HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2012-10-18, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2012.
BR&E report controversy persists in Blyth
Coates tells community
to appreciate Festival
Here you go
At the Habitat Hoedown, which was held at the Zurich
Community Centre on Oct. 6, Huron County Warden Bernie
MacLellan, left, was presented with a cheque for $8,000
representing the proceeds from the Warden’s annual golf
tournament held in July. The money will go towards paying
for the Clinton Habitat for Humanity house that was built
earlier this year. Making the presentation to MacLellan was
Habitat for Humanity Huron County Treasurer Glenn
Hayter. (Photo submitted)
THE EDITOR,
This is a belated thank you to the
patrons and supporters of the Blyth
Festival who made the last 10 years
of my life such a wonderful
experience. Including the years that
I worked with the company prior to
my time as artistic director, the sum
is 18 consecutive seasons.
During that time I was honoured
to become genuine friends with
many people in the region, but
particularly within Blyth. I am
forever grateful for the time that we
shared, creating some of the best
theatre in Canada. And I do mean
“we”. The work that is
commissioned and developed by the
Blyth Festival relies heavily on input
from local residents, just as the
original Farm Show did, back in
1972. There are very few theatres in
the world that enjoy such a
symbiotic relationship with their
hosts.
It is important to remember that
this relationship goes both ways.
Just as the Festival benefits from an
engaged and supportive core of local
patrons and sponsors, the village
and the region, as a whole, benefit
from the presence of this national
treasure. Make no mistake: it is a
renowned company that attracts the
attention of major theatres across the
country. I was thrilled to see that
Beverley Cooper’s Innocence Lost:
A Play about Steven Truscott was on
the Globe and Mail’s Canadian
bestseller list last week: the first
time that a theatre script has cracked
this list.
Shortly before I left Blyth, I was
speaking with one of the Festival’s
most generous donors who
wondered aloud about lack of
government funding. I was eager to
correct his understanding of the
situation. The Blyth Festival is very
well supported by the Ontario Arts
Council and the Canada Council for
the Arts, arm’s-length agencies
funded directly by the province and
feds, respectively. Grants from these
organizations total in excess of
$300,000 per year. The Festival’s
annual revenues of approximately
$1.1 million generate more than
three times that much for the local
economy.
Far from being “hand-outs”, these
grants are integral to Huron
County’s economy. These are
investments that pay enormous
dividends and if you are reading
this, chances are that you are a
beneficiary.
The Blyth Festival is well-
supported by the province, by the
federal government, by corporate
sponsors in the region, by individual
donors, and by patrons from across
Ontario. Yet the company’s biggest
challenge is local ticket sales. I urge
anyone and everyone who lives in
Huron County to consider this
reality. If you don’t attend the
theatre, who will? The extraordinary
support of our arts councils will only
last if the community itself
maintains its commitment to the
Festival.
Again, I offer sincere thanks to all
who made my time in Blyth such a
creative, productive and rewarding
experience. I look forward to
returning as a patron of Canada’s
theatrical treasure.
Sincerely,
Eric Coates
THE EDITOR,
I wish to comment on
Brock Vodden’s recent futile
and potentially expensive
attempt to stifle what has
become an accepted forum
for “free” speech in the world
today. Remember that this
attempt would have been at
the expense of the taxpayers
of North Huron and not
Vodden himself since of
course he is in fact not a
taxpayer. Vodden has
complained before about
attacks on himself by the
same blog but of course has
never put his money up to
stop them despite his
expressed personal outrage.
Perhaps this is because he
knows others with far deeper
pockets than North Huron
have tried and failed in this
endeavour.
Vodden has been
bemoaning this particular
blog for some time because of
comments made about him
personally when he made the
choice to participate in it by
posting to it. This was his
decision and he refuses to
accept responsibility for the
results of his decision despite
the fact that he must know all
about the pitfalls of blogging
since he has [had] two blogs
of his own, one of which he
has taken down. I can only
assume that he was
overwhelmed with the
amount of comments he was
receiving since the only
objective of that blog was to
attack the people who take
part in the blog he hates.
Vodden closely controls the
comments that can appear on
his site so as a result there are
no comments other than his
own. His blog dedicated to
and I quote the man himself
“From now on, it’s going to
be, well – all about Blyth.
Mostly historical “news”,
heritage pictures, historical
accounts, research findings,
and insider information” is
just an amazing collection of
well, comments about the
Avon Maitland District
School Board (AMDSB) and
the Vodden conspiracy theory.
I recently took a quick look at
it and found that out of the
latest 25 postings he made
seven were about the history
of Blyth, two were just
nonsense and 16 of them were
about, you guessed it the
AMDSB.
While the internet and the
social media that has now
become commonplace in the
world has been credited and
praised with bringing down
governments such as Libya
and moving forward the
unrest and rebellion in Syria,
it has its issues. I also do not
necessarily agree with a great
deal of what is posted and
said on this blog and many
others like it. Not necessarily
because of what is said but
because of how it is said.
Many comments dilute or
render their message null and
void by being disrespectful
and juvenile in many cases. I
have chosen to participate in
blogs and attempted to keep
the conversation logical and
on a thoughtful basis.
Occasionally I have allowed
my rather offbeat sense of
humour to get the better of me
only to discover how
pathetically serious some
people take themselves. At
the same time I have taken the
abuse, name calling and
criticisms that have been
hurled my way as the price to
be paid for the opportunity to
participate. This does not
mean that I am not critical but
I have tried not to lower it to
the gutter level that
unfortunately others have and
I have signed my name to
everything I have posted there
despite comments and
assertions by some
individuals that I have not.
On Sept. 5 Brock Vodden
wrote a comment that will
live on forever on the internet
in one of those pesky blogs
that he just hates. I have taken
the liberty of editing certain
parts to remove the identity of
those it is directed at. I have
however not changed one
single word of what he wrote
and if there is any doubt
please e-mail me at
bknott7@gmail.com and I
will be happy to send you an
original copy of his whole
comment. My question is can
you guess who he is directing
his comments at?
Now you must bear in mind
that the comments relate to a
rather small group of
individuals so that specific
statements, although names
are not used, are very easy to
identify with a specific
individual or group of
individuals. The bold text and
underlines are mine but the
spelling mistakes and
grammatical errors are his.
“outcome of years of
incompetent
management”
“incompetent
governance”
“serves poorly”
“members have lost
all meaningful
contact with most
of the communities
for which they are
responsible”
“the result of that is
that communities
like Blyth …….
have no
representation at
all”
“members end up
representing no
one but
themselves”
“citizens ….. have
no one tending to
their concerns,
needs, interests, or welfare”
“accountability to the people
and community connection
are diluted to the point of
being undetectable”
“as elected ……… lose touch
with their constituencies the
entire focus of power and
decision-making falls to the
senior staff. The system then
is controlled by people who
are unaccountable to the
people”
“It could be rendered
tolerable if the elected ……
members have the capacity to
value and respond to their
entire constituency, and the
administrators have the
competency, wisdom and
the ethical foundation to
provide a sound and effective
……………. system.
Unfortunately, in our case, we
have been unlucky on both
counts with the quality of
most …….. members and of
administrators. The people of
……….. have been short-
changed in terms of both
governance and operations.
We have been routinely
misinformed about what it
happening and why.
Administration officials
have become spin doctors as
opposed to responsible
public servants.”
“does not care because they
do not represent us”
“Perhaps one of the long
term benefits of this period
of neglect and abuse by
…….. will be that in the
next election of 2014 we will
take a lot more care to see
that we have responsible
candidates for
………positions and our
votes will be determined by
much more cogent thought
than the last time.”
No it is not the North Huron
Council but the AMDSB and
our “Acclaimed” not elected
school board trustee. I must
say though that I agree 100
per cent with his final
comment but in this case I do
mean the North Huron
municipal election as a whole
and hope that we will get
some intelligent and
responsible candidates for all
of the available positions
including the trustee post.
Let he who is without
sin .....!
Bill Knott, Blyth.
Letters to the Editor
See histories and historic
photographs on the
Huron History section
of our website
www.northhuron.on.ca
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