The Lucknow Sentinel, 1978-02-08, Page 1•b
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Farmers not major source of lake pollution
"It...is debateable whether the
major source of the pollution of
the Great Lakes caused by land
use activities is the farmer," said
Merle Gunby, R. R. 1 Dungan-
non, first vice-president of the
Huron Federation of Agriculture
at the annual Meet the M.P.s
dinner held in Clinton on Satur-
day. In his brief to members of
parliament, Jack Riddell, (Huron -
Middlesex) and Murray Gaunt
(Huron -Bruce), Gunby said that
although nitrate pollutant from
fertilizer is a major problem in the
Great • Lakes, much of the
pollution is caused by physical
erosion.
"Pollution from city runoffs,
.storm sewers, stream and lake
bank erosions may be major
resources of the problem and
farmers should not have to take
the blame for all of the pollution
of the Great Lakes. Thereis a
misconception on the part of
non -farmers that the major prob-
lem of pollution in the Great
Lakes is caused by the unsafe use
of fertilizers, herbicides, insectic-
ides and pesticides. This miscon-
ception said Gunby is due to a
lack of communication, There are
other sources of, pollution which
are contributing to the problem in
the Great Lakes.
In his brief, Gunby told, the
M.P.s that the Safety Council, the
Ministry of Agriculture and the
Ministry' of . the Environment
should play a larger "role in the
dissemination of the proper
management and use of chemic-
als.
Given the proper information
e
IMMO
on the safe use of fertilizers,
herbicides, insecticides and pest-
icides, farmers in. general will
follow the recommendations, said
Gunby. This educational appro-
ach will accomplish far more than
any legislation at this time, which
would be difficult to enforce.
Additional legislation at this time
will simply tie the farmer up with
consuming and expensive red
tape and will ultimately lead to
increased food costs.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
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WEDNE•
SDAY, FEBRUARY 8,1978
Single Copy 25c
28 PAGES
A .blitz through Ashfield, West
Wawanosh, Kitiloss and Lucknow
this Thursday, Friday and Satur-
day will raise money for the new
Lucknow and District Conlin unity
Centre. Canvassers for the fund
raising committee will be asking
for cash donations or selling
Lottery tickets when they call
door to door. '
Allan Wolper, i Grand Bend, left, and Merle ' Gunby, R. R. 1
Dungannon, right, talk with Huron -Bruce MPP Murray Gaunt at the
Huron Federation of Agriculture's annual Meet the Members of
Parliament dinner held ' in Clinton on ' Saturday. The Huron
Federation presented briefs to Gaunt and Huron-Mddlesex MPP,
Jack Riddell on the Ontario gover #nent's proposal on property tax
reform, the national food policy strategy, pollution, erosion and
conservation and the Ontario Federation's Corn Marketing
proposal. MP Bob McKinley, [Huron -Middlesex] was not able to
attend. The MPPs met with about 40 federation members, township
reeves and representatives of commodity groups to discuss views on
agriculture in Ontario.
Huron farmers to attend
OF4CsunterM ting t
National Food Conference
Area farmers and the Huron
Federation of Agriculture plan to
take part in a Counter Meeting' to
the National Fobd Conference to
be held in Ottawa on February
22-23, 1978.
The purpose,of the Counter
Meeting is t``clarify the'
farmer's need with respect to the
,present and future profitable
survival of farming in Canada to
the Canadian people,'' .according
to Peter Hannan, president of'the
Ontario ,Federation of Agricul-
tire,•
The National Food Conference
promised in the Speech from the
Throne is to be directed at forging'.
an integrated national food strat-
egy and is being presented by' the
Federal government. The confer-
ence however, has invited only 40
farmers of ' the 400 delegates
attending the convention:
"The Huron Federation of
Agriculture considers the small
number of farm producers invited
to take part. in -: the federal
conference an , insult to the
farming community,". said Allah'
W'alper,. the Huron County pres-
ident,
"The first day of the confer-
ence is dominated,by government
presentations and the Ontario
Federation suspects that the
conference is a "political gim-
mick" instead of an actual policy
making consultation. "It appears.
to, be a government dominated
and controlled, tamed confer-
ence," said Merle Gunby, first
vicepresident ' of the Huron
-Federation, "It looks like .a
political ploy.' `
The OFA has invited the Prime'
Minister to attend the Counter
Meeting to be Meld in Ottawa cm
the same day as the federal
conference because they find that
only in this?vay can they bring the
seriousness of the situation to the
attention of the government and
the public. w.
Huron County plans to charter
a bus on February 22, with the
plain of returning the next day.
Anyone wishing.,further informa-
tion „should call: Merle Gunby
529.7610; Maurice Bean 526-
..
7769; ,Jim McIntosh 527-0358;
Gerry Fortune 335-3801; Glenna
Miller 238.8259,
The Lucknow standpipe over-
flowed early Thursday morning
last week spilling about 100,000
gallons of water to form a cascade
of ice down the side of the tower.
Town foreman, Cliff Crawford
said the signal to shut off the
pumps . was short-circuited by
water in a man -hole on Campbell
Street: .
When the water in the stand-
pipe lowers to a certain level, a
. signal is sent by underground
telephone cable to th.e controls
which send a signal to 'start'. the
pumps, said Crawford. Water in a
man -hole on C&mpbell Street
short-circuited the system and the
pumps did not receive a signal to
shut-off causing the overflow.
The pumps are capable of
pumping 340 gallons a minute.
Crawford said he was notified
about 7.40; a.m. on Thursday by
Albert Lennips who lives on
Victoria Street near- the standpipe
that water was pouring out of the
tower.
. Crawford shut off the pumps
and operated them by hand
controls until Bell Telephone
repaired the cable around 4.00
p.m. Thursday.
Crawford said he knows of no
damage as most of the water was
absorbed by the snow.
MSOCMCWZIPPOWCWOMS
'he groundhog
saw his shadow
Six nz olre weeks
of winter
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