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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2012-03-01, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 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 March 11, 1965 The World Day of Prayer service was held at St. John’s Anglican Church in Brussels on March 5 at 3 p.m. The offering collected amounted to $25.15, which would be forwarded to the Women’s Inter- Church Council of Canada. The Brussels Lions Club was set to hold a ladies’ night on April 12. It was also decided that an evening of public speaking would also be held that night with trophies being awarded to the competition’s winners. The Western Star No. 149 I.O.O.F. hockey game was held on March 5. The CKNX Sports of Wingham took on the Brantford City Police at the Brussels Arena. The CKNX team took the victory by a score of 8-6. The Royal Canadian Legion’s Zone C1 meeting was held at the new Legion Hall in Brussels on March 7 with what was called a very good attendance. First there was a parade from the new Legion Hall, leaving at 2 p.m. that made its way to the cenotaph where two wreaths were placed for the fallen soldiers of the First and Second World Wars. The parade then made its way back to the Legion with Judge R.S. Hetherington taking the salute in front of the old Brussels Legion Hall. Brussels came up just short against Paisley to win the Western Ontario Athletic Association (WOAA) Bantam D Championship. Paisley won the game handily by a score of 9-2. The Paisley team that beat Brussels was the previous year’s all- Ontario champion and WOAA Cup champions for the previous six years. Construction for the Krauter bridge was approved by Grey Township Council. The tender came in stating that the bridge would be completed for a cost of $34,590, subject to the approval of the Department of Highways. March 4, 1987 Three applications were received by Blyth Village Council for the position recently vacated by Councillor Tom Cronin. The applications, however, had yet to be opened. They were set to be reviewed at the regular council meeting on March 10. Blyth was turned into a movie set with the movie Blue City Slammers, which was based on the play Blue City by Layne Coleman, which first premiered at the Blyth Festival in 1984, being filmed in the village. The movie would tell the story of a small town women’s baseball team and the personal lives of the players. Extras for the movie would be recruited locally. Ken White of Brussels faced some bad news when Brussels firefighters were called to his home to fight a chimney fire. The fire resulted in some smoke damage to the house, but little else. However, later in the week, White celebrated his birthday and he was given a Super Lotto ticket as a gift. Upon scratching the scratch and win portion of the ticket, White found that he had won a brand new Lincoln Town Car. A fourth generation of the Bainton family took over the Bainton Old Mill Ltd. Franklin, Jayne, Amanda and Richard Snell, great-grandchildren of the company’s co-founder Allen Bert Bainton took over the retail portion of operation from their grandparents Franklin and Cenetta Bainton. March 2, 1994 Dr. MacGregor of Wingham decided to close his Blyth office. MacGregor and his partner Dr. Hanlon ran three satellite clinics in Blyth, Brussels and Gorrie. Blyth scouting leader Lavern Clark designed the first logo in the group’s history and was presented with an award for his efforts. Clark was awarded by Venturer Greg McClinchey at the group’s annual banquet. March 1, 2007 Huron East Council accepted a quotation to have the concrete shop behind the Brussels Library demolished. Council went with a quotation for $4,500 from Total Demolition Inc. to bring the building down. Huron East Clerk-Administrator Jack McLachlan said the building would come down within 60 days of the municipality filing the paperwork. Huron East Council said it was against contributing to the cost of a CT scanner for the Alexandra Marine and General Hospital in Goderich. Huron East Deputy-Mayor and Councillor Joe Steffler both said they hoped council would vote against contributing to the project, especially given the fact that council had just recently invested so much money into healthcare in the Seaforth area. Morris-Turnberry was pleased with the budget request that came from the Blyth District Fire Area Board, which called for a three per cent decrease in the municipality’s contribution. However, they were not pleased with the correspondence with the Wingham Area Fire Board that said a 52.8 per cent budget increase was being considered, a proposal which didn’t include a new pick-up truck that would cost an additional $32,000. 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 Be careful what you wish for If the Ontario government follows through on promises made by Premier Dalton McGuinty on Monday, local councils will get more control over the placement of wind turbines – and may wish they hadn’t. Speaking at the combined Rural Ontario Municipal Association and Ontario Good Roads Association Conference, McGuinty said changes are coming to the Green Energy Act which will restore some autonomy to municipalities over wind turbines. “We will be adopting some of the recommendations that have been put forward by rural Ontario, to I think, achieve a better balance.” It’s what municipal politicians, driven by furious opposition to wind turbines, have been asking for but if they get it, the fun will just be beginning. For wind turbines opponents, none is too many. It’s unlikely the province will allow councils to totally block wind developments so the pressure will be on local councillors to find ways to prevent any turbines from being built at all. Even under the current rules protesters had pressured local councils to finds ways to get around the law. Rural people have felt dumped on because the Green Energy Act allowed multi-national companies to build forests of wind turbines with no local control. There have been legitimate concerns about the density of these wind farms and the fact that so few people benefit while so many are affected. The government hasn’t made any real effort to deal with fears of neighbours that their health is being harmed – simply dismissing them as if they were hypochondriacs. At the same time, the level of rhetoric has risen to near-hysteric proportions. Opponents claim the turbines ruin lives 24 hours a day, then turn around and say they’re uselessly inefficient because they operate so seldom. Things have gotten to the point that some people fear the effects of relatively small electrical lines carrying power away from the turbines – at the same time as we’ve learned to live with much larger power corridors carrying massive amounts of power from Bruce Power. So, depending on the details of the changes the government is proposing, local councillors will now find themselves in the middle of this hornet’s nest. Good luck! — KR Cut taxes, spend big There’s a strange paradox in politics that people who promise to cut taxes, almost always also have a pet project that will cost a lot of money. Recently Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has been in a constant battle with his council over the future of transit in the city. Ford, who won election on a promise to cut waste and taxes, immediately did cut one tax. Next he spent months fighting councillors over proposed spending cuts because the city not didn’t have enough revenue for all its services. But while pinching pennies on some things, Ford had grand ideas elsewhere. He wants to bury the entire length of a street car line along one busy Toronto street, rather than just the downtown portion. His council rebelled, claiming the changes would add $1.9 billion to the cost. Ford says he can go ahead anyway but the province, which was providing the money, says he must get council support. Meanwhile, upset that the General Manager of the Toronto Transit Commission supported the cheaper option, Ford’s allies had him fired – at a severance cost approaching a half million dollars. We’ve got similar contradictory policies at play under Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Harper followed the usual tax-cutter script by cutting the GST by two points. Canada hit a recession and with less revenue, the deficit ballooned. The government now says it must cut programs to deal with the deficit. But while it may cut programs in some areas, it wants to spend more money elsewhere. Harper’s pet project of tough new minimum sentencing rules will mean hundreds of millions more spent on building and operating new jails. Meanwhile the government plans on spending nearly $5 billion for 65 F-35 Lightning stealth jet fighters. All the way back to U.S.President Ronald Reagan who slashed taxes but also promoted the massively expensive Star Wars defence system, tax cutters have always had expensive dreams to go with their penny pinching. — 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.