The Citizen, 2004-08-19, Page 1The Citizen t\f/
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Marking 150 years
Many area residents gathered at Melville Church on Sunday to help celebrate the church's
150th anniversary with tons of events for kids and adults including a performance by Col. Tom
and His Country String Band. Kids enjoyed everything from tasty ice cream treats to fun
games like hula-hoop competitions and blowing bubbles. Emma Meredith takes a big breath
and tries to blow as many bubbles as she can at one of several children's events held
throughout the day. (Vicky Bremner photo)
Auburn Lion district governor
Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County
Volume 20 No. 32
Thursday, Aug. 19, 2004
$1 (93c + 7c GST)
Inside this week
D„,, 2 Break and enter at
Threshers' shed
Pg. 8
Pg. 12
Pg. 19
In
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g. Lk; positive for WNv
Arizona
may adopt
Sparling's
ER plan
Sparling's Propane's Emergency
Response Plan is being considered
for_implementation by the state of
Arizona.
During the Annual Propane
Industry Responders Conference
held in Denver, Colorado, several
U.S. states expressed their support
for an emergency response plan
based on the Sparling model.
Arizona in particular, would follow
Ontario, which adopted the Sparling
plan in 1996.
"The plan is simple, effective and
its mutual aid structure improves
cross-training and reduces response
time and equipment deployment"
says Rene Chortler, president of the
Ontario Propane Association.
David Sparling, Sparling's
emergency response team leader
and on-scene co-ordinator, attended
the Denver meetings and is
encouraged by the efforts of many
organizations to simplify response
planning, improve training and
provide -front-line responders with
the equipment and authority to the
front-line responders.
"The priorities of our plan are
speed and control. We achieve this
with qualified front-line people,
ongoing training and the right
equipment" says Sparling.
Sparling has been invited to be a
speaker at the 2005 annual meeting
in Rhode Island.
Almost 20 years ago, Sparling's
became the first propane company
in Ontario to establish its own
emergency response team. The plan
is approved and audited by
Transport Canada and it outlines
company response during
transportation and incidents
involving propane.
Members of the Sparling Team
participate in on-going training at
Continued on page 6
Future
of
landfill
still
unknown
By Bonnie Gropp
Citizen editor
The future of the Blyth Hullett
landfill site is still in question as
North Huron awaits an engineer's
report.
Clerk-administrator John Stewart
explained the testing done on the
wells some time ago had shown
chloride levels above the Ministry of
the Environment's standards. An
engineer is now considering what
the cost will be to solve the prob-
lem.
"We are looking at what is the
most cost-effective move," said
Stewart. "Can we deal with this
inexpensively or is it going to be
better to shut the site down."
Stewart said the solution is
apparently some type of capping to
contain the leachate. "We're trying
to determine how much. If the whole
site must be done then we might has
well close it."
Should the site close it will have
very little impact for Blyth residents
as all North Huron waste can go to
the Wingham landfill, thus curbside
pick-up will be transported there..
"The only change will be the
people who clean up around their
place on Saturday and make a trip to
the dump. Instead of a short distance
to the south of town, they will take it
a short distance west to the East
Wawanosh landfill, or to Wing-
ham."
Stewart also expects that the extra
garbage`would not shorten the life of
the East Wawanosh landfill, which is
50 years, as many residents in the
northern part of the ward are now
taking their garbage to the Wingham
site.
Even after the report comes in,
which is expected to be sometime
this fall, there will be still be things
to consider.
"Because of the limited life in the
mid-Huron landfill site, Central
Huron will be considering what the
Hullett residents can do in the long-
term. We have to have more
discussions."
If fixing the problem is not too
costly, Stewart said it is unlikely that
the concern will return. It was
suspected, he said, that the chloride
had come from tannery wastes
which are no longer being accepted
at the site.
While at one time council had
thought the landfill could be closed
by December should it prove
necessary, Stewart said now that is
probably too early as the reports
have not been completed.
By Elyse DeBruyn
Citizen staff
For the first time in 13 years a
local Lions Club member has been
given the honour of representing the
district.
Ben Miller of Nile, was sworn in
as the new district governor for
district A-9 at the international
convention for Lions Clubs held in
Detroit and Windsor.
"I feel privileged. It's quite an
honour to be elected to that position
as there are only 10 districts in
Ontario," said Miller.
As district governor, Miller, a
member of the Auburn Lions, will
have to visit 44 clubs throughout his
district which includes areas from
Mitchell, Goderich, Tobermory,
Meaford, Beaver Valley and
Orangeville.
His responsibilities while visiting
-these clubs are to answer questions,
keep them motivated, give ideas for
different projects and report all their
concerns back to the "powers that
be."
As district governor, he, along
with other memberS, helps to decide
which events or organizations that
Lions Clubs will make donations
towards and the amount of each.
At the convention, he took classes
from 8:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. to
train and become familiar with the
different aspects involved in being
district governor. He also had an
assignment which he had to
complete before even attending the
convention.
There are 1,260 Lions members in
Miller's district and his goal as
governor is raise the number to
1,300 and have two new clubs
started, hopefully by December.
"I'm really looking forward to it. I
have strong teammates with me that
will help out," said Miller. "Work
hard and play hard, that's my motto."
Although given a new title, he said
it hasn't changed the person he is.
"Being district governor hasn't
gone to my head. Someone's got to
do it and I wanted to," Miller said.
"I'm the same person, just with a
different job."
In 1987, he moved to Sauble
Beach and not knowing anyone, he
decided to join the local Lions Club.
The treasurer (at that time) noticed
Miller's interest in meeting new
people and becoming part of a club,
so he sponsored him and in 1988,
Miller officially became a Lions
Club member.
Since joining the Auburn Lions he
has been president twice and was
elected zone-chairperson which
gave him responsibility for eight
clubs. Then he was elected region
chairperson, giving him
responsibility for 16 clubs.
"1 like meeting new people who
eventually become yoUr friends.
Ensuring success through service is
our goal," he said. "It makes me feel
so good inside to see other people's
faces and smiles when we help
them."
Although the Lions club is one of
the youngest organizations formed,
Miller said it's one of the largest in
the world with 1.4 million members
world-wide.
Miller said Lions help those in
need through various camps, relief
funds and donations including a
youth exchange program, supporting
the blind or the hearing impaired
who may require seeing-eye dogs by
donating funds, a youth kidney camp
where children on dialysis can go to
camp and still get their necessary
treatments, and Camp Quality which
is a camp for children suffering from
cancer.
He said the clubs also help their
local communities as well through
construction of playground
equipment, funds for minor sports
and by sponsoring the Boy and Girl
Scouts of America.
"It's such a great feeling to give
back to the community," said Miller.
"Helping other people who are less
fortunate than myself is worth it.
Making a difference by making a
better community and world for my
kids to live in is my goal."
Local soccer teams
win championships
Melville enjoys big
weekend
Festival season
cruises along