Wednesday, February 15, 2012

PROUDLY PRINTED IN LONDON, ONTARIO

n DEADLY LEVEL CROSSINGS

Families fight to make sure deaths dont happen again

Railroad tracks bracketed John Jobsons adult life as much a part of his daily landscape as the soybean fields and corn rows. To the north, within a stick-toss of his farm, the CP crossing; a little
Debora Van Brenk

south of that, a set of double tracks owned by the CNR. Almost every day as he drove to work for the Middlesex County roads department or ran the inevitable errands that come from operating a farm, John Jobson crossed one or another set of those tracks.

IN GLENCOE

He was a human whirlwind his friends called him JohnnyDo because he rarely sat still. That morning, July 29 last year, he was on his way home from Glencoe after picking up a load of oats for his cattle and oil filters for his red Ford pickup truck. Exactly how the crash happened isnt known. But heres what is known: An eastbound Via train zipped past Pratt Siding Rd. at about 10:20 a.m. on the CNR double track. A few minutes later, a Windsor-bound passenger train passed the same crossing. The 22-year-olds truck

slammed into that second train. The crossing was marked with a stop sign and crossbucks, the white X-shaped signs that dot hundreds of rural rail intersections throughout Canada. John Jobson was the second person to die there: Gloyde Mills lost his life there 13 years earlier.
see LEVEL CROSSINGS | Page A2

MORE: See the victims families angle at lfpress.com/video

n DRUMMOND REPORT

Call to end slots subsidy brings a swift response from $2.6B industry

LONDON BUDGET

Denise Brown

Paul Hubert

Will public backlash melt down tax freeze?

PATRICK MALONEY The London Free Press
A city councillor is backtracking on her support for cuts to city wading and swimming pools, likely sparing them from the tax-freeze chopping block at next weeks final budget vote. And a council colleague wonders whether other politicians might flip on other budgetcutting moves that have set the stage for a second-straight zero budget hike but drawn public scorn. One move thats drawing criticism is the proposed cut to outdoor aquatic services at eight sites to save $23,000 backed by an 8-7 vote with support from Coun. Denise Brown. But now, due partly to an awful lot of negative e-mails, the Ward 11 councillor says she opposes a cut she believes would unduly affect less-fortunate Londoners. Theres a lot of people who cant afford anything more for recreation, Brown said. I think its still needed. The proposal would have closed five wading pools, which are to be phased out in upcoming years, and end evening hours at three swimming pools. While Browns reversal would have a small financial impact it would only add $23,000 to the bottom line could it suggest the public backlash may alter other politicians views?
see TAX FREEZE | Page A5

CRAIG GLOVER The London Free Press

Thats the end of horse racing

CHIP MARTIN The London Free Press
Any bid to cancel Ontario horse racings share of slots revenue will kill a $2.6-billion industry that employs 65,000 people, its leaders warn. Rural areas, where the racing business is based and whose smaller centres receive slot machine money, would be devastated, they add. The warnings come after
Joining Made Easy:

Doug Schweitzer of West Lorne takes a bridle off his horse, With Ease, during race preparations in the stables at the Western Fair Raceway in London on Tuesday.

Drummond report: Top hospital, college, university execs need to lead by example as deficit fight ramps up, McGuinty says. Page A4

Finance Minister Dwight Duncans said this week he may end Ontarios $345-million annual subsidy for horse racing. With the Liberal government running a $16-billion deficit, and a major report due out Wednesday outlining hundreds of options for it to cut to get back

in the black, all kinds of provincial programs are expected to be thrust under the spotlight. But taking away money from the racing industry now supported by a cut from slot machines at provincial mini-casinos would kill it, some say. Its another Liberal shot at rural Ontario, Brian Tropea, general manager of the Ontario Harness Horse Association, charged Tuesday. If we lose this 20% agreement

(sharing slot revenue), thats the end of horse racing in Ontario as I see it, he said. Londons Western Fair District raceway is the centre of a hotbed of harness racing, which produces tens of millions of dollars in economic spinoffs, Tropea said. The regions other racetracks are in Clinton, Hanover, Dresden, Woodstock and Sarnia. The industry subsidy, as Duncan termed it in a Toronto

speech, is its 20% share of the $1.4 billion it gets each year from slot machines at 17 Ontario racetracks. Since 1998, agreements with each site have produced billions to support racing, a valued part of the agricultural sector. Duncan suggested money allocated to the industry could be better spent elsewhere as the province tightens its belt.
see HORSE RACING | Page A4

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WE ASKED YOU . . .
Should smoking be banned on restaurant and bar patios? YES 46% NO 54% Total votes cast: 1257 Todays question: Should Ontario end its $345M annual subsidy to the horse-racing industry? YES, THE MONEY IS BETTER SPENT ELSEWHERE NO, ITS A VALUED INDUSTRY THAT NEEDS SUPPORT

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