S10.6 mil- lion includes our share of the Social Contract, or if it's on top of it and still to come]," said Prout, who added he is waiting for the May 19 provincial budget, It'll be an interesting year," he commented. Miry j.I._ b gown dif bens 1 MITER - The Ontario Civilian Commission on,Police Services re- caanvoned its hearing into Exeter's policing Monday morning and al- most immediately began hearing testimony on the first of an expected 10 days of inquiry. Mayor Bruce Shaw was the first wiutess put on the stand under with to testify about the actions of the police services hoard, town council, and the actions of the chief of police, Jack Harkness. Being called into question are the actions of the board that led up to the firing of the chief on September 7, 1992, and whether or riot ilkwe fictions were properly justified. The Gemmission, co-chaired by Douglas Drinkwalter and May l o- spnz Dietz from the Ministry of the Solicitor General, has the power oaladateartiai(ie board, or the chief, from service should that be cousid- , cry. Witnesses expected to lake the mad 'in the makeshift court at tiro Huron Recreation Centre include all three boats nuttabers, Slaw, n Wurm, and John Stephens, the-town,police offices,Aptness, ,yard at least three others, including Moe Hodgson from 4be, siea'y, .,.down Huuadey, and former police committee fat mber Dorothy Com. One of ,;lie on the agenda was a request from the town po- lice .. .' inquiry, atlowisg.a repre- tall Dr[nkwalter "that the town holm replied most of the time. Drinkwalter and Dietz d to gran Wil for assrtrance ' h Chis - ,inquiry As of pressShaw was returning to the stand to finish cross exam- ination by Har lawyer J.R. Caskey, and is expetaed to be ques- tioned last by the police board's lawyerJohn Judson. There are a tdtal of 10 volumes of documented ev.dence, most of it compiled from paperwork provided to the inquiry byHarkness' lawyer. One of the volumes consists of documents from the police services board's counsel. The inquiry runs each day this week, starting at 9:30 a.m. at the Recre- ation Centre, from Monday to Thursday. 11 will resume next Monday to Thursday, and at least an additional two days the following week arc ex- pected to conclude testimony. • t.t,:Nt! ..,v VI.� (th,, U ii.: bt,II.V'. S.' l�••i," •• 4,