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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News Record, 1981-04-02, Page 1116th year -No. 13 Thursday, April Z 1981 0 -Despite need Homemakers course cut By Shelley McPhee Despite a projected need for more train- ed homemakers in Huron County, their three-month education program has been dropped at Conestoga College's Clinton campus. .. The ._homemakers ;. are specially_. trained women and men who are working for one of the county's largest employers, the Town and Country Homemakers. Started three years ago to provide in-home ser- vices for the ill, elderly and handicapped, the agency now employs some 78 homemakers who provided personal care and domestic help to 1,486 clients in the past year. According to board chairman, Betty Cardno of Seaforth, the need for homemakers is steadily on the increase, but the service will be facing a major set- back, with the cancellation of the training program. Sponsored by Canada Manpower the course has been running at Conestoga for the past five years, and according to Brian Cook, chairman of the Clinton campus, "the graduates are sought after." He explained however, that the recent A charred table, a cream can and a few burned papers are all that remain of the Con- stance (Kinburn) Hall this week, as workmen from McIlwain Construction in Seaforth, trucked the remains of the building away. Heavily damaged in a March 17th fire, the hall was torn down after residents decided it would be better to build a new one, estimated to cost about $50,000. (James Fitzgerald photo) first column Well, there goes another old cliche down the drain. Remember "in like a lion and out like a lamb," or vice - versa? March this year came in like a lamb and went out like a lamb, and the weather this week has been more like May than the end of March. The snow is all gone except for a few stubborn patches on hillsides. The frogs ate croaking at higlit, and the grass is fast turning green. And for the first time in five months, I had 'the vents open on the truck to cool off' Can this truly be spring? Well not quite, it was -25 degrees C in Chufchill last night, so that arctic air could still give us a late season snowstorm. Remember a couple of years ago we had a couple of feet of the white stuff on the 10th of April. Anyways, we can all enjoy it while it lasts, and maybe, just maybe spring will stay this year. + + 4 But boy, ain't it a mess when all those snowbanks melt. There's more junk, sand, old papers, and garbage lying around than you can shake a stick at. And with Klompen Feest only ,seven weeks away, now seems to be the right time to do a little house cleaning in town. Wouldn't it be nice to show all those visitors to town something other than wrecked cars parked beside houses, scruffy looking buildings, and dirty sidewalks. This would seem to be a good year for the town to buy that sidewalk sweeper, as I'm sure some of the walks haven't been swept in years. + + + As the Main Street Wit reminded us the other day: "Only hens bear dividends by sitting around." + + + Spring is also an active time here at by jim Fitzgerald the iNev-itecu,u tutu Clus year it is particularly busy as we are plannirg not only our annual garden guide, but we're also putting out a special souvenir edition for Klompen Feest. To help us With the latter, we need old pictures, news clippings, stories, and news tips to help outline the history of the Dutch people in this community. If you can held us in that vein; please drop into the News -Record with the info, or give us a call at 482-9502 and we'll arrange to pick it up. 4 + + Residents on Queen Street have been seeing the local fire brigade quite a bit this week. First, they were out to the Ted Fear home on Monday morning for •a minor chimney fire, and on Monday evening they returned to the Al Welch home at the corner of Queen and John, where a fire had started in the fuss panel. + + + And back by popular demand from last week is a few more of those Mur- phy's 1 aws that seem to dog even the best of us. +"Never argue with a fool, people might not know the differnece." +"You will remember that you forgot to take out the trash when the garbage truck is two doors away." +"If everything seems to be going well, you obviously don't know what the heck is going on!" + "Everyone has a scheme for getting rich that doesn't work." + "A bird in the hand is sat* thafl one overhead." +"You will always find something in the last place you look." +"A short cut is the longest distance between two points." We give you soPhe more at a future date. financial cuts by the federal government has forced Canada Manpower to drop some of its courses. In the past, Manpower has paid the tuition fees and wages for students taking the homemakers course but now have decided to end their financial support for the program.- --- • - -... In December, when' 12 graduates became Certified Visiting Homemakers, instructor Connie Sullivan of Mitchell stated that the need outstripped the supply two to one, and the enrollment could have been doubled if more government sub- sidies were available. Now the Town and Country Homemakers have learned that the need for more trained workers may triple when the ministry of health implements its chronic home care program in March 1982. An extension of the present active care program, the new service would allow chronic care patients to remain in their homes rather than be sent to an institution if they received 40 hours of homemaking care and three visits a month from medical professionals. The province -wide program has now been introduced to 22 homemaking agen- cies and according to Jean Young, director of the Town and Country Homemakers, "They (the homemaking agencies) have warned us to be prepared to rapid growth and growing pains." "With the announcement of cutback in dollars for training through Manpower," she reported at the agency's annual meeting in Holmesville on March 25, "the problem of having qualified, trained homemakers intensifies especially in the year when the ministry of health will be making greater demands on us for our ser- vice." Conestoga could re -instate the homemaking course as a regular tuition Tiir.n to page 3 • For. Klompen Feest Ah, ain't it grand! Warm weather, still water, a fishing pole and a quiet spot on the Bayfield River. That's the ingredients for a perfect day of trout fishing, and Bill White and Randy Hudson took advantage of it Tuesday. The ice is still blocking the har- bor, however, and the commercial fleet hasn't got out yet. (Bud Sturgeon photo) County budget up only 7.5per cent BY HENRY HESS Huron County Council last week voted approval of a 1981 budget calling for spen- ding of $10.7 million. • .This is up by 7.5 percent over the 1980 budget, though it is some $36,000 under ac- tual spending last year, when the county overshot its budget by more than half a million dollars. Road construction and the new Auburn garage accounted for the overspending. As a result, the county portion of the budget' to be collected from Huron municipalities has shot up by more than 21 percent this year. The 1981 county. appor- tion ent is $2,748,100, up from $2,264,500 in 1Bill Hanly, county clerk -treasurer and administrator, . explained the large in- crease in apportionment• can be traced directly to overspending. Whereas the county started last year with a $253,538 surplus, it finished with a Barbecue tickets out Final plans for Clinton's first annual Klompen Feest, or Wooden Shoe Festival, are fast coming together, and already tickets are on sale for one of the major events, the chicken barbecue on the Saturday evening of May 23. Event chairman Bob Campbell said this week that the tickets for the barbecue are now available at a dozen different outlets in town, and he said the committee is hoping that as many townspeople as possible will buy their tickets ahead. At $9 for adults, and $2 for children, the tickets are color coded so there will be three sittings at dinner, 5 pm, 6 pm and 7 pm. "It would be catastrophic if we planned for 5,000 poeple and had 3,000 show up at once for dinner, and the same goes for the reverse," Mr. Campbell said. / A one price admission with a special $1 button a and the barbecue ticket will be the only admission charges the public will face this year, and it will get them into any event of the two-day happening. Although the buttons aren't in yet, Mr. Campbell is. hoping the whole town gets behind the committee and purchases them (.. as soon as possible as it is their only means of support. A souvenir program is also being produced by 'News -Record staffers and will be sold for 50 or 75 cents. All profits will go to the hospital building fund. The committee, who meet again on April 7 and 21 at 8 pm in the town hall, are also Joking for concessionaires to fill the booths available along main street. They could include church groups selling baked goods, or private individuals selling handcrafted items. Weather 1981 HI LO MARCH 24 7.5 - 5 1980 HI LO 3 -1.5 25 7 - 4 2 -3,5 ' 26 5 -3 3 - 4 27 7 0 8 -1 28 12 4 8 - 1.5 29 18 7 9 - 2' 30 16 7 10 0 Rain 35.4 mm Rain 4.5 mm Gravel runners upsetpeople Residents in the area around the 5,000 acre Hullett Wildlife Management Area are not happy about the unwanted chore of constantly pulling cars out of mud on the government owned land tract. The area residents are claiming that many of the miredvehicles have been driven there by drunken youths. The "gravel runners," a term used to describe a carload of people drinking alcoholic beverages while cruising the countryside, find the Hullett swamp an ideal place for their activities, one resident claims, because there isn't anyone living in thearea anymore. When "the gravel runners" get part way through the swamp, they end up on soft roads that are no longer maintained by the township, and wind up' stuck in the mud. Unable to free their vehicles they walk to thenearest home for help to pull them out. "It's really something to be awakened at 3 am by a drunken youth banging on your door demanding you get the tractor and pull them out," said one resident, whose name is being withheld in case of retr i brit ion. •We don't like to pull them out because we might pull a fender off their car. or something, and then we would be responsible," the resident added. "It's not that we're being unfriendly, it's just very inconvenient" the person said. The resident also claimed that some drivers were running out of gas in the swamp and stealing it from the nearby farms. Inc police can t be there all the time," the person said when asked what the OPP could do about patrolling the 15 miles of abandoned roads. The roads can't be closed as they are needed by the ministry of natural resources and the developers of the wildlife area, Ducks Unlimited, a private conservation group. However the problem will be partially eliminated later this year when large parts of the land is flooded with a series of dikes, already constructed. Yeggs hit lumber yard A substantial amount of cash was stolen from the Langford Lumber Company in Clinton on March 31. Clinton Police are investigating the robbery that occurred after closing hours on Saturday. Clinton Police Chief Lloyd Westlake reported that there were no visible signs of the break in occurring, but the money was discovered missing on 'Sunday morning. In other news, Chief Westlake reported that charges have been laid as a result of thefts involving gas stolen from vehicles at Murphy's Bus Line, and a February 20 incident when a CB radio was stolen from a vehicle parked at the Elm Haven Motor Hotel. Two male teenagers from the Clinton area have been charged. They will appear in Goderich Provincial Court on April 10. deficit of $504,150. In addition $305,000 from highway reserves was used to reduce .the apportionment last year andso is not available in 1981. The remainder of revenue in the budget will come from Ontario grants of $6.4 million, fees and service charges of $1.7 million, other revenue of $253,069 and municipal grants and fees of $90,300. Mr. Hanly pointed out to council that over the past seven years the province has been picking up an ever -larger share ofthe county budget. In 1975 provincial grants accounted for $3.3 million of a $6.7 million budget, while this'year they represent $6.4 million of a $111 .7 million dollar budget. The road committee, which hadbeen in- structed to review its proposed budget with an eye to trimming some $200,000 brought hack a revised budget to council. Lloyd Mousseau, committee chairman, reported that by deleting the paving of County Road 11, cutting back resurfacing of County Road 20 to two inches of asphalt from three inches and various . other economies. the committee had managed to trim $177,000from.its.budget.,, "This is about as far as we can go with our budget this year," he told council, noting that the increa§e in the county tax rate for roads is now 13.38 percent. While there was little controversy over the county budget, which had been thoroughly hashed out during previous meetings, this was not the case with a pro- posal that the county switch to assessment as the basis for determining the percen- tage of costs each municipality is required to contribute, instead of using a blend of population and assessment. In the end the change passed easily, but not before there were some arguments by several reeves who felt the change would unfairly increase the burden to their municipalities. Bayfield Reeve George Fellows led the attack, noting that under the new formula his village would see its levy increase by nearly 40 percent. • He claimed the village was being penalized because it has a large number of summer residents, adding that the biggest part of the county levy is devoted to roads, • while there isn't a single county road in Bayfield. Mr. Mousseau also pointed out that by switching to assessment as the basis for calculating the levy, instead of using population, cottagerswho own seasonal residences in the county as well as perma- nent homes are being asked to pay twice for county services. "Do you feel these people are being treated fairly under this ,assessment?" he asked. Mr. Hanly and Bill Alcock, the deputy clerk -treasurer, told council the intent of the change' is to make sure everyone pays his fair share. When population figureswere used, seasonal residents were net counted as part of the population since they are not in- cluded in the Ministry of Revenue census, Mr: Alcock .pointed out. Asa result; municipalities with a large number of cot- tagers wereligetting a break in paying for county services. At the same time, the municipalities. bads t< A ' heti a rtl :eY,`'`kkvi teA cottagers were being charged for county services. It just meant that everyone in those munit ipalities was paying a smaller share than ratepayers in municipalities with fewer seasonal residents. Mr. Hanly noted that even with the 39.5 percent increase in its county levy, Bayfield still has what amounts to the lowest county, mill rate of any town or.. village in Huron, while Wingham's is the highest. "In previous years Bayfield was not pay- e ing enough. That's what the figures show." He agreed with a suggestion from Goderich Deputy Reeve Robert. Allen that sometime in the future there should be a move to county -wide equalized assess- ment. "I think market value is the only way to go," he said. "Sometime we have to have equalized assessment across the county, so no matter where you live in the county Turn to page 3 • • As the farmer Jervis Aluminiutn building comes crashing down in the background. last week, former owner Russell Jervis, left, chats with Elwin Merrill about the history of the building which Mr. Jervis owned for several decades. The site is being cleared for present owner Mason Bailey. ( James Fitzgerald photo