HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1986-02-12, Page 7Lucknow Sentinel, Wednesday, February 12, 1986—Page 7
It isn't a great system but it's the best we have
By James Friel
It's obvious that when you announce
that you're contemplating shutting
down a school you better be ready for a
lot of public outcry. There are two ways
of dealing with that outcry: a board can
run roughshod over the whole process,
throwing up walls of bureaucracy to
wear out even the most avid fighter, or a
board can sit down with the people it
will affect and honestly consider all the
angles with the input of parents with
school aged children and other resid-
ents.
It's heartening to note that despite
the recent announcement by Bruce
County board of education superintend-
ent Don Carroll that a preliminary study
has been completed with the closure of
Kinloss Central Public School as its
subject, he and several members of the
board of education can sit in a hall filled
with concerned parents and field
questions and accept comments.
There are no guarantees the school
won't close. But at the same time,
Carroll and board members tried to
make it clear that there's no guarantee
it will close.
It was even better to see people out
taking part in one of the processes in
which they can possibly make a
difference.
Many of these people may not have
voted for Brian Mulroney or Ed
Broadbent or David Peterson,' perhaps
because of the distance perceived'
between being affected by decisions
and those making the decisions but you
can be sure that within their backyard
they take an active interest if the full
Holyrood Hall is an indication.
The turns events take at the local
level are a lot more fun too.
I read quite a bit of the political news
and one thing that stands out in the
front page copy and the offerings
opposite the editorial page is that
either the people in the upper echelons
of government are extremely boring
individuals, or the media covering them
are humorless.
A very serious matter was being
discussed by the parties involved. but all
the posturing we see when governments
take on organizations or vice versa was
absent.
Despite the gravity, people were
funny.
A popular audience theme was that
students at crowded Brookside Public
School should be transferred to a less
crowded Lucknow Central Public
School.
"If you took students from Brookside
and put them at Lucknow they'd be
better off," suggested Marilyn Moffat.
"Anybody would be betteroff in
Bruce County," said a deadpan Carroll
partaking in a bit of boosterism. Aw,
maybe you had to be there.
But any taxpayer can appreciate the
sly rhetorical question posed by Barb
Bushell: "Can we expect a decrease in
taxes in Kinloss if we're saving money
shipping stridents into Lucknow?"
I think the low key humor helped
diffuse a situation that could very easily
blow up in everyone's face. It still might
but it didn't that night.
One thing I repeatedly heard about at
the meeting was the closure of the
Lucknow high school. I wasn't aware
when it closed but it was obvious it was
still fresh in most memories. .
The bitterness I felt from a person I
questioned about it made me especially
surprised to discover it took place
almost 20 years ago.
Perhaps that's why everyone seems
determined to have a say in whatever
compromise may have to be worked out.
I like it.
Writer offers alternatives to hydro transmission line
To the Editor:
$437 million is the 1985 estimated figure
for the cost of the proposed Southwestern
Ontario Transmission System by Ontario
Hydro. The three people who must
determine whether or not to recommend
the spending of the public's money,
comprise the Consolidated Hearing Board
at the public hearings on the above system.
At the conclusion of the hearings, the
board must make a recommendation to
cabinet with regard to the proposed trans-
mission system based on the testimony
heard.
Testimony given at the hearings so far,
clearly give the :members of the board two
options:
• They could recommend a policy -
beneficial to both electrical consumers and
Ontario Hydro (and ultimately the environ-
ment) - to utilize already available energy-
saving technology and implement improv-
ed electricity management, with little or no
change to the lifestyle of the general
public. Similar policies adopted by many
utilities in the United States have been
extremely successful.
• Alternatively, they can recommend the
transmission system proposed by Ontario
Hydro, with the further detriment to our
environment and prime agricultural land.
The three men on the . Consolidated
Hearing Board at these hearings, have the
ulitmate power to assist the government of
Ontario to regain control of Ontario Hydro.
To recommend that we use the presently
available transmitted electricity more effic-
iently would be to the advantage of the
general public, Ontario Hydro, the envir-
onment and the province as a whole. The
cost of energy efficiency is far cheaper in
the long run; the consumer, big or small,
would use less electricy, therefore, Ontario
Hydro would ' have to produce less. The
burden could be removed from our landfill
sites, by using our garbage in co -genera-
tion plans for the clean generation of elect-
ricty. The province's enormous hydraulic
generating capabilities should be updated
and utilized to their capacity. The acid gas
emissions from fossil fuelled generating
plants can be controlled by scrubbers or
TO
more cheaply by using "washed coal".
These are but a few examples of alternative
technologies available to offset the neces-
sity to build- a gigantic 500,000 volt
transmission system at the expense of our
environment and our prime agricultural
land.
Hydro maintains that nuclear power is
cleaner and cheaper than other methods of
generating electricity. The initial financial
outlay to build 'a nuclear plant is astron-
omical and must be paid' for somebwere
along the line. The potential for a nuclear
disaster requires only human to make an
error or one piece of man-made equipment
to fail. The recent radioactive leak from
Douglas Point is but one small example.
The disposal of nuclear waste - despite
what they put it in, on or under - permits
the high risk of an environmental disaster.
Ontario Hydro's reasons for building this
transmission system are:
a) To fully incorporate the existing and
approved generation at the Bruce Nuclear
Power Development - with present trans-
mission capacilities, 80 per cent of the
generated electricy can already by trans -
rafted
b) To supply electric power and energy
demand in southwestern Ontario to the
year 2000 - at present we have a surplus of
power in Ontario. By using the electricty
we have available now efficiently, and the
implementation of cogeneration and other
small generating plants .and, by upgrading
and using our hydraulic resources to
capacity, would give us more than
adequate supply to the year 2000 and the
same time prove beneficial to our environ-
ment.
c) To continue to permit adequate inter-
change of electric power and energy
between Ontario Hydro and Michigan -
exports to. Michigan have been decreasing
as stated in Ontario Hydro's quarterly
update (third quarter, 1985), "Electricity
Calling all crafters!
To the Editor:
It may be of particular interest to local
crafters that the Ripley Agricultural
Society is sponsoring the Ripley -Huron
Craft Festival on July 18 and 19. The
response to last year's show was excellent,
and this year's craft festival promises to be
even better. Many applications from
crafters have already been received, and
the craft show committee is expecting to
allot space to approximately one hundred
exhibitors.
For the convenience of those exhibitors
travelling considerable distance, there are
trailer hook-ups available at the community
center. However, these are in limited
supply, so should be reserved early. The
craft show committee will seek bed and
breakfast accommodations for those who
might wish it. A cold salad plate will ,ince
again be available for exhibitors on the
Friday evening,
Applications*, exhibit' must be submit-
ted by May 1, and are 'available by
contacting Mrs. Gail van . der Hoek, R R4,
Ripley (395.5497).
export sales tell'22.3 per cent in the first
nine months of 1985 compared to the same
period. in 1984. " ...new generation capacity
in Michigan also continues to impact
negatively on electricity exports".
Of late we have had more than adequate
proof that our lifestyle during the industrial
age has been to the detriment of our envir-
onment. Here is a chance for three men,
through the testimony put forward by the
Foodland Hydro Committee and people
who care about the future of our province,
to stop Ontario Hydro's ever increasing
empire of nuclear plants and transmission
lines, and, force Hydro to adopt an energy
efficiency policy, beneficial not only to the
public and the environment, but also to
Ontario Hydro itself.
Yours truly,
Jane Rose
Foodland Hydro
Committee.
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