The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Firefighters lobbying for more manpower THE O Today‘s Paper CLASSIFIED..................... «2223 130 LS .168 24 A Metroland Community Newspaper The bonding instinet Breastâ€"fed is bestâ€"fed Also facing trial in connection with the same incidents are his wife, Halton deputy clerk Pat Crimmins, Halton Hills lawyer Bert Arnold and developer Ab Tennant. Pomeroy trial date to be set next month Attempts to set a trial date on corruptionâ€"related charges for Halton Regional Chairman Peter Pomeroy failed Monday when all sides couldn‘t agree on a time due to scheduling problems. Attorneys for Pomeroy and Crown Attorney Brian Gover will return to Milton generâ€" al division court on Sept. 1st to try again. The chairman faces two charges each of breach of trust and acceptâ€" ing a secret commission. The charges allege that Pomeroy took a bribe of $80,000 and shares in a land development company while holding office. At least two trials are expected to result from the charges, one involving Pomeroy, his wife and Arnold. Another trial will include all the accused. The trials are expected to take anywhere from four days to four weeks to complete. Pomeroy‘s lawyer, Brian Greenspan, and counsel for the four other coâ€"accused couldn‘t clear their calendars at the same time for a trial. Pomeroy has décided to stand trial by judge alone, rather than judge and jury as earlier indicated. Charges were laid against Pomeroy and the others last year after more than two years of investigation by Project 80, a joint forces police team established to probe allegations of municipal government corrupâ€" SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS Sears, Leon‘s, Wal Mart, Alternatives, Overdrive Bus. (905) 825â€"3524 dreds of competitors and specta Canadian Publications Mail Product Agreement #435â€"201 IMPORT CAR SERVICING CENTRE Pg. 13 2334 ft Rd. Unit 15 se Un e ad? Celular (416) 505â€"7134 By ANGELA BLACKBURN Special to the Beaver Halton Region is crystalâ€"ball gazing with its Environmental Scan document before mapping the future in a new strategic plan. The document â€" recently before Halton‘s strategic planning committee â€" will be circulated publicly in the near future as part of numerous restructuring initiaâ€" tives underway at the region. "We‘re trying to get a fix on where we are and what does it all mean," explained regional chief administrative officer, John Burke. The paper looks at the current status and predicts trends for local issues such as economic matters, demographics, political developâ€" ments, government roles, environâ€" mental and technological conâ€" cerns. Halton‘s population well educated and works in small businessâ€"report Burke said the recession has been lengthy and the high jobless rate won‘t likely change until the turn of the century. Trade barriers have disappéared, moving people, goods, and jobs across the map. Manufacturing has declined in Halton, while 80% of jobs are in the service industry â€" including Communications, utilities, wholeâ€" sale and retail trade, finance and insurance, real estate, business "Canada‘s Best Community Newspaper" CCNA Better Newspapers Competition 1993 Low inflation, high interest rates and huge government debts will continue making capital proâ€" jects difficult for government and will likely increase provincial cost downloading to municipalities. management, and public adminisâ€" tration. Some other findings: * 90% of Halton firms employâ€" ee less than 50 people. The: large private sector firms are in a variâ€" ety of industries; thus, Halton is not overly dependent on one secâ€" tor. The public sector is a major Halton employer. * Halton‘s population, which doubled in the last 25 years, growâ€" ing 3% per year, will grow by LlMl'l'F.D (416) 359â€"4633 100% Government Guaranteed | "*Rates subject *« Halton has a significant seniors‘ population but its overall population is young, wellâ€"educatâ€" ed, has a robust income level, and is healthy, said the report. 2.6% annually, with upgraded water services to north Oakville and north Halton. * The region is less involved in social programs than other regions â€" only 1% of the population receives welfare assistance â€" howâ€" ever, that‘s expected to change with growth. * Halton‘s affluence is counterâ€" balanced by low perâ€"capita fundâ€" ing in many provincial program areas, particularly longâ€"term care (See ‘Report‘ page 2) By HOWARD MOZEL Oakville Beaver Staff "The level of fire fighting serâ€" vices in the province is in serious danger of of being reduced to the point where the safety of both taxpayers and fire fighters is in jeopardy," said Lee. "This is a job where you don‘t get a second chance. That is why we are undertaking a public education campaign to bring the situation to the attention of politicians and â€"the citizens we serve before it becomes worse." erode fire fighting services is a game of Russian roulette nobody wins, says the president of the Ontario Professional Fire Fighters Association (OPFFA.) Gambling with people‘s lives by allowing municipalities to Currently there is no legislaâ€" tion requiring municipalities to main a fullâ€"time fire fighting force as there is for police. No such law is even in the planning stages in the backâ€"room maze of Queens Park. "The gun will go off," states 22â€"year veteran Jim Lee, a fire fighter in North York. "It‘s only a matter of time." Fatal shots are occurring with mounting frequency. According to statistics compiled by the Ontario Fire Marshall, there have been 867 fire deaths in the province between 1988 and 1993 â€" an average of 144 per year. Between 1992 and 1993 alone there was an 18% increase in fatalities. Taxpayers, Lee urges, must put the pressure on their local elected (See ‘Firefighter‘ page 2) It should come as no surprise, then, that on July 27 the Association launched a provinceâ€" wide campaign to draw the pubâ€" lic‘s attention to what members call the "erosion" of fire fighting services and the resulting "threat to public safety." "That statistic alone should make people concerned," Lee said Tuesday from the OPFFA‘s Oakville office. Other figures only reinforce this concern: in 1992 the average response time in Ontario was 4.4 minutes. In 1993 this had jumped to 6.01 minutes. 44 Pages (BURNS 100% Government Guaranteed Strip Coupons Maturing in 2004 (See ‘Charity‘ page 3)