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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2013-03-14, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 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 March 23, 1961 A total of $20 was raised at the benefit hockey game at the Brussels arena. The game was played to raise money to help with medical expenses after Larry Harrison was injured at a hockey game several weeks earlier. The Brussels PeeWee hockey team defeated the Wingham All- Stars 4-3. The newly appointed minister of Melville Presbyterian Church, Rev. W.J. Morrison was scheduled to have his induction later that week. Morrison came to Brussels from Ireland where he was in charge of the Grange Presbyterian Church. Rev. and Mrs. Morrison, along with their children, George, seven, Rosemary, five, and Heather, two, were welcomed to Brussels. On March 15, Bob Cunningham held a “Family Night” at the Ethel Community Centre. Filled with about 400 guests, the entertainment began with a showing of children’s films and a concert by The Paul Trio. Afterwards, lucky door draws were made and lunch was served. Door prizes were won by George Hoy, Herman Whitfield, Mrs. John Alcock, and Mrs. John Krauter. The kids didn’t leave empty-handed either, as they were given candy and a gift to take home with them. March 16, 1988 The Brussels main street experienced some changes as the McCutcheon Grocery closed down on March 5 due to the changing economic climate and in clientele shopping patterns. Dave and Janet McCutcheon, the owners of the family-run grocery store, decided to close the store and look for work elsewhere. In addition, Barbara M. Brown Yarns and Craft Shop closed after six years in business. Mrs. Brown still intended to provide custom knitting and continue her knitting classes from her home. International figure skating pairs champions, Kevin Wheeler and Michelle Menzies and national dance stars Peter MacDonald and Kerrie Shepherd, were scheduled to be the guest skaters at the Brussels Figure Skating Club’s carnival. In honour of Evalena Webster’s 80th birthday, an open house was held at Blyth United Church. Cake and ice cream was served and birthday songs were sang. March 16, 2006 Logan Chalmers, five, competed for the first time in the competitive division for acro-gymnastics at the Flashdance competition held at Guelph’s River Run Centre. Chalmers achieved the highest overall solo for six years and under. Blyth Atoms were put out of the OMHA contention by Embro. Blyth faced tough losses in the first two games in the playoff, but came back fighting. With no goals in the second period, Alex Peters handed off to Matt VanWyk, who set up to his brother Mike to score. Blyth carried the lead into the final period. However, Embro came back to score the first tie-breaker and then the go-ahead goal within a minute. They confirmed the victory with a third goal in the last seconds of the game. The final score was 3-1. Warming temperatures and rainfall caused the Maitland River to be at its highest water level of the year. The river had spilled over its banks in many areas and had almost reached the roadways in some spots as a result of the snowpack reduced significantly and accumulations of precipitation. A flood monitoring safety bulletin was released throughout the watershed area on Friday by Dave Grummett, the director for the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority. March 15, 2012 Leah Stevenson, nine, Annie Wyler, 11, and Ashley Payne, 18, were part of the Molesworth Bowling Club. The three participated in the Provincial Championships in which 12 teams from across Ontario competed against each other in Burlington. The girls won first place and were set to compete in Newfoundland in May for the Canadian Championship. Tim Holland was seen in Blyth where he performed his ventriloquism show, “The Puppet Tamer”, at Memorial Hall sponsored by the Blyth Legion. Dozens of children showed up to see Holland's show which included a parrot, turtle and more. Emergency vehicles were kept busy after calls came in on three separate occasions regarding vehicles in Country Road 4 between Blyth and Wingham. A little before noon near the London Road and Moncrieff Road intersection, a single vehicle rolled into the ditch. Thankfully, no injuries were reported. At 12:40 p.m., emergency vehicles were called to report to a collision involving a car and a fuel truck. The car was badly damaged in addition to other vehicles ending up in the ditch. Several people were sent to Wingham Hospital with non- life-threatening injuries. Almost an hour later, another collision occurred between a van and a car, but no serious injuries were reported. 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 Better than nothing, but . . . Last week Premier Kathleen Wynne, in her role as minister of agriculture and food, announced deals that will keep horse racing alive at tracks in Clinton, Hanover, Elora and Western Fair in London. The deals are the first step to move the industry into a new funding arrangement and away from a Slots revenue-sharing program with the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., which last year put $345 million into Ontario horse racing, Wynne said. Compared to having the horse racing industry shut down, as was feared would happen when the government announced it was cancelling its agreements for racetracks to host Slots casinos, Wynne’s move is a step forward. There are estimates the horse racing industry could get up to $200 million a year. While repairing the damage cancelling the Slots agreements would have done, the new agreements still don’t make the government look good. Like any addict – and provincial governments have become addicted to gambling revenue – the government will do whatever it takes to keep getting its fix, and generally needs a bigger fix as time goes on. Once upon a time race tracks were the only place you could legally gamble in Ontario and the money spent at the betting wicket helped support the racing industry through the prizes won on the track. The industry began to wain when the government introduced all sorts of other gambling options – first lotteries then casinos. A previous government thought it had found a way for both the tracks and the government to win by having the tracks host Slots casinos with some of the revenue going to the track. But, addicted as it is, the government decided they didn’t want to share that revenue anymore. The Slots cancellation puts the government in the same conflict of interest situation it has long been in with tightened regulations that have made it harder for community groups to raise money through bingos and Las Vegas nights. Local groups that once used the money for local projects now must apply instead to the Trillium Foundation for grants which they may or may not get. Meanwhile, lottery and gaming dollars are sucked out of the community to fund government programs which may, or may not, help the local community. The day governments got involved in raising money from gambling was the day they lost their integrity. –KR Neither free nor fair trade The U.S. government proposed changes that weren’t changes to its mandatory Country of Origin food labelling regulations recently, trying to stave off sanctions by the World Trade Organization (WTO). On the surface, how can you argue against the right of a country to rule that its citizens should be able to know the origin of their food? But the U.S., in imposing its mandatory labelling regulations in 2008, managed the neat double trick of giving consumers useless information that makes it much harder for Canadian or Mexican farmers to sell their meat to American consumers. The labels just don’t say the meat comes from the U.S. or Canada. If the animal had been raised in Canada but processed in a U.S. plant, it must be labelled as such. Even if the animal had been born in Canada but raised from the time it was a few weeks old on an American farm, it must be so labelled. Packing plants found it easier to avoid imported animals than to have to keep them segregated. Canada and Mexico appealed to the WTO saying the regulations were really unfair trade barriers. They won their case, then won an appeal. The WTO gave the U.S. until May 23, 2013 to fix the regulations. The U.S. brought in new regulations that were hardly changed but by the time the WTO considers them, more Canadian trade will be lost. The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association estimates the regulations add $25 to $40 per head to a Canadian cattle beast in the U.S. market and mean a loss of $150 million per year to Canadian cattle producers. At the same time as Canadians have been losing exports, the U.S. has targeted Canada as an area of growth for U.S. producers and Canadian imports of beef and pork have soared. Our producers lost doubly. The U.S., the great proponent of free trade, really sees trade rules as things to be manipulated to favour Americans. –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.