The Citizen, 2012-11-01, Page 14PAGE 14. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2012.
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Continued from page 6
“T” and “I”. This week students
learned new words with the letters
S, A, T. They have also been
concentrating on finding two words
that match by having the same
colour, size or shape. We have also
been trying to write the number 2
correctly. Kindergarten is also
working on a colour unit. Friday,
Oct. 26 they had black day and
made black pictures, spider crafts,
wrote black words and cut out black
pictures and coloured them with
crayons.
Finally they washed over their
pictures with black wash and it
made it look like night time. The
book that they are reading is
Aaaarrgghh Spider!by Lydia
Monks. It was really funny. Reading
it they also learned that two people
who are different can be friends,
which shows empathy.
By Ben Stewart
Grade 5/6 are continuing their
study of living things. They were
able to examine the bones and skull
of a crane, raccoon and deer. They
are looking forward to further
examining slides under a
microscope. They have also been
working hard on Remembrance Day
posters, poems and essays. This
week after some talking with some
students and staff members I decided
to see which chocolate milk they
prefer. Let me back up. Recently our
school made a change from normal
chocolate milk to chocolate milk
with 25 per cent less sugar. Some
thought that this was terrible but
others didn’t mind it at all. Some
students went complaining to the
staff and asked that we get the old
milk back. The staff felt that the two
milks didn’t taste that much different
they just looked different. So today
as I didn’t have much news I decided
to do a blind test with the two types
of milk using students as the Guinea
pigs. In total I surveyed 16 people.
Five liked the chocolate milk with
25 per cent less sugar. Five liked the
normal chocolate milk and the rest
liked both. I guess that the students
should calm down and listen to the
testers who said “excellent” or “the
best I’ve ever had”.
Well that’s is readers. Thanks for
reading.
Grade 5/6 class examines bones
Group has concerns with septic system program
Full of questions regarding the
proposed Huron County mandatory
septic inspection program, Cindy
Moyer, president of the Huron-Perth
Landowners Association pleaded
with Central Huron Council to not
support the program.
At the Oct. 25 Committee of the
Whole meeting, Moyer said she had
problems with the design of the
program, the amount of input the
public has had (or hasn’t had, in her
opinion) in the process and the
legality of requiring people to
participate in the program, in what
she called a disguised tax.
Moyer said she had conducted six
months of research and was
convinced that the program didn’thave a place in Huron County. She
said after talking to a group of waste
haulers, she was of the opinion that
a thorough inspection was
unnecessary.
Moyer told councillors that a
septic system either worked, or it
didn’t work and if it didn’t work, it
was easy to spot because it is
“unpleasant” to be near.
Moyer said that any of the water
quality testing she had seen involved
the water quality at beaches, not
inland as part of the aquifer.
Therefore, she said, why should
inland municipalities be
participating in a program that’s
meant for those along the lakeshore?
The “indirect tax” that would
result from the program, Moyer
said, would result in long-term debtfor the county and would be an
increasingly large burden on
taxpayers.
Councillor Brian Barnim also had
his problems with the program,
calling it a cash grab. He also
resented the fact that Goderich, with
two seats on Huron County Council,
was given such a weighted vote,
when the municipality has just one
septic tank.
Barnim compared it to county
roads, which Goderich has none of,
but the municipality’s
representatives are able to vote on as
well.
“It’s not very well thought out,”
Barnim said.
Councillor Alison Lobb, however,
spoke in favour of it, saying that she
has spent a number of years servingon the Maitland Valley Conservation
Authority and has seen the negative
effects of faulty systems and what
they can do to the county water
supply.
Lobb relayed stories she has heard
over the years of families who don’t
know where their septic tank is
located or of a pipe coming out the
side of a gully and distributing “not
water” into streams and waterways.
Councillor Burk Metzger said he
was supportive of a system that
would improve water quality, but
felt the cycle time was too short. The
proposed cycle is five years and
Metzger said it should be at least 10
years.
Mayor Jim Ginn, who has served
for a number of years on the Ausable
Bayfield Conservation Authority,
echoed Lobb’s comments, saying
that a small community like Dublin,
for example, used to have very poor
water quality. After an investigation,
he said, it was found that 80 per cent
of the problem could be attributed to
faulty septic systems and just 20 per
cent could be attributed to
agriculture.
He said that $31 a year is a
reasonable amount to pay to ensure
that people are held accountable for
their actions if they have septic
systems.
Moyer, however, continued to
disagree despite the points being
made.“When is there a point where
we’ve gone too far?” she asked.
“Shouldn’t we be addressing
problems where the problems
are?”
She insisted that the problems
with water quality are along the
lakeshore, and not inland, so the
inspection process should then take
place along the lakeshore.
Moyer said that with the
additional costs and the cost of a
pump-out, some people may not be
able to afford to live in Huron
County after the program goes
ahead.
Ginn said whether those living
inland liked it or not, water quality is
the responsibility of everyone in the
county, and that water quality along
the lakeshore is directly related to
tourism. If the water quality at
Huron County’s beaches is poor, it
would affect everyone in the county
negatively.
“It’s recommended that a septic
tank gets pumped every five years,
it’s to your economic advantage to
do that,” Ginn said. “Tourism is the
second-largest industry in Huron
County behind agriculture and the
lakeshore is our best asset. It’s a
very valuable asset.
“This will call out those who
aren’t responsible for their actions,
so this is $31 a year to make sure
that everyone is.”
By Shawn LoughlinThe Citizen
Dinner and entertainment
Floyd Herman tickled the ivories to keep people entertained while they fueled up at the Blyth
United Church dinner at Blyth Memorial Hall on Saturday evening. (Vicky Bremner photo)
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