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The Lucknow Sentinel, 1978-01-18, Page 16• ' WEDNESDAY; JANUARY18, 1978: THE LUCK$OW SENTINEL LUCKNOW, ONTARIO Board endorses using Wintario funds . The Huron County Board of Education supported a resolution • that the govern- ment of Ontario consider making boards of education eligible for Wintario grants. The Huron board°agreed with the resolution at its regular meeting Wednesday. The resolution, adopted by the Simcoe board of education in November of 1977, asked the province to consider making Wintario funds available to boards to finance needed general purpose .rooms and library resource centres. The Simcoe board noted in its request for support that, :the ministry of education, due to financial limitations, is unable to fund capital projects for school boards other than those projects which will .provide additional. pupil places. Many school boards in the province are unable to generate finances to take on these projects on their own and 'are thus unable' to provide ` the. general purpose rooms and library centres. Wintario funds , are available to communities for municipal projects not supported by tax dollars. The money is available for public . projects endorsed, and sup- ported by municipalities but not paid for through collected taxes or special purpose taxes. The Wintario funds are matched dollar for' dollar against money collected in the community through donations or fund raising projects. . The Sirncoe, board reasoned that the facilities it suggests be eligible for Wintario funds are available and used' frequently by the general public. Many times the facilities in _the schools are the only ones in the com- munity and are used for cultural a and recreational activities. • Colborne trustee Shirley Hazlitt told the board that she agreed in principle with the resolution but felt that con- struction of the facilities should not be a priority. She said declining enrolment in the province is reducing the .'need for ' construction programs and she felt the CONTINUED ON PAGE 29 PRE -FINISHED WALL .PANELS SIZE.4 FT. x 8 FT. Canadian Maple Overlay. Panel at $8.19 Per Panel ALSO Coloured Nails and Matching Vinyl Motuding JOHN LUMBER LTD. IN STOCK STA -DRI MASONRY PAINT WHITE A, PHONE 528-3118 • . 1..t CKNO`''VV PAGE FIFTEEN Loreen and Alfie Dale display a few of his .Hasty Notes. The notes produced in several series contain many of the well-known artist's.,sketches. The Dales have•been Seaforth residents for the past two years and claim it is a good town for physically disabled people to reside in. ur•it•attistheiped by March ofDimes A... , young...,. artist,living in Seaforth, who is totally paralyzed from the neck down; is looking forward to -next summer because of a wheelchair lift which has been provided for him .by the Ontario March of Dimes. "Withthe wheelchair lift that the March of Dimes has provided the people of Seaforth will be seeing a lot of me this summer,'" says ' Alfie Dale who was paralyz- '. ed thirteen years ago when he ,dove from a swimming raft into . Chesley Lake outside Owen ' Sound'. The , raft was less than three feet above the water' and the water 'was a considerable depth, but the force of entering the water from eventhis low height was enough to fracture his neck. The damage done to his neck and spinal column resulted in the paralysis and caused him to be bedridden for an entire year. Today . Alfie and his wife, Loreen, who were married just six weeks before the , accident, are living in an old home a' block from the main street in Seaforth. The wheelchair, 'lift not only allows Alfie to get in and out of the house easily, but it .gives a greater freedom of choice when selecting a place to live. Up until now Alfie was forced to consider homes that had few or no steps because Loreen could not get him up a full set of stairs. Alfie,'. who is now an accom- plished artist, spends much of the day creating sketches for upcom- ing „art . sales • and for ''hasty. notes . His sketches include . such subjects as fishing boats, antiqu es, landscapes, trees and , his favourites ubject, churches,- Wthou*the>use of his hands or feet, Alfie draws by holding the drawing instrument in his teeth. His artistic talents were not fully realized until after. his accident. With : the encouragement of : his wife, • he worked and studied continuously to develop his `tal- ent. It takes 'a lot of practice, to, develop a smooth steady stroke,"- says Alfie. • - The mainstay of his business is the selling of the hasty notes: which Loreen packages in groups often and sells . to various gift shops and organizations that use them for fund raising. Unfortunately, businessis not doing so well as it could because of the difficulty of . getting to customers.. "It's not that people don't like ,. them" says Alfie, ."but rather that we can't get 'out to the shops and . organizations -to let 'them know they are available." Most of Loreen's time is spent seeing to Alfie's needs and taking care of their small home. For the past three months, he has eased up on his sketching to study for his ham operator's license even though he does not have ' a ham set. • "I enjoy taking the course for interest sake and I hope to own a set some day," sayd Alfie. A:fie considers the town of Seaforth a great ' place for physically disabled people. The streets have no major hills so ,his wife can push him around town without too much difficulty. Alfie is hopeful that the town„of Seaforth will one day have curb cuts; a .method of cutting the curbs to form a ramp that meets flush with the road surface. "With the curbs cut, the town would be so, much easier to get around," " says Alfie, "Those four inchbumps are hard on a person in a wheelchair ° and make it difficult to cross streets." Alfie is .sure that there will be curb cuts on •the. streets of his town soon, because the people of Seaforth are. .sensitive 'to the needs of the physically; disabled. Seaforth people are .. concerned with making their town' 'a 'place where all residents are encourag- ed to use the town. J "They seem to have a people orientation," he observes. Making life easier for hundreds of men and women like Alfie Dale is what the Ontario `March of Dimes and communities like Seaforth are all about. • After all, a rather small amount of help to Alfie in the form of a wheelchair lift, allows Alfie to be a more active member of his community: IN IBth CENTURY REV. STEPHEN HALES SOUGHT\TO LEARN "WITH WHAT FORCE THE HEART MUST PROPEL THE BLOOD" HE INSERTED TUBE IN MARE'S NECK ARTERY aL'OOD ROSE 9FEET! HISTORY'S FIRST MEASUREMENTBLOOD REURE