Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1987-08-12, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 1987. Pigs moved, manure spill pollution remains The pigs that were apparently indirectly responsible for a mas­ sive manure spill that began polluting a Hullett farmer’s ponds nearly two weeks ago have appar­ ently been moved, but the pollu­ tion that killed thousands of small fish and other forms of life in the ponds remains, and nobody seems able to do anything about it. Dave and Marie Middleton of RR 1, Londesboro are mad, and they're frustrated. Since the pro­ blem was first introduced on July 29, when Mr. Middleton saw clouds of black polluted water seeping into the chain of interlock­ ing ponds which have made the farm at the corner of the Baseline Road, between Auburn and Clin­ ton, and Hullett Concession 8-9, famous for its beauty, the Middle­ tons have spent hours on the telephone trying to find a solution totheproblem, and have shown officials from every ministry and organization they can think of around the farm. But so far, nobody has come forward with any solutions, or with any ideas as to who will pay for the , massive clean-up which will be necessary to remove the pollution which has killed at least two of the ponds, and has left a scum of green effluvium rotting in the once sparkling water. “It's frustrating,” Mr. Middle­ ton said. “All we’ve had is everybody passing the buck to everybody else, with nobody will­ ing to take any responsibility for the mess, and nobody being able to say that it won’t happen again.” He says that he got a letter from Hullett council after taking the problem to the township on August 4, but says that is was so vague that he had no idea what it meant, or whether he could expect any help from the township in his search for a solution. “Tom Cunningham (reeve of Hullett Twp.) told us on Saturday that the pigs had been moved, but that doesn’t really help me with the problem, and it certainly doesn’t AUGUST 9:00 A.M.- give aways Sat. Aug. 15MANHATTAN mean it can’t happen again,” Mr. Middleton said. “We’ve got to get a law with some teeth in it so that this can’t go on happening.” Mr. Cunningham told The Citi­ zen last Friday that Hullett Town­ ship council is as angry and as frustrated as the Middletons, but Dave Middleton examines some of the thousands of dead fish in one of his ponds, the result of a massive manure spill on July 29-30. — Photo by Telman Westerhout. Letter to the editor Writer calls for election THE EDITOR, lam writing with regard to the ad the Village of Blyth had in the July 29 “Where’s That” issue of The citizen. In it they are promoting antique and specialty gift shops in Blyth. Why not the restaurants, clothing stores, hardware stores, grocery, etc. etc. ? Is it because our newest councillor (non-elected as usual) is the proprietor of a “specialty gift shop?” This suggests that it is time for 20% OFF STOREWIDE Special Purchases of BIG SHIRTS, COTTON SKIRTS, DRESSES, CROP BLOUSES, CHAMBRAY SKIRTS, PANTS, POLO TOPS ALL AT HALF PRICE FASHION AVE. FASHION AVE. Peggy Lachance • Bringing City Fashion To You 180 Josephine St. WINGHAM 357-3886 Open 6 days Thurs. & Friday till 9 p.m. says that there is little that the township can do to prevent further problems under the existing legis­ lation. “ It’s so difficult for a municipali­ ty to get a conviction, or even to enforce a cease-and-desist order/ ’ heexplained. “We try to do our an actual election to curb this sort of patronage. SINCERELY, A CITIZEN. ED. NOTE: In fairness to the councillors it should be pointed out that the councillors did not design the ad in question. It was designed by Citizen staff from other recent promotional material on Blyth and approved by village staff. No slight was certainly intended by either Citizen staff or municipal em­ ployees. best to protect the citizens of our township, but until someone is prepared to listen to us, there isn’t much we can do.” “We need to get the higher ministries involved,” he added. “I’m sad to say it, but they seem to be able to get action where we can’t. The way things are going, I think we are going to get help from the MOE (Ministry of the Environ­ ment) and from the MNR (Ministry of Natural Resources), and I think Jack Riddell’s (Ministry of Agri­ culture) office will likely help - Jim Fitzgerald (Mr. Riddell’s execu tive assistant) was at Middleton's farm on Sunday, and I know he was pretty upset by what he saw.” Mr. Cunningham also vowed that he would personally raise the issue at the next meeting of Huron County Council, where he would press for the re-drafting of the Huron County Manure By-law, which lays down guidelines for the storage and handling of liquid manure under varying conditions. “Ihelped draft that by-law in 1981 or ‘82, but it obviously doesn’t have the teeth we thought it had, and it has to be changed so this can’t happen again,’’ the reeve said. When contacted by The Citizen last Friday, Larry Struthers of the Owen Sound office of the Ministry of the Environment confirmed that he had personally visited both the Middleton farm and ‘ ‘the site of the spill,” and although he also confirmed that the pollution in the Middleton ponds were liquid pig manure, he said he was unable to name either the operator of the pig barn or even its location * ‘while the incident is under investigation.” When asked what his ministry is able to do about the situation, Mr. Struthers replied: “We are looking at monitoring the situation for the shortterm, and communicating with the operator of the pig farm over the long term. We want to work with both the township and the operator of the pig farm to come up with whatever measures are necessary to prevent this from happening again. Mr. Struthers also said that his ministry had not “documented any downstream pollution in regards to fish,” as of last Friday, although Terry Matz of the Wingham office of the MNR said Friday that his office had been contacted by Mr. ^Struthers on Saturday, August 1, to investigate the incident. On Friday, Mr. Matz said that he had not had a report from the officer he had detailed to investi­ gate the incident following Mr. Struthers request, and at press time on Monday, The Citizen had also been unable to reach the officer in question. On Monday, Marie Middleton collected water samples from her farm’stwo 100-foot wells which supply all the water to both the space house and to the farm’s 80,000 chickens, to take to the Huron County Health Unit for testing for contamination. “I don’t know how long the testing takes,’’ she said. “But every time I take a drink of water now I wonder just what’s in it.” Beef day at Ridgetown On Aug. 27, from 1:30 to 8:30 p.m., the 22nd annual South­ western Ontario Beef Cattle Day will be held at Ridgetown College of Agricultural Technology. Highlights include an afternoon panelsession discussing “Why some beef producers finish their own calves”. Panel members include Dave Whittington, Jack McCoubrey, and Earl McEachren. The topic for the evening panel discussion will focus on “Sources ofFeeder Cattle”. Gordon Mit­ chell, Raymond Goupil, Murray Carruthers, and Chris Mills will discuss the sources of feeder cattle from Northern Ontario, Quebec, U.S., and Western Canada respec­ tively.