The Citizen, 2015-01-08, Page 11THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2015. PAGE 11.
Continued from page 10
I’ve ever had.”
Both Gusso and Rutledge said
they hadn’t been nervous about the
meal until that day. When they saw
nearly 1,500 tables and chairs set up,
that’s when both chefs say the
enormity of the task set in and they
both became nervous.
Much of the talk in Brussels was
about the ongoing construction of
the village’s main street and its
underground infrastructure.
Several businesses complained
about flagging sales, while other
residents viewed the construction
headaches as a necessary struggle on
the path to a much-improved
downtown core.
George Underwood and his family
were named Huron County Farm
Family of the Year at the 2014 Huron
County Ploughing Match in honour
of their outstanding contribution to
the world of agriculture.
At the International Plowing
Match, a number of local
participants were successful, leading
Blyth’s Lucas Townsend to proclaim
that Huron County “ruled” the
match.
Townsend was named Class Two
Group One Reserve Champion,
while Walton’s Brian McGavin was
named Class Five Group One
Champion, while other locals like
Jeff McGavin and Paul Dodds also
performed well at the competition.
The terms of a proposed cross-
border servicing agreement between
North Huron and Morris-Turnberry
began to cause discussion and debate
at several council meetings.
The most serious crime committed
on Huron County soil in a number of
years took place on Sept. 13 as 70-
year-old Donato Frigo, a resident of
Caledon East, was shot dead in the
Hullett Wildlife Conservation Area.
The area, as well as a number of
surrounding blocks, was locked
down for days as police officers
from all over the province conducted
their complex investigation.
Soon after, the OPP arrested 70-
year-old Boris Panovski in
connection with the murder of Frigo.
Panovski was arrested without
incident at Toronto’s Pearson
International Airport and charged
with the murder of Frigo and
attempted murder in the case of
Frigo’s wife.
Amid complaints and ongoing
controversy surrounding the
proposed Guelph-to-Goderich Rail
Trail, it was announced that a
working committee would be struck.
Those at the Huron County Planning
Department said the committee
would likely begin meeting in early
2015.
Morris-Turnberry rejected North
Huron’s proposed cross-border
servicing agreement, with Morris-
Turnberry Mayor Paul Gowing
saying that the two needed a
“positive” agreement and that it
could work.
The voting periods for a number of
local municipalities were set to
begin as every municipality in The
Citizen’s coverage area had moved
to a new form of voting, whether it
be mail-in, phone or internet-based
voting.
The election was scheduled for
Oct. 27, but for many, voting began
around Thanksgiving.
Blyth’s Russell Nesbitt was named
the winner of this year’s annual
Warden’s Emergency Services
Award for being Huron County’s top
police officer.
A 16-year veteran of the Ontario
Provincial Police, Nesbitt had
recently been named to the position
of acting sergeant.
Goderich Deputy-Mayor John
Grace introduced a new form of
economic development at the Huron
County Council level; economic
development driven by private
business. Grace introduced the first
people named to the board, which
included Blyth’s Steven Sparling.
After years of preparation,
discussion and work, renovations at
the Brussels Library were expected
to come in under budget.
The Brussels Leo Club was
approved for its first-ever grant,
from the Libro Credit Union for
$7,500 that will go towards the
club’s sports pad project, which
began earlier in the year.
Huron OPP reported that a
number of wind turbine project sites
throughout the county had been
vandalized. While some of the
damage was minor in nature, there
was a case of vandalism that took
place in Huron East where a
turbine’s circuit board was damaged,
causing thousands of dollars in
damage.
Blyth artist Kelly Stevenson’s
piece The Harvest: Cultivating
Mechanisms received the top prize at
the annual Huron County Art Show.
Stevenson’s work had recently been
on display at the Blyth Festival Art
Gallery, in her exhibit called Who
Heals You.
Despite a large number of
hopefuls running in local wards for
the Oct. 27 election, many councils
looked very much the same after the
election, with every reeve and mayor
in The Citizen’s coverage area
returning for another term.
With the topic of de-amalgamation
back on the agenda, Central Huron
Council announced that it stood by
its original statement that it was not
interested in allowing Goderich
Township to remove itself from the
municipality.
The issue was back in the news as
Carleton-Mississippi Mills MPP
Jack MacLaren said he would
present a “petition of right” at
Queen’s Park to help the de-
amalgamation take place.
The Blyth Festival Board of
Directors announced that it had
chosen not to renew the contract of
Artistic Director Marion de Vries,
despite the success of her play
Kitchen Radio and the season she
curated, the Festival’s 40th.
Those involved with Campaign
14/19 announced they would be
hosting a creative forum at the
former Blyth Public School, which
had since been named the Canadian
Centre for Rural Creativity (CCRC).
The areas of focus for the evening
would be photography, fashion arts,
documentary filmmaking and
technology.
With the Oct. 27 election now out
of the way, three Huron County
councillors announced their
intention to seek the office of Huron
County Warden. Huron East Mayor
Bernie MacLellan, Morris-
Turnberry Mayor Paul Gowing and
Howick Reeve Art Versteeg all put
their names forward for the position.
Gil Garratt was named the new
artistic director of the Blyth Festival.
Garratt, a long-time actor in
Festival productions, as well as
director and playwright and former
associate artistic director, was
announced by the Festival’s Board
of Directors by way of a press
release, issued Nov. 6.
Having been involved with the
Festival for 14 of the previous 16
seasons, Garratt said he was
honoured when he was chosen to fill
the position and that he would be
focusing on the stories waiting to be
told in Blyth and Huron County in
the coming years.
A study released by Health
Canada claimed that there was no
link between wind turbines and
negative health effects. The study,
however, was scrutinized by several
local anti-wind turbine groups.
Central Huron track athlete Lexi
Aitken decided to put pen to paper
and accept a full scholarship from
Texas Christian University (TCU) in
Fort Worth. Aitken was offered a full
scholarship by the school, the
second one she visited. After visiting
TCU, she cancelled the remainder of
her university visits, saying she had
made her decision.
Jason Rutledge of The Blyth Inn
and Peter Gusso of Part II Bistro
were both honoured at a soup
fundraiser in Goderich. Rutledge’s
creation was named the
competition’s top soup, while
Gusso’s soup was named the
people’s choice.
A number of local people,
Cooling off
The cast of the Blyth Festival show Stag and Doe took on the ice bucket challenge, a means
of raising money and awareness for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s
Disease, after one of their final shows of the season. Nearly $500 was raised for the cause
that night, and patrons were then invited outside onto Queen Street where a bucket truck
assisted the cast. From left: Greg Gale, Jason Chesworth, Nicole Joy-Fraser, Eli Ham,
Rebecca Auerbach and Elizabeth Kalles. (File photo)
An event for the ages
Fare on 4, a Campaign 14/19 initiative to feed 1,419 people on Blyth’s main street was a
resounding success in late August as food was delivered hot and Mother Nature co-operated
with beautiful weather. The event, as seen here from the top floor of The Blyth Inn, stretched
nearly to Radford’s Gas Bar in the south, left, and to the Blyth post office in the north, right. It
was made possible by the hard work of approximately 100 volunteers and a number of staff
members from The Blyth Inn and Part II Bistro. (File photos)
Conservation area murder shocks community
September
2014
October
2014
November
2014
Continued on page 19