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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance Times, 1995-05-03, Page 1If you're not subscribing to The Wkiphern Advsrwa-Tkrns, you're missing out. Use this coupon below and subscribe today! Herne: Address: Prov.: Postel Code: • subscription rates Canada within 40 rnNee (86km) ad- dressed to non letter carrier address- es $27 plus 91.89 GST. Outside 40 miles (85km) or any letter carrier addrssef40 plus $2.80 GST. Ouside Canada $80 plus $5.60 GST USEYOUR CREDIT CARD Card No. DDDDaao❑ DDaDDDDD Expiry_Date . _ Visa LJ Master Card L_} Cheque enclosed ❑ Return To: WINOHAM ADVANCE -TIMES P.O. Box 390, 5 Diagonal Road Wingham, Ontario, NOG 2W0 Council seat declared vacant Newcomer to council leaves after 5 months Bob Steffen, who joined Council in the last elec- tion as one of four new- comers to municipal politics has resigned his seat on Wingham Town Council. Steffen cited health problems as his reason behind tendering his resignation. His notice, ef- fective immediately. was ac- cepted with regret. The acceptance of his resig- nation now leaves council in a slight conundrum. They have three options facing them to fill the vacant seat. A motion was passed, accord- ing to the municipal act declar- ing the'seat vacant. Council now can either conduct a by-election for the council seat, appoint the person with the highest votes in the November election that did not win a council position, or appoint a candidate they feel worthy. Although the matter has been sent to the finance and manage- ment committee for review, po- litical insiders feel a by-election would be too costly to run, leav- ing the town with two choices. It should be noted that none of the options have been ruled out at the present time. A similar situation arose last in the 1980s at which time the council opted to fill the seat through appointment. Coming up next week in the A -T Stephen Lewis spoke to those at the Excellence In Education banquet and the Huron County teachers. Page 7. Identifying goods and services that are needed in Wingham's service area. The contest continues,. Page 7. The Junior C Ironmen and Brussels Bulls passed out their awards this weekend. See' Sports 75 Three nurses let go at WDH Grease...An excerpt from the Broadway production and movie of the same name, "Grease" will be presented during Madill Secondary School's fourth annual Performance Showcase, which begins tonight at the Wingham high school. Shows will also be held Thursday and Friday evenings, with the show getting under way at 7 p.m. Madill showcases talent The fourth annual Perfor- mance Showcase opens tonight in the Ain gymnasium of F.E. Madill Secondary School in Wing ham. The Performance Showcase will also be held Thursday and Friday evenings, beginning at 7 p.m. The Drama Club has been re- hearsing since before Christmas on this year's extravaganza, which will feature excerpts from a number of top rated Broadway plays. These include Cats, Grease, Hair, and Jesus Christ Superstar. Also featured during the per- formance are a number of come- dy sketches, from Monty Python to original sketches, and also dance drama. Drama Club director Louanna Alexander said this year's per- formance will feature an amaz- ing light show. During the 10 -minute inter- mission, the school's stage band will be playing next door in gym 254. Wescast Industries had a big celebration this past week to mark one million employee hours of no lost time. The feat was accomplished through an extensive safety campaign and training. Next week well have a story. on how the local foundry and machining operation was able to reach this goal. Hospital news Editorial Letters Sports Page 2 Page 4 Page 5 Page 8 Bowling Awards Page 8 T.V. Guide Page 12 Classifieds Horoscopes Crossword Page 13 Page 17 Page 1/ A LOOK AT...... Stephen Lewis addresses Huron County teachers dur- ing P.D. day program. Page 7 The Winghem Advance -Times is a member of a family of community newspapers providing news. edverttafng and information leadership Town Hall now smoke-free The Wingham Town Hall is now officially a smoke- free building. Town council made the motion to ban smoking from the building in a surprising unanimous vote Monday night. Council had been confronted with both provin- cial legislation and concerns regarding their previous smoking by-law. Buildings accessible to the public must either have designated smoking areas, or be smoke-free. The town will now examine how to deal with cigar- ette butts in front of their building as people move out- side to smoke. Wild dogs have As a result of too many full- time nurses, the Wingham and District Hospital has been forced to lay off three registered nurses. Chief executive officer Lloyd Koch told the April meeting of the hospital board last Thursday that as long ago as last summer it was known that the hospital had too many full-time nurses that needed to be scheduled ac- cording to the union contract onto only two shifts and with only one weekend in three be- ing worked. He noted that this created over shifting or extra nurses on day shifts during the week, pri- marily through the summer. "As we began looking toward the summer of 1995, it became apparent that more exlra shifts would occur unless we took ac- tion to reduce the full-time posi- tions and increase the number of part-timers in order to give us more flexibility," said Koch. The CEO said that after much analysis, it was determined that one full-timer and one job - sharing position, occupied by two part-timers, would have to be reduced on the second floor. He added that it was agreed with the union that in addition to posting a notice indicating the layoffs that the affected em- ployees would be notified and given an explanation of their options in writing. 'This is not intended to be a reduction in the amount of work being done by RNs, but rather a step to increase the flexibility of the times when nurses would be scheduled for shifts and reduce the number of times that nurses are required to be scheduled for work when they are not actually required," Koch emphasized. Five Madill students honoured at banquet Five students from F.E. Madill Secondary School in Wingham were honored Thursday evening at the Excellence in Education ban- quet held at the Goderich Town- ship Hall in Holmesville. The five students receiving awards were Lisa Alexander, Heather Askes, Sandra Busby, Brandon Coultes, and Carolyn Els- ton. Also receiving awards, from Madill, were teacher Doug Neil, teaching assistant Harry Train and Anna Gibbons, a member of the community. council howling BELGRAVE - Packs of dogs run- ning loose in East Wawanosh Township has caused concern among some residents of the town- ship. And, that concern has reached the township office in Belgrave. Clerk treasurer Winona Thompson told the regular meeting of town- ship council last Tuesday evening, that she had received two more complaints about dogs running wild. Some councillors have driven by the property in question and have not seen any dogs. Mean- while, on other occasions, town- ship employees have driven by and observed close to 40 dogs run- ning loose on the property. Council is concerned that noth- ing can be done about the problem until somebody gets hurt or live- stock of one of the dogs is killed. The concern is that the property owner was given a kennel licence by the township dog counter earli- er this year. Council feels it is the word kennel that is creating the problem, because it iS difficult to define. The dog counter also left 29 dog tags for the adult dogs. Under the current by-law, it is up to the disgression of the dog counter as to what constitutes a kennel. It was noted that the dog coun- ter was only doing what had previ- ously been done. Some councillors said that the by-law should be changed for next year, to make it clear that with a kennel licence, the owner has to ensure the dogs are on a leash or confined. Coun. Jim Campbell made a motion that would allow the dog counter to talk to the owner an..• request the return of the dog tags and to make sum the dogs are con- fined. If the owner does not com- ply to the request, within 30 days of notification, the kennel licence will be revoked. Guest speaker for the evening was former Canadian ambassador to the United Nations, Stephen Lewis. Please see EXCELLENCE/7 Township tax rate climbs for 1995 9ELGRAVE - The taxpayers of East Wawanosh Township will face a mill rate increase for 1995. The mill rate from the township is 6.906 mills, compared to last years rate of 6.854, for an increase of 0.76 per cent. The increase from the county portion of the mill rate is zero per cent. The township taxpayer will pay $98.70 more this year for every $100,000 of assessment. The as- sessment is based on 1994 figures. The mill rate for the public school supporter is 20.477 mills, up from last year's rate of 19.490 mills, for an increase of 5.07 per cent. The elementary school mill rate is 5.952, as compared to last year's rate of 5.061, or an increase of 17.61 per cent for elementary schools. The rate for secondary schools this year is 4.688, com- pared to last year's rate of 4,644, for an increase of .0.95 per cent. The separate school supporter will face a modest 1.27 per cent increase. In 1994, the mill rate was 19.796, and this year the rase is 20.048. The increase is two per cent across the board, from 5.361 mills in 1994 for elementary schools to 5.468 mills this year, and for secondary schools the rate increased from 4.650 in 1994 to 4.743 in 1995. A 1