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The Citizen, 1993-12-01, Page 1The North Huron itizen Vol. 9 No. 48 Wednesday, December 1, 1993 600 GST included A bird in the hand Christmas is a magical time of year so what an appropriate time it was for students at Walton Public School to enjoy the magic of Dicky and Marg Dean this past Thursday. The former schoolteachers know what it takes to make an audience happy and by the look on the faces of the this group they have the entertainment business well in hand. Blyth library gets rave review Feature Company of Sirens performs enlighting presentation See page 6 Achievement Area 4-H members receive recognition at awards night See page 10 Sports Blyth Midgets claim Silver Stick B championship See page 18 Entertainment Blyth Festival a stop on Peggy and Grace tour See page 27 Dr. says 24-hour emergency care not affordable By Bonnie Gropp It was good news, bad news in the report to Blyth council from the Huron County Library Board, though the former far outweighed the latter. The information, which was pre- sented to councillors at their Nov. 25 meeting, stated that the Blyth facility has almost outgrown its new rooms. One of the general comments which came following a tour of the building, noted that the library is attractive and "may be outgrowing its circulation alredy " and that there was "no room for expansion." Effective Dec. 1, Gary Dauphin of Dauphin Feed in Walton will be the new owner of the business por- tion of Topnotch in Brussels. Mr. Dauphin says that the feed mill's present customers will be ser- viced from the Walton store. Explaining the motive behind the sale, Mr. Dauphin says, "There's a shrinking customer base and there simply has to be fewer of us to serve them." Mr. Dauphin said that word had gotten to him some time ago through Shur-Gain that there were to be changes made and so he Other positive notes were with regard to the book displays, the cleanliness and attractiveness of the facility, the security and supervi- sion and traffic flow. Problem areas noted were sig- nage and parking. The Blyth library is open 15 hours a week. There are close to 3,500 books, 14 periodical sub- scriptions, four exchanges per year, subscription to 200 leased new bestsellers per year, readalong kits, music cassettes and videos. The estimated population served is 1,300 with 682 registered borrow- ers. Circulation in 1982 was 7,670. This had risen to 15,107 in 1992. began negotiations with Topnotch. The deal was struck Friday, Nov. 26. Transition should hopefully be completed by the end of the month, Mr. Dauphin says and he hopes that it can be done with little inconve- nience to the consumers. "We hope interruptions in service will be min- imal during the transition. Walton is not that far away and with two salespeople on the road and a deliv- ery service we hope no one feels inconvenienced by the change." The fate of the present Topnotch mill was unknown at press time. In an average week 137 people visited the branch, borrowing 291 items, used 144 items in the library and asked 35 reference questions. Council expressed its satisfaction with the report, attributing much of the success to the library's supervi- sor Pat Brigham. "She really works hard. She spends a lot of extra hours there," said Councillor Shirley Fyfe. Clerk Helen Grubb told council- lors that the complete report on all the county's libraries was at the municipal office for them to read if interested. Saturday, Dec. 4 will mark the return of a favourite friend of the children and adults alike to the Brussels area. Santa Claus will be the guest of honour in the parade which is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. from Cypress Street, which runs along the tracks next to the Brussels Men- nonite Fellowship. It will wend its way down Turnberry Street to the. old Callander Nursing Home. After the initial greeting of the town residents and visitors, Santa will return to the old bank, at the corner of Turnberry and Thomas St. W., to talk to the children and By Shelley McPhee Haist Local hospital health services may see major changes in the next few years. That was part of the message heard on Nov. 23, when members of the Huron Health and Social Services Liaison Committee held its annual meeting in Clinton. The group is represented by more than 22 health and social services agencies in the county. The hot topic of the session was the future of emergency hospital services in the county. Dr. Patrick Conlon of Goderich and president of the Huron Medical Society addressed this issue. Recently doctors in Exeter and Goderich, as well as other small rural Ontario hospitals, have indicated that they may no longer supply on-call emergency medical services without additional remuneration. Exeter hospital has set up a special $200,000 fund to pay the doctors a flat hourly rate of $70 to provide emergency services. Dr. Conlon told his audience that short-term monetary reimburse- ments by the hospitals will not be sustainable in the long term. "How can we continue to provide (services) to communities? Communities will have to decide where emergency is prioritized in the overall health care scene." More directly stated, Dr. Conlon noted, "Hospitals won't be all things to all people. They won't offer the Cadillac range of services." "It may not be cost effective for all hospitals (in Huron County) to provide 24-hour coverage, 365 days a year when hospitals are within reasonable driving distance," he noted. This future scenario has been informally discussed in various health care circles, and Dr. Conlon suggests that it shouldn't be dealt with individually. "It will be the District Health Council (DHC) issue. It's a complex issue and it would be a tremendous mistake to look at this from a small perspective. That's a tall order, but it will take something like the DHC to find a solution." In a discussion period, one audience member raised the issue of "double dipping" where doctors see patients in their office and at the same time are paid for hand out goodies and small gifts. Ron Clarkson, one of the com- munity volunteers who are organiz- ing the parade, says the Santa Claus Parade usually has 20 to 25 floats, horses and clowns. The Brussels Legion band and the fire depart- ment trucks will lead the proces- sion through town. The judging of the floats will take place at 2:15 to 2:30, he says, with prizes awarded in many differ- ent categories. Anyone still wishing to enter the parade should contact Ron Clark- son at 887-6224 (day) and 887- 6058 (evening) or Shirley Baker at 887-6355. emergency on-call duties. Another audience member questioned doctors who use hospital emergency departments, when their offices are closed, to see patients that are non-emergency. Dr. Conlon said that there is some abuse, but he further noted, "Physicians in Huron County don't want to use emergency departments to churn patients through." Bill Thibert, Chief Executive Officer at Seaforth Hospital, said that while he understood the doctors' position, "Hospitals have never been funded to pay doctors. The doctors are holding a gun to hospital boards' heads." He said that the solution must come from the Ontario Medical Continued on page 7 Man dies in accident A 30-year-old Wingham man is dead following an accident in Mor- ris Twp., early Saturday evening. A spokesperson from the Wing- ham OPP said Gregory Heath was travelling west on Highway 86 about two kilometres west of High- way 87 when his car went out of control on the slippery road. The 1988 Pontiac spun into the path of an eastbound van, driven by David Schmidt, 32, of Guelph. Mr. Schmidt and five passengers in the van escaped injury. Another passenger, 61-year-old Vera Schmidt of Bluevale was taken to Wingham Hospital with major injuries, police said. She was later transferred to Victoria Hospital, London, where her condition as of Monday was listed as fair. Vehicles collide in Brussels Wingham OPP were called to an accident on Brussels main street, Saturday morning when two cars collided. According to an OPP spokesper- son, a Ford pick-up driven by George Jutzi, 65, of Brussels, was hit while making a U-turn from the southbound lane in front of the post office. The driver of the second car was Allan Bragg, 33, RR5, Brus- sels. He was driving south in a 1992 Ford when the accident occurred. Police say Mr. Jutzi has been charged. Car slides on snowy road Just 40 minutes after slippery roads resulted in a fatal accident in Morris Twp. Saturday night, a sec- ond accident occurred in the same township. A spokesperson from the Wing- ham OPP said 17-year-old Reinierus Van Den Heuvel, RR2, Bluevale was driving his 1985 Nis- san pick-up north on Sideroad 15/16, when he lost control on the snow covered road and struck the ditch face of a private driveway. The youth received minimal injuries. He was taken to Wingham and District Hospital by private auto for treatment, police said. Dauphin buys Topnotch Santa comes to town Sat.