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Page the Herald Town Buyer Sunday January 1 News at a Glance Committed to recycling Park Public School students use the schools big blue box to officially kickoff the schools new Blue Box Recycling Program last week From left to right Mccracken Carmen Davies Jonathan Amanda Jessica and Park Public School principal Rick Nod- well Herald Photo by Steven Region News Nasty weather conditions blamed as youth struck by car Icy and snowpacked road con ditions contributed to a boy being hit by a car on King St in Georgetown Wednesday report Regional Police Sixyearold Trevor of Georgetown was with three other boys who were crossing King St from Greenwood Cemetery when the accident happened An oncoming driver saw the group and tried to slow down but when Trevor darted back across the road towards the cemetery the 1988 Chevrolet Sedan struck him Turner talks MP Garth Turner will be holding public meetings to discuss major issues including the economy and the Job market to get the views of people and to explain what the federal government is doing and why This is not going to be an easy year Turner says but it could also be an extremely important one The economy has to Improve but that improvement itself could be put in danger if Canada breaks apart So all of us have a stake in understanding what could bring The meetings are as follows Hills live television Town Hall meeting on Cable Tuesday January 21 8 to 9 pm Milton- Hall Guelph Line north of Mohawk Raceway Wednesday January 22 730 to pm and Caledon East Community Complex Thursday January to9pm For more information contact MP Garth Turner at 416 office or home Hills Firefighters arrived on the scene and administered first aid before Hills Ambulance rushed the boy to Georgetown and District Memorial Hospital He was discharged from the hospital two hours after being admitted Police say the driver of the car a 1988 Chevrolet sedan was a Georgetown man who was unable to stop or avoid the boy due to packed snow and ice on the road No charges were laid against the driver because of the road con ditions and because the boy was at fault say police Winter road condition caused other motor vehicle accidents in the area Ironically police are reporting no accidents during Tuesdays severe snow storm It was Wednesdays bad road conditions that seemed to cause the accidents One such accident occurred at Wednesday morning when a Georgetown man driving a 1989 sedan struck a 1992 Mercury coupe at the Victoria St and John St intersection Police say the man was south bound on Victoria when he turned left in front of the Mercury by a Georgetown woman and struck her causing light damage to her vehicle Police charged the man with im proper turn His vehicle was severely damaged Minutes later at Boulevard and Mountainview a Georgetown woman driving a 1987 Mercury sedan rearended a Ford van driven by a Georgetown woman Police say the van was stopped at the intersection when she struck it from behind The Mercury driver had attempted to stop but slid on sheer ice Both vehicles were moderately damaged There were no injuries and no charges were laid Lastly a Milton mans Dodge pickup was severely damaged after a woman lost control of her Buick and struck his vehicle at Line south of 15Sideroad Police say the Milton man was northbound on line when he slowed down in the southbound lane The woman was in the south bound lane and attempted to stop and avoid the pickup but due to the slippery roadway couldnt stop Her car was also severely damaged Police laid charges against the Milton man for being in the wrong lane under the Highway Traffic Act Gas bar robbery Halton Regional police report a 200 pound safe containing thousan ds of dollars worth of cash and credit card slips was stolen from a Georgetown gas station Jan 11 Police say unknown culprits broke into Pioneer Gas on Maple Avenue and Trafalgar by breaking a glass pane in the front door Once inside they removed the safe and its contents Also stolen was worth of various brands of cigarettes cases of pop boxes of chocolate bars and chips lighters and a desk calculator Police are continuing their in vestigation Battle looming between Region and government It appears the government is in for a fight with Region over the provinces financial com mitment to nonprofit child care at the expense of privatelyrun child care There is a real split between the Regions Health and Social Services committee and the province con cerning profit and nonprofit child care said Regional Chairman Peter during an interview Wednesday Chairman made this comment in reference to a Health and Social Services recom mendation on the child care issue The recommendation calls for the Chairman to write the premier ex pressing the Regions opposition to the apparent preferential treat ment the province is showing towards nonprofit child care operators Before Chairman Pomeroy takes any action however the recom mendation must receive final ap proval by Regional Council this Wednesday The recommendation is likely to receive Regional Council approval because the Region has always sup ported euqal treatment for profit and nonprofit child care centres said Chairman In focusing attention on non profit child the province recently announced it would allocate million to support salaries for nonprofit child care employees and to create new non profit child care centres According to a Regional staff report the governments initiative will significantly reduce at least in the short term the number of quality day care spaces available in The reports author Regional Social Services Commissioner Bon nie notes the additional provincial funding will further widen the existing salary gap bet ween nonprofit and profit child care centre employees Chairman is concerned child care workers will only be in terested working for nonprofit operations because of the higher salaries they offer Surprisingly the Region has an ally in MPP Noel Duignan Contacted Wednesday Mr Duignan said he opposes his gover nments position on the child care issue The MPP said he has received several complaints about the gover nments child care funding initiatives from privatelyrun child care centre operators in Mr Duignan said he has sent a letter to Marion Boyd Ontario Minister of Community and Social Services expressing his concern with the preferential treatment being shown to nonprofit child care operators Recession hits hard Regions yearend General Welfare Assistance caseload statistics have now been tallied and not results show many Halton residents were Bonnie Ewart hard hit by the recession According to a Regional Health and Social Services report the number of caseloads was per cent higher in than the previous year Considered another way the Region dished out more in GWA payments last year than was originally projected Social Services Com missioner Bonnie the reports author notes the poor economy was a major reason for the unprecedented growth in GWA payments in 1991 over the previous year Indeed Ms highlights per cent of clients in were employable and continue to be so As for the coming year Ms paints a grim picture her report she indicates the number of caseloads could in crease 25 per cent this year over 1991 To administer the expected in crease Ms Ewart is requesting the Region hire additional staff at a net cost of 165000 The request will be included as part of the ongoing Regional budget deliberations recommended Region Planning and Public Works Committee recom mended Wednesday be spent to renovate the wastewater main at the Agnes Street pumping station in Acton The recommendation will go before Regional Council this Wed nesday for final approval Committee a As part of their duties as municipal politicians Halton Hills Regional councillors will sit on a variety of Regionalrelated com mittees Local Regional councillor Marilyn Serjeantson has been ap pointed to sit on the Budget Review Committee the Ecological and En vironmental Advisory Committee and the NonProfit Housing Corporation Hills Regional councillor Johnston has been appointed to the Halton Region Conservation Authority and the Housing Corporation Acton Regional councillor Rick Bonnette has been named to the Region Conservation Authority Firefighters busy Hills Firefighters were kept busy Jan fighting a garage fire attending to an accident vic tim and standing guard over fallen hydro wires The first call came at pm to a residence on the Line north of Steeles Avenue A garage attached to the home was on fire Firefighters were able to prevent the fire from spreading to the rest of the home and extinguished the blaze in two hours Damage was estimated at The fire depart ment hasnt determined the cause of the lire An hour later firefighters were called to administer first aid to a sixyearold boy whod been struck by a car on King St in Georgetown The boy was taken to Georgetown and District Memorial Hospital by ambulance and was discharged two hours later Lastly firefighters had to stand guard over hydro wires that were arching and burning in a ditch on 5 Sideroad between the and Line When Hills Hydro arrived firefighters allowed to leave the the scene