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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2013-01-24, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2013.Editorials Opinions Publisher: Keith Roulston Acting Editor: Shawn Loughlin • Reporter: Denny ScottAdvertising Sales: Ken Warwick & Lori Patterson The CitizenP.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; $130.00/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: Monday, 2 p.m. - Brussels; Monday, 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 February 2, 1911 The annual meeting of the Howick Mutual Fire Insurance Company was held at the Gorrie Township Hall. Reports were submitted listing the number of insurance policies issued over the course of 1910 as 1,555. The number of policies in force for the year was 5,309, an increase over the previous year of 172. Total losses for the year were over $20,000. J. Hirschberg, an eyesight specialist from Toronto was set for appointments in the King Edward Hotel parlour in Wroxeter on Feb. 10 for locals to see him. Listowel Town Council settled a case involving the Sawdon estate and smallpox. The cost of isolation, nursing, etc. was $705.20. The Sawdon estate agreed to pay $319, leaving the balance to be paid by the town. January 26, 1961 The front page of The Brussels Post featured a picture of the members of the Brussels Public School Board, including J. McWhirter, R.W. Kennedy, F. Mitchell, Rev. L. Brown, Chairman L. Ebel and G. Stephenson. The auditorium held a capacity crowd for the school’s official opening, which was highlighted by Rev. Dr. F.G. Stewart, the guest speaker for the night. The Lyceum Theatre in Wingham was showing Fast and Sexy, a comedy about a wealthy Italian widow in search of a husband. The film starred Gina Lollabrigida and Dale Robertson. January 27, 1988 A Wroxeter farmer was found not guilty of charges that he neglected his animals after a provincial court appearance in Goderich one week earlier. Hilbert Van Ankum was found to have not “wilfully failed to provide adequate care for a female mule he had purchased four years earlier to help with halter-breaking his cattle”. Van Ankum was charged in 1987 after the Kitchener/Waterloo Humane Society seized the animal from the Kitchener/Waterloo stock yard where it was found to have extended front hooves. The Citizen was named the winner of three awards for general excellence in a province-wide newspaper competition through the Ontario Community Newspaper Association. The Citizen was named the second place newspaper in the under-2,500 circulation category, as well as having the best editorial page and the best advertising in the same category. The awards would be presented to The Citizen at the association’s annual meeting in March. Polar Daize in Brussels was forced into cancellation due to weather concerns. The three-day fun fest had to be called off because there was little hope that the ice and snow conditions would improve substantially by the weekend. Canada Post officials were scheduled to make another visit to Ethel to see the hamlet’s post office. Upon the second visit, Canada Post would be expecting whether or not postmistress Doreen Suter would want to keep her job when her pay could be cut as much as 75 per cent. January 26, 2006 Incumbent Huron-Bruce MP Paul Steckle was elected to another term representing the riding after a tight race. The race was tight as Steckle ran against Conservative hopeful Ben Lobb. Steckle, however, was announced as the winner just before 12:35 a.m. on Jan. 24. Steckle won the election with 21,178 votes. Close behind Steckle was Lobb with 20,289 votes, followed by Victoria Serda of the Green Party with 1,829 votes, Dave Joslin of the Christian Heritage Party with 1,019 votes and independent Dennis Valenta with 270 votes. Voter turnout in Huron County was just over 70 per cent with 53,282 people coming out to vote. Phil Beard of the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority attended a North Huron Council meeting asking for approximately $14,000 more than he did the year prior. He said more money was required in order to help stabilize the authority’s budget and to do some capital upgrades. Abby McGavin from the McKillop Ward of Huron East was among 130 Ontario children who were nominated for the Ontario Community Newspaper Association distinction of being Junior Citizens of the Year. The 12 finalists would be announced in February. Brook Wheeler, a Brussels native and Colgate women’s hockey goalie, was named goalie of the week in the ECAC Hockey League. Wheeler was able to get out of a game against St. Lawrence with a shutout, despite it being her first game between the pipes since a Jan. 7 contest against Harvard University. Huron OPP responded to a break- in at the Old Mill on Jan. 24. Unknown parties gained access to the building causing some damage while attempting to steal a quantity of clothing. The suspects had left the area by the time police arrived. 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 Time to rebuild understanding After this weekend Ontario will have a new premier, perhaps even the province’s first woman premier, as the Ontario Liberal party chooses a new leader. The real change needed, however, is a change in attitude. The gap between urban and rural residents has been growing in society in general but perhaps never so blatantly as the past few years of the government of Dalton McGuinty. A premier who has done many good things for Ontario has done his province a disservice by seeming so cavalier about rural concerns. The spotlight issue for many rural residents is the proliferation of industrial wind farms but there are many other concerns which, combined, led to the Ontario Liberals being wiped out in rural areas across the province in the 2011 fall election. We need a new premier who will not only halt the alienation of rural Ontarians, but one who will visibly try to mend the rift and reassert the value to Ontario of areas outside the major cities. The neglect under Premier McGuinty is just the most visible example of the devaluing of rural and small-town Ontario in a province where power is more and more concentrated in inward-looking cities. A different expression of the same gap between rural and urban thinking was on view at a meeting in Brussels last week where farmers expressed their frustration with the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA) and its almost unlimited powers when it comes to any animals. Aside from the fact that OSPCA officials have greater powers of search and seizure than police, the underlying problem is one of a very different way of seeing the world. A very urban-oriented OSPCA brings urban ideas about the role of animals when it sees what farmers do. People who think fair treatment of their dog is to let it sleep with them in bed, bring their ideas of how animals should be treated to the very practical world of animal agriculture and see farmers as cruel and inhumane. We need a huge education process for people isolated in cities to reconnect with the realities of the people who produce their food. It’s more than a premier can do, no matter what her/his background but at least we can hope the new premier, or the premier that follows after the next election, can set the tone of understanding. –KR Pointing fingers is no solution In the wake of the terrible shootings in an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut late last year there have been lots of fingers pointed at who should be held responsible for the atmosphere that makes such tragedies so common in the U.S. Few people, however, seem willing to accept their own role in the mess. Defenders of two constitutional rights have gone head to head, blaming the other for the underlying factors at work in the proliferation of gun crime in the U.S. As President Barack Obama recently proposed restrictions on the kind of assault weapons that make it so efficient for disturbed killers to mow down dozens at a time when they go on a killing spree, the National Rifle Association (NRA) has fought back, saying it’s not assault weapons that kill people but a culture of violence promoted by Hollywood movies and TV shows and violent video games. Whenever calls arise for restrictions on the kinds of guns people own, the NRA falls back on the clause in the U.S. constitution which preserves the right to bear arms. When critics of the entertainment industry condemn the prevalence of violence in movies, television and video games, the writers, producers and actors invoke the right to free speech. When put on the spot about the amount of violence in the heavily- promoted new TV series The Following, series creator Kevin Williamson said that of course he had been disturbed by the killings in Newtown and at a movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado last year but: “I’m writing fiction. I’m just a storyteller.” The attitudes of the two sides point to the depth of the problem in the U.S. Violence portrayed 24 hours a day in entertainment sets a tone, probably even promotes the desire to own the weapons that the NRA defends. Those weapons make it possible for a disturbed few to wreck havoc in mass shootings. Still, it’s easier to point fingers at someone else than accept your own responsibility and need to change. — 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.