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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.
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