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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, April 18, 2013
Volume 29 No. 16
OUTAGE - Pg. 24Extensive coverage on lastweekend’s power outage PARTIES - Pg. 28AGCO clarifies buck anddoe status in Central HuronCARCARE- Pg. 11‘The Citizen’ presents itsannual spring car care guidePublications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
Warming centres aid residents during power outage
Brussels
to start
Leo Club
At long last...
After years of debate surrounding the future of the Brussels Library, work has finally begun on the original Carnegie library.
Despite the dreary conditions on Tuesday, crews were out doing some preliminary work at the site before the major renovation
and construction work begins. The library is now open temporarily at the Brussels Business Centre and library services will
remain there until the renovations are complete. (Denny Scott photo)
A massive power outage saw
hundreds of thousands of people
across central and southern Ontario
without power over the weekend
with some still not having power
until Monday morning.
Caused by downed power poles,
power lines and damaged equipment
during an ice storm on Thursday
night and Friday morning, the power
outage saw the entirety of The
Citizen’s coverage area, from
Londesborough to Belgrave and
from Auburn to Ethel without power.
Tiziana Baccega Rosa, a
spokesperson for Hydro One,
explained that, with a storm like the
one that blanketed Ontario with ice,
there is a lot of damage that can
occur.
“The weather caused ice on the
lines, poles and trees which, when
combined with the high winds, can
knock out the equipment and disrupt
power,” she said, indicating that
150,000 customers from across the
province were affected by the
outage.
“As of right now [Monday
morning], there are still people
without power,” she said. “It looks
like the latest that those people will
be without power will be this
afternoon or this evening if
everything cooperates and the crews
are able to get through to the more
remote areas.”
A linesman for Hydro One
working in the Listowel area who
preferred not to be name explained
that, while this isn’t a normal
occurrence, it’s nothing new either.
“We usually get three to four of
these events a year across the
province,” he said, adding that they
make for several 16-hour days. “The
phone rings and you take off.”
According to the linesman, the
weekend was more than busy for
Hydro One employees.
“There was something like 120
people working the area and the
storm knocked down around 125
poles and damaged transformers,” he
said.
Locally, the power saw the
creation of several warming centres
throughout the area as well as a
busing system for North Huron
residents to access that
municipality’s centre at the Knights
of Columbus Centre in Wingham.
“The warming centre went over
pretty well,” Chief Administrative
Officer of North Huron Gary Long
reported. “We pulled it together
fairly quickly.”
Long noted that there were at least
a half a dozen people who took
advantage of the buses going to and
from Blyth and Wingham with a stop
in Belgrave to get to the centre. He
also indicated that the municipality
was looking for another solution just
prior to the power coming back on in
Blyth and East Wawanosh.
“We’re pleased that some people
took advantage of that,” he said. “If
the power in parts of East Wawanosh
and Blyth hadn’t been restored
Friday night, we were going to open
up the Emergency Services Training
Centre as a warming centre. We
couldn’t do it Friday night, as we
didn’t have a generator available, but
we were working with a company in
Tavistock to have a generator
available for Saturday.”
The senior management team
in North Huron determined it
would be quicker, for Friday night,
to set up the warming system and
bus schedule.
Long said that the complex, aside
from being a place to get warm, had
food and coffee and two staff
members on hand to help anyone
who needed it. He said there was
also someone manning the phones to
keep the information going to the
community.
Abi Corbett, recreation and
facility manager at the Brussels,
Morris and Grey Community
Centre, said that their warming
centre operated well and welcomed
many people throughout the outage.
“Friday night, we probably had
about 35 people in through the
evening,” she said. “We had one
person stay overnight.”
Corbett explained that, in case of
an emergency, the centre does have
cots and sleeping bags to
The Brussels Lions Club is hoping
to reach out to the town’s youth by
re-establishing a Leo Club.
The Lions will be holding an
information night for the Leo Club,
both for area young people and their
parents, on April 29 at 7 p.m. at the
Brussels, Morris and Grey
Community Centre.
It has been over 20 years since
there has been a Leo Club in
Brussels and Lions Club member
Julie Hamilton says that former
members of the club have now
grown into upstanding adults and
members feel it’s time to begin that
tradition once again.
With current Lions Club members
like Brad Knight, Greg Ducharme,
Greg Exel and Shannon McGavin
who were formerly involved with the
Leo Club, Hamilton says that the
Leo Club provides young people
with great life skills that members
can utilize for their entire lives.
“This helps people to become
good leaders and hard workers and
the teamwork skills are second to
none,” Hamilton said. “The
members really stand by each other.
They’re very supportive of one
another.”
Around the world there are more
than 5,800 Leo Clubs in more than
140 countries. The concept to re-
establish a Leo Club in Brussels was
first raised by one of the Lions
Club’s senior members and has now
been in the works for several
months.
A statement issued by the club
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 22
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