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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2002-04-03, Page 7News THE HURON EXPOSITOR, April 18, 2001-5 Final manure report expected by June from county planners By Hollis Evans Lakeshore Advance Editor Huron County planners will have a final report on nutrient management options by June, mainly to accommodate the Township of Ashfield. Planner Scott Tousaw told a mix of farmers, municipal councillors, engineers, real estate agents and media about the June deadline at the end of a two-hour public meeting at the Hensall Community Centre. About 60 people from across the county attended the meeting titled "Nutrient Management Options Related to Intensive Livestock Operations." Twenty-two others attended an afternoon open house there while one day earlier, 75 people attended the same public meeting in Blyth. Broken into four discussion groups, the Hensall audience provided county planners important reaction to the issues of nutrient management plans, construction standards, procedures and others including water and air quality. "In my 20 years with the county, this is the most intense issue we've had to deal with," said Planner Wayne Caldwell. In 1997, community newspaper headlines across the county highlighted the emotion with one,in August, 1997 in The Huron Expositor, declaring Huron, "the toilet" of the county. Headlines also touted positive changes including local studies into water quality. Caldwell didn't have Quoted 'It's clear to us it's not an issue one group can solve,' -- Scott Tousaw, Huron County planning departmont to explain to the audience how dramatically farming has changed in the county. Yet the facts confirmed their beliefs. Between 1951 and 1991, Caldwell said, chicken production in Huron County skyrocketed to 299 m kilograms of meat from 45 m kilograms. Farmers were raising 6.5 more chickens in 1991 on the same amount of land consumed 40 years previous. Though more chickens were being farmed, manure production dropped over those 40 years to 3.88 kilograms from 12.6 kilogrrms as feed improved. Pointing to trends in the number of building permits issued in Huron municipalities, Planner Scott Tousaw noted Huron County's top three commodities (hogs, poultry and cattle) peaked in 1981 but that was nothing compared to the high recorded in 1996. After that year the actual number of livestock is fuzzy because new Census figures won't be known until well after the Census in May. So the planning department took an educated guess using building permit information provided by municipal clerks. Tousaw said 391 building permits were issued in 2000 for new or expanded barns: half for hogs; half for chicken and cattle. Activity was the highest in the Seaforth and Mitchell areas, a map showed, with Tousaw noting specifically McKillop, Grey and Howick Townships. Stanley Township, long inactive, saw a spurt of 60 per cent expansion between 1981 and 1996. "It's clear to us it's not an issue any one group can solve," said Tousaw. Farmers, communities and governments are all taking action to solve manure application and water quality problems, said Caldwell, but as witnessed by this reporter in a discussion group, held during the meeting, many people feel the work must continue. Caldwell said municipalities are having difficulty dealing with intensive farm operations due to a lack of legislation and a desire to balance fairly the livestock industry with non-farm interests. He said community support is one of the keys to enabling municipal action. "We're here tonight to develop community support," he said Only three municipalities in Huron County have passed interim control bylaws on intensive livestock operations in the past year, said Caldwell. Huron County planners have held 15 meetings on this topic, including the two in Hensall and Blyth, to gather input for the report. The final report will contain options for further discussion, said Tousaw. New policies will be developed by each municipality and any proposed bylaw will require more public input before implementation. The planners also offered to meet with any group or organization. Trustees criticise Grade ro testing By Stew Slater Special to the Huron Expositor Amid expressions of both concern and optimism with regards to recently -released results from provincially standardized Grade 10 literacy tests, trustees of the Avon Maitland District School Board added some strong criticisms of the introduction of such tests by the Mike Harris government. "It's laughable. Quite frankly, it's laughable," said Stratford trustee Rod Brown, after commenting that he has heard suggestions from Harris's Conservative government that legislative changes might help future Grade 10 students increase over-all scores. Across the province, the passing rate was just 68 per cent for last October's first edition of the Grade 10 test, which is administered by an arms -length government agency called the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO). In the Avon Maitland board, the success rate was 70 per cent, with just - released school -by -school results showing rates in the board's 11 secondary schools range from 65 per cent to 76 per cent. Following a presentation about the Grade 10 results from board staff at a regular meeting Tuesday, April 10, Brown criticized the entire EQAO process, even letting slip a sarcastic out -of -order comment about the supposed arms -length nature of the agency after one of his questions had been answered by superintendent Marie Parsons. He also wondered how closely the test follows the province's high school curriculum, considering a student could conceivably pass all grades of secondary school without succeeding in the test in successive attempts. Wendy Anderson also offered scathing comments. After first stating the board is in "an enviable position" because its comparatively complimentary results allow it to criticize the EQAO process without "being seen (to be) whining," the Avon Maitland chair said the students who will write the tests in the next few years -- before the new four-year high school curriculum is fully implemented -- will suffer because they won't necessarily have been exposed to all aspects of the new curriculum by the time they write the tests. Meg Westley agreed. "It's not fair to these kids that they're guinea pigs for those tests," said the Stratford trustee. However, Westley also expressed concern with the 30 per cent of Grade lOs who didn't pass the test, and also with some of the trends identified in hoard staff's analysis of the results. As of next year, she noted, all students will have to pass the Grade 10 literacy test before receiving a high school diploma. "Thirty per cent is too high ... when we know that they're not going to get jobs if they don't get that diploma," she said. Trends among Avon Maitland students, as identified in the EQAO results, include the fact just 23 per cent of males read outside school for three or more hours per week, and the fact two per cent more students failed the reading portion of the Grade 10 test as opposed to the writing portion. The second example is a reverse of the provincial trend. EQAO officials have repeatedly stated the board - by -board and school -by - school results aren't meant to encourage comparison by the public. But Brown challenged that assertion, pointing to indications Harris will support the ability of parents to choose their children's school in the upcoming provincial Throne Speech. Indeed, at the April 10 Avon Maitland meeting, the EQAO results inspired some of the comparison the agency supposedly discourages, when Listowel -area trustee Don Brillinger used the Bridges development becoming condos A new public meeting will be held to hear any concerns from the public about the proposed Bridges to Seaforth retirement development in Egmondville. The project, expected to have been under way by now, has been revamped. Originally to be a retirement community with separate dwellings, the project will now be condominiums. Huron East Administrator Jack McLachlan recently explained to council at its April 4 committee meeting that the original type of dwellings could not allow for golf carts to be used on the roadways that eventually link to Seaforth Golf and Country Club. Also, the former version of the plan would not allow the developers to charge separately for the use of the recreation centre that would have been built as part of the development. The plans havenow been changed to condominiums but because of the change, a new public meeting has to be held. The project was not met with any opposition at the first meeting last year. "Pleased to see it finally on the go," said Mayor Lin Steffler. By Scott Hilgendorff "Good News" portion of the agenda to trumpet the board - leading 76 per cent success rate of Grade 10 students at Listowel District Secondary School. And director of education Lorne Rachlis stated Avon Maitland students averaged "the same score, essentially, as our coterminous board," even though results from the Huron -Perth Catholic District School Board were slightly higher. HURON MASSAGE THERAPY CLINIC Janine Lavoie. B.8c: RMT For appt. Thurs. or Sat. call 527-0780 Total Image II COUNSELLING • Marriage • Family • Personal Growth • Leaming Disabilities BRIAN O'REILLY, p' 160 Huron CUNTON X482-9249 LAWN QUESTIONS? Call... 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