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Regional wrap up
Wescast donation brings
hospital closer to goal
CLINTON — A $10,000 donation from Wescast In-
dustries puts the Clinton Public Hospital only
$4,500 short of its $101,000 goal for a new anes-
thetic unit, reports The Clinton News -Record.
Although Wescast is based in Wingham, they de-
cided to support Clinton Hospital.
The previous anesthetic machine was over 20
years old and the anesthetist had to manully control
the levels delivered to the patient, said Bonnie Roy-
al, coordinator of ambulatory services at CPH.
The new machine controls anesthetic in a safe
and efficient manner and monitors other patient vi-
atis including blood pressure, pulse and carbon di-
oxide levels. The fund-raising drive began last
spring.
exoor Titnets–Advoatto
Wednesday. March 3, 1999
In the News
Lucan Biddulph councillor
concerned about vicious dogs
Friends help Jerry Smith
celebrate 101st birthday
GODERICH — Jerry Smith was quick to llbint out
at her 101st birthday last week that when we enter
the new millennium at the end of the year, she will
have lived in three centuries, reports The Goderich
Signal -Star.
Born in Windsor on Feb. 22, 1898, Smith gath-
ered with a small group of friends at her home in
Goderich Place to celebrate her 101st birthday.
Smith first came to Goderich in 1917 to visit her
sister. She 'spent many summers in Goderich.
Following her husband's death 15 years ago,
Smith moved to Goderich permanently to live in the
cottage she and her husband had built..
Smith now lives at Goderich Place and is visited
by many friends and family. She has two children,
five grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.
Leading the way
By Scott Nixon
TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF
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LUCAN BIDDULPH — Council
is still looking into trying to pre-
vent vicious dog attacks within
the township.
Coun. Paul Wallis brought the
issue up at the Jan. 26 meeting,
requesting council look into what
other municipalities are doing
about vicious dogs.
Wallis explained at last week's
meeting that while the township
cannot prohibit dogs, it can regu-
late and licence them. Wallis
said he was concerned about
certain dog breeds such as rott-
weilers and pit bulls and said
council should do something.
Deputy -Reeve Bob Benner,
though, said it is difficult to de-
termine which breeds to ban, be-
cause public perception of which
dogs are dangerous changes.
Coun. Doug Anderson added
that since most dog attacks hap-
pen on private property, many
controls . can't prevent dog at-
tacks.
Coun. Leroy Maguire took a
tougher stance on the vicious
dog issue.
"It should be he bites, he
dies," Maguire said of vicious
dogs.
Council will continue to seek
the advice of other municipalities
before deciding on a dog policy.
Parking complaint
Administrator Ron Reymer
told council of a complaint from
Tony Demas, owner of Stephie''s
Restaurant, about people park-
ing for too long on Main Street.
According to Reymer, Demas
said the people parking in fron'
of his business are hurting his
business and suggested a two-
hour parking limit.
Benner, though, said there
simply isn't enough parking for
people and said Main Street is a
public road.
While Wallis said a two-hour
limit isn't unreasonable, Coun,
(-;eorge Marr said much of the
Main Street parking may be com-
ing from students at the Ausable
Centre. Council decided to have
Marr speak to the centre to see if
that's where the problem lies.
After that, Marr will refer the is-
sue to the planning committee.
Back to two meetings a
month?
After last week's meeting
went until 11:30 p.m. with sever-
al matters on the agenda un-
attended to, Wallis suggested
council hold two meetings a
month, explaining that there's
simply too much to deal with
during one monthly meeting.
Anderson said council should
try the monthly meetings for six
months and then make a de-
cision on whether or not to have
two meetings a month.
Last week's meeting was only
the second of the new Lucan Bid-
dulph council. They finished the
agenda of the meeting at a spe-
cial meeting last night.
Original Six stays together
Seaforth and McKillop's request to join the group was denied
By Kate Monk
TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF
join would change the in-
tent of the committee
and set back the process.
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Ben Mahar, 11, of Lucan leads the pony Smoky and
his rider, First Huron Park Brownie Katelynn Mac-
Donald; 8, of Crediton at Hearthstone Farm's
Pony World recently. The Brownie troop played
Prince Philip games while riding the ponies and
worked on crafts. Hearthstone Farm will be host-
ing a clinic for top riders featuring Ralf Isselhorst
on March 7 from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. The registration
slate of riders was filled without advertising but
spectators are welcome. Admission is $5 and fans
need to pre -register by phoning 227-0735. Fans
are asked to bring their own chair. Isselhorst
trained the Korean team at the Seoul Olympics,
was the sole professional trainer for Klimke Stable
from '85-88; has been the German Young Riders
trainer for the past 10 years and last year es-
tablished his own stable at Greven, Germany. Is-
selhorst has trained over 20 Prix St. Georges and
Grand Prix horses for clients world-wide including
in Canada, the U.S., Japan and Sweden.
VARNA — The family
of Bayfield, Hay, Hensall,
Zurich, Tuckersmith and
Stanley won't be adopt-
ing any new siblings.
At a restructuring
meeting on Feb. 24, the
municipalities voted 5-1
against allowing Sea -
forth and McKillop Twp.
to join the group. Tuck-
ersmith Twp. was the
only municipality in fa-
vour of allowing Seaforth
and McKillop to join.
Tuckersmith Twp.
wanted the two mu-
nicipalities to become
part of the group be-
cause its clerk, Jack
McLachlan, is currently
shared with Seaforth and
will soon . take on duties
in McKillop Twp.
Tuckersmith Deputy -
Reeve Bob Broadfoot
said expanding the
group to eight municipal-
ities. would "make it a
large, solid area- to 'go to
the county with one
voice."
In December, Seaforth
and McKillop sent cor-
respondence to the six
municipalities stating
their desire -to join but
did not specify reasons
for their request.
Chairman ,Jack. Cole-.
nun . said the - re-
structuring. group want-
ed to have six
municipalities but at the
start of the talks, they
weren't ure they'd have
six. If any municipalities
dropped out, they would
need to add some new
municipalities.
Other councillors
were concerned allowing
Seaforth and McKillop to
Services area rated
The committee re-
viewed a survey of its
councils of how urban
services should be paid
for. Special area rates
and user pay services
will not be charged to all
ratepayers in the new
municipality — only the
areas and/or residents
who benefit. '
The following urban
services will be area rat-
ed or user pay: street
lights, water, sewers, hy-
dro, marina, garbage
collection, landfill, side-
walks and storm drains.
The location of the
new municipality's office
was also discussed.
Hay Coun. Fred Camp-
bell said he wanted the
costs to be examined fur-
ther.
"I'm not afraid of one
office. I just don't want
to make the wrong de-
cision," Campbell
stressed.
Hay Twp. Reeve Jim
Love agreed and said the
only fair way to de-
termine the office loca-
tion was to use an out-
side consultant. He made:
the., pitch for using Hay's
office in Zurich stating it
only costs $2,800 a year
to operate the building.
"You have •to think
about the people you're
servicing. If you forget\
that, you've lost - the
meaning of amalgama-
tion," Love said.
Zurich cokncil wanted
the administration office
to be located in an urban
area where people could
do shopping and banking
when they visit the mu-
nicipal office. It proposed
the Stanley Twp. Com-
plex be used as a sub -
office for roads, rec-
reation and.a building of-
ficial.
"Most people don't
even come to the office,"
Stanley clerk Ansberth
Willert countered, add-
ing there are many op-
tions _ for people to pay
taxes.
The other four mu-
nicipalities (B ayfield,
Hensall, Stanley and
Tuckersmith) opted for
one office at the Stanley
Twp. Complex.
Stanley Coun. Bill
Dowson said if the com-
mittee voted to have two
offices, it would have to
look further into the lo-
cation.
"I'd have a hard time
supporting two (offices)
side-by-side," he said.
Hensall • Reeve Cecil
Pepper said the new
council should make the
decision and Coleman
admitted it would be dif-
ficult to decide on office
space before knowing
the municipality's staff
structure.
The motion to have
one municipal office at
the. Stanley Twp. Com-
- plex passed by a vote of
4-2 with Zurich and flay
opposed. The office loca-
tion will' be part of the
proposal the transition
board will decide upon.
Who pays transition
costs?
While the new mu-
nicipality will pick up the
tab for transition costs,
staff were directed to
bring figures to compare
how the bill would be di-
vided if based on assess-
ment or population to
the next meeting.
Transition costs could
include severance pack-
ages, office renovations
and anything required to
get the new municipality
up and running. A con-
sultant's report estimat-
ed transition costs could
be $150,000, according
to Hay clerk Janisse Zim-
merman.
Committee members
had different opinions on
how the costs should be
assessed.
The villages didn't
want the bill split evenly
because they would be
paying much more than
if the bill was based on
assessment.
Love said it wasn't
fair to base costs on as-
sessment because it
would see a 300 acre
farm with no buildings
or services sharing the
cost of restructuring.
Dowson , and Bayfield
Reeve Doug Grant
agreed using households
as a basis would be
"most reasonable."
Future meetings
The restructuring pro-
posal with amendments
will be 'presented to - the
full councils meeting on
March 10 at the Bruce-
field United Church at 7
p.m. After the meeting,
individual councils will
vote on the proposal and
bring their ;decisions to
the March ' 30 meeting of
the restructuring com-
mittee in Zurich at 7
p.m.
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