Last night (Oct. 16) I attended a Deer Lake council meeting that gave an overwhelming majority vote to allow the placing of a crematorium to cremate human bodies on Main Street in Deer Lake. It is very close to homes, a playground and school complex. Surely this is not the correct location for such a facility.
It was pointed out that other towns have such a facility, but are they in such close proximity to schools, homes etc.
Also, why do we have to follow other towns who have made bad decisions in their zoning laws?
I may be a dreamer but somehow I envisioned Main Street in any town as having pretty little shops, stores, food courts and so on but not crematoriums.
I was very disappointed that only one of the newly elected councilors saw fit to vote against the proposal, many claimed to have done research and were convinced that it was an OK choice they were making. One even flippantly referred it to cooking chicken.
Well, we are not cooking humans here. We will be cremating them, or reducing them to ashes, there is a big difference.
Research can be misleading and selective, with many researchers seeing only what they want to see in many cases. However, there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the newspapers all over the world are full of them, here are a couple of examples close to home.
The Corner Brook Western Star, on Aug. 18, 2017, wrote the following and posted a video by Diane Chubbs of thick black smoke emanating from a crematorium by Russell’s Funeral Home on Prince Rupert Drive, Chubbs lives in an apartment building located behind the funeral home.
In the video, the wind is blowing the smoke back towards and to the right of her home. at one point in the 83 second clip, she comments about how bad the smell is.
She said the smoke is more bothersome when the wind blows a certain direction, it smells terrible and leaves black soot on her windows she charged. (You can read the full article in Aug. 18 Western Star)
Did she just make this all up?
I doubt very much that she did, and I am sure The Western Star did some follow up to her story.
There are dozens of legitimate articles and letters that show the negative effects such a facility can have on an area , especially the area on Main Street in Deer Lake, near homes a playground and large school complex .
I have a feeling that the decision may come back to haunt some of our councillors , however I could be wrong, too.
If enough people read this letter and agree it is the wrong decision, I am sure with the right amount of protest it can be reversed.
John C. Wellon
Deer Lake
