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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1993-09-29, Page 1October is Seat Belt Month Gaiser-Kneale Insurance Service Experience Value 235-2420 Serving South Huron North Middlesex Si Lambton ri i ! lti -SUBSCRIBE! 1 ▪ 11 you aren't subscribing to The I Times -Advocate, you're missing out. Use the couponybelow and = su swibe Name: 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) a any letter ' carrier address $60.00 + $4.20 G.S.T. Outside Canada • $68.00 ' USE YOUR CREDIT CARD 0000000❑ 1 UZIODDC300 Card No. I Expiry Date 0 Visa 0 Master Card 0 Cheque enclosed Return to; TIMES ADVOCATE I= uMain .ExeterNOM 6 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 inside lireridervinfts Will COAT research go 'on? page 3 Place names Local author publishes book page 5 Fall fair Photos and 'results pages 1243,17,18 Overconfidence Hawks cleanup in 'pre -season Second 'front i1,MiwNii}Otr"'.,. -Museum to be added to old station page 26 Parents invited to meeting on education The- thrill of ' the Fair Getting Into .the apIIIt of:'things on .the ;motorcycle merry-go-round at the Exeter Fall Fair Midway on Saturday afternoon were Evebn Johns and Matthew Johns of Usborne Town- ship. More Fair ohotes<are on pages 12 and 13. EXETER - Another open forum meeting is scheduled for parents in- terested in how changes to the high school system will affect their chil- dren. The South Huron District High School Parents Association is host- ing the meeting on October 12 at 7:30 p.m. Panel members will include high school faculty, and three local board of education trustees, and board director Paul Carrol. Topics of discussion will include destream- ing, standardized testing, the role of parents in education, and how fiscal restraints are affecting local schools. Invited to the meeting are any and all interested parents, a few stu- dent representatives, and the princi- pals of the elementary feeder schools in the area. Candidates to speak at High School EXETER South Huron District High School students will be get- ting the first crack at the Huron - Bruce candidates next Monday morning, October 4. The candidates have all been in- vited to a forum at the school which is aimed primarily at the Grade 12 students who have just reached voting age. - "We're just interested in getting them interested in the public pro- cess," said teacher Joe Hogan, who is organizing the event. Although interested members of the public will not be turned away from the school gymnasium where the candidates will speak, the fact that the meeting starts at 9 a.m. and lasts only a link longer than an hour will probably limit its appeal to nihr•r vntrre Hospital and doctors clinch $200,000 deal - -EXETER - After srveai months of contact negotia- _ .ti0ps.and the threat of strike - that would have began last Wednesday - doctors and the hospital board at South Huron Hospital signed a settlement on Monday. This means it's business as usual, with24-hour phy- sician staffing, in the hospital's emergency depart- ment. The possi' ' tv of a strike came to light two weeks al when th spital and medical staff could not iron out details on now much the doctors should be paid for on call emergency room services. Although full details of the agreement were not available at press time it was reported at the board's Monday night meeting that there would now be seven doctors sharing emergency room duty rather than the previous four. The doctors would also do split shifts, rather than being on call for 24 -hours as was the case before. It was also noted during the meeting that doctors over the age of 60 would not have to provide on call emer- gency service. But the settlement is expected to cost the hospital approximately $200,000 a year. "This money will have to be budgeted," said Larry Wein, chairman off the board. He said the hospital would be applying to the minis- try of health to help defer the new costs, but he's not certain they will help although Linda Steele, chief of Medical 9ttt said dW..: •__ The extra 5200,,9D,..Steele said, Is incentive for more doctors to provide emergency service. Therefore, she said, the doctors would not be paid more, rather more doctors would be working. A press release issued Monday evening stated the hospital board believes this agreement will serve as the framework to build a partnership between Med-Emerg Inc., of Mississauga, the Medical staff, Administration and the Board to provide the highest quality of emer- gency services to meet the needs of South Huron. Med-Emerg is a company that supplies doctors to hospitals when they are short staffed, during vacation time for example. The company has been doing partial negotiations between the hospital and doctors during the dispute. This is the first contract the hospital has reached with Med-Emerg. "The contract will hopefully be for the betterment of the community," Wein said. Correction: Last week's article stated that the doc- tors would be receiving the hourly rate for being on call in addition to billing OHIP for patient services. It is now our understanding that while the doctors pres- ently bill OHIP for emergency services, that billing will be turned over to the hospital in exchange for the hourly on-call rate. The Times Advocate regrets the error. Wide variety of candidates on ballot in local ridings STRATHROY - In Lambton- Middlesex voters have eight candi- dates to choose from: David Crone, Progressive Conservative; Rose - Marie Ur, Liberal; Jamie Hamilton, NDP; Randy Dayman, Reform; Travis Callender, Natural Law (Par- ty; Larry Farquharson, National; Alex E. Gubbels, Independent; and Ken Willis, Christian Heritage Par- ty of Canada. Next week the Times Advocate will present a broader profile of these candidates. This week the 11 federal candi- dates running in London -Middlesex are the focus: CONSERVATIVE - Ed Hold- er: The London resident is taking up the PC banner from Terry Clif- ford who decided last month not to seek re-election. Clifford won the seat in 1988. Holder is a consultant for insu- rance brokers and has been in- volved with the PC's for the past 10 ' years. He secs his strong sense of com- mitment as an asset to a party fo- cused on the economy and national debt. LIBERAL - Pat O'Brien: He's no stranger to politics having been on London city council since 1982. He recently steoned down to run in this election. He speaks of responsi- bility and accountability in govern- ment. O'Brien sees job creation, eco- nomic renewal and skills develop- ment as well as agriculture and eco- nomic growth and competitiveness as important'issues. NDP - Carolyn Davies: Having worked as a constituency assistant to Marion Boyd since the last pro- vincial election, Davies has com- bined political knowledge with her 20 years experience as a nurse. She sees health care as a major is- sue that connects with other issues. "A lot of illness in society is in- duced by bad housing and a poor environment." Davies said her party is also con- cerned with day care and want to double the amount of child care spaces. "That equals jobs for the unemployed and allows mothers who want to or need to work get back to work." She said her party has set up a jobs plan and details of it were re- leased eight months ago. REFORM Party - Mark Simp- son: This is the first election for Simpson and the Reform Party. The London man runs a horticultural business and has been with the par- ty for the oast four years Wednesday. September 29. 1993 75 cents No news. on OPP takeover Simpson served as president of the London -Middlesex constituen- cy before taking on the role as can- didate. The party advocates an eco- nomically stable country and Simpson sees tax and spending of government as targets for change. This, he said, can been done through fiscal reform. That means deficit reduction. At press time it could only be confirmed that the following were officially running as candidates in London -Middlesex: NATIONAL PARTY - David Howell: A sales representative liv- ing in Arva. CHRISTIAN HERITAGE PARTY - Stan Winters: A pro- duction supervisor in Strathroy. GREEN PARTY - Sven Biggs: A student in London. CANADA PARTY - Arun Sch- aal: A student in London. NATURAL LAW PARTY OF CANADA • David Goodman: A teacher in London. ABOLITIONIST PARTY OF CANADA - Marva Foster: A lab technician in Mississauga. MARXIST- LENINIST PAR- TY - Peter Ewart: A student in London. EXETER - Why doesn't Exeter have a solid answer on when OPP cruis- ers will be patrolling the town under contract? Town council would dear- ly like to know the answer to that question, but it would almost appear their every effort to find out is being snubbed. When original hopes to transfer the town's police duties to the OPP by September 1 were dashed, October 1 was held up as a definite possibility. Again, the Ministry of the Solicitor General stalled the final decisions on the agreement, citing "questions concerning cost figures and calcula- tions". Town council, already having signed the contract agreement, was deter- mined to get to the bottom of the delays and asked town administrator Rick Hundey to petition the ministry for answers. Hundey reports he has faxed, telephoned, and written the ministry, to no avail. "Rumours are all over the case," confirmed mayor Bruce Shaw. "We've not heard anything." "The minister won't even meet with us; [Huron MPP] Paul Klopp has said he won't do anything for us," said Shaw. The lack of communication is so frustrating, said the mayor, that is might tempt the town to contemplate something drastic, like calling the ministry's bluff by closing the police station on October 1 and seeing if the OPP would take over as per the contract. Such a move would be irresponsible, but he said it appears only some kind of ultimatum will get the ministry's attention. Is there some other hidden reason why the government isn't ready to ap- prove Exeter's police force disbandment? Can the unresolved Ontario Ci- vilian Commission on Police Services hearing over the dispute between the police board and the chief be getting in the way? "I don't think that's what it is," commented Shaw. "But you've got to wonder what it is." The mayor said that as far as he knows, it is only up to the province's Treasury Board and Cabinet to "rubber stamp" Exeter's OPP deal. "That's an afternoon, not a month or two," he said. Whatever is causing the delay and the ministry's silence is certain to cost the town. Shaw said them are three issues that are reaching a critical stage with every day the OPP takeover is delayed. First is police chief Jack Harkness, who remains on a paid leave of ab- sence while the OCCPS hearing is adjourned. Both Harkness and the po- lice services board are eager to see the issue resolved by his being hired by the OPP - making the hearing unnecessary. _Second, the town's Social Contract deal with the province is in jeopar- dy. The 527,000 -plus required to come out of town salaries this year was budgeted to come from the police officers, who will no longer be town employees once the force disbands. if the force does not disband this year, the town will not have met its Social Contract agreement. "It's hanging on that," said Shaw, who said if the OPP do not take over, then that money will have to come from other town employees, quickly. Thirdly, the town's overall budget is at risk. Anticipated savings by go- ing to an OPP contract may not be realized. Those savings were needed to offset the cost of the new garbage collection program. By giving out 26 free "bag tags" to each household, the town is losing revenue, and house- holders are doing,so well with the program, few are buying extra tags. "It was a really tight budget to begin with," acknowledged Shaw. Although most Septembers are a strain on the municipal budget, and the town's revenues might recover by year's end, Shaw said an OPP takeover would help the situation. "Right now it looks bad," he said. Lucan council declares waste reduction week LUCAN - Village council along with many municipalities through- out Ontario has declared the week of October 4 to 10 as Waste Reduc- tion Week. Deputy reeve Harry Wraith has long been a proponent of reduction of garbage saying each resident shoaild participate in the use Of blue boxes, composting and other meth- ods of reducing waste. Councillor Bryan Smith, a mem- ber of the village's waste manage- ment committee with Wraith said details on waste reduction week will be provided to local residents through notices on community cable television. Smith said composters previously on sale at the village office have been sold out, but a new supply will be ordered. A release from the Recycling Council of Ontario congratulates those who have done their bit to re- duce waste. It continues, " Have your actions made a difference. You bet they have." The slogan for Zero garbage Day is , "Reduce, reuse, jecycle and re- ward yourself." Using blue boxes, three million Ontairo households help divert 400,000 tonnes of valuable resourc- es every year from landfill sites. Nearly one million Ontario homes with backyard composters are di- verting up to one-third of their waste from disposal and using the compost as a natural fertilizer for their gardens. Many people also separate leaf and yard materials for special pick- up, And they shopping for prod - 1001 with !**in. Used paper, plastics, newsprint, glass, steel, aluminum, and rubber materials are being re -processed into hundreds of new products. Single Copy price increase EXETER - The single - copy price of the Times - Advocate will increase to 900 (including G.S.T.) effec- tive next week. During the past several months the Times -Advocate has managed to maintain a fairly constant amount of news content despitea de- cline in the amount of adver- tising placed by some na- tional advertising agencies. The additional revenue will enable the T -A to main- tain the quality that has placed it in the top third of all newspapers in its class in Canada. No increase is planned for subscribers who enjoy the convenience of mail deliv- ery. Local subscribers will save $ 14.70 per year com- pared to newsstand prices. If you wish to subscribe please complete the handy subscrip- tion form onAhe front page.