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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, August 23, 2012
Volume 28 No. 33
CONTEST - Pg. 13Mounsey Fund founderup for $100,000 FIRE - Pg. 24Firefighters called tolarge fire in HullettSPORTS- Pg. 8Four Brussels fastballplayers win Ontario goldPublications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
M-T agrees to meet with fire marshal
TransCan attendance up 15-20 per cent
Vying for position
Last weekend’s Walton TransCan was graced with “perfect” weather, as organizer Chris Lee puts it, and the entire week went off
without a hitch. Friday night’s Jason Blaine concert turned out to be the large attraction organizers were counting on. A musical
element is sure to make a repeat appearance, says Lee. Competitors raced for five days in Walton featuring riders from all
Canadian provinces except for Newfoundland and every Canadian territory except for Nunavut. (Jim Brown photo)
Morris-Turnberry has agreed to a
Sept. 6 meeting with North Huron
and the Ontario Fire Marshal’s
(OFM) office to discuss fire
coverage issues, but thinks Central
Huron and Ashfield-Colborne-
Wawanosh (ACW) should be
included too.
“We’d be wasting a meeting
without Central Huron there,”
Councillor John Smuck told council
at its Aug. 14 meeting. Central
Huron has said in the past that it
wanted to be at the table when North
Huron and Morris-Turnberry were
negotiating. ACW also buys service
from North Huron for the Auburn
area.
Nancy Michie, administrator
clerk-treasurer, told council she
thinks the Sept. 6 meeting might be
the first step to broader discussions.
“The Fire Marshal said he didn’t
want to talk to parties separately”
she said of the proposal for the OFM
for a joint meeting.
One of the topics to be discussed
at the meeting will be the possibility
of a joint fire service. In an Aug. 3
letter sent to North Huron, Morris-
Turnberry Mayor Paul Gowing said
the idea had been suggested by the
OFM as a possible solution to the
stalemate between the two councils
which led Morris-Turnberry to
propose creating its own fire service
rather than continue to buy service
from North Huron.
That suggestion had Councillor
Neil Warwick shaking his head. “A
jointly owned fire service is
recommended by the OFM when it
was the OFM that wanted the area
fire boards disbanded,” he said.
Gowing said it was the lack of
direct lines of accountability that
caused the OFM to oppose multi-
Now that the dust has settled after
yet another Parts Canada Grand
National Motocross
Championship/Walton TransCan
weekend, organizer Chris Lee says
attendance at the event is up
between 15 and 20 per cent from last
year.
Lee says there are a number of
factors led to so many more people
coming out this year, but two of the
major ones were Friday night’s
concert and the “perfect” motocross
weather.
Lee says he’s careful not to inflate
the attendance numbers, as
attendance was down slightly last
year, a year where the final day of
the event was on Aug. 21, the same
day a category F3 tornado ravaged
Goderich, Central Huron and
Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh,
resulting in torrential rain and high
winds near the end of the day.
However, he says he’s pleased the
attendance figures this year show a
lot of hard work by him and his staff
has paid off.
The Friday night concert by
country sensation Jason Blaine was
a huge success, Lee said, with over
3,500 people taking in the show. Lee
believes the concert is partly
responsible for drawing in a large
number of people. His hope, he said,
was that people would come for the
concert, but take in some motocross
events while they’re there.
“The concept was to sell the
concert and to sell the whole event
and have people hang around for a
race,” Lee said in an interview with
The Citizen on Monday morning. “It
appears to have worked.”
Lee said the week didn’t get off to
a great start when the car being
driven by the first vendor to arrive
overheated and burst into flames. No
one was hurt, but emergency
personnel were on scene for hours
on Aug. 13 cleaning up the car’s
fluids from the road, so it wasn’t
until that afternoon (very late
traditionally for the event) that the
second vendor was allowed to enter
the grounds.
Lee said it was a bit of a bad sign,
but the rest of the weekend, with the
exception of a bit of rain, went off
without a hitch, resulting in perfect
weather for a motocross event.
While the grounds received about
four inches of rain before heavy
competition began, Lee said
improvements made at the course
resulted in a much better drainage
system, so the course was ready
much earlier after the rain than it
would have been in previous
years.
“We invested a lot of money into
redesigning the track for rain and it
paid off. It drained much better,”
Lee said. “Good track design makes
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 12Continued on page 12
Londesborough-area athlete Lexi
Aitken has set a new Legion
National Youth Track and Field
Championships record in the under
16 girls 200-metre hurdles.
On Saturday in Charlottetown,
Prince Edward Island, Aitken placed
first, edging out Stephanie Cho from
British Columbia. Aitken ran the
event in 27.30 seconds, while Cho
came in second with a time of 27.51
seconds. Finishing third was Nicole
Skimming with a time of 27.83
seconds.
Aitken will also bring home a
bronze medal for her effort in the
under 16 girls 80-metre hurdles.
Aitken finished with a time of 11.87
seconds. Aitken finished behind the
second place Chicago Bains with a
time of 11.77 seconds and
Skimming, who edged both runners
with a time of 11.64 seconds.
On Sunday, Aitken participated in
the under 16 girls high jump and tied
for fourth place with Jessica Hanson
of British Columbia. The two
jumped a height of 1.6 metres, but
could go no higher.
Finishing ahead of Aitken in the
high jump were Mikella Lefebvre-
Oatis of Quebec who jumped 1.75
metres to earn a gold medal, M.
Croteau-Vaillancourt, also of
Quebec, who hit 1.69 metres,
which was good enough for silver
and Shyla Cardy of Ontario who
jumped 1.66 metres and placed
third.
For a full story and interview with
Aitken see next week’s issue of The
Citizen.
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Aitken sets new record in PEI
By Keith Roulston
The Citizen