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

f Canaan 0amAn A Metroland Community Newspaper Berry fair fun is fora good cause The 18th Annual Strawberry Fair in sup- port of Milton District Hospital this week- end will feature a line-up of entertainment from the Sailor Moon Trio to the Mississauga Pops Concert Band. Musical groups and community organi- zations will stage performances through- out Saturday and Sunday. Acts will include the Milton and District Pipes and Drums, the Tennessee Valley Band with Elvis (Steve Kabakos), the Dance Shoppe, Milton Players Theatre Group, Ontario Renaissance Festival, Milton Choristers, Men To Boys and -the Milton Centre for Music and Theatre Arts. An antique car display, baby contest and children's activities will also be featured. And, of course, strawberries will be available. A barbecue will be held Saturday from 4:30 to 7 p.m. and the Milton Optimist Club will host a breakfast Sunday from 7:30to l l a.m. The whole event will run Saturday from 9:45 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Garden tour Ten urban and rural Milton gar- dens will be featured in the Milton and District Horticultural Society's Garden Tour Sunday, June 28. Participants buy a ticket, which includes a listing and description of the gardens to be visited in any order from 4 to 8 p.m. Tickets, available now at Spice O' Life on Main Street, or outside Town Hall on the day of the tour, cost $5 for aduits or $8 per family. Rides are available. Caîl 878-7397 for more informa- tion. Vol. 139 No. 33 'lùesclay, June zi, î~I~ Il Elvis magic Elvis impersonator Stephen Kabakos had the audience enthralled as he performed old favourites downtown during the annual Moonlight Magic street festival Friday night. See more photos on page 17. Good place for a bad situation, Hunter says By KAREN SMITH job at Milton District Hospital June 10. The Champion "If I hadn't been at the hospital, I surely There's no time or place for a would have bit the biscuit," said the 57- heart attack, but Dr. Ivan Hunter year-old, who was in good spirits when he spoke 10 The Champion from bis home came closest to finding one. Fnday. The long-time local family physician He said his first reaction was denial and coroner says he's lucky to be alive when the typical heart attack symptoms of after suffering a jeart attack while on the e se t HUNTER on page 3 Tuesday, June 23, 1998 40 Pages 75¢ (GST included) Papke lauds money from Queen's Park By TIM WHITNELL Special to The Champion Less is more when you're talking about uncertain- ty in provincial funding of education. Less uncertainty in terms of guaranteed dollars for jeopardized programs means more stability and more employees recalled, said the Halton District School Board's director of education. Dusty Papke was delighted with last week's announcement from the Ministry of Education and Training concerning increased guaran- teed funding for specific in-class activ- ities. "It's really good news for us," he said, estimating the net impact of the government guarantees at $8 million for the Halton board. "We will no doubt be calling back instructional assistants, as many as we can. "We can't guarantee all will be back and we won't know the (exact) num- Dusty Papke ber until the (funding) grant regulations come in from the Ministry," the director of education said. The Halton public board had previously announced it was lay- ing off 273 lAs due to shortfalls in the Ministry's new funding formula for Ontario's school boards. Minister Dave Johnson said last week the govemment will pro- vide more than $1 billion a year for special education - total spending is $13 billion annually - to ensure programs and ser- vices for students with special needs will be in place for September 1998. Dr. Papke cautioned the announcement should be put in per- spective. The board spent $33 million last year on special educa- tion but was guaranteed only $16 million for 1998-99, until this week's declaration pushed that figure to $24 million. Dr. Papke noted there is still some latitude to up that new guar- anteed funding ceiling. The Halton board may be eligible for extra funding in the form of Intensive Support Amount (ISA) grants for students who require high-cost, specialized programs and services, if it can prove the need. Another announcement that encouraged Dr. Papke was the Ministry's acceptance of a higher maximum student course load figure, which was the basis for secondary school funding. A standard of 7.2 credits for the average high school student was established in wake of the new class-size regulations stipulat- ing a maximum average of 22 students per secondary class (25 in elementary) in Ontario. The regulation initially meant another 80 high school instruc- tors faced layoff at the Halton board. Dr. Papke said the new min- istry maximum of 7.5 credits, which applies to Halton, will prob- ably mean the recall of between 20-25 of the laid off secondary teachers. Another announcement providing some relief from time con- f straints and more board flexibility, said Dr. Papke, is a decision •see FATE on page 3