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The Citizen, 2014-12-25, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2014. Editorials Opinions Publisher: Keith Roulston Editor: Shawn Loughlin • Reporter: Denny Scott Advertising Sales: Lori Patterson & Amanda Bergsma The Citizen P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. N0M 1H0 Ph. 519-523-4792 Fax 519-523-9140 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. N0G 1H0 Phone 519-887-9114 E-mail info@northhuron.on.ca Website www.northhuron.on.ca Looking Back Through the Years CCNA Member Member of the Ontario Press Council 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 N0G 1H0 email: info@northhuron.on.ca December 22, 1954 The Majestic Women’s Institute held its annual Christmas meeting, which meant planning a baking sale and distributing Christmas boxes for shut-ins, which included homemade cookies, candy, jam and money for supplies. At the same meeting, the Women’s Institute also approved a number of donations, including $10 each to the War Memorial Children’s Hospital in London and the Huron County Children’s Aid Society. A third donation, to the Wingham General Hospital, was also approved, and would be forwarded to the hospital as soon as the funds were available. In a “spectacular” blaze that could be seen for miles, two huts connected to the Wingham High School were destroyed by fire. In the huts were a number of classrooms, five sewing machines, one refrigerator, two stoves and a number of books that were on loan from the Huron County Library. December 24, 1975 Due to anti-inflation guidelines, the cost of living allowance could not be considered for elementary school teachers in the Huron-Perth County Roman Catholic Separate School Board. A wage increase was implemented for office clerks and typists, however, as their wages were increased by 33 cents per hour. The increase, which was made retroactive to Sept. 1, 1975, will raise their wage to $3.63 per hour. Herb Turkheim was elected chair of the Huron County Board of Education at the board’s Dec. 15 meeting. At the same meeting, Charles Thomas of Brussels was named vice-chairman, while John Elliott of Blyth was named chairman of the board’s education committee. December 23, 1992 Judge R.G.E. Hunter handed a $100 fine to a 19-year-old RR1, Monkton man after he and a friend removed the globe lights from the Brussels post office on Halloween night and subsequently smashed them. The Blyth Bantams had been playing great hockey as of late, losing a close one and winning one that was never close. The Blyth team beat a team from Brussels by a score of 14-1, but were then edged by the Bantams from Wingham by a score of 4-3. In the rout over Brussels, the scoring was led by Jason Rutledge, who potted four goals and three assists. Blyth Village Christmas Pageant co-ordinators Karen Stewart and Fran Cook were both on stage for the village’s annual community play. They informed audiences that the big Christmas gift of the year would be a hippopotamus. December 24, 2003 Due to the elimination of a night shift at the plant where it was printed, The Citizen was forced to become a Thursday newspaper, rather than a Wednesday newspaper, as it had been for years. The change, The Citizen reported, was actually a return to the days of The Brussels Post and The Blyth Standard, which published on Thursdays. The shift to a Wednesday release only happened in the 1980s. The Blyth Festival reported a significant deficit at the end of its 2003 season, citing a number of reasons for the decline in revenue over the course of the year, including the SARS outbreak and the BSE scare. It was announced at the annual general meeting for the Blyth Centre for the Arts that the year resulted in a deficit of $157,000. Ron Burt of the accounting firm Takalo and Burt urged those in attendance that the deficit wasn’t the “end of the world” but that it was certainly a situation that presented a number of challenges for all of those involved. Artistic Director Eric Coates said that perhaps things would have been slightly different had he made different decisions in regards to the season. The season’s two most popular plays, Having Hope At Home and Barnboozled, were the final two plays of the season. At the meeting, Coates wondered aloud if perhaps producing those plays at the beginning of the season, rather than the end, would have created momentum that would have carried on throughout the season. Carol Oriold, president of the Festival’s Board of Directors, said that while 2003 proved to be one of the more challenging years in the Festival’s history, she was excited by looking ahead to the 2004 season, the Festival’s 30th anniversary season. A delegation presenting on behalf of Blyth’s Communities in Bloom organization requested nearly $20,000 in funding from North Huron Council. Bev Elliott, chair of the committee, said the funding was necessary if the community was expected to keep up its national Five Bloom rating. Elliott also mentioned 2004, saying that with it being the 30th anniversary of the Festival, it would also be an important year for the Blyth community, and in turn its gardens and beautification for the many visitors expected that year. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage. We are not responsible for unsolicited newsscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright The hidden poor need help The news out of last week’s meeting of Huron County Council that in 2013 in a county that is Ontario’s breadbasket, there were more than 20,000 people served by one or another of the agencies served by the Huron County Food Bank distribution centre is truly shocking. Mary Ellen Zielman of the distribution centre revealed the figures when she appeared before County Council asking for a long-term financial commitment to help her organization do its work. The number of people who have had to turn to food banks in a relatively affluent county is surprising, until you look at the reality. For many people on a small income, the first priority is paying rent, heat and electricity so they have a roof over their heads. Often there may not be much left for food after these monthly bills are paid. It shouldn’t be that way, but it is. During this holiday season the problem for many of us will be eating too much as we have one or more family celebrations and lots of tempting snacks all around us. It may be hard for us to see those, perhaps even in our neighbourhood, for whom having a nutritious meal daily is a concern – especially when their limited income is stretched even thinner in an attempt to buy gifts for friends and family. At this time of abundance, all of us who have been blessed need to remember to take a moment to support those, perhaps even our neighbours, who are not so fortunate. –KR Juvenile humour backfires Missing in the international furor about the cancellation of the movie The Interview after hackers, apparently from North Korea, compromised the computer network of Sony Pictures and further, promised September 11-type attacks on theatres showing the movie, is the foolishness of the concept of the movie in the first place. Defenders of freedom of speech have come to the support of a movie of frat-boy humour in which two man-children are recruited by the CIA to assassinate North Korea’s Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-Un while they are interviewing him. For the sake of a few laughs, a Hollywood studio has caused an international incident. North Korea is such a benighted place, and its leadership is so cruel, that a truly subversive satire would be worth suffering the kind of retaliation North Korea is apparently conducting against Sony Pictures and the U.S. Such a worthy film would earn a sturdy defense of freedom of speech. Instead, we’re left defending the right of “artists” to create juvenile humour that, according to intercepted e-mails, even some Sony executives described as “desperately unfunny” and was thought likely to fail in markets outside North America. The antics of Kim Jong-Un often seem funnier than any script that could be fashioned in Hollywood, except that there’s a horridly repressive government behind this seeming buffoon. Sony Pictures and the creators of this silly movie have done the near-impossible task of making some people around the world feel sorry for a tyrant. –KR War in a global economy Russian President Vladimir Putin is learning that the world is a different place than the “good old days” of the Soviet Union that he seems to dream of bringing back. Between falling oil prices and sanctions imposed by European and other western governments as punishment for Russia’s seizing of Crimea and invading eastern Ukraine, the Russian economy is in deep trouble. Still, Putin is defiant, and with good reason. Until now, his popularity has soared as he made Russians proud by trying to reassemble the old Soviet Union and Imperial Russia. Complaints and pressure from Europe, the U.S. and Canada have only rallied many Russians to his side. He’s trying blame Russia’s current mess on unjust interference from the west and get Russians on side. Unfortunately, there’s going to be a lot of pain suffered by all Russians before this crisis is over. The hope is that, hit by the hard times ahead, Russians will finally turn against their megalomanical leader. It will take a while and many will suffer but at least it’s better than warfare. –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.