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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2012-09-20, Page 1CitizenTh e $1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, September 20, 2012 Volume 28 No. 37 EDUCATION - Pg. 18Thompson protest held in Blyth ART BANK - Pg. 19 Exhibit collects best of Art Bank’s 12 yearsSPORTS- Pg. 8Wingham Ironmen start theirseason with a winPublications Mail Agreement No. 4005014 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK: John Black, the late chief of the Fire Department of North Huron, has been chosen as the firefighter recipient of the Warden’s Emergency Services of the Year Award. The decision was made at the meeting of the Warden’s Task Force in Goderich on Sept. 5, but the formal presentation will be made at Huron County Council chambers in Goderich on Wednesday, Oct. 3 at 9 a.m. Also being recognized will be Elizabeth Brown, in the paramedic category. This year there were no nominations in the police officer category. The awards were created two years ago after OPP Const. Vu Pham was shot and killed during a routine traffic stop on County Road 12 near Winthrop. Bluewater Mayor Bill Dowson suggested a set of annual awards that would honour the county’s top police officer, firefighter and paramedic. Pham was honoured as Huron County’s top police officer that year. After her first full year in office, Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson says she has learned a lot, but she hopes she’s handed out some education of her own as well. While Thompson spent her first year learning about Queen’s Park, she was seldom silent on issues she felt passionate about. She says she has raised several motions pertaining to wind turbines and renewable energy and she’s always talking to other MPPs about Huron-Bruce and what rural Ontario means to her. It has been hard work, she says, but meeting people and talking with them has been the “shot of adrenaline” that she needs. Thompson has been very active throughout the riding, appearing at many community events over the last 12 months, including the opening of the Blyth Festival, the annual reunion of the Huron Pioneer Thresher and Hobby Association and the Brussels Homecoming, which was one of her proudest moments. “Not falling off the horse during the celebrity challenge,” is Thompson’s answer when asked about her proudest moments over the previous 12 months. Thompson participated in the Boothill Bash portion of the Brussels Homecoming program as a celebrity participant. All joking aside, Thompson says, she has plenty to be proud of over the last year. There is still a lot of work left to do she says. Looking a year into the future, Thompson says, she hopes to be serving whatever position is set out for her while PC leader Tim Hudak presides over the province as its premier, saying that might mean there is an election on the horizon. However, in her day-to-day duties, she says she just hopes to be “an ambassador for all the good things” going on in Huron and Bruce Counties. She says her presence at community events throughout the riding just harkens back to her childhood and how her parents raised her in the Belgrave area. “It’s a throwback to how I was raised. Those things are important,” Thompson said. “You need to be out there to lend support.” Thompson also added that many of these community events are not new to her, as she remembers twirling a baton as part of a performance at the annual Threshers Reunion in Blyth decades ago. She also said she remembers showing her calf at many of the area fall fairs when she was younger. “You have to lead by example,” she said. “So it’s not an effort for me. This is what really matters.” In continuing to represent her area, Thompson says it was her recommendation to Hudak that potential policies be written up specifically for rural Ontario, similar to the treatment of northern Ontario. Hudak told Thompson he thought her idea was good and he was interested to read what she had to say. Thompson has since been tapped to put something together and she has been talking with area experts and residents to craft policies that would work best for the people of Huron-Bruce. One person she has already talked to is Wayne Caldwell, a professor at the University of Guelph, a Huron County native and a former summer student of Thompson’s mother, she laughs. When Thompson began her time at Queen’s Park last October, she said, she was lucky to be seated around MPPs she could really learn from. She says she sits beside an expert on protocol, a fantastic orator and an MPP who knows the history of Queen’s Park inside and out and all three of them have helped her out Douglas Barrill, an economic development specialist with Huron County, is hoping to complete a county-wide business retention and expansion study by January. Barrill presented his proposal to Huron County Council at the Sept. 12 Committee of the Whole meeting, saying that with all of the work that has already been done, completing a county-wide study would just be a matter of filling in the blanks. Such studies had already been completed in Exeter, Bayfield, Goderich and Seaforth/Brussels, while recently studies have been conducted in Howick (Gorrie, Fordwich and Wroexter), Bluewater (Zurich and Hensall), North Huron (Blyth) and Central Huron (Clinton). Studies will soon be conducted in the remaining communities of Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh (township-wide), Morris-Turnberry (township-wide) and Huron East (Vanastra and an update on Seaforth). Seaforth was one of the first communities in Ontario to complete a business retention and expansion study in 1999, so it will need to be updated in order to be relevant. Costs associated with the Seaforth study, however, will be covered by a commitment by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). The budget for the Seaforth portion of the project is $12,000. Because of the use of volunteers and the quick work, Barrill said he was able to save the county thousands of dollars that will be applied to signs throughout the county. Projected costs for the study were approximately $40,000 Barrill said, but actual costs were $3,800 (plus the $12,000 for Seaforth from OMAFRA). In addition, Barrill said he was able to reduce the amount of volunteer hours that were used as well. Projected volunteer hours for the projects were nearly 1,100, which was reduced to 124. These savings resulted in $34,000 extra and over 950 volunteer hours that were saved. Barrill said that with the savings commerce maps can be produced for municipalities throughout the county, something that North Huron has already taken advantage of. A freestanding sign would cost $1,600, while a mountable version for inside municipal buildings, such as town halls or community centres, would cost $850. The signs would be a one-time cost to the municipalities, Barrill said, with the Huron Economic Development Partnership covering half the costs. Barrill said two signs have already been placed in Blyth, one in Belgrave and one in Wingham. He said North Huron was a “great municipality” to start the program with. He said he hopes to have commerce maps installed in most communities throughout the county by the end of the year. Barrill said that between the signs and the business retention and expansion study, Huron County has positioned itself on the “leading edge of rural economic development”. Thompson reflects on first year Speak up! The Grade 6B class at the newly-formed Maitland River Elementary School is apparently “all ears” or at least they were last week at the first-ever Elementary School Fair, a continuation of the annual Belgrave, Blyth and Brussels School Fair that had been held in Belgrave for decades. Mrs. Decker, formerly of Blyth Public School, accompanied her class at the fair’s parade before the rest of the day’s activities got underway. (Denny Scott photo) County-wide study ready for January John Black to receive top Huron County firefighter award By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen Continued on page 15