Town burns debris on Frenchman's Cove beach

There are signs plastered all over the beach at Frenchman's Cove, telling people not to dump their garbage therea message that may have been lost on the local town council.

One sign from the Department of Environment even warns of a $10,000 fine for illegal dumping.

Right behind the signs, just behind the town's welcoming lighthouse monument, there wasa huge pile of used building materials on the beach over the weekend.

It included broken sheets of gyproc, metal, a fluorescent lighting fixture, and old signs from the town's volunteer fire brigade and the council itself.

On Monday, a small crew of fish plant workers employedon a government project were at the beach burning the garbage pile.

The Frenchmans Cove council says it had a permit to burn waste on the local beachsomething that is news to the province.

Frenchman's Cove Mayor Donna Cluett told CBC News she didn't want to talk about a video that shows the garbage pile on the beach. Cluett also declined a taped interview.

Sheindicated, however, thatthe council had a permit from the forestry department to burn wood from the renovation of the local fire hall.

Cluett said she doesn't know anything about any other materials from the renovation being set ablaze.

But the Department of Environment told CBC News the town does not have a permit to burneither from that agency, or Service NL.

Provincial officials now say they are looking into the matter.

The Burin Peninsula's regional waste management facility is 20 minutes down the road, just outside the town of Grand Bank.