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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1984-05-02, Page 1A .0;c01 ,1I� +of area de m, l#form dt+ lead �� .r money for a .new Iftergency and outpatient 'wing at the Wingbai, and District I ospital, Malty Vair, chairtnan•- 0! the hospital • board, anno�dfast week, The co anttee includes representatives. from ,each munigipalriepres ted on the hospital boar -d. Vair said the plena rs were chosen as a rest of con- sultationWith;: unicipal councillorseouneillorafOrliospitai board members: land the final committee was formed Odebet authority as board committee consists of .Alex Grahaam from i ori ick; Bob /terry, Turnberry; Audrey gardiff,, Morris; Deng Sholdice, Brussels; Betty Cardiff, Grey; Clarence" Hanna, Blyth and Nast Wawanosh; Marion Zinn, West Wawanosh and Ashfield; Frank MacKenzie, Kinloss; Rod McDonagh, Lucknow; Tom .Miller, Wingham, and George King, Teeswater. Don Thompson . of Teeswater will chair the finance arm of the fund- raaaifg cOmMittee, tam Vair added. Murray Cardiff, the Huron.-Bruc,e MP, has agreed • to be the honorary chatrfrt'an for the drive, however fire actual chair- men had not yet been selected. The committee was scheduled to hold its first meeting Tuesday night and it was expected to choose a chairman from within its ranks at that time. The committee will spear- head the drive to raise money for the new building project from individuals, fundraisI, groups and businesses in the hospital community. A final target for the fundraising drive has not been an- nounced, however figures ranging between $300,000 and $400,000 have been quoted in discussions of the project. The contract for the new wing has been awarded to Refflinghaus Construction of Goderich at a cost of about $1.5 million, and con- struction is expected to start at once. The price, which , does not include furnishings or equipment, was about $250,000 more than the 4 hospital board had exPe ed to pay for the 'kuflding however the Refflinghaus bid was the lowest of la received. The Ontario eaith Ministry has pro ' d t contribute $250,000 tow the project, with an ad-. ditional $93,750 to coii►e tom. Huron County. This leaveS about $1.15 million to be made up through the fund- raising campaign and from the hospital's own capital funds, which have been swelled in recent years by a series of budget surpluses, AND WHEN THE WIND BLOWS...—Wingham Town Council's decision about. what to do with the hose tower at the old fire hall was eased considerably this week. Strong winds Monday toppled the old landmark, reduc- ing it to kindling. Fire Chief Dave Crothers and Works Foreman Jack Van Camp surveyed the damage in preparation for starting clean-up. Council had been con- sidering attempting to save a portion of the tower as a heritage structure. Police budget adjusted u wing- special • -• Major items, „ iaYe,, t?gen elsia4OI►,Ipmittee's: •proposairk e'llt , "'added.. -he can , restored to the Wingham were based on a review of remember a - number of police budget, including all about a dozen other police years. ago when other the capital items requested forces around the area in communities were having by the chief, following a similarly -sized communi problems with their police special meeting of the police ties. and said he considers it a committee held last week. "Based on adjusted per tribute to this police force The net result has been to capita costs, we're still eight , that Wingham has escaped increase the 1984 police per cent above average," budget by $3,500, though it is about $18,000, he said. still some $3,100 below the He admitted some costs budget suggested by the are very difficult to control, chief. but said his committee has es Overall, the revised budg- pledged that where it can et represents an increase of control it will try to keep two and a half per cent over costs down. last year's actual police costs, eight per cent above Part of the reason for the last year's budget figure. higher per capita costs is the Higher than expected sal- fact that Wingham is slightly aries and benefits in 1983 underpopulated for the size drove costs substantially of its police department, he over budget. acknowledged, but even ,The police committee taking that into account its agreed to hold the special costs still place it in the top meeting, to which all in- half of the departments terested members of council surveyed. were invited, after Police That is why the committee Chief Robert Wittig told decided to look .at things like council last month he was phones, gas and convention not satisfied with the budget expenses as a way of saving set by the committee. money. Apart from the committee This led into a debate over members, only Councillors how the committee had Bruce Machan and Jack reached its conclusions Kopas attended, but they about how many phones are raised questions about some.. .needed in the police office of the committee's budget= and how much gas is burned trimming proposals, which in the cruisers. 'Mr. Miller included shavinkthe budgets maintained that since there for telephone, cruiser re- are only three phone lines pairs, as and oil, dues, fees into the office, it is not and travel and hydro. necessary to pay for four Mr. Wittig and Ken Shultz, telephones. the Ontario Police Com- However the chief, point- mission representative who Mg out that each phone is in carried out the evaluation of a specific area and for a the Wingham police force in specific use, claimed all are 1981, also attended the needed and said he would meeting. pay for the fourth phone out Police Chairman Tom of his own pocket if Miller told the group his necessary. committee's budget con- There also was an cerns are just an extension of argument over the area the concerns raised by a police should be patrolling, previous chairman, James with Mr. Miller and Coon - previous Currie, three years ago. cillor William Crump, also a At that time the committee member of the police explored reducing costs by committee, arguing that cutting staff, he said, but police should not patrol ended by concluding it was outside the boundaries of the not possible to reduce town while Mr. Wittig staffing without affecting the maintained it is impossible level of service. to set precise limits on the This committe has taken a patrol area. different tack, he explained. "We nhave the area around know what It accepts that the current the town. There are level of staffing, with five people full-time police officers, is living outside the boundaries not likely to change in the of the town who cause us a lot near future, so it looked at ' of trouble." other ways of trimming Eventually Mr. Machan, costs noting these arguments The earlier report looked could go on all night, ob- at reducing costs through a jected that the committee reduction in staffing, he said, was taking a "nickel and but he is not satisfied the dime" approach to budget - other operating costs were looked at too. Mr. Miller told the meeting major problems. He express- ed disgust over a letter to the editor of The Advance - Times last week which alleged high wages and over- staffing in the police depart- ment. Mr. Kopas said he could see a need for four phones, and Mr. Crump agreed he had no objection to the phones staying. Mr. Wittig, who warned the controversy was jeopardizing morale in the police force, also objected to the suggestion the police were wasting money. He pointed out that his proposed budget for 1984 was well within the guidelines of five per cent over 1983 actual costs established by council and saidhe didn't-hai"il ad any of the "fluff" suggested by Mr. Miller. The department is not costing more money, he said. Actually, with the improved provincial grant structure this year, the cost to Wing - ham ratepayers is reduced, yet it has been given no credit for that. In the end, the committee also voted to reinstate all the capital items requested by the chief: an $800 breath tester, a $1,500 alarm system for the police station, $250 for a revolver replacement and $750 for a video, cassette recorder to . be used in training and public relations presentations. The budgets for gas and oil and cruiser repairs were left at the lower level set by the committee, however the chief was assured that this did not mean council ex- pected him to park the cruisers if costs ran over budget. Former drop -outs, mature students Tile came back -glad. they did A few years ago, Shelley Jones (now `i Hubbard) and Cheryl Gavreluk were problem students. • Like •a lot of other teenagers, going to school did not rank near the top of the list of things they wanted to do. They did not like school, their grades were poor and they wanted out. So, when they turned 16 midway through .Grade 11, they quit, bidding farewellto the classrooms of Madill Secondary School to' seek money,• independence •and happiness in the working wor Now, four years later, both yoturg wolh , E'are school, but thhs ,nine the are glad to` be there They are working harder, their.grades_ are good and wen they graduate with Grade 12 diplomas at the end-• of this year it will mean something special to them. They will be two more success stories from the mature students'' program. WANTED TO MAKE MONEY What has made the dif- ference? "I was one of those dumb teenagers," explained Shelley, "I wanted to go out •and make'money." A diploma - just a piece of paper — didn't seem very important at the time and she was far from a model student anyway. Now .she has changed her mind. After working as a waitress, marriage and two children, she wants to be a nurse, and that requires a diploma. "I found, out you couldn't make mtich money wait- ressing and I was bored changing diapers and cooking meals. I wanted a career, and the only . way to do it was to come back to school." Already the mother of a two-year-old toddler, Shelley was pregnant again when she returned to Madill last fall, buu she didn't let that stop her. Her mother took over the babysitting, she said, and it has worked out very well. "I haven't found it difficult at all — and my marks are 10 times better than before." She credits this to a change in attitude: now she is working toward a goal, not just because she is forced to. With the maturity .credits granted on the basis of the time away from school, together with four subjects and one correspondence .course she is taking, she will • Hose tower blown down High winds aamage Winds gusting up to hurricane force ripped through southwestern On- tario Monday, damaging buildings and downing trees and power lines. At least in the Wingham area, however, damage appears to have been fairly light and there were no reports of any injuries connected to the storm. A number of trees and branches were downed in town and the surrounding area, in some cases damaging hydro lines and resulting in power interrup- tions. PUC Manager Ken Saxton reported a limb came down on Shuter Street early Monday, cutting off power to the area around the hospital, and an eavestrough flew up and hit the wires in the Diagonal•Roatl area, blowing fuses. Probably the most spec- tacular damage caused by the storm was the destruction of the old hose tower at the back of the Wingham Fire Hall. The tower, which was being used only for storage after failing Mg by shaving $200 from the to pass an engineering study phone budget and $500 from last year, blew over back - the gas and oil budget. wards across the roof of a A neighboring shed, taking down some hydro lines with it. Although the building had been condemned, some councillors had hoped to save at least a portion of the tower for its value as part of the town's heritag . By the time the storm was through with it, however, there was little left to salvage. There also were reports of trees down in the coun- tryside around Wingham. In one case a large maple split and crashed across the roof of the Rudy Hooftman home on Con. 7 of Turnberry Township, but the house appeared to have escaped with little damage apart from a squashed metal chimney and a forcibly disconnected hydro service. Some roofs were damaged. Metal sheathing blew off the roof of the Wingham Town Hall and several other buildings, and workmen were busy repairing the roof at the Turnberry Central School on Tuesday morning. The wind also carried away several of the flags along the main street and the sidewalk and street in one area were covered with glass Monday afternoon, ap- parently as the result of a window being blown out. The winds moderated by BACK IN SCHOOL after four years in the work force, Shelley Hubbard and Cheryl Gavreluk ate finding things easier the second time around. Both admit they were far from being model' students, when they quit high school in Grade 11 at age 16, but now, with clearer goals and a better attitude, their grades are good and they look forward to graduating with a Grade 12 diploma at the end of this year. roofs trees drop gust ing as tem p - ratu , es However the outlook for d, but tinued o later in the week is for an norma conditions' to improve . hi mission to the RNA training school. TOO MANY HASSLES 1 Cheryl, a classmate and, close friend of Shelley's the first time around, finds herself back in school for many of the same reasons, although her experiences, have been different. She says she quit school because there were just too many hassles at the time. She was having family problems and problems at school and it was easier just. to leave. After having worked as a cleaning lady, janitor and and has applied for ad - Grass fire in Morris Twp. Wingham firefighters were called out last Friday to a grass fire on the first concession of Morris Town- ship. Firemen responded to the call at approximately 1:30 p.m. to the property of Andrew . Nieuwenhuis. A spokesman for the depart- ment reported very little damage as a result of the fire, only a few cedar posts were burned. Local delegates are chosen for June convention The riding of Huron -Bruce held its delegate selection last Thursday evening for next month's Liberal leadership convention. About 130 local Liberals gathered at the Seaforth. Public School to select seven delegates for the June 16 convention and five alter- nates. Mrs. Heather Reddick of Zurich and Mrs. Muriel Murphy of Goderich are the two women delegates, while Paul and Michael Murphy, also of Goderich, are the two youth delegates. Bruce MacDonald of Formosa, Paul Steckle of Zurich and Mac Inglis of Belmore fill out the delegates' roster. Alternates to the con- vention are Jennie Madden of Goderich, Kirsten Arm- strong of Teeswater, Howard Aitken of Goderich, Beecher Menzies, Clinton, and Trudy Holmes of Wingham. DOWNED DY THE STORM --High winds Monday split a big maple tree at the Rudy Hooftman farm on Con. 7 of Turnberry Township, bringing part of the tree crashing down on the house. Fortunately the house escaped With little damage, apart from a flattened metal chimney and a disconnected electrical service. superinten en o an apart iiient,-lb ii1ditig:61:' Niiohtitai, "an urge" brought "her back to the classroom. She was . depressed with her work; finding the lack of a diploma standing in the way of. any advancement. "Anyplace you go ' to, Grade 12 is the minimum for what they want," she ex- plained, "the basis for any career." Although she is not looking for any specific career at the moment, she does want to be able to gain entry to jobs with an op- portunity for promotion — so long as she doesn't have to weara dress. EVERYONE IS FRIENDLY What does it feel like to go back to high school after being away for four years? Both Shelley and Cheryl said they have not found it dif- ficult, though they have noticed changes. "It felt weird the first day, Please turn to Page 5 1 Local man sentenced on theft charges ... h .. .i!i _.ar►z- man-has-been- sentenced ►carr-h - - A W g as l:�e�.,n sentenced to 90 days in the Walkerton County Jail on charges of theft and unlawful entry. Darryl Cranston, 18, of Highland Drive, was sen- tenced April 27 at the Goderich Provincial Court after pleading guilty to the charges. He had been charged with the theft of two vehicles from Wingham, a car belonging to Paul Rintoul and a $75,000 truck from Joe Clark, as well as unlawful entry and theft of a small amount of money from a house in Lower Town. Strike continues at Lloydfactory A strike by about 140 workers at the Premium - Lloyd door factory in Wingham is continuing to drag on, with so far no end in sight. Negotiations last week brought the two sides closer together, but broke off with- out a settlement having been reached. Wages continue to remain a stumbling block in the negotiations. The company last week raised its offer to 40 cents an hour increase in each year of a two-year contract, but this was rejected by the workers, who have been seeking a raise of 55 cents in both years. Spokesmen for both sides could not be reached for comment this week and there has been no report on when negotiations might resume. `1 ;o- s