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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1997-08-20, Page 2Page 2 Times -Advocate, August 20, 1997 Regional wrap up New super at Bluewater GODERICH - The Goderich Signal -Star reports the Bluewa- ter Youth Centre has a new su- perintendent. Kim Gallow has taken on the _leadership of the young offender facility. She comes to the Bluewater from the Vanier institute for Women and past experience in- cludes the superintendent posi- tion at the Barrie jail. The centre is dealing with the effects of the 1996 riot. a smaller riot this year and the termination of some of •its staff following the Ministry of Correctional Services investi- gation into the first riot. According to the Signal -Star, she hopes to provide support and. leadership, for the facility. She intends to ensure the safety and security of the staff and 'the of- fender population and will work with them to see they are going in a common direction. New municipality to be Perth South, `ST. MARYS - ' Perth South "will be the name of the new mu- nicipality , u=nicipality, when Blanshard and Downie townships" officially amalgamate. according to the St. Marys Journal -Argus. - Elections for the new munici- pality be held this fall with the new seven -member council composed " of . the mayor . and three councillors each from the two new wards of Blanshard and Downie. The new council will choose the deputy mayor, with the understanding he or she re- sides in the ward opposite the new mayor. " Other than the boundaries and council structure, very little else is clear about how the new mu- nicipality will run. Most of the new responsibilities from the province and the costs, involved are not yet known. I. • Durham residents get the jail facts - DURHAM - Nearly 400 Dur- ham and area -residents filled the Durham Legion recently to get the facts on the province's soon - to -be -built mega jails, one of which might be built in Durham. While the majority of the audi- ence seemed to support the idea of having the jail built in Dur- ham, there were several people in attendance who spoke out against the idea, according to the Saugeen City News. Two audience members had -r0 - be escorted from the building by the Durham police. Another woman was escorted from the microphone. but returned to her seat. Town officials explained the potential. benefits and the town's ability to support the 1,200 in- mate facility while personnel from the Solicitor General's of- fice explained what residents could expect should the prison end up in Durham. The town's mayor and clerk -treasurer fully support the prison according to the City News. Durham's proposal was to be submitted by August 15 with a final decision on the site of the mega jail expected early in the fall. Many current prison facilities in Ontario were built between 1800 and 1850. The province's plan will see two new facilities built, with extensive renovations done to other facilities. Durham's facility would house 1,200 prisoners, bring an extra $184 million to the econo- my and create 300 jobs. IN_ S'HENFWS Holtzmann's IGA food drive will help students The province -wide annual drive will try to get hungry kids off to a strong school start By Craig Bradford T -A Reporter EXETER - The end of August means school's back. it also means teachers and school counsellors will see the return of child hunger. Oshawa Foods and its IGA and Knechtel stores want to help ease - the problem. with its annual prov— ince-wide food drive that kicked off last- week and lasts until Aug. 30. ' Holtzmann's iGA operator Dave Holtzmann said Oshawa Foods sends them a bin of foodstuffs and iGA customers are invited to add to it with their own donations. The bin -will then be • taken to the Exeter Community . Food Bank and Zu- rich's Blessings Community Store after Aug. 30. . - "I think its a good thing," Holtz- mann said. "(Child hunger) always seems more prevalent at this time of year with children going back to school." • A spokesperson for Exeter Com- munity Food Bank who wants to stay anonymous said.while"demand usually drops off over the summer months, the need .will probably in- - crease as fall dawns. "We're down a little bit but we're always in need of food," he, said. The Exeter food bank also accepts perishable food since it has a freez- er and a fridge- for .short storage time. • - Bletssings Community Storc man- ager Pearl Kuepfer'said need there will'also.increase in the fall. "We •,could use anything. and everything all the time," •Kuepfer said -of the kind of foodstuffs they Carts of care. Holtzmann's IGA grocery manager Sam DiCesare, left, and cashier/office as- sistant Wendy Boogemans want to lend the hungry a helping hand during the food drive there that coincides with the start of the school year. need: "This (program) sounds like.a good idea to me." Both Kuepfer and the Exeter food bank spokesperson said they're not .shoe of specific -foodstuffs. - -. Huron County Board of Educa- tion director -Paul Carrell said food banks have popped up in most of the county's communities over.the last couple of years. 'There's_ obviously a need." .he _ said, adding that several . schools run some kind of food program at some time of : the school year to. combat child hunger. The programs are run on a school by'school basis,. Carroll said. since the board doesn't earmark funds . especially for food programs. Holtzmann said he's glad he can give hack to the community. - "If we can do our part : to - help, we'll " support it as much: as we can," he said. A survey' by Toronto's Daily - Bread Food Bank found 43 per cent of food donation recipients are chil dren, a fact that supports Metro To- ronto's Task Force on Young Chil- dren and Families finding that one in three children live in poverty. - All 260 Ontario -IGA and Knech- tel " stores will participate in the food drive to rebuild the resources of the province's 180 food banks. Foodstuffs- can be dropped off at your local IGA or Knechtel store or at your community's food bank. For more information on Exeter Community Food _Bank. cal) 235- 4104; Zurich's Blessings Com- " munity Store staff can be reached at 236-4376. . . . Zurich lagoons within operating standards The lagoons are operating within Ministry of the Environment and Energy guidelines but are ,near storage capacity. By Kate Monk . -• T -A, reporter • ZURICH' - Although operating within the Ministry of the Environ - ;tient and- Energy's standards, Zu-, ..rich's lagoons are near capacity. Bruce Boland, Operations:- Mao- , ager of -the Ontario Clean Water • Agency at' Port Blake attended the Thursday night Zurich Council meeting to discuss a•draft Zurich la- goon report prepared by .John Gil- lespie of the 'Coalition for Clean Lake ,Water in Hay Tpwnship. The report reviewed the operation of the Zurich lagoons and determitned their impact on the water quality -of Lake Huron. While Boland agreed the report was well written. there were some points he disagreed with. "He (Gillespie) is emphasizing some details. without giving total details," he gaid. • The Ontario Clean Water Agency manages the lagoons. for the Vil- lage of . Zurich. According to Bo- - land, the lagoons are operating well and within the guidelines of the MOEE. Built in 1973, the system meets the criteria for lagoons built in 1973 and are not- required to meet criteria for sewage treatment systems built in 1997. Boland said the lagoon system 1 ' f was not -designed to have' effluent' that meets. the criteria for bathing ._ waters: even the niirmal discharge from sophisticcated sevvage treat ment, plants have a -bacteria count of 200 milligrams per 100, milli-' :liters of water. - - According to _Gillespie's .report,- the discharges have e.coli counts as high as 1,000 parts per 100 ml. "The operational. assumptions are"'that the time of year (dilution) and the ability of. the watershed to purify contaminants over a distance minimizes -the impact on the: wa- tershed and Lake Huron water qual ricultural use," said Boland. He admitted that last winter there . was an overflow when contents of the lagoons would have entered the drain. When an overflow occurs, the eftliuent is sampled.' "The. quality is not that_ great, but is sampled," explained Boland: "We're the most regutatedarea in the watershed," -claimed Clausius, adding no one knows what else goes into the watershed. •Bolandesti'mates there are 35 similar lagoon systems in 10 south- western Ontario counties. Lagoons haven't been built in ,15 years be- ity. ' said Gillespie: cause the,y can't meet today's sten- "They're comparing the ¢acteria ' dards. .Ontario- now has sewage count in 'the lagoons with the lake: treatment plants. , No one's goingto go • "For com- swimming in the la- goons," a-goons, ' said Coun- cillor Brad Clausius. • • The Zurich lagoons use water from the upstream watershed to dilute the 'effluent when discharged in April or early. May and`October. Since there is:a small upstream drainage area. there `We're the most regulated area in the watershed." munities with the capacity. they still use lagoons," he. said. , Boland warned council the Zurich lagoons are near their storage capacity but do have room for the plans of subdivision with draft approval. is little dilution by high flows and "If someone today came forward alum is added to the lagoon to re-' 'with a new plan (of subdivision), duce the solids;bacteria, organic you wouldn't get approval because material and phosphorus. the flows are too high." he said, "That's why they're, discharged adding the lagoons don't have addi-, when there is no recreation or ag- Retired teacher receives award TORONTO - • Retired teacher Mary Moffatt was awarded an hon- orary membership by the Federation of Women Teachers' Association of Ontario, August 13 at the Federa- tion's Annual Meeting in Toronto. The award is given for service to. education, to the teaching pro- fession and to the Federation, which represents over 41,000 women pub lic elementary school teachers. Moffatt began teaching in Chat- ham 39 years ago and soon moved to Huron County, where she was a Resource Teacher of Gifted and En- richment. coordinator of special education for both elementary and • secondary levels, and an elementary school principal for the last years of her career. She was president of her local WTA in 1986-87. She presented the FWTAO Rights and Responsibilities workshops across Ontario. Moffatt travelled to Asia on a leave of absence and studied educa- tion systems in Europe. She is Director and Chair of Services on the Huron County Children's Aid Society Board. in retirement, Moffatt spends winter in Arizona and enjoys golf, gardening, playing the or- gan at church and spending time with her grandchildren. Township requests road naming clarification USBORNE TOWNSHIP - Us - borne Council passed a motion in- structing the clerk to contact the 911 Road Naming coordinator for clarification of the name given to Concession 15 (Fullarton Boundary Road). MTO restores suspensions tional storage capacity. Boland presented council with - three options: • • I .. Clean out the sludge that has accumulated in the six foot deep la- goons: : 2. Expand the system to allow in- creased flow and storage capacity. 3. Add filters so the lagoons could be continually discharged ex- cept during the winter. • - He did not have dollar figures for all -options but estimated it would cost $240,000 to remove one foot • of sludge from the six foot deep la- goons. Studies; .in the early 90's. have eliminated extraneous sources Of water and it is unknown how much the incoming waste can be F further reduced. Council will examine a report on the Hensall lagoons to get a better idea of the costs involvedin a sand' , filtration system before itmakes -a decision. TORONTO - Effective immedi- ately, the 90 -day Administrative Drivers' Licence Suspension pro- gram is restored, allowing Ontario police to again lay charges under the program. The Ministry of Transportation will be reissuing notices of suspen- sions to those drivers who have been mailed temporary drivers' li- cences. All drivers suspended un- der ADLS remain under suspension for the balance of their 90 -day sus- pension period. Lake -Huron advocates plan solutions By Kate Monk T-A.$epoTfeT - PORT BLAKE - A small but determined group of eight .local residents gathered at Port Blake Conservation Area Saturday morning to hear about the efforts in Ashfield Township to fight mega-hogoperations and plan 10.- 01 acal strategies to protect this sec- tion of Lake Huron. "After ,meeting' (al an- earlier date). it .became clear the only -way this lake is going to get clean is not by one or two town- ships, but by 'everyone," Joe GI^..on aid at the beginning of ag, adding, "This is a that is going to . get . _.'-Gleason, a Hay Town- ship resident, is spearheading the cause of improving water quality in Lake Huron. Gleason cau- boned the group -their claims that pork production is a large part of the pollution • -problem in Lake Huron, are "attacking them (pork producers) at 'a level -that causes some real hard feelings." - He said most' Huron County hog producers are family farmers and have a very personal interest in their farms. Paul Frayne, a member 'of an Ashfield Township organization named Protect spoke about his knowledge of hog farming prac- tices.and Protect's-efforts in ed- ucating- residents and local gov- ernment in ' water pollution issues, Through Protect, 200 people meet each Wednesday night to learn about water pollu- tion. On Saturday -morning, Frayne warned the meeting .participants that it will not be easy to get this movement going because of a lack; of public interest,and .the fact the mega -hog operaors have "big money" that can buy out ,a community. "People have: the attitude someone else is going- to= solve their problem...until it directly effects them." At the same time, Frayne believesin the power of public pressure on the industry. - "If the public figures out we. don't need the hog industry, they - (pork producers) can be - gotten rid of," predicted Frayne. . At Saturday's meeting, Glea- son was hoping -to get volunteers to: head up a group- similar to Protect in each of the Lake Hu- ron • communities from Goderich to Bosanquet. The next step is a meeting on September 6 at the Zurich -Community Centre which will include a guest speaker. "We need to make it easier to get together on a township .ba- sis, " said Gleason. "I think this can be viable short term and long term because it's an environmental situation that's going to. be here a long time," said Bob Worthy, the president of the Stanley Township Cottag- ers Association.' c TOWN OF EXETER Class Environmental Assessment Thames Road. Storm Sewer Public- omment Invited The Town of Exeter is planning to extend the storm sewer collection system along Thames Road -East (Hwy. 83) from approximately Rosemount Avenue east to the Town east limits. 'The sewer will be installed in an easement along the north side of the road and will connect to the .existing storm sewer system at Rosemount Avenue. This will provide for improved drainage for properties along the north side of Thames Road. This project is being planned under Schedule B of the Class Environmental Assessment for Municipal Water and Wastewater Projects, June 1993. Schedule B projects are approved subject to a screening process that involves. consultation with the public, affected property owners and government review agencies. The need for easements onprivate lands requires the Class EA screening process. The easements are being negotiated with the affected property owners. Public input and comment are invited for incorporation into the planning and design of the project and will be received until. September 5, 1997. Subject to comments received and receipt of necessary approvals, the Town intends to proceed with the planning, design and construction of the project to be completed this year. - For further information on this project, please contact: B.M. ROSS AND ASSOCIATES LIMITED Consulting Engineers 62 North Street, Goderich, Ont. N7A 2T4 Attention: Mr. Matt Pearson Environmental Planner Phone: (519) 524-2641 (call collect) Fax: (519) 524-4403 i-rtotIce Issued August 20, 1997.