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The Citizen, 1994-11-30, Page 1Sports_________I__________News__________I Education Blyth Midgets make it to Silver Stick tournament championship round ---------------------------------------------------—------------—--- See page 17 Woman visits Ontario to establish link network with Chile See page 20 Area elementary students see Company of Sirens’ play on date violence See page 25 County blasts TV election coverage One after another councillors rose at Huron County council on Thursday to blast the lack of local municipal election coverage on CKNX television. A motion to protest the lack of coverage was made by Pat Down, reeve of Usbome but first on his feet to speak on the issue was Tom Cunningham, reeve of Hullett. "There wasn't one peep on the townships," he said. Reeve Cunningham had authored a motion more than a year ago about the lack of coverage of Huron County on the station since the Wingham studios had been closed and all coverage came from London. That motion brought quick reaction from George Clark, news director at CFPL and CKNX who appeared before council and promised better service. Council eventually agreed that coverage had improved but Reeve Cunningham noted that there was no reporter from CKNX television present at Thursday's meeting. He felt the unhappiness of council at the coverage should be sent to the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission to be considered before future licence extensions for CKNX. Reeve Down said her township had already sent a letter about the poor coverage. "I think we all felt the frustra­ tions on election night," said Bill Clifford, deputy-reeve of Goderich Homes rates to rise The contributions paid by Huron- view and Huronlea residents toward their room rates will increase in two stages in the new years in an effort to cut the operat­ ing deficit of the two homes. The increases were among the recommendations contained in a lengthy study by Wayne Caldwell, acting administrator, into the financing of the homes. He noted that most private homes were charging the maximum rates of $6 and $18 for differing levels of care while the county home charged only $3 and $6. The homes have not been charging for some ancil­ lary care products either. Lossy Fuller, deputy-reeve of Exeter wondered if the increased fees would cut the county's cost. Santa is coming to town There will be smiles on the faces of youngsters in Brussels this Satur­ day with the arrival of their favourite jolly elf. Santa Claus will be making his annual trip to the village as the guest of honour in the Santa Claus Parade, which begins at 3 p.m. The num­ ber of entries is not official, though it is certain that the Brussels Legion Pipe Band will be leading things off. Brussels Citizen of the Year, Joanne King, will also be riding in the parade along with mem­ bers of the Canadettcs Majorette Corps will be marching. Commencing from Cypress St. at the Mcnnonite Fellowship Hall, the route will take Santa south on Tumbcrry St,, through the downtown core until it reaches Ellen St., a block north of the Anglican Church, where it will lum left and circle back moving north down John St. For those unable to make the trip to see the 'big guy' in person, there will be a live television broadcast of the parade on Channel 12. Following the parade Santa will be visiting with the young and young at heart at The Ark, where he will hand out bags of goodies. who seconded Reeve Down's motion. "I was two days before I found out what happened in some of the other municipalities." It was more than just politicians who were upset, he said. He had talked to a lot of people on the street and in coffee shops who were angry over the fact the coverage was geared to London and other larger centres and barely touched Huron County. "Apparently the villages and townships don't exist" for CKNX, CFPL and the London Free Press complained Bob Fisher, reeve of Zurich. Councillors in the southern part of the county complained about being caught in a "no man's land" between CKNX and CFPL radio. CFPL gives no coverage to Huron while CKNX cuts back its power at dusk. "Some day there's going to be an emergency and we won't even know about it if we depend on radio," complained Lionel Wilder, reeve of Hay. But Norm Fairies, reeve of How- ick pointed out that CKNX must cut power at night under an interna­ tional agreement and there is little that can be done to change that sit­ uation. Council did do something about the Jack of coverage, however, unanimously passing the motion to be sent to the stations and to the CRTC. Mr. Caldwell said it would be a start and wouldn't balance the bud­ get on its own. But not all councillors agreed with the increases. Bob Hallam, reeve of West Wawanosh, said that increased efficiencies at the homes should come before increases to residents or reductions in care. "I think this council has to take a close look at how the money is spent on frills and fancies," he charged. But Dave Gower, deputy-reeve of Goderich Twp. and chair of the Seniors and Health committee denied there had been any reduc­ tion in care and denied the homes were inefficient. "We've changed the way we do things at the homes." The North Huron itizen Trustees say no to increase In a display of good faith, the Huron County Board of Education trustees rejected a motion which would have increased their remu­ neration in January, 1997 to a level on par with the average of trustees on other local boards. The motion, brought to the gen­ eral board meeting on Nov. 28 by the executive committee, would have seen an increase of approxi­ mately $670 to the base amount for trustees now set at $5,600. "With the elimination of the Wellington School Board (the largest in the region) from the cal­ culations, the increase would have brought the trustees more in line with surrounding boards," says retiring Seaforth and McKillop Twp trustee and board Chair Graeme Craig. "At present, we arc several hundred dollars below the others." The date for the increase was set at Jan. 1, 1997 to share accountabil­ ity during the time of the Social Contract. "It would be inappropri­ ate for the trustees to take a large increase when we expect the union members and staff to deal with cut­ backs," says Bea Dawson, trustee for Zurich, Hay and Usbome Twps. The trustees for Goderich, Rick Rompf and Norm Pickcll both spoke against the motion though for different reasons. Mr. Rompf says an increase of that amount is not warranted while Mr. Pickell says the increase to a regional aver­ age should be brought in more gradually, over a number of years. The motion went down to defeat by a two vote margin in the record­ ed vote. Trustees voting against the increase were: Della Baumgarten, Howick Twp.; Bob Burton, Bay­ Letter raises heat at Blyth council By Bonnie Gropp A registered letter ignited a heat­ ed exchange between outgoing Blyth Reeve Dave Lee and incom­ ing reeve Mason Bailey at the Nov. 24 meeting of council. The letter, signed by Councillor Bailey and the new councillors, Gerald Kerr, Robbie Lawrie, Doug Scrimgeour and Ron Ritchie, expressed concerns about the immediate ordering of more light fixtures for the main street until "the durability and candle power can be clearly determined and the availability of taxpayers' portion of funding is assured." They requested no further action be taken by the retiring council until these concerns could be field, Stanley Twp.; Jim Chapman, Exeter; Vicki Culbert, Ashfield, East and West Wawanosh Twps.; Doug Gamiss, Morris and Tumber- ry Twps.; Bob Heywood, Stephen Twp.; John Jewitt, Blyth, Hullett Twp.; Don McDonald, Brussels, Grey Twp. and Rick Rompf, Goderich. Voting for the increased honori- Continued on page 26 allayed. Copies of the letter were sent to the supplier of the lights as well as the Infrastructure Program under which funding had been granted for the project. Reeve Lee asked Councillor Bai­ ley if he felt by registering the let­ ter, it gave it some form of credibility. Councillor Bailey said it was just good business practice to register a letter you consider impor­ tant. Reeve Lee then said he was con­ cerned that by sending a letter to the government Councillor Bailey "may have shot the village in the fool. They (federal and provincial government) don't want anything to Continued on page 8