Just doing their job
BOLIVAR - Apparently, the Stark County Health Board isn’t happy with the Tuscarawas County commissioners, especially Commissioner Chris Abbuhl.
Abbuhl has requested that the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency look into how health departments in Stark and Tuscarawas counties conduct their weekly landfill inspections. He is curious about the discrepancy between the number of “notice of violations” issued to landfills in Stark County (five) versus those in Tuscarawas County (more than 80) in 2005 and 2006.
Abbuhl has received several letters from the Stark County Health Board criticizing his actions since he filed his request with the Ohio EPA.
We think he is justified in asking for a review.
It seems odd that the Countywide Landfill in Stark County, near Bolivar, has been cited less than 10 times for violations in the past two years, while residents in the area complain constantly about the awful smell coming from the facility. Plus, there are concerns that the landfill might be on fire.
Meanwhile, the Kimble Landfill west of Dover has been cited for violations more than 80 times in the past two years. Kimble takes in one-fifth the amount of waste that Countywide does and isn’t the subject of any complaints from its neighbors, that we can recall.
Something doesn’t smell right here.
Tuscarawas County commissioners have been in the forefront in the fight to get the problems solved at the Countywide Landfill, and we applaud them for their work. We encourage them not to let up on their efforts to get local and state officials to fix the problems there.
And if the Stark County Health Department is upset because our commissioners are doing their job, too bad.
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