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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1977-07-28, Page 5!ret nes ere ig ode it to ndi lad' or ty it ut y 'nu rva 6s �Il 64, Lts ten d Y ii routine "abrestil distortit qtaur k,,,s pe ecttve u ite: s. t a r• i itil errLto y t knock that..pet'spectiv ace -47-1u " he g ass isgreener s Over a beverage I was introduced to a 1e, , hometown who managed to {� ;to the country for some part-time tiding and pottery making. The 'pc- caslon seemed to warrant a comforting- beverage in a" leafy retreat of Court' House Park while discussing' the. `nostalgia of school days. Flease pardon my pen for dusting off fellow craftsman, Don, who fashions an old addale but invariably: the grass leather goods in a similar sleepy town of always 'do+es seers greener on the other • Elora; Exchanging pleasantries he �:;: side..'Peoplo, ilvlrg in, srriall or rural nptfeed the camera slung around my communities'often soil tkei anfields F Vit .. ` , . i ho.thought..oi...living-in ttie ty 0, --it is:difficult- to-eliferentt i s Pen ill color of thegrass and the smog. On : the •. other side of the fence, City dwellers would gladly trade in their- 20th floor high rise suite fora septic tank on a half acre ..chunk of real =estate in -rural Ontario. During the Festival of the Arts I hap ned to meet an old acquaintance ' neck. Mai ow i stuff "So you area reporter here, eh?" `"Yeah. That's what I use the camera suppose in a place like this you write up all that stuff about who visits who around town every week." • "Well not exactly." I .. countered (is OW-fi );` contempt ` for another' Slam agalnit-the community newspaper. profession," "Sometimes I get to take a "picture." ' "'Don"t you have any aspirations to get out of this town and perhaps work in a bigger place and get ahead?" "Wells Idon-'t know." I replied. "I suppose maybe I had visions of being a foreign correspondent for the Toronte Star when I first start d'bet it is kind of comfortable here?' ' rV "Yea. `I know -what you mean. I grew up in Galt (a modest city by sophisticated standards) but I am living in Elora now, which is about the size of Goderich arid° it's great." he said, "Bu living here you have the lake an everything. It's alright you know." "Yea, it sure is a neat little place." yr vintelu a "Oh`-weII a,1Ittle atop us; froml doth.,,. boasted trying 'td hearty�native' Tiger got "Yea, I guess you'petlpt jej use d to that sort'ofthin " are.'~ >Y .F .. ferent. I guess it' was ,that guy- Tiger; Dunlop who really got his stuff together' when he came to this place." t A refreshing perspective. d • "Yea." I replied, "Old Tiger really got his stuff together." :Y4 FT ;to lull F you oat lint e fr rovince of Ontario has launched ome support service program for and handicappedadults of the e. ew program will offer services s heavy or seasonal cleaning, ing, painting, repairs or ons to the home, transportation - pping and medical reasons and related home car services. r the progranhis not designed to any existing programs such as aking, Home Care Services or ses Services Act. HERE IN The program is aimed at easing two objectives; to provide some employment ' in the area and also to allow people to take 'advantages of the services while remaining intheir home. Huron County Social Services ad ministrator, John MacKinnon, said it is accepted philosophy that it is cheaper to keep the elderly and handicapped in their own homes rather than in- stitutionalize them. He stated there is probably as definite need for the Home Support services program in the County of Huron and hoped !that people would INFORMATION, BACKGROUND AND OPINION HURON take advantage of the program. MacKin:oon was hopeful that the program• would be operational in the County by September and each municipality will have an opportunity to enter. The province has agreed to pay ;:'0 per day per employee, and all tran- sportation costs. - However only the labour supplied will be covered in the costs and any ad- ditional materials will not be supplied. All municipalities, in the county will be responsible for costs associated with recruitment, training, and general supervision. The Ontario government has agreed to allow Huron County officials to hire three •persons on a temporary basis to look after the new services until the end of the fiscal year. The provincial fiscal year will end in March 19;8. ' ' The three employees will be placed in different municipalities throughout the county, such as Wingham, Exeter, Clinton or Goderich. The') number of employees may be increased if there is a demand from several municipalities within the county for the service. One of the mai" objectivves of the program is to provide full-time em- ployment in the county and as a result the provincial government has asked local authorities not to hire part-time or summer staff to fill the positions available. However it was agreed that young unemployed persons willing to make a long- commitment to the program be hired. . MacKinnon stated that Canada Manpower has already sent some referrals for these positions to his office. To determine a need for the program inf ,rmation has been sent out to other agencies and local homes for the elderly have been contacted about the program. Several people waiting for admission to homes for the aged could make use of such a service and hopefully prolong their stay at home. MacKinnon already has the names of 400 homebound people who could make use of the services but 'only needy people on fixed incomes will be eligible for services. The county social services work has been 90 percent income •maintenance oriented with such programs but the Home Support program is shifting towards social service work. his ilkel (Mr Linc dsor, ,ely s go age or J ut:o and 'n4110 IQ io Premier William Davis wants Canadians up the railroad tracks ity train that will cost $7.5 million ay have difficulty in convincing vincial counterparts to share the is now spearheading a drive to, American Freedom train into a shed Canadian unity train. The lion American Bicentennial train veiled 25,000 miles in 1976 is now ing in an army base in Alexan- rginia. nited States is willing to sell the Canada for $575,00 and Davis t Ontario would pay as much as PROVINCIAL POINTS $200,000 towards the purchase price of the train if the other provinces were wilting to chip in. ' So:far seven provinces have approved of the idea in principal but want more discussion at the First • Ministers Con- fer'ence in Prince Edward Island August 17-19. Peter Sturney, president of the American Freedom Train Foundation said that there have been several offers to purchase the train. Sturney said, however that his group would like to see the train go to Canada and he expected that the deal would be completed this week. The idea to purchase the train came from Bernard Ostry, secretary general of the National Museums of Canada. His plan was to use the train as a mobile museum of Canada's heritage that would move across the country begin- ning on Canada Day July 1, 1978. Quebec has already opted out of the proposal and claimed it could not par- ticipate for economic reasons only. CP and CN rail have agreed to operate the train and it will take a year at least to outfit the 12 cars. However on the other end of the scale, Ontario's unitarian motives were questioned after the government rejected a Montreal company's bid to supply new Toronto streetcars in favor of an Ontario -company's costlier bid. Eric Cunningham, Liberal MPP for Wentworth North and the Liberal transport critic said the. Ontario Con- servative misused an opportunity to strengthen unity and Confederation. Cunningham claims that the result of the Ontario decision may be to justify a similar `closed shop'• purchasing policy of the separatist Parti Quebecois government. Premier Davis rejected the charge by federal Supply Minister Jean-Pierre Goyer that Ontario was playing into the hands of Quebec separatists by buying from the Ontario firm. Davis said in a statement that the decision to deal with an Ontario firm was of vital importance to development in Northern Ontario. The Ontario firm was chosen for the job mainly to protect jobs in the province. A spokesman for the Urban Tran- sportation Development Corp. said that the decision to accept the tender from Hawker Siddeley Group Ltd. of Thunder Bay was a direct rejection of the recommendation made by his provincial government agency. MLW-Bombadier Ltd. of Montreal had placed a bid about $2.1 million lower than Hawker Siddeley's. But now even the New Democratic Party has sup- ported the action in favor of retaining jobs in the province. The Bombadier president has said that the decision will rebound on the Ontario government who were happy to receive their bid to make Hawker more com- petitive. He added that without outside competition on such deals Ontario would be forced to pay more for goods and services. I 11. 1912 Co ill 'our gro thes rich', for, s" val f rk. a, Canadian Federal government e forced :to spend more on ncy job creation-, programs if s investment doesn't pick up soon Finance Minister Donald nald. - onald said the government would make a decision on more job n programs by the end of July. If vernment projections indicate investment is not going to pick he next few months the govern - ill step in. - onald did not indicate how much eral government was willing to CANADA IN SEVEN spend on jobs but latest figures released show 814,000 Canadians out of work, giving a seasonally adjusted unem- -ployment rate of eight per cent., Macdonald has indicated that he would announce his decision in a double - bill special in early August at the same time that he tells Canadians when wage and price controls will end. During this year Ottawa will spend, $458 million on job creation programs. . Manpower Minister Bud Cullen announced another $225 million Tuesday for work projects for fall and Winter as part two of the Canada'Works-prigram. If Macdonald decides to spend more on job creation it will have to be in addition to the money already spent. Several cabinet ministers have said that business has not pulled its weight in taking advantage of recent tax breaks to increase investment. In Toronto last week, Treasury Board President Robert. Andras warned businessmen to speed up plans for ex- pansion to ease unemployment or the government Would do it for them. Andras is convinced that the best way to create jobs is through private enterprise but there has been little or rio response. He said the government can not stand aloof Even Prime Minister Trudeau . has said that private industry has' not taken up the slack which was provided for it in the budget. In his, March budget, Macdonald provided $1.2 billion in tax Buts for companies in the hope they would expand and create more jobs. He now admits that the tax concessions are not working. The remarks were prompted by a ,....grilling Macdonald and Trudeau took in the House of Commons about the state of the Canadian economy. Citing a recent grim forecast that Canada's economic recovery was likely to be very low, MPP Lincoln Alexander (PC - Hamilton West) renewed demands for an early budget. The government may very well need an emergency budget to deal with unemployment and its slow recovery from record high percentages. The problem has eased slightly and the number of job vacancies has risen sharply since the first of the year despite the 8 per cent unemployment rate. The reasons were as a result of a slight ex- pansion in the economy, providing more jobs and a lag in filling them. However Statistics Canada officials remarked that a slight increase in job vacancies is normal for this time of year. But they were also able to report a 2'0 per cent increase in vacant jobs in the second quarter of 1977 over the first quarter. While the unemployment rate in- creased to 7,2 per cent in June from 6.2 per cent at the outset of the year the job vacancy rate rose by 50 per cent to six jobs per thousand from four per thousand. eath toll is rising to 50 in floods ve "devastated communities and Pe around Johnstown' Penn- a, an ill fated southwestern steel d waters began receding ay after the storm and there were read reports , of other people and some presumed dead> Many ere left without communication e police were ordared to shoot if necessary. flood was touched off by -an eight rainfall that isolated 41,000. is in seven counties last Tuesday. WORLDWEEK The flooding was caused by severe thunderstorms that dumped up to 7 3/ inches of rain over. a 24 hour period according to an environmental resource department official. The main storm seemed to sit over Johnstown without moving for several hours and washed away roads, felled" communications lines and left death, destruction and muddy debris in its wake. Seven counties were battered by the torrential rains that overloaded creeks and rivers in n ' 70 mile stretch. Thousands of people were left -homeless and many of them were still reported missing. Johnstown remained virtually isolated for days and police claimed that several of the deaths were reported in outlaying areas where the floodings werne less severe. Four people were reported dead in the town of Seward where 35 mobile horses slid into•a river as water rushed over the banks. Pennsylvania Governor Milton Shapp declared a state of extreme emergency and neighbouring communities supplied manpower and emergency facilities as soon as they could rea,;h the town. Johnstown is located -at the confluence of the Little Conemaugh and Stoney Creek neither of which could handle the overload from tributaries swollen with rainwater. Between 500 and 1,000 residents were evacuated from their homes in the Johnstown area but many others were stranded because rescuers were unable to reach them. Many people were forced to seek safety on the roofs of their houses but couldn't be .rescued because of high tension wires. ' Two National Guard battalions were called out to help in rescue efforts and officials asked for boats from every available government agency. State police helicopters and scuba divers were also pressed into service. Emergency medical centres were set up on high ground surrounding the town and valley. Property damage was ex- tensive and Johnstown mayor Herbert Pfuhl was quoted as estimating the damage as high as $100 million. The churning waters of the rivers snapped trees and power lines, over- turned hundreds of cars, washed away mobile homes and even swept away railroad lines. Governor Shapp, who toured the area by helicopter said he saw houses totally swept off their foundations and railroad tracks were twisted and bent like Tinker Toy sets. "I.,saw cars and trucks toppled over and buried to mud. I saw buildings moved hundreds of feet from their origiryal locations." Shapp ,said. This marked the third major flood in years in Johnstown, whose name became synonontous with disaster after the Johns'town Flood of 1889 killed 2;'300 people. In that flood the South Fork Dam burst and unleaslted a wall of water that roared through the Little Conemaugh Valley, pushing .people and buildings before it. That dam no longer exists.