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The Citizen, 2012-03-29, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 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 April 8, 1965 The Anglican Clergy of the Deanery of Huron met at St. John’s Rectory on April 5 to discuss the new curriculum for religious education in the Anglican Church. The meeting was attended by the Right Rev. H.F. Appleyard, Bishop of Georgian Bay. Brussels Village Council entered into a fire agreement with Morris Township after the regular meeting of council on April 5. The agreement stated that the village fire truck and seven-man brigade service part of Morris Township at a rate of $35 per hour when called to a fire. The Huron County Junior Farmers met in Clinton on March 31 and decided to sell slow-moving vehicle signs throughout Huron County for the Farm Safety Council. The signs were to be sold by local club members for $2.50 each. April 1, 1987 The Huron County Board of Education released its 1987 budgets at a special board meeting on March 30 in Clinton. The implementation of Bill 30 would not cause public school supporters anything extra in 1987, but it was estimated that it would, however, cost separate school supporters. Members of the Blyth Fire Department were busy on March 30, fighting two fires within a few hours. The most serious of the two fires was a dinner-time fire in Auburn which destroyed a barn owned by Bill McCormick. The L-shaped barn contained a quantity of lumber and tires which made for what firefighters called a “hot fire”. The flames from the first fire, fanned by the cold west winds, sent sparks to nearby homes. Because of the potential of the fire spreading, firefighters worked extensively to extinguish the fire even though the building was beyond repair. In addition to the Blyth Fire Department, the Goderich Fire Department was also called to the scene. Earlier that day, Blyth firefighters were called to the home of Roy Aitcheson on the Sixth Line of Morris where a chimney fire was extinguished easily. March 30, 1994 At a public meeting Brussels residents agreed that a new fire hall had to be constructed, but they didn’t want the village municipal office moved from downtown. It was a group of approximately 40 ratepayers at the meeting who made their voices heard on March 23. The expansion project was being considered as part of the Canada- Ontario Infrastructure Works Program. Blyth merchants and the Blyth Festival joined forces in what The Citizen called “an outstanding example of co-operation” to help shoppers in Blyth save money on tickets for Festival shows. Nearly two dozen Blyth businesses were going to offer “theatre bucks” to their patrons. The concept came from local business owner Don Scrimgeour. The program stated that every $100 in purchases from participating Blyth businesses would earn a $1 discount on the purchase of Festival tickets for the 1994 season. Susan Gross of RR1, Auburn spent three and a half months in Costa Rica working with underprivileged children and families in an attempt to teach them family values and to encourage them to aim for higher living conditions. March 29, 2007 Ambulance response times had been discussed at length throughout Huron County for months, so to help curb area response times, an ambulance was placed in Brussels 12 hours a day. Huron East Council approved the Brussels fire station as a temporary standby location for the ambulance. Huron Emergency Services also told council that up to $500 per month in rental fees, if necessary, would be paid to the municipality. Kelly Boven, alongside teammate James Whitney, a horticulture student at Lambton College competed in the post-secondary Canadian skills competition for landscaping at the Canada Blooms show in Toronto. The pair received a gold medal for their efforts at the show. The silver medal went to Etobicoke’s Humber College and the bronze went to Niagara College. The Brussels Legion donated funds to Brussels Minor Hockey’s PeeWee team to purchase new hockey jerseys for the team. The Wingham Fire Board budget came in and North Huron Council said that putting off the purchase of a pumper (it was to be purchased in 2008) was a bad decision, as it had been on the board’s books for over two years. A photography show was announced that would honour former summer student at The Citizen Sarah Mann. The Huron Camera Club, in association with Community Living Central Huron, was calling for submissions for the show, specifically sunset pictures, a setting that Mann herself had a fondness for. The Centre for Applied Renewable Energy in Brussels held a solar information night at the Brussels Library. 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 Here’s hoping There was good news for taxpayers in Morris-Turnberry and North Huron last week when Morris-Turnberry councillors decided to make one more effort to reach an agreement on fire service before starting their own department. Whether or not the municipalities can reach an agreement remains to be seen since both sides are certain they’re right. North Huron thinks it has offered a fair deal. Morris-Turnberry thinks it’s paying more to get fire service for a smaller coverage area than when it was part of the district fire boards in Blyth and Wingham. If Morris-Turnberry discontinues its purchase of fire service from North Huron on January 2014, there will be a $212,000 hole in North Huron’s annual fire budget. That’s how much Morris-Turnberry was scheduled to pay that year. If Morris-Turnberry is anywhere close to accurate in its forecasts of the cost of operating its new department, the biggest hit is going to be to the taxpayers of North Huron. That’s a big “if”, however. If it truly costs North Huron what it says to run its department, why would Morris-Turnberry be able to do it for less? And even if the figures work out now, what will they look like 10 years from now? From the point of view of taxpayers in both municipalities, let’s hope there is a solution to be found and let’s hope people on both sides are wise and cool-headed enough to find it. — KR Rural severance conundrum North Huron is the latest municipality to be stuck not knowing what to do about surplus farm residence severance applications. It’s a problem that has bedeviled rural politicians across Ontario. Ironically, it was protection of farmland that led Huron County to set up its planning department in the first place. Huron became a leader in farmland preservation regulation, and one of those was preventing severances on good farmland. But times change. Even a few years ago, when large livestock barns were going up that could cause conflicts with non-farming neighbours, this prevention of rural severances seemed a good thing. But now, with good prices for cash crops driving farmers to expand their land-base while a declining rural population endangers services like schools, things look differently. Tearing down good houses seems a waste, especially if they could be filled with people sending kids to schools and arenas and parents paying taxes. — KR True orange In the long run, last weekend, NDP party members chose practicality when they selected Thomas Mulcair as leader of the party and, as a consequence, Leader of the Offical Opposition in parliament. It wasn’t a popular choice for some, including many senior party members, for whom Mulcair wasn’t true-orange enough. He had once been a Liberal in Quebec, for instance, and he had made disturbing noises of moving to the centre in order to defeat Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives in the next election. With their surge of support in the last election, party diehards think the country is finally coming to its senses and thinking the way they do. True-orange NDPers suffer the same problem that Tea Party Republicans do: they want to be elected but without compromising their beliefs even if the majority of voters can’t support their vision. The strong tie to labour unions is a foundation of the NDP that remains a concern for many voters. Take last Saturday for example. While the union members played a big role in choosing a new NDP leader, a wildcat strike by baggage handlers backed up airports and had travellers furious with unions. The workers may be underpaid and may be abused by the Harper government in refusing to let them strike, but most people don’t care about that. The challenge for Mulcair is how to stay close enough to NDP traditions to keep party members’ satisfied while making the party attractive who don’t support many of those traditions. — 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.