The Citizen, 2016-06-23, Page 1INSIDE
THIS WEEK:
SPORTS - Pg. 8
Blyth native, winning
college hockey coach dies
FESTIVAL - Pg. 11
Grey Township celebrates
its 160th anniversary
THEATRE - Pg. 27
'Our Beautiful Sons' opens
42nd Festival season
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Volume 32 No. 25
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Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, June 23, 2016
A great day out
The Radford Group and the Blyth Legion Branch 420 hosted the annual Children's Fishing
Derby at Radford's Fish Pond south of Blyth on June 19, Father's Day. The event welcomes
families to fish together and offers prizes for the younger anglers attending. In addition to the
hard work of The Radford Group and the Blyth Legion, there is always plenty to do in the
community for children with their fathers on their special day thanks to local businesses and
service clubs. (Denny Scott photo)
Scrimgeour brings
Knights to Clinton
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
On Sept. 8, the Central Huron
Community Complex will play host
to the Memorial Cup champion
London Knights for an exhibition
game against the Erie Otters and fan
festival.
Local hockey enthusiast Brent
Scrimgeour, who has a years -long
history with the Knights, has been
the driving force behind bringing the
game to Huron County. It was
Scrimgeour who first brought the
Knights to Blyth several years ago
for a practice and meet -and -greet
with the players.
Since then, Scrimgeour has been
championing an exhibition game in
the area and when the Knights were
looking to change things up after
years of holding their annual "out-
of-town" exhibition game in
Stratford, Scrimgeour and his
community seemed like an obvious
choice.
Chris Drinkwater, Knights Group
Sales Manager, and Ryan Starr,
Knights Public Relations and
Communications Manager both said
that Scrimgeour took such good care
of the Knights when they were in
Blyth that they knew the game
would be in good hands with him.
The practice held in late 2011 was
hailed as a huge success and
Drinkwater says it's still talked
about in the Knights organization to
this day.
Scrimgeour says that his history
with the Knights goes back to scout
Terry Uniac, who is based in
Stratford. It was Uniac who helped
Scrimgeour organize various themed
nights at Knights games for local
hockey associations and would
eventually be instrumental in first
bringing the practice to Blyth in
2011.
After receiving such positive
feedback after the 2011 event,
Scrimgeour said he continued to
float the idea to those involved with
the Knights organization, saying that
Huron County, with its dedicated
hockey fanbase, would be a great
setting for a Knights exhibition
game, if the organization was ever
so inclined.
Scrimgeour says that while he and
many others in the community
attend Knights games often, many in
the area aren't so lucky. When it
came to hosting an event in Huron
County, his main motivation was
bringing the Knights experience and
Ontario Hockey League (OHL) level
hockey to Huron County residents.
It's also a great opportunity, he
said, to raise money for local hockey
associations. In 2011, the event
raised funds for Blyth Minor
Hockey and for the Goderich
tornado relief effort.
There are, however, a number of
added layers of excitement this year,
Scrimgeour says. With an exhibition
game, it's a far greater experience
than simply a practice and, in the
Knights, Huron County residents
will have a close-up look at the best
minor hockey squad in the nation
after claiming the Memorial Cup
over the Rouyn -Noranda Huskies,
the Brandon Wheat Kings and the
Red Deer Rebels.
Being the best in the nation, the
team also boasts a roster full of
future National Hockey League
(NHL) players like Mitch Marner,
Christian Dvorak and Matthew
Tkachuk, among others. This game,
Continued on page 8
Mayor hears Brussels residents' grievances at meeting
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
An unofficial meeting between
Huron East Mayor Bernie
MacLellan and just over two dozen
Brussels residents on June 16
highlighted a number of concerns
with the village.
Former Huron East Mayor Joe
Seili organized the meeting, at
which MacLellan met with the
residents at the Brussels Legion to
discuss property standards
throughout the village and the state
of the Brussels, Morris and Grey
Community Centre, among other
things.
The meeting was held completely
outside the municipal structure with
no staff or councillors present, with
the exception of the mayor.
MacLellan said that when he heard
there were concerns in Brussels, he
offered to sit down with the
concerned parties in a private
setting. However, when the audience
expanded, it evolved into a bit of a
public meeting and MacLellan said
he wouldn't turn away a ratepayer,
or a group of ratepayers if they had
concerns.
Seili began the meeting by saying
he asked MacLellan to come to
Brussels, specifically to address
property standards both on the main
street and throughout the village.
With the International Plowing
Match set to be held in Walton in
2017, Brussels needs to be prepared
to put its best foot forward in just
over a year when tens of thousands
of people visit the village.
MacLellan said he was there to
listen to any concerns the residents
had and to take them back to
councillors and staff and return with
answers, perhaps at a second
meeting held in four to six weeks.
Former Brussels Reeve Henk Ten
Pas began the conversation, saying
that he felt it was a collection of little
things that were dragging Brussels
down.
He outlined a number of issues he
had on the village's main street that
could be remedied relatively easily,
but when he attempted to do so, he
was given the run-around and
encountered red tape at every turn.
Ten Pas said he would approach
Brussels councillors and then get
referred on all the way up to the
Huron County Warden.
He also said the same would
happen with public works issues. He
would raise concerns with public
works staff, who would eventually
refer him all the way up to Director
of Public Works Barry Mills, and no
action would ever be taken.
Councillors for the ward came
under significant fire at the meeting,
as several residents said they would
raise issues with their councillors
and nothing would be done.
Ten Pas said he was disappointed
that neither Councillors David
Blaney nor John Lowe would attend
the meeting. Seili told those
Continued on page 25
HC Board favours 14/19 grant
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Whether or not Huron County
Council will support the Canadian
Centre for Rural Creativity will be
decided in July — a decision that
irked at least one councillor who felt
his municipality became the
victim of an unfair compromise.
With a $500,000 grant to the
Canadian Centre for Rural
Creativity in Blyth up for debate at
council's June 15 committee of the
whole meeting, councillors opted
instead to defer the request to
council's July 6 meeting.
The reason behind the deferral is a
recommendation by Chief
Administrative Officer Brenda
Orchard, who said there was some
concern among councillors
regarding two grant requests, each
for $500,000, coming from the same
municipality: the Canadian Centre
for Rural Creativity and the
Continued on page 24