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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' •.,„