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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2013-04-11, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 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 April 14, 1948 The CKNX Barn Dance Broadcast had a full capacity audience, which had its origins on the Memorial Hall stage in Blyth. Listeners of the Saturday night special had the opportunity to see their radio favourites in person. Attendants believe it was the largest gathering in the hall in a long time. Following the hour-and-a-half broadcast, the CKNX Ranch Boys provided music for dancing. People of Blyth were asked to bundle up their waste paper and leave it in front of their homes. Proceeds from the drive would be used for the summer camp for boys. April 13, 1988 On April 7, three area students travelled to Walkerton to compete in the Lions District A9 Effective Speaking Final. Kim Medd and Stephen Souch, sponsored by the Blyth Lions Club, and Stacey Elliot, sponsored by the Londesborough Lions Club, earned the opportunity to advance to the District A9 at the Region 3 contest. After the judging, Kim Medd was declared the District A9 English Girl Effecting Speaking Champion. The other students finished as runners up in their category. Medd’s prepared speech was on child abuse and her two-minute impromptu speech was on her dream vacation. She was the first-ever district winner from Blyth. She advanced to the Multiple District A Contest. April 13, 2006 On April 3, Central Huron Secondary School launched its Redwalk ’06 walk-a-thon which was paired with great news: the Avon Maitland District School Board would be investing $1.6 million in the school over the next two years. The lion’s share of the investment would go towards renovating the school’s large gym, which had not been renovated since 1963. The stage will be removed to provide more floor space and a new hardwood floor will be added to replace the decaying, outdated tile flood. In addition, lighting, heating and air conditioning, seating, change rooms, basketball backboards/nets, storage area, stage, video and media connections, and sound systems would all be replaced. In an effort to help acquire the new gym, staff and students had been have been fundraising for the past two years and raised a total of $40,000 to date. The year’s walk-a-thon put all proceeds towards renewing the centrepiece of the school. All participating students walked 16.7 kilometres to the Varna complex for a day of activities to celebrate the school’s accomplishments. April 12, 2012 Members of the Fire Department of North Huron from the Blyth fire hall answered a call when a fire was discovered at David Werkema’s farm. Firefighters were on the scene trying to contain a fire that started between a wood-burning stove and an adjacent shed which held wood for the stove. The firefighters were able to contain the fire and return to the hall after an hour and a half. Grade 7/8 students from Blyth Public School wrote persuasive letters to their parents after reading “I Wanna Iguana”. Their objective is to negotiate a rule or convince their parents to allow them to do something. Their parents would then send responses back. The Brussels Blyth PeeWee Local League team became the Western Ontario Athletics Association finalists after playing against Listowel Cyclones team and taking them all the way to game five in their series. Austin Grant, guitarist from the band Six Steps to Salvation, performed at Blyth’s annual Me-to- We event, showcasing local youth’s talent. The evening featured music, dance and visual art. The closing in the maple syrup shack on the farm of Jeff and Shannon McGavin took place on Good Friday. The party was hosted by Bob Rowe and Gerry Wheeler. They provided hamburgers, sausage, pancakes and syrup for nearly 100 attendants. Everyone was given a Canadian flag for a ceremony honouring the fallen soldiers of Afghanistan and their families. The poem “In Flander’s Field” was recited and those present played the reveille and sang many of the old familiar songs. All donations from the maple syrup sales were donated to the funds for the families of fallen soldiers, created by former Chief of Defence Staff Rick Hillier. Morris-Turnberry Mayor Paul Gowing raised the topic of a county- wide fire service at Huron County Council after negotiations with North Huron over fire service had gone south. Councillors felt that while the issue was worthwhile, it was too expansive to be discussed in one day. It was to be discussed at a future strategic planning session. Central Huron Mayor Jim Ginn, who had his own run-in with fire agreement negotiations, said he would welcome an investigation into the possibility. Huron-Bruce MP Ben Lobb spoke about the proposed federal budget, saying that it delivered on all of his election promises. 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 Common sense prevails Politics is a messy business but when it works, it can provide solutions that are in the best public interest. The announcement last week that the Township of North Huron and Municipality of Morris-Turnberry had reached an agreement on the long simmering fire issue shows politics can work – with a little help from a good mediator. It was nearly 15 months ago that Morris-Turnberry announced plans to create its own fire department because it was unhappy with the take- it-or-leave-it offer that North Huron had given for providing fire protection to large portions of the municipality. At a public meeting last May, Morris-Turnberry residents gave their councillors an earful about how foolish they thought the idea was. Both sides promised to negotiate but efforts didn’t work until University of Guelph professor Wayne Caldwell was brought in as a mediator. He found the common ground to bring the parties together. Taxpayers of both municipalities win. Morris-Turnberry ratepayers will realize reduced costs for fire protection and won’t have to support a fire department of their own. North Huron taxpayers will pick up a little more of the cost for their fire department, but a lot less than they would have if Morris-Turnberry had pulled out of the agreement. Everyone owes a vote of gratitude to Caldwell, and to the councillors of the two municipalities who were willing to compromise, for finding the solution and bringing neighbours back together again. –KR Playing politics with lives The tragic deaths of a family in a house fire north of Toronto on Good Friday is being used by the professional firefighters’ union to promote the value of full-time professional firefighters over volunteers. There were no working smoke detectors in the home near Sharon where a family of four died, yet the focus of media coverage has been instead on a call by the Professional Firefighters Association of Ontario for the Ontario Fire Marshal’s office to investigate if the 12-minute response time by the volunteer firefighters of the local department might have contributed to the deaths. “We just want to stress that we need to ensure the Fire Marshal addresses the level of staffing and response times, so that communities are aware you may have not the same fire protection as far as response that you think you do,” said Mark McKinnon of the union. McKinnon’s response is hurtful to the local volunteers who responded to the fire and were unable to save the residents of the house. These people who take long hours of training, interrupt their own lives when a fire call comes, and put their lives at risk to help their neighbours, deserve to be hailed as heroes, not seen as part of the problem. The self-serving criticism from the firefighters’ union is also about applying urban thinking to more rural areas. The full-time firefighters almost resent that volunteers “take their jobs” in rural communities. In an area being rapidly urbanized like East Gwillimbury, there may be a possibility of creating a fire department staffed 24 hours a day. Through most of rural Ontario it’s a service that’s unaffordable, but one which some people won’t be satisfied until they’ve forced on us. Meanwhile we should thank and honour our volunteer firefighters for the tremendous service they provide. –KR When is it just plain greed? Canadians were disgusted this week when they learned that the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) had laid off Canadians workers to replace them with temporary foreign workers. The duty of the chief executive of a company is to maximize profit for the shareholders of the company, but when a company that makes a first- quarter profit of $2.07 billion like RBC when does maximizing profit become pure greed? Banks succeed because people have money to deposit. They should remember that if so many jobs are given to foreign workers or outsourced that Canadians don’t have money, banks may pay the penalty for their own greed. –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.