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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1979-01-25, Page 1• 1- Geessien Van Maar of R.R. 2 Goderich lost her life when this late model station wagon her 16 year old daughter was driving went out of control on ice on Huron County Road 18 south of Goderich and struck a van driven by Paul Blair of R.R. 2 Clinton. The accident occurred Monday evening. Blair was admitted to Alexandra Marine and •General hospital in Goderich where he is listed in satisfactory condition. Eight year old Martin Van Maar was also admitted to - hospital and is in satisfactory condition. Grace Van Maar, driver of the station wagon, received minor injuries and was treated at hospital and released. Ice covered roads blamed for fatal crash Icy road conditions were blamed for a fatal accident Monday evening that claimed the life of 43 year old Geessien Van Maar of R.R. 2 Goderich. The mother of four lost her life in a two vehicle accident on Huron County Road 18 about seven miles south of Goderich. 'Mrs. Van Maar was a passenger in a late model station wagon driven by her 16 year old daughter Grace. The vehicle collided with a van driven by Paul Blair of R.R. 2 Clinton who was also injured in the mishap. Also injured was Martin Van Maar, eight year old son of the dead woman. • • Goderich detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police reportedthat the Blair van was travelling east on the county road about two mileseast of Highway 21. The Van Maar vehicle went out of control on the icy road and the passenger side of the station wagon struck the van. Grace, driver of the wagon, received minor injuries and was treated and released at Alexandra Marine' and General Hospital in Goderich. Martin Van Maar is listed in satisfactory condition and is still in hospital..Mair was admitted to hospital and was listed in satisfactory condition. Police estimated^damages to the Van On "Diviners" Maar vehicle at $3,000. Damages to the Blair vehicle were estimated at $1,500. No charges were laid. Mrs. Van Maar is resting at the Beattie Funeral Home in Clinton. Funeral services will be held Thursday at the Christian Reformed Church in Clinton. Nearly $3,000 in • damages were sustained in a two car crash in Clinton. The Clinton Police reported that two drivers, Margaret Archer and Iner Smith', both of Clinton were uninjured when their cars collided at the corner of East and High Streets in town. • Damage to the 1976 Lincoln Mrs. Archer was driving was set at $1,500 and $1,500 to the 1977 Thunderbird Mr. Smith was driving. In -other accident reports, Kenneth Steep, 40, R.R. 5, Goderich was treated for minor injuries at the Clinton hospital when the van he was travelling in was involved in a two vehicle collision on Monday. Mr. Steep was a passenger in a van driven by W. Gordon Harkes, 52, Albert Street, Clinton. The Harkes.vehicle was westbound -on Wellington Street and a second car driven by Clifford Hallam, Turn to page 3 • rri Weather P 1979 1978 N1 1.0 M1 1.(7 JAN C C F F 16 --12.5 —20 2 0 0 17 —3, —22.5 17 —8 18 —15.5 —25 . 20 9 19 —8 —28 18 5 20 —3 --9 14 9 21 —3 — 7 21 1I 22 —2 6 20 Snow 13.0 cm Snow 4" Hospital faces serious bed cutbacks 'by Shelley McPhee With only a budget increase of 2.16 per cent this coming fiscal year, the Clinton Public Hospital. will be facing some serious cutbacks over the next three years. For the fiscal year 1979-1980, beginning April 1, the hospital will operate on a budget of $1,645{506 some. $34,822 more than last year's budget of $1,610.684. Along with the lower budgets most hospitals in the province, including Clinton, will be faced with bed cut- backs. By April 1, Clinton's bed allocation will be 30. Presently they have 44 active and chronic beds. "The budget will control the number of beds we can operate," Clinton hospital administrator Doug Coventry explained. He noted that although the hospital board hasn't made a decision, it's doubtful that the Clinton hospital will be able,to operate more than 30 beds. With 30 beds, Clinton will then fit into the Ministry of Health guideline of four beds per 1,000 people. Although they presently have 44, the ministry budget offers centres in Ontario, with less than 100 beds, a 10 bed allowance. Foreach bed over this, $12,000 was deducted from the operating budget. In Clinton's case, the hospital had fourbeds over the limit, reducing their potential budget by a total of $48,000. However, Clinton's situation is much better than other hospitals in the area. Wingha:n, St. Marys, Hanover, Walkerton and Listowel hospitals didn't receive any increase and will be operating on the same budget as last year, despite an inflation rate of nine percent. "The increases depended on the number of beds," Mr. Coventry ex- plained. The budget that was released on Friday, by health minister Dennis Timbrell also states that over the next three years, beds will continue to be cut until Ontario hospitals have 3.5 beds per 1,000 people,. ' In 1980-81 the bed ration will be reduced to 3.75 or 28 beds for the Clinton hospital and by 1981-82 the hospital will be operating with a total of 28 beds. "This is an alternative to closing," Mr. Coventry said. "There are lots of hospitals complaining about this, but from our point of view it looks pretty good since three years ago we were almost closed. When Frank Miller came in he should have offered this instead of a closing." When the Clinton hospital board meets again on February 19 they will begin, dealing with the 'budget and cutbacks. "The increase doesn't go too far," Mr Coventry admitted. Getting sick costly While provincial hospital budgets -- have to be tightened, one thing will cost more money this next year, getting. sick. Dennis Timbrell announced Friday when the Ontario health budget was release h that beginning April 1, longn. term chronic patients will have to pay $9.80 a day for their care. The fee will be administered in chronic -care public or private Society wants book ban lifted BY JEFF SEDDON The fledgling Huron County Society for the Freedom of Choice decided recently if it took a fight to have Margaret Laurence's banned novel The Diviners reinstated on the county board ' of education approved list of English texts it would fight for the novel. The group elected at its last meeting, the second in its short history, to' of- ficially request the Huron County board of education to not only reinstate the novel but also set policy to be used by the board the next time any novel or material is taken to the board for banning. Elsa Haydon managed to convince a dozen members of the society that a confrontation between the board, the Huron County chapter of Renaissance International, the group that suc- cessfully had the novel banned, and the So I for the Freedom of Choice over The Diviners may not be as bad as some members of the group felt it would be. Haydon told the group at the outset of the meeting that she felt 'a letter should be sent to the board asking that the novel be reinstated but met some oppostition from "members who felt that a milk and honey ap- proach would get better results from the board. Haydon suggested that the letter ask the board to put The Diviners back on the list of approved English textbooks ,for high school classroom use adding that in the future any time board trustees are asked to ban a book that the trustees be required to read that book before they'be permitted to vote on the issue. Haydon said shefelt it was "absolute nonsense" that trustees voted to ban The Diviners without first reading the book to see if they agreed with the people asking that the book be taken out of the classrooms. Paul Carroll, principal of Seaforth Public School and one of the original members of the Society for the Freedom of Choice, favored the soft sell approach. Carroll said he felt nothing would be gained by "creating a confrontation" with the board pointing out that he felt a lot of `"positive" things could be done by the group by simply meeting with the board and making "our side of the banning known": Carroll said .a "calm, cool and collected" approach to the issue may have better success at the board level. He said the book banning had already run the "emotional gamut" in the county and there was no point in get- ting into another fight with the board. He added that if the board even per- ceived a challenge, whether there was a challenge or not, it Would amount to a confrontation. The book banning was an issue that Turn to page 3 • hospitals, chronic -care units in active treatment hospitals, a nursing home .bed approved for .chronic ..care and provincial psychiatric hospitals. Clinton hospital administrator Doug Coventry explained that after 30 days, it will be determined whether patients are active or chronic. "Each patient is individually assessed by the doctor," he explained. If the patient is termed chronic, they have 60 days before, payments begin. This qualifying period begins on February 1. "No patient will be refused care because they can't pay," Mr. Coventry assured. "If they can't pay the fee, then they won't have to. Some 50 per cent of chronic patients will end up paying," he said. Mr. Coventry explained that the $9.80 daily fee is no different from nursing homes and one reason it is being im- plemented is so the family won't abandon the patient and may try to look for alternate accommodation possible. "I thought we'd get as much, dollarwise as last year," he said. The hospital may be looking at some staff cutbacks, but Mr. Coventry ex- pects the number of jobs lost to be only a few. Budgeting will be tight for the local hospital, especially since the cost of medical and- surgical supplies has gone up 10 to 15 per cent. As well, the nurse's union is negotiating for their wage contracts: "It all depends on what they (the nurse's union) ask for," Mr. Coventry explained regarding the upcoming budgeting restrictions. "In the future we may have to look at sending the laundry out," he explained. It was suggested last year that • laundry and laboratory services be amalgamated with other hospitals, including Goderich and Seaforth. "We have a lot of work to do," Mr. Coventry explained, in order for the hospital to operate within the budget. Mr. Timbrell told Mr. Coventry and other provincial hospital represen- tatives when they met in Toronto on Friday, "There is no question this is a challenging and sometimes difficult, period for hospitals and government. What we are experiencing now creates a greater need for effective management of the health system. The objective is to help ensure that all of us, the government, the health system and the people we serve, receive the best value for the money expended. The heavy snowfall of recent weeks has started to melt underneath and drip on Albert Street' in Clinton, forming huge icicles that were hanging dangerously over the sidewalks. The PUC was called in, and using their bucket truck, knocked down most of the ice. Here, Steve Glbbings works with an axe above the Laundromat. (News -Record photo) Off track betting out, track glad Officials of the Clinton Kinsmen Raceway can breathe a sigh of relief, for this year with Eugene Whelan's recent stall on the possibility of off track betting. The agriculture minister has requested that ,the controversial question be brought before a Senate comtittee. He's asking the committee to study the issue for the next three months before they make an interim report. The study could then go on indefinitely before some sort of legislation is made and passed. "It would be the ruination of small town tracks," stated Clinton Raceway But the Romans did have an' ef- fective judicial system and that's probably why they kept all those lions around., As mentioned in a story last week, the annual snowarama for Crippled Children is all set to go for next Sunday, February 4 starting at 9 course is in top shape right now, atcording to one organizer, Joe Gibson. Don't forget to get your pledge sheets from Potter's or at the -News-Record or anywhere you see the Whipper Billy Watson Snowarama poster. As e veteran remarked to us the other day during a disCussion about the current labor unrest in Britain, "she may have won the war, but 16st the peace." It seems that the losers, mainly Germany, and Japan have succeeded with their economic clout where their troops failed. While Britain has no tran- sportation of any kind at the moment, and the militant labor unions have taken on their own labor government head to head, the West Germans enjoy unprecedented wealth and prosperity as the result of labor management co-operation. At last, the season is over, no not the hockey season, but the football season, which finally ended last Sunday night when the Pittsburgs Bullies beat the Dallas Cowpokes or whatever you call those two bunches of -brutal maniacs who met in that final extravaganza played in Miami. Every year, profession sports get sillier and sillier as they play on and on and on. Football in January, hockey in June, baseball in November. When will it stop? It would have done most people more good to be out cross country skiing last Sunday or tobogganing, or skating or anything ratner tnan watching the gladiators beat up the Romans. The past football season seems have created a new national ime divorce, goes the late • joke,• although a lot of wives and neglected children don't think that's so funny. -I- -i- + It seems the Romans had trouble with more than . the gladiators. According to the latest issue of "Safety Canada", drinking and driving were as much a concern in those days as it is today, as the ancient Romans had their own legislation trying to reduce the number of collisions between drunken charioteers. ' 1 Still in business The Piano fact is ma have pure make part actory in Clinton is far from closed yet, and in solidating all their machinery in the front wing of the plant ing a bit of a comeback, as former employees and last week were moving part of a heavy veneer press. aged the plant from Heintzinfan and hope to ThO plant now employs,nine people. (News -Record photo) for other factories. Meanwhile, they are con - Chairman Paul Kerrigan. Obviously many others feel the same way. Mr. Whelan noted that he had received 78 letters lately on the subject and only six favored the off-track betting proposal. He also received 58 telegrams and only one favored it. "We sent a telegram to Mr. Whelan," Mr. Kerrigan noted, "and we said that we were totally against off-track betting." The negative responses to off-track, betting are prevalent because many feel that financially, it could mean the closure of small tracks and socially it would mean more wide open gambling "Harness racing is an industry, a sport and a hobby for a lot of people, particularly in this area," Mr. Kerrigan said. b He wer " ,n to explain that if off-track betting w , legalized, people would be more likely to bet- on horses running major tracks, eliminating smaller ones like Clinton. ,. "With off-track betting, a lot of the Money would go to betting houses," Mr. Kerrigan went on. "It costs money to run them so I can't see that it's economically. feasible." .-' .. Mr. Whelan noted that even if he gave off-track betting the go ahead it would require a change in the Criminal Code. Mr. Whelan explained to the London Free Press that he couldn't have pushed it through the Commons before the anticipated federal elections this spring because of a backlog of legislation at the Commons. He hopes that the Senate committee can be established as quickly as possible. He has received almost 140 pieces of correspondence from in- terested parties. The committee would vieW both sides of the .question. He hopes that provincial attorney -generals, would tie responsible for administering and Criminal Code changes would address the comm ttee.