The Citizen, 1996-07-24, Page 1Business
Brussels resident brings
total body care to town
with new business
See page 2
Sports
Tigers clinch first place in
Huron County Fastball
League with weekend win
See page 7
Feature
Belgrave girl shares
experiences as educator
in Japan
See page 17
W. Wawanosh faces
provincial charges
The North Huron
itizen
Vol. 12 No. 30 Wednesday, July 24, 1996
7004. 50 GST 750
Beginning a new era
The past, present and future came together at the official opening of the new repair shed
and wash bay at McGavin Farm Equipment and Farm Supply Ltd, Walton, when Jennie
McGavin Turnbull, sister of original owner Gordon McGavin, and current president Neil
McGavin cut the ribbon. McGavin will soon pass the reins of the business to his two sons,
Brian and Jeff, who assisted in the ribbon-cutting ceremonies. The July 19 event also
marked McGavins' 60th year in business.
1,200 attend McGavin party
By Janice Becker
It was an overflow crowd, July 19, when friends,
family, customers, suppliers and dignitaries gathered
at McGavin Farm Equipment and Farm Supply Ltd.
to celebrate, not only the official opening of a new
repair shed, but the 60th anniversary of the business.
The business began in a small shed on the home
farm of Gordon McGavin, father of retiring company
president Neil McGavin.
McGavin informed the approximately 1,200 people
in attendance that he would no longer be making the
hard decisions around the business. That would be
passed to his two sons, Brian and Jeff, both of whom
have been involved in the company for many years.
However, McGavin's face will not become a rare
sight around the Walton business as he may drive a
truck around, he joked.
Congratulations were extended to the family, on
both their anniversary and their expansion, by Huron
MP Paul Steckle; Huron-Bruce MPP Helen Johns;
OMAFRA Field Service Manager Dan Carlow;
architect Bert Dennis, Jim McDonald of D&J Con-
struction; Doug Barber, spokesperson for the short-
line suppliers; Doug Gammie, Canadian Branch
Manager for New Holland, Calgary and from emcee
Glen Peart of Ontario Rural Farm Equipment Dealers
Association.
Each of the McGavin men as well as Neil McGav-
in's wife, Marie, took the stage to thank everyone for
their support throughout the years, tell a few jokes
and invite attendees to enjoy the day's events.
Jennie McGavin Turnbull, 98, Gordon McGavin's
sister, had the honour of cutting the ribbon for the
official opening.
During the day, numerous suppliers had their prod-
ucts on display and a barbecue and dance were held
in the evening. Jeff McGavin estimated 1,000 attend-
ed the dance.
By Janice Becker
The subject of landfill sites has
been hot in Huron County for
years, whether to continue to use
the present, small township loca-
tions or move to one county mega-
dump.
In a twist of fate, the drive by
West Wawanosh residents not to
have the county dump located in
their township brought to light a
problem which already existed in
the township site.
There has periodically been a sig-
nificant accumulation of water in
the domestic waste trench, due to
clay soil not allowing it to percolate
away, making it difficult to com-
pact and cover the waste properly,
said Larry Struthers, environmental
officer with the Ministry of Envi-
ronment and Energy (MOEE).
Some residents feared the accu-
mulated water, contaminated by sit-
ting in domestic waste, would seep
into nearby Mud Lake and the sen-
sitive swamp area of Lot 21, Cone.
8 in West Wawanosh Twp.
In response to letters of enquiry
sent by landfill site neighbour Bev
Grierson, Struthers investigated the
site, May 1, finding two offenses
under the Provincial Offenses Act.
The township was given notice as
to the offenses of "the discharge of
drainage water that had been in
contact with garbage in the domes-
tic waste landfill trench, to the wst-
land on the property owned by the
township" and "for improper cover-
ing of domestic waste in the landfill
trench."
The township was issued a field
order to prepare a proposal for June
30, outlining plans to ensure all
waste in the trench was properly
compacted and covered to meet the
operational and development plan
for the site. The proposal also had
to cover how the accumulation of
water would be dealt with so as not
to interfere with proper covering
By Bonnie Gropp
Blyth council got an unpleasant
surprise at the July 21 meeting
when they learned that they must
pay back $15,108.07 to the Min-
istry of Environment and Energy
for overpayment of a sewage works
program.
Clerk-Treasurer John Stewart
said the issue had developed
before he had been hired as the vil-
lage administrator. Money had
been given to Brussels and Blyth
for the investigation of improve-
ments to a sludge storage facility.
Each municipality received about
$26,000.
Stewart said Blyth did engineer-
ing work that totalled $9,000, but
the province now wants the unspent
portion returned. Unfortunately
rather than having placed the
money in a reserve fund it was put
into the general account. Stewart
and compaction.
The township has responded to
the order, said Struthers, with a
change in operational procedures.
To help decrease the amount of
water accumulating in the trench,
the size has been reduced, said
West Wawanosh Twp. Clerk-Trea-
surer Liliane Nolan..
"Water is also being sprayed over
the land instead of pumped out of
the trench."
New covered bins have arrived at
the site for recycled materials and a
pile of oil jugs has been removed to
a recycling company, said Nolan.
The site will be surveyed and
conforms to all MOEE standards,
she said.
To date, any problem with
leachate has been contained to the
landfill site property as there is no
evidence otherwise, said Struthers.
"Even on the site, the level of con-
taminants has not exceeded the
acceptable criteria."
New test wells have been
installed both upflow and down-
flow from the trench, around the
boundary of the site, so the move-
ment of leachate into the ground
water can be better assessed.
As with all landfill sites, ground-
water is tested semi-annually with a
report filed with the MOEE annual-
ly. The report covers not only
groundwater quality, but the opera-
tion of the site, said Struthers.
The monitoring of the test wells,
over the next two years, will pro-
vide better information on ground-
water at the property boundaries.
Township representatives will
appear in Goderich court, July 25,
to face the two provincial offenses.
The fines, if found guilty, would be
$365 for the Water Resources Act
offense and $245 on the environ-
mental Protection Act offense.
Township landfill consultant Art
Clarke of Mailtand Enginering Ser-
vices had no comment.
said that while there was nothing
legally wrong with such a move it
did "throw the bookkeeping out."
"That $15,000 would have
appeared as a surplus at the end of
Continued on page 3
Office closes
for holidays
To accommodate staff holidays,
The Citizen will be closed from 5
p.m. July 30 until 9 a.m. Wednes-
day, Aug. 7 in Blyth and from 2
p.m. Monday, July 29, until 10
a.m. Aug. 7 in Brussels.
As there will be no issue of The
Citizen on Aug. 7, anyone needing
to advertise may want to do so in
the July 31 issue. Deadline will be
Monday, July 29 at both offices, 2
p.m. in Brussels and 4 p.m. in
Blyth.
Blyth council gets
unpleasant surprise