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weekender april 12 1986 p3 bowon the umrw 1 ft ipipillllslife js imbf warm reception for premier while ontario premier david peterson received a gift from markham historian john lunau at a 200a plate function at the chimohotel thursday evening anti- abortionists picketed the premier from across the street mr peterson made a short speech at the function which was attended by prominent locals including mar kham mayor carole bell and richmond hill mayor al duffy markham station owner fights esso saying he has no alternative but to fight markham esso gas station owner brian palin says he will oppose imperial oils attempt to fire him over what the company views as substandard service at his station in a letter mr palin received monday march 31 imperial oil told him he was in breach of his contract and had 10 days to leave the station on hwy 48 at 16th ave that he has leased for five years the company which holds reg ular inspections of all its stations said mr palins business was not living up to esso standards in its service to customers at the pumps after spending the late hours of wednesday night and thursday morning at the station to make sure he was not locked out mr palin was granted a court induc tion allowing him to stay open for 10 days in the business for 22 years he says he is confused about what esso is trying to accomplish we run sort of a family opera tion here he said i might have had four complaints in five years im very upset bad water still big problem by erkki pohjolainen despite the fact that several new wells have been drilled some residents of ballantrae are still facing contaminated drinking water ward 2 councillor ron robb headed up a steering committee meeting this week to discuss the situation further membersare looking into the quality and quantity of water at various levels in an effort to decide how the com munitys needs can best be met in an interview neighbors gwen ingram sharron powell and diane giasson told the weekender theyre continually faced with bureaucratic funding delays the problem first surfaced 10 years ago when the powells daughter pamela then only five- weeksold almost died from se vere diarrhea at first doctors thought the problem was caused by food allergies but the day after she came home from hospital her ed and clatfdef te if we pull this off theyll never ask us to dry the dishes again condition had not improved the treating physician then suggested they should have their water tested to see if contamina tion might be the problem it was the ministry of the environ ment suggested a new well was required after a yearandahalf of testing a report said road salt at over 1000 parts per million ppm was responsible mrs powell said the ministry of the environ ment agreed to drill a new well for the family joyce and randy huskisson previous occupants of the ingram home learned their water was contaminated and drilled a new well for which they were later reimbursed the giassons water was de clared suitable for consumption two years ago the same prob lem surfaced but this time the sodium chloride salt level was lower a study report concluded that all 79 wells in the area should be replaced mrs giasson said mrs powell said the ministry of the environment agreed to pay 100 per cent of the cost for a new well if road salt was the contami nant the level of salt in these wells is determined to be up to 225 ppm the provincial government will pay 85 per cent of the cost for new wells if road salt is not the cause of contamination but this also rep resents a financial burden on the homeowner last fall the ministry of the en vironment drilled a test well 420- foot deep on the powell property it cost about 24000 this newest well is not yet hooked up to the powell home three other wells have been dril led to other depths in an effort to locate sufficient water the steering committee is ex pected to report its findings later this month mr palin purchased his busi ness for a 20000 franchise fee in 1980 that fee will not be returned if his contract is terminated he says that since he has taken over the station has received awards from esso for its service and image and says it has been appraised at over 90 per cent he adds he expects to sell about 36 million litres of gas this year a 22 million increase from when he first took over the station i try to run a neat clean opera tion ive never had any trouble before he said i dont know whats going to happen support for mr palin has come from other franchise owners and some of his longtime customers a representative from the shell dealers association has offered financial aid if he needs it and the esso dealer advisory board in a meeting held thurs day expressed concern over mr palins plight and have drafted a letter asking management for a meeting to clarify the problem i think thats great im really pleased with the support ive been getting he said greg mcdonald a media spokesman for imperial oil says since last september mr palin has been warned in writing about the service at the station he says the company is terminating the contract as a last resort it is not a decision taken light ly and its not taken before a num ber of warnings we dont do this for spite he said obviously there wasnt a wide range of im provement paul jacobs mr palins lawyer says imperial oils site brian palin challenges esso inspections are unfair with sta tion owners having no opportunity to review or challenge the appraisals he also says he thinks the com pany is trying to make money by replacing franchise owners with shortterm dealercontracts mr palin who only remembers receiving one letter of warning has decided against going to bind ing arbitration at this point they imperial oil said you either go to arbitration or youre out said mr jacobs thats holding an axe blade at the guys jugular all im concerned about is staying in business mr palin said without any hassles call display advertising 2942200 or lenni hull 2948244 1986 flyers 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