The Citizen, 2012-11-08, Page 1CitizenTh
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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, November 8, 2012
Volume 28 No. 44
REMEMBRANCE - Pg. 11Remembrance Day storiesare shared AUTHOR - Pg. 23 Hullett Central welcomesauthor to schoolSPORTS- Pg. 8Ironmen defense leads topair of lossesPublications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
‘Country Carol’ shaping up
nicely says Festival’s Smith
Morris-Turnberry
hears from public
on restructuring
Bridges to honour
fallen officers
A close call
The Londesborough community was awoken with the sounds of twisted steel on Saturday
morning as the sounds of a collision rang out through the streets. While both vehicles
sustained severe damage, luckily no one was seriously injured as a result of the collision. The
truck was travelling northbound on Hwy. 4 when it collided with the car, travelling westbound.
Emergency services personnel were on the scene until late Saturday afternoon. (Keith Roulston
photo)
On Nov. 1 OPP Commissioner
Chris Lewis and several other
members of the OPP brass were in
Goderich to honour three Huron
County officers who gave their lives
in the line of duty.
Three bridges were dedicated in
the names of Bruce Crew, Dave
Mounsey and Vu Pham at the
ceremony held at the Knights of
Columbus Hall in Goderich.
The bridge honouring Crew is in
Goderich and it crosses the Maitland
River, while the bridge honouring
Mounsey is in Bayfield and crosses
the Bayfield River and the bridge
honouring Pham is in Port Albert,
crossing the Nine Mile River.
Lewis spoke to the lives of the
three men, recounting his
recollections of the three of them,
whether he knew them personally or
not.
Lewis recalled that it had only
been a few months ago when he was
in Goderich last. He attended a
Huron County Council meeting to
help dedicate County Road 12 in
the name of the three fallen
officers.
He said he had only been with the
OPP for a few years when Crew was
killed at the end of a high speed
pursuit on Sept. 25 1983.
Crew’s death resulted in a police
force-wide change in high speed
Things are progressing quite
nicely, says Blyth Festival Artistic
Director Peter Smith, with his
ambitious community project A
Country Carol.
Smith says that despite his
insistence on involving anyone and
everyone in the play, the level of
acting has been high, even higher
than he hoped it would be.
On Saturday the group was on the
Memorial Hall stage for the first
time and the results were great,
Smith says.
He says the play’s designer is hard
at work on the project’s set, which is
a snowy Village of Blyth in 1909.
The group has been meeting three
times a week (twice throughout the
week and once over the weekend)
for over a month now and while
some people have had to drop out
due to the size of the commitment,
Smith says, the group that remains is
dedicated and committed to putting
on the best show they can.
The show will now have a musical
component, Smith says, as a piano
player has come aboard. He said
there will be piano music
(predominantly Christmas carols)
for 15 minutes before the show and
then the piano will be an integral
character throughout the show.
“There will be music throughout
the entire show to create
atmosphere, whether it’s to create
the sound of wind or when a door is
opened,” Smith said it an interview
with The Citizen.
Smith says he expected the level
of commitment because of the
quality of the community, but he’s
thrilled at the diversity of the cast.
“We have an eight-year-old in the
cast and we have an 80-year-old and
everybody in between. We even have
a farmer in the cast,” Smith said.
Smith, however, says he
understands the other commitments
people have and why they couldn’t
stay on for the duration of the
project.
“Children have classes and they
have homework and they have
hockey and ballet and everything,”
Smith says, “and adults have jobs, so
it’s tough for them to commit the
time.”
Smith says the group is one of the
best he has ever worked with and
he’s honoured to be a part of the
project.
“This is such a great collection of
people. I love being in their
company,” Smith said.
Smith says one tactic he has
employed along the process was to
have a policy where “yes” is the
predominant word.
Smith says the rehearsal sessions
have been devoid of negativity and
when he suggests something, the
cast is encouraging, saying yes and
getting to it. In the same vein, when
one of the actors has a suggestion,
Smith immediately validates it and
begins working with the suggestion,
seeing how it fits into the play.
“It’s great when that happens,”
Smith says. “I love their enthusiasm
with this project, it’s so appreciated.”
Smith says it’s essential that
A public meeting in Bluevale,
Nov. 1 showed both the audience
members in attendance, and Morris-
Turnberry councillors are divided on
the need for municipal restructuring.
Council called the meeting to hear
public reaction to two proposed
bylaws to change the structure of the
Morris-Turnberry council beginning
with the election in 2014. The
bylaws appear likely to be voted on
at the Nov. 20 meeting of council, if
councillors decided at their Nov. 6
meeting to include the issue on the
agenda for the second meeting of the
month.
The one bylaw would dissolve
the ward system which has been in
place since Morris and Turnberry
amalgamated in 2000. It would
mean all councillors are elected at
large rather than voters being able to
vote only for councillors to represent
their own ward, either Morris or
Turnberry.
If council was to approve this
bylaw and some residents did not
agree, there is the possibility of an
appeal to the Ontario Municipal
Board on this issue.
The second bylaw would reduce
the number of councillors from six
to four, plus the mayor. There is no
appeal of this decision.
Only 15 people showed up to hear
council discuss the proposals.
Nancy Michie, administrator
clerk-treasurer presented figures to
those present that had been
discussed by council prior to
considering the bylaws. In 2011
Morris-Turnberry Council costs
were $33.65 per elector, the highest
among municipalities surveyed with
the lowest being $18.65. A big part
of the reason is the relatively low
population. Currently there are, on
average, 415 electors for every
councillor in Morris-Turnberry
while in Central Huron there are
895.
Even if council was reduced by
two members, she explained later in
answer to a question, Morris-
Turnberry’s council would still cost
about $25 per elector. Each council
position eliminated would save
about $11,500 at the current rate.
But George Underwood, one of
the first audience members to speak,
wondered if there was any other
reason to reduce the size of council
other than saving money.
He argued that taxpayers spend
millions to run the municipality and
the saving isn’t large if it reduced the
effectiveness of council.
Mayor Paul Gowing, who has
been a strong proponent of
restructuring since before the 2010
municipal election, said it was about
more than money.
“With the ward system we’re only
allowed to vote for half of council,”
he said referring to the necessity for
voters to select only from their own
ward. “It’s poor representation.”
Voters should be allowed to
reward councillors who are doing a
good job, even if they’re not from
their ward, or to deal with a
councillor from the other ward they
By Keith Roulston
The Citizen
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 3
Continued on page 21By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 9