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The Canadien Champion, Friday December 26, 1997 - 19 Health funding, alarms Sunder the microscope • from EDUCATION on page 13 financial difficulty by mid May as share prices nosedived over cash flow poblems. The Milton based satellite dish maker had missed a $5 million interest payment to the Bank of Montreal a few days before. • Milton MPP Ted Chuldleigh was on the hot seat as more than 350 people gath- ered at the Optimist Centre to debate looming changes under provincial health care restructuring. There were fears the hospital would close. Mr. Chudliegh said he did not see that happening. • Meanwhile Milton District Hospital administrator Allan Halls was preparing to meet the so-called Health Care Restructuring Commission, Mr. Halls said he would stress the efficiency of the facili- ty during a 45-minute meeting. • Halton Region was working on a deal with neighbouring Peel to get access to Peel water for growth-starved Milton, but Halton Chief Administrative Officer Barry Malmsten warned that water probably wouldn't flow for another five years. • Police believed they had put a sizeable dent in local break-in activity in mid-May thanks to two arrests. The suspects were thought to be responsible for $150,000 in stolen goods. Tactical team officers arrested the sus- pects after a chase that resulted from police spotting the suspects in a stolen vehicle. • Milton's satellite dish company, Tee- Comm, was in receivership by late May. The board of directors had resigned, stock trading was halted and the Bank of Montreal managing the businesses' assets. • At least one voter, Oakville's Jack Hellewell, was angered by a position Tory candidate Ralph Scholtens outlined during a federal election all-candidates meeting at Bishop Reding Secondary School in late May. Mr. Scholtens called AIDS a "lifestyle disease" and said funding to battle it should take a back seat to money for work on illnesses afflicting more Canadians. Mr. Hellewell said he "never knew just how discriminating the PCs were." * By the end of May a tie vote among Halton public school board trustees had scuttled a tentative contract with 1,750 ele- mentary school teachers. Negotiators from both sides had endorsed the tentative agreement. • The first week of June belonged to Julian Reed as the incumbent MP swept to a second term, beating the divided small 'c' conservative vote by 10,000 as the Tories and Reform split it. Mr. Reed had looked uneasy early on as the Liberals took a battering in Atlantic Canada, he easily held the local seat and his party formed a new majority govern- ment. Milton resident Rick Malbouef, who ran for the Reform Party, was disappointed to run a close third behind Tory Ralph Scholtens of Burlington. * Widower Rob Schieren of Fifth Line was touched by the support of his commu- nity after his wife passed away. The Percy Merry Home and School Association dropped off meals twice a week and offered emotional support to help the young widower as he raised seven and four year old sons. • Astronaut Chris Hadfield was back in town during June to receive honours. Unity Park was-renamed after him. Lieutenant Colonel Hadfield was anxious- ly awaiting word that he would get another space shuttle mission. • The fuzz were to get a buzz for charity, according to a headline in this newspaper during early June.'Halton Regional Police officers committed to shaving their heads as a fundraiser to battle cancer. The ges- ture was originally conceived by an Edmonton police officer who shaved his head to make a child whose hair had fallen out during cancer treatment more comfort- able with his appearance. • By mid-month Chris Hadfield had another space mission lined up. he was slated to be the first Canadian to do a space walk outside the shuttle in 1999 as part of the international space station construction project. * Halton Region was planning to fine repeat false alarm offenders by mid-June. after four false alarms in a year, Halton police said they would no longer respond to calls at the offending location for 12 months. • A vocal group of downtown merchants were pressing municipal government to clean up the core area. . Milton Mayor Gord Krantz countered, however, saying there was no extra munic- ipal money to treat the area differently than anywhere else, and that the onus was on shopkeepers to keep the area around their businesses tidy. • Some Halton regional councillors were attempting to distance themselves from the controversy over chlorinating Milton's water by late June. The regional health and social services committee wanted out of the fight, but that initiative was scuttled the following week at full council, when the committee deci- sion was reversed. That satisfied Milton Mayor Gord Krantz, who had indicated his displeasure with the committee decision to regional Chair Joyce Savoline. • A Milton mom was asking for help from her neighbours in coping with the severe allergies her child suffered. Kim Kippax of Bronte Street pleaded with neighbours to alert her if they planned on spraying pesticides. Her daughter Dawn suffered life-threatening allergic reactions weed killers. * Late in June local politicians breathed a sigh of relief in obtaining word that the regional landfill site in Milton would not be targeted as a garbage dump for the entire Greater Toronto Area. Milt Farnw, a retired civil servant from Oakville who wrote the proposal to create a super-agency that would run Greater Toronto Services, said Milton and Halton should decide any questions regarding the landfill. • Police were cracking down on people suspected of running bogus scratch and win contests in early July. The so-called 'Phonebusters' task force executed search warrants against a Montreal company. The type of crime the squad looked into usually involved bilking people out of a $20-$25 long distance charge when they phoned to inquire about a 'winning' ticket sent in the mail. • Police were charging people who let their gun registration papers lapse in early July. Ten Halton handgun owners faced charges. The owners had allegedly failed to notify police of address changes. • Public board high school teachers rejected a final contract offer and gave their bargaining team the right to call a strike in early July. The 1,050 teachers voted 93 per cent in favour of rejecting the final contract offer. • ae BASEBALL on page 20