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Times Advocate, 1991-05-29, Page 1Don't Drink and Drive iG Geiser-Kneale Insurance Stela Experiersce & Value 235-2420 Serving South Huron North Middlesex & Lambton Since 1H73 75 cents Inside Activity Day Having fun at Exeter P.S. page 2 Standoff OPP arrest man in Centralia page 3 Accumold Huron Park's big bang page 5 Wizard of Oz Young people audition page 10 Torch Run Officers run for OSO Second front Awards night Irish hand them out page 14 • Dump closed, residents not content By Adrian Harte LUCAN - Even though the Lewis Sanitation landfill was closed by court order last week, a group of Biddulph residents still saw cause to stage a protest Satur- day morning. They were especial- ly angry about comments made by local politicians, and the fact that both Lucan and Biddulph reeves have petitioned to have the dump re -opened. Donna Wells, who organized the protest, said that despite the court order supposedly sealing off the dump, she had seen trucks go- ing into the closed area. One resi- dent claimed the Lewises were at- tempting to cover up the dump's infractions to get it re -opened. The group CRAP [Citizens Reacting Against Pollution], founded by Wells in 1983 was successfulin getting the dump closed in 1984, only to see it re- opened after an appeal. She said their Saturday morning 'protest on Concession 2-3 of Biddulph, over- looking the landfill, was in sup- port of the plight of the Nippa family whose farm is only metre away from the dumped garbage. Rick Burgess, who lives further up the road said he can see the dump from his back yard and would gladly pay higher taxes if she said "a real tragedy is what's knows the garbage is not regularly he could see local covered. He sympathizes with thegarbage dis- happened to the Nippas", Nippas and blames the ministryposed of properly. Wells lives a mile away and is the environment for not eiof local IIS•�d she was annoyed that bothered by the visual aspect of enough to enforce its rules, g politicians and the MOE the dump, and how she has seen have said there is nothing wrong garbage strewn across the river "I guess it's easier for the minis- with how the dump is operated, valley. try to ignore complaints than to "If this is a well-run dump then Wells said she and CRAP have close a dump," said Burgess, we're really frightened for the rest with how claiming the MOE was more con- of the province," said Wells, add- g �rnmenmert agencies work, whch cerned about large waste manage- ing that therotest was to "let she to ment problems and ignored small Biddulph [council) know there are publitc'sside, believe were on the rural landfills. people who don't agree with "We always thought the minis - "It's just a stupid set up. them." Whoever try was like the police - someone's put it here...a mutual Wells said while township breaking into your house, driveway...and it's over a river," council have described the Posen- phone them and they respond," said Burgess, who claimed he tial loss of the dump as a tragedy, said Wells, but complained the citizens concerns have been downplayed or ignored by the ministry. When asked if she was happy with last week's court order, Wells evidently didn't hold much faith in the court's decision hold- ing firm. "The decision means nothing if there's trucks going in there," claimed Wells. The affidavit in favour of the landfill, signed by Lucan reeve Larry Hotson and Earl French, Biddulph flies in theface of the court ruling, continued Wells, who said it really angered those present at the protest. "That's why we're asking [the reeves] to resign," said Wells. Dennis Shaw, who owns a house across the valley from the landfill said he wouldn't have built these if he hadn't been told the dump was to be phased out in a few years - but he later found out he was misinformed. "Ninety-five percent of the time the garbage is left wide open," said Shaw, who added he has seen animals roaming the dump area, and has frequently seen dead ani- mals around the property. One possibility which worries Biddulph.Townshtp resi turday mornin on ConcessfL • �.. :oorersabut.ahe s€1." Annual Exete0 sidewalk sale may conflict with repaving EXETER - The annual Exeter sidewalk sale may be in jeopardy due to the fact that the sidewalks may be the only form of transporta- tion open those days. If the repaving of Main Street happens to coincide with the BIA promotion, then the event could be m trouble. As works superinten- dent Glenn Kelis explained, the re- paving will have to coincide with the ministry of transportation con- tract to repave highway 83 and there is a strong possibility Main Street will be torn up and closed at the same time as the July 18, 19, and 20 sidewalk sale. BIA manager Dolly Atthill said the repaving coatd prove trouble- some because the BIA have booked entertainment and other special events for those days. She and Kells are hoping a deci- sion on the paving dates will come soon so sale arrangements can go ahead as planned or face drastic re- vision. Walkathon tops $22,000 EXETER - Audrey and Steve Skinner had hoped to raise maybe $2,000 with their Children's Hospi- tal Walkathon they organized on April 28. When about 350 people showed up to participate, Audrey said she raised her expectations as high as $5,000. But the totals are in and the Skin- ners have discovered the walkathon has raised nearly 523,000. "Unreal," said Audrey. "Steve and I arc just flabbergasted." The Skinners will be going on the Children's Network Telethon on Sunday June 2 between 11 a.m. and 12 noon to present the cheque, and although there is a 53,000mini- mum requirement to be on the tele- thon, Audrey said the Children's Hospital is not yet aware of how much they will be getting. The Skinners organized the wal- kathon in memory of their infant daughter Stephanie Lynn who un- derwent a liver transplant at the Children's Hospital in London, only to later die of complications. By Fred Groves. .LUCAN .: - The landfill site whit;h services Lucan and Bid- dulph Township was closed last week and it could cost taxpayers twice the amount to have their garbage shipped to Kent County. In what is considered to be a precedent -setting decision, Jus- tice Jeffrey Flinn ordered the dump, owned by C.H. Lewis, Ltd. closed. Tuesday an appeal was being launched in attempt to over rule Justice Finn's decision. Peter and Erika Nippa live next to the durnp and becaus .of k1Q - ing debris which landed on tfre r" fields, claimed they were prevent- ed from growing certain organic crops. Justice Flinn awarded them $100,000. Justice Finn said the dump was a "callous disregard for the envi- ronment." The Nippas moved to the farm in 1963 and nine years later, the landfill was open. Since the mid - 70's they have been in an on- going dispute with Lewis. "Our biggest thing was we lost genic certification of this ,said Peter. / "We've been doing this for 23 years so our land is well estab- lished. We're one of the most sen- ior farms in this region," he add- ed. The farm is certified by the Or- ganic Crop Improvement Associ- ation and they will continue to monitor the farm and let the Nip - pas know when they can begin growing again. But that could be a while. "Anything that's grown here cannot be certified as long as the Sha thei Farb* r bI ora d said Peter. 4 ists,ed Peter's son Roy, feels as long as p Sh the dump is there, whether it's ered open or not, it will continue to that cause a problem. But the blowing Bidd debris landing on their farm is not land the only concern which has the "It Nippas up in arms. says According to Roy, under the au- Loret thorization of the Ministry of the "If Environment, Lewis' cut drainage he s lines which turned 25 acres of Den Continued on a 3. w is that if the Nippas give up r battle with Lewis and sell farm, the dump could be ex- aw's wife said she was both - by reeve French's statement he spoke for the people of ulph when asking for the fill's continuance. really bothers me that he he speaks for eveyone," said to Shaw. he wanted to be a judge the houldn't be a reeve," agreed is. Continued on page 3. Deputy -reeve threatens to withhold taxes GRAND BEND The deputy - reeve of Grand Bend has threatened to withhold paying her taxes and the village is going to look into pro- hibitin* alcohol except for that which is sold in licensed establish- ments. Both actions stem from the first long holiday weekend in Grand Bend which saw a record number of charges laid by the Ontario Pro- vincial Police during the May 24 weekend. some second thoughts about with- holding taxes. "I haven't really decided if this is the only way to get the government to stop it," said Mitchell. "That's what other ratepayers in other towns are doing," she added. Acting Staff Sgt. Lorne Smith of the OPP said there were 415 charg- es laid, many of those were to un- dcraged partrers. The village's bylaw enforcement officer, Keith Crawford laid about Last Tuesday night, deputy -reeve 200 charges and he suggested Shirley Mitchell said she would Grand Bend have a bylaw which lead a group of taxpayers in a re- prohibits alcohol except in the bars volt to withhold taxes if something and the beer store and liquor store. is not done to curb all the problems Clerk -treasurer Paul Turnbull which occurred, primarily in a resi- was to contact the Liquor Control dential section where she has resid- Board to see what actions can be ed for about 30 years. taken to create such a bylaw. There However, on Monday, she had was also a concern about over - Standard Trust to open as Laurentian Bank EXETER - Account holders at the former Standard Trust branch will have an account at the Laurentian Bank after the branch re -opens under that name on June 25. Standard Trust closed its doors April 11 after a group of creditors called in loans of 5100 million. Laurentian Bank at the time was attempting to put together a deal to take over the retail banking services of Standard Trustee. Jean Pierre Sabourin, president of the Canadian Deposit Insurance Cor- poration, made the announcement that insured deposits would be trans- ferred to Laurentian Bank of Canada as of June 25. The transaction is subject to court approval. A special assistance program has been operated by the CDIC to allow depositors with Standard Trust access to their funds in case of hardship since April 18. This program will continue to operate until June 2, at which time all records and accounts of Standard will have to be balanced and reconciled for transfer to LBC. Until June 2, depositors can still call the CDIC at 1-800-461-2342. An Ernst and Young representative at the Exeter branch confirmed it would be opening as a Laurentian branch on June 25. All previous ac- counts will be re -opened under their holders names. "At that time they have the option of continuing banking services or closing their accounts," confirmed the Ernst and Young representative. Laurentian Bank have said they will be returning to work the 200 Stan- dard Trust employees affected by the closing. 1 crowding in the bars. Mitchell who lives in an area known as "the jungle", said she was wakened up during one night of the long weekend and asked to start up a petition. When I can't take it any more, I'II do what everyone else does and that's put my house up for sale," said an angered Mitchell. Councillor Dennis Snider said Grand Bend is never going to change until an approach is made to change the image is projects. "Grand Bend's image belongs in the sewer for the long weekend," said Snider. Snider added any action the vil- lage or the police take in curbing the problems is minor. "There's nothing anyone can do but put out little fires here and there," he said. He noted Grand Bend could soon become one of the most expensive places to live in Southwestern On- tario because of the hi$h cost to clean up after a long holiday week- end. "If people don't like it, maybe it's time to stand upr and say Grand Bend has to change," said Snider. Snider said he used to live in the village but was driven out as a re- sult of occurrences which happened to his property during a long week- end. Councillor Bill Uniac told coun- cil one resident had gust done $80,000 worth of renovations to his house but was considering selling. Another suggestion made by council members to prevent the problems were having the fire chief monitor the number of people stay- ing in each cottage. One village resident said reeve Bruce Woodley had as many as 30 people in one of the cottages he rents out. Woodley denied this say- ing there were only six. Uniac recalled the village in the 1960's when there were motorcycle gangs and remembered when the riot act had to be read in Grand Bend. Although Uniac said the village would allow sleeping in cars in the municipal lot he noted, "we've got kids bunging in their vehicles and it's their hotel, their bar." Sgt. Smith said he would rather see young people sleeping in their vehicles than driving intoxicated. Uniac suggested a citizen's patrol to help the police. "I'd like to see them involved to better their own situation," said Uniac. Food drive In Exeter Thursday EXETER - About 1,900 flyers with bags wrapped Association said the Exeter Department in them have been delivered to Exeter homes, and tecring to help the drive on a 'triabasis" and said the Exeter Fire Department hopes to get them back he wasn't sure what response they would get from filled with food. the public. The Firefighters will be going out Thursday eve- Smith said he is already aware of mixed feelings ning, sirens wailing, canvassing the streets in a food from some who are wary of donating to the Ailsa drive to boost the dwindling supplies of the Ailsa Craig charity because it is in another county. Some Craig Food Bank. The Fire Departments of Park- also think the food bank is maybe not needed. hill, Lucan, and Ailsa Craig will also be out this However, Smith said the department has been as - week canvassing to help the needy families in the sured there are several families in the immediate arca the food bank serves. area who relyon the Ailsa Craig bank to round out "I know there's more people who need food, but their food budgets because there is no similar chari- are afraid to ask," said Ron Myles, coordinator of ty nearer to Exeter. the Food Bank, adding that he will be glad to re- "As far as we know there is nothing up here in spond to any calls for assistance, even if the family Huron County," said Smith, notingthere appears rs too reluctant to visit the bank itself,aithe Myles said the Ailsa Craig fire chief Chuck Dai- recession right n wfor e there are people who are havv-- gle had organized the coordinated effort to replenish ing hard times." the shelves of the Food Bank. Darlings Foodmar- Smith said the Fire De its door- kcts in Exeter and Lucan donated the collection to -door collection around 6:30ep.m.,Ibuttrif anyone bags so that town residents can have their donations wishes to ready when the firefi hters call. �P goods such as cans, or boxed Danny Smith, president of the Exeter Firefighters te pastas,lso t eat veening. Hall,re there will be someone evening.