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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1980-02-28, Page 1Don Elliott of the Goderich Oldtimers ex- changes gifts with Jack Alliott of Hanover prior to opening of. the, first_..Godetich Molsons Old- timers International Hockey Tournament on the weekend. Twelve teams participated in the '4' Hospital gets new fetal monitor The hospital Ifas a new fetal monitor on or- der, Dr. James Rourke announced Monday evening at the regular monthly meeting of the board of Alexandra Marine and General Hospital. The cost was- a little higher than originally hoped - $13,400 for a model best suited to needs in AM&G's obstetrics department. But Dr. Rourke said he's convinced of the worth of the•new equipment. He said the doctors here have been trying out various fetal monitors during recent -weeks, and have found the equipment to be most useful on several occasions when there was concern for the unborn infant. Dr. Rourke said plans are to instruct nursing staff in the use of the equipment. The gastroscope has just arrived,atacost of $7,500. It, should be in use immediately, board learned. Some service clubs have been approached for ,.. three-day event with St. Clements winning the A title and Grand Championship. Kincardine won the B crowp More stories and pictures can be found on .the sports pages. (photo by Dave Sykes) re: uge BY J4.i ro BUCHANAN Goderich's first refugee family has arrived. The family includes a husband and wife, Sourisack and Gillian Phannavong; their four children, daughter, Bounmy and sons, Sing To, Somsac, and Sengseck; and Mrs. Phan- navong's brattier, Ke Troeung. Mr. Phannaveng ia._ 2 years old and, a wat- chrnake"r by trade. Mrs. Phannavong is'a 27- year-old seamstress. Her brother is 26 and a soldier by trade. The two, , men are , already studying the English language at Conestoga Coliege. The two oldest children, Sing To, 9 and Bounmy, will soon be enrolled in a Goderich elementary school. The two younger children, Somsac, 4 and Sengseck, 2 will remain at home with their mother. The family is being sponsored by the congregation of Knox Presbyterian Church. They arrived in Goderich on Thursday, February 21: They were driven here by the Reverend ..G.L. Royal and Mrs. Bonnie Dunn who met them at Toronto International Airport: The family, Cambodians by birth, escaped from Laos to a.refugee camp in Thailand. While they were living there, a disastrous fire killed 3,000 refugees, On February.' 17, they left the refugee camp and were flown to Montreal where they stayed until February 19. They were then sent to Toronto by immigration officials. The family was moved into their Goderich home at 186 Huron Road early this week. They had been staying at the Bedford Hotel until the move. As the sponsor, Knox Chruch is obligated to look after the family for one' year or until they are established. The family's house has been rented by the church and household furnishings have been generously donated.. arnily arri at 6:30 p.m. a pot luck supper is being held for the family at Knox Cbureh so that they may become acquainted with members of the congregation. Two in- terpreters, refugees who have been living here„ since July, will be at the supper also. Mr. Troeung speaks some French. Knox had applied for a refugee family last August and Mr. Royal says by Christmas he had almost' given up hope of a family ever arriving.. Meanwhile, St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church in Goderich is still awaiting its refugee family. Reoms have been fixed up in the former convent to house tMirthka lam 1Xy. Victoria Street United Church, Mirth Street United Church, Benmilier United Church, St.' ld George's Anglican Church, the First Church, the Free Methodist Church, Berea -by! the.Water Lutheran Church, the Salutation Army arid the Pentecostal Church have formed a ,committee to jointly sponsor a reftigee family also, This committee applied for a fami�.earl_y in January and is still waiting. I•iolrnesvllle United Church and Wesley -Willis and Ontario Street United Churches in Clinton will jointly sponsor a refugee family too and are still waiting for such a family t� arrive. Sports GoverningBody could lift minor sports out o�'z�ifficulty BY DAVE SYKES In an effort to stimulate an active Interest in_ minor sports. the Goderich Recreation Department is co-ordinating the formation of a Sports Governing Body. Recreation director, Jim Moore, said his department is taking the initiative in forming the body following concerns expressed over the future of minor sports in Goderich. The proposed governing 'body would look after minor hockey, baseball, soccer, ringette and softball. The first meeting in the direction of forming the governing body was held Monday evening and an estimated 24 people attended. But ac- cording to Moore most of those in attendance were coaches and managers of various sports, • people already. involved. The idea for a sports governing' body was made known to Moore by a concerned in- dividual. "Minor baseball had no organization last year and the coaches did alt -the work and -this - .year minor hockey is having a rough time," Moore explained. " Some people suggested forming a body and there was agreement among the sports groups to proceed with the idea." Moore was adamant in his criticism of some minor organizations, saying only a handful of people look after many of the details involved. "People are fed up doing the same stuff and having to look after travel, registration fees, officiating and coaching. It is grim," he said. "If more people don't get involved there might not be minor sports in Goderich." What the formation of a sports governing body would do is involve more people to alleviate the workload of a few individuals who Turn to page 18 • 132 YEAR -9 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY •28,1980 35 CENTS PER COPY the psychiatric be too - donations --ter- the- -nem•-eq iprnent,- a•ad- ad—other— service clubs have approached the hospital to discover how they can help. J According to board member Don Wheeler, there are "some good possibilities" that financial assistance will come from the service clubs for these two pieces of equipment. Farmers want Saturdayrural mail John Van Beers, second vice-president of the county federation , delivered a plea. to_the politic s b4 eep Saturday rural mail delivery in effect at the Huron Federation of Agriculture dinner with local politicians in Clinton Satur- day. Mr. Van Beers said there are again rumours that the Saturday delivery is going to be cur- tailed. He told the members of parliament that a farmer often receives important business. mail on a Saturday "which gives him the weekend to deal with it: time which would not be available on Mondays." "The government has removed `passenger train services from rural communities and bus service is practically useless. Now our rural mail service is being diminished. It would appear that the federal government is trying to increase the isolation of rural Canada. Maybe the government is hoping that if they just close their eyes, the rural areas might disappear altogether," Mr. Van Beers told the. politicians. Murray Cardiff told federation members he had already heard "we should expect a lot better mail service in the future." Furniture costs add to estimate BY SHIRLEY J.KELLER Dr. James Rourke just wanted to make his point Monday evening when the board of •Alexandra Marine and General Hospital met for its regular February meeting. Dr. Rourke just wanted to remind the board that the cost for renovations to the board room were to be minimal, and that a recom- mendation from the building committee for a new 10 foot board table extension for $450 and eight new chairs to match the other chairs - cost $1850 - was perhaps a little out of order. The doctor recommended "a little more careful look at what we're proposing in the first place" with "figures on hand" before decisions are made. The board room has been expanded at a cost of $920 for new carpet and drapes. The hospital's own staff completed the renovations which eliminated the L-shaped space and makes it pos4ible for board members at one end ,bf the board table to see board members at the other end. The board room is not "lavish", as one-time board member Dr. 'ken Lambert feared, nor is it filled with "lovely things". But there aren't .enough chairs in the board room for all members to sit down should all 24 approved board positions be filled. At present, Turn to page 9 • BY SHIRLEY J. KELLER Dr. Michael Conlon, ,head of psychiatric services at Alexandra Marine and General Hospital, went on record this week as knowing that the 20 -bed addition to the hospital here for the psychiatric department is already too small to meet Huron County's needs. The addition planned for the third floor of AM&G, will house the unit now located at the Bluewater Centre for the . Developmentally Handicapped on Highway 21 south of Goderich, Dr. Conlon told the board Monday evening it would be more reasonable at this point in time to he providing a.30 bed'unitat AM&G� Board member Tre ' S`hewfel� as'i{ed "17i' "We will be finding ourselves in the future sorely pressed for beds in the psychiatric departinent," Dr. Conlon prophesied. The Ontario Ministry of Health's guidelines call for .4 beds per 1,000 population. In Huron County where the population stands at about. 55,000, the number of .beds that could be ap- proved according to the Ministry's standards would be 22. Dr. Conlon said the board is, of course, prepared to accept the limitations plaked on it, both by the Ministry and by the budget, but felt it was imperative to say for the record that he expects space problems in the future. As usual, folks have put off purchasing their 1980 vehicle licences until the very last week. Here, Jaen VanDiepenbeek of Ashfield Town- ship secures the expensive little sticker on his plate at the licence bureau on Bayfield Road. (photo by Cath Wooden) Conlon to explain why the 'psychiatric out- patients clinics in other Huron County hospitals, could not take some of the patient load from AM&G. Dr. Conlon told him that specialized psychiatric services are restricted through the Mental Health Act 'to only those h,ospitals specifically designated for that purpose. Goderich's Alexandra Marine and General Hospital is the Ontario Ministry of Health's appointed hospital for this county, and is the only approved in-patient psychiatric treatment centre here. This kind of area treatment facility is not. unique to Huron County. It is common practice throughout Ontario. One of the prime reasons for centralizing psychiatry services within an area, is to facilitate the enlistment of qualified small psychia-- tract such people to units of only a few beds. Bruce Potter of the building committee presented Tillman and Ruth's drawings of the • exterior of the proposed addition with the board giving final approvalto the building comittee's selection for thefacade of the new addition. Potter told the board the building committee is still "playing with the floor plan". Dr. James Rourke expressed the concern of Goderich doctors that through the relocation of the psychiatric unit to .AM&G, some space shortages for regular patients may result. One area of particular concern to general prac- titioners is the loss of chronic private rooms. "At least two chronic private rooms are needed at this hospital," Dr. Rourke said. He explained that when a patient's death is imminent, it is unwise to leave that patient in a Turn to page 18 • High interest rates, energy. concern of local farmers - BY ALICE-GIBB High interest rates are getting a stranglehold on many farm businesses and, making it in- creasingly difficult for young farmers to enter agriculture, according to Jim McIntosh, a member of the executive of the Huron _Federation of Agriculture. _... Mr. McIntosh presented a brief on problems created bythe current high interest rates to Liberal Jack Riddell (Huron -Middlesex) and Murray Gaunt. (Huron -Bruce) and newly elected MP Murray Cardiff at the federation's annual members of parliament dinner in Clinton on Saturday. Mr. McIntosh told dinner guests the increase in interest rates from 10 to 15 percent has "added six cents to the cost of milk, 39 cents per pound of beef at the retail level and 27 cents per bushel of corn to cite only three examples." He said established farm operations can withstand the high interest rates for a longer Licence sticker deadline is Friday If you haven't already purchased your 1980 licnece plate sticker, you may be battling the last minute crowd. The deadline on the sticker is Friday, February 29 and, at least, procrastinators were granted an extra day due to leap year. The licence renewal stickers can be pur- chased at cord's Sports on Bayfield Road and the deadline for car stickers is Friday at 5 p.m. Truck stickers cari be renewed until the end of March during regular bureau hoat . The cost of the licence stickers is $80 for a 398 cubic inch engine in a 1979 model year or later while smaller V-8 engine owners will pay $60. Owners of six -cylinder model cars will pay $45 while the cost for four -cylinder models is $30. This year all motorists alae required to produce proof of insurance before a sticker can be issued: Cars without a renewed licence sticker cannot be driven after February 29. period than the younger farmer just starting out. He said many Canadian provinces offer either a farm -loan program or an interest subsidy on specified existing loan programs to qualifying farmers but added, "Ontario may be th-e_ only -province which -does not offer -any_ - incentive to young farmers borrowing the large sums of money necessary to get established in agriculture." Mr. McIntosh told the members of parliament that the province of Quebec for example offers term loans to farmersat an interest rate of only eight percent per annum. The federation director .said the province of Ontario should 'either consider reintroducing the Junior Farmer Loan Program or else establishing a program in which the interest rate to qualifying farmers "is reduced to a manageable level". - 'Mr. McIntosh said a $100,000 loan, amortized over 20 years, with a 15 percent interest rate ends up costing the farmer $381,455." "For the survival of agriculture, the government of Canada should do everything . within its power to reduce the Bank of Canada interest rate. For Ontario agriculture to be truly competitive in the future, the province of Ontario should operate a loan program with a preferred interest rate or offer an interest rate subsidy to ''existing loan programs," Mr. McIntosh told the politicians: The federation director said Ontario must initiate loan programs "to keep us competitive with sister provinces". He said while farmers in the European Common Market countries can borrow money at three percent interest rates, and many established farmers in Ontario have outstanding loans at five percept interest, "we are asking our young people to get into agriculture and pay 12-15 percent . interest rates." Paul Klopp, a member of the federation's. energy committee, outlined some of the in- creasing uses of energy in today's farming operations, but pointed .out "food production Turn to page 9 •