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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1993-09-22, Page 1Sept. 24,25 & 26 Come Join the fun Serving South Huron. IMO 41111M U — — UBSCRIBE►, 1141 you aren't subscribing to TheI Times -Advocate, you're missing out. Use the coupon below and subscribe today! 1 Name: I Address City 1 Prov ' Postal Code SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada Within 40 miles - (65 km) addressed to non letter carrier addresses $30.00 plus $2.10 G.S.T. ' Outside 40 miles - (65 km) or any letter canter address $60.00 + $4.20 G.S.T. Outside Canada - $68.00 I USE YOUR CREDIT CARD 00000000 ❑000D IDD Card No. Expiry Date 0 Visa ❑ MasterCard ❑ Cheque enclosed Return toy TIMES ADVOCATE ` 424 Main St. Exeter, Ont. NOM 1S6, inn tater ow um — min 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Inside Crafty Loo61 classes still popular page 5 Terry Fox Local runs raise thousands page 8 Lambton strike continues GRAND BEND - TCthy•marks day seven of the strike by Lambton County public secondary school teachers and no end appears to be in sight. Last Thursday the Ontario Educa- tion Relations Commissiomtried to intervene and bring the two sides together. But after a six hour meet- ing the teachers and board still couldn't find a common ground to .begin negotiations. The main issue for the 500 teach- ers is staffing. Seven secondary schools includ- ing the Forest High School which many Grand Bend students attend, are affected by the strike. And more than 6,000 students are with- out teachers. The teachers have been without a contract since August 31. 1992. Deputy -clerk gets top qualifications EXETER - Deputy clerk - treasurer for the Town of Exeter, Laurie Dykstra, has passed the re- quirements for the deisignation of Certified Municipal Qfficer (CMO). Dykstra was congratulated on her achievement by town council earli- er this month. She joined the town staff in May 19776 and has been deputy clerk -treasurer since De- cember 1980 after she became an Accredited Municipal Clerk - Treasurer (AMCT) that fall. Thieves grab jewelery in robbery EXETER - A smash-and-grab style jewelry heist netted some thieves an as -yet undetermined amount of loot in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Police responded to a burglar alarm at•Bakelaar Jewellers at about 2:40 a.m. Tuesday, finding the front door smashed and a larg quantity of jewelry missing. Police estimated the entire robbery took the thieves less than a minute. Suspects and a car were seen leaving the scene by a witness. Anyone with information about the crime is asked to contact the po- lice Crime Stoppers at 1-80°- 265- 7. al‘ Geiser-Kneale Insurance Service . Experience Value 235-2420 North Middlesex & Larrthton Gag order on details of agreement Hospital strikes deal with doctors Agreement will keep doctors on job in emergency room EXETER - Doctors who provide emergency services at South Huron Hospital have reached a tentative agreement with the hospital board, and -do not expect to withdraw their services from the emergency room. Following a meeting between the doctors and the hospital board Monday afternoon, the board agreed to pay the doctors $60 an hour during the day to be on call and $70 per hour for night duty. This is in addition to OHIP fees paid for patients treated on those shifts. That is the deal as described, by hospital Chief of Medical Staff, Dr. Linda Steele. However, she said she could not provide any further details due to an agreement reached between the doctors and the board. "I'm supposed to discuss it with the hospital before I talk to the me- dia," said Steele. Part of the tentative agreement is that neither side talk to the press unless they both agree on what is to be said. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE The Board of Governors and the Medical Staff of South Huron Hospital have reached an Agreement in Principle regarding emergency room coverage. The final details will be worked out over the next 10 days. aoard of Governors South Huron Hospital ? Medical Staff South Huron Hospital Minister of External Affairs Perrin Beatty (centre) made a cameo appearance in Grand Bend Friday morning, stopping for breakfast with Conservative Party faithful at the Crescent Street Caf6. Here Beatty chats with Huron Country Playhouse foundation chairman Bob Tumbull (left) and Lambton-Middlesex PC candidate David Crone (rltht). Hoping to save 560.000 Town pool will need $10,000 plumbing for 1994 Neither Hospital Administrator Don Currell nor Larry Wein, chair- man of the board, would comment. Earlier Monday, Wein called the meeting to order and asked mem- bers of the board and the doctors if they had any objection to having Times -Advocate reporter Fred Groves at the meeting. Although none objected, and Steele said Groves could remain as far as she was concerned, Wein announced the meeting would be in camera Y and Groves was to leave. A brief four -line press release was issued to the Times -Advocate late Monday aftemoon simply say- ing an Agreement in Principle has been met and final details will' be worked out over the next 10 dafs. Steele said that if the agreement does not satisfy the doctors then the four Exeter doctors will "stop pro- viding emergency room service to the hospital. The -effects of the tentative agree- ment with the doctors on the hospi- tal's finances are still unclear. In a press release issued on September 17 by the hospital, it was stated that if the doctors were to get the aver- age $65 an hour for emergency ser- vices, it could cost the hospital as much as $200,000 per year. Although some expect the pro- vincial ministry to help pick up the tab for the additional fees, there has been no word on whether that will be the case. Other small hospitals in Ontario are facing similar battles with medical staff over the costs of keeping their emergency rooms ia'pen. EXETER - With cost estimates to renovate the town's pub- lic swimming pool running as high as 590,000, the recreation centre board has decided most of the work should be done by town staff. 'The first price was around 590,000 to upgrade the pool," cotmcillor Dave Urlin told council Monday evening when presenting his recreation board report, but he said the repairs were not unexpected. "The pool was built in 1964, it's life expectancy was 20-25 years, it's well past that now," said Urlin. When councillor Ben Hoogenboom asked exactly what problems thr�pool has Urlin said its underground pipes are "just disintegrating". Major leaks at the pool caused a delay in the spring open- ing this year. Urlin said major repairs are likely necessary before next season. When councillor Bob Spears asked if 590,000 was going to be budgeted for the repairs, Urlin said that figure was too high to manage. "No.,.we're looking at about $10,000 to do what we can next year," said Urlin, who suggested with some help and equipment from the town works department a lot of the work Zurich applying to new agency for sewer funds ZURICH - The village may get another chance at finding provincial grain money to help repair its ag- ing sewer system. - Clerk Maureen Simmons told council September 9 that the new Ontario Clean Water Agency has a different set of priorities than the Ministry of the Environment for sewer repairs. Simmons said municipalities with sewer systems that were failing and posing a threat to the environ- ment were fust in line for funding. Towns and vil- lages which had been properly maintaining theirs, found themselves without access to provincial aid. Because Zurich both maintains its system, and has a reserve fund, the village qualifies under the new program, Simmons told council. The Agency has funds to approve "loans", which are then repaid by the Ministry of Municipal Af- fairs. "It's a grant, but with more paperwork," said Sim- mons. Simmons was asking council for its approval to apply for the funding, since September 30 is the deadline. If the application is approved it would take until January to find out if funding was availa- ble. Simmons said the village should apply for the costs of camera work to detect more leaks in the system, and for repairs to those lines on public prop- erty. Council gave its approval to apply to the agency. Safety training a waste, predicts town council EXETER - The town's occupa- tional health and safety committee is doing a good job, concluded council Monday ovening, but they question whether it is necessary to have two people take certification training. Council accepted the committee's report that most of the town's build- ings passed safety inspections, with only a few minor problems to cor- rect. However, a government train- ing program that would require two people frau town staff, one man- agement and one worker, to take a three-week 5995 course did not please council. Administrator Rick Hundey told council he found out the training may not be mandatory. "Let's face it, if we don't need it, we shouldn't do it," said mayor Bruce Shaw, who called the train- ing requirements "nonsense". "You're talking about a lot of money...and I'm cynical enough to believe there's not a lot of new teaming taking place," said the mayor. "It's ridiculous," said councillor Ben Hoogenboom, who said he would like to see some notes on the training course before approving it for any town staff. "I agree with Ben, we should pick the brains of someone who has tak- en the course and see if it's worth- while." said Shaw. Drummond agreed that the train - log "may be superfluous", and said he would accept the committee's re- port with the amendment that no decision be made on the training course until a later date. "I think we can learn more [about workplace safety], but 1 don't know if this kind of training is needed to learn it," said Hundey. can be done by the town. "The actual pool itself is fine, there's no cracks...it's just all the lines are deteriorating," said Urlin. Works superintendent Glenn Kells agreed with Urlin's as- sessment, and pointed out noted that the pool's concrete deck will have to be removed to replace the lines. Replacing the deck will be the largest cost of the project, he said. "It's just a matter of replacing it all with plastic piping, which should last for years. Galvanized pipe just doesn't last with the chemicals. it's surprising it's lasted as long as it has." said Kells. Delayed again OPP won't replace town police by October EXETER - The disappointment was evident, but no one seemed surprised Monday evening to leam the October 1 date for an OPP take- over of the town police won't mate- rialize. Town council were advised by lawyers John Judson and Sandra Coleman that the October 1 date was a possibility right up until Fri- day when a Ministry of the Solici- tor General official saw some unre- solved financial problems. Consequently, the provincial Treasury Board and Cabinet have yet to see and approve the transfer to OPP Contract service. "Both of the lawyers, Sandra and John, felt they were making head- way in regards to disband- ment...and allocating money for the OPP takeover," town administrator told council Monday, but said any hope to get the issue on the Treasu- ry Board agenda may have to wait until October 19 at the earliest. Hundey said he has spoken with MPP Paul Klopp, but "Mr. Klopp feels he has done what he can", and declined to set a meeting with the minister for town council. "Didn't everyone in this room have the understanding last June or July that it would be a September 1 start up date?" complained council- lor Robert Drummond. Mayor Bruce Shaw agreed, and said everyone thought so, including Ontario Civilian Commission on Police Services (• a' ) chairman Douglas Drinkwalter, who also trusted in the later October 1 date and set the new hearing date for October 14. Councillor Ben Hoogenboom speculated "if this was happening in the private sector...this would have been dealt with two months ago, three months ago." "I think this council should ask for a meeting [with the ministry] immediately," demanded reeve Bill Mickle, to which council agreed. "Whatever you can do, Rick," of- fered Shaw, to which Hundey re- plied he would telephone the relat- ed ministries for some consideration of council's concerns. "For all that's required, it's a two - minute decision...all the home- work's been done. ' It should be just a matter of rubber stamping," said an annoyed Shaw. The delay in replacing the town police force with an OPP contract will cost the town in two main ways. Chief Jack Harkness, whose unresolved OCCPS hearing is in limbo until it can be rendered un- necessary with an OPP takeover, will remain on a leave of absence with full pay. The delay will also cat into the margin of savings made possible br eliminating police sala- ries from the town's Social Contract deal.