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2 * Orono Weekly Times, Wednesday. August 30, 2000 ► Subscriptions S2J.36 + $1.64 G.S.T. = $25.00/year Publications Mail Registration No. 09301 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@speedIine.ca Phone/Fax (905) 983-5301 Publisher/Editor Marg Zwart V - -/ The sewage double standard Gleaned from an article with the same title written by Senior Staff Editor Don Stoneman in the August/September issue of Better Farming magazine. "While farmers face huge fines for discharging manure into watercourses, Ontario cities are routinely dum ping sewage overflows into the province's rivers," says Senior Staff Editor Don Stoneman in the August/September issue of Better Farming. Sewage treatment plants are equipped with a relief valve which operators can pull when the flow into the plant becomes too heavy as in occasions of a heavy downpour. The overflow then bypasses the treatment in the plants and is discharged into the rivers and lakes these plants are situate on. Operators must report these bypass incidents to the Ministry of Environment. In 1996 Niagara recorded the highest number of bypasses in the province with 94, followed by St. Catharines with 85, the city of Toronto with70 and the picturesque town of Stratford, with a population of 28,000 reported 44 incidents of sewage bypass right into the Avon River., Ministry of Environment statistics reveal 489 reported bypasses in 1999 as well as 198 accidental spills reported in that same period. Clarington had one bypass and one spill in 1996 and none in 1999. - ■ .. _ ; Manure spills from agriculture are also no small matter in this province. "Sometimes farmers are charged and face huge fines if they discharge manure into watercourses," says Stoneman. Provincial dollars are helping to improve many municipal sewage systems, and some farmers would like to see the same kind of dollars go towards the farm community when it upgrades. • With increasing pressure to ensure a safe water supply, farmers farmers are asked to clean up their act and treat animal waste the same way that human waste is treated. "It is apparent to some farm supporters," says Stoneman, "that a double standard is in place. Municipalities seem to be able to dump raw sewage without consequence while farmers are being penalized. r Letter to the Editor v i v Dear Marg, Hard to believe we've only been here in the James B'ay Frontier area for four months now....seems like we've been "northerners" much longer than that. And, enjoying every minute of it, I might add. This retirement thing is great....I'd recommend it to anyone thinking about giving up working for a living. I would have quit work 30 or 40 years ago had I known I'd like it this much. Been meaning to write for some time but just haven't got to it yet. Actually, I was going to fire off a juicy rebuttal to the "den mother" of the Cool Kendal Kids in response to her fond farewell to yours' truly, but, decided she wasn't worth the effort. We're keeping up to date on all the news down there, although the OWT is usually a week behind by the time it gets up here. Things have been busy, eh? New bandstand, bandstand, concerts, parades, more movies being filmed at the Town Hall, etc., etc. And, of course the annual beef BBQ„,....from the picture, it's hard to tell if Blaine is sniffing sniffing to check if the pot of beans is done, or he got à nosefiill of smoke? (by the way Blaine, I forgot the catchy "title" you told me to use for any items 1 sent south.....hey, 1 AM retired and getting old, ya know...maybe "The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought. These patterns, patterns, traits, and products considered considered as the expression of a particular period, class, community, community, or population." Tire definition of 'culture' according to Dictionary.com In Canada, we've taken to 'ensuring' that our behaviour patterns, arts, beliefs, and institutions are well protected. protected. We've created cultural laws like the ones protecting the French language in Quebec. * Our friendly Sheila Copps of T-will-quit-if-the-GST- isn't-repealed' fame, is in charge In charge of promoting promoting and protecting our culture. culture. She is the Minister with the Heritage Fund portfolio. And she makes .her living heckling Americans about their magazines, heckling Anglophones in Quebec, and creating new laws that tell the rest of us what we are supposed supposed to call 'Canadian'. Using your tax dollars to buttress their 'Heritage Fund', they usually justify cultural protectionism by claiming that other cultures (i.e. America) may simply have more capital and wealth to promote their particular idioms and custom's over ours. Since'we'want diversity, diversity, 'we' should create a fund, and some new laws, to ensure that minority cultures don't get sideswiped by the majority majority ones. So they stand on guard against 'honor and labor', making sure they contain that all Canadian 'u'. They also have to ensure that English words in Quebec are at least fifty percent smaller than their French equivalents. And so on, ET AINSI DE SUITE... YOU can remember?) , Anyway, we had a steady stream of visitors at our camp (that's what they call "cottages" "cottages" up here) out on Lower Twin Lake for the first six weeks of summer, and, with a lull in the action for a few weeks, we've had a chance to do some more renovations on the cabin as well as spending some time on the vegetable gardens here in town. I sup- minute drive home from camp....instead of 14 hours! Went way back into the bush last week and picked ourselves ourselves 15 lbs of blueberries, which we'll no doubt enjoy during the winter. And we get out fishing âs much as we can...hope to catch some walleye walleye later today for supper. After I finish splitting the jackpine I cut up for firewood last weekend, that is. We had a moose in the back yard here in town not too long after we arrived, but haven't seen any sign of him/her since. And the bear who trashed our wooden garbage bin and tried to dismantle the garage has "disappeared". Coincidentally, a neighbour shot a big black bear just a 1/2 • mile north of here shortly after that. The MNR are getting getting out of "the bear business" and the OPP don't want to get , into it, so, we have what you might call "animal control...northern style". We haven't recently seen our little friend, kedd Foxx, who stops by quite regularly for a hand- fed milkbone treat,.but he'll no doubt be back one Of these days. Mqst of the birds up here are different species than what Roy writes about in his column, and we get help with identifications frpm our next door neighbours, whp have been up here since '75. . Now it's just about time to load the truck and head out to the lake for what promises to be a good weekend....... sunn; and near 30C for the next cou pie days. What a great life! Regards, Bob Rotz, Nakina, ON. Thus far, Ms. Copp's has managed to 'protect' almost every sector of our Canadian culture. For instance, Playboy must now have fifty percent Canadian content if it's to enter 'our home and native land'. This, I wager, must be protecting someone somewhere. McDonald's on Rue St. Laurent must now sell Le BigMac, McPoulet, and, of course, Le Repas Heureux. Monsieur Ronald McDonald rejoices. Take the recent éase of one Mr. Oswald of Montreal, a businessman who had somehow somehow 'misunderstood' the litany of French sign and language language laws. At his Stained- glass window shop, he put Up a sign that contained both French and English, but the English wasn't fifty percent smaller than the French. If an anonymous donor... er...'donour", hadn't anted up the fine money, Mr. Oswald would have ended up in jail for this heinous crime. Seriously, though, they are (continued page 3)