The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

f 12 The Canadian Statesman, Bowmanvillc, March 25, 1987 Section Two But Ministry Downplays Danger Dump Site is Too Close to Lake by Hob Savage Spokespersons from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment Environment say Eldorado Resources Resources Limited's Port Granby dump site is located too close to Lake Ontario. "We have always maintained maintained that this is not the place for a site," Ministry representative Peter Hughes said during a meeting meeting of the Port Granby monitoring committee last week. The committee met Wednesday, March 18, at the Newcastle Village Community Community Hall. Mr. Hughes argued that problems such as erosion to the site prove that it should never have been set up near the lake. • At the same time, however, however, Mr. Hughes and spokesperson Joe Olajos told the citizens' group that .the radiated contaminants getting into the lake from the site arc not significantly high. They said the ministry acts as "auditors" at the site 'and do monthly inspections of the arsenic and radium treatment facilities. , Those facilities feature collection ponds and treatment treatment plants which attempt to capture ground water from the actual dump and reduce the contamination before pumping the water into the lake. It's believed lliat 80 per cent of the ground water is trapped and treated at the site. Mr. Hughes said the radium in the ground water is effectively treated and the amount of radium getting getting into the lake does not exceed the licenced limit set up by the Atomic Energy ' ' Control Board. As for flie arsenic, Mr. Hughes said the levels have been exceeded on different occasions but that the danger is not as great as some people believe. He said the initial guideline for arsenic contamination contamination were set at 0.5 mg/litre, but that the figure was "arbitrary" and had no scientific backing. He told the group that the 0.5 mg/litre limit is exceeded exceeded on different occasions occasions but that the actual arsenic arsenic concentrations being found in the lake are only between 0.1 per cent and 0.4 per cent. And he said the concentration concentration in the lake does not build up because it spreads right through to the ocean. "The concentrations are no higher than what you find in things like tea and shellfish," he said. "We're not saying it's safe," he added. "But we have to accept that in all realms of life, we're causing pollution." One area which aroused some skepticism from the Port Granby group was the Ministry's policies towards water seepage through the bluffs. The Ministry representatives representatives confessed that they continually monitor the treated water and the water in the lake but have not measured the seepage in the bluffs for over three years. "I find that impossible to believe," said Bill Clarke of the Port Granby Monitoring Committee. "It's irresponsible." irresponsible." However, Mr. Hughes said that because the radiation radiation levels in the waste dump itself remain constant constant and because checks are done in the lake, it's not 1986 -1987 Most Common Errors at Tax Time Every year at tax-filing time, millions of Canadians have to wait for their federal refund cheques because of inaccurate claims. Many adjustments to claims can be avoided by double checking calculations and ensuring that all receipts and information slips are attached to the return. Last year, many Canadians had problems with provincial tax credit and royalty claims. Normally, taxpayers apply for the provincial credit on their tax return. However, taxpayers 65 years of age or older must apply directly to the province for their credit. Others failed to properly calculate the provincial credit. Tax calculations and arithmetic errors were other problem areas, with approximately approximately 2.6 million mistakes reported last year. Spousal transfers accounted for 477,000 errors. These deductions can be claimed only on behalf of the taxpayer's taxpayer's spouse and must include the required schedule, otherwise the deduction will be disallowed. There were 399,000 errors made in the declaration of income other than capital gains or income reported on the T4 slip. This income includes scholarships, old age security pensions or CPP and QPP benefits. More than 327,000 mistakes in the 1985 tax returns were made in the '.'other deductions" category, which covers a variety of items including employment insurance premiums, alimony payments and union dues. An additional 287,000 filers made errors in the reporting or calculation of their interest and dividend income deduction. deduction. Approximately 237,000 taxpayers made errors in claiming tuitions fees. Some 196,000 taxpayers had problems with deductions for Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSP). Many had submitted claims for contributions made prior to January 1 of the current taxation taxation year. Contributions made to RRSPs prior to January 1, 1986 are not eligible and should not be claimed for this taxation year. Incorrect claims for charitable/ charitable/ medical deductions accounted for more than 165,000 errors. Processing error-free tax returns takes approximately four weeks, and, each year, three out of four Canadian taxpayers get refunds. However, However, the biggest single cause of delay in issuing refunds is missing documentation or incomplete information on tax returns. Taxpayers are contacted contacted when these returns are withdrawn from the system. The returns cannot be processed processed until the required data is provided. While Revenue Canada Taxation employees identify and correct millions of errors, there are instances when this is not possible. If pertinent information is not included in the return, neither a departmental departmental ' employee nor the computer can know if a taxpayer taxpayer is entitled to claim a particular deduction. Taxpayers should, therefore, therefore, carefully review the return and ensure that all the necessary information is included. Many thinking people are pre-arranging funerals Atquiettimes, along with their own private thoughts, many people --both young and elderly --are making the sensible decision to pre-arrange thelrfuneral. Their wishes are made known well before time of need, removing stress from surviving relatives. Call or write for our selection of brochures on the various aspects of funerals and pre-planning. Northcutt Elliott Funeral Home 53 Division Street BOWMANVILLE, ONTARIO L1C 2Z8 Phono 623-5668 likely that radiation levels in the bluff seepages would be different. "There's • no logical reason why it should be different," different," he said. Another concern from the group was the overflows at the collection ponds when, there is heavy precipitation. precipitation. Councillor Diane Hamre said she was told from an Eldorado worker that overflows are fairly frequent frequent at the ponds, but Mr. Public School Custodians Held Strike Vote Olajos said he thought the occurrences were rare. He added that when heavy precipitation does cause an overflow, the contaminants contaminants are diluted to levels below the federal guidelines. Last week's meeting will be followed this week by meetings between the citizens, citizens, politicians and members members from the federal government government task force on the issue. by Rob Savage Government make work programs and the fear of job security may see public school custodians out on strike by the end of the month. CUBE Local 1206 is currently currently negotiating a new contract with the Northum- berland-Newcastle school board, and CUBE representative representative John Cherry says the concern over the make work programs is one of the key issues in the negotiations. The fear is that the school board will use the cheap labor to do the work cur rently done by union members. members. Mr. Cherry says the union has no objection to the make work programs, but feels the people hired should be paid the same wages as the union employees. employees. That would mean the school board would agree to pay the difference between (for example) the $5.25 from the federal government and the union wage. Mr. Cherry argues the school board could still hire two employees for the price of one and union workers would not face the fear of replacement. "And when the work is no longer there, they would gel laid off just like any other employee," Mr. Cherry said. Mediations between the board and the union resume resume today and if no settlement settlement is reached the union goes on strike. Last Saturday, Mar. 14, a strike vote was held in Cobourg among union members, members, with the majority voting voting in favor of a strike. The turnout at the meeting meeting was 77 per cent, with 55 per cent of those in atten dance voting in favor of the strike. Mr. Cherry says that if ratification of the contract contract is not reached next week, the strike vole from last Saturday will be official. official. He said a subsequent meeting would be held on Mar. 28 with union employees, employees, but that meeting would be to organize the strike and no second vote would be taken. At the same time, Mr. Cherry said he believes negotiations will go favorably favorably this week. "We're very hopeful that we'll be able to reach an agreement," agreement," Mr. Cherry said. "Hopefully, the meeting (today) will be a ratification meeting." Other issues to be discussed discussed during the meeting next week include salaries and benefits. The union members' contracts contracts expired in November, November, 1986. To date, there have been five meetings between between the board and the union, with two meetings in conciliation. The last meeting between the board and the union was on Feb. 19 and 20. Helpful Hints for Your Tax Return DOLLAR DAZE mvStep Sjuh BcBay's Snopper WE ACCEPT ALL FOOD STORE COUPONS Prices effective March 23rd - 24th, 1907. We reserve the right to limit quantities to normal family requirements. Savings shown in this ad based on our current regular retails. Some illustrations, pro for design only and do hot necessarily represent items on sale. Wildmere Butter RpOtlPoiv - ^ qu /RebT 1 LB jyJJS 1 lb 45d „ ' " l LIMIT: 2 PER FAMILY PURCHASE ASSORTED VARIETIES A&P or Chateau Dry Beverages 5 f case 24-280 mLtins (Unit cost 6.70 per 100 mL) 750 mL btl plus .40 per btl deposit (Unit cost 5.30 per 100 mL) ASSORTED FLAVOURS Good Country Humor or Best Ice Cream 2 LITRE CARTON l INSTANT, REGULAR (Decaffeinated or Sanka 6 oz jar) Maxwell House Coffee 0 OZ JAR /' fv A PRODUCT OF U.S.A., DELICIOUS WITH CHEESE SAUCE Fresh Broccoli □ BUNCH e: : WITH THIS 0S3Î) SAVE .30 COUPON LAYS OR RUFFLES. ASSORTED VARIETIES Æ Frito Lays Potato Chips LIMIT, ono coupon por family purchase OFFER VALID MARCH 23rd & 24th, 1987 (Foaturo Prico 1.30 Without coupon) (A&P regular prico 189) S-204 FROZEN, CONCENTRATED, REGULAR, MORE PULP. LOW ACID Minute Maid Orange Juice 125 FL OZ TIN SMOOTH OR CRUNCHY Chefmaster Peanut Butter 1 kg JAR CANADA NO. 1, PRODUCT OF ONTARIO, DELICIOUS IN SALADS Seedless Cucumbers BWW 200 g pkg 1 ' > WITH THIS COUPON SAVE .40 A SUPERB BLEND, RICH IN BRAZILIAN COFFEES. NOTHING BEATS THE BEAN 8 O'clock Bean Coffee 1 LB BAG EIGHT CLOCK Of f EE HERITAGE FARM UHT10% Cream soo mi 1. POWDERED (Feature price 4,00 without coupon) (Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie 625 g size 2/3.00) Jane Parker Cherry Pie 625 g SIZE IN TOMATO SAUCE. WITH PORK, RED KIDNEY Heinz Beans SCHNEIDERS, HALVES Olde Fashioned Ham 6.61 /kg m. w y§ LIQUID Sunlight Detergent 1 Hire bll LIMIT: ono coupon por family purchase OFFER VALID MARCH 23rd & 21th, 1907 (Foaturo Prico 2.40 Without coupon) (A&P mgular prico 119) V.C.M430 WITH this 63E COUPON POWDERED Sunlight Detergent LIMIT: ono coupon por family purchaso OFFER VALID MARCH 23rd & 21th, 1907 (Foaturo Prico 4,00 Without coupon) SAVE 1.00 JANE PARKER Cracked Wheat Bread 675 g LOAF y aw SPAGHETTI, ZOODLES, SMURF-A-GETTI Libby's Alpha-Getti 14 FL OZ TIN mrmiswm Mary Miles Wieners Æ Ie 450 g VAC PAC \ (■ \ 6 litre box ' / V WITH THIS COUPON ŒSÊ 1 SAVE .40 AUTOMATIC DETERGENT Dishwasher Sunlight 14 kg box 'VC./ZA434 LIMIT: ono coupon por family purchaso OFFER VAILD MARCH 23rd & 21th, 1907 (Foaturo prico 4.40 without coupon) V.C.M430