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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2016-02-04, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2016. Editorials Opinions Publisher: Keith Roulston Editor: Shawn Loughlin • Reporter: Denny Scott Advertising Sales: Lori Patterson & 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 Too important to lose Two Canadian cities lost their local daily newspapers last week when they closed because of declining revenue. Those cities will be the poorer for the loss. The Guelph Mercury published its last edition Friday after 149 years and the Nanaimo Daily News also ceased publishing. Between the two papers, 33 people lost full-time jobs. It's been estimated that 10,000 journalism jobs have vanished from Canadian newspapers, magazines and radio and television stations in the past decade. It's hard to know where the root cause of these closures begins. The Mercury had seen its circulation shrink from 22,000 to 9,000 in the last few years. The common thread of media stories is that this is because readers are turning to the internet and social media for their news and advertisers are using digital media to get their message to potential customers. But The Mercury was operated by Metroland Media Group and if it was managed in any way like that company has treated its local community newspapers, the demise was all but inevitable. The large chains like Metroland and Post Media have given community newspaper subscribers less news, charged them more and made it more difficult to deal with them. Understandably, circulation has plummeted. Still, it's true that the digital revolution has hit newspapers hard. Younger readers in particularly have a sense that information should be free, and they think they can get it through digital media so why buy a subscription? Many of the stories they're reading on the internet or that are forwarded to them by friends on Facebook or other social media, were written by professional journalists employed by newspapers (or television outlets which are also endangered by the digital revolution). The graphic novelist "Seth", who lives in Guelph, made a persuasive case for the importance of local newspapers in a piece he wrote in Saturday's The Globe and Mail. "Reading the local paper is such a vivid reminder of where you are and sometimes who you are." He wrote that after moving to Guelph more than a decade ago reading The Mercury was one of the things that helped him become a Guelphite. "That daily experience of seeing your local places, names and events creates a kind of resonance and connection and investment with where you live." There is, at this point anyway, no digital equivalent to the local newspaper or radio or television station. Facebook and other social media can create a bond with people you know over vast spaces but nothing replaces the local reporters who work full time to dig out the stories that make a community a community. Currently, many young residents probably don't see the importance of those functions. If they remain convinced that all the information they need is on the internet, and that it should cost them nothing, they will lose these important cogs in community building. When local newspapers have vanished they may realize, to borrow the lyrics from Joni Mitchell's song "Big Yellow Taxi", that "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone." — KR A Canada they don't want Part of the opposition to using pipelines to move oil is that an increasingly urban population thinks Canada should move beyond messy resources extraction, timber harvesting and farming, occupations considered hopelessly old fashioned by people living in condos and suburban homes. The reality of Canada is at odds with what people living in downtown Toronto and other large cities think is the real Canada. They see millions living like them, going to work in offices dressed in fashionable clothes, and think that's what life is like in the 21st century. This perception is perpetuated by television and movies that mostly portray cool urbanites. But 20 per cent of Canada's economy, and an even larger share of our exports, come from commodities like lumber, grain and other farm products, minerals and oil — all products produced in rural parts of the country that people have been told are irrelevant to modern Canada. These commodities are produced by people wearing blue collars — cousins who urbanites are a little ashamed to acknowledge because they don't fit the image of Canada they think is fitting. Messy products like oil and wheat pay Canada's bills, even if ultra - cool urbanites are ashamed to admit it. — 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. 711111117 -AT BEAST SIX MARE, GUI1D WEEKS OF PARTISAN Br'' 42016 PIPELINuTIcs.,, Looking Back Through the Years February 4, 1959 A fire of undetermined origin completely destroyed the barn of Robert Carter, just north of Blyth. The blaze was first noticed by the wife of George Fear, a neighbour of Carter's, just before 10 p.m. The Carter fire was the second major fire in that area in the last four months. after the barn of Robert Marshall, one mile away from the Carter farm, had been destroyed just four months earlier. Lost in the blaze were 14 registered Holstein cattle, an 18 - month -old bull, five registered Holstein calves, 56 pigs, 1,200 bushels of mixed grain, 2,000 bales of hay and a large amount of straw. A collie dog was also in the barn at the time of the fire. While members of the Blyth Fire Department responded to the fire in good time, The Blyth Standard reported that firefighters were hampered by the deep snow and freezing conditions when attempting to fight the fire. The barn and stock, Carter said, were partially covered by insurance, so he planned to rebuild the structure in the spring. Members of the Blyth Library Board held their annual meeting, showing that the library had made a profit of $67.69 the previous year. February 5, 1970 Don Rogers, travelling director for the Garden City Youth Athletic Association, wrote a letter to The Brussels Post thanking members of the community for being accommodating during the previous week's hockey tournament. A number of teams, along with players and their families, attended the tournament, travelling to Brussels from Garden City, Michigan for the hockey weekend. In his letter, he said that a number of players and parents had already commented that they looked forward to returning to Brussels for games the next year. In the Tyke Hockey League all- star game, Brussels took on Belgrave, with Brussels shutting out their competition by a score of 2-0. Tim Prior scored both Brussels goals, with Gary McWhirter and Doug Cousins notching assists on the goals. Both goals were scored in the game's second period. January 29, 1986 West Wawanosh Township councillors decided to hold the line on salaries for 1986, but added incentives to ensure that councillors were motivated to attend meetings. Federal Agriculture Minister John Wise was in Clinton to speak to the Huron County Cattlemen's Association at their annual meeting. Wise told producers that beef imports from Europe would be cut in half after loud protests were heard from Canadian producers the previous year. Huron Chapel in Auburn welcomed a new pastor: Rev. James Carne and his wife Lorraine. The ceremony to officially install the new pastor was held on Jan. 12, with Jim Campbell, chair of the church's board of directors, in charge. Quiet in the Land, a play by Anne Chislett that premiered at the Blyth Festival, was being produced in western Canada and in New York at the Circle Rep Theatre. The play premiered in Blyth in 1981 and in 1984 won the Governor General's Award for drama. February 6, 2002 For the second time in less than five years, the annual Sears Drama Festival would be coming to Memorial Hall with the Blyth Festival playing the role of site host. The festival has last been held in Blyth in 1998 when it was hosted by F.E. Madill Secondary School. In 2002, Madill would again be hosting, but this time alongside Listowel District and Central Huron Secondary Schools, Goderich District Collegiate Institute and St. Anne's Separate School. The Blyth festival would be one of 23 district contests to be held across the province. As part of Operation Green Sweep, the Huron County OPP discovered a large marijuana growing operation in Belgrave. The police were tipped off to the house because of the unusual amount of traffic it would see on a daily basis. Police stopped a vehicle leaving the residence after following it to Clinton and upon pulling the vehicle over, discovered well over 250 pounds of marijuana plants and some growing equipment. After the traffic stop, police obtained a warrant for the house, which yielded an additional 170 plants. The total value of the bust was $436,000, plus nearly $20,000 in growing equipment. The Citizen reporter David Blaney marked an important anniversary in the life of the Ten Pas family, as Feb. 7 would represent 50 years since the family of Bernard and Hanna Ten Pas made its way to North America from Holland. The family first landed in New York, then made its way to Toronto and then Mount Forest before settling in Brussels.