HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News Record, 2015-03-04, Page 5Wednesday, March 4, 2015 • News Record 5
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Reader wants property rights protected
Dear Editor:
Winter weather has not
halted construction of
wind turbine projects. In
ACW Township, K2 Wind
is erecting wind turbines
as fast as they can. This
means transportation of
blades and other compo-
nents on icy roads and
laneways. It also means a
potential route for
impacts on lands owned
by non -participating
landowners.
K2 Wmd is applying sand
and who knows what else
on the laneways leading to
turbine sites. However, this
material is not always stay-
ing just on the laneways. A
few weeks ago I discovered
a situation where this mate-
rial spread by K2 Wind had
affected my land. The
abutting farm to my prop-
erty has a turbine laneway
that runs right beside my
farm. This laneway is only
a few feet away from the
property boundary. K2
Wind spread sand over this
laneway. Subsequent to
spreading this sand, the
laneway was plowed/
blown and this material
was shoved/blown through
the fence (damaging the
fence itself) and deposited
onto my land.
Blowing or shoving snow
onto your land can damage
your fences or any crop
such as winter wheat, hay.
There is also the issue of lia-
bility. If large chunks of
compacted snow and ice
are thrown onto your land
and someone hits this
when snowmobiling, who
is responsible?
Since the sand was being
spread during extremely
cold temperatures (well
below freezing), I also
asked the question - was
anything added to the sand
to prevent it from clumping
and forming blocks? In
their response to me, 1(2
Wmd has claimed that the
material they used had no
salt in it. At this point I am
waiting for the Ministry of
the Environment to get
back to me with the results
of their analysis of the
deposited material to verify
that claim. But regardless
of what was in the material,
it still contaminated my
land. Wmd companies
have no rights to blow or
plow snow, sand or any
other material onto abut-
ting land that is not part of
the project. Once again, as
they did with the use of
toxic cement dust during
construction of the
laneways, K2 Wind's
actions have shown a total
disrespect for the property
rights of residents in this
township.
So, a heads up to land-
owners who have neigh-
bouring farms with turbine
laneways close to your
land. It is up to you to pro-
tect your property rights.
Monitor the material that is
being spread on these
laneways, especially if con-
struction activity is taking
place, and make sure that
this is not being deposited
onto your land (wind
action could also blow this
material onto your land). If
you discover this situation
and want to protect your
property, take samples and
contact the MOE enforce-
ment branch (1-800-265-
3783 for ACW residents).
You could also try calling
the K2 Wind "quick
response" number (519-
441-1067) though their def-
inition of quick can often
mean waiting weeks for a
response.
Yours truly,
George Alton
Kenruth Farms Ltd.
R.R. #7, Lucknow, ON
EARLY FILES
March 6, 1969
At Friday's session of Huron County
Council, members voted themselves a
raise of $5 per day, from $20 to $25; an
increase to $8 per day for meal allow-
ance while attending conversations; a
$400 per annum increase for the war-
den from $800 to $1200 and a bus trip
to the Ontario Legislature for which
$600 has been budgeted. In discussion
preceding the pay raise for members
and the warden, Reeve Clarence
"Derry" Boyle, Exeter, told council the
warden received 'a pretty small piece
of change as the head of a government
this size." Warden James Hayter who
has suggested an honorarium of $1,000
for the warden, said he was keeping a
running expense account which would
show whether or not the warden was
"making money" for his one year of
office.
March 3, 1977
Snow removal costs for the months
of January and February cost Tucker -
smith Township $54,766. Road
superintendent Allan Nicholson told
Tuesday's meeting of council that the
cost equals the total amount spent on
five months of snow removal last win-
ter. Hoping to alleviate the financial
burden of the snow removal costs this
winter; council will write a letter to
John McBeath, Minister of Transporta-
tion and Communications, asking for a
subsidy. Meanwhile, road superinten-
dent Nicholson heads south for the
holiday, hoping the area has seen its
last snowstorm and leaving the roads
"with everything taken care of," he
said.
March 5, 1982
It was standing room only at the
Monday afternoon's meeting of the
Huron County Board o Education, but
board members stood firm in their
intention to hold the line on education
expenses. Despite the pleas of two del-
egations from the Clinton area, it was
clear from the outset the board would
not be swayed from its decision to skirt
the request for a credit music program
at Central Huron Secondary School,
and to cut the machine shop course
from the curriculum at the same
school beginning in the fall of 1981. As
well as the machine shop course at
CHSS, shorthand 4000 and mathemat-
ics 552 was deleted from the curricu-
lum at CHSS. At F.E. Madill Secondary
School in Wingham, the course cuts
included accounting 451, drama 301,
French 141, geography 141 and 151,
history 251 and 401. Latin 251 and 351
and office practice 342.
March 5, 1997
The Mid -Huron Landfill Site
(MHLS) board will hold off a month
on deciding whether landfill employ-
ees should receive a wage increase.
The last increase relieved by landfill
employees was December 1995 when
the board agreed to match private
RRSP contributions by staff up to five
per cent of their gross pay. At the
February 20 MHLS meeting, board
members from eight municipalities
discussed what rate increases were
being approved for their own munic-
ipal employees. They ranged from
zero to two per cent. "We'll have to
pick a happy medium on what the
municipalities are doing," said board
chair Laurie Cox, Reeve of Goderich
Township. "Municipalities are under
a lot of pressure to hold the line
because of funding reductions (from
the province) in the next couple of
years," added Cox.
March 1, 2000
Trustees of the Avon Maitland Dis-
trict School Board have voted in favor
of closing five Huron County schools,
and one in Perth County. During a
highly charged meting that packed
the Seaforth District High School
gym, stage and balconies with close
to 500 people, trustees voted to close
each of the six schools recommended
for closure by education director
Lorne Rachlis. Goderich-area trustee
Vickie Culbert was the only dissent-
ing vote in otherwise unanimous
recorded decisions to close Seaforth
District High School and Seaforth
Public School. "I will not be able to
support this motion. I'll be voting to
put the Grade 7s and 8s into high
school if have the chance," she said
to an explosion of applause. Culbert,
however joined the rest of the trus-
tees in unanimous decisions to close
Vanastra, McCurdy, Walton and Fal-
staff public schools. Parents were
equally demonstrative of their dis-
pleasure with constant jeering and
heckling of trustees who explained
why they thought they had no choice
but to vote in favor of the closures.
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