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-------- oo Platform figures This was the scene exactly a year ago this week in the heart of Penetanguishene when officials kicked off the town's gala year-long 100th birthday party. The ex- travaganza is over but not the memories the town's centennial generated. Ferguson honoured QUEEN'S COUNSEL Roderick Graham Ferguson, a partner and Ferguson received due honours, Jan. 1, with the Midland law 1983, when he was firm of Teskey, Heacock named-~ a Queen's willhelp all your feathered friends The Ministry of Natural Resources and Tiny Township are cooperating in a Job Creation Program at Tiny Marsh Provincial Wildlife Area northwest of Elmvale. This winter they will be holding two workshops for building bird houses and feeders. The first will be held on Saturday, Jan. 29, and the second, on Saturday, March 12. The workshops present excellent op- portunities for you or your club to get involved in wildlife conservation. Bird house and feeder kits, pre-cut and ready to assemble, will cost from $1 to $15. If you are interested, call (705) 322-2200 in advance, to order your kit(s) and register for a workshop. Deadlines for registration are: Jan. 14, for the Jan. 29 workshop, and Feb. 25, for the March 12 workshop. Kits can be assembled at the workshop or assembled later at your home or clubhouse. Instructions for building the bird houses and feeders will be included, but participants are requested to supply their own hammers. Interpreters will be on hand at the workshops to assist with construction, discuss locations for placing houses and feeders, outline species of birds to expect, and suggest feed mixtures. Dress warmly and borrow a pair of our snowshoes. Take ahike along our trails and see the houses and feeders we use in wildlife management at Tiny Marsh. Don't forget the dates, Jan. 29, and March 12. This project Counsel. Receipt of this designation is a distinct honour and is a recognition of Ferguson's community involvement and his superlative reputation before the courts in ~ Ontario. Born on June 20, 1944 in Toronto, he attended Bedford Park Public School in Toronto for his primary education: He later attended both Fergus Public School and Fergus District High School. He received his B.A. in 1966 from University of Waterloo, attended law school at Osgoode Hall and was called to the bar in 1970. He's a member of the Midland Rotary Club, a member of St. Paul's Church, founding president of ~-the Midland-Penetang Big Brothers, a former director on the Board of HDH and a co-funder and honourary member of the Penetanguishene Rotary Club. Ferguson served as chairman of the Heart Fun in Midland in '78 and has been chairman of the Midland Annual Civic Luncheon on three occasions. Snowmobile slams pedestrians pair rushed to HDH Saturday A 19-year-old Oakville teenager, Lloyd Acton-Hammill, was charged by Midland OPP early Saturday morning after the snowmobile he was driving came _ into collision with two pedestrians who were walking along Highway 69, south of Forest Harbour Road, north of Waubaushene. Acton-Hammill was charged with driving on a prohibited road. Injured in the 1:55 a.m. mishap were William Gary Simpson, 19, of Percy Street Waubaushene and Chery] Barry, 16, of Port Severn. Simpson received minor injuries while Barry suffered serious injuries. Both were rushed by Midland ambulance to Huronia District Hospital for treatment. Meanwhile there were no charges laid, Sunday afternoon at 2:15 p.m., after a car rolled over just north of Con. 8 in Tiny Township. Driver was identified as being 21-year-old Arthur Campbell, 434 Hugel Ave., Midland. The vehicle, which skidded off the road, reportedly rolled over on its roof causing $1,900 damage. A passenger in the auto, Sheri Trottier (two-months-old) was taken to HDH by auto suffering minor injuries. And $800 damage occurred on the same date but at 8:40 p.m. after a car skidded on Highway 12 west of Victoria Harbour and scraped a south bridge rail before crossing the roadway and striking two guardrails. Driver was listed as 28-year-old Donald Ward of 160 George St., Midland. The above two collisions were weather- related because of the snow and slush covering the roadway. NEED offers jobs by MURRAY MOORE While the residents of Midland and Penetanguishene wait in anticipation of designation of their towns under the federal aid program ILAP (Industrial Labour Adjustment Program), new jobs can be created under another program, in effect since last Friday: NEED (New Employment Expansion Development) NEED is to benefit the unemployed who have finished their unemployment benefits and those who are receiving welfare. Yesterday, Midland Mayor Al Roach said that the official local unemployment rate is nearly 22 per cent, and that there are more people out of work who are not listed with the local federal employment centre. Ray Baker, chairman of the comittee compiling the application for ILAP designation that the mayors of Midland and Penetanguishene will take in person to Ottawa sometime after Feb. 1, said, yesterday, that he expects that the statistics collected will reveal local unemployment rate of around 33 per cent, "probably one of the worst in Canada." NEED, which Mayor Roach described as "sood medicine for all the sick parts of the economy," is for the use of federal depart- ments and agencies, municipalities, volun- tary non-profit groups (such as Midland's ARC Industries), businesses, and unions. Eligible employers under NEED can hire a minimum of three people for between three months and 12 months. NEED will pay up to an average of $200 of a person's salary per week. The employer pays 25 per cent of the salaries and hires workers though the local employment centre. Unemployed workers there fore must be registered at the local employment centre to be part of the labour pool open to NEED-approved employers. NEED subsidised workers are not to do work now done by employees or volunteers. Mayor Roach and the town's department heads are meeting later this week to discuss what projects the town can initiate under NEED. If the department heads don't have any ideas, "I'll want to know why not," the mayor said. Ontario has been apportioned $130 million of the national $500 million NEED budget. NEED isa province-wide program. However, Baker suggested, because of high unem- ployment in this area, and the two town's announced intention to apply in the near future to Ottawa for ILAP designation, this area should have an edge for NEED programs. Workers whose unemployment benefits expired 10 weeks or more ago are a special target of the NEED program. One obvious group which would rank high on NEED's list are those RCA employees who were laid off in 1981. Applications for NEED money go to Barrie for provincial approval and then to Ottawa for federal approval. NEED is a joint federal- provincial program. Employees under a NEED-funded program received at least the minimum wage, and, if higher, a fair wage for their job for this area, as determined by the local employement centre. Employers through NEED can further qualify for up to $125 per worker hired per week to cover operating costs. NEED projects are not offically to make money for the employer, but any profit realized would be part of the employer's 25 per cent con- tribution. NEED means a dollar's worth of work for 25 cents, Baker said. Goal: to increase rentals A major construction program which would increase the _ rental apartment stock across Ontario has _ been proposed by Opposition Leader David Peterson. The plan calls for the spending of about $145 million in public funds to stimulate the con- struction industry and provided needed apartment units, especially in centres where vacancy rates are low. The program would put 26,000 persons to work for at least a year and provide spin-off benefits throughout the economy. Tanse Ontario Government has failed miserably to provide a job creation scheme which recognizes the reality of our current economic distress,"' Mr. Peterson said. "What I am proposing answers two pressing problems. It provides jobs. It provides ac- commodation. Both are in short supply. Government -has an obligation to act. The Peterson Plan calls for subsidies totalling about $130 million in the major urban centres of Ontario, and another $15 million in selected rural areas where housing needs are acute. The entire province would benefit, the Liberal Leader said, because subcontractors and suppliers from all reaches of the province would become involved. "The Ontario Liberal Party believes that it is time for the Provincial Government to act in this regard,' Mr. Peterson said. "Vacancy rates are intolerable in many Ontario cities -- 0.6 per cent in Toronto and Hamilton, 0.4 per cent-in Oshawa and Thunder Bay, and 0.2 per cent in Ottawa." "Such low. rates hinder the mobility of citizens of the province, foree many young to delay establishing their own households, and force politicians to forego any con- sideration of eliminating rent review." Wednesday, January 5, 1983, Page 3