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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1999-03-03, Page 2• 2 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 • 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. 1 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. 1