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Wednesday, September 12, 2012 1937 - 2012 · Celebrating 75 Years Orono Weekly Times - 5 From The House At The Centre Of The Universe by: Tracy Tonkinson It never rains but it pours adds character to the property and gives a home to a bewildering array of creatures. It has been a woodpecker's wildest dream, the playground to Blue Jays and an excellent hiding place for a bunch of chipmunks and rabbits. While other trees in the yard have leaned and creaked and flopped to the ground under no provocation at all, the willow always swayed with the blows. Alas, now it is a shadow of its former self as half of its branches were torn from the main trunk in the whirlwind and rain storm that was Saturday's contribution to meteorological mayhem. The upshot is that half of our very own whomping willow is lying, forlorn and bedraggled on the lawn awaiting a visit from doctor chainsaw and a his pal wood chipper. So sad. The willow wasn't the only thing to suffer from the effects of bad weather at the weekend. For the first time in a long time the Orono Fair parade was a short and rain soaked affair. Of course the politicians rolled by the House in drop top muscle cars that had their tops and windows firmly up. As the Shriners did their best in the downpour and a few hearty bands, service organisations and floats drifted by, even the Shetland pony and his zebra companion looked disappointed that there was no one but a slack handful of people out to wave them on. As one who watched from the cover of the porch I commend those that decided to give Orono a fair parade, no matter how short. Having watched the Fair parade and been rained out of a spell of duty there myself on behalf of the Orono Crown Lands Trust, I went instead to Newcastle library where the group that has been working to recognize Joseph Atkinson finally got to dedicate their plaque in the library park. Now both of the most famous families of Newcastle are suitably lauded. This week looks like it is going to be a sunny stretch which is good news for us as we will be clearing up after our old friend's untimely fall and bad news for the willow as we will be mulching its fallen limbs. I can already hear it screaming. But the best part about having the Fair over and done with for us at the House is that now the preparations can begin in earnest for Halloween. It isn't every day that you can yell over for someone to take the grave stones out of the car and not forget the severed limbs. The fog machines are prepped, the leaves will be falling soon to add to the spooky look, and we will have our fingers crossed that on the big day the weather forecast is good, because if this last weekend is any indication it never rains but it pours. We almost lost an old friend at the House this week. The 50 foot high Weeping Willow that dominates the back yard finally became a victim of the crazy weather we experienced here on Saturday. The tree that has graced the House for likely 50 years or so Toxic soil delays firehall Before work can begin on the site selected for the new Newcastle Fire Hall, contaminated soil identified on the site must be removed. Clarington's committee of council awarded the soil remediation contract to a Waterloo company at Monday morning's committee meeting. With a bid of $98,357 Ground Force Environment was the lowest responsible bidder for the soil remediation tender issued for 3333 Highway 2, Newcastle. Fieldwork conducted on the site in January of this year by Golder Associates Ltd, indicated a presence of petroleum hydrocarbons (PHC) in a number of soil samples. Further assessment confirmed that the PHC impact to soil conditions was evident in an area on the site which was thought to be a possible former gas station site. At the May 28th council meeting, members opted to budget $125,000 plus a $75,000 contingency amount to remove the contaminated soil from the site. In May 2010, the previous council approved a municipally owned site just north of the Newcastle aquatic centre on Rudell road as the preferred site for the new Newcastle fire hall. That decision was rescinded by the present council in favour of the Highway 2 location after a number of Rudell Road residents expressed objection to a fire hall in their neighbourhood. Councillor Joe Neal asked for a report from the municipal solicitor on Monday on the potential of recovering some of the soil remediation cost from a third party. "What comes to my mind is that taxpayers are paying for cleanup that was caused by someone else, possibly an oil company," he stated. The land was polluted prior to Clarington taking ownership of it about eight years ago, and if an oil company was responsible for the pollution they should be footing the bill for the cleanup, according to Neal, not the Clarington taxpayer. Neal's motion received unanimous support from council members. The $200,000 budget to clean up the Highway 2 site was approved by council in May of this year and is comprised $5.5 million budget for the fire hall's relocation. In May 2010 council approved a budget of $4.5 million to build the fire hall on Rudell Road. Donations always appreciated at the C l a r i ng t o n E a s t F o o d B a n k 905-987-1418 87 Mill St. N., Newcastle ~ www.claringtonfoodbank.ca