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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1993-11-17, Page 2Page 2 S IB; Vievoiser47;1893 Re.giori wrap .7tip Y 4'C�• Doctor workload .a corium GODERICH - Being on-call for emergency services, particu- larly among rural doctors, takes too much out of physicians' per- sonal lives in return for too little. "A rural physician is a jack-of- all-trades," said Dr. Kim Tilbc, orchief of staff at Alexandra Ma - Tine and General Hospital. The AMGH medical staff have told the hospital they will withdraw their services from the emergency department by Jan. 31, 1994, it was reported in the Goderich Signal -Star. "It's -been ,boiled down to a monetary issue, but it's more complicated than. that," said Tilbe, who does not work in the emergency ward. Overall dispar- ity between rural and urban phy- sicians is the real issue, he said. Klompen Feest ends after 12 years CLINTON - While it -has-been on its last legs for - some itime, the Klompen Feest finallyasame to an official end earlier this month during a town hall meet- ing. The annual Dutch -Canadian festival, which celebrated its 12th anniversary in May 1992, was cancelled this year due to lack of interest on behalf of vol- unteers, it was reported in the Clinton News -Record. .Don't disband town police, urges woman SEAFORTH - A MonntForest women urges Seaforth not to switch to policing by the Ontario Provincial Police. "Don't give up your own own policing," said June Thompson, a resident who opposed the OPP's takeover in her town. She said it is ironic that small towns are moving lir the oppo- site direction of the big cities, it was reported in the Huron Ex- positor. "Don't buy the story it will cost too much to equip, don't buy the line that if you don't like OPP you can go back," she said. St. Marys approves groujDhome t. MAR 3 - council gave its stamp of approval last week for a goup home to be located on George Street, despite a number of objections by neighbours. The unanimous approval came after a two-hour public meeting which saw concerned citizens on both sides of the issue voice their opinion, some with tears of emotion halting their, speech, it was reported in the Journal Ar- . gus. Approval on health centre possible FOREST - Both Forest and Kettle Point could be -awarded a regittl Community Health Ceohse.as soon as December said Forest mayor Chord Munielly. Meetings over the past two weeks have resulted in a work- ing agreement on the new ug ue between the groups involved he said. an.ot that .leas been forwarded ,,W the Ministry of Health. The centre is expected to play a role in proactive health care, encouraging people to live healthier lifestyles, it was repott- ed_ianshisrexest Standard. Section .campaign signs are supposed to be retrieved by par- ty workers within 48 hours of the election. However, this pile of 18 signs was dumped between the Exeter Co -Op and Nabis- co where the campaign workers couldn't find them. When contacted,- Bob Swartman at Paul Steckle's , office said he would have the pile picked up. If the Liberal signs could be re -used, they will be kept for the next election. The other signs, said Swartman, will be retumed to the other candi- dates. BIue box costs to increase in 1994 Continued from front page -no longer a liability and.:its price continues to rise. The only difficulty:it-Fending a market for soft plastics such as the margarine tubs and lids that Blue - water collects. Veilleux expects to see increased revenuesnext spring when boxboard, cardboard and kraft .paper can be stoped and sbij d it ividtiall , _ e entry of • She _t.+facility fitly have to :be stored mixed together, reducing their value. A plan -to collect textiles is in -the works, as well as the possibility of bringing recycling to all Huron Park industries that will become Bluewater's neighbours. If the eight percent increase trou- bles municipalities, Veilleux said he would like to point out many new programs, such as paint collec- tions, tree chipping, and the extra items allowed in the blue box this year all came at .no extra cost. The move.soihe new building is a nee- SesserY beet sif.m»aking the munici- pally -owned system better. , a "It's the one that will put the asso- ciation in the best position to han- dle the future," he claimed. To get studerts off sidewalk Smoking area hoped to cut down high school violence EXETER - In an attempt to curb the incidence of violence at South Huron District High School, offi- cials have decided to designate a smoking area on school grounds. Principal Joe Wooden said on Monday that parents, the police and board officials agree that establish- ing a smoking arca is .the lesser .of two evils. "I'm only in favor of having a smoking area ife a means to counter the problems we have had with confrontations from non -students coming to the school," he said. Wooden said former students hanging around the school and causing conflicts has been a gr+)w- ing problem in recent months. These people congregate in the front of the school on the sidewalk where SHDHS students go to smoke. The police, -111n ,„said, live suggeatcd to him in the pest that es - e ping a smoking area would sisseast.the number of conflicts. "'lie .board and police are .unable . do legally keep people from being von public property near the school *such as the sidewalk. But with a 'Smoking area on school property, .sanyone not authorized to be in the Asta can be charged with trespass - ring. Wooden said SHDHS was the • only high school in the County that .didn't permit smoking omits proper- ty. TI smoking area shouts , so by the end of the month. Wooden said he didn't know the exact cost of construc- tion, except that it would be "mini- mal" considering that the wood- working class will be helping with fence construction. • Problern wit thinking "We need to spend the money by educating our children within the grades • where they can grasp what they are learning. With the controversy over junior kindergarten, I just wanted to share my letter that was sent to Mr. Paul Klopp MPP recently. Dear Paul Kropp: I would appreciate some information from you that will help explain -your parry's reasoning for Jun- ior Kindergarten.What I don't understand is 1) why we even need to have junior kindergarten . and 2) with cutbacks in education, why would we spend money on infiltrating three and four year olds into the education system. We need to spend the money by educating our children within the grades where they can grasp what they are learning . We have qualified ECE diploma day care and nur- sery school workers who know exactly how to deal with preschool age children. Does a teacher who could possibly be teaching senior elementary school have the correct requirements for a pre-school age child'? Do these teachers who have spent years in the education system really want to took after 3 to 4 year olds as it seems sometimes that at that age it is only babysitting in some cases? Should a teacher with the ability to teach addition, subtraction, languages, history, geography, science and all .the curriculum basics be asked to look after such a young age of children'? These young children need to -learn the basics of sharing, coping with sep- aration from their parents, sanitary requirements and manners. These basics are taught in - nursery schools or at home with their parents. I think as a taxpayer and mother of school -aged children_ that you am putting money in the wrong ar- eas of education. There are cutbacks of very impor- tant programs and ,cutbacks of extra -curriculum events. Teachers' hours have been cut which in tum has meant we have had to deal with larger class- rooms of children and the lack of -that special atten- tion because a lone teacher can only do so much: These cutbacks -have allowed children to fall through the cracks of the education system but yet here you are spending money on bringing 3 and 4 year old children into the system. It does not make any sense to me at alt. Big city problems like Toronto's day care problem should not be forced upon our smaller centres. Just because they need to send their children to school for this reason does not mean that we should have to spend our education dollars on the same program. We are very different from the the larger centres but yet we do not have a say at all in what is chosen for them which in ton is forced upon us. Please reply with a response and shed some light on this -topic. There is a large number of concerned parents waiting for your reply. Thank you for your.time. Debbie Lord Crediton, Ontario koss Economic timing is wrong "We soon reminded her that the Liberals thought they had the money, the NDP know they do not have it." Dear Editor: Upon being elected as trustee in 1991, I soon came to realize that we as a board would be facing tremendous fiscal challenges, unprecedented since the formation of the.Huron Caunty7.3oard of Educa- tion in the late 60's. Forapprotimately twenty years it seems there had always been a bottomless well of money and funding available for education. Busi- ness and agriculture were enjoying good years as we all watched our property values double, triple and quadruple. It was easy toallow the education portion of our property taxes to continue to rise and go unchecked until today the tax notice I have be- fore me suggests that sixty percent of the total will be directed to the HCBE. During this time, countless changes in the educa- tional process, and countless programs and initia- tives were being introduced and legislated from the hallowed halls of Queens Park. Some of these were the result of the shims of politicians, bureaucrats, small interest groups, and labour federations. Some as a result of those infamous and very expensive gov't commissions and studies. Many new pro- grams, I am sure, bettered education -in Ontario, and I'm equally as certain that some did not. However during this process. administrative numbers both pmvincially and municipally grew in staggering leaps and bounds, justified by. provincially mandat- ed programs and the paperwork that goes with them. At the same time this numerical growth was tak- ing place in other gov't and municipal offices as well as the private and public sector. The strength of the federations and unions also grew significantly in this time period. This meant of course the boards across Ontario had to to deal with increasing demands, for higher wages, better work- ing Conditions, smaller class sizes and more suitable workloads. Some of these demands once again were justified and some were not. This is not November 1991, We in Huron county, like the rest of Canada and much of the world find ourselves in the throes of economic chaos and reces- sion. We found out about one and a half years ego that the provincial money well was drying up. News from Queens Park that our transition payments to the Board would be significantly cut, left us some- what reeling in =belief, but should we really have been imprint Quid our shortfall be addressed by our tasatioipal taxpayers? Could the money we needed to fund the sins of past growth (not only in the educational realm) be pulled from the pockets of total Ontario. P-ersoually,along with thousands of other overtaxed Canadians, the answer was no! And so our illustrious Pi vinciaJ Government has derived a Social Contract to help us cope with our fiscal nightmare. Unfortunately it has at times seemed to add to our dilemma instead of alleviating it, and we are yet to fired out whether or not it will work. Once again, personally I cannot nee our prob- lems being solved simply through attrition and a few unpaid -leave days. This onoithvgialle under construction et outh Huron District HOh School is hopgd to cure some of the school's problems. My heart goes out somewhat'to Bob Rae and his government who are having to deal with the provin- cial fiscal tribulation, butzny.question to Ontario government inevitably is whyare you adding Junior Kindergarten, an unneeded program, when if the present economic trend continues, other programs are certain to yield to the chopping axe of the Pro- vincial treasurer. Just last year when we as a board were taking a long hard look at the elementary fami- ly studies program, and whether or not we could af- ford to tarry it on; the patents rallied int aStpar- does show of support to save it. Something, somewhere is soon going to have to go. I realize this, and I'm sure most responsible people do too. Over the past two years numerous letters of disap- proval for the program have been sent by our board to the Minister, the MPP and others. Whether you are philosophically for or against J.K. is not really important at this time. The impor- tant issue is the economic timing! So when I attend - :.ed a meeting in Toronto last June with the Deputy .Minister of Ed and Training, Carolle Lane, and -°there along with representatives of 20 other boards, . las well as our lobby group the OPSBA, we unani- mously pleaded our case to defer the mandatory im- plementation of JK to another more promising time, we thought for certain our.message had got through •,to the minister. We assured the Deputy Minister that Ave at the county level were more than willing to kill with any flack from local taxpayers who would be disgruntled at dropping JK from the immediate plan. Carrolle Lane replied that we should not blame the present government for the impending legisla- tion, as it was initially introduced by the Liberal Pe- terson government. We soon reminded her that the Liberals Lim& they had the money, the NDP j pow they do not have it. Approximately one month later it received Royal Assent in parliament and this became LAW. Unfortunately I came face to face with the realization that what we as school boards of Rural Ontario WNW did not matter in this instance. We have a goverment who would not listen to an- other elected level of grassroots Ontario which seri- ously places into question the mandate of school boards altogether. Now we as a County Board of Education are en- trusted with the job of placing into action the Law of the province. We have chosen to do this as expe- ditiously and frugally as possible for the local tax- payer by the phasing in process beginning in five or six schools in January 1994. Once again in reply to dozens of letters and en- quiries, I sun pessonally against J.K. both philosoph- ically and economically. J.K. like S.K. is completely optional to the parents of eligible children. Perhaps the best way of showing your opposition W the pro- gram would be not to allow your children to be part of it. We as taxpayers may not have much to say today but we will have an opportunity to direct our frustra bons agai st the present government at the provin- cial polls in two years tim !come quicker �.�r• :ice. --- - Bob Heywood Stephen Twp. School Board Trustee alumni dojos to atWetics EXETER - A group of former South Huron District Fin School students have made a dgpwipesso the school's athletic; de The graduates held s � pi in August at the Grand ilend Dian for alt those who started grade nine in 1968 - 25 years ago. Lye F r, tope of the grad" uates, that any proceeds from odes at the dinner be donated to$kWHS'salbletics. Ail the fonner44114te ;greed. With 90 peopleat the reunion, the profits smut hied to $230.85, whiCb igaer FALwc lid will go into•tbe school's account for paying for &ern catty foes and ref- eree. costs. As an exampie,.Rowe said that the cost of twinging ing two referoes fo an afternoon of botue basketball 1•19sis.,tt $ 150. it scJ :01