HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1975-09-11, Page 1a
•S•er
Hospital operating
under own steam
After many years of sveessful business relationship
,• between Goderich Man' ufactUring and Alexandra Marine
and General Hospital,. the Hospital's Board of Directors
decided to revamp their own boiler plant and begin
operating "under their own steam"..for the first time in 18
years,
Hospital Administrator J im Banks received final. approval
of plans and government support for the first phase of its
expansion plans at the end of August.
The boiler plant also includes a new gas-aretd1ncinerator,
, which meets the Ministry of the Environment's standards. It
is part of the project and will be installed concurrently with
the boilers,
The final approval for the major expansion project, Which
involves additional space for the. laboratory, radiology
department ,and the emergency department is expected in .
the very near future after five years of waiting.
•Parks chairman fails
to name foreman•
Goderichtown council has
decided to ignore councillor
Elsa Haydon's request for a full
time parks fdre-fritin • for
Goderich.
Council heard the request at
their last regular meeting and
class'ing -' it as a possible
fragmelitation of the town
works and engineering force as
well as an avenue of expense,
they threw, the propbsal out.
• COuncillor Haydon,•whois the
parks • chairman, ex-
plained . to ,, council that the-
Troll:14(m of the foreman
would mean no extra wages to
' paid but would rather
proVide the town's attention to
their parks that is now. needed.
She i ij that the obvious Client
for the job wotkld• be the part-
time • parks foreman .now
handling the job in the.surnmer
months, Pete S pain.' • •
'Mrs. Haycion felt that in
order to give the parks the
attention they need, alull time
.man dedicated to the job was
required and she -;'aid Pete'
Spa in fi t. the need.'
Mrs flivdon said that more.
than just hard work anci town
equipment \vas required to
)p...t. he parks It required a
sound - knowledge of plants,
trees Lind hOrt cultural prac-'
•t,i.ces;.
She,adde.d that theprornotion
was not an -effort to split works
and engineering but rather an,
effort. to remove parks from the
works, ereW heavy work 10a(1
ond shift it lo a parks crew.
• Th(• parks chairman added
thar Mr. Spain had shown an
interest in the parks and was
muite 'willing to take winter
(.oursos in horticulture "to
further hislinowledgeOf plants.
Councilltir 1.0rOy Harrison
said he was 'not •.01.)1,e-cted to
sending Ni. Spain to School ia
the \,\ inter but 5ugge4ed that
possibly lout ni,onths
50(0rn\vati1tIPrntch. He-
erit
to-
4,
.1 2 8 YEAR
37
THURSDAY, 'SEPTEMBER 1 1, 1 975
SINGLE COPY 2 5c
Leaks reported at lauce
1970 again this summer
. -
said that the four month period
Mr. Spain worked for the works
crew was 'due to the closing of
the parks, adding ,that there
would be nothing for, him to do
in the•winter as parks foreman.
Mrs. Ilaydon .said that
repa i Ts t o. pa rks. eq u hi men t and
furniture painting and other
odd jobs, that could he done in
the winter,would -keep the
foreman 'busy throughout the
year, - • .
The parks chairman said in a
telephone interview with the
Signal -Star thal she Oiad not
introduced the idea because of
any lack of. ability or concern
the members of the iWorks crew
had towards parks. She said.
she fully .*. realized the. Men
Wprking 'under town superin-
tendent Stan 'Meriam had a
tremendous amount ,Of work to
do and because of the busy
schedule, the Parks , were
receiving leSs., 'attention than
they needed, -.
She cited an rexample to
strengthen her concern for the
need for a full time parks man.
*She said $6,000 worth of trees
had been purchased by the
town and the costs put on the.
parks. budget: Of the $6,000
worth, only $1,000 ever reached
parks. The remaireder were
planted 0.0 town. boulevards.
She pointed out .that the, trees.
planted on the bourevards were
simply placed in a hole dug.by
the crew and left to survive on ,
their own."
"I'm not trying to criticize
Mr, 'MorinnVol . his efforts but
he just (10(511 t, understand
trees and doesn't have time to
care for them the way they
need 'care," said the parks
chairman. •
She said that 111 experienced
parks - foreman woold have
knownhow deePlo dig the hole,
how to mound the earth
properk , how. to feed and water
• • - -(contintad on -page- 1(1).
Sait mine workers
protest with walkout
. Production and mai ntentince
eioployees at the Dointar Silt°
salt mine walk(.‘d off their jobs
Tiiesday, in. protest of the,
suspension of 140 mine em-
ployees •
"IThe 1,10 employees were
given suspensions, effective at
midnight Tu'esday, follm,ving
their refusal tO cross° picket
lines. and report for work on
several separate occasions
during ,1 une„luly and August..
The salt mine , employees
honored picket lines that were
set up on six occasions during
the past three months at the .•
mine site by employees of the
Domtar-Sifto salt evaporator
plant on Regent Street,
Thc salt: mine employees
have a collective agreement
with I )ointarthat does not
New mall
attracts
furniture store
1,3ert AleRand'Or of Suncoast
Mall announced 'recently that
Furniture World • will he
opening a store in the new mal1
being constructed on nighway
south of Goderich.
The store will bepperated by
John Varty, a native of Tweed,
who last put his experience in
home $urnishing retailing to
work ih Kingston. Mr. Varty
has been working in the fur-
. 'nizihing-business for I 2,years in
severair large centres in
Ontario.
ot'
expi,;;4..,..until May 1070. 'The 152
01. the evaporator
-plant, members of. local 682 of
the I ntermit ional Chemical -
Workers Union (1CWU) will be
entering their 16th week ,of
strike action 'following failure
of conciliation in contract
negotiations on May 26.
The mine workers,. wlio are
also ineml•O`rs of 1,0c01 052 of
the ICWItt, walked Off their jobs
early Tuesday morning in
protest of the suspensions and
made it' clear' to the company
that they would not return to
.workif„ -Domtar.....insisted
'upholding its decision to
suspend the workers.
Dennis ,1o,vitt, Local 681rviee-
pr,esident, said the workers
informed the Company that
they could not work •under those
conditions and were. sub-
secipently asked to leave, The
production and maintenance
yvorkers have halted production
at the mine.
L"vaporator plant workqrs
had picketed the mine. site on,
occasions during the past
t hive. mont hs and production at
me, mlow was -halted when
workers honored the picket
line, On Au.giist 15 the Ontario
SoprerneCourt granted a court
injunction to halt picketing at
,the mine 1y evaporator plant
einployees
The evaporator plant rm.
ployioes' rontinue to picket the
Regent Street plant seeking an
mei-tease of' "5 an hour,in four
stages over two yearns. Under
the agreement which expired
-May 5 the workers. earned frOm
fN to ,13 10 an hour.
•
11
ra
la ion
charges
an ers trut
'
'Members of CANTDU this )* issqed a 'statement in rL receive 20 pecent of the
radiatiOn allowed. The most. aboUt, two arid
respcinse to the comMents of exposed groups receive 40 per megagrams "of11eavy water
that on August 16 at 3 a.m. _
week
.Hydro • offici'als regarding „cent. Station operators and - one-half
.
escaped .from three-eighths
recent news that radioactive mechanical maintenance a ,
flow
elements had been dumped.into, workers get the. most exposure. inch stainless stcel '
. .
Lake Huron at D,ouglas Point in ,....he said • monitor tube, .
1970, • • — Nmost of the heavy water
, "These spokesmen- admit Dori White. of BNPD said
that some of their workers have -
bf's, released was recovered, but
een exposed to radiation o
added that since that time there
over fivelo almost severrems, .
h
\chich is the equktalent of 5,000 i:at been
ofheavy water
„6,,Tteerr.7s small
told tte Signal -Star. . .
to -•:,000 mill irems," Mr. McKee MrWhite said that small
leaks are quite common When
CANTDU spokesman Donald
McKee of Benmiller, said the
statements of Robert Wilson,
manager of Hydro's health
phy'sics department and Elgin
Horton, operations manager
for the Bruce Nuclear Power, "A chest X-ray amounts to
Development "bears some about 40 millirems,"""the -
critical examination". CANTDU spokesman said, "In
Confirmed. reports from an . other words,.these workers -.;4ater-is used. - -. ._ .
internal Hydro document show... have been exposed -to the 'For CANTDU nd Mr
that a Hydro wOrker at OoktglaS. equivalentMcKee.
,of 150 chest X-rays. : the "most dOr'esSing
a,
Point in 1970, released radio- The argument that these , .
active- liquids into Lake Huron- workers are especially .healthy ii;',7,111_dro's mam.moth public
simply
'continuous efforts backed
simply by turning one valve and can take it , assu.mes• a to deceive the
y & relation budget
labelled "Do Not Operate". ' complete ignorance concerning - -
public Ip the belief that the
H dro insists the spilled 11('w l'adia1i5.11 damages lng ' CANDU system IS .100 per cent
safe and fool , proof while
.mishaps and defects are being':
covered -up boQi at Pickering
and Bruce" ' .
"How' .much longer will the
public accept the'twe are the
1 experts - you must trust us'
'line'?" asked Mr. McKee.
, A report in Tuesday's ,GlObe
and Mail said that .Hydro is
exploring the possibility of.
expanding 'Hydro information
servicc‘s to diselose. more -about
preparations are being made to
start up' a reactor. For this.
reason, 'non -radioactive heavy, ,
liquids were not at hazardous organisms.:
'levels, although they did violate 'IR 1.1,1-000114' MC' PresS story
rie-
specific release limits'. The ,e•S8(,('‘It)iti'elitnili,,,),:.,)1--.1'sthwi'twasritten lIMary-
limits that
limits' are set conservatively,
Mr.5Wi1son said Hydro employs
'.selec teci healthy people
whereas members of the publi'c
might be • More radio.
"These gentleMen boast that
radio 'active releases outside
he plant have. dropped from
,900 millirems m IVO to 5'00
millirems in 1,974." Mr, McKee such incidents
with in•
pointed out. terpretations.
1h Canadian' -Atomic • • . .
Faiergy Control Board decrees Both blydro and Atomic
that the :poblic • must not be, 'Energy Control Board officials
exposed- to leve -i's in excess of find it difficult, if not;
500 millirems per Lyear'' Mr, harrowing,. to explain corn --
McKee stated. "In other words, plexities of the nuclearMorld to
thee pen are .telling us that , the press and public without, as
•i.ifter four year's of operation one spokesman put it,
r'duti1((17111 atenow releases-n.‘down1
, tlo) t.h, '';) .the."'neecllessly scaring people to
death on one hand Or seeming
lega 11i mit• to hold back 0 ri4.110 other'
,.'
"We might ask what iIl uMsit-. be
enKico,cr:est(i,pllefn,ee.IHs •eHsydiyrso
hatipen to these releases when m
further reactors are started up , CANTDU mentibers have f:lt-_en
studying thc nuclear prograrh
in the 111)1 too distant future."
iHne•Csiinidadillefonrusnortehteitynek',naorz.
tt'illt:t • sCw.
h‘ \(')Nu iwz (dn tt h7t
the more - frightening • the
Canadians can be legally ex-
t)lised to 100 tinies radiation Infogram ben•wne.
fo 011 rea-ctor than, is permitted Ile• says through " • Public
ii)i(),Qatht.1se(:, phc(..‘Thaitthps education program. the people
can be. alerted to the dangers
and made more reCeptive to the
and can take it."
,•\ story this 'week in The, alternative - a conservation of
Kincardine ' New, another energy„and a possible change in
Signal -S tiIrl?Uhl icatiofl. report.; the-tife-s-t,y-fe of- the-mas-s•os
they say.
Mr. McKee of CANTDU
asked why ther is a _valve
labelled "Do Not °.Operhte"
when by opening it it is possible.
to release large quantities ,of
radio -active materials into the
environment.
Mr. McKee says CANTDU is
4.1,50._ tremendously concerned
•about the levels of radiation.to
which workmen at the Douglas
P,oint project are exposed,
Mr. Wilson of Hydro' says that
alt WY -dr° nuclear -p-1-a-nt
workers are already well
within the limits of safe ex-
posure,. Over-all, he said, -they-
Two tie holior wioner
Tony Bedard holds the Sunset Golf Club members hole=fru-one-awardthat will bear his name for -
the second titne. Tony aced .the 210 yard par three 10th hole 14st,Sunday with a two iron. For
Tony it was the second ace he has recordedon the hole and the seventh of his golfing career.
(staff photo)
•••
Town Co-uncil missed the boat
ublic Works, Peters differ
costs to dump sand on beach
The towniof Goderich missed
the -boat- • in - manner - • of
speaking when they failed to
ensure • that the (-Wedge
.spoilings froin .the harbor
entrance were riot dumped onto
St.. Christopher's Reach as
requested by the town.
Town council appealed' to
Public Works' Canada at the
outset of the dredging operdion.
to ask that tenders for the job
specify dumping the silt On the
beach.
The fine - silty sand that,
drifted into the harbor entrance
snagged two lake freighter.,
entering oGoderich fr(nn the
la'ke in 194. The sandba'r
-containing I 66,000-yardsofsand-
reduced the depth of the
channel from its previously
charted 24 feet to an estimated
1,•; feet.
'I he dredging operation wq.-is
delaYed several months by a
scandal invoking price fixing
(91 federal dredging contracts
and during that delay , period,
0061101 investigated getting the,
sand dumped onto the .public
hea eh south of town.
Slywchuk, of the,
London office ..of the Ontario
i-Zt‘gion of Public.Works Canada •
said that he had been in contact
aulty ship's burners
blamed for smoke
The thick 15i 1 -11Q1' Of4block
smoke fhat has been hkginp
over the Goderichlakef tont for
, the past month and a half has
caused several headaches to
Goderich residents and.
promplea the ministry of en-
vironment for. Ontario to in-
vestigate its .source,
, The smoke- has been belching
from thC, !•tack of the dredge
working to clear the entrance to
the Goderich harhor and has
been caused by farilfy burners
in the ships boilers. '
Ron Hussainsenior en
vironmental officvr for (he
London office Of the 1111111,,Iry,
told the Signal -Star that his
.office had sent a field mao
il t
the dredge. to investigaCe" the
smoke,
He said the problem -Aas
faulty burner in the boiler and
0101 a 'company spokesman for
the .1 j5 Ptorter (Ontario)
Company Limiteq, owners
the dry 0, said , that 111),
problem w Duld be taken careof
‘‘,1,1111 the 'ship returned to
Hatifax at the end of job
here which ht. predicted would
the end of ;his week.
1itiss.1.111 said that the
company pl.inned to install
steam jets in the boilers \-t-O
reduce the Mack emission and
were plapnini.., fo.ehange—tlieir
fuel from C to Bunker A
which would, also serve to
reduce the smoke. He added
that the ship* hnd been
operatitv; to full capacity -and
that the spokeNlan Was in-
structed to cut 'back • on the
throttle to help reduce the
enlit,sion
The ministry, informed the
, federal en\ 111111111enfa1 Off ICC of
1)1
1}1:1TIL;h1
)1,1))'1';)
1 \1(1.1)1)1(l
11.7,iitl():'(t111(sh1.1iglsilitnter
.111(1 111,0 the problems
ere 5))! (1!
said that tht--
kulcrol nuni.lry woOld hiive
(( 11)1,1,1.111(11 (111 page i it t
p
with the provincial ministry of
the- enyi,ronm-ent when, ..
preparing the tenders and had
gained permission,froam them'
to have the spoilings dumped
either on .the beach or five
rnile into the lake.. '
Mr. SlyWchuk said that the
environmental branch sampled
the spoilings to determine their
content and declared them fit
for dumping on the beach. ,
To durhp the sand on the
beach a dredge equipped with a
hydraulic system, to pipe the
silt from the ship to the beach
was required. Mr. Slywchuk
said that on a public tender
such as the Goderich job, no
company can be excluded and
the tender vas called for both
the hydraulic -type that pumps
the sand to the beach, and the
conventional type that deposits
it in the lake,
, The normal procedure of
calling tenders was taken and
the loweg. bidder was given the
contract. The figure accepted
--was 5473,100 to the J. P, Pot -ter
COmpany to dump the sand five
miles into the lake to avoicL,
covering fish spawning
ground§: •
The highest tender submitted
was $539,500 and the one in the
middle, , also not accepted,
"covered the costs of:putting Or
sand on the .beacli.
The end result meant that the
sand, -I66,000 yards of fine sand,
was being dumped fivet, miles
out in the lake when for no more
than ',65,000, and probably
t.'tihsiderablx, less than that, tilt
town of Goderich could have
had dlm
t17 sand duped on the
iv
Countillor Jim Peters, also
chairman of the harbor com
mittee, told the Signal Star last
week the difference to have the
sand dumped on the beach was
„ 00,000
He termed it "Meddling'. to
begin now to make alternate
P111 s with .1. P. Porte' Com-
pany to have the sand tran-
sported to the beach on
might.:,4e
Town of Goderieh..
Cao gou top this7-
Gord Jamieson, 220 Pieton St,, Goderich found out that he has a green thumb that he reallyt,
didn't want. Mr. Jamieson had a small maple tree growing near his house and decided to cut R-
ai' at a four foot leveLto kill the tree. The result was a leaf that measured 13 htehes by 14 Inchet
across, (staff photo)
14'
•.,„