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The Citizen, 2011-03-24, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2011.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 Phone 523-4792 FAX 523-9140 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. N0G 1H0 Phone 887-9114 E-mail norhuron@scsinternet.com 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 $34.00/year ($32.38 + $1.62 G.S.T.) in Canada; $115.00/year in U.S.A. and $175/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: norhuron@scsinternet.com March 20, 1974 The Blyth Lions Club undertook what was being called a strange project when it began searching for people to donate their eyes (after they had died) to the Eye Bank of Canada. Since the bank was opened in 1956, over 3,000 blind Canadians were able to see because of donations to the Eye Bank of Canada. Officials from the Eye Bank of Canada said that what they were doing had been endorsed by the heads of the Jewish and Christian faiths. The Blyth Board of Trade was scheduled to begin its membership drive and the board was hoping to attract members of all walks of life not just those involved in business. After the membership drive, the board would hold quarterly dinner meetings throughout the rest of the year. Dorothy MacKenzie of St. Helens visited West Wawanosh Council with concerns about dust control in the township. Complaints about dust in the area were not new to council, as they had heard them before. MacKenzie cited sources that said dust was bad for your health. Huron County Council continued to struggle with the Ontario Hydro plant that was being planned for the area. Since the unofficial announcement that a nuclear power plant was being planned for a site within 20 or 30 miles of Goderich, there had been no further communication from Ontario Hydro and several councillors were frustrated with this. The Huron County Board of Education decided to grant a two per cent raise to all transportation operators throughout the board. March 19, 1986 Blyth Reeve Albert Wasson said that he was concerned with a report that presented the possibility of Huron County having just one landfill to receive the waste from the entire county. Wasson said that he felt the report came about because the rest of the county hadn’t looked after itself as well as Blyth and Hullett in terms of waste. There was also concern regarding the placement of such a site. It was said that it would be central to the county, which likely meant, several councillors felt, the Blyth area. The new Brussels swimming pool was scheduled for an official opening date of June 1. Residents of four Blyth streets were hoping that they would be facing the final spring of muddy streets as a street-paving program had been adopted by Blyth Village Council at its March 18 meeting. B.M. Ross had presented a $70,000 plan that would have nine streets in Blyth paved. A letter from Blyth’s chair of the Heart and Stroke Foundation, Lois van Vliet said that nearly $1,000 had been realized during the foundation’s most recent fundraising campaign. Clinton Town Council was protesting a new three-year agreement where a wage increase would be granted to Huron County department heads. Blyth Village Council decided that it would not support the concerns of the letter, while West Wawanosh Council supported the concerns of Clinton in protesting the increase. The Brussels Curling Club held its March Break jitney on March 10, hosting 40 curlers. Mervyn Bauer, Pauline Patterson, Gerald Knight and Jean Bewley all came away with first place prizes. Tim Fritz of the Brussels Bulls was awarded with the top defenseman award in the OHA Junior D western division for the 1985-1986 season. He was presented the award by Bulls president Joe Steffler. April 9, 2003 Huronlea Home for the Aged was forced to restrict the number of visitors due to the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) throughout southern Ontario. The celebration for the home’s 10th anniversary had to be cancelled for the time being due to the health concerns of the home’s residents. Huron County’s draft Environ- mental Tobacco Smoke bylaw was voted down by Huron County Council with eight votes for and nine votes against. Huron East Mayor Lin Steffler, who had been a smoker for over 30 years said that because of her habit, there would be certain things over the course of her life that she wouldn’t be able to do. She said that she and the rest of Huron East Council supported the bylaw, but were “truly sorry” if any businesses (such as bars, restaurants and Legions) went out of business due to the new bylaw. Despite spring having sprung, winter weather had refused to let go with wintery conditions persisting well into the middle of April. Huron County officials, however, said they were ready for the wintery spring. Huron County roads foreman Joe Steffler said that no one in the department was caught off-guard with the weather. Steffler estimated that over the 2002/2003 winter, over 50 per cent more salt and sand was used than in the previous winter. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities. We are not responsible for unsolicited newsscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright Celebrate their bravery One minute they’re your neighbours or working beside you or husbands or parents, then their pagers go off and suddenly they transform themselves into firefighters or rescue workers. They do it for a sense of community service and, let’s face it, adventure. But times like last week remind us the danger that volunteer firefighters take on when they put on their equipment. Last week firefighters from Listowel and Atwood rushed to Listowel’s main street to fight a fire in a store. Two firemen went into the building to make sure nobody was still inside. They never came out alive. This week emergency workers will gather for a huge funeral in tribute to their sacrifice. Volunteer firemen are a special breed. They don’t do their work for the money, although there is some small compensation. They willingly complicate their lives by dropping work or getting out of bed whenever their pager signals there’s an emergency. They put themselves in harm’s way going into burning buildings or rescuing people from dangerous situations. Firefighters are better equipped than ever before with self-contained breathing equipment and communications technology but as last week’s tragedy shows, you can’t overcome all risks. Increasingly they are better trained to cut the risk with the Emergency Services Training Centre in Blyth helping give them the best training possible, but again, not every risk can be avoided or overcome. Through training, equipment and luck, 999 out of 1,000 fire calls are as routine as their risky business can be. Rare tragedies like the one in Listowel, however, remind us of the potential danger they face whenever their pager goes off. We need to celebrate these brave people more often, and take time to thank them for taking on dangerous work for their community. — KR How times change Huron County Council is immersed in a debate over planning policy that goes to the heart of what this county is about. Back in the 1970s, Huron was a leader in protecting farmland, creat- ing an official plan and setting up a planning department to oversee it, in the belief that the fertile land of the county was a precious resource that must be protected for future generations. For the most part, through planning or just a sluggish economy, the land has been protected. But many people are questioning that policy today, wondering if it’s time to relax the rules to allow more non-farm development in rural areas. That Huron County, a leader in protecting farmland, could entertain such thoughts shows that society has not kept its part of the implicit bargain that comes with protecting the land that produces the food that feeds us. In the nearly 40 years since Huron decided farmland needed to be protected, farm incomes have not kept pace with those of the people who work in plants that process food produced on those farms or the stores that sell our food. Increasingly, consumer and retailer demand for cheaper and cheaper food has led to more imported food on our grocery store shelves, to the point that U.S. pork was on store shelves in recent years when our pork producers were going broke from low prices. With declining returns for producing food, families have had to abandon their farming dreams and rural populations have dropped, causing declining school enrollment and closed schools. The economies of scale farmers have been forced to adopt have meant we need to build better roads for larger trucks and equipment, yet have fewer rural residents to support them with their taxation. It seems obvious to municipalities that we need to get more people back into the countryside to replace the missing farmers. Farmland is precious. If it’s paved over it will never grow food again. Yet society can’t expect rural areas to protect the land forever without compensation. If farmers are paid properly for producing food saving farmland won’t be an issue anymore. — 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.