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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1999-06-23, Page 44 beNsâ–ş TirserAdnosate Wednesday,. June 23, 1999 route sus Exeter area youth assaulted CUNTON -- A 15 -year- old Exeter area male was assaulted in Clinton on June 18. The youth who attends St. Anne's High. School told police that around 2:30 p.m. he and two friends were near the Clinton Swimming Pool whey they were approached by six other youths. They started to push him around and was finally thrown to the ground where he was kicked several times in the upper body area. One of the boys then punched him in the head causing him to bleed from the nose. After his parents and the police were con- tactedhe was taken to South Huron Hospital for medical treatment. Clinton OPP are asking anyone with information regard- ing this crime to call the Huron OPP or Crimestoppers. OPP issue NORTH LATON -- Police would like to advise the motoring public about pulling over for emer- gency vehicles after sev- eral near collisions over the weekend. OPP officers were almost involved in the accidents as a result of inattentive drivers on the highways. Draft proposal ready for ministry Hay Twp. to pay highest rate of transition costs in amalgamation of five By Scott Nixon TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF ZURICH` -- Their work nearly complete, the amalgamating group of five is ready to send their draft amalgamation pro- posal to the Mini try of Municipal Affairs for review. The group of He Ball, Zurich, Hay, Stan- ley and Bayfield met last Wednesday at the Hay Township municipal office to wrap up some final points. First was how the five municipalities would split transition costs. The group looked at five different ways of dividing up the costs --- by population, by house- holds, by electors, by assessment or by owner entries. It was eventually decided to average out the five methods and pay that way. As a result, Hay Township, which leads in all categories, will pay 35.89 per cent of the transition costs. The rest will pay as follows: Stanley Township, 28.64 per cent; Bayfield, 15.55 per cent; Hensall, 11.38 per cent; and Zurich, 8.53 per cent. "From Hay's standpoint, we don't like the looks of anything," Reeve Jim Love said because no matter which method of splitting the costs the group looked at, Hay would pay the most. - Love did suggest the possibility of sim- ply dividing the costs equally, but Bayfield Reeve Doug Grant, said that would be "ex- tremely unfair." Zurich Coun. Marg ` Holmes said` the townships have more people than the vil- lages, so they should pay more money for transition costs. According to a study done by the mu- nicipalities' staff, Hay residents could also be hit hardest in terms of taxes. A study using 1998 figures shows if the five municipalities amalgamated, the tax- es on a property in Hay worth $100,000 would rise $31.03. Bayfield residents would see an increase of $19.32 and Stanley taxes would go up $14.03. On the other hand, taxes on a $100,000 property in Hensall would drop $119.68 and Zu- rich's would drop $70.14. Hay clerk -treasurer Janisse Zimmer- man cautioned the group that the tax study doesn't take into account the sav- ings that will eventually be seen after amalgamation. Hay Coun. Fred Campbell said if Hen- sall does in fact come out as "the big win- ner" because its taxes will drop the most, perhaps it should have to put more mon- ey into the new municipality's reserves. Water and sewage discussion The group agreed, on Holmes' sugges- tion, that any profits from water and sew- age collection stay within the ward they were collected from. In other words, prof- its from Zurich water and sewage will stay in the Zurich ward. Holmes said she didn't want to see that money taken and spent somewhere else in the new mu- nicipality. How aabout a name? Bayfield Reeve' Doug Grant reminded the group it needs to come up with a name for the proposed new municipality. He said Bayfield council has agreed it should be called the Municipality of Blue- water. luewater. Hay. Coun. Fred Campbell said he also likes that name, although Hensall Reeve Cecil Pepper said using the Bluewater name may be a problem' because it is used for many other things such as the Bluewater Bridge. The group agreed to have their in- clividual councils discuss the name issue, v Abell saying he wants the Pic to get involved and offer their ideas for a new name. Grant joked that if the group doesn't like the Municipality of Bluewater name, it could use the Municipality of Greater Bay- field. Public meetings' While each of the three municipalities in the South Huron amalgamation group held public meetings to hear opinions from their residents, the group of five hasn't determined if it will hold similar meetings. Love said if Hay holds a meeting he knows he will hear many complaints about where the municipal office of the new municipality will be. While the loca- tion has been slated to be at the Stanley Township Complex, Hay has argued all along it should be in a more central loca- tion. Love also raised the prospect of bringing in an independent facilitator to guide the last few meetings of the amalgamating group, a suggestion which seemed to catch some members by surprise. "Aren't we over the hump?" Stanley Reeve Jack Coleman asked Love, who re- sponded that location_ of the municipal of- fice and taxes are stilhaa issue with Hay. "I don't see any point. We have es- sentially been through this," Grant said of calling in a facilitator. Coleman suggested Hay Township have a public meeting if Love has any doubts about how Hay residents feel about amal- gamating. ' OThe group then agreed tip send their draft proposal to the ministey and ; then have each council look at it. The amalgamation group's next meeting will be in. Bayfield, although no date has been set. By Katherine Harding TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF ELIMVILLE --- While most people go ,to Cuba for the sun, Andy Swanz went to make a differ- ence. Last month, the 21 - year -old Elimville native, travelled to the small is- land country off the coast of Florida to participate in a community develop- ment pilot project. Swanz, a third year nursing student at Ryer- son Polytechnical Uni- versity in Toronto, was accompanied by 15 fel- low Ryerson students, in- cluding social work, nu- trition, urban planning and architect students. Ry -son's Faculty of Community Service teamed up with CUJAE, a Cuban university in Ha- vana to make the trip a reality. "This is a first in Can- ada with so many differ- ent interdisciplines par- ticipating on the same project," said Swanz. Because there was no government assistance from either Canada or ;aba, Swanz and her fel- low students had to pay their own way down. She estimates the trip cost $1,600 but said -..fund- raising efforts helped to off -set the expense. She will also receive academic credit from the trip toward completion of her nursing degree. While. there, Swanz worked in Cerro, a sub- urfi of Havana. "Officially we worked in a humble community because the Cubans -don't like to say they are poor," said Swanz. The 16 -member team was split up into crews of four and were as- signed different . projects working with seniors and children. Swanz's group worked on designing a park for a group of seniors in Cer- ro. "The seniors we talked to met every morning at 8 a.m. in the middle of the street to do exercises because they didn't have anywhere to go so when a car or truck came along they had to move," said Swanz. After scouting out a lo- cation for the new park, her group designed a site plan for the space including installing benches and domino and chess tables. "No one in our group had any experience de- signing parks before so for alt of us it was a neat adventure transforming an area piled high with garbage," said Swanz. Her group even re- ceived approval from the Cuban government as long as they found the money and resources to build it. While a final budget for the park hasn't been worked out"Swanz hopes the group can raise mon- ey in Canada to help fin- ish the project. "I just really hope it gets done," she said. When Swanz was leav- ing to return to Canada she said that while the seniors thanked her for coming, most of them sensed the project would never be completed. "They said that every- one comes down and promises everything and it never gets done so that hurt," she said. "It was tough to hear." "They said that if i comae back to at least bring them a ball. they play basketball every Wednesday morning but they don't have a ball to play with. They play with a deflated balloon. They are not allowed to have a ball because they are old," she said, "That was rough having 30 seniors beg you for a basketball to play with." Other projects the teams worked on while in Cuba included build- ing a playground for school children, de- veloping an environ- mental education pro- gram for school children and designing a com- munity centre l'or sen- iors, Swanz said both the playground and educa- tion program were pos- itively received andare likely to be completed. An unforgettable emperience Despite the fact thieves tried to mug Swanz while she was biking to Cerro (a 32 km bike ride she made every day), she says the experience was unforgettable. "I've also wanted to do community development in developing nations so this was a good way to get my foot in the door," she said. Swanz was also sur- prised about the Cubans' Amy Swanz, 21, travelled to Cuba last month.. are just because. You can buy, things when you need them. In Cuba the food is there only to keep you alive, the clothing is there to keep you cov- ered andthe houses 'just keep you out of the rain and sun," she said. "Plus even though they have nothing they are still so friendly and are willing to do anything for you." living conditions. "The conditions are rough . but overall they are pretty healthy," she said. "It was better than what I expected. They have an excellent health care and education sys- tems." She also learned a val- uable lesson in materi- alism. "Here in Canada things