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The Citizen, 2012-06-28, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JUNE 28, 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 July 8, 1965 Over the course of the previous year the Brussels Cemetery’s board of trustees had been collecting money to build a memorial chapel in the cemetery. Over $2,000 had already been collected, however, the project was slated to cost upwards of $6,000. The Brussels Post reported that the building was already in the process of being erected and the funds to continue the project would be needed in the very near future. The Brussels ladies softball team won a close game against a team from Winthrop on July 5 by a score of 11-10. The game was filled with errors by both teams. July 1, 1987 A 1966 Chevelle Malibu was up for raffle at the 1950s and 1960s dance at the Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre as part of the village’s 115th homecoming. The car was being raffled off by the Brussels Junior D team, the Brussels Bulls. Smoking at Central Huron Secondary School would come to an end in the fall. A strict anti-smoking bylaw was to be adopted that would not allow any smoking on or around the school’s grounds. Notices were included in the school’s year-end report cards, informing students and parents of the impending change. The new rules would take effect on Sept. 1, the day the 1987/1988 school year began. “It is the considered opinion of the staff that the overwhelming condemnation of smoking by health professionals is too great for the school to ignore any longer,” the notice read. The school was the first in Huron County to ban smoking. In 1985 Huron County school trustees banned smoking in the education boardroom in Clinton and in the spring of 1987 expanded the ban to include all areas of the board office building. Members of the Brussels community honoured Ralph Pearson on the day he drove his final busload of students home from school on June 23. Pearson had driven a school bus in the area for 37 years and an appreciation night was held for him at the Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre later that night. Over 300 people were in attendance to honour Pearson and his wife Edna. June 29, 1994 Members of the Blyth Festival’s Young Company were out on the street as part of the Blyth Rutabaga Festival and the Buskers Festival street party. As the Blyth Festival opened its 20th season the creation of the Roulston Roy Play Development Fund was announced. Named in honour of Festival founders Keith Roulston and James and Anne Roy. The money from the fund would be directed to the creation and development of new scripts by Canadians with a particular view towards potential production on the Blyth Festival stage. Over the previous 20 years, 65 new Canadian plays had their premiere at the Blyth Festival. A barn fire resulted in just minor damage on June 24 when a McKillop farmer was burning a large pile of garbage just 30 feet away from the barn, said Blyth Fire Chief Paul Josling. As the fire burned, strong winds blew sparks towards the barn, igniting straw on the barn’s lower level. The Bluewater Kennel Club Dog Show was set to be held in Blyth for the 11th consecutive year at the Blyth and District Community Centre. Playwright Anne Chislett’s Glengarry School Days opened the 20th season of the Blyth Festival. June 28, 2007 Twenty-one marijuana plants were seized from a Blyth-area farm on June 19 when police found the plants in the middle of a corn field. Police had no leads and were asking for the public’s help, saying that often plants are planted on a farmer’s property without his knowledge or consent. Huron East resident Michael Gulutzen was set to receive a Fire Safety Action Award from the Fire Marshal’s Public Fire Safety Council at a ceremony in Toronto on June 28. On Feb. 9 Michael and his three- year-old brother Ryan were at their home when they saw smoke coming from the kitchen. Michael then notified his father, who was outside. Despite a large amount of smoke, the boys were able to escape the house by crawling under the smoke and eventually reaching their father. Brussels residents Nora Stephenson and Fran Bremner were in the process of tracking down members of the 1948 WOAA championship ladies softball team to take part in the upcoming Homecoming festivities and parade. The Blyth Farmers’ Market was scheduled to open for its fifth season, beginning with a strawberry festival. The Walton Brewers hosted Exeter, going to extra innings and earning the victory by a score of 3-2. Following their win over Exeter, however, the Brewers then lost back- to-back games against Wroxeter and Goderich. 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 Not helping the cause Anti-wind turbine protesters in Grand Bend who tried to prevent an Alberta woman from telling a positive experience of living next to a wind farm did not help their cause by appearing to be so closed-minded they won’t even listen to anyone who disagrees with them. The Pembina Institute, an Alberta-based not-for-profit think tank focused on developing sustainable energy solutions, brought Alberta rancher Heidi Eijgel, who lives surrounded by the wind turbines of a large wind farm at Pincher Creek. Eijgel had to delay her presentation, however, because the majority of the people in the hall were opposed to turbines. They were vocal in saying they had no interest in listening to Eijgel or putting down their signs as requested by meeting organizers. Only when officers of the Ontario Provincial Police arrived did the audience calm down enough for Eijgel to speak. No matter how passionately you may oppose wind farms, mob rule is not the answer. People who refuse to let anyone speak who thinks differently than they do undermine their cause by making it seem weak enough not to be able to stand up to opposite views. To win the fight against wind turbines, rural Ontarians are going to need to convince urban Ontarians – the majority of residents – that they are being treated unfairly. When they try to shout down anyone who has an opinion that varies from their own, they allow themselves to be dismissed as dumb country hicks – a privilege that’s already too prevalent in cities, particularly among city media types. Certainly people are frustrated as they fight large wind developers with the sense that nobody in power cares about their rights, but resorting to mob rule hurts their case. They must win by putting forth their own reasoned, passionate arguments, not by shouting down anyone who thinks otherwise. — KR Bigger than a technicality The defense of democracy deserves much more consideration than the argument by a Conservative Party lawyer this week that applications asking the court to review the May 2011 election results in seven ridings where Conservative MPs narrowly won their seats should be thrown out because they should have been filed within 30 days of the election. After revelations of misleading or harassing phone calls that might have discouraged people from voting in the ridings in question, applications for a judicial review were made by the Council of Canadians under a law that lets voters legally challenge the results in their ridings. If a judge finds anything that would have changed the outcome, a new by-election can be ordered as happened when an Ontario judge ruled that enough suspect votes were cast due to clerical errors to warrant overturning last year’s election result in a Toronto riding. Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper came from the Reform Party which was dedicated to renewing democratic processes such as making MPs more accountable to their constituents. He should be such a defender of democracy that he’d lead attempts to get to the bottom of the robo-call situation, not try to bury it through legal technicalities. In the past year we had seen, around the world, the lengths to which people are prepared to go to fight for democracy. Last week we saw thousands wait for the presidential election results in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, suspicious that army officials were rigging the election to keep their candidate from winning. In Burma in March, Aung San Suu Kyi celebrated winning a seat in Burma’s parliament in a free election, after fighting her country’s military government for two decadeS. Ironically, the revelations of the robo-calls dirty tricks came exactly 40 years after the break-in at Democratic Party headquarters in Washington’s Watergate Hotel began the revelation of just how far then U.S. President Richard Nixon was prepared to undermine democracy to ensure his re-election. That anniversary should reinforce the importance of the integrity of our own electoral system. Technicalities aren’t a good enough reason to stop the search for just what happened with the robo-calls or other dirty tricks in our own election. — 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.