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The Citizen, 2012-02-02, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2012.Editorials Opinions Publisher: Keith Roulston Acting Editor: Shawn Loughlin • Reporter: Denny ScottAdvertising Sales: Ken Warwick & Lori Patterson The Citizen P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. N0M 1H0 Phone 523-4792 FAX 523-9140 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. N0G 1H0 Phone 887-9114 E-mail norhuron@scsinternet.com 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; $115.00/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 February 4, 1965 The Brussels Public Library Board held its annual meeting on Jan. 28 where eight applications for librarian were read and evaluated. Ed Martin was elected to the position of chairman of the board while Roy Cousins was named treasurer. Rev. H.L. Jennings was named secretary. Brussels residents were asked to keep their porch lights on at 7 p.m. on the evening of Feb. 5. Volunteers collecting for the annual March of Dimes were to collect throughout the village and a porch light left on signified that you welcomed their call. The Majestic Women’s Institute was set to hold its annual meeting at the Brussels Library on Feb. 11. The guest speaker would be Mrs. George Michie who was going to speak on the topic of “Civil Rights”. After several parked cars were “ransacked” in Brussels by a “sneak thief” The Brussels Post issued this warning: “The guilty party, or parties, are warned to desist or be prepared to take what’s coming to them. A word to the wise is sufficient.” A large audience was in the Brussels Arena stands on Jan. 29 to observe Minor Hockey Week in Canada. Brussels held a large hockey celebration and backed it up by winning three of its games and tying one. February 4, 1987 Brussels Village Council approved a new fire agreement with Grey Township on Feb. 2 after a split decision was broken by Reeve Hank Ten Pas. While Brussels Council had made its decision, Grey Township Council still was yet to make its decision on the matter. The agreement called for an annual standby charge of $500 and an hourly rate of $350 per hour. These rates were a compromise, as the previous year the hourly rate was $300 per hour with no annual standby fee. The rates were dropped, however, from the original proposal from Brussels which included a $1,200 annual standby fee. The Village of Brussels appointed Pannell Kerr MacGillivray as the village auditors. Councillor Malcolm Jacobs said there were some numbers in the village’s annual budget that “didn’t please council” so that’s why the auditors were eventually brought in. Brussels Councillor Malcolm Jacobs resigned from the Brussels, Morris and Grey Industrial Committee and suggested that Reeve Hank Ten Pas take his place immediately. February 2, 1994 The Huron United Way officially reported that its 1993 campaign exceeded $108,000. The figure represented a substantial increase from the organization’s 1992 campaign that generated $83,000 in donations. Planning was already underway for a food fair in Blyth to be held in the summer. The fair would feature some of the best foods grown and processed in Huron County and would make them available to the public for sampling. The Clinton Credit Union launched a new program called Farm PLUS that allowed the purchase of GICs at local credit unions, keeping the community’s money in the community to benefit local farm-related or value-added businesses through loans and mortgages. Wayne Lowe of Brussels was reported to have been in an accident involving a straw bale. A youth was charged after a bale of straw fell from the truck he was driving and hit another vehicle that was being driven by Lowe. The OPP said Lowe was driving a Huron County-owned truck south on County Road 12 when the bale fell in front of his car as the two vehicles met. There were no injuries reported and only minimal damage to Lowe’s truck. February 1, 2007 The Western Ontario Athletic Association, after recently celebrating its 65th anniversary, announced that it would be relocating its operations to a new building in Wingham, while at the same time launching a new fundraising campaign for the building. The campaign, entitled “Building for our Future” had an end date of June 10 and a final financial goal of $347,000. The Friends of Ball’s Bridge received “incredible” news in the form of a letter written to The Citizen announcing that a local landowner wished to donate her property to Ball’s Bridge. The landowner said she had a “strong connection” to the bridge and was moved to action by the idea that the bridge may disappear. “[The landowner] feels so strongly that the bridge remain here for future generations,” said Daryl Ball, co-chair of the Friends of Ball’s Bridge group. At the Jan. 23 meeting of Huron East Council, Clerk-Administrator Jack McLachlan announced that he would have figures on how much it would cost to demolish the Brussels Library within the next two weeks. After the municipality acquired the library land, obtaining a quotation for the demolition of the building was the next step. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities. We are not responsible for unsolicited newsscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright The high price of squabbling Taxpayers in North Huron and Morris-Turnberry are about to get an expensive lesson in the cost of the breakdown of the co-operation that traditionally has marked relations between local municipalities in the days before municipal amalgamation. The decision by Morris-Turnberry to start a fire service of its own with fire stations in Belgrave and at the north side of Wingham means taxpayers in the area will be supporting four fire stations, with all the necessary equipment and firefighter wage and training costs, where there were once two. But Morris-Turnberry feels it has no choice but to create its own service because it found itself in a take-it-or-leave-it situation with North Huron’s monopoly on fire service. You only have to go back a few years to the days of fire area boards to know when things were much different. The Blyth and District Fire Department, for instance, (now the Blyth station of the Fire Department of North Huron) was run by a fire area board with representatives of all the townships that it served. Everyone owned a piece of the department and everybody had a say in its operation. There was a huge sense of support for the firefighters and their needs. But a representative of the Ontario Fire Marshal’s office felt this structure muddied the chain of command and persuaded North Huron that it was best for it to take over and run the fire department (and the former Wingham department) and sell service to the areas outside its boundaries (like Morris-Turnberry) that had previously been part of the fire area boards in Blyth and Wingham. There were hard feelings at the time among the municipalities that were unilaterally told the old system was dead, and even harder feelings when North Huron produced the bill for covering the neighbouring communities. Both Central Huron and Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh rebelled and wanted to use other, more distant fire stations, to cover the areas formerly covered by Blyth. That in turn upset residents of northern Hullett, Auburn and southern West Wawanosh who worried about the extra time to get help if they needed a fire department. Part of the sticker shock of North Huron’s proposals has been because the capital costs that used to be isolated from the yearly operating costs, are now averaged out and part of the annual bill, making it seem much higher than municipalities paid earlier. But that’s also part of the problem according to Morris-Turnberry in its announcement of its new fire service – they feel they’re paying to buy new equipment but don’t own a share of it, as they did in the old days. It’s a mess that has created hard feeling among neighbours and is expensive for taxpayers. Somehow the municipalities have to find a way of putting the pieces back together again – to rebuild a sense that municipal boundaries aren’t barriers to communicating, sharing and co- operating. — KR Spell it out Prime Minister Stephen Harper is playing with fire by hinting at changes to the Old Age Security (OAS) system without giving the details of what he has in mind. Harper has several valid points in his argument that something has to change. As he said, there will be more and more people getting OAS in the coming years, with fewer people still working to help pay the bills. There’s also the point, often mentioned, that people are living longer so must be supported for more years unless the retirement age is raised. But in not giving details, Harper is just creating concern and contro- versy. It has never been a good idea to upset seniors and with the size of the Baby Boom Generation this is a group you don’t want to tick off. It’s become fashionable to see the aging Boomers as a threat to the country’s finances and a burden for younger Canadians. It’s easy to forget that this is the first generation that has paid CPP for its entire working life, that has supported its children longer as they went to university or college in greater numbers never before. More boomers will continue to pay taxes in their retirement than any generation before it. Now’s a time for information, not creating worry. — 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.