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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2013-07-18, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 18, 2013.Editorials Opinions Publisher: Keith RoulstonAssociate Publisher & Director of Sales: Ron Drillen Acting Editor: Shawn Loughlin • Reporter: Denny Scott Advertising Sales: 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: Mon. 2 p.m. - Brussels; Mon. 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 July 20, 1961 An early morning fire occurred the previous week and resulted in damages estimated between $20,000 and $23,000. The fire at the Brussels Sales Yards barn, owned and operated by Jack Bryans, caused 21 head of cattle and 2,800 bales of hay to be lost. Four head of cattle were released but the remainder became trapped in the barn. Twelve pigs were able to be removed. Officials are unaware how the fire started, but it began at around 1:45 a.m., as seen by Mr. and Mrs. William Wheeler, who were returning home and by Alan Bridge who sounded the alarm. The call was answered by the Brussels and Grey Fire Departments. The firefighters were challenged with a lack of water when the supply from a nearby creek was exhausted and hose lines had to be laid down from the nearest Brussels fire hydrant, over a half mile away. July 20, 1988 Prime Minister Brian Mulroney was scheduled to make his first visit to Huron County on July 28 when he was to visit Goderich to open the new harbour development in the lakeshore town. After flying into Goderich Airport from Ottawa, Mulroney said he would open the $17 million harbour project at 10:30 a.m. The prime minister, his wife and family were then scheduled to attend an open luncheon at Goderich airport as a fundraiser for the Progressive Conservative Party. Hundreds of people attended the official opening of the McGavin Farm Supply Limited in Walton. The company president, Brian McGavin, his brother Jeff and their father Neil, all joined together to cut the official ribbon, which was stretched between two new Ford garden tractors. The new Ford-New Holland dealership is located beside McGavin Farm Equipment Ltd. which celebrated its 52nd anniversary this year. MP Murray Cardiff was the guest speaker at the event. July 20, 2006 With the Blyth Festival’s runaway hit The Ballad of Stompin’ Tom turning heads all across the province, the play’s cast was shocked to find out that Stompin’ Tom Connors was in the Memorial Hall audience for the July 14 performance of the show. Festival Artistic Director Eric Coates said that he and the office staff knew that Connors, along with his 10-member band, would be at the show, but they were instructed to not tell the cast until after the show was done. Connors sat in the back row of the balcony with his band. Near the end of the show, Connors began singing along to Randy Hughson, who plays Connors in the production. Coates said that Connors stayed around for an impromptu get- together with the cast and crew until about 2 a.m. the next morning. Work at Wingham’s Richard LeVan Airport was approved by North Huron Council. The total cost for the renovations was $226,097.03 because the condition of the runway is good now, but is at risk of changing when the next plane lands. The cost would then be much higher. Anne Cepukas of Morris- Turnberry was honoured with the White Cross of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John in Jerusalem, Cepukas had been working with St. John Ambulance for nearly 10 years, helping people with therapy dogs. Brock and Janis Vodden, formerly of Blyth, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. The couple assured The Citizen that they are still very much in love. “My heart still skips a beat when I see Brock coming,” Janis said. July 19, 2012 The first annual Blyth Buskerfest drew 35 acts for the street festival, which ran from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in conjunction with Campvention. Canadian Country music artist Jason Blaine has been announced as a musical performer at the Parts Canada TransCan Canadian Motocross Grand National Championship at Walton Raceway on August 17. Morris-Turnberry councillors authorized their staff to meet with North Huron staff to investigate options for a potential fire agreement between the two municipalities. Mandy Sellers, a former student of Brussels Public School, had a week of successful shows at the Toronto Fringe Festival with her two-woman show Two Weird Ladies Bomb The Fringe and she and her performing partner Laura Salvas, were taking the show to the Hamilton Fringe Festival as well. Central Huron Councillor Brian Barnim was fighting with the rest of council to investigate a bylaw that would allow golf carts on the streets of Clinton. Morris-Turnberry Council voted on a motion that would bring the municipality to the next step of possibly hosting a nuclear waste storage site. The vote, however, was tied, so it was scheduled to return to council’s next meeting, where it could be voted on once again. 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 Coping with wacky weather If one of the hallmarks of climate change is the unpredictability of weather, Ontario has been getting plenty of evidence that our climate is changing in the summer of 2013. Even here in Huron County variablity is striking. Areas east of Brussels and Walton have had more than one occasion when a belt of heavy rain has left fields flooded. Farther west, for instance in the Lucknow area, it’s so dry grass on lawns crackles underfoot. Farmers in areas of southwestern Ontario have had so much rain this year they’re worried their crop yields will be diminished. And, of course, there was the cloud burst that hit parts of the Toronto area with rainfall amounts greater than recorded during Hurricane Hazel in 1954, flooding downtown streets and subways and leaving some people without power for more than a day. Meanwhile other areas of the city got very little rain. So far the summer of 2013, with its excess moisture, is the opposite of 2012’s summer when it was so hot and dry farmers worried they’d have a crop failure, until timely rains produced a bumper crop. There’s no way of proving any of these events is a sign of climate change. Day to day, weather is weather. It’s only when we add it up and take a longer term view that we get climate. Still, the extremities of weather in recent years seem to indicate something is changing and we need to be taking seriously, and preparing for, what climate change will mean. –KR An end to wasting talents? Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) Chief Barbara Hall announced, Monday, that her commission will be looking at requirements for “Canadian experience” by employers and professional accreditation agencies as illegal discrimination. Sometimes the OHRC can be overly zealous in expanding the scope of human rights violations, but this is a decision that could do much to solve the problem of the tremendous waste of talent that results when talented professionals from other parts of the world are forced to work in jobs far below their training. Canada has been taking doctors and other professionals from less advantaged countries where they were needed but under rewarded, then not allowing them to practice their skills here because their foreign accreditation isn’t recognized. They end up doing menial work while they try to find a way to be accepted by the Canadian professional associations. There are dangers, of course. We don’t want people practicing medicine here who have had inadequate medical training without upgrading their skills. Still, we’ve been in a ridiculous situation where we have a doctor shortage but qualified doctors have been driving taxi cabs because some professional agency makes it too hard for them to qualify. If Commissioner Hall can break that log jam she has done the individuals in question, and the province of Ontario, a huge service. –KR An example for us all Last week Malala Yousafzai marked her 16th birthday by speaking to world leaders at the United Nations – and that wasn’t even the most remarkable part of the story. Yousafzai was speaking nine months after a Taliban gunman in Pakistan shot her in the head in an attempt to silence her for speaking out for the rights of girls to get an education. Through her survival she was given an opportunity to make her argument in favour of free education of all children heard around the world. “One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world,” she said. Through her courage and determination Yousafzai shames all of us in privileged societies who sit back and cynically say that our puny efforts won’t make a difference so we might as well sit back and enjoy “The Amazing Race”. If this little girl from a backward area of Pakistan can accomplish so much and be so determined, against all odds, we should all be inspired to do our part to make the world – or our community – a better place. –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.