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The Citizen, 2015-01-08, Page 9THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2015. PAGE 9. Huron, Perth and Bruce Counties were all shut down for a three-day span between Jan. 6 and Jan. 9 as relentless snowfall, extreme cold and high winds combined to produce the “polar vortex” that gripped the province in late 2013 and early 2014. All roads in the three counties were closed for the better part of three days as road crews worked to dig the community out from under the snow. Katie Cottrill of Belgrave, as part of Team Flaxey, a curling team out of the Listowel Curling Club, would soon be representing Ontario at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts. Over 50 people gathered at the Wingham Golf and Curling Club to watch the final game of the Ontario Scotties tournament in Sault Ste. Marie, which propelled Team Flaxey into the national tournament after a win over Team Hastings from Thornhill. The first-ever John Pennington Memorial Award was presented by his grandchildren to Brussels firefighter Bill Aitchison, Pennington’s long-time friend, at the department’s annual Christmas banquet. Pennington’s grandchildren claimed that Aitchison was the right person to win the award due to his dedication and his decades on the fire department. A proposed merger between the Boards of Health of Huron and Perth Counties was rejected by Perth County Council. “We were very disappointed that they didn’t at least sit down and discuss it,” said Huron County Warden Joe Steffler. With a second case of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea (PED) confirmed in Ontario, Bluevale’s Amy Cronin, Chair of Ontario Pork, worked day and night to come up with a solution to help contain the disease before it reached epidemic levels. Brussels business iClipArt, owned by Charlie and Alison Hoy, became a worldwide powerhouse, acquiring a number of high-powered domains in the internet world. The company then became Vital Imagery Ltd., the biggest provider of clipart in the world. The Huron County Health Unit and its Public Health Epidemiologist Dr. Erica Clark were busy investigating a potential cancer cluster in Ashfield-Colborne- Wawanosh. The investigation began after the Health Unit received concerning information from a resident who, Clark said, had done an extensive amount of research into the potential of a cancer cluster. As of February, Clark said the Health Unit was still in the midst of collecting information. Huron East announced that it would be moving to internet-based voting for the Oct. 27 election later that year. Huron East shared costs with Central Huron, who also made the shift. A joint meeting of North Huron and Morris-Turnberry Councils resulted in little being solved as the two parties were debating their cross-border servicing agreement. Huron County Council decided to move onto the next step in the process of signing a lease with the Province of Ontario for the Huron portion of the proposed Guelph-to- Goderich Rail Trail. Goderich Deputy-Mayor John Grace proposed the creation of a Huron County Economic Development Board. Grace said the board would be driven by private businesses, rather than the traditional approach to economic development. Long-time Blyth Postmaster Faye Bolger retired from Canada Post after over 26 years with the company. Bolger said she would miss seeing community members every day and hearing their stories, but vowed to remain involved and remain a fixture at community events. Blyth’s Paul Josling was awarded the Dave Mounsey Memorial Fund’s highest honour: the Meritorious Service Cross, which was then coupled with the Fund’s Meritorious Service Medal, which Josling had already won in 2010. Central Huron Council decided that the municipality would participate in a labour market study tied to local author Alice Munro’s win of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Council had originally deferred the decision until more information was received. Those involved with Clinton’s famous Sloman School Car came to Central Huron Council to ask for help, saying the historical site was in financial dire straits and they wanted the municipality to take the school car over. North Huron Reeve Neil Vincent and Avon Maitland District School Board Trustee Colleen Schenk announced they would both be running to be Huron-Bruce’s provincial Liberal Party representative. North Huron Council did its part to help facilitate an ambitious plan to feed 1,419 people outdoors, on Blyth’s main street. Council approved the road closures for the dinner, a fundraiser for Campaign 14/19 which would be catered by Jason Rutledge of The Blyth Inn and Peter Gusso of Part II Bistro. The Blyth Brussels Midget AE Crusaders found themselves in a two-games-to-none hole as they battled a team from Caledonia in the Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA) finals. They would come back, however, to win the next two games and send the series to a fifth and deciding game, in which Caledonia edged the Crusaders by a score of 3-2, ending the team’s season. The logo and slogan (Huron Hosts on Ontario’s West Coast) for the 2017 International Plowing Match, set to be held in Walton, were both revealed at a meeting of Huron County Council in Goderich. A large amount of frustration regarding the proposed Guelph-to- Goderich Rail Trail and the lack of consultation with adjacent landowners was aired at a meeting of Morris-Turnberry Council. Central Huron athlete Lexi Aitken won a pair of track and field gold medals at the U.S. Area Youth Olympic Selection Trails, held in Florida. She placed first in both the 100- and 400-metre hurdles, beating the second-place finisher by over a full second. The Huron County Junior Farmers were named the top junior farmers club in Ontario at the Junior Farmers Association of Ontario’s annual conference, held in Cornwall. Huron County hosted an open house in Brussels to educate citizens on the upcoming project for Turnberry Street that would work on both the road’s surface and the underground infrastructure.Years of negotiations and proposals ended with the Brussels Library’s grand opening after extensive renovations and expansion to make the building more accessible. The milestone was marked by a large group of supporters cutting a ribbon in front of the library’s former corner entrance. Blyth Farm Cheese was named Canada’s best gouda cheese at the inaugural Canadian Cheese Awards held in Toronto. Eleven cases of Porcine April marks grand opening of Brussels Library A long time coming After over a decade of debate and planning, the Brussels Library got the grand opening treatment after it had been expanded and renovated in late April. Cutting the ribbon are, back row, from left: Rena Spivak, Ontario Trillium Foundation; Lisa Thompson, Huron-Bruce MPP and Doug Sholdice, Huron East/Brussels Community Development Trust. Middle row, from left: John Rutledge, architect; Mary Douma, Brussels Agricultural Society; Ruth Bauer, Majestic Women’s Institute; Audrey Cardiff, Brussels, Morris and Grey catering group; George Langlois, Brussels Optimist Club; Gord Mitchell, Brussels Lions Club and Bill Aitchison, Brussels Masons St. John’s Lodge 284. Front row, from left: Harold Smith, contractor; Tim Waechter, Brussels Leo Club; Paul Gowing, Morris-Turnberry Mayor; Jim Dietrich, Huron County Library Board; Bernie MacLellan, Huron East Mayor; Joe Steffler, Huron County Warden and Brad Knight, Huron East Chief Administrative Officer. (File photo) Right around the corner Members of the International Plowing Match (IPM) 2017 committee, appeared before Huron County Council at its April 2 meeting to present the match’s logo and slogan. Warden Joe Steffler also took the opportunity to present the committee with a cheque for this year’s support from Huron County. Wearing their brand new Walton IPM 2017 hockey jerseys are, back row, from left: Steve Corbett, Tiffany Deitner, Jackie Kernighan, Jacquie Bishop, Marlene Munn, Steffler, Lynne Godkin and Barry Godkin. Front row, from left: John Lowe, Brian McGavin, Roger Robertson and Mallory Kernighan. The logo was designed by Heather Logan of Brussels and inspired by Kevin and Alicia Deitner of Grey. (File photo) January 2014 February 2014 March 2014 April 2014 Continued on page 10