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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2017-01-12, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2017. Editorials Opinions Publisher: Keith Roulston • Associate Publisher: Deb Sholdice Editor: Shawn Loughlin • Reporter: Denny Scott Advertising Sales: Brenda Nyveld The Citizen is published 50 times a year in Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $36.00/year ($34.29 + $1.71 G.S.T.) in Canada; $160.00/year in U.S.A. and $205/year in other foreign countries. Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, only that portion of the advertisement will be credited. Advertising Deadlines: Mon. 2 p.m. - Brussels; Mon. 4 p.m. - Blyth. PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40050141 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPT. PO BOX 152 BRUSSELS ON NOG 1H0 email: info@northhuron.on.ca The Citizen P.O. Box 429, P.O. Box 152, BLYTH, Ont. BRUSSELS, Ont. NOM 1H0 NOG 1 HO Ph. 519-523-4792 Phone Fax 519-523-9140 519-887-9114 E-mail info@northhuron.on.ca Website www.northhuron.on.ca Canada ..ocna CCNA Member of the Ontario Press Council We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund of the We are not responsible for unsolicited newsscripts or Department of Canadian Heritage. photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright CMCA AUDITED Transportation a hidden issue A presentation by One Care Home and Community Support Services to Huron County Council last week highlighted a major problem with living in Huron County, one which the majority of people who own cars simply overlook. With services dispersed around the county, it's nearly impossible for those who can't drive or can't afford a car to access every service they need. Things are better in the larger centres like Goderich, but even there people often need to get to other parts of the county for special services. If they need to get to a hospital in Stratford or a specialist's appointment in London, the travel situation becomes even more dire. It's a problem that's been discussed for years without resolution. With a small, dispersed population, providing public transit in Huron County is beyond the reach of county taxpayers. Perhaps, if it's just a matter of time before driverless cars and buses are on the road, public transit might become affordable. In the meantime there will still be a need for all of the volunteer drivers who help organizations like One Care to get people to where they need to go. — KR More casualties of war Two tragic, violent incidents carried out by former soldiers last week show that the casualties of war do not end when soldiers come home from the battle. In Nova Scotia, retired Canadian soldier Lionel Desmond, who had served in Afghanistan, shot his wife, daughter and mother before taking his own life. In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Esteban Santiago, who served a 10 -month tour with the U.S. Army in Iraq from 2010 to 2011, went on a shooting rampage in an airport baggage area, killing five people and wounding eight others. All these people, plus the two former soldiers themselves, can be added to the list of casualties of the two wars. Romeo Dallaire, the former Lieutenant -General with the Canadian Army who suffered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after serving as head of the United Nations mission to Rwanda where he witnessed the massacre of some of the up to a million Tutsis, wrote eloquently in The Globe and Mail this week that for some soldiers the battle doesn't end when they come home from the war. He has fought for years for our government to fund treatment of wounded minds as effectively as it treats wounded bodies. Lionel Desmond had been trying to get help in dealing with his PTSD. Esteban Santiago has actually been in an Alaskan psychiatric facility before they released him, and gave him back the gun he later used in his shooting spree. Dallaire is right that our government, all governments, must spend whatever it takes to help these people who are affected by PTSD while serving their country. The two massacres show that if we don't solve these problems, people will die far from the original battlefield. — KR Coming back to bite you It's hard to know what's more disturbing, that Russian hackers tried to influence the U.S. Presidential Election, or that President Elect Donald Trump tries to shrug off the evidence of Russian meddling. American officials, more than anyone else, however, should not be so outraged and surprised at Russian actions since the Russians are only doing what Americans have done many times in many corners of the world. Indeed some observers feel the Russian intervention to undermine the campaign of Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton was revenge for U.S. efforts, while Clinton was Secretary of State in 2011 and 2012, to support Russian groups protesting against President Vladimir Putin. The Russians are also angry over money that was funnelled by western governments to encourage revolutions in former Soviet states like Georgia and Ukraine. Sadly, powerful countries are not content to let the will of the people be expressed but want to shape government far beyond their borders. The U.S. is getting a piece of its own medicine and the rest of us are having to live with the results. — KR Letters Policy The Citizen welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must be signed and should include a daytime telephone number for the purpose of verification only. Letters that are not signed will not be printed. Submissions may be edited for length, clarity and content, using fair comment as our guideline. The Citizen reserves the right to refuse any letter on the basis of unfair bias, prejudice or inaccurate information. As well, letters can only be printed as space allows. Please keep your letters brief and concise. JANUARY IS 114E. MONTH \NHN '140 HOHO' TURNS TO *OWE OWE OWE %-- Looking Back Through the Years January 12, 1944 Two local soldiers, Jim Prest and Lloyd Sanderson, wrote letters to The Brussels Post thanking the community for their care packages. The men appreciated the kindness of the community while they were away in World War II. Brussels Town Hall would be the spot to be on Wednesday, Jan. 19 as the Huron Ramblers would be performing at a community dance with admission set at just 25 cents per person. The dance would benefit the Brussels, Morris and Grey Cigarette Fund. The Department of Agriculture for Huron County was set to hold several two-day courses for Huron farmers that would teach them more about farm machinery. The object of the courses would be to teach farmers how to carry out simple repairs on their farm machinery. Hockey action had begun in local arenas and the Brussels "Town" team was on a roll. Town beat Morris by a score of 8-7 on Jan. 3 and followed up that performance with a 9-2 defeat of Grey just two days later. On Jan. 7, Morris and Grey took it to one another and Morris came out on top by a score of 6-3. January 19, 1967 Ashfield Township Reeve Donald McKenzie was acclaimed to the position of Huron County Warden after Brussels Reeve Calvin Krauter voluntarily withdrew from the race in favour of McKenzie. Plans for centennial activities in Brussels were now well underway, following a meeting that had been held the previous week. The village would host a "Come Home Week" set for June 30 to July 2 with a variety of activities to be held over the course of the three days, including ball games, a tug of war, a water fight and a parade. Archer Grewar was named the chairman of the Brussels event, with Jack Thynne and Slim McClory taking charge of the event's entertainment committee and Mel Jacklin and Carman Machan heading up the sports committee for the special event. January 14, 1981 Blyth Village Councillors decided to give themselves a 10 per cent raise for 1981, despite a protest from new Councillor Bill Manning Manning had suggested that councillors should follow the lead of their local firefighters, who did not receive a raise, but his motion to do so was defeated. Councillors told Manning that the increase made sense because if they were denied a pay increase, it would simply mean that a larger increase would be made further down the road. The last increase to wages councillors had authorized was just two years earlier in 1979. Blyth firefighters said they rejected a proposed increase to their wages in favour of diverting the money towards buying new equipment in the future. A new book, the Book of Memory, had been dedicated at Blyth United Church. The reason for the book was to keep track of memorial donations made to the church after a former member of the congregation had passed away. The latest entry into the new book was for song books for the church. A new emergency van was set to be purchased by the Blyth and Area Fire Department. Captain Jim Howson said the van would do plenty to alleviate the problem of crowding in the department's fire trucks on the way to a call. January 15, 1997 After three years of growing success, A Taste of Country Food Fair, which had been held in Blyth, would be discontinued. At a meeting to discuss the future of the event, only three people were in attendance. Organizers found this disheartening, since attendance at the previous year's fair had been good and the Huron County gourmet barbecue had been sold out, however the number of exhibitors at the fair had been steadily dropping. Keith Roulston, organizer, said that without firm commitments from exhibitors, he and anyone else who was interested couldn't plan for the market in 1997. A number of changes in the way education would be governed across the province were in the process of sweeping through Huron County communities. This meant that many of the local education boards would have far fewer representatives going forward. The realignment of school boards meant that there would only be 66 school boards throughout the province, where there had previously been nearly 130. With a debate that had been continuing for some time, members of the Huron County Board of Education voted to continue to provide Junior Kindergarten to residents for the 1997/1998 school year. The vote passed 9-7. Linda Subject of RR1, Monkton was the big winner of the Brussels Lions Club's annual snowmobile draw. The club drew Subject's name on Dec. 7, which meant she would drive away with the brand new Ski -Doo machine.