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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1978-10-26, Page 1Voters t�choos: from three for B'y JEFF SEDDON Municipal elections in Goderich took a new twist Tuesday, afternoon at iiv'e o'clock when the waiting game played by candidates for the mayor's office ended and nominees had to state their intentions once and for at Incumbent mayor Deb Shewfelt,-seeking his third term in the mayor's chair. found out where his op- position will come from when councillor Don Wheeler announced Monday he was running for mayor and when former mayor Harry Worsell withdrew his nomination for Public Utilities Commission Tuesday in favor off the mayor's chairof office. The election for mayor is the second time in the past four elections that Goderich voters have had to decide who they want ad- ministering town affairs. Six years ago Worsell was acclaimed to the post, four years ago Shewfelt defeated Harry Bosnell for his first term of office, two years ago Shewfelt was acclaimed and this year Shewfelt faces Worsell and Wheeler. Worsell's decision to run for mayor removed doubts that have circulated when the former mayor drew two sets of nomination pape'i.stwo— "`- weeks ago. Worsell has been involved in Goderich politics for over 15 years, spending four of them in the mayor's chair and the past two as a PUC commissioner. Worsell refused to tip his hand until Tuesday afternoon, the final day for nominations, when he,pulled out of the PUC election to run for mayor. Shewfelt and Wheeler were definite in their plans although Wheeler waited until Monday to hand in his papers. The councillor was on a vacation and did indicate he was running for office but only hinted about what office that would be. Wheeler.. has been active in Goderich politics for four years, two of which he spent on the Goderich Housing Action Committee and two as town councillor. Shewfelt haaeaperience in all areas of politics having served terms as council%rdeputy-reeve; reeve -and -mayor SHEWFELT'S PLANS The incumbent mayor said he wanted another term as mayor to see a number of major projects through. He said the town was involved in several major decisions during his administration and he wanted to stay involved with those decisions. ' He said he would like to stay with the police communications system being set up in the five Deb Shewfelt... has race payors 7. county towns. The network ties the Goderich„ Clinton. Seaforth, Winghamn and Exeter police departments together --in- one-eomrunieat on system -and has been several. ,years in the making. Shewfelt said the agreement between the five toWns has been a "tough one" to draw up because it involves five communities "each with a mind of its own". He said he would like to get the long range plans for expansion and renovations for the town hall completed. He explained that the plans are • designed to improve the' • ad- • ministration of town agencies and that he would Don Wheeler...moving up like to get the central offices plimned out, He said he may not he in office to s the plans orrpleted but -he -would at`least-l' get them drawn up and approved by coupe' . He added that he would like to get the long range plans for the airport completed to lay down a base for any future expansion to the facility. He said the airstrip has come a long way since the town took it over and he wanted . to come up with plans to insure that any future expansion was done with a goal in mind. Shewfelt said he wanted to see the 53 -unit Turn to page 18 • Harry Worsell... coming back New doctor Dr. Charlton Chan has arrived from Hunt- sville to open a general medical practice in,the office at 65 Colborne Street formerly occupied by the late Dr. John Wallace. Dr. Chan is renting the premises and will begin seeing - patients Monday, November 6. A 1969 graduate of the University of Western Ontario, Dr. Chan did post graduate work in Montreal and in Saskatoon before beginning practice in Huntsville three years ago. He is married to the former Susan Hind - marsh, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Hind - marsh of the Goderich area. The couple have . three children: Jennifer who is five, Jeffrey, four and Wendy one. Dr. Chan and his family have moved to Goderich. YEAR 131-43 Eileen Palmer... challenging THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1978 7•35gCHNTS PER COPY In rematch for reeve BY JEFF SEDDON A rematch of a bitter election battle fought in, 1974 by Eileen Palmer and Bill Clifford should be one•of the highlights of the 1978 elections in Goderich. Clifford and Palmer are once again locked in a battle for one seat at the Goderich council table, a battle both fought four years. ago when they campaigned for the deputy - reeve's job. In. a surprise move Tuesday afternoon Palmer withdrew her nomination papers for deputy -reeve, a position she may have fought Bob Allen for, to oppose Clifford for reeve. Palmer handed in papers for .both reeve and deputy -reeve to face either Allen or Clifford. Many felt that Allen would withdraw his• nomination papers for deputy -reeve because of other commitments leaving Clifford and Palmer with acclaimed seats at the council Allen withdrew his papers for council however and with Palmer's announcement to run against Clifford he was acclaimed to deputy -reeve, the only acclamation on the council. Palmer has faced elections every time she ran for public. office. In 1974 she lost an ex- tremely close election to Clifford for deputy - reeve. The final count on election night left a 16 vote margin in Clifford's favor and a sub- sequent recount requested by Palmer in- creased that margin to 23 votes. In 1976 Palmer. returned to politics opposing Leroy Harrison for the deputy -reeve's chair: She defeated Harrison by a comfortable margin in another tough fight. Palmer said she' was not one to stand still and thus made her move to reeve. She said she felt she had -a -let to offer voters in Goderich and felt ' she represented taxpayers in town as wei'l.if not better than her opponent. She said she felt conflict of interest was still a major problem at the council table adding that conflict was preventing the council from living Suggest annual appeal for public funds Hospital board urged BY SHIRLEY J.,KELLER The Chief of Staff -at Alexandra Marine and General Hospital on Monday' evening at the regular hospital board meeting urged members "not to be lulled by ` current government statistics and reports" into thinking that beds on any of the wards at the local hospital can be permanently closed: "I would point out,". stated Dr. Ken Lambert, "that as our medical roster increases, the • hospital will become increasingly utilized for . proper and legitimate patient care." Members of the board were urged not to let "government interference" rob AM&G of its rightful and necessary functioh in the com- munity. They were even asked to think about annual fund raising. campaigns in the public sector to meet expenses, rather than close beds or reduce services: A meeting of the Community Hospital Committee- will be ,called as soon as possible, the board decided. Dr. Lambert said that in :his opinion, ,the community is still 'short-staffed as -far as permanent family physicians - are concerned, and =suggested that as a consequence, many people in }Goderich and area have "probably not received the benefit pf , investigative work- upti and hospitalization for legitimate ,problems." In my view," the chief of staff went on, "the - present cutbacks and cost savings are very helpful as far as our budget is concerned, but they should: ,'not` 'be construed as in any way permanent." • "The Ministry should be made to understand this;" Dr: Lambert continued; "and this board' should not accept presently tolerable and desirable bed cutbacks as status quo for the. future." PEOPLE CONSIDERATE Dr. David E. Walker 'presented rein- forcement for Dr. Lambert's position in a letter which was read to the board. Dr. Walker, too, expressed concern that some letitimaje medical problems are being _neglected by patients which would be -investigated .or at- tended to if more doctors were available in the community. "In my own experience," wrote Dr. Walker, • "people are being "considerate" and "not bothering the doctor". Some important preventiire medicine is being neglected." Dr, Walker said as more doctors„arrive td set up practice in the community there' will be a greater demand for hospital services. Currently a "large portion of Medical and surgical and ' -obstetrical,. cases are being referred to the larger centres, but in thenear future, More of these matters will be attended 'to hi the local hospital. "Governments are encouraging public health measures ..and preventive medicinewith high priority at the grassroots level *ith the thought that costs will be less in the future,” Dr. Walker wrote. "The patient's •contact with the family physician is;the'beginning point for all patients receiving medical care. The hospital in the ednirnunity is 'the focal, point for medical t. treatment requiring investigation or treatment facilities it provides. f ANNUAL APPEAL? Dr: Walker questioned the wisdom in cutting back hospital facilities at AM&G. at„this par- tidular,time and asked hospital board members to "take an aggressive stance in the preser- vation of the community hospital ideal". "I feel that this enthusiasm should be tran- smitted to the ptiblic, to our town and township councils and the local political represen- tatives," Dr. Walker went on in his letter. "It appears that we are going to have to suffer certain injustices by our present government but that in time, government Will indeed be supporting an accelerated role by community hopsitals.” - "During this time of de -emphasis by the government," Dr. Walker wrote, "I feel that it is, the board of governors' responsibility to ensure the continuance of adequate facilities for this community." tJr. Walker said 'the public financial support may have to be considered. "Successful fund raising campaigns have been undertaken in Goderich and area in the past and there is no reason that funds could not be raised on even an annual basis," the doctor suggested. "I feel that it is imperative that at all costs, we minimize government in- terference at this time in the life of this hospital and in no way should we shift the burden of responsibility to eicternal forces older which we have little control" up to its potential. She said 'she didn't want to elaborate on who had conflicts but did say that if everyone at the council table that should declare a conflict in many matters did make that declaration the council would not have a quorum. "There are probably three people who seldom.have to declare a conflict of interest and I'm one of them," she said. Palmer added that she felt it was a mistake to permit anyone to get a seat at the council table through acclamation. Clifford was acclaimed to the reeve's chair in the 1976 elections. Clifford said he was planning to run for reeve from the outset of nominations adding he "knew what direction he was going to go". Ile said he knew about the games played by people drawing a number of nomination papers but added he enjoyed working for the town at both ' the town and county level and wanted to con - Turn to page 18 • Bill Clifford...in fight i�ht for i "It's just a suPer letter," said Dr. Lambert ,after reading Dr. Walker's comments. LIKED -IDEA Chairman of the board, Jo Berry, said she wanted to see a meeting of the Community Hospital Committee called as soon as possible. The chairman said she liked Dr. Walker's idea of calling in the municipally elected officials to brief them on the hospital's problems and concerns. . During the past four month"s, Goderich has had only four general practitioners - Dr. David Walker, Dr. J.L. Hollingworth, Dr. Mario Cauchi and Dr. Bruce Thomson. A new doctor, Dr. Charlton Chan, will be establishing practice in Goderich November 6 and with his background in cardiology is expected to be an asset to the medical team in Goderich: ' Reeve Doug McNeil of Colborne Township, a member of the hospital board, said he had . attended' a meeting where a Ministry of Health official had stated his intention to cut Hospital beds' throughout the province to 3.5 beds per thousand' population, based on a number of additional factors. "They talk from a lack of knowledge," -said . Dr. Lambert. • "Unfortunately, they control the dollars too," said Mrs. Berry. - "Are we going to sitback and let them cut our beds to 3.5?" asked Dr. J.L. Hollingworth who attended the meeting. "I didn't say that," retorted McNeil. DOCTORS HERE PROUD "The family physicians of the community are proud to be primary physicians and have high ideals for the provision of exemplary care for the. people of -this community," Dr. Walker wrote. "They are proud of their hospital, consultants, staff and facilities. This com- munity and its board of governors have worked hard to provide these. "The medical staff has spent many hours of concerned discussion as well as giving much input td , the board levelto emphasize atm desires to keep this a forward looking hospital," the letter continued. "I would im- plore the board of governors to adopt this same sense of pride and zeal and take an aggressive stance in the preservation of the community hospital ideal. "Just as the government changed its em- phasis from specialist orientation to primary care training, it will swing its funds from large city hospitals with expensive duplication of services to the community hospital," Dr. Walker promised in his letter. "This will take time- add only with per:- - severence er--sever-ence by community hbspital boards who can be caught up in the' ideal of a health care model where they and their medical staff assume primary responsibility for the medica: care of thetothrnunities,they serve," the letter concluded. E1