The Citizen, 2016-06-30, Page 1INSIDE
THIS WEEK:
HISTORY - Pg. 8
Masons' impact on Blyth
great says Vodden
BRUSSELS - Pg. 10
Residents' concerns
brought to committee
THEATRE - Pg. 19
`Birds and the Bees'
brings comedy to Blyth
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Volume 32 No. 26 a„
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Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, June 30, 2016
Grey Township's 160th hailed as success
Cruising in style
Grey Township's 160th anniversary celebration over the
weekend was a great success. The weather co-operated,
the volunteers were many and the crowds were robust. The
jewel of the weekend was Saturday's anniversary parade,
which featured floats from local businesses, organizations,
services groups and established farm families. With plenty
to see, the parade lasted over an hour. Here, the faces of
the 2017 International Plowing Match (IPM) in Walton made their
way through Grey in style on the IPM's custom-made, motorized
picnic table. From left: Huron County Princess Emily Terpstra,
former Princess Lexi Smith, Queen of the Furrow Kate Higgins,
former Princess Kabrina Bishop and IPM Plowing Co-ordinator
and champion plowman Paul Dodds. The match is set for Sept.
19-23, 2017 in Walton. (Vicky Bremner photo)
Shared services debate back to councils
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
All three councils involved in
Monday night's massive shared
services meeting in Clinton —
Central Huron, Huron East and
Bluewater — will now return to their
respective home bases to further
discuss the idea.
Councillors and staff from the
three municipalities met in the Libro
Hall at the Central Huron
Community Complex Monday night
to discuss the potential for sharing
services. This comes after the initial
meeting between Central Huron
Mayor Jim Ginn, Huron East Mayor
Bernie MacLellan and Bluewater
Mayor Tyler Hessel and then a
second meeting that followed, which
brought in each municipality's chief
administrative officer (CAO).
North Huron and Morris-
Turnberry CAOs Sharon Chambers
and Nancy Michie, respectively,
conducted a presentation on the
newly -forged shared services
agreement between their
municipalities, punctuated by
thoughts from North Huron Reeve
Neil Vincent and Morris-Turnberry
Mayor Paul Gowing.
Chambers told those in attendance
that North Huron and Morris-
Turnberry are both still new to the
process and learning about it along
the way. Along those same lines, she
told councillors that many figures
are far from complete, including
exactly how much money will be
saved by the two municipalities by
the end of the proposed pilot project
in 2018.
Discussions began with the public
works departments, she said, which,
in many cases, were travelling to
Continued on page 15
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
By all accounts, Grey Township's
160th anniversary weekend was one
for the record books that those in
attendance will remember for a very
long time.
Alvin McLellan, Huron East
councillor and co-chair of the event,
said he couldn't have asked for
better conditions or a better turnout.
The festivities began on Friday
night with the opening ceremonies.
It was Brad Knight, Huron East
Chief Administrative Officer and
former Grey Clerk, who threw out
the first pitch of the co-ed softball
tournament. He was joined on the
diamond by former Grey Reeve and
Huron County Warden Leona
Armstrong, who had served as chair
for Grey's 150th anniversary.
The ball diamonds remained busy
throughout the weekend, with
games taking place all day Saturday.
The Saturday parade then took
over an hour to work its way
through the route. With local
families, businesses, politicians and
the fire department, the community
was well represented by a diverse
group of residents.
Once the parade concluded,
McLellan said he headed for the
Grey Fire Hall, where music was the
order of the afternoon. He said the
building was nearly full with people
wanting to hear the music.
He also said that Leona
Armstrong's historical exhibit was
also well attended at the Ethel
Community Centre.
As with so many community
events though, it was food that
brought people together. Dianne
Diehl, Huron East councillor and
event co-chair, said that organizers
fed over 400 people at Saturday
night's pork chop supper and over
1,100 people at Sunday's firefighter
breakfast, which is close to an all-
time record for the department.
Diehl said that by Monday
morning she had already received a
number of phone calls to
congratulate her on bringing
together such a fun weekend for the
residents of Grey.
The weekend wrapped up with a
decoration service at Mount
Pleasant Cemetery just west of
Ethel. Diehl said that nearly 100
attended the decoration service,
which is a great crowd.
Diehl said that organizers couldn't
have asked for a better weekend.
Knights tickets sell out in days
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
In a turn of events that pleasantly
surprised many of those involved,
the tickets for the London Knights
exhibition game in Central Huron
sold out in just three days.
The game, set for Sept. 8, had
1,400 tickets available. Brent
Scrimgeour explained to The Citizen
that he hand -delivered the last batch
of 40 to the Blyth Festival box office
on Friday night last week and, by
Saturday morning the last remaining
tickets had been sold, he said.
"I got a call on Friday around
supper time and apparently the Blyth
Festival box office had been selling
the tickets like crazy," he said.
Scrimgeour said the Festival box
office was the last place to find
tickets before they finally sold out
Continued on page 11