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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1995-07-12, Page 1x; BUSINESS Local ice company gets business from the heat. see page two. Briefly Local youths complete bicycle trip Two young bicyclists were expected to arrive in Huron County on Tuesday afternoon after completing a 1,200 bicycle trip from Thunder Bay. Shane MacPhec and Manny DeSousa live at RR 1 Brucefield with their foster parents Brian and Bonnie O'Reilly. They arc raising money for the Children's Aid Societies which have sup- ported them. Tax-deductible donations can be made to the Children's Aid Society (CAS) at 220 Huckins St. in Goderich. The CAS phone number is (519) 524-7356. The donation should be marked, 'Foster Kids...Going the Distance.' Manny has been bicycling to raise money for the Cath- olic Children's Aid in Toronto and Shane has been• riding for the Huron County Children's Aid Society. Car stolen from Hullet, found in Waterloo area A car which was stolen from the Waterloo Regional arca was recovered in Hullett Town- ship, according to Goderich OPP. The 1993 Ford Crown Vic- toria was recovered on June 26. On the Same day a 1988 GMC pick-up truck was stolen from Hullcu ownship and recovered then t day in the • Waterloo Region I arca. Township ends special rate for Vanastra people Vanastra residents will no longer get a special rate for registered programs at . the Vanastra Recreation Centre. Tuckcrsmith Township Coun- cil voted on July 4 to eliminate the 10 per cent discount which Vanastra residents received because that hamlet was paying for a debenture. Vanastra residents paid a debenture on the old building from 1974 until 1994 when it was paid off. They have been eligible for a 10 per cent regis- tration discount for registered programs at the calm since 1974. Deficits for the recreation centre arc now being absorbed by the entire township. "It's fair that all ratepayers be treated the same," said Reeve Bill Carnochan. Thc elimination of the dis- count will become effective with registration for fall pro- grams. - INDEX Years agotie...page 5 William Thomas ...page 5 Rec preview...page 15 Entertainment... pages 14, 15. "Your community neruspaper since s:s 1860...serving Seaforthf° Dublin, tknsall, Walton, Brussels and surrounding communities." SPORTS Junior Girls Provincial Championship held in Seaktth first time. see page six. Aff Roads Lead to Se forth & trict omecomin g August 3 -- 6, 1995 JENNIFER SIEMON PHOTO SUMO ACTION - Tim McClure and Steve Knight tried on Sumo wrestling outfits on Friday night in the first time the comical event was held during Moonlight Madness, the downtown promotion by the Seaforth Business Improvement Association. MISSING' The search for Mistie Murray continues. see page three. Huron landfill site results won't come until summer's end BY DAVID SCOTT • SSP News Staff The residents of Ashfield won't know until the end of the summer whether their township will be the location for the new County of Huron landfill site. Impact studies arc being conducted this summer and results won't be known until September, County Council learned on Thursday from Waste Management Project Coordinator Craig Metzger. The studies follow recent drill- ing tests that didn't rule out the Ashfield location as a candidate site. There are a dozen compo- nents involved in the impact studies which determine the overall impact of a Landfill at the A3 site in Ashfield Town- ship. Impacts on a number of aspects including area agricul- ture, surface water, local heri- tage, biology, economics, trans- portation, etc., will be exam- ined in the studies, said Metzger, as part of his report to county council on the planning and development committee. Earlier in the council session a delegation from the Con- cerned Citizens of Ashfield and area presented further reasons to county council why a landfill should not be devel- oped in their municipality. These included increases in the number of pests and vermin, increase in truck traffic, poten- tial health threat with 49 toxic and eight carcinogenic sub- stances being dumped, etc. Delegates also spoke about the provincial government's recent decision to lift a ban on incineration as a form of waste management in Ontario and suggested an incinerator as a possible alternative to landfill for the county's waste. Huron councillor urges open discussion BY DAVID SCOTT' SSP News Staff Huron County Council needs more open discussion on issues and should review the way it governs the county. That was the message Coun. Bill Mickle of Exeter delivered to council on Thursday during a review of the Strategic Planning Commit- tee minutes. "I think it's very important for us as politicians to under- stand that we are elected people who arc here to govern this particular county. The council meetings don't stem to have the discussions on sub- jects that need to be put there by thc elected people," said Micklc. "I'm fearful that this council Plutonium BY PAT HALPIN The plan to turn weapons - grade plutonium into mixcd oxide (MOX) fuel for two Bruce Nuclear Power Develop- ment (BNPD) reactors has survived thc first round of cuts by the United States Depart- ment of Energy. The Americans had 33 options for disposing of pluto- nium from nuclear weapons. Terry Squires of Ontario Hydro told Bruce County Council the list has been trimmed to 11, and still includes the proposal to use two per cent pltpnium in MOX fuel for two reactors at Bruce. The plan, called "Swords into Plowshares", was described to council in a Hydro presentation last winter, and received a vote of support from councillors. At the time, Hydro said it supports the plan because of the econ- omic benefits for the Bruce, including a 10 per cent reduc- tion eduction in the amount of fuel needed using the MOX supply. A technical review committee from the DOE visited the BNPD on June 15. Squires said the team was "favourable impressed" with the DNPD's proposals for safety, security and transportation of the MOX fuel bundles. The proposal calls for the bundles to be manufactured in the US and shipped by special transport trucks to the reactor site.._ is getting into a position of which they are losing the opportunity to govern. 1 think it is time that we re -look and re- visit what we are doing as a council." Mickle said if you take the same percentage the provincial government is thinking of downsizing its representatives by and apply it to thc province. Ontario may move from 813 municipalities to Less than 600 in the future. "I think one criteria about who is going to be left is the ones that show leadership in developing and governing their particular jurisdiction. I think we need to sharpen up," said Micklc. Hc asked thc Strategic Com- mittee to look at what's hap- pening, review what it's doing and how it's doing it. He said may come to area "That's the key, that (the weapons) arc dismantled in the US and only two per cent plutonium comes into Canada," Squires said. Hydro estimates 54 truck- loads a year of thc plutonium fuel would enter the country to serve the two reactors. Squires pointed to American records showing that a similar truck transport system has been in place there since 1975 and has logged 70 million miles with- out spills or accident fatalities. Squires said Hydro has learned it will have to provide extra shielding for the MOX fuel, which has a radiation field four times stronger than natural uranium fuel. It will also have to construct a special shipping and loading building for the fuel. County councillors had no question or comment on that news_ , or on the trucking propo- sals highlighted by Squires. Thc US is expected to shortlist its options for pluto- nium disposal to four by • the end of this year. Squires admit- ted there is intense lobbying in Washington to keep as much of the lucrative project in the US as possible. At the same time, Canada is working on a deal with Russia to dispose of its plutonium from nuclear weapons using MOX fuel. He said the Americans have "a comfort level" with the idea that both superpowers would be disarming at the same time with Canada's help. some important strategic issues are decided in half-day com- mittee meetings. "I don't think that's ample tune to give justice to the subjects that re requiredto be discussed," said Micklc. Coun. Bill Vanstone of Colborne Twp. said the issue of more discussion at county meetings "shouldn't die on Coun. Mickle's comments." Vanstone admits he likes to "get in and get out of council meetings quickly if possible and has noticed that things • have changed since he was first a county council member seven years ago." "At that time everything was thrashed out at a committee meeting. Some went long. Everything was dealt with but we were on single committees, not three fold committees," said Vanstone. The Strategic Planning Committee falls under the Administration, Finance and Personnel Committee. Other amalgamated county committees are Social and Cultural Services, Agriculture and Public Works. Planning and Development, and Health and Seniors. Vanstone said the problems are county council's own doing. "Our staff did exactly what we asked them to do. They've shortened our meetings, they've consolidated our stuff and I think it's time this council looks at this very seriously because there's a problem. We don't have the information that we should have and it's our fault. There's nobody else to blame for the whole thing," said Vanstone. "Now if somebody stops me on the street and asks me something what happened at a committee meeting, all I know is what landed in front me. We didn't get into discussion, we don't have the back -ground on it, we don't have the stuff that we really should have to be able to answer questions and go on the way we should," said Vanstone. Support was given to. Mickle's urging for more opcn discussion by Coun. Mason Bailey of Blyth, Coun. Jack Coleman of Stanley and Coun. Thomas Cunningham of Hullett. Coun. Pat Down of Usborne Twp. suggested council look at night-time meetings if people couldn't afford the time during the day. Waste change may affect Huron BY DAVID SCOTT SSP News Staff A recent decision by Ontario premier Mike Harris may have a bearing on how Huron County disposes of its waste. The Harris government's recent move to life the four- year-old ban on . incinerators was put forth to Huron County Council on Thursday as an alternative to a county landfill, by a delegation from the Con- cerned Citizens of Ashfield and Arca. The provincial govern- ment also opened the option for municipalities to ship their garbage out of town. The county recently announced plans to proceed with impact studies at the candidate A3 site in Ashfield after drilling indicated at least 25 hectares of the location can still be considered, for landfill. The delegation of Donald MacNay. Robert McQueen and Richard Payne offered their objections to the A3 landfill to county council and suggested other alternatives 'for waste management. "Some communities legislate that up to 80 per cent of their waste be processed through Waste to Energy plants (WTE) and incinerators," said MacNay. The Ashfield delegation recently visiting Bluewatcr Recycling Association and the Nensall Compost Facility and discovered that these waste management processes account for 80 per cent of the waste generated in the county, leav- ing 20 per cent for the landfills. The delegation also toured Victoria Hospital's WTE plant in London on a fact-finding mission. Theyfound that Victoria's system could use material destined for landfill with only five per cent residue left after the process. "The recent MPP for Huron told us that WTE's were too expensive and mentioned $54 million when pressed for a cost. Victoria's plant would cost about $30 million now but is possibly five times larger than we would need. They are available in various modular components," said MacKay in his statement. "It may cost more initially than a landfill but how much will it cost to discommission a landfill later? Would it not be immoral, irresponsible and incompetent to pass that burden on to our descendants?" said MacNay. McQueen told council there t `is no 100 per cent guarantee that leachate from the landfill won't end up into the soil and water. In his report to county coun- cil. Waste Management Project Coordinator Craig Metzger said that it would not be practical to establish an incinerator just for Huron County. Metzger said the county examined incineration as an option in the past but realized that a landfill would still be required to deal with ash that's left over the quantities of waste generated in Huron wouldn't make and incinerator feasible. Both the delegation from Ashfield and Mezger madc the observation that increased participation in recycling in the past few years has reduced waste at landfill sites. The Ashfield delegation received support from Council Mason Bailey of Blyth. "We do not want another landfill site in our community. We do not want to impose our waste on anybody else's com- munity. And we arc opposed to spending any more money in search of a landfill site until we have positively investigated' the alternatives. "I think before we spend any more money on what could be an obsolete project or purpose" that we re -think, as they have re -thought in Toronto, and take a positive look at the alterna- tives that are open to us," said BDriuring the public question period at the end of the county council session on Thursday, McQueen of the Ashfield del- egation challenged the county's position on incineration.