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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2012-10-25, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 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 Ph. 519-523-4792 Fax 519-523-9140 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. N0G 1H0 Phone 519-887-9114 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 October 28, 1965 Dr. John MacKenzie M.D. was set to open a part-time office in Brussels in the same office that had been previously occupied by Dr. Noble. MacKenzie came to Brussels as a graduate of Ottawa University who had interned at University Hospital in London. He was currently serving as a medical officer at the Clinton Air School. He would soon begin seeing patients on Tuesday and Thursday nights and on Saturdays by appointment. As anticipated by many, Jack Thynne’s farewell concert in Brussels turned many away as the show was sold out. The Brussels Post reported that some hopefuls had travelled from as far away as Oshawa, Toronto and London, only to be turned away due to the full house. Joyce Kellington was presented with her golden cord award, which is the highest honour in the world of Guiding. Kellington was honoured with her award at a special ceremony and dinner held in the basement of the Brussels United Church. October 21, 1987 Donna White, Beth Crawford and Brenda Wheeler were at the helm of a program to bring the block parent system to Brussels. The group said that over 20 families had already signed on to participate, but that by the time the program was set to be rolled out, they expected 50 families would be willing to offer their homes as a safe haven in the case of an emergency. In the early stages of the program, organizers said, the Village of Brussels had agreed to pick up any costs until the group got on its feet and was able to start paying for things itself. Larry Rice of Brussels Motors was set to open the new car dealership that would be featuring Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth vehicles in the village. Rice said he was excited to get started in Brussels, having changed his mind on Chrysler. “I just went out and bought [the vehicles] from other dealerships because I couldn’t wait to get started,” he said. “A few years ago I would have scoffed at the idea of a Chrysler dealership, but the company today puts out a fantastic product and sales are soaring all over the country.” Blyth Village Council set up a meeting on the joint running of the Blyth and District Community Centre. The purpose of the meeting between Blyth and neighbouring councils was to “keep the ball rolling” on the project. November 2, 1994 Blyth Village Council made a recommendation to pursue grant funding to bring the village’s sludge storage tank up to ministry guidelines. B.M. Ross suggested that a $162,000 retrofit of the tank would do the trick, if councillors were prepared to spend that much on the project. The year’s harvest was going well according to crop consultant Allan McCallum. “Almost all of the white beans and soya beans are off with good yields, especially in the soya beans,” McCallum said. However, crops in the Seaforth/Winthrop/Walton area had poor yields due to different levels of rain. “The Winthrop/Walton/Seaforth area had some poor yields due to root rot and white mould,” McCallum said. The area corn harvest, however, was looking good, McCallum said. “The corn harvest has nicely started and the early reports look promising. Some information has shown yields above average,” he said. October 25, 2007 With Morris-Turnberry Council’s contract with Bluewater Recycling for garbage collection in urban areas coming up for renewal, council agreed to investigate the idea of curbside pick-up for all homes throughout the municipality, both urban and rural. Morris-Turnberry Mayor Dorothy Kelly said there would be plenty of unhappy residents in the municipality if they were hit with a new charge for collection in the rural areas. Councillor Paul Gowing said that as a rural resident, he often had a hard time making it to the landfill and could see the benefit to the idea. Const. Joanna Van Mierlo said the OPP would be out in full force for Halloween in both the Blyth and Brussels areas. “Especially when it’s early and the kids are out, everyone on duty is on patrol somewhere,” Van Mierlo said. The Huron United Way unveiled what would be its next fundraiser: a roast for local politicians. The first annual mayor and reeves dinner was set to be held in Goderich on Nov. 21 and the mayors and reeves of all nine Huron County municipalities were scheduled to be there. The Maritime Christmas show, featuring the Rankin sisters, was set to be held at Memorial Hall in Blyth. The show was scheduled for Dec. 17 in Blyth. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage. We are not responsible for unsolicited newsscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright So good, so bad The presentation by volunteers from North Huron Food Share to North Huron Council last week demonstrates both what we should be proud of in our community, and what we should be ashamed of. Food Share has been serving needy people from the northern part of Huron County since 1995. The group explained to council that all the work is done by volunteers and even the landlord donates his rent to the cause so that almost all the money donated goes directly to help people. And there are many people who need help. The Food Share representatives said use of the food bank increased by 17 per cent in August, with 140 families including 400 people in all being helped. These latter figures show that there’s something wrong in this land of plenty if 400 people in an area as small as northern Huron need assistance to put food on the table. Cynics may say people have come to depend on this kind of help, and given human nature, no doubt there are some people who abuse any program like this. Many others, however, will feel ashamed that they have to ask for help. Actually it may be governments that are most guilty of taking advantage of food banks. Government cuts to welfare and unemployment insurance, changes that put people with mental health problems on the street and government failure to protect Canadian jobs have all created clients for food banks and other forms of community assistance. Governments have saved money by shifting the burden to volunteers like those running Food Share. When food banks were started, they seemed like an answer to a temporary downturn in the economy. Unfortunately, they have become a permanent part of our country. We should be proud of the generosity of the volunteers and the donors who make food banks like Food Share work, but we should be ashamed that in a country as rich as Canada, the benefits are shared so unevenly that food banks are still needed more than ever. — KR At last, some sanity The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) caused a furor in the media world last week when it turned down BCE Inc’s $3 billion deal to acquire Astral Media Inc. Finally, someone has done something to slow the concentration of media ownership which has been out of control for more than a decade. In announcing the CRTC decision, commissioner Jean-Pierre Blais said the deal would not be in the best interest of Canadian consumers. The combination of BCE, which owns CTV and CTV2 and other broadcasting outlets and Astral, which owns a raft of radio stations and specialty channels would have created a monster company controlling more than 35 per cent of broadcasting in Canada. And that doesn’t say anything about BCE’s newspaper holdings. An example of the current problem with media concentration was the coverage of the CRTC decision itself. Where could one turn for coverage one could trust would be untainted by corporate self-interest? Locally, both the CTV station in Kitchener and the CTV2 station in London are owned by BCE. National coverage on these stations would come from the BCE-owned CTV network. If you turned to newspapers, the largest business-oriented newspaper, the Report on Business is published by the BCE-owned The Globe and Mail. Turn to other newspapers and The London Free Press is owned by Sun Media, which in turn is owned by Quebecor Inc. which was a fierce foe of the takeover because it would threaten that company’s dominant broadcasting position in Quebec. Quebecor boss Pierre Karl Péladeau had the audacious hypocrisy to harness the power of his newspapers, right down to local Sun Media- owned community newspapers, to run full page ads warning that the BCE-Astral deal would put too much power in one company’s hands. Once there was concern about concentrated ownership of the media. The “convergence” of broadcast, internet and newspapers, turned monopoly from a bad thing to a goal as companies sought greater size. For the good of consumers who need a variety of views, the concentration has gone too far. — 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.