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The Lucknow Sentinel, 1979-01-31, Page 6Pate' to-r-Ineksisw Sentinel, Wednesday, January 31, 1979 • The : Lucknow Sentinel') • LUCKNOW, ONTARIO "The Sepoy Town" On the Huron -Bruce Boundary Established 1873 - Published Wednesday Published by Signal -Star Publishing Ltd. Sharon J. Dietz - Editor Anthony N.. Johnstone - Advertising and General Manager Subscription rate,, $11 per year in advance Senior Citizens rate, $9 per year in advance. U.S.A. and Foreign, $21.50 per year in advance • • Business and Editorial Office Telephone 528.2822 Mailing Adress P.O. Box 400, Lucknow, NOG 2H0 Second class -mail registration number. -'0847• Rides caboose to school BY SANDY NICHOLSON The Grey Ox, 2.5 miles north of Lucknow, had a large gathering -on July a 1978, Formerstudents of the Grey Ox S. and 'residents of the Grey Ox community from acro Canada and the United States 'cameback to uneveil• a plaque, to honour p' neer.s who settled there in the early ies, last century. We had refreshme is after in. the Kairshea Hall - the o 6th concession school. Kairshea is th Gaelic for 4th and 6th. Actually the Ox School was the centre for the Scout Kinloss Presbyterian. Church when the Kirk could only be used for worship. For years they had Sunday School every Sunday afternoon for those too far from the '`Big" 'church on the 2nd. I saw,, many friends, I had not seen since going West in 1920. A new friend I met was Mrs. Barbara Saur from Sooke, B.C. 1 met her through her uncle,.Harvey MacDougall, .. one of the .prime- movers in arranging the affair. Harvey and -his wife, 'Doris, -live half the year. in Bayfield andthe balance in , Florida. Although Barbara had been to. Lucknow several times she. came back especially to get more information about her father, .Russell MacDougall, and other relatives. I was able to tell Barbara thather dad and 1 were the only two farm boys. I can remember who started to High School in Lucknow in 1914: 1 believe he had been . born in . 'Chicago. . His dad, Rod MacDougall, like so many Bruce boys went to , the States where there were better job opportunities. He married a • fine girl andhad a good job as an engineer when Russell was born. By this time the young couple decided that the Grey Ox • would be a better place to raise a family 'than Chicago. They bought the;Hudson farm 11/4 miles west of the Grey Ox school. Although' they. were back on the farm they did) want their children to have a better education thanthey had.... _They were almost . four miles from high school by. the road'.. By' walking down the railway he could get to school in; just over two miles. Pharis Mathers, also a farm boy living East of _town was. younger, but lived with grandparents and brought his noon lunch and ate with Russell and me. We were so excited one day when Russell had special news. The Kincardine -Palmerston freight train came by the MacDougall farm about eight o'clock each morning and passed' „. Bussell on his way to school. It was so unusual for farm boys to be going to high school, and railroaders never hada chance to go to high school, 'that : they were interested in this bright boy,=Tfhey told him that the train went quite Slowly up the hill by the MacDougall farm, and it would be quite. safe to get on the caboose at the back of the train. On the return trip:. to Kincardine there was a very long steep hill, -:the top just a short distance from their farm. He could get off quite safely. Russell's mother was a very '.good cook. She appreciated the thoughtfulness of the trainmen by sending a ' pie or a roast, chicken. occasionally. Years later, on my way to Lucknow,Ihe Conductor asked if I knew the boy who went to High School by.. freight 'amain, Of course I did; and was able t.: 'report that Russell .had gone West and was doing very well.; • I was able to tell Barbara that Russell was one of the best friends anyone could have. We went West about the same: time. but . unfortunately our paths had never crossed again. I was curious to know why. Barbara was interested in Norman Nicholson and had `spent at least fifteen dollars getting information 'from . Edinburgh about the date and place of his birthand marriage: She explained that my grand father's second .wife,Catharine Mac- Dougall, was .a sister of her great grandfather, Peter .. MacDougall. JT should have known that but 1• didn't till I met. Barbara. My only excuse is that there . were so many MacKinnons, MacDonalds, MacKenzies and Mac Dougalls in the community, ,it was net tillrecently that I became involved in my family records. Barbara has spent a lot of time examining the Kinloss 1861 Census material. There will be material for further articles. Aubrey's Ob'eiwations My Friends, Now that Christmas and New Year are safely past, with all their rush and hustle, parties and headaches, tiow there is the big question in a nbmber of people's minds. Why did they spend so much money on expensive presents nd where are they going to get it to pay for them? Then there are others who are still wondering about that New Years Party. Was it all worth .while? All of this is contrary to the true meaning of both days. Christmas is, in my belief, the most holy of all days=, and there is a special service in the church's'of most beliefs, the same as on Easter Sunday. ' A number of ,people, who know me, as I am today, will wonder why I dare to write on such a subject. Well, I will tell you some more that you do • not know about me. Orie Sunday evening, my wife and I were taking a walk, and as we, approached a large United - Methodist Church, we saw people going in, to the evening service, and we decided to go also. Before we left that even- ing, and I don't think I'm exaggerating, when I say we met at least fifty people. There were in the neigh- bourhood of four hundred families registered in this - church, . and theoutcome was, my , wife sang in the choir, I eventually became the head usher and my son coached and played basket- ball and baseball for a 'number of years. Why all this? Because we became one of the important families?. No, but because in, my position, it gave me an opportunity to observe first CONTINUED, ON PAGE 22 A matter for.concert, We don't know yet, how many beds will be closed at Wingham and District' Hospital because of the Health Ministry's proposed restraints in the next three years. Wingham's Hospital Board does not meet until February 14. We won't know their reaction or how they plan to deal with the announcement until then. But one thing is certain, everyone who uses Wingham Hospital for their health care is going to be affected by the restraints. At the January meeting of the Windham' Hospital Board of Governors it wasnoted that the application of the 3.5 beds per thousand formula would remove 31 of the hospital's 82 active treatment beds. 'Bed 'closures will mean more stringent admission regulations, a longer wait for minor—Treat- ment, fewer • beds for the chron- ically ill, and more caring for the sick 4i the home. Or. Brian Lynch, ' Huron's Medical -Officer of Health, is not convinced that dollars saved` by the, province through proposed bed cuts will be dollars saved by taxpayers. Heltold Huron Count Council on Friday that b cuts. may mein that t y man. ha ' .: s ,vices now provided for patients in hospital beds, will haveto' be provided in their homes. He saidthat home. .care services' will be provided through, the county ' health ' unit and that the extra work will be at the expense of the county. - The health ministry is explor- ing avenues of alternate health care which are reportedly cheap- er and totally adequate.; But Dr. Lynch is in the 'alter- nate health care business andrhe- - sees no additional money com- ing for the province's health ,; units. ' Dr. Lynch also toldcounty council ,that the future cif some hospitals was "cloudy" 'because', of cutbacks. He added that some may even close: There is concern that smaller facilities in the county could end up closed: If thecounty's five hospitals make the bed cuts they can •keep their budgets down, but some hospitals will end up with Tess than 50 active treatment beds. These smaller hospitals may be deemed financially inefficient said Lynch and may :have :to be closed. Not two years ago, the govern- ment of Ontario was determined to cut. health care costs and the solution put forward by then Health minister, Frank Miller, was to close hospitals: Clinton Public Hospital in Huron County was to be closed. Public outcry convinced the government to reconsider its position • and the people of Huron heaved asigh of relief. Now Clinton's beds are,tb be cut by 52 per cent and there Will be a 39 per cent reduction iq active treatment beds across Huron County. As an editorial in the Goderich Signal Star pointed out last week, "Instead of one hospital closed, there will be, five hospit- als „limping along on severely reduced operating budgets and with° seriously reduced facilit- ies." Dr. Lynch told council that a co-operative effort among all health care delivery services in the county may get the hospitals through the bed cuts. The bed cuts will be make demands on all other health services in the county, but with planning the 'added demands may be handled efficiently. There has been no public outcry about the proposed bed cuts as there was when the ministry threatened,to close one ofour county's hospitals. Per- haps as Dr. Lynch commented Friday, the public have not: had time for the impact of the bed cuts to really, s'k'in. The county stands to lose half of the hospital beds in the county and this is cause for real concern.. On the surface bed.. cuts appear sensible and would save money but as Dr. Lynch pointed out, there is more to be`consider- ed than just 'dollars saved: Hospitals could become inef- ficient and end up closed.' Patients maynot. be able, to get proper care from county hospit- als. Provincial savings may end up costing the county more money. It is important,that the people of. Lucknow and the area become well informed 'about the ramifi- cations of this latest' ministry proposal. That is not to say, we: should immediately jump on a band wagon and, denouncethe Minist- ry proposals.' But :.we should learn as much ,as' we can about the impact of the province's decision on our own hospital in Wingham • and on . the other hpspital.s in our area. We cannot buryour heads in the sand because bed cuts are less imminent` a threat than hospital closings. Our hospital board in Wing - ham meets on February 14 and they will be discussing how the proposals will effect. Wingham and what ramifications *ill be forhealth care in Lucknow and the immediate area. The public should attend and if they cannot, they should learn as much as they can about the impact the proposals will have.on our area., We may find that the best solution is the one put forth by the ministry and we will have to learn to deal with a new way of caring for the sick. Whether our decision be to make an appeal to , the governL ment or to accepttheir proposal, our decision should be based on knowledge and careful consider- ation of the facts and informa- tion available. It should not be an emotional outcry: