The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 33

Arts: John Denver dies in plane crash. C12 Style: Leather suits the season. C18 Poster boy Matthew Massia-Lahey helped create an anti-bully poster. C4 Section Editor: Joe Sornberger, 596-3507 Citythecitizen.southam.ca THE OTTAWA CITIZEN, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1997 'L CITY 3T Blood bank shortage critical A few serious accidents could exhaust supply, blood officials warn I "J'' s' 5 Si By Dave Rogers The Ottawa Citizen The most critical blood shortage in Eastern Ontario in more than 10 years is forcing some hospitals to postpone elective surgery and causing Red Cross officials to worry that accident victims could die because of a lack of blood. Red Cross spokesman Jean Saint-Pierre said blood supplies are less than 10 per cent of the optimum level for all types.

The agency needs 195 units of positive blood, but last night had only 10. There are similar shortages of other types of blood. PAT MCGRATH, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN The Red Cross has scheduled an expanded blood donor clinic for the public today from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Red Cross has scheduled an expanded blood donor clinic for the public today from 9 a.m.

to 5 p.m. at 85 Plymouth St. and for National Defence employees from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Louis St.

Laurent Building on de la Carriere Boulevard in Hull. The crisis began Oct. 3, a day after a 37-year-old Ottawa cyclist veered off a sidewalk into the path of an OC Trans-po bus on Bank Street near Walkley Road. The man suffered severe injuries to his pelvis and required 70 units of positive blood, causing a critical Ben Franklin became mayor in 1978 as a break from teaching geography. Falling in love with the job, he hung around so long the big memorial plaque at City Hall listing the mayors of Nepean is mostly blank, because in 19 years there have been only two.

A history of Nepean, in one man Franklin made his town fiscally responsible before it became the chic thing to do shortage of that type of blood in the region. The Red Cross called for more blood donors last week, but was unable to get enough blood by the Thanksgiving weekend. "This is the worst blood shortage we have seen, period," Mr. Saint-Pierre said last night. "If three people should be seriously injured in a motor vehicle accident, there may not be enough blood to treat the third person.

"If there were patients who required a large number of units of blood and those units were not available, people could die. There will be some surgery delays at the Civic Hospital. The General Hospital plans to carry on with its operations, but may not be able to go ahead with some surgery on Tuesday." See BLOOD on page C2 "I was going to go back to teaching" after a short fling at being mayor in 1978. He really enjoyed teaching geography at Rideau High School and liked doing double-duty in regional and Nepean politics back in the '70s, but the grind was taking its tolL "It was really exhausting. I decided to let the public decide what I was going to do.

And they kept electing me. I think they liked the direction Nepean was going," he said. The son of a taxi-fleet manager and a schoolteacher, Mr. Franklin was educated at Carleton University, Ottawa Teachers College, Glebe Collegiate and Laurentian High School He taught in the Ottawa Board of Education system from 1964 to 1978. After a stint as councillor from 1973 to 1978, he took over the mayor's job and a Nepean with a $22-million debt, quite substantial for the time.

That said, Mr. Franklin is surprised there was a Nepean at all. "It's a miracle that Nepean survived," he said. In 1950, it had 2,500 people, a large territory, a small revenue base and big, land-grabbing Ottawa next door. When Mr.

Franklin took office in 1978, he set about trying to rectify the growing deficit "In order to be competitive and one of my prime goals was to develop a business base you had to be competitive on the tax rate. One of the big expenditures was interest "he said. "Quality of life is important as well. But as you get new business, your revenue base goes up, and that will start looking after your quality of life." Nepean taxes ran higher than the regional average back then but declined as finances improved. Now the city has the lowest municipal taxes in the region.

The low taxes were the result of the policy dubbed pay-as-you-go, what Mr. Franklin calls his legacy. See FRANKLIN on page C2 Acclaimed find victory bittersweet Ben Franklin left his heart in Nepean. He left it at countless rubber-chicken banquet dinners, at the weddings with invitations from almost-strangers he couldn't refuse and at the myriad political rhubarbs he has moderated. "People handle stress in different ways," said regional Coun.

Al Loney, who joined an upstart Ben Franklin on the Nepean council in 1973 and remains a friend and golf partner. Mr. Franklin was quiet and accommodating and conciliatory, always looking for common ground. While Mr. Loney released his stress through a rather demonstrative demeanor, Mr.

Franklin pent it up inside. The result is that part of Mr. Franklin's heart is dead. He's tired a lot of the time, and he doesn't look well. Doctors have told him not to lift heavy objects.

His long-time executive assistant, Mary Pitt, is worried about him. Nevertheless, the mayor's eyes are lively and he feels much better than he did a few months ago. He's 35 pounds lighter. Mr. Franklin is trying to avoid a heart transplant through living better.

Doctors don't know if he had a heart attack. "The only way they could ever tell was if they do an autopsy, and I don't want them to do that right now," Mr. Franklin said. "If not treated, the condition could lead to congestive heart failure." Mr. Franklin, forever a politician, desperately wanted to remain mayor of Nepean.

"It's bittersweet," he said. "I know it is the right decision from a medical point of view, but I was really looking forward to running." It wasn't supposed to end this early for the 55-year-old native of Elgin, near Smiths Falls. Nor was it supposed to go on this long. By Ken gray The Ottawa Citizen In the main foyer of Nepean City Hall is a stately plaque dedicated to those who have ruled this residential realm. Two mayors are listed under City of Nepean.

Andy Haydon was the first office holder in 1978. He held the title for six days before some young usurper by the name of Ben Franklin took office. Then there is a big blank spot on the plaque where the memorial-makers expected to engrave a string of mayors. Ben Franklin fooled them. If Mr.

Franklin has earned a spot in the region's history for nothing else, he has earned one for longevity almost two decades as the chief city father. But as well, Ben Franklin was also a quiet trailblazer and precursor, not of great monuments or vision, but of a movement that has swept government big, small and international fiscal responsibility. While Paris might be the City of Light, New Yorkers call their digs The Capital of the World, and San Francisco might be a good place to leave your heart, Nepeanites are just happy to say, "We're debt-free," as the signs on the city outskirts proclaim. Not exactly a slogan to go to war about, but the rest of the world is still trying hard to do what the folks on the flatlands west of Ottawa have already achieved. And now that Nepean is facing the biggest crisis in its history, with Ottawa, through amalgamation, eyeing its healthy tax base and Nepean eyeing Kanata's high-tech base as a means to survive government restructuring, the city's mayor has decided his health can't take the pace.

By jacquie Miller The Ottawa Citizen Betty Hill was at home in the village of Richmond yesterday, nursing laryngitis and eating turkey dinner with her family. But she wasn't particularly worried about what could be a serious ailment for a politician losing her voice in the opening days of an election campaign. Ms. Hill won't have to employ any stirring oratory to keep her seat on Ottawa-Carleton regional council No one has come forward to run against her in the Nov. 10 municipal election.

Whether it's a sign of voter satisfaction, or of apathy, a significant number of candidates across the region were acclaimed. See ACCLAIMED on page C2 On the fringe, and proud of it Why so-called fringe candidates run with virtually no hope of winning is a mystery that has confounded lesser mortals since the Greeks invented democracy more than 2,000 years ago, Ron Eade writes. 1 Iflhad a hamburger, I'd eat it in the morning wards where incumbents were comfortably acclaimed back into office. What chance has the self-proclaimed King of Street Musicians got against the sitting councillor, Stephane Emard-Chabot? Cynics might say zero, zip, not a prayer. But Mr.

Merritt, who paid $100 one-sixth of his monthly income to register at the last minute on Friday, is confident victory will not elude him. Not this time. "I'm an individual," says Mr. Merritt, who volunteered in 1991 to replace Jim Durrell when he resigned as Ottawa mayor. City council declined his offer.

Please see FRINGE on page C2 a Thanksgiving banquet in Christ Church Cathedral, street busker Steve Merritt strums a few ditties on days, Mr. Merritt, 55, father of four and grandfather of three, will happily pass out an election leaflet beseeching those with inquiring minds to vote him into public office. For the record, he is serious. When he's not busking for loonies in the Byward Market, the affable man with a braided ponytail is among 26 candidates for election to Ottawa Council not counting four people running for mayor, and three in city is well-worn banjo while scores of ROD MACIVOR, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN homeless people devour free plates of ham, turkey, vegetables and cake. Should anyone ask what he's up to these Steve Merritt entertains at Thanksgiving dinner.

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