The Citizen, 2012-05-24, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2012.Vodden defends actions over school closure
Councillors raise
turbine concerns
THE EDITOR,
There is a malicious internet blog
entitled The Wingham Free Press
which is noted for its bitter attacks
on almost anything and anyone
associated with Wingham and North
Huron, and especially the North
Huron Council, staff and
councillors.
I commented on some of its
articles recently and have been
rewarded by one of the most vicious
and personal attacks this site has
levelled at anyone in my brief time
of knowing about it.
The author ignores the explanation
that I provided, information that he
could easily have researched for
accuracy, but instead ascribed all
kinds of untrue allegations, motives
and objectives to me.
Many people, like me, had become
convinced that the Wingham School
project was cancelled because the
new Wingham School was missing
from a list of capital projects for
Avon Maitland District School
Board on the Ministry of Education
website. The province of Ontario
was cancelling dozens of multi-
million dollar projects, and
construction had not begun on the
school. Normally, I would have
checked with AMDSB to confirm
this finding, but I did make an earlier
inquiry before of the Director of
Education. He acknowledged receipt
of my letter, but refused to answer
any of my questions.
Then the blog reported that the
spokesperson for the board had
come on the radio later and
convinced everyone that all the other
points I made were false. I admit that
he sounded very convincing, but I
have proven that none of his
statements was accurate. All of these
facts are confirmed by newspaper
records and the school board’s own
records of the Accommodation
Review Committee (ARC)
meetings.
The AMDSB spokesperson said
that all of the six ARC meetings for
this area were advertised in all the
local papers including The Citizen.
NOT TRUE. Only one of the ARC
meetings was advertised in The
Citizen (December 4, 2008) and only
two were advertised in The Wingham
Advance Times (January 14 and
February 25, 2008). The ARC
process took place between
November 2008 and March 2009.
The spokesperson said that Blyth
was fully represented on the ARC
committee according to the Ministry
Guidelines. NOT TRUE. There was
no Blyth business person on the
committee, and no Blyth councillor
to represent the general community
concerns about the future of the
school and the community. There
were two Blyth parents on the
committee. The Ministry Guidelines
indicate that business and municipal
leaders of the community should be
recruited to the committee. North
Huron did appoint a representative
to the committee but unfortunately
this person was unable to attend any
of the final crucial meetings of the
committee. By the Ministry
guidelines, the onus is on the board
to ensure a balanced and broad
community representation on the
whole committee process.
The spokesperson said that all of
the meetings were well attended.
NOT TRUE. The first three meetings
were very poorly attended as a result
of lack of advertising except for
invitations taken home by pupils
suggesting that only parents were
welcome at the meetings. The final
two meetings were very well
attended as a result of word getting
out that there were devastating
consequences in the balance.
The spokesperson said that the
board’s decision on the
Accommodation Review process
was precisely what the committee
recommended except that the new
school would be a K to 6 school and
that the Grade 7 and 8 students
would be going to F.E.Madill
Secondary School which is what the
ARC specifically objected to.
He neglected to mention that the
new school was being built in
Wingham instead of East Wawanosh
as recommended, and that the new
school is to be big but only a pale
shadow of the Centre of Excellence
as envisioned by the ARC
committee.
I provided most of this
information to the blog, but they just
cannot tolerate contradiction, so
decided on the very personal attack.
I achieved one thing by this
adventure: I got them to go way over
the top showing their true nature as
well as their grasp of journalism
standards.
Brock Vodden
Representatives from NextEra
Energy assured Huron East
councillors that they don’t play the
“shell game” at the May 15 meeting
of council.
Nicole Geneau and Derek Dudek
from NextEra Energy had appeared
before council before, but had
further details about the project and
wanted to keep council in the loop.
The Bluewater project will feature
37 General Electric wind turbines,
each standing 80 metres high with a
50-metre blade length. No actual
turbines are planned for Huron East,
but the transmission station will be
located just outside of Seaforth.
Submission of the final
Renewable Energy Approval for the
project will take place sometime in
June, the pair told council.
Councillors then expressed their
concerns over the projects. Geneau
said there have been extensive
measures taken to ensure that stray
voltage will not be a factor in the
area.
Councillor Les Falconer told
councillors about a dairy farmer
along the transmission line who was
concerned about how potential stray
voltage could affect his herd and its
milk production.
Geneau said the farmer’s
concerns have been noted and taken
into consideration, but that there is a
comprehensive plan in place for
people who feel the project is
negatively affecting them.
She assured Falconer that the
farmer, and other farmers, are “on
the radar”.
Falconer was pleased that the
concerns of a farmer were being
taken into consideration, but said
that environmental assessments on
how the project will affect area bats
being conducted before local dairy
farmers were being consulted was
absurd.
“If we’re worried about bats, then
why are we not worried about milk
production in the province of
Ontario?” Falconer asked.
Geneau responded by saying that
the company already has some
turbines in Wisconsin, one of the
biggest dairy-producing states in the
United States and there have been
no reported issues with milk
production there.
“There have been no reports of an
effect on milk production,” Geneau
said. “We believe there’s a zero per
cent chance [of the turbines
affecting local milk production] if
done properly.”
Falconer responded by saying “I
hope you’re right.”
Falconer then asked what the
company’s ‘Plan B’ is if there does
happen to be problems.
If there were to be any problems,
Geneau said, acknowledging that it
was a “big if”, there is a detailed
response protocol that involved a 1-
800 number that anyone can call if
they are experiencing problems.
Once the number is called, she
said, the issue is investigated to see
if there is indeed an issue and action
is taken. She said NextEra Energy
has an “excellent track record” with
such concerns.
Geneau then detailed the
proposed Community Vibrancy
Fund that is proposed for Huron
East. The fund would pay the host
municipality $3,500 per megawatt
per year and $5,000 per kilometre of
overhead transmission line annually
for the duration of the project
(which is slated to be 20 years, but
could be extended to 30 if the
project proves profitable, Geneau
said later), which for Huron East
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Letters to the Editor
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 9