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THE HERALD Wednesday May 22 1991 Page J Community Planner suggests NEC shortsighted in developing amendment ByBENDUMMETT The Herald The Niagara Escarpment Com mission was shortsighted in developing an amendment to pro tect the escarpment from the in of landfills without first consulting with private com involved in waste management suggested planner Tom Smart during a hearing Thursday at the Halton Hills Civic Centre Mr Smart a senior planner with Mill 0 Dell Planning Associates in St Catharines told Health Department assigns therapist to North Halton A reported increase in the number of Halton Hills and Milton children who are developmental handicapped or who could potentially become mentally or physically handicap ped has warranted Halton Region locating two therapists at the Regional Health Department Of fice on Main St in Georgetown One therapist works with in dividuals aged two to 21 while the other helps infants from birth to twoyears old The therapists work under the Regions Behavior Management program and the Parent Infant program respectively said the programs coordinator Kathenne Dracup during an interview Friday Although each of the programs have been offered since the 1970s only over the past year have the number of cases from North justified a therapist for each program working per manently in the North area In the past a therapist bas in Burlington would make periodic trips to North Halton she said There are currently 30 children in the Behavior Management pro gram throughout Halton and one third of this number is based in North said Ms Dracup There are children out of a total of in the Parent Infant program living in North Halton Ms didnt have figures for the past years readily available but she said current numbers for North Halton repre sent significant increases over previous years She attributed the increased numbers to population growth and the fact that a number of young families are moving into the Halton Hills and Milton area The Behavior Management Program works with children who are cognitively or developmentally handicapped and display behavior problems said Ms Dracup Children who fall under this category include Down Syndrome or autistic children who are excessively gressivt or lack social or sexual skills she said The goal is to teach children how to become active members of the community said Ms That means leaching the children how to understand fie lights or the importance of staying in the backyard and not playing on the road The therapist also works with the childrens parents to teach them strategy on how to recognize and control aggression in then children explained Ms Children in the Parent Infant Program are those born mentally or physically handicapped and those who are born severely premature she said These children are recognized as a high nsk group because they are susceptible to becoming mentally or physically handicapped said Ms The programs focus is to iden tify a handicap or potential nan dicap early and take steps to eliminate or reduce the severity of the handicap she said For this reason the therapist goes into the home and teaches parents skills necessary to prove their childs early physical and mental development ex plained Ms Dracup the hearing he approached the Niagara Escarpment during the development stages of Amendment and said he would act on his own behalf as a between the Commission and private industry to help the NEC write the amendment Saying the NEC rejected his of fer Mr Smart predicted if his of fer had been accepted the result would have been a far superior amendment If Amendment is approved applicants wanting to establish a waste disposal facility on the escarpment would first be re quired to obtain an amendment to the Niagara Escarpment Plan Mr Smart was called as a witness by Richard Hazard the lawyer representing Systems Incorporated RSI is the proponent behind the Acton dump proposal NEC Senior Planner Marion Plaunt said during a hearing break Mr Smart did make an of to help in the drafting of the amendment but it dtdn t make sense to accept the offer It s not normal practice to have private firms help prepare public policy especially when the public policy doesnt permit what the private companies want permitted said Ms Mr Smart the amendment doesn t adequately address disposal facilities other than landfills Mr Smart said the amend ment s focus on landfills instead of on the differences between disposal facilities unfairly groups all ypes of waste disposal and other waste management facilities together In this way if the amendment is approved said Mr Smart some types of disposal facilities will justifiably be banned he said Ms said the amend bans new wast disposal sites but it allows small recycling and compost facilities to be established beside already established landfill sites Ms Plaunt said if the disposal facility amounted to nothing more than a small square box the commission would use com mon sense in determining if the amendment applied in that case The hearing continues row Thursday at the Town Civic Centre Halton Dairy Princess visits Halton Dairy Princess Jennifer Livock described with the help of Clover the cow and some milker claws the travel of milk from farm to table to children at the Hornby Nursery School Jennifer has been visiting schools across the country and Is available to speak to any public interest groups She can be booked through Dairy Princess Co ordinator Brander at 877 Pictured above left to right Christy Nurse Jennifer Will Dairy Princess Jennifer Neil Pickett peeking and Christy Guenther Photo submitted HEART AND STROKE FOUNDATION OF ONTARIO IMPROVING YOUR ODDS AGAINST CANADAS KILLER FLYERS Watch for these MONEYSAVING flyers inside this edition of THE HERALD Photography- The Sooter The DISTRIBUTION DOWNTOWN GEORGETOWN 1937 THE INDESTRUCTIBLE SANDAL from Fletchers A Shoes and European contoured footbed Stitched leather adjustable straps Non marking tough PVC outsole 29 98 Sizes 5 to 2 Colours Boys Navy or Brown Girls Pink White Purple Combination White Fuchsia Pink Purple OtlHOfAWIC FLETCHERS MBHWCS M FAMILY SHOfS FOOT 8771664 MAIN ST DOWNTOWN GEORGETOWN CERTIFIED ON STAFF