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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1976-11-11, Page 15)ark's jottings ' lig lack Riddell Huroli-,Middlesex MPP TheOntario Government has decided to offer vac- cination against swine flu to everyone in the Province over. 20 years of age, and irn- munization- will .be available._ on a voluntary basis by the ,latter part of November. The Minister of Health is recommending the shots to everyone, but anticipates considerable apathy. Some five million doses of vaccine will be made available •to Ontario's eight million residents on a first come, firs*' serve :basis, and medical officers of health..across the province will announce the dates, times and locations of clinics in their areas through the. media. Pilot fined '100 No hazer Judge Glenn Hays last week fined Frank Szekely, president of Kincardine Air Services Ltd., $100 for flying at less than 500 feet. That fine followed one a few days earlier in Kincardine court where he was fined $200 for low flying and $400 for flying an unregistered aircraft and flying a plane without an airworthiness certificate. •' The fine in Goderich .court; came from a charge that he flew too low over an Ashfield Township farm on July 7 on - his way to spray a cornfield south of Kingsbridge. Prosecution witness, Deborah • MacDonald, who lives on the. Ashfield Town- ship farin, said she saw an. orange -red plane with the word Kincardine painted on its side as .it flew about 40 feet away from her house at.an.. altitude of 25 feet. She told the court her. family's farm is oftenbuzzed by pilots and there isother harrassment from. neigh= bours, although she didn't know why. Mr. Szekely •said he. did not know the MacDonalds and • denied flying at 25 feet.�He told the court he was flying toward Kingsbridge from an • airfield 'near Ripley and that while he may have flown over the farm, he was flying at •about 100 feet. Acting In his own defence, Szekely ' questioned Miss MacDonald's ability to. see the plane as it flew by the house. }le argued she should have been able to see his registration numbers on the bottom of the wing if she could read the lettering on the side, since they were three times the size. Judge Hays ruled, however, tet identification of the plane had been proved;, He said it was not likely there had been two similar planes in the area at the time and Szekelyhad already 'admitted being there. Szekely said that since he' was on his way to spray a field, his plane was carrying 1,000 pounds of chemicals and was heavily .loaded. Nor- . mally, he said, he begins to descend about two or three miles from the spraying site. The MacDonald farm is about that distance from ' the ' field which was owned .by Max. Riegling. . • Mr Riegling was called as a defence witnessand said he had used Szekely's services; before and did not see anything: different in his method •the day he was charged. Szekely saidit was a hazard to"fly low for people who have no training, for it in planes. that aren't equipped. "But for myself," he said, "it's no hazard whatsoexer"-It is my daily work. It is like walking on the suri'irace• of the ground." Handicapped riders given new outlook Twentytwo members of Huron's ALPHA gathered in Brussel's Public School for their October meeting. Highlight of the -evening was a showing of slides -of the Central Ontario Develop- mental Riding Program. • Miss , Linda Hale of Cam- bridge, program co- ordinator, gave the com- mentary, while Miss Sue Martini of Pineview Stables, RR1 Shakespeare, ran the projector. (Pineview Stables is one of an affiliated group of four designed to teach indoor and "outdoor riding to both handicapped and non - handicapped persons.) Both girls are actively involved in teaching the. handicapped to ride. Through the slides; they showed how the •young and the not:so- young are taught to overcome such problems as lack of 4 a Swine flu shots coming Liberal Leader Stuart Smith has attacked the Government for the decline in `the number of build*. permits issued in the first Six months,of this year. He told the Housing Minister, Mr. John Rhodes, that the number of building permits in. the first half of the year declined by 1.8 •percent, because the government has no ppoliciesto increase the nunTber• of new housing starts, and that there had also been a 3 percent decline in new ,apartment buildings, although there is a shortages 'of apartments in Metro: Minister 'John° Rhodes maintained there is -a large number of new . unsold housing units on the market; and the construction industry 'has' slowed down its production of new homes "until they are reasonably certain that there is a market for their product". N.D:P. Member, Michael Cassidy said most of. the glut on the housing market. is in very expensive homes, while there is a shortage of low cost housing: -l' Mr. 'Frank 1Vliller,' the Minister of Health, in a statement t� the Legislature, clarified his Ministry's - position in the current negotiations between public health nurses boards of health. He stated that back in 1975, an arbitration board awarded significant in- creases to the nursing staff at the Ottawa Civic Hospita,. The Ministry agreed it would pick up its share of costs where similar . set- tlements were negotiated across Ontario; both in hospitals and boardsof health. Because the Ministry pays the total cost of nursing salaries in hospitals,, there was little difficulty in nurses negotiating- settlements similar to that awarded at the Ottawa Civic Hospital.. However, . in . the public "health . field, where, municipalities share the costs of these programmes, public health nurses were not able, in . many instances, to maintain the parity they had .previously enjoyed with their counterparts in the public hospital field. In the past couple of years, this situation.• has been aggravated by subsequent settlements. , In order to rectify thissituation, the Ministry of Health is 'prepared to 'providead- ditional funding, on the same ratio • as it cost -shares health balance and fear of heights. Riding opens new doors. Persons, who have always been confined to wheelchairs; • literally find their first legs. They are able to explore ' • terrain heretofore im- passable. Anyone . may ride at the , stables -for a reasonable fee, but no handicapped' person is turned away for lack of funds. -Mary Howell thanked the girls on behalf of the mem- bers for an interesting and informative evening. Lunch was served by Edythe Warwick, assisted by Pat Watson and Bessie Town- shend. The . next meeting will be held in Wingharn at the home of Mary Scott on November 23 -at 8 p.m. Everyone is welcome. Anyone requiring -- information information may call Mary Scott at 357-2365 or Elaine Townshend at 482 073. Government Assisted Homes Under A.HQP. C.M,H.C..Approved & inspected Sale.. Price :34,323. Down Payment 51,100. Buy now and choose your own colors of floor coverings,, kitchen cupboards and interior decor., • Houses are in Vanastra. C,M.H.C. Grants and subsidies available to reduce effective interest rate to 8 percent for any 2 people. , Applicants for subsidy portion may also qualify for further free money to reduce monthly payments. • . Call today.... these won't last IongC HAROLD . WHITE HOMES 482-3550 OR 482-3809 , ' unit budgets. This will be provided up to an amount which would establish parity on an hourly -rate basis between 'registered nurses in healthunits and registered nurses in hospitals. Ian discussions- on . the Government's first 'time home. buyers grants,` and a call for continuation of an investigation by Dr. Stuart Smith, Liberal - Leader, the Government has reversed its. position and will continue, in some form, an audit into suspected fraud.' Investigationhas already revealed that 'some $8.7 million has been paid to ineligible homeowners: The Government has resisted, implying that it, did not have the necessary auditing staff and that the procedure was too expensive anyway. However, Mr. Arthur Meen, the Minister of Revenue, said the form of the continuing audit would be decided shortly. He said hiring an outside firm was one possibility being considered. Under the program . which ran from April 7 to December 31, 1975, those who qualified received an initial $1,000 and were entitled to, an . additional $250.00onthe twoan- niversaries of their purchase. Mr. Meen said many of the v.ioltors might be found when they apply for the $250 supplements. Mr. Meen admitted that the Govern- ment did very little checking before giving out the grants and had been running a partial check of recipients since last April. The Government has not been prosecuting most. violators but . simply asked that the -grant be returned. Speaking on ah amendment to the Assessment Act, which. will delay the application of market value assessment for another year, Mr. pd. Good, Liberal Member for Waterloo North, said that it was ob- vious . that ' market value assessment is not going to be the be-all and end-lall of the inequities' that exist in our taxation system. He said already in some areas, market value assessment, represents as low as 50 percent to 60 to.65 percent of today's . market value. Already the equity has gone out of what we call market value assessment. . When market value assessment 'is brought . in, there will still be the greatest need for equalization factors. There will still be the greatest. need to look at the assessment and see at what levels••each classification of property will be taxed and there will be the need td try to remake, a proper•relationship ,between so-called -,market value • assessment on residential property and market value assessment on industrial and . commercial property. Mr: Good said that the Liberal. Party told the Governent way back when they started talking about takingover the .assessment function in. this province, that there was nothing wrong in many of the areas • of this, province, -because there was equity. within the taxation -area among the various, classifications of property at various percentages of market value. • Some municipalities were assessing residential property ' at 23, 25, or 27 percent ofmarket value. Apartment buildings were assessed at 45 or 50 percent, industrial and commercial at 100. percent. That was ac- ceptable by the, people in those days. There were assessments that were not being done properly, but had the government .at that time. given some money to the municipalities ` and made .mandatory the use of the assessment handbook The assessment problems ccould have beensolvedor improved considerably. • But instead the Govern- ment took over the whole assessment function, and -along with the takin: