Huron Expositor, 2001-07-05, Page 1Arson case
Barry
charged
for nine
more fires
Alleged arsonist Thomas
Jeffrey Barry, 19, was
charged with nine more
counts of arson on June 28.
He has now been
charged with' arson in a
total of 10 incidents and
faces one charge of
possession of an
incendiary device after
being arrested last month
in Victoria Park.
The investigation
centered around a series of
suspected arson fires in
Seaforth's downtown core
between April 15 and June
4 when fires were set on a
regular basis, almost every
other weekend.
But Barry has been
charged with arson relating
to a car that was destroyed
by fire on High Street in
December, followedby a
garbage dumpster fire
believed to have been set
Feb. 11 behind Donna G's
Restaurant on Goderich
Street.
The series of downtown
fires" began April 15 when
a metal storage shed
behind Bluewater Interiors
was allegedly set on fire
followed by a fire in a
garbage bin at Knechtel's.
April 30, a fire began at
the rear of Sills Hardware
while another started in Ice
Dreams, shutting down the
business for several weeks
because of smoke damage.
Another incident took
place May 12 where three
small fires were found at
the London Agricultural
Commodities building on
Crombie Street.
• On May 28, the ninth
and largest of the fires
occurred causing more
than $400,000 in damage
when a storage trailer, shed
and dumpster owned by
Quality Jersey Products
were burned. That fire
spread to, and destroyed an
adjacent garage at a
residence on High Street.
Barry was arrestbd June
4 when police caught him
allegedly trying to set a
fire at the pavilion in
Victoria Park.
Barry remains in custody.
and is currently
undergoing a 30 -day
psychiatric assessment at a
St. Thomas. hospital.
He will remain in
custody until an Aug. 13
court appearance in
Goderich.
By Scott Hilgendorff
Inside...
earn destroyed
by fire..
Page 3
Shortages faced inthe medical
cornmurtlies...
Page 6
0
Seaforth pushes Clinton
to look at Grade 7 and 8 plan
By Scott Hilgendorff
Expositor Editor
Central Huron Secondary School won't be
protected against closure if the Avon Maitland
District School Board decides to move Seaforth
District High School students there, warned both
Fred Leitch and Maureen Agar at a June 28 school
accommodation committee meeting.
"It's no secret what Huron East wants. Huron
East wants to keep its high school," said Leitch, the
Huron East representative on the committee.
But he cautioned Clinton's Central Huron
Secondary School members not to think the school
will be saved by closing Seaforth's high school and
sending the students to Clinton.
"We say to you, look to your own interests.
Don't accept that as a given," he said.
The interests Leitch was suggesting was an
approach he brought to the meeting for Seaforth; to
move the Grades 7s and 8s from Seaforth Public
School to the high school, helping fill the empty
seats that see the school's future in question.
Leitch is suggesting the same be done with
Clinton Public School students and Central Huron
Secondary School.
"We think the salvation of our high schools is the
Grade 7s and 8s," said Leitch of both Seaforth and
Clinton.
Leitch was the lawyer who represented
community members and successfully stopped the
board from closing the high school through the
Scott Hilgendorff
Beating the heat
Becky Holmes encourages Kali Wood into the wading pool at Seaforth Lions Park on Thursday.
Child almost drowns at campground,
brought back to life by campers
By Susan Hundertmark
Expositor Staff
Joan Johnson, of
Cambridge, will always be
thankful for the two women
who performed CPR on her
three-year-old son Sheldon,
saving his life after he fell
under the water in a small
lake at Family Paradise
Campground on Saturday.
"They were on the beach
with their kids and they both
knew how to do CPR. I've
been trained but I couldn't
remember what to do. I
should have had my mouth
on his mouth but all I could
do was see his dead face. I
thought that was it, he was
gone," Johnson said Tuesday
morning.
She said she was sitting on
a dock at the McKillop
campground watching
Sheldon and her seven-year-
old daughter Hannah playing
in the water two steps away
when Sheldon went under.
"1 watched him go down
and yelled to Hannah to grab
him. I couldn't believe it
could happen that fast. Then,
I grabbed him so hard that his
shoulder was sore when he
woke up," she said.
Strangers Marie Blake and
Tracey Bowman, of
Milverton, raced over and
began doing CPR on
Sheldon.
"Marie came 'first and then
Tracey. Those women were
in the right place at the right
time. One of them told me
they didn't even want to be
on the beach that day but
their kids had coaxed them.
And, w'e really needed both
of them," said Johnson.
She said "the minutes
seemed like hours" as the
women did CPR on her three-
year-old.
"As soon as I heard the
words, 'He;s breathing,' I
started to cry," she said,
overcome with emotion once
more while recounting the
story.
While Johnson said she'd
felt at the time she was close
enough to her kids to let them
play in the water without a
lifejacket, she now knows
how fast a drowning can
occur.
"We're all a little afraid of
the water right now but we're
not going to let that stop us
from ever swimming again.
But, we'll definitely be using
lifejackets from now on," she
said.
And, while Sheldon is
"right back to normal,"
Johnson said it's going to
take a while for both her and
her daughter to get over the
near tragedy.
"It's an experience to get
over. The hardest part is we
keep seeing that image of his
face in our minds," she said.
As for the two women
who saved Sheldon's life,
Johnson hopes they'll be
recognized for their
contribution.
"What they did was
nothing short of a miracle,"
she said.
courts last year.
The current accommodation study is a result of
the board's attempts to make the school closure
process fair after a court ruling that the Seaforth
community was not treated fairly by the board
when it decided to close the high school.
Before the legal process was started, community
members had proposed moving the Grade 7s and
8s into the high school but Leitch said, "The
trustees, in their wisdom, did'not take that
.recommendation."
The board closed Walton Public School moving
those students and some from Huron Centennial
School to Seaforth Public School leaving the
school overcrowded with some students housed in
See CATHOLIC, Page 2
Health unit
may violate
provincial laws
Issue is open to interpretation
says associate minister of health
after Huron County slammed
during _ Walkerton water inquiry
By Scott Hilgendorff
and Tim Cumming
Expositor and Signla-Star Editors
Whether or not the Huron
County Health Unit's part-
time medical officer of
health complies with
provincial laws is a matter
of interpretation, says
Huron Bruce MPP Helen
Johns.
"It's an interpretation
issue,"the associate minister
of health said Friday
afternoon in response to
allegations made by former
chief medical officer of
health Dr. Richard
Schabas at the
Walkerton water
inquiry last week.
Schabas referred
to seven of 37
health units in the
province that have
only " part-time
medical officers of
health, including
Huron County.
He suggested an
e -coli outbreak like
that which occurred in
Walkerton last May and led
to the inquiry, would have
been worse if it had
occurred in Huron County.
Johns said what the
provincial government is
looking for is that the
medical officer of health is
available to work full-time
if necessary.
"You have to have
adequate public health
medical expertise in all
boards of health," she said
of Ministry of Health
requirements. "We also say
there should be a full-time
medical officer of health."
Johns said the question of
whether or not Huron
County complies with
provincial law would have
to be asked of county
administration, the
government body
responsible for the Huron
County Health Unit.
Huron County
Administrator Lynn Murray
could not be reached by
deadline for comment
although The Expositor was
not available when she did
return one of two telephone
calls. -
While Dr. Beth Henning
does not sit as acting
medical officer of health
full-time she said, "I'm on-
call seven days a week for
24 hours a day...I provide
full-time coverage."
Henning operates a
medical practice in London.
"In terms of our structure,
I feel we service the health
and safety of Huron County
very well," said
Henning."Our structure may
be a little bit unique but that
doesn't mean there's
anything that's not [right]."
In addition
to Henning, the
Huron County
Health Unit has a
full-time director
with public health
experience and five
public health
inspectors.
The unit is
currently seeking
an additional senior
public health
inspector to replace another
who recently left the county.
"I feel very confident with
these people on the front
lines. I feel very, very good
about the people here and
their ability to handle the
situations that arise in
public health."
"I would like to say I
share Dr. Schabas's
concerns about the
importance of maintaining
water quality, so there are
lots of issues he highlighted
that I'm glad he brought to
the public attention," said
Henning.
Everett Ridder of the
Huron County Water
Quality Coalition, a group
of citizens and agencies
concerned about the safety
of water, particularly in
Lake Huron, said he is not
personally concerned by
Schabas's statements.
"If the medical officer of
health is on the job and
doing the job properly, 1
don't feel we are at risk," he
said. "If she's not there
when she's needed, that's a
problem."
See MINISTRY, Page 2
Your community newspaper since 1860