HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1988-03-16, Page 10PAGE 10. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 198«.
Grey council angry over carcasses in dump
Two roaming hounds take an interest in the charred carcass of a calf which was dumped at the Grey
Township landfill site early this month. Grey Township council is angry over the dumping, which is not
only a violation of landfill site regulations, but contrary to Ontario’s Dead Animal Disposal Act. The
carcasses of a chunk hog and of several iambs were also dumped off.
Ethel
Compiled by Mrs. Margaret McMahon. Phone 887-9250
Tour of Australia in slides
at Wl meeting
When Dr. Carolyn Wybenga
was finished telling about her
travelogue of Australia a lot of
ladies present at the Ethel Wo
men’s Institute meeting were
ready to pack their travelling bags.
Dr. Wybenga also showed slides
which helped to whet everyone’s
appetitetovisitthe “land down
under”. An enthusiastic question
and answer session followed her
talk. Dr. Wybenga was thanked by
Barbara Grube on behalf of the
ladies present.
A discussion on pancake day
which is being held at the Maple
Keys Sugar Bush on Sunday,
March 20 was held. Members were
asked to notify the president about
being able to help cook the
pancakes and sausages being
served from 10:30 to 3 p.m.
Fruit bread and cheese were
served by the convenor Jean
Fraser and her helpers with a social
time following.
On Saturday afternoon Mrs.
Allan Huisser held a bridal shower
for her niece Sherri Hiusser. Sherri
received many useful gifts from
friends, relatives and neighbours.
She thanked everyone for the
shower gifts.
Ethel Wl hosts euchre
Jean Fraser and Barbara Grube
hosted the Ethel Women’s Insti
tute Euchre part on Monday
evening with 15 tables of cards
being played.
The lucky folks were: high lady,
Thelma Keffer; high man, Lloyd
Smith; low lady, Ruth Martin; low
man, Stan Hewitt; most lone
hands, Dorothy Dilworth and Allan
Stratford-Huron
Presbyterial March 22
On Tuesday, March 22, the
Annual meeting of the Stratford-
Huron Presbyterial will be held in
St. Andrews Presbyterian Church,
Stratford.
Registration and coffee will be at
9:30 and sessions start at 10 a.m.
and 1:15 p.m. Theme of the
meeting is “I was a stranger and
you invited me in ’’. The guest
speaker is Lorna Van Mossel, a
Grey Township reeve Leona
Armstrong and her council are
angry, and they say they are going
to start getting tough with people
who do not abide by the regulations
in using the township landfill site
just east of Walton.
They are especially angry over
one of more incidents which took
place during the first week in
March, in which several livestock
carcasses were dumped in the
wodd and wood products trench at
the site, where several of them
were partially burned before being
discovered by councillor Fred
Uhler on Saturday, March 5.
“We were so mad that day that
we felt like just closing the gates
permanently right then and
there,’’ councillor Graeme Mac
Donald told a press conference
called by Mrs. Armstrong on
March9. “Itcosts $40,000 a year to
run this dump, and if people are
going to abuse it, they’ll be finding
out how they like trucking stuff 40
miles or so to a site chosen by the
county.”
The carcasses dumped were of
several small lambs, a calf, and a
half-grown chunk hog. Evidence
indicated that the lambs and the
calf may have been in plastic bags
when they were dumped, and since
the carcasses were at three
different locations around the rim
of the trench, itis possible that they
were dumped at different times.
All but the hog were partially
burned.
Council admits that there is little
they can do about the incidents
after the fact, but say they are
going to have to find ways of
policing the site more strictly, or
they could risk the premature
closing of the dump under the
Ministry of the Environment’s
tough new regulations.
Grey Township is one of the few
municipalities in Huron County
still operating a fully-approved
landfill site under MOE regula
tions, a fact which was termed “a
luxury” on a notice handed out to
all site users about two years ago
when the ministry began getting
tough in enforcing regulations put
in place to protect the environment
a number of years earlier.
Under ministry regulations, re-
Kennedy; nearest birthday to
March 17, Marjorie McCourt,
Adrian Verstoep; lucky tallies,
Ralph Keffer, Grace Stewart,
Isabel Bremner and Anne Mac-
Murchy, George Pearson, Ross
Stephenson, Dorothy Hamilton,
Anne Cooper, Dorothy Cox, and
Jim Smith. The next euchre party
will be held March 21 by the Ethel
Hall Board.
Citizenship Court Judge from
Waterloo. This year’s Synodical
project is “2nd Mile” to assist in
Mission work in Guayana. Items or
cheques to help in this project
could be brought to the meeting.
Those attending are reminded to
bring a brown bag lunch and
beverage will be provided. Ar
rangements have been made for
parking at the Canadian Legion
parking lot.
fuse must be segregated into
domestic (general) garbage, which
must be compacted and covered
with soil as soon as possible after
dumping; metal and tires, which
are kept separate for future
recycling; and wood and wood
products, or “clean burnable’’
refuse, the only type of waste
which can be legally burned at a
landfill site.
The disposal of animai carcasses
is governed by the provincial Dead
Animal Disposal Act, which states
that an animal carcass must be
disposed of in one of only two
ways: by burying it under at least
twofeetof earth, or by having it
removed by a licensed collector.
Corporal Greg King of the Wing
ham Detachment of the Ontario
Provincial Police told The Citizen
that although this Act was seldom
invoked, contravention of the
section dealing with disposal is
punishable, upon a first convic
tion, of up to $500 in fines, and up to
$5,000 in fines or six months’
imprisonmentforeach subsequent
conviction.
Spokesmen for both Atwood Pet
Food Supplies Ltd. at RR 2,
Atwood, which handles dead stock
removal in Grey Township, and for
Huron Dead Stock at RR 4, Clinton,
which services the townships of
Morris, McKillop, Hullett, East
and West Wawanosh, Goderich,
Colborne and Ashfield, said that
they could think of no reason why a
farmer would dump dead livestock
anywhere, since both companies
pick up small carcasses (except for
chickens) free of charge anywhere
within their areas, usually within a
few hours of getting a call.
“We have our cards out all over
our area - that’s all we can do, ” said
Sue Anne Smith, the dispatcher for
Huron Dead Stock. “I have no idea
why someone wouldn’t call us in. ”
The Grey Township landfill site
is used by residents of McKillop
Twp., as well as by some residents
of Morris. Grey Twp. administers
the site, but collects 45 per cent of
the costs of operation from McKil
lop, and 10 per cent from Morris,
which has a second site serving the
north end of the township.
Reeve Armstrong makes it clear
that council does not blame the two
landfill site attendants, who are
on duty during the entire time the
Grey site is open, 9 a.m. to 4:30
p.m. on Saturdays, for the recent
incident. She agrees with council
lor MacDonald, who said that it is
impossiblefor two men to watch
every item that is dumped at each
ofthefour dumping sites, espe
cially if refuse, such as the animal
carcasses, come in plastic garbage
bags.
“Actually, we’re not supposed
to even let plastic bags into the
‘clean burnable’ pit,” Mrs. Arm
strong said. “But the only alterna
tive is to have loose papers blowing
all over the township.
“Butwe may have toget a lot
more heavy-handed than we’ve
been in the past. We’ve been using
the honour system, but if that’s not
good enough for some people, we
may have to go to the card system,
so that all access (to the dump) is
strictly controlled.
“Of course, that (system) is
going to cost the ratepayers more
over the long run, ’ ’ she concluded.
Ontario has more than 6,000
Century Farms. Each of them has
operated continuously for 100
years or more under the same
family name.
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