Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2012-05-17, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 17, 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 info@northhuron.on.ca 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 May 27, 1965 The last Brussels Girl Guides meeting of the year was held. Several badges were awarded that night for various achievements. Enrolling into the Girl Guides that night were Cheryl McCutcheon, Pauline McCutcheon, Joan Elliott, Joan Simpson and Linda Wilson. The annual meeting of the Huron Tuberculosis Association was held in Seaforth and Dr. Neville Lefcoe was set to address the audience. His topic of conversation was “Research in Lung Disease Today”. Hydro Showtime demonstrations were being held at the Brussels Legion Hall. The presentation was being held by the Brussels P.U.C. under the auspices of the East Huron Agricultural Society (Women’s Division). The demonstration would feature Linda McMaster, one of Ontario Hydro’s home economists. She would demonstrate and explain the uses of various appliances, including washers, dryers, ranges and refrigerators. Electric home heating, water heating and home lighting would also be featured in the demonstrations. May 20, 1987 The Ontario Ministry of Transportation and Communication rejected arguments from Blyth Village Council regarding Hwy. 4 running through the village, saying the Ministry should be responsible for rebuilding that stretch of the road. In a letter addressed to Blyth Village Council, Morris Township Council and the Huron County engineer, G.R. Browning, a representative for the Ministry stated that not only would the Ministry not entertain such arguments, but that he would not even have a meeting with the group of councillors because “I do not think there is anything to be gained from such a meeting,” the letter stated. At the May 7 meeting of Huron County Council, it was decided that a letter would be written to Browning supporting the position of Blyth Village Council that the Ministry should look into repairing the road. With the Brussels Homecoming celebration just five weeks away, plans for the four-day celebration were being moved ahead, but there was still a large amount of help required, said event chairman Gerry Wheeler. Taxes in West Wawanosh Township were set for the year and they would rise by 4.57 per cent. The increase to the township’s annual budget, however, was a meagre 0.4 per cent. Blyth taxes would rise 4.7 per cent for the year, due in large part to rising education costs in the area. The increases left a public school supporter with the aforementioned 4.7 per cent increase to their taxes, while a separate school board supporter would see a 5.6 per cent increase to their taxes. May 18, 1994 The Blyth Business Association was officially formed for the first time in 10 years at a May 10 meeting. Carol Irwin of the Blyth Inn was acclaimed as the association’s first president. The group hoped to promote the village and provide a social and educational function for business owners in the area. Don Scrimgeour of Scrimgeour’s Food Market was named the association’s vice-president, Jeannette McNeil of The Citizen was named secretary and Donna Taylor of the Blyth Apothecary was named treasurer. Blyth Village Council set a penalty fee for those who failed to clean up after their pets. Dog owners who allowed their pets to defecate on public property, if caught, would now be assessed a $50 fine. Councillor Steven Sparling said he was disappointed that council had to even get involved in something that should be second nature for pet owners. “It is really unfortunate that we even have to consider a waste bylaw,” he said. A buskers festival was being planned in conjunction with the annual Blyth Rutabaga Festival. Hundreds of people would be on main street before and after the festival showcasing their talents along with the chance to earn donations if their music entertains the crowd. May 17, 2007 Stéphane Dion, leader of the Liberal Party and the official opposition in the province, was set to make his way to Blyth to partake in a breakfast being hosted by Huron-Bruce Liberal candidate Greg McClinchey. In addition to Dion’s planned visit, Toronto Centre candidate Bob Rae was also planning a trip to the riding in the form of a “coffee and dessert” open house to be held in Kincardine. Maple and Moose, a co-op retail store in Blyth, was set to officially open, bringing Canadian merchandise to the area. The merchandise to be featured at the store would be juried by a board of directors in order to avoid overlap and ensure that customers were provided high quality products unique to the area. The Airstream Ontario Canada Unit were coming back to Blyth for the Victoria Day weekend. 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 A county-changing possibility Goderich Mayor Deb Shewfelt is hoping that the closure of the Bluewater Youth Centre might have a bright side, with possible use of the building as a post-secondary education facility. It’s probably a long shot, but if it were to come about, it could change the county. The dream of having a place for our young people to go on to college has been around for a long time in Huron, with good reason. Currently for young people there’s no alternative but to leave home to further their education past the secondary school level. It means that while students in cities with colleges and universities can live at home, absorbing only tuition, books and other direct school costs, our students also have to add the expense of renting an apartment and buying food. It adds greatly to the debt students can pile up before they graduate. From a community standpoint, sending our kids off to university or college is also the beginning of losing most of them from our county. While a few will find their way back, most will be trained for jobs they can’t find back home, or will just adapt to city life and not want to return. If they can further their education without leaving Huron, more may want to find – or create – jobs here. A college or branch of a university would also create the kinds of jobs to which these students might aspire. We haven’t had facilities for students to get higher training since the days local hospitals had their own training for nursing assistants. Lately, however, with the Emergency Services Training Centre in Blyth and the Regional Equine and Agricultural Centre of Huron, we’ve come to realize how much training can help stimulate the local economy. So here’s hoping the feelers Mayor Shewfelt has received about the possibility of using the Bluewater Youth Centre for an education facility might prove concrete. — KR Hiding behind ARCs Unrest with the accommodation review committee (ARC) process for school closings seems to be spreading. Last Saturday, several protests took place from Cambridge to Kingston, including one in Peterborough where local residents have raised tens of thousands of dollars to launch court action against their school board’s decision to close Peterborough Collegiate and Vocational Institute. “They consult the community and then get on with what they want to do. The process is very broken,” said one Peterborough resident. “Boards know what they want to do, they know which schools they want to close, and use this as a public relations process. There needs to be arms-length oversight of boards.” It’s a complaint that those who opposed the closing of schools in Belgrave, Blyth and Brussels would understand after their own sense that they were given a chance to speak, but nobody listened. People for Education is calling for a review of the ARC process. Currently there are 95 schools across Ontario set to close and another 30 are recommended for shutdown while more than 140 are under review. Education Minister Laurel Broten defends the process. She says that when the Liberal government came to office, it put a moratorium on school closings while “we worked to make the process open, transparent and provide meaningful consultation between boards and the school community.” Now, she claims, the ministry has no authority over school closings. But the ARC process is really a method of keeping the dirty work of school closures at arm’s length from the provincial government. The government really calls the shots through a funding formula that penalizes small schools, leaving school boards little opportunity but to close them. Then, in the case of northern Huron communities and their schools, the ministry further compromised the process by announcing funding for a new super school before the ARC process had even run its course. If there’s one thing Dalton McGuinty’s government has done well, it has been to distance itself from the mess of cutbacks. It has set up strawmen like ARCs to take the flak in education and Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) to mandate change in health care. It’s unlikely to change a system to protects it from more controversy, even if it needs to be changed. — 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.