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2 - Omno Weekly 'limes, Wednesday, April 17. 2002 > Subscriptions $28.04 + $1.96 G.S.T. = $30.00/year Publications Mail Registration No. 09301 Agreement No. 40012366 Publishing 50'Issues Annually at the Office of Publication "We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada, through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP), toward our mailing costs." 5310 Main Street, P.O. Box 209, Orono, Ontario LOB 1M0 E-Mail Address: oronotimes@speedline.ca Phone/Fax (905) Publisher/Editor Margaret Zwart The Orono Weekly Times welcomes letters to the editor on subjects of interest to our readers. Opinions expressed to the editor and articles are.those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Orono Weekly Times. Letters must be signed and contàin the address and phone number of the writer. Any letter considered unsuitable will not be acknowledged or returned. We reserve the right to edit for length, libel and slander. If your retail or classified ad appears for the first time, please check carefully. Notice of an error must be given before the next issue goes Weed Inspector wannabe An item in Monday's Council agenda stated that Mr. Reginald Parker had been appointed by the Region of Durham as Weed Inspector for Clarington. I immediately set out to inquire what kind of a job description was attached to a position with such a glam orous title. Operating in such a strong horticulturally based community, community, I didn't think there were many local residents who wouldn't qualify for this job. Besides, I had visions of riding shotgun with the weed inspector for an "A Day in the Life " story somewhere down the road. Tuesday morning 9 a.m. I entered the Region of Durham's telephone maze. I called the Region's 1-800 number and asked for the Works Department. At Works I asked for the Weed Inspector, and received the voice mail of Paul Forester which informed me he was on vacation till May 14th. I was then given the option of leaving a message or dialing "0" for immediate assistance. I selected selected the "0" option. This gave me Crystal Turner's voice mail which informed me that she was unable to answere the phone because she was on another line or away from her desk. I redialed the 1-800 number, asked for Works, and since I knew who the Weed Inspector was, I asked for Reginald Parker by name. The receptionist didn't seem to have his name in her directory. When she found out my inquiry was related to weeds, she put me through to Crystal Turner's line, which again informed me that she was on the phone or away from her desk. I was starting to think weed inspection was not priority number one with the Region of Durham. I called the 1-800 number a third time, asked for Works, then asked for Mike Slocombe who is the Operations Technician with the Works Department. His voice mail told me he was away till Thursday. One more brave attempt did get me in touch with the live Crystal Turner who informed me that I should be talking to the Manager of Works - Susan Siopis, who was in a meeting but would call me back later today. Crystal Turner did volunteer that Reginald Parker was not scheduled to take up his responsibilities responsibilities with the Region till June 1st. As it was Tuesday, deadline day, and I held out little hope of actually talking to someone in the Weed Department that day, I figured a little practical education was in order. Should I ever get the opportunity to ride along with the real Weed Inspector I figured it would be to my benefit not to appear totally green. And as it was Tuesday, and a real summer teaser of a day, I needed a real good excuse to go road running. My research took me down' many of the area's less traveled roads. . Operating on the assumption that I could spot a weed, noxious or otherwise, at 30 paces from behind the wheel, my survey revealed that besides all the litter and those yellow yellow flowers that look like dandelions but aren't, there was nothing but grass growing in the ditches. It occurred to me that that's probably why the Weed Inspector doesn't start till June the 1st. The weeds need to be established before he can inspect them. Seriously, I'm sure there is a very good reason for having having Weed Inspectors; (the Durham Region now has three) otherwise the provincial government wouldn't have mandated mandated it. When I find out the reason, you'll be the first to know. Letter: Put your guns In response to an article in the Orono Weekly Times dated March 27, 2002. Clifford Francis states, "Times certainly have changed since I was a ldd," and I say, "thank goodness they have." The tone of Mr. Francis* article sounds like he is proud of his misdeeds. The vast majority of shooters shooters and hunters would not have displayed such blatant disrespect for public/private and personal property as shown in this article. The activities described in this piece illustrate to some extent why Federal and local laws have been implemented, implemented, changed and amended to try to correct this kind of irresponsible irresponsible behaviour and actions. Mr. Francis does not state whether he still possesses firearms or not, and if he does I would hope that he has learned to respect the rights and property of others. away Responsibility and respect are not something that governments governments can legislate. Yes, we are now living with C-68/The Firearms Act, which all responsible firearms owners adhere to, but I do have to agree with Mr. Francis on one point, it definitely has not taken the guns out of criminal hands. Wayne Sargent Orono, ON orb seeks public input on storage facility Ontario Power Generation te seeking public input on their proposal to build a concrete concrete storage facility for their used fuel bundles. According to OPG, the pools which are currently used at their Darlington site to cool and store the radioactive used fuel bundles will reach capacity by 2009. Similar concrete storage facilities proposed by OPG at Darlington are currently being used at the Pickering and Bruce Nuclear Power Plants. OPG representatives did state in an earlier presentation to council that bundles can safely safely be stored in the concrete containers for 50 years. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission is conducting conducting an Environmental Assessment (EA) for the proposed proposed concrete storage facility, facility, and OPG is looking for input and comments from the public in conjunction with the EA. Following all regulatory approvals, it is OPG's inten tion to have the, storage facility facility in operation by the fall of 2007. The two Clarington Open House sessions will be held in Courtice on Wednesday April 17, and in Bowmanville on April 24th. The Courtice session session will take place at Faith United Church, 1778 Nash Road, Courtice from 3-9 p.m. The Bowmanville session session will be held at the Beech Centre, 26 Beech Avenue, also from 3-9 p.m.