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The Citizen, 2012-02-16, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2012.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 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 18, 1965 A letter mailed from Blyth destined for Jack Wheeler of Brussels made its way to Brussels, Belgium. The letter was mailed at the end of December, 1964 and finally made its way to Wheeler in the first week of February. The letter arrived in Belgium on Jan. 18 before it was sent back to Ontario. The Brussels Post reported this was not the first time the mix-up had occurred with letters. A coroner’s jury inquiry into the death of Ephraim Parish of Brussels determined that the incident was the result of poor weather conditions and slushy road conditions, which caused his car to collide with a truck being driven by George Melvin Jacklin, also of Brussels. The collision occurred on Oct. 21, 1964 on County Road 16, seven miles east of Brussels. The Brussels Bantam hockey team met Blyth for the first game of the group championship and beat their cross-town rivals by a score of 10-7. Terry Rutledge and Neil Gowing both scored a hattrick, while Kim Beirnes scored two goals and Paul McDonald and Murray Blake each scored one. The Gentlemen’s Club had some stark observations about the men of the era. “This generation are a bunch of softies and sissies. The males should wear lace embroidery on their shorts. They get up in the morning in a heated house, walk into a heated garage, get into a heated car and beat it for the nearest coffee shop. If it’s below zero, they have a hump on their back like a camel. I wonder what they would have done, say in 1903-04 when the snow was so deep not a train into Brussels for six weeks.” Comrade Evelyn Carroll, zone commander for the Legion Ladies Auxiliary in Goderich was scheduled to make her official visit to the Brussels branch of the Ladies Auxiliary on March 4. February 18, 1987 Blyth Village Council officially declared the seat of Councillor Tom Cronin vacant at the Feb. 17 council meeting. Nominations for the position would be welcomed until Feb. 27 at 4:30 p.m. The nomination had to be accompanied by a letter of “consent to stand”. Council would consider the applications at the March 10 meeting. The 1987 season of the Blyth Festival would welcome four new plays and the return of a hit drama in what Artistic Director Katherine Kaszas was calling “the most exciting season ever”. Girls in the Gang would open the season on June 19, followed by Bordertown Café, a Festival- commissioned play written by Kelly Rebar. Miss Balmoral of the Bayview by Colleen Curan would open on July 14 and Laurie Fyfe’s Bush Fire would round out the season’s four new plays. The returning play was Another Season’s Promise, written by Keith Roulston and Anne Chislett. The play was a huge success during the 1986 season. Ross Stephenson was honoured for serving 31 years as a volunteer firefighter with the Grey Fire Department. Stephenson was presented with the Exemplary Service Medal on behalf of the Canadian government by Huron-Bruce MP Murray Cardiff. February 16, 1994 Several broken watermains throughout the Village of Brussels kept town employees busy over the weekend, with four breaks occurring in the past month. Deputy-Clerk and Treasurer Lori Pipe said “Three of the 21 pipes leading from the main to the houses are not frozen. We have 18 pipes that probably won’t be thawed until spring.” The Hullett Central Public School senior boys’ volleyball team placed first in the regional championships, which were held in Vanastra on Feb. 5. February 15, 2007 A letter from Wingham resident Robert Elliott questioned the wisdom of allocating $250,000 to the devolving of Ball’s Bridge, nearly single-handedly delivering a wrecking ball to the bridge. Elliott’s letter was used by Huron East’s Bernie MacLellan to reopen debate on the plan to pass the bridge onto the lower tier municipalities that border the bridge with a one- time $250,000 grant. Blyth resident and Huron Chapel Evangelical Missionary Church pastor Dave Wood found himself caught in the middle of an attack in Jerusalem. Wood was travelling by bus on the west bank of the Jordan River when the bus was attacked by local teens pelting the bus with rocks until Isreali police could arrive on the scene. Seventeen protestors were arrested in connection with the incident, but no one was injured in the attack. North Huron Councillor Greg McClinchey presented a motion to hold a council meeting in Blyth, which was approved by the rest of council. McClinchey said the inspiration behind the motion was that the residents of Blyth wanted to be more involved in local politics, and holding a meeting in the village would give them that opportunity. 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 Collateral damage The visitors’ gallery at Morris-Turnberry council chambers was crowded last week by taxpayers worried that the creation of a Morris- Turnberry fire service would send their taxes soaring. If the municipality’s figures are right (and some doubt that) maybe it should be North Huron residents who are worried most about their taxes. According to figures released by Morris-Turnberry, even after paying the interest on money borrowed to set up the fire service and putting money into a fund for the future replacement of equipment, it will cost only $42,000 more a year to have a fire department for the exclusive use of municipal ratepayers than it is currently costing to purchase fire protection. That would include maintaining the service the Howick Fire Department provides to the eastern part of Turnberry Ward and most of the coverage Brussels Fire Department provides to the eastern part of Morris Ward. The big loser, in terms of coverage will be North Huron. The Wingham station would be reduced to covering only North Huron. Morris Turnberry proposes to swap coverage of the southern end of Morris Ward from Blyth station, in return for the Belgrave station of the Morris-Turnberry department covering the areas of East Wawanosh it can get to most quickly. The problem for North Huron taxpayers, is that under its five-year proposal to provide fire coverage for Morris Turnberry, North Huron would have received $233,000 in fees to help cover its own department’s costs in 2014, the year the agreement will end. There may be some savings in not covering parts of Morris-Turnberry, but for the most part, it seems North Huron taxpayers are going to have to pick up the extra costs. Morris-Turnberry taxpayers have good cause to examine the proposal carefully to make sure their council has got its figures right, but North Huron’s taxpayers should also question their council over how much this duplication of service is going to cost them. — KR So what’s efficient? Blessed with a majority at last, Stephen Harper’s Conservatives are bent on bringing more “efficiency” to Canadian government. But when it comes to public policy, when is efficiency not efficient? Recently the government announced plans to use time allocation for the 18th time since last September, to cut short debate on a bill. Two of those times, for instance were on legislation to abolish the long gun registry and to kill the Canadian Wheat Board. In the case of the Wheat Board, a Canadian court has said the government doesn’t have the legal right to abolish the board without taking a vote of wheat farmers, but the government bulldozed ahead anyway. Meanwhile the government has complained loudly about how long the environmental regulatory system takes to approve projects like the Northern Gateway Pipeline that would carry bitumen from the Alberta tar sands to the west coast for shipment to China. Harper and Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver have warned that foreign-funded, radical environmentalists are trying to derail the approval process by submitting so many requests to appear before the hearings looking into the project, that they’ll delay it forever. Upping the ante, last week Public Safety Minister Vic Toews introduced a new anti-terrorism strategy that targets eco-extremists as threats, further branding opponents of its plans as dangerous. Monday, Toews introduced federal plans to make electronic surveillance easier for police and spies. When opposition members worried if this was an invasion of privacy, he said they could stand with the government or “with the child pornographers” prowling online. Whether using time allocation on parliamentary debates or intimidating opponents by calling them terrorists or supporters of child pornographers, the government is trying to limit debate. And why not? Harper and his cabinet think they’re the smartest guys in the room. But the wise leaders value contrary thoughts. They know it’s valuable to have people who question your ideas because it can make you rethink possible mistakes. It’s not very efficient to make mistakes because you thought you were too smart to listen.— 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.