Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Times Advocate, 2006-02-15, Page 820 Ib. Box f Seedless p Navel Oranges I or Ruby Red Grapefruit 0 0 $2000 per box ///iii/ 1 8 Exeter Times -Advocate Wednesday, February 15, 2006 Writers discuss future of Huron Park, political problems and Trivitt matter Huron Park airport important to economy As a local resident concerned about the future of Huron Park, I would like to commend the Times - Advocate for their consistent coverage as events unravel there. Last week's T -A article about the MD -87 jet's arrival for refurbishment at Goderich Aircraft Inc. (Huron Park) makes a strong case for retaining the Huron Park air- port as part of a local job retention/economic develop- ment plan. The Municipality of South Huron appears reluctant to purchase/maintain the airport. It is estimated that annu- al costs for Huron Park airport insurance/maintenance would total about $200,000. I would suggest an airport commission could be formed to operate the Huron Park airport at no cost to local ratepayers. An annual world-class aviation -related event held at Huron Park could raise enough funds to support airport operations. World-class event at Huron Park? Consider the fact that in 1950, Huron Park, formerly RCAF Station Centralia, provided training for the first NATO -member pilot trainees and continued in this role until 1959. NATO continues today and has been described as the greatest single achievement in strategic alliance in histo- ry I have proposed we celebrate the `Birthplace of NATO Pilot Training" (Huron Park) by hosting an annual cele- bration of past and present NATO achievements. Tents would be erected to allow local ethnic clubs represent- ing NATO -member countries to serve their food and drink as part of a multicultural festival. These could include Dutch, Greek, Italian, German, Belgian and Portuguese clubs prominent in this area. NATO -member aircraft would arrive at Huron Park and personnel would be greeted by representatives of these groups. This would make for a celebration/fundraiser next to none. I would suggest community -minded residents contact members of municipal council and encourage them to negotiate with the Province of Ontario for the purchase (for a nominal fee) of the Huron Park airport. After all, we create our own destiny. (WALLY) PETER FYDENCHUK, Crediton Facts are not always facts There has been a lot of talk and information and as usual, rumours about the recent Trivitt Memorial Anglican Church's endowment. When I read last week's letter to the editor from Bob Sims I felt compelled to answer this letter as there are too many things that are just not the way they are, as mentioned by Bob. I was sitting on the church board at the time the Grimes estate blessed the church, and as a member of the finance committee, feel that the silence of the lead- ers of the church has been respectful and professional. But now the point has come I believe something needs to be said. There are a few points I would like to correct here, not only for Bob, but also for other people in this town who believe everything that is said through the rumour mill. 1. Not at any time did the finance committee with its five members talk about the Grimes' estate executors' fee! It was never on the agenda. There are no records in the minutes of this. If it is otherwise, please show us the paper! 2. The board only brought up the issue of the execu- tors' fees, as the board was required to approve the per- centage that the lawyer of the executors sent us. Since all of the board did not know enough about estates and executors' fees we needed to educate ourselves first before we made such a decision. Therefore we had to seek professional help through a legal advisor, a lawyer. The advice from the lawyer was that the percentage paid should reflect the amount of work performed by the executors. The board of directors of Trivitt needed to make a decision on what percentage they thought was the true one. The only other option by law was to go directly to a judge and let him or her decide what is the true percentage. Certainly the board could have decided different, but to be a director of a charity requires 'due diligence' at all times. If the directors are not executing 'due diligence' the church could easily have lost its status of a charity and could have been sued by anyone. We would lose our ability to issue tax receipts and be required to pay taxes on every dollar made on interest. In the past year there were 15 Anglican churches, several other churches of various denominations and charities revoked for different rea- sons. The board recommended this (to seek an impar- tial judgement) to the congregational - annual meeting where a motion by myself was moved to go forward with this procedure and the motion passed with well over 3/4 of all votes. The board did not make the deci- sion! At its annual vestry meeting the congregation decided to go ahead. This is documented with all names present at this meeting. Read the church's public min- utes, please, before putting false information in the papers. So, I am not sure about this 99 per cent of the congre- gation that were assumed to be against the board. This has certainly been a tough and uncomfortable situation for the board and the congregation, that this procedure involved a family of our church. Even more the board wanted to make sure a third party, impartial and not connected with the church, decided. Now I ask anyone who reads this; would not any rea- sonable thinking director of an organization as such have acted similarly or the same? Yes, we received a great and generous gift from Mildred Grimes. The amount of money received with tremendous thankful- ness by the church of over $5 million, will be likely exposed to an audit by the government. And why not? It should be, as any donated money should not end up in the wrong hands. It didn't matter to the church at any time how much the executors would receive, as long as it was justified. There are a few questions left. Why did the judge value the fee only for 2.5 per cent? Are you questioning the judge? And why did Mildred not give Edna more than the $25,000 she wanted her to have? Anyone who wants to question the church for this decision needs to go to the judge himself, not the church! Towards the leadership and pastoral care in this mat- ter? I would be very careful not to make statements at all as the pastoral care is nobody's business. I trust our Rev. Ward fully in his job as he has proven himself sev- eral times to the people's congregation and wouldn't address this in the papers at any time, as this is person- al. And to top all this, we church members get collectively called greedy? Just think before you speak or write. I have been a regular attendee at Trivitt church for nine years but I don't know you, Bob, as I have never met you in the past nine years. I couldn't find your name on the parish list. I hoped I would have. How can you judge others and me if you don't know us? Not one per- son except the executors benefited from the gift person- ally; it was a gift to the church and deserves to be stew- arded as well as Mildred would have wished. The whole emotional upheaval of this story was not necessary at all. The people to blame for all the confu- sion are the people who blame others. As you stated, Bob, "sane thinking people would appreciate this gift". The leaders of this church acted with due diligence. Thanks to the church wardens, the directors and the minister for doing a great and difficult job. FRIEDHELM HOFFMANN, Lucan only a total of $1,656. I feel this is almost a "punish- ment" because both are disabled through no fault of their own or anyone else's. Do you not agree that the income should be $1,800 which is a total for each indi- vidual combined? Also, my husband is a very fragile diabetic who is now on insulin injections five times a day, unless he needs to eat in between the injections, which is another injection he has to take. My concern is that while ODSP will cover his fast -acting insulin, they will not cover the long lasting which makes absolutely no sense. His life literally hangs in your hands Mr. McGuinty ... he's only 36 years of age, 40 pounds underweight, only one type of his insulin is cov- ered, and that's only some of the problems he's facing. He desperately needs certain nutrients that are crucial to his state of health, and the only way that is going to happen is if you either bring back the previous diet allowance forms, or give us a 40 per cent increase. I have suffered a severe digestion problem for three years that, to the doctors, is still unknown, and they have only been able to tentatively diagnose me with Irritable Bowel Syndrome with chronic constipation. I could handle that except for one large problem — there is only one prescription for this disorder, and that is Zelnorm, which isn't covered! So I've had to literally suf- fer in silence. Mr. McGuinty, living this way is humiliating, degrad- ing, not to mention what it does to our state of emotional health, such as severe, chronic depression. We're not asking for the world, just enough to live on comfortably. I was once told that for a family of two to live comfortably, they needed an income of at least $2,100 a month, and this was three years ago, so I'd imagine it would be more now since the cost of living has surely gone up. This brings me to one more vast concern, and that is the utility bills. You yourself know how ridiculously high the gas and hydro bills are, as you also must pay them yourself, I'm sure. These are obviously just one of the reasons we, the ODSP recipients, are constantly strug- gling to make ends meet. Did you know that stress of this kind, when chronic and seemingly never-ending, causes illnesses and dis- abilities? It literally renders the major organs, among other internal parts, to shut down and die. I'm sure you must know about the statistics of deaths from heart attacks, cancer, diabetes, (both juvenile, type 1, and adult, type 2), abuse to men, women and chil- dren, not to mention the incredibly high rates of suicide, and this is just to name a few. They say, "Death begins in the colon," and that is pre- cisely why it is crucial for the impoverished to have the financial means to afford the nutrients our bodies need to live a healthy lifestyle. Living on cheap processed, or deteriorated and rotten foods from a food bank just doesn't cut it, and is only accelerating the death process. In closing, Mr. McGuinty, I want to say that I don't want to die an early death knowing that my life was meaningless, especially to my little girl. We all have a divine purpose in life, including you, Mr. McGuinty, so please use your God-given ability which I know is com- passion, as we all have it. You just need to apply it to those who are much less fortunate than yourself. May you do the right thing for your fellow man, and may God bless you. TRACEY CHADWICK Huron Park Open letter to McGuinty I am just one of many people on disability through ODSP, along with my husband. I know you must get hundreds of e-mails a day that are either threatening or at least nasty, but I am not one of those people ... I don't believe in violence of any sort to get an answer or results. Therefore, this is just a let- ter sharing what my husband and I go through so that you might get a personal glimpse into the lifestyle of the impoverished. I am grateful for financial support so that we have a roof over our heads, and food to eat, but, unfortunately, it's still not enough. By the time we get our pay in the bank, we pay our rent, pay our bills, buy what little food we can afford, and put gas in the car. After all that, we might have about $150 to do us for the next 30 days. We were doing OK with a diet allowance, but now that it's been changed, I am going to lose $220 a month. My husband is only getting $42 a month for his diabetes which, by the way, it is almost impossible to buy the food he needs to stay healthy. I on the other hand can now only receive $10 a month, which is very humiliating to say the least.I have not bothered to send in the review form for that $10, as I'm sure you wouldn't either. Mr. McGuinty, my husband has only just been placed on ODSP since November 2005, after a two-year battle to be accepted on it, only to receive $151 a month! This makes no sense to me as a single person gets $900 and change a month, yet when two are on the system, it's Conservative Party of Canada On behalf of the Conservative Party of Canada and myself, I would like to thank each and every person who supported me during the 2006 General Election Campaign. We would not have achieved such a high level in the polls without the input of a lot of people doing a great many things correctly. The experience I have gained from discussing ideas and concerns with the constituents of Huron and Bruce Counties has been invaluable and will serve to keep me focused on the issues within our riding. I look forward to reconnecting with you in the coming months. Please keep in touch: Ben@BenLobb.com Indian River Direct CITRUS TRUCKLOAD SALE opymp I [I MONDAY, FEB. 20 /10:00 A.M. - 12 NOON e.I / EMMANUEL BAPTIST / CHURCH Fresh from the Grove - Indian River, Florida 00 0 ,iArffiiir