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The Huron Expositor, 1994-03-02, Page 1(pin Huron • or Your community newspaper since 1860. Serving Seaforth, Dublin, Hensall. Walton, Brussels and surrounding communities. Briefly r Karsten Carroll (at left) scored a huge goal on the weekend on a penalty shot to help Seaforth sweep Exeter. Seaforth sweeps series with Exeter The Seaforth Centenaires stunned even their staunchest supporters by sweeping the powerful Exeter Hawks in four - straight games in the opening round of the Ontario Hockey Association Junior Development League playoffs last week. Andrew Scott scored twice in the third period, including the winner on the powerplay, then Paul McLlwain curved a long blast like a soccer shot into the top corner of the Exeter net to ice the cake with just over seven minutes left in Sunday afternoon's thrilling 6-4 win at the Seaforth and District Com- munity Centres, to bring out the brooms and clinch by far the biggest upset in the Centenaires' 20 -year history. for more on this historic win, see Expositor sports. Don't throw ice balls: police This past week Seaforth Police received numerous complaints of children throwing ice -balls at houses. "Parents should be aware this puts a lot of fear into older people...People shouldn't have to put up with this," said Seaforth Police Chief Hal Claus. He mentioned in one incident, an ice -ball was thrown so hard against a house it knocked a picture off the wall. Seaforth Police Services report a theft from a store on Main St., Seaforth. Charges arc pending to three young offenders. The inci- dent is still under investigation. New Optimist club receiving official charter Dublin and arca has a new Optimist Club. The newly - formed service group will receive its official charter from Optimist International on Satur- day, March 5 at St. Columban Catholic Church. Officers from the new Optimist Club will be installed officially at the banquet by the Lieutenant Governor of Zone 1, Dave Faris. The 33 charter members of the club will also be officially inducted into Optimist Interna- tional. Club officers are Hilda Crocker, President; Liz Vick, Secretary -Treasurer; and Moms Ireland and Marjorie Hunt, Vice - Presidents. The new Optimist Club is sponsored by the Optimists of Downie. Across North America the Optimist organization has about 4,000 clubs with 167,000 mem- bers. They conduct service Tiro- jects which directly benefit more than 4.8 million young people each year. If you would like to get involved in the community in a positive way the Optimists can use your help. For more infor- mation call Rosann Corbett at 345-2725 anytime or Liz Vick after 6:00 p.m. at 345-2964. MILTON J. DIETZ LIMITED SEAFORTH 522-0608 • Pesticides & Custom Spraying • Spraying Equipment & Parts • Nutrite Premium Fertilizer • Ventilation & Livestock Equipment w ■ PURINA FEEDS & PET FOODS HURON EXPOSITOR, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 1994. INSIDE On the heels of exciting Olympic hockey action Seaforth had a little of its own. The home -town squad swept a series with heavily -favoured Exeter Hawks. see page six Your Full Lino Doalor FORD MERCURY Sales - Service - Selection HART1► -- HIGHWAY 1I8, SEAFORTH 527-1C10 .600 SPARKS IN THE NIGHT - Sparks fly from the fire at this barn at Laurie Fischer's place east of Winthrop last Tuesday night. The fire killed 240 pigs and bumed the entire night because of high Hospital seeks facts on water tower proposal BY TIM CUMMING Expositor Editor Seaforth Community Hospital wants more information on the PUC water tower proposal before it ,decides whether to allow it at the hospital site. "It's more important that we get a heliport (in place) than a water tower," said Eric Anderson, former chair of the hospital's Finance and Property committee. Jim Crocker, past chair of the hospital Board of Govenors, said more information would be needed on such issues as the aestethics of the tower's appear- ance before the board could make a decision. Board chair Marten Vincent said the hospital would also need to know what financial benefit there would be for the hospital. One of three sites proposcd for the new Scaforth water tower is near the Seaforth hospital. The two other sites include land near the Seaforth District Community Centres and town -owned land. A proposed hospital site for the water tower would have to be changed to accommodate the planned helicopter landing area at the hospital. The hospital Board of Governors approved a site for the heliport at the Feb. 22 meeting, subject to the cost of burying hydro lines. The recommended site, south- east of the Seaforth Medical Clinic, was recommended by Heliport. Planning Services. It was recommended because it had good access to the emerg- ency entrance and a convenient flight path over hospital prop- erty. There was a $3,600 cost for the heliport study, which is funded by the Ontario govern- ment. The study was the next step towards construction of a heliport in Seaforth but the pro- posal has not yet been approved by the govemment. The esti- mated cost to construct the heli- copter pad would be from $30,000 to $40,000, to be funded by the provincial government. Bob Norris, chair of the Finance and Property Commit- tee, said there was considerable discussion about the water tower proposal at the committee level. s # * The Seaforth Community Hospital has seen much growth over the past year, said Bill Thibert, Chief Executive Officer of the hospital. He said the facility has seen increases in obstetrics, surgery, clinics and hospital admissions. Hospital staff are able to absorb the increased work load as long as there are no funding cuts, said Thibcrt. Budget was BY TIM CUMMING Expositor Editor Soft on the deficit. Government stepping on the backs of the unem- ployed. }fitting the income of sen- iors making more than $26,000 annually. Take your pick, these are all criticisms of the federal government's new budget. Don't be too quick to judge, however, said Huron -Bruce M.P. Paul Steckle. If the Progressive Conservatives were still in the budget -making business Canada's unemployment would be skyrocketing, according to Steckle. "If they were going to reach their deficit target...I don't think you'd have a social program left," he said. "Instead of 10 per cent unemploy- ment you'd have 30 per cent." (The Finance Minister projects TIM CUMMING PHOTO winds. The Blyth Fire Department fought the fire with the assist- ance of the Seaforth fire department which helped truck water to the site. Bureaucrats could control estates under new law BY TIM CUMMING AND DEBBIE DAVIDSON for Huron Expositor Imagine if your health deterio- rated and You became unable to make decisions for yourself. Your estate could be taken over by a government agency if you have not signed an enduring power of attor- ney. Lawyer George Magwood recom- mends people grant someone a power of attorney, but to be careful when deciding to whom you will give this power. "A power of attorney document gives someone total legal authority to sign for you ... and people can abuse power of attorney." The Ontario government is into- ducin? a controversial 'Substitute Decisions Act.' The major change in the new act is if a person becomes mentally infirm, and no power of attorney has been appointed, the power of attorney will automatically fall to, or be decided by, the province. The gov- ernment could tie up trusts and estates under the new law, accord- ing to critics. The province of Ontario, through the public trustee, handles about $550 million worth of trusts and estates. Provincial auditors found in 1992 that the public trustee had mishandled about 55 per cent of the 124 trust and estate files it man- aged. An enduring power of attorney could be as important as will Signing over an enduring power of attorney is just as essential as making a will, said Ralph Smith, Seaforth lawyer. Currently, if no enduring power of attorncy had been named, the courts decide who will be named. Under Ontario's new legislation the provincial public trustee will name the person to control an estate or manage the estate itself. "It's another example of govern- ment intrusion in private affairs," said Smith. No automatic preference will be given to the spouse of a person who is incapacitated, he said. "Although there's no written rules about it, the case law in existing practice gives preference to next of kin." People will have a chance to appoint an enduring power of attor- ney under existing rules. There is a six-month leeway from the time the new act becomes law, which isn't expected until early 1995, according to a press release from the Attorney General. Over the past several weeks, Magwood's office has been swamped with requests to draw up powers of attorney. see NDP, page five compromise: Steckle Committee. He said the cuts in that arca have been less than in other departments. The government con- tinued its support for the GRIP and NISA programs, he added in a telephone interview. The new budget took aim at some traditional whipping boys such as the defence budget. Unemployment Insurance benefits will bo lower in some cases and harder to obtain. The government didn't limit the amount people can put into regis- tered retirement savings programs, as expected. The federal government predicts this year it will spend $39.7 billion more than it takes in. It will add another $32.7 billion to the national debt in the following year. This follows a record shortfall of $45.7 billion last year. The local M.P. praised the federal budget as one of the first using Huron -Bruce M.P. Paul Steckle says budget could have been tougher. Paul Stedde, M.P. unemployment of 11.1 per cent this year and 10.8 per cent in 1995). There are some areas where the budget could have been tougher, admitted Steckle, but he said the budget process involves compro- mise. The agriculture budget took a five per cent cut, said Steckle, who sits on the Agriculture and Agrifood realistic assumptions of growth and interest rates. He said the previous goverment failed to incorporate the costs of relief for east coast fisher- men and a tax credit for small business and farmers into its deficit projection. The Liberals didn't use the unex- pectedly high deficit from the Con- servatives as a convenient excuse for backing down on election prom- ises, said Steckle. "We're not trying to fudge the numbers, those kinds of things catch up with you," he said. Steckle cautioned that estimates can change dramatically with the fluctuation of interest rates. "I'm not going to be standing here and say there won't be some changes that have to be made," he said, adding that a one per cent rise in interest rates could cost the gov- ernment billions. Sports pages 6, 7 Entertainment page 11 Obituaries page 3 : 65 cents Plus 5 cents GST (70 cents) 4C1 Pigs die in local barn fire ;1 About 240 pigs were killed in a barn fire cast of Winthrop last Tuesday night. The fire occurred at Laurie Fischer's barn on the Family Paradise camp road at RR 4 Walton. The cause of the fire might have been a heating appliance used in a worm -breeding pro- cess, said Paul Josling, Fire Chief of the Blyth fire depart- ment. Damage may be excess of $125,000, he said. The Blyth fire department answered the fire call about 10:30 last Tuesday night and about 10 firefighters stayed fighting the fire until about 6:00 the next morning. "It was burning most of that time, because of high winds we couldn't get it out," said Josling. Firemen were kept out of the smoke as much as possible because the burning insulation in the barn was toxic. Seaforth's volunteer fire department also answered the call under mutual fire aid and supplied the firefighters with water. Budget could mean financial crunch for. hospital Seaforth Community Hospital could, face a funding crunch if the Ontario government cuts hospital funding. "Should the government freeze our funding to be equal to last year I feel confident we'd be able to balance our budget with no reductions in patient service and no staff layoffs," said Bill Thibcrt, Chief Executive Officer of the hospital. If the Ontario government cuts hospital spending, however, Seaforth's hospital could be affected. "Should the government fur- ther reduce our funding, as is my concern, there would be an increased pressure on the hospi- tal to try and maintain the pres- ent level (of staffing and ser- vice)," said Thibert. The Seaforth Community Board of Governors not only approved its capital budget for 1994-'95 on Feb. 22 but an operating plan submission to the Ministry of Health as well. The plan is a tentative operat- ing budget prepared using fig- ures which have not yet been confirmed. The operating plan presumes there will be a freeze in general hospital allocations and continuation of a small hospital grant equal to one per cent of last year's hospital budget. The Board of Governors approved the operating plan in anticipation of a Feb. 28 dead- line. The Ontario goverment has since announced the plan can be submitted six weeks from the date of the announcement of the funding allocations for Ontario hospitals. Some commentators feel the Ontario govemmcnt will cut spending following the recent federal budget. Correction An error in a story picked up from an affiliated newspaper last week left the impression there were 150 people at the recent grand opening of the Logan Farm Equipment John Deere dealership near Bornholm. In fact, there were an estimated 800 people. The Huron Expositor apologizes for the CriGirri any inconvenience it to ve MISC.