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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, May 9, 2013
Volume 29 No. 19
BUDGET - Pg. 11Huron-Bruce MPPdiscusses the budget ART SHOW - Pg. 19 Student Art Show opensat Blyth Memorial HallFIRE- Pg. 9Council faces criticismafter Foodland firePublications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
Leo Club should be running by end of June
How much is that popcorn in the window?
Hullett Central Public School held its 10th annual spring fun fair and auction on Friday at the Blyth and District Community Centre
and moving the event to a bigger venue certainly paid off with great attendance numbers all around. The evening featured an
auction for the adults and plenty of fun things to do and see for the children. There were also plenty of great things to eat,
including popcorn, which seems to have caught the eyes of four-year-old Makayla Phelan-Govier, left, and five-year-old Jade
Bissett. (Vicky Bremner photo)
Club
suspends
annual
dog show
The Bluewater Kennel Club has
decided to suspend their annual dog
show held at the Blyth Campground
this year to try and address some
issues that have arisen over the past
three shows.
“We’ve lost money on the show
for the last three years,” said
organizer Florence Pullen. “Being in
the middle of the week hurts us and,
after 34 years of it, we’re realizing
we have to move [to a weekend
event].”
Pullen explained that when the
Oxford-area dog show was
cancelled last year, they thought
they would be able to move in to that
time slot making for a better draw
and hopefully rejuvenating the
show, however there were rules in
place regarding the scheduling of
the shows and that slot went to the
London club, despite the fact that
they already have a weekend show.
One of the reasons the local show
organizers want to move the show is
that they have experienced a
dramatic reduction in the number of
entrants coming from the United
States. Pullen said that it was likely
caused by the parity of the Canadian
and U.S. dollar and the fact that
anyone wishing to participate in
their show would likely have to take
time off at their jobs.
“Things have definitely changed,”
she said. “We used to have 45 per
cent of our entries come from south
of the border. In the last few years,
however, we’ve had less than 10 per
cent come from there. It’s a big drop
and we were dependent on them.”
Pullen added that changes to
passport practices and the border has
also made the show harder to sell to
U.S. competitors.
“There are so many shows for
people to pick and choose from,” she
said. “They will always choose the
weekend ones even when they tell us
that our grounds and our show are
the best around. It’s a timing thing.”
While the Bluewater Kennel Club
still has money saved, the decision
was made this year to suspend the
show so they didn’t end up
completely broke.
Pullen, however, said she didn’t
know if that was a great idea.
“If you have something that’s
annual and take a year off, it can be
very difficult to get it going again,”
she said. “Pretty much all the other
clubs and shows are in rough shape
too, so it could be a problem all
Paul Mutter, president of the
Brussels Lions Club, says the club’s
efforts to gauge interest in a Leo
Club for Brussels have been an
“overwhelming success” so far.
He says that nearly 20 young
people attended the club’s
information night, which was held at
the Brussels, Morris and Grey
Community Centre on April 29. The
club has already received 13
membership applications, nine that
night, and four more in the week and
a half since.
The intent behind the meeting,
Mutter says, was to see if there was
even enough interest in the
community to warrant starting up a
Leo Club. Early indications, Mutter
says, are better than Lions Club
members expected.
With a good representation of
potential members, both male and
female, and members of the Brussels
Lions Club and Lions District
Officers from Kincardine, Ripley
and Dublin in attendance, Mutter
says that community centre’s upper
auditorium was essentially full on
April 29 for the information
evening.
The evening began with a
presentation by two members of the
St. Marys Lions Club, who serve as
advisors for the St. Marys Leo Club.
The two members were also
instrumental in the formation of the
St. Marys Leo Club, Mutter says, so
it was good to have them there to
speak on a subject they have been so
close to over the years.
The St. Marys club was formed
five years ago, Mutter says, and
since the club is self-governed by the
Leo members, they are free to
choose their own projects and their
own methods through which to serve
their community.
The role of the advisors, Mutter
says, is to provide guidance and
supervision to the Leo members, but
not to interfere. Some of the projects
the St. Marys Leos began were
collecting pop tabs, setting up a
haunted house at Halloween, selling
chocolate at Easter, several
environmental projects and assisting
underprivileged youth financially,
The first long weekend of spring is
almost upon us and it looks like
Mother Nature might just be co-
operative supplying Ontario with
some warm weather.
The Citizen’s offices will be
closed on Monday, May 20 for
Victoria Day, meaning deadlines for
the May 23 issue of The Citizen will
have to be moved.
As opposed to Monday, May 20,
deadlines for the May 23 newspaper
will be Friday, May 17 at 2 p.m. at
The Citizen’s Brussels office, and at
4 p.m. at the Blyth office.
The Citizen wishes its readers and
community members a safe and
happy holiday weekend.
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Continued on page 16Continued on page 11
Holiday for ‘Citizen’
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen