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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1975-12-23, Page 13° Kinsmen. freat octogenarians Nw to sightseeing -� ��'��.�=�~~�='��~^��_�� ' ~ w '- ~ ~~~~~~~��~~~^="°�'~°~��w�q� The Goderieh Kinsmen C\ybaamisted by the Kinettes showed the true Christmas spirit again this year when they tti od 38 octogenarians from,Goderich evening 'on the town' last Thursday, The whole event was organized through the efforts of Pat Patterson, a willing Xinsmen worker for many years. It is designed especially for persons who are unable to gpt out on their own during the winter rnonths,4 Kinsenen picked ufs' their guests in private cars and transported them to St, George's Anglican Church where they boarded a bus for a tour of the town to see the Christmas lighting. On ThursdaY evening, with a fre* snow fall to add the crowning touch, the senior citizens t6 the bus tour were treated fo a show of colors as Goderich citizens `turned on' for them. t4 Then it was back to the church for refreshments and ,spme entertainment .byl. the choir from Victoria 'Public School Under the direction ofr Vice-principal Helen Campbell. - The seniors were then returned to their homes by the" Kinsmen. The kinsmen didn't forget the entertainers eid`or. They had^o bus ride to and�from the church ... and cookiesand'miIk after their performance. Tbe SPECIAL CHRISTMAS EDITION ~11111111~111111111111.1.1111111111111111111111116, ° 4~ ' - �~. . b e �� d�, ^ -, �� . . ' - SIGNAL--ST TUESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1975 � " ° SINGLE COPY 25c �� ~ . � �� - �� m� �m�� N�� N�� 1OY A� � r Christmas doesn't seem - quite as bright this year for about 360 employees, at Hudson Warr of Dearborn Steel Tubing turns over a -cheque to MarilyPenfold for thm^ Children's Aid Christmas Fund. Dearborn won a cash prize for their entry in the Santa Claus Parade and turned the money over the the fund. (staff photo) Godur|cbPsycbiatrie Hospital wh. received word Friday that the facility will be Closing April I, 1976. It is even less bright for the patients in the 230 -bed facility who will be' moved from their present residence to hospitals in London or Owen Sound. There is indication the hospital, built in 1081'62, will be utilized as a mental retardation centre ated by a conimunity board but according' to Ross Bryant, hospital administrator, even that is not clear. He is only surmising that residents of some of the larger homes for the mentally retarded in the province would be tran- sferred to Goderich in a moVe to provide more community - oriented facilities for these people. - Mr, Bryant did not have an inkling last week that GPH would huclosing, although be admits now there's been Iminjshed at� G . . ^ . 'u to that effect for a wemvxuar. !6dsIni order television reports say the- Cabinet decision. closing of GPH and a similar Mr. Bryant pointed out that facility at Timmins 'was between the two mental health facilities which were closed by the order Friday, between 700-750 people will be laid off. • He- said that letters will be going out to all emat Timthins and GPH very ahmt\y, advising them on their status. Mr. Bryant that some service and professional staff will be required when uPii is con; verted to a mental retar- dation facility, but he has no idea how many of the probnnt personnpl. will be retained; how many will be offered ' transfe-rs to other areas of the province; or how many will bew|tbuut work. "Hopefully this will become clearer in the days ahead," Mr. Bryant said. He expects that patients will begin moving out of GPH in January. The ad- o call late Thursday af- brought ,abuut by the ternoon to attend a meeting at 8xinistry's, efforts to cut the Ministry of Hlth offices health spending in the in, Toronto at 9 a.m. Friday province. Mr. Bryant i morning. Be says he was was not told the reason for the shocked .to speechlessness at closing of GPH at the meeting the news of the meeting. he attended Friday. He added Daily newspaper and he understood it was a • N'o Elevator lights ' ' jn '75 Ebmnezer. Scrooge is alive and well and working for Ontario' Hydro. The old Qeru\ema9kept up his image recently when he ordored'a special conduit constructed at. the {}ouerioh Elevator to service the Christmas lights the business has strung from atop their elevators for the past 10 years. The company 14as been decorating the eleva-tor top by running the ,lights from the 'top of the grain silo to the flagpole but this year could not afford to Put up the Chriati=nao d*oorwtion§. The special conduit nrdorod by Hydro costs ubout11.500and according _ to company president George Parsons there |abetter use for $).5O0. "It's really toh bud.^ said Mr. "The Uibts were a tration and everyone here really enjoyed putting ministrator said that as many patients as possible will be transferred to the London hospital. Some others may have to gO"- into the Owen Sound pentre. There are no plans an- nounced yet for the provision of out-patient services here. Mr. Bryant said he was still puzzling over 44he reasons behind closing GPH, which achieVed again in 1975 one of the highest accreditation setandards for mental health facilities in the province. "Goderich is one of the better facilities in the province," Mr. Bryant said. ^l just' don't bnovv the rationale or the criteria used by the Ministry for closing facilities." Dr. Michael Cnoioo, medical director of GPH, was similarly baffled. Dr. Conlon received news hf the pn Friday at his home where (continued onpage 6) . ' . .� - ' Senior citiz�n housing ap ma e , premature c�rnmittee Tbo Goderich Housing Action committee were told Thursday their bid for / �provinciallysubsidboduen�r o|t|zoo'S housing units 'Were would be strengthened considerably if the committee refined their statistics before approaching Ontario Housing Corporation. . • Harold Shore, oba|rmanyy the Goderich Housing Authority tn\dtha committee that their 111:applications for senior citizen housing may not be enough,. to draw ' a response from OHC but if the applications were refined to show a more absolute neod, the bid would carry more weight. &' ~ The GHA choirman, an appointed member of the committee awaiting official recognition from town council, said that the work the committee would be doing may serve to expedite matters since OHC would do it after receiving the town's request. He said the province would send a ,field man to Goderich 10 determine how many of the applicants are serious about wanting government housing. Be. explained that i�Small, government units are oma . about 400 to .450 square feet, and that people accustomed to living in a house may not take the government unit "unless economic conditions forced them". "I'm not trying to biock the bid for housing for seniors. I'm just trying to get the applications refined," said Mr: -Shore. "My experience with OHC is that you may get half of what you ask for if 'yuu're\uoky.^ By needing twice the ap- plications than units required, the committee *oti|dbe better serving their project 13"y taking a longer at thesubmissions they now have, acbording to Mr. Shore. Be pointed out subsidized housing in the now.that at present the town province, according to the would require 50 units adding housing authority member. that there is no way they are - He said that the annual sums going to fill thosestaggering,aid by the .province d' t that "The last housing project the 12 units now in Goderich for o io did not getyU|od probably the govern - by local people," he said, ment about $16,000 annually. -from Windsor to fill it, If we secretary of the housing have action cnmoobtoo, said that may get 20 units with -people he had taken quite.a few of serious enough about wanting the and and needing them - to move had asked some of the into them when they are questionsMr. Shore had built." �suggestedbe asked. Mr. The reasoning behind the Breckenridge said that he OBC scrutiny of the; ap- had asked some of the ap- plicants is their high costs of p\iomutp their age, present accommodation and income 1Qasomws ~ Teel/ Pa I --- '+ 10. ^V`�~�'��~��'* u.*��n°�� '.^ ~ °^~ . und was able to determine a rough breakdown of the needs. � The secretary said that 50 of the applicants were double occupuuta, man and wife, while 61 required bachelor accommodation. He added that people 65-68 years old said they had no immediate need but would in about three yoarm, adding that qui of the applicants were from 70 toQ0years old. As an alternative tn�xHC subsidized housing, Mr. Shore suggdsted to the committee tbat`' they investigate the private sector of the market to try to secure senior citizen housing. ^ He said Central and Bou�m�bad a6Mortgage that required a co-operative effort.between t and private developers. The program guaranteed a steady incomelor anyone wishing to put up a building for rental to senior citizensThe gover- nment paid part of the rent mnd the tenants paid part of it, guaranteeing no defaults. Mr. Shore suggested that CM&H may be battmr, equipped handle a "�uiteah nteed a �� \m �o building everything but senior citizens housing." The • housing .authority chairman added that OHC is also snowing more interest in small units in a small com- munity than they are buildihg large buildings. He said that Zurich and Brussels were examples of the trend. mlY:;;M:iSVaftiVIKYACISUmOMMIVEm SIGNAL -STAR ANNUAL Children's Edition « ` je , - ° Att 1Q