The Lucknow Sentinel, 1986-06-11, Page 1PUBLISHED IN LUCKNOW, ONTARIO
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 1986
Noutwo
Gordon Saunders .(foreground) and H. Gordon Brindley auctioned off a variety of goods
during the Dungannon. United Church's auction sale at the Agricultural Hall on June 7. In
addition a number of household items, over 100 antique wooden chairs were offered. (Alan
Rivett photo)
Council discusses development
Architect Nicholas Hill and A.J. Sherwood
attended the June 3 meeting of West
Wawanosh Township Council to present the
proposed development of Sherwood Forest
Lodge for council's comments and
questions.
In other business council decided to apply
to the Ontario Minister of Housing for a
grant for an Ontario Home Renewal Pro-
gram (OHRP), a program of forgiveable
and repayable loans to fund home im-
provements on a geared to income basis.
The clerk is also to contact Inspector
Larry Struthers of the Ministry of the En-
vironment to have him attend the July
meeting of council in regard to ad-
ministrative procedures at the dump. The
dump's supervisor will also be requested to
attend the meeting.
The Lucknow clerk is to be notified that
councillor Rhea Hamilton- Seeger has been
appointed the second representative from
West Wawanosh to the Arena Board.
Council passed the rating by-law to cover
imposition of special rates on several
township properties to cover loans for tile
drainage.
The road superintendent received four
dealers' quotations for a new mower for
grass cutting which were opened and
discussed at length. Council decided to
advertise in three local papers for one week
for tenders for cutting roadside grass during
the current summer.
Road superintendent George Humphrey
also reported that reconstruction on the Col-
borne - West Wawanosh boundary road was
underway and council discussed the ques-
tion of where to obtain finer B gravel for ap-
plication over the rough initial application.
Council agreed to grant the sum of $1100 to
Blyth and District Community Centre board
for the year and made a grant of $150 to the
Auburn Community Memorial Hall Board to
assist with necessary updating of the water
system.
County councillors stunned
by grant request denial
By Alan Rivett
You could have heard a pin drop in the
Huron County Council chambers after it
was announced the county's request for
$750,000 for renovations to Huronview was
turned down by the Ministry of Communi-
ty and Social Services during the meeting
on June 5.
Huronview Administrator Wayne
Lester, in answering a question by Exeter
Reeve Bill Mickle regarding the funding
situation, told council he had been inform-
ed by Minister John Sweeney moments
before the council meeting that the
county's grant request had been denied for
the nursing home near Clinton.
"I think we just lucked out. I don't have
any other answers," said a disappointed
Mr. Lester.
First phase
The first phase of the $1.5 million expan-
sion and renovation project at the county -
run nursing home was slated to,begin this
.yearrwith,matching funds from the county
and province. }Iuron .County' had. placed
$750,000 for the project in their 1986 budget
set in Mardi with the assessments already
passed on to the municipalities.
Calling the funding situation a
"schmauzel",' Mr. Mickle chastised the
government for going back on its promise
to provide funding for the project which
was assured to Hurdn County prior to last
year's municipal election.
"We got trapped" •
"1 can't understand what the heck is go-
ing on (with the government). We were go-
ing to collect money for the project with
the understanding of matching funds . for
the project. Now, we find the money is not
in place... We jumped at having a lot of
money and we got trapped," he said.
He recommended to council that the
money collected this year towards the pro-
ject should be returned to the
municipalities to be used for "future works
in these municipalities."
Stanley Township Reeve Clarence Rau,
however, disagreed with Mr. Mickle's pro-
posal, saying that the county should hold
the municipal funds for the project until
government money becomes available.
Colborne Reeve Russel Kernighan also
concurred with Mr. Rau's proposal.
Meals on Wheels gets grant
The Meals on Wheels from Lucknow will
receive a New., Horizons grant from the
federal Ministry of Health and Welfare for
$2,325.
The money will be used to cover the cost
of the disposable styrofoam containers for
serving the food which "cost quite a bit for
each meal," /aid Ruth Thompson,
chairperson of the Lucknow Meals on
Wheels.
In addition, the money will help offset
the cost of wages for a student to prepare
meals three tunes a week, and for long
distance telephone calls, she said.
Since Meals on Wheels was started last
May, the service, which helps elderly peo-
ple who are unable to prepare a .nutritious
meal on a regular basis, has grown from
three meals to three customers twice per
week to up to 12 customers three times a
week. The service is run on a volunteer
basis with volunter drivers in the area
delivering the meals.
Mrs. Thompson says the grant to the
Meals on Wheels was confirmed last week
however, they haven't received the money
as yet. The group applied for the grant last
October.
The New Horizons program, is a federal
government program, that enables retired
people to create projects of their own
choosing. It offers grants to groups who
undertake activities for the benefit of
themselves and others in their community.
The accent is on local needs as seen by
older people and on their willingness to
meet such needs.
"We should keep the money for the pro-
ject- until we have solid backing and they
(government) agree to allocate funds two
year's down the road," said ,Mr.
Kernighan.
Huron County Warden Leona Armstrong
said the county may have waited .too long
before giving the March budget full ap-
for grant attraction. However, she said the.
government may still give the project
some consideration in 1987.
"Disappointment"
"It's a great disappointment to me. It
was one of the projects I was hoping to get
underway this year," she said.
"If we had given the Huron County
budget full approval at the first of March
rather than at the end of March. I believe
this was a sad day for us."
Bayfield Reeve David Johnston said the
blame belongs with the province as county
council had Met all the deadlines
associated with the' grant prescribed by
the province..:.. r_
"We were asked to make a commitment
by a date and we made a commitment. We
didn't drag our feet. The blame lies with
the . province of Ontario," said Mr.
Johnston.
In addition, he suggested to council to
ask for a letter from the ministry explain-
ing why the county didn't get this grant
money. . • .
Mr. Lester said he would be writing a let-
ter to Mr. Sweeney in regards to the fun-
ding situation in the near future. He said
any correspondence between himself and
Mr. Sweeney will be made available to
council members.
Everybody loves
HOLIDAYS!
In this week's editor's column, some
thoughts on yearly holidays are
described as well as some zany ideas
for adventurous vacations. SEE PAGE 4
Lucknow UCW
activities
The monthly meeting reports of the
Lucknow UCW's also appear in this
week's issue. SEE PAGE 6
Did you win
complex draw ?
Did you win in the Lucknow Sports
Complex Lottery draw? To find out the
results ... SEE PAGE 7