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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 2016-07-20, Page 22 Lucknow Sentinel • Wednesday, July 20, 2016 Customers say closure is a 'shame' CONTINUED FROM > PAGE 1 He clarified that the land- lord was not trying to increase the rent. According to Township of Huron -Kinloss records, the landlord is numbered com- pany 686687 Ontario Ltd. Though Knechtel would not reveal the name of the company to The Sentinel, he did say he is one of its three shareholders. He said following the failed rent negotiations he tried to acquire the shares held by the other two parties, but when that was also unsuccessful he and his wife decided to close the store. "Because of that we've decided we had to make this decision. We've been here for 30 years. We appreciate the effect it has on the com- munity. We're certainly not ignorant that it's going to have a fairly wide-ranging effect. There's roughly 20 employees. We understand that it's rough for them as well, but we have to make a decision based on a business basis," he said. The Sentinel has been unable to name the other shareholders of the num- bered company by press time. According to the Facebook post, the landlord gave Kne- chtel Food Market 15 days from July 12 to vacate the leased premises unless Kne- chtel paid the rent the com- pany had set. The post con- tinues that the landlord refused the store's request for a leeway of 60 days to close the store. Taped to the store's front Fi r:®.'dlcL I l °Dark . r IONQAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY TFIl F n1Av IFFtI'brtY -TI +Ear SUNCAY Darryl Coote/Reporter Brian Knechtel, owner and president of Knechtel Food Market, is pictured in reflection talking to a customer about his store's closure, which was announced on Facebook and in the notice seen here taped to the grocery store's front doors. door and large panoramic side window was a notice informing its customers of the impending closure. Many were shocked by the news. "I'm very disappointed," said local resident Steve Neeb on exiting the store where he shops four to five times a week. "... It's the life- blood of a little town, right? It's very disappointing. We need a grocery store in town and this has been here for 30 years keeping us going" Steve Bushell said its clo- sure is a shame, and now people will be taking their money out of Lucknow for daily necessities. "Everybody's going to have to go into town," he said. "You lose your local business, you lose the con- venience of buying in town. You just got to go out of town." Cathy Rutledge of Holy - rood was shopping at Knechtel Food Market Friday for bread and milk and other items to get one through the week, she said. "It's pretty sad. All the people that live here that don't drive, they're going to have to go to Wingham or Goderich," she said. The store is one of the bigger businesses in Lucknow, she said, and its closure might have a nega- tive economic effect of the town. Asked where she would now go for groceries, she said probably Kincardine. "I don't think it's a good thing," she said. Bruce County, McMaster team up to fight seniors' health risks Don Crosby Sun Times correspondent Bruce County is partner- ing with Hamilton's McMas- ter University in a health risk assessment program for seniors. The project will be carried out by the county's para- medics and is designed to cover a checklist of risk fac- tors for several chronic diseases. "It's to do studies with McMaster University as far as helping the elderly deter- mine what sort of risks they have and keeping them from using the emergency depart- ment when they don't need to and getting them more support where they are liv- ing right now," Raymond Lux, acting director of Bruce County EMS, said during a presentation to Bruce County councillors July 7, 2016. 'And we see paramed- ics as highly trained and able to do that sort of thing." The project is a health assessment and health pro- motion program for resi- dents living in the county's subsidized seniors resi- dences. It focuses on cardio- vascular and falls risk assessment, diabetics and people at risk of stroke. It will help residents to take action to address risks for these chronic conditions. Bruce County housing services will help identify subsidized seniors housing buildings in the community and will assist with imple- menting and evaluating any intervention. Seniors apartments at 401 Cayley St. in Walkerton and 621 Mary St. in Wiarton have been selected to start. The study will be carried out by paramedics who are on modified duties, due to injury or pregnancy. Should there not be enough staff available on modified duties Grey County EMS would assist in staffing the clinics. Grey County already has a similar program using dedi- cated community paramedics. "We're not taking vehicles off the road or anything like that ... when we have para- medics on modified duties we often have trouble find- ing light duties for them and this will keep them doing skills they are trained in," Lux said. Local public health officials will be asked to provide details of their community health and chronic disease prevention resources to the EMS team. They will also be included in the health promotion aspects of the paramedics training program based on local context. Lux said the aim of the program is to help resi- dents reduce the risks involved in several chronic diseases, "as well as inform them of the appropriate uses of 911, when to go to emergency department or when to call their family doctor?' Training for the paramed- ics involved in the study will be provided by the study coordinators from McMaster University. The sessions will be offered weekly for up to a year starting in September. The team will have a monthly teleconference to communicate updates and progress and any chal- lenges with McMaster University. All of the collaborating institutions will provide McMaster University with a final report by Sept. 30, 2017.