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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance Times, 1995-02-01, Page 5U WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1,1995 THE WHAM ADVANCE -TIMES Director responds to criticism of WDCLA service Dear Editor: I am writing on behalf of the Wingham and District Community Living Association inresponse to Dan Webster's letter to the editor in the January 25 edition of the Ad- vance -Times. I would like to pro- vide some clarification to the points raised by Mr. Webster. The WDCLA is in fact very aware of the financial realities fac- ing the people, of the province, and of the agencies funded by the tax- payers. Our move to sell the group home on Edward St. was made for both philosophical and financial reasons. As we move to providing sup- ports to people•'based on their needs and desires, it has become evident that the group home model used for many years tends to "paint every- one' with the same brush". That is everyone was given more or less the same type of service. By helping people to live in smaller groups, it becomes easier to base the service they receive on their individual choices. Financial; • ly, the new set up is more cost ef- fective for our agency. In the large house, the association was respon- sible for paying for the- mainte- nance and up keep of the • building, the food, the utilities, the insurance, etc.. The people. that once lived at Edward St., now share a duplex in town. They pay a fair market price for their accommodation, they pay for, the food they eat, they pay for the utilities they, use, they pay to have their own items insured. The landlord is responsible for repairs and maintenance that fall under his or her responsibility The Association now pays only for staff support and some inciden- tal costs associated with having staff in a house. In this way, the people whom we support, make their own contributions to their home communities. As an agency, we are continually looking for ways to more effective- ly and efficiently use the money provided by the Ministry and local citizens (through our fundraising activities). We are in the process of sub leasing the building that has housed our administrative offices,in order to cut costs and' to centralize that portion of our operations. The money saved' will directly benefit the people we support in that it will be used to absorb the one per cent funding cut that has been an- nounced for the 1995-96 fiscal year. There will be no cuts in ser- vice. In addition, proceeds from the sale of Edward Street will be kept in an account that can be accessedt, to purchase any number of items in future years when we are sure to see our government funding shrink. I sincerely appreciate Mr. Web- ster's ,interest and concern about our agency and I hope that I have been able to shed some new light on our operations. I would like to encourage him and others who have comments, or concerns about how and where we conduct our husiness,to call me at the associa- tion office at 357-3562. Bob Butella, Executive Director, WDCLA FEBRUARY 1948 A prominent Wingham busi- nessman, an enthusiastic and ar- dent curler and• bowler, James Donald Rae, died suddenly of a heart attack last Monday at his store just a few minutes after clos- ing for the evenirtg. He conducted a successful hardware` and coal business in town, joined in part- nership by sons. Ronald and'Mur- ray_ Despite the extreme cold, -28 below zero, a good crowd turned out last Friday night to the Gorrie arena for the Howick Lions Club's annual ice carnival. Miss Eleanore Stephens of Gorrie was chosen queen of the carnival and Jimmy Wylie of Wroxeter was se- lected king. Mr.' and Mrs. Limbrick and baby Gerald of Engiand' arrived one week ago and for the present will make their home with Mr. and Mrs. R. H. Coultes, 3rd line of Morris. A special meeting of Morris council was held early this month in the township hall. It was agreed the township would hire all the equipment necessary to open all concession and sideroads where people are living. FEBRUARY 1961 Jack Reavie was appointed as- sessor'for the Town of Wingham at a special meeting held late last month. Mr. Reavie succeeds the late Clare -Agnew, who was killed in a car accident near Goderich a few months ago. The lives of patients. in the -chronic wing at Wingham Gener- al Hospital have been brightened by the gift of a stereophonic record- player, presented through the generosity of .the nurses' council. Mrs. George Day, who resides on the ninth concession of Turn- berry Township, was injured last Thursday when run down by a with. Margaret Stapleton horse. Temperatures a few mornings last week have established records. The lowest showed 24 below on the thermometer and we ,have heard it was even lower in some spots. Robert Coultes and Ed Walker, from the townships of Morris and Turnberry respectively, have joined the board of directors at Wingham General Hospital. FEBRUARY 1971 Members of the local snowmo- bile club presented a new image during the recent snowstorm by helping numerous people in dis- tress. Wingham Reeve Jack Alexan- der suggested at the February meeting of town council that he would like to see swans on the lower pond near the dam. He said he would seek donations to pur- chase a pair from Stratford or London at $125 each. The announced need for more space at the Wingham Public Li- brary resulted in several sugges- tions at the council level, includ- ing extending the existing library into part of the council chambers. It also was suggested the old post office building would be ideal for . an extended library service. ° FEBRUARY 1981 Voters in Ontario will be going to the polls March 19 to choose the next provincial government. Murray Gaunt, Liberal MPP for Huron -Bruce for the past' 18 and one-half years, has announced he will not contest the upcoming election. Wingham could be the location of a second high school in the• near future. About 100 people met at the Wingham Bible Chapel last Friday evening and formed a soci- ety to establish an interdenomina- tional•Christian secondary school. Don:''>'d Farnell was honored with a Legion certificate of merit. Corn Producersthank Huron -Bruce's Steckle Dear Editor: On behalf of the corn farmers of Huron County, I would like to ex- press our sincere appreciation to Paul Steckle, MP for Huron -Bruce, for the major effort on his part which resulted in the major federal announcement of December 21 concerning fuel ethanol. The announcement was of a con- tingency loan guarantee program which will come into effect only if an excise tax is imposed on fuel ethanol made from• corn and other biological materials by a future go,rnment prior to the year 2005. The guarantee is expected to result in the construction of new, world - scale ethanol plants at Chatham and Cornwall in the near future. These plants will mean a new market for an estimated 20 million bushels of Ontario corn. This is about 10 per cent of total provincial production. • _ Construction of these plants will also enable sales of ethanol - blended gasoline to continue to grow, using Ontario -produced etha- nol, instead of imported product, as • the blending ingredient. Expanded sales of ethanol - blended gasoline will mean major benefits for environmental quality„ including reduced greenhouse gas emissions, reduced imports of off- shore crude oil, and the opportunity to eliminate the use of toxic gaso- line additives such as MMT and benzene. Support from Mr. Steckle was vi- tal to this achievement. We express our appreciation. Bob Hallam, President Huron Corn Producers Association Writer encourages no new tax campaign Dear Editor: Paul Martin has, all but an- nounced that tax increases will be part of his February budget. • In ° December, the House of Commons Finance Committee rec- ommended a slew of new taxes in - Salvation Army pastors offer thanks for community. support Dear Editor: We at the Salvation Army, would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere thanks to the Wingham Advance -Times, and to all of the organizations, groups, churches, schools, and individuals, who so willingly supported our Christmas and Winter relief appeal. Without the help of the community, we would simply not be able to provide . for the less fortunate( amongst us in the way we do. Over the Christmas period, in Wingham alone, we • were able to help 110 families and because of the tremendous and generous sup- port of our community, will be able to continue to do so throughout 1995. Once again, please accept our sincere thanks. Working in a com- munity with such a large heart, and which shows its compassion and caring in such a practical manner, is a delight to both my wife and I, and we look forward to the year ahead and all that it will bring. Yours truly, Captains Roy and Margaret Scott, Pastors, The Salvation Army Violent acts onlyhurt movement t By the way, where is the editor al on the Airborne Division? That is really when you can sink your teeth in. Choice words such as re- volting, sickening, repulsive, de- grading and many more would be a mild expression of what went on. The editor admired the courage of MP Svend Robinson. Will he himself now have the courage to take onhe army and also print this letter? Dear Editor: 1 waited this long before re- sponding to the vicious, unfounded attack by the editor on the pro-life people (Jan. 4). With 'over 50,000 members in Canada, it should be a credit to them that no one has ever been hurt by them in spite of the emotional nature that the protection of those unable to defend themselves brings out. The shooting of the doctor in British Columbia and the bombing of the Morgentaler clinic in Toron- to have as yet to be linked to the pro-life organization. Acts like these can only hurt the movement and therefore a $10,000 reward has been offered by Cam- paign Life to bring those to justice who are responsible for these acts. eluding: increased prices at the gas pump, taxes on lottery winnings, higher business taxes and higher taxes on utility consumers. The Committee also forwarded the pos- sibility of a temporary "deficit re- duction surtax" on all corporate and individual income. Additionally, Finance Minister Martin and his colleagues have re- fused to rule out: taxation of RRSPs, pension plans, taxation of health and dental benefits, on top of wealth and inheritance taxes. All told this multi -billion dollar list of potential tax hikes could amount to the largest single tax increase in Canadian history . Liberal MP Dennis Mills mused recently that "...Canadians will complain for a few days and then they'll roll over." I'm not so sure. The public is increasingly like a hornets' nest, tired of governments poking and prodding at them with a stick. The public is beginning to poke back. The Charlottetown Ac- cord began a clear trend in which millions of Canadians from coast to coast refused to be pushed into a vi- sion of the country imposed . on them by politicians. The federal election a year later witnessed one Please see WRITER// 4 We are an open organization, ready and able to talk to anyone. Our 'literature will reveal all. The editor's, rhetoric of "underground network", "hypocracy", "maniacs" and "intelligent lacking individu- als", all words used to describe the pro-life gn,ups, reeks of vindictive- ness. I still hold a little hope that ig- norance on his part blurred his good judgement. Without knowing the facts first hand, Mr. Wood also came down hard on the people who convicted Guy Paul Morin (Jan. 25) As irony will have it, in his edi- torial he says "We must do better when deealing with guilt or inno- cence of our people and that our own eccentricities should not serve as grounds for suspicion." Mr. Wood would do well to live by what he preaches. 30 -hour Famine success locally Dear Editor: Early February has been ear- marked as a time to talk about in- ternational development_ So what? In the midst of negative news im ages from Rwanda and other dis- mal African stories presented each night by our televisions, let me of- fer a slightly different view of Afri- can development - with a Wingham twist. Exactly 10 years ago the images of starving Ethiopians flooded our television screens. Many called it a famine of biblical proportions. It was. After the television cameras disappeared, relief agencies, in partnership with local communities,, turned t'o agriculture, afforestation, water programs and health care for long-term solutions to Ethiopia's ills. The goal? To prevent a rerun of Ethiopia's horrible images. Although our success in Ethiopia are -only a,beginning, they are sig- nificant to'the farmers who are now living beyond the subsistence level. Damota 1, a project funded by 30 - hour Famine participants from the Wingham area, is one of those suc- cesses. Last year students from across Ontario raised $662,000 for programs like Damota 1 through the annual 30 -hour Famine event. Over the years, villagers had stripped Damota region of its trees for shelter and firewood to cook meals. Today, through education and village -organized tree nurser- ies, thousands of trees dot the coun- tryside. New soil conservation tech niques and practical irrigation .pro- jects have given farmers the edge in fighting the periodic droughts which plague Africa. All of this was done by Ethiopians villagers with the assistance of Ethiopian ag- riculturalists. Although funding came from. the Wingham area, the work was done by Ethiopians them- selves. That is development. Good news stories like this don't make great TV images. They rarely even make the news, but for me it's much more exciting than any fast brealcing newsclip from Bosnia or Rwanda. As I ponder Development Week, I see a glimmer of hope reflected in the good works of the Ontario stu- dents who took part in the 30 -hour. Famine. These kids did more than talk — they acted. Their actions teach us that caring means involve- ment. caring means working with others. And caring means sacrifice. That too is development. Don Hepburn, World Vision Niagara and Mid Western Ontario Adrain Keet, Bluevale February Special! 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