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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1992-05-27, Page 41 Patge 4 Tonnes -Advocate, May 27, itts PY*IIer: Am 0aetaM►tt 1 ` ttor: Won Marne BooMoss Mir: son Smlth Composition iNgoor1: Deb Lord alissommismilmetign sunos►IMe atttrta>r cu ss I .).utt>Maww to woo tett«miller *10.00 else *2.10 GAT. Outside 40 mutes (65 tent.) or WY Utter aawlsr astem* *00.00 elm $17.10 pastas* (natal 647.50) elm *3.33 detekle camas 111111.00 A waste taxes master plan Amore cynical mind might call It a *200,000 make-work project for the Huron County Planning Department. You certainly couldn't convince them otherwise by the results alone. After three years of study, the depart- ment have managed to put together a nice tome explaining all the things Hu- ron County will not be doing with its garbage any time soon. The Waste Management -Master Plan, as it was called, took us through the search for a new landfill site at a snail's pace. Aimed at eventually creating one large county -operated landfill to serve all Huron municipalities, it also exam- ined all the other things we might do with our garbage if Huron county were a large urban municipality, but isn't. There were public hearings, explain- ing that incineration would be studied, so would composting, recycling, etc. etc. As the planners freely admitted, the one true goal was to find the county a new place to bury its garbage, be- cause all municipal dumps will be full by 2008. In the past three years, landfill space has become a critical issue for several Huron municipalities. But when faced with the exorbitant cost of doing the study to find a new landfill most mu- nicipalities saw the master plan "as a light on the horizon. They were told by the late 1990s, they could expect to be using the county site. Six sites were eventually selected by the planning department. All of them in Huron's northern country, far away from the villages and towns in the south. Gar- bage would have to be trucked all the way north to the eventual winner in the landfill site sweepstakes. But no, we now find out that all six sites were eliminated, one by one. In retrospect, it seems as if the Waste Management Master Plan approached the problem from the wrong angle. Since engineering studies and hydrogeo- logical testing is very expensive, it might have made sense to first find out where a landfill site could be put, rather than using planners to decide where they would like it, only to be disappointed later. Given the fact that remaining Huron landfills are now three years closer to reaching capacity than they were in 1989, the planning department should have tackled the landfill issue from the start. All the studies on waste alterna- tives they knew would never be tried were just window dressing, expensive window, dressing. Now they will have to try again. This time, let's dolt right. A.D.H. T From outhouse to research lab There isn't nearly enough sci- entific research done in Canada. Our great institutions, such as the NRC (National Research Council of Canada), are chroni- cally under -funded. We are suf- fering from a constant brain drain: the scientists we educate at our expense are leaving this country in ever-increasing num- bers and end up at MIT or in Chicago or California. That's why I have decided to dip into my rather limited funds to establish HURRI - Hessel's Universal Rapid Research Insti- tute, As the name implies, the Institute will rapidly research everything under the sun or in the shade. HURRI will specialize in fast research. The problem with most scientific institutions is .tit they take forever to arrive at their findings. In other words, they are specializing in slow re- search. HURRI will do things rapidly. Another difference: un- like their colleagues in other in- stitutions, HURRI researchers will not be encumbered and prejudiced by scientific degrees or experience. Their main attrib- utes will be ingenuity, intuition and instinct. Naturally, before verturing into something as majoas a new research dtstitute, 1 had to check my personal finances very carefully. Even by empty- ing my piggybank, I could only come up with $3.87 of author- ized capital. From the begin- ning, it was clear to me that I would require outside financing. I approached Alexander, but he confessed that he was broke (again). Stephanie just laughed when I asked her, and there was no point in even mentioning the ambitious project to Elizabeth. To my great relief, Duncan came to the rescue. He went to look for the key to his special hiding place, opened tt little cupboard, and handed me over his life savings: S1.75. I now had $5.62 to invest in the new research facility. Fortu- nately we already owned the 6 w -f w 11• Peter's Point • Peter Hessel site: right next to the woodshed. My plan was to convert the old out -house into a state-of-the-art laboratory. It would be .mail. but efficient. Just the type of stricture needed for conducting universal rapid research. The building required major renova- tions. So Duncan and I spent at least three hours fixing it up. Since a laboratory must be ape - and -span, we cleaned out all the cobwebs, decayed leaves, and an old wasp's nest. The door (with a little crescent moon in it) had come off its hinges, atpd we soon discovered that new 'fittings were filired. As it turned out, we wait of our capital at Home Hardware for a couple of hinges and a hook, thus helping the . local economy. Before we could undertake our first rapid research project, we had to makc some internal alter- ations. We used a crowbar and hammer to remove the original early Victorian outhouse instal- lations. In their place we put in the old disconnected laundry tub and a couple of wooden shelves. then I drove a nail in the wall to hold a clipboard for our research notes. We had no money for fancy la- boratory equipment. The trouble with a lot of research institutes is that they are wasting funds on expensive apparatus and instru- ments which only slow the sci- entists down. For many years we had displayed a foe collection of antique bottles on the window sills in the playroom, where they were only gathering dust. We requisitioned these for the new HURRI laboratory. and they will be used henceforth in the service of science. From time to time we may have to acquire additional test- ing apparatus and devices, de- pending on the of our pro- Now that the I e's build - Jog and equipment were in place, we found it necessary to justify its existence. As you all know, this is usually accomplished by conducting an elaborate feasibil- ity study. We telephoned our neighbours and asked them whether they thought they might baiefit from the kind of research we were proposing. Their re- sponse was immediate and unan- imous: "Eh?" After we had assessed, evaluat- ed and tabulated this articulate response, which led us to the happy and rapid conclusion that the *tassel Universal Rapid Re- search Institute would benefit the entire community, we decid- ed not to tear it down, but to de- fine its • purpose • goals, and • objectives. I will keep my patient readers informed on the Institute's progress. As soon as the first re- search findings are available, they will be published in this paper. Mete igre never so likely to settle a question rightly as when they discuss it freely." ... Thomas Macauley MIMMd Fsoh WmMeoley S.W. rot 424$MNn 1St., DttkM, Otttstb, NOM 3,t6 J..W. E hrlMoatlons Ltd. Taimeneas li�t,iAlsetaioess Time for new solutions A woman called Monday af, temoon wanting to know if I was interested in taking up her cause. Apparently, traffic along Hu- ron Street is going a little too fast these. days, especially for those parents whose children play in the park. A four-way stop at Carling Street would isolve this problem, I was told. Yes indeed, I can see ,where children, who are often .oblii►i= .' -ous to two -tonne machines roar- ing along the asphalt, might be endangered, but after giving the problem some thought, 1 would have to say that a four-way stop is the wrong solution to the problem. Maybe it's just because I drive a manual -transmission car, but four-way stops drive me to dis- traction (pun intended). Driving along Andrew Street in this town is like climbing a flight of stairs with your left leg only. I also try to be environmental- ly conscious about my driving. Yes, I enjoy driving, but I try to avoid unnecessary trips whenev- er I can. I also note we are often lectured to drive smoothly and avoid stopping at red lights whenever possible. Creeping up to them and waiting for the green saves a lot of fuel, we are told. Along comes the four -way stop. No matter from which di- rection you approach it, you have to apply the brakes, con- verting all forward motion into useless heat, stop, and begin running through all the gears all over again. No, I don't advocate blasting down residential streets, but there has to be a limit on Hold that thought ... • 'thine how many four-way stops a town can bear. I also mistrust the intersection of Andrew and Victoria, where Victoria has the right of way. There have been a few accidents at that comer, likely because drivers, used to a string of four- way stops, assume Victoria driv- ers will stop, but they don't. To my mind, the best solution for Huron Street is a fence around the park to keep the kids off the mad in the first place. The woman agreed with me,_but rightly pointed out that the stop signs would cost less. But in the end, no solution will save ourselves from ourselves. The more ways the world tries to legislate safety, the more ways we will be able to lay law- suits when the system fails. If and when I buy another car. I know it won't have what I call "mouse belts". Perhaps you've t (tit(), seen them. Officially, they are known as "passive restraints". Invented by what one car maga- zine calls "safety nazis", they are designed to automatically wrap the shoulder strap of a seatbelt around you as you close your car door. The idea wouldn't be so utterly stupid if it also managed to put on the lap } , belt too. 11 doesn't,leaving. you '� p.'t , - Or the and you m a worse situ- ation in an accident than if you'd done up a normal seatbelt like we're all supposed to. The only passive restraint wor- thy of the name is the airbag, but it's still not all that passive be- cause the seatbelt is needed to hold you in place to be cush- ioned by the bag. With that, I can live. An airbag is a must for my next car. But of course, that's all a moot point if the town goes ahead with another 20 or 30 four-way stops, and maybe even a few speed bumps thrown in to boot. We won't need cars then be- cause we'll be able to walk eve- rywhere faster. Or we coo' tut fences arm 1 our parks f little oils, and tell the bigge, rids to keep off the roads. Maybe we could fix Main Street traffic so it actually moves on Fridays, so no one would need to use Huron Street to fee the mayhem. And while I'm at it, I'd like to win the lottery too. Casinos to disrupt family lifestyle Dear Editor; A new council, a pew adminis- tration -- pew broom! Tom Lawson, Cam Ivey and their team have made peace with Archie Gibbs and Jim Hevey and this summer the beach is going to be the better for it. A serious effort was made to in- vite young people to enjoy the hol- iday weekend In Grand Bud but in doing so caution was urged not to abuse the law. Wanungs were minimized, fines were up. All in all it was an improvement over former years. A great start to curb our reputa- tion for summer rowdyism and further turn the corner to returning our area to where the family is pn- ority. But now some individuals are trying to convince our town fa- thers that a casino is just what we need. They and we are being told it's the answer to • Grand Bend's fu- tuue. Itis? al) Are they and we that naive not to know that crime is also a product of casi- nos. A Kitchener Record columnist just recently wrote: "Atlantic City tried this and vowed to keep it clean, but organized crime moved in and is there to stay. The satin will happen here. Organized crime and organized prostitution are camp followers of gambling." And do we dismiss the moral as- scalPelof gambling. especially on this e. Isn't it indecent for government 10 finance itself out of its share of rev- enue from gambling? And doesn't our knowledge of history reveal the danger of collaboration of politi- cians with the gambling fraternity? If the above statements arc not ar- gument enough do we really want to cope with horrendous traffic jams? Isn't that a problem now. Certainly we can spend millions on building new road pauerns but are there not many odic: areas of need in our province to say nothing of the burden of our def►cu. poen it make sense for our provincialov- ernment to choose Grand Bend when other areas are much more accessible than ours. Does it makc sense for it to get involved in casi- nos at all? 1 appeal to your readers to be aware that a small percentage of individuals are attempting to dis- rupt the lifestyle of our conununi- ty. We, then, need topteelllpour munic- }ipal andprovincial(Mrs. ll viinncciial the men a MPP Lambton, 4166 Peuolia St., Petrolia, NON IRO and Mr, PaulHuron. Gen - AAA DAiivary. , NOM 1 LO) R.M. Southcou Under Trudeau Under Clark Under Trudeau � .,- � ' - W/'W -. .. ,. -^- Under Turner .. ♦ ti f r/ H � .. Vis""'-� --. Under Mulroney Under! itis Time for new solutions A woman called Monday af, temoon wanting to know if I was interested in taking up her cause. Apparently, traffic along Hu- ron Street is going a little too fast these. days, especially for those parents whose children play in the park. A four-way stop at Carling Street would isolve this problem, I was told. Yes indeed, I can see ,where children, who are often .oblii►i= .' -ous to two -tonne machines roar- ing along the asphalt, might be endangered, but after giving the problem some thought, 1 would have to say that a four-way stop is the wrong solution to the problem. Maybe it's just because I drive a manual -transmission car, but four-way stops drive me to dis- traction (pun intended). Driving along Andrew Street in this town is like climbing a flight of stairs with your left leg only. I also try to be environmental- ly conscious about my driving. Yes, I enjoy driving, but I try to avoid unnecessary trips whenev- er I can. I also note we are often lectured to drive smoothly and avoid stopping at red lights whenever possible. Creeping up to them and waiting for the green saves a lot of fuel, we are told. Along comes the four -way stop. No matter from which di- rection you approach it, you have to apply the brakes, con- verting all forward motion into useless heat, stop, and begin running through all the gears all over again. No, I don't advocate blasting down residential streets, but there has to be a limit on Hold that thought ... • 'thine how many four-way stops a town can bear. I also mistrust the intersection of Andrew and Victoria, where Victoria has the right of way. There have been a few accidents at that comer, likely because drivers, used to a string of four- way stops, assume Victoria driv- ers will stop, but they don't. To my mind, the best solution for Huron Street is a fence around the park to keep the kids off the mad in the first place. The woman agreed with me,_but rightly pointed out that the stop signs would cost less. But in the end, no solution will save ourselves from ourselves. The more ways the world tries to legislate safety, the more ways we will be able to lay law- suits when the system fails. If and when I buy another car. I know it won't have what I call "mouse belts". Perhaps you've t (tit(), seen them. Officially, they are known as "passive restraints". Invented by what one car maga- zine calls "safety nazis", they are designed to automatically wrap the shoulder strap of a seatbelt around you as you close your car door. The idea wouldn't be so utterly stupid if it also managed to put on the lap } , belt too. 11 doesn't,leaving. you '� p.'t , - Or the and you m a worse situ- ation in an accident than if you'd done up a normal seatbelt like we're all supposed to. The only passive restraint wor- thy of the name is the airbag, but it's still not all that passive be- cause the seatbelt is needed to hold you in place to be cush- ioned by the bag. With that, I can live. An airbag is a must for my next car. But of course, that's all a moot point if the town goes ahead with another 20 or 30 four-way stops, and maybe even a few speed bumps thrown in to boot. We won't need cars then be- cause we'll be able to walk eve- rywhere faster. Or we coo' tut fences arm 1 our parks f little oils, and tell the bigge, rids to keep off the roads. Maybe we could fix Main Street traffic so it actually moves on Fridays, so no one would need to use Huron Street to fee the mayhem. And while I'm at it, I'd like to win the lottery too. Casinos to disrupt family lifestyle Dear Editor; A new council, a pew adminis- tration -- pew broom! Tom Lawson, Cam Ivey and their team have made peace with Archie Gibbs and Jim Hevey and this summer the beach is going to be the better for it. A serious effort was made to in- vite young people to enjoy the hol- iday weekend In Grand Bud but in doing so caution was urged not to abuse the law. Wanungs were minimized, fines were up. All in all it was an improvement over former years. A great start to curb our reputa- tion for summer rowdyism and further turn the corner to returning our area to where the family is pn- ority. But now some individuals are trying to convince our town fa- thers that a casino is just what we need. They and we are being told it's the answer to • Grand Bend's fu- tuue. Itis? al) Are they and we that naive not to know that crime is also a product of casi- nos. A Kitchener Record columnist just recently wrote: "Atlantic City tried this and vowed to keep it clean, but organized crime moved in and is there to stay. The satin will happen here. Organized crime and organized prostitution are camp followers of gambling." And do we dismiss the moral as- scalPelof gambling. especially on this e. Isn't it indecent for government 10 finance itself out of its share of rev- enue from gambling? And doesn't our knowledge of history reveal the danger of collaboration of politi- cians with the gambling fraternity? If the above statements arc not ar- gument enough do we really want to cope with horrendous traffic jams? Isn't that a problem now. Certainly we can spend millions on building new road pauerns but are there not many odic: areas of need in our province to say nothing of the burden of our def►cu. poen it make sense for our provincialov- ernment to choose Grand Bend when other areas are much more accessible than ours. Does it makc sense for it to get involved in casi- nos at all? 1 appeal to your readers to be aware that a small percentage of individuals are attempting to dis- rupt the lifestyle of our conununi- ty. We, then, need topteelllpour munic- }ipal andprovincial(Mrs. ll viinncciial the men a MPP Lambton, 4166 Peuolia St., Petrolia, NON IRO and Mr, PaulHuron. Gen - AAA DAiivary. , NOM 1 LO) R.M. Southcou