Calgary Herald from Calgary, Alberta, Canada • 1

WITHERED LEAF! P77z 2 2 New hope. POCK p7 for SHOCK Hi SnOrerS fl Edmonton can't forgive him 1 WvJgM 35 CENTS OuUlde Calgary 50 Minimum 1 Some team members have trouble adjusting to life after hockey City edition POLE NEW BALL GAME iing Food is awful A2 appropriate to meet until officials had had a chance to review the survey. Now she has responded in writing to another union official." said McLennan. The union has members in seven Calgary nursing homes of which two are operated by Carewest. There are 17 nursing homes in Calgary.

Carl Bond, president of the Long Term Care Association which represents nursing homes, was unavailable for comment. However, McLennan says strict government regulations for nursing home were being modified to more closely reflect the amount of care residents needed from staff, the number of staff needed and whether residents were in the appropriate facility. All complaints relating to resident care are investigated by the government-appointed Health Facilities Review Board "and corrective action is taken where justified." McLennan says the minister has not seen Blasetti's letter and can't respond yet. But the department has completed its review of the union survey published in June. It claims the survey was unscientific and the questions poorly structured.

Workers want grim conditions investigated By Robert Walker (Herald writer) Health Minister Nancy Bet-kowski has been asked to set up a task force to investigate what Calgary nursing home workers say are appalling conditions in the facilities they staff. Poor food, leaking toilets, badly maintained buildings, violence and over-medicating of residents are among the allegations outlined in a letter that has been sent to Betkowski demanding action. Lilia Blasetti, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 8, says she's frustrated she has been unable to meet with the minister to discuss the results of a union survey completed earlier this year into nursing home conditions. The five-page letter says: 150 residents at one Calgary nursing home were fed from one 10-pound roast. "The roast was sliced so thin you could see through it." Married couples are denied the right to sleep together in one Calgary nursing home because it might disturb other residents.

Violence is rising among unhappy residents which cannot be dealt with because of acute staff shortages. Residents are continuously drugged to control their behavior. Buildings are so badly maintained one roof leaks and lets in the cold. The pipe from one set of toilets leaks as it passes through the kitchen below. Blasetti wants Betkowski to set up a task force to look at conditions and introduce annual spot checks to ensure standards.

"We hope to raise public awareness of the living conditions of Alberta's elderly in nursing homes," she says, accusing owners of "getting wealthy on the misfortunes of the elderly." In an interview Blasetti says her union's complaints are directed at private nursing homes not those run by Carewest, operators of government-owned nursing homes. Larry McLennan, a Hospitals Department spokesman, defended Betkowski's reluctance for a meeting at this stage. "The minister didn't feel it was -j jam i -iff: ftr tV FW1' i r' t'l 1 I V'. i jjnm :ium.jn.i.ii mi i i ii i i i. in I t-rj" '( i I Is it i i Staff cuts loom at Imperial Oil NEV7S DIGEST Rob Galbraith, Calgary Herald HIGH WIRE ACT: Basketball practice is all that Vern Williams and Brent MacNeil are part of the lineman's training course in the horsing around atop their 6-metre poles but trades training area of the city's North Ser- in fact the game improves balance, co-ordi- vice Centre near the airport.

It may seem nation and confidence up in the air. SUNDAY CITY WZ TT Nv A rH'l J'M' Ed the Duck gets quack at stardom thing like this, last-minute hitches can delay it." He added: "We are not going to say any more until we have spoken to our employees." But a Toronto newspaper reported Saturday a total of 2,500 jobs are being cut. In 1986 Imperial's staff-reduction strategy prompted by low oil prices let 1,966 employees go voluntarily in a space of four months. This time employees and analysts predict many of the departures will be in Toronto where the merger may have led to job duplications. One Toronto analyst predicted it will cost more than $90 million in severance agreements.

Meanwhile, Air Canada has dismissed as "just a bunch of rumors" reports it plans to cut staff and flights within days in an effort to reduce costs. "The reports are one speculative ball," said company spokesman Norm Garwood. However, Garwood said the company is considering a wide range of cost cutting options. "Any time the economy wobbles, the airline industry feels it," he said. By Robert Walker (Herald writer) Calgary's 4.700 Imperial Oil employees will hear Wednesday about staff cutbacks in the city, the company said Saturday.

"The programs we are going to announce to employees are voluntary," said Toronto spokesman for the company Dennis Baxter. "Two years ago, after we were the successful bidder of Texaco Canada, we expected that two years of natural attrition would take care of the surpluses we knew we would have," he added. "But we have got to accelerate the process now because we still have a staff surplus problem." Calgary-based employees work for Esso Resources Canada Imperial's exploration and production arm. Baxter said Wednesday is the planned day for the announcement affecting employees across the country. "All our employees have been made aware of this, too, because they have been asked to make sure they are available on that day.

"But plans get changed. When you try to mount some NEW HOPE Eight resource homes dotted throughout the city give young offenders the life skills they need to stay on the outside Bl CAUGHT Northeastcomplex residents are caught in the crossfire as three companies battle it out for their rent cheques. B3 SUNDAY SPORTS By Deanna Kraus '(Herald writer) It was lights, camera, action on the north shore of the Bow River in Prince's Island Park Saturday afternoon. Hollywood via the TV show Rescue 911 came to cowtown to film the segment it calls Mallard Mania, starring Ed the Duck. Just when he thought he could spend the rest of his life in anonymity, Ed's heartwarming story is going to resurface this time on network TV.

Getting everything to look just right wasn't that easy, especially since it was cold and even snowing intermittently Saturday. The actual rescue took place last July. Susan Ross, associate producer of the show, said close-ups of the central figures in the summer drama would be used and no one would be able to tell that it was filmed in the fall. "Except for the interviews and a couple of introductory shots, the rest of the segment will be real footage stuff we got from the local TV stations," said Ross. The duck was first spotted by Chris Hornsby and his girlfriend, Arlene Day, in late June when the unlucky bird became entangled in a plastic six-pack holder.

Worried that the soon-to-be famous duck would starve to death, concerned Calgarians tried everything to free Ed. It was Jeff Marley who finally came to the duck's rescue, shooting a net from a special gun to trap the bird and jumping off a pedestrian walkway to grab him. For his heroic efforts, Marley was rewarded with a broken leg after unexpectedly landing in two feet of water. The three local celebrities, along with a Calgary TV reporter who snipped the plastic off Ed's beak, will all appear in the CBS show, expected to air early in 1991. "We like to cover animal rescues," said Ross.

"And this isn't the first time we've filmed in Canada. Just last week, we shot segments in Van- NO STRANGER Calgary Stampeder novice linebacker Henry Smith has only played one CFL game, but he's already encountered the Roughrider's quarterback Jeff Bentrim so he has some idea of what to expert today at McMahon Stadium. El SUNDAY ENTERTAINMENT Roger Watanabe, Calgary Herald couver and the Canadian side of Niagara Falls." Ross and director Marc Gold-baum intended to wrap up their work in Calgary late Saturday so they could visit Banff before heading home. No Herald Monday The Herald will not publish Thanksgiving Monday, Oct. 8.

Regular publication will resume Tuesday, Oct. 9. LINEUP Two Calgary illustrators of international calibre are using the FAX and the phone to fulfil art commissions from as far afield as Toronto and Texas F4 Recycling project draws strong response SUNDAY INDEX Ann Landers fi Births, Deaths Dl Bridge 03 Business A9-12 Classified Dl-14 Editorials C4 Entertainment F4-8 Heading Out C8 Horoscope C7 Letters C5 Life Fl-3 Spectrum Cl-7 Sports El-7 Teenplace E8 Partly cloudy, 8 Page D3 nothing but praise for the project, said volunteer Marg Oberg, who works as a promotion co-ordinator for the Herald. "I think this is great because I can't take them to the nearby Co-op because they don't empty them out any more," said Bill Robinson, who lives in Edge-mont. "Something a little closer would be nice, but I don't think this will stop me from bringing in my papers." Both the Herald and the Sun will be collecting newspapers each Saturday from 9 a.m.

until 4 p.m. The papers will be sent to a de-inking plant in B.C. Response at the Calgary Sun, the Herald's partners in the recycling venture, was just as favorable. Traffic there was steady throughout the day too. "I think people have decided to respond to the ecological challenge," said Sun publisher Ken King, who joined forces with Peterson to develop this recycling project.

After a month or two of evaluation, Peterson said they will definitely consider expanding the project across the city. Everyone who made the trip to the Herald parking lot to drop off papers had go up and down the alley and collect our neighbors' papers too, but then IKO stopped collecting them." But that didn't stop the Grondins stockpiling papers. Starting at 9 a.m. Herald volunteers worked until 4 p.m., filling three huge bins more than 27 tonnes of newsprint. "That is a tremendous response," said Herald publisher Kevin Peterson.

"I don't think any of us were expecting that amount of paper to be brought in." By Deanna Kraus (Herald writer) After 18 months of stockpiling newspapers, relief was finally in sight for Barbara and Cliff Grondin. With a small trailer hitched behind their car to carry the staggering bundle of papers, the Grondins rolled into the Herald parking lot Saturday afternoon to unload at the recycling bins. "We used to take our papers to IKO Industries," said Cliff Grondin, who runs a plumbing business. "We used to.