The Citizen, 2012-05-03, Page 1CitizenTh
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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, May 3, 2012
Volume 28 No. 18
SPECIAL - Pg. 11A guide for springhomes and gardens HOMECOMING - Pg. 29Events set for Brussels’ big July weekendBISTRO- Pg. 9Bistro Part II hopes toopen its doors in May
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INSIDE THIS WEEK:
Reviews handled differently in rural settings
Chief Black honoured at Blyth ceremony
Ceremonial flag
Fire service personnel and dignitaries walked under a huge Canadian Flag suspended by two
ladder trucks during the procession that heralded a special memorial service held for the late
Fire Department of North Huron Fire Chief John Black at the Emergency Services Training
Centre on April 28. The procession started out from the Blyth and District Community Centre
and then returned there after the service. For more pictures from Chief Black’s service, visit
The Citizen’s website at www.northhuron.on.ca (Denny Scott photo)
Rural parents handle potential
school closures and mergers
differently than city parents do.
That was one rural parent’s
explanation at the April 24 Avon
Maitland District School Board
(AMDSB) meeting for why the
Holmesville/Colborne
accommodation review hasn’t
resulted in the same kind of uproar
as the Stratford accommodation
review.
Although several delegations,
including Central Huron Mayor Jim
Ginn and Councillor Brian Barnim,
have spoken to trustees about the
importance of keeping a rural school
open in northwest Huron, there have
been many more delegations to the
board regarding the Stratford review
which could see Stratford students
moved around to different schools in
the city.
Trustees have also been deluged
with phone calls and e-mails from
Stratford parents, and five delegates
from Stratford’s Avon Public School
who spoke at the April 24 meeting
were met by a vocal contingent of
Stratford Bedford Public School
parents.
Annerieke Van Beets, a
Holmesville parent, was the sole
Huron delegate that night. She told
the board that there is much fear and
concern among rural Huron parents
over the potential loss of Colborne
Central and Holmesville Public
Schools, but most were under the
impression that the time to share
their concerns was during the
Accommodation Review Committee
process.
She added that the rural parents
were reluctant to intrude on trustees’
private lives with personal e-mails
and telephone calls.
“But if you like…” she said as
trustees burst into laughter. Van
Beets said keeping a rural school
open in northwest Huron
was a “realistic and sustainable
option”.
She noted that the Stratford
Accommodation Review is the result
of the AMDSB’s support of French
Immersion, an elective program
parents choose to send their children
to.
She asked that trustees show the
same concern and support for
parents who wish their children to
attend a rural school. She added that
the long-term survival of rural areas
depends in part on the ability of rural
schools to attract parents.
“They move their future along
with their children,” she said.
Trustees will decide whether to
close Colborne Central and
Holmesville and send students to
schools in Clinton, Goderich and
Lucknow, merge the two schools
into Holmesville or build a new rural
school to replace three existing
rural schools at their June 5
meeting.
Fire service personnel, friends,
family, dignitaries and community
members crowded the main building
of the Blyth Emergency Services
Training Centre (ESTC) on April 28
to celebrate the life and
achievements of the recently
deceased Fire Department of North
Huron (FDNH) Chief John Black.
In a memorial service led by
FDNH Chaplain Gary Clark,
memories of the fire chief who
passed away due to complications
with cancer were shared and the
picture that was painted was one of a
dedicated man with one goal: the
safety of the communities he served
and the firefighters he served
alongside.
Prior to the service, a processional
of firefighters, family members and
local dignitaries marched from the
Blyth Community Centre to the
ESTC in Black’s honour.
Clark began the ceremony with O’
Canada, Psalm 23 and a thanks to all
those who had come to the service,
especially fire officers from across
the province and local service
groups who offered their aid with the
service.
“We’re here to celebrate the life
and service of Fire Chief John
Black,” Clark said. “He was a leader
and a mentor to us all.”
Black’s wife Cathy took to the
podium first to talk about the
memories she had of sharing her
husband with the areas he serviced;
Gravenhurst from April 1985 to
2009 and North Huron from July
2009 to April 2012.
“There’s no better place to hold
this service,” Cathy said, indicating
the vision Black had for the ESTC
and for the FDNH was something he
fiercely pursued.
She said Black was an unassuming
man and he never realized the impact
he had on the community and people
around him.
Being a firefighter was his life she
said, even up until his last days.
“When the nurses and doctors
asked him what he did, he said he
was in risk management,” she said.
“I explained he was in the fire
service and he said he plans for the
worst, hopes for the best and
prepares to deal with what happens.”
North Huron became a home to
Black fairly quickly according to
Cathy. In the first three or four
months he was always saying he
would be going home to
Gravenhurst to see his family.
“Soon he wasn’t coming home, he
was coming to visit us,” she said
adding North Huron made Black and
his family feel very welcome.
She said the firefighters of North
Huron were a close second to their
family in Black’s heart and he would
want them to keep going with the
projects, growth and development he
had ushered in during his time there.
“He wanted you to create
something you could be proud of,”
she said. “One fire department with
two distinct stations.”
Cathy continued on to say fear
wasn’t something Black regularly
faced, saying she felt he didn’t fear
anything.
He wasn’t really afraid of
anything,” she said. “He preferred to
not have needles or hold babies, but
he could when he had to.”
She said the only time Black faced
fear was in facing the reality that he
may have admit to a family that,
despite being as prepared as
possible, someone didn’t come
home from a fire.
Black loved the fire service
according to Cathy and he didn’t bat
an eye at what could be required of
him during his time working to
protect the communities of North
Huron and the surrounding
municipalities.
“He knew how it felt to answer the
call in the middle of the night, come
back dirty with only a few hours
before had to be at work and then
clean and check the equipment in
case it needed to be used again,” she
said.
One of his greatest passions was
teaching, Cathy said. Black loved
helping people learn.
“He relished seeing the look in
people’s eyes as they understood
something he was trying to teach,”
she said. “He regretted not finishing
what he started with the ESTC and
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
By Rita Marshall
Special to The Citizen
Continued on page 28