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Home My WebLink AboutThe Citizen, 2011-04-21, Page 1CitizenTh e $1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, April 21, 2011 Volume 27 No. 16 FESTIVAL - Pg. 11Blyth Festival faceshousing crunch RETIREMENT - Pg. 24 Retired fire chief receiveshero’s farewell in BlythCHARGESLAID- Pg. 7Ex-resident at centre ofpriesthood sex scandalPublications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK: Holiday for ‘Citizen’ Taxes up 3.5 per cent for NH Son of God apprehended Jesus, portrayed here by Blyth drama prodigy Sadie Chalmers, gets apprehended by a guard, portrayed by Blyth United Church’s Gary Clark, as part of Walk The Story, an Easter celebration organized by Blyth’s churches that took place on Sunday night. The evening began at the Blyth Community Church of God and worked its way into the village, including a Palm Sunday parade along Blyth’s main street. At 7 p.m. the walk continued to the Blyth Christian Reformed Church followed by Trinity Anglican Church, Blyth United Church and eventually wrapped up with Living Water Christian Fellowship. (Vicky Bremner photo) Suzuki answers student questions at film screening As the weather begins to turn warm, grass gets greener by the day and flowers begin to bloom, it is time for Easter once again. To celebrate the holiday, staff at The Citizen will not be in the office on Good Friday, April 22, so they can spend time with their families during this special time. Both the Blyth and Brussels offices will be closed on Friday. As it is a Friday, deadlines will not be affected. The deadline for the April 28 issue will remain Monday, April 25 at 4 p.m. in Blyth and at 2 p.m. in Brussels. With a final vote of five to two, North Huron council approved the final draft of the township’s budget during the April 18 meeting. The budget, which includes a 3.5 per cent spending increase, was hotly debated both during the regular council meeting and earlier in a special budget meeting held in council chambers. When the final vote came to pass, councillors Ray Hallahan and Bernie Bailey voted against the budget for similar reasons; both had asked questions during an earlier planning session that had gone unanswered. “I can’t approve this without having all the information,” Hallahan stated. Blyth councillor Brock Vodden stated that it wasn’t time to quibble over “nickels and dimes”, since the township needed to pass the budget. He stated that, since council had already pledged themselves to trying to find inefficiencies in the budget for the next fiscal year, that they should pass the budget and begin that process. Bailey stated that you can’t ignore the small expenses, because they are what make up the larger expenses. The 3.5 per cent increase won’t be borne equally by all wards. Wingham Ward’s revenue through taxation will account for 2.21 per cent of the increase, East Wawanosh will represent 0.91 per cent and Blyth ward will provide 0.38 per cent of the 3.5 per cent increase. To generate the increased revenue necessary for the budget to work, Director of Finance Donna White stated taxes were going to increase in all wards, however changes to the taxation model makes it difficult to establish an average increase. Property assessments, which used to remain stable for up to three years at a time, and make comparing yearly taxes easy, now increase on a yearly basis. To determine an average, White took a property that would have been assessed at $100,000 prior to the current round of assessment increases in each ward, increased it by the average assessment increases for the past three years, and compared the taxation on the now $115,124 property. In that circumstance, Wingham residents will see an approximate tax increase of 2.23 per cent over 2010, Blyth Ward residents will see a 2.09 per cent increase and East Wawanosh residents have the highest raise, with an average of 3.77 per cent over their previous year’s taxes. These increases are dependent on assessments. Someone who had a higher assessment increase will have less of a tax increase while those with lower, or negative assessments, will have a higher increase. Residents of North Huron were Students from Avon Maitland District School Board (AMDSB) schools had the opportunity of a lifetime on April 12 to ask world- renowned nature and wild life expert David Suzuki questions about their world. More than 30 students from local schools, and 700 students board- wide, attended and learned about topics ranging from how important the environment is to what the world would look like without it. The students watched Suzuki’s new documentary, Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie and then were involved in a conversation with him regarding the movie and the future of the world’s environment. Students discussed Suzuki’s documentary with him on the morning of April 12 and in the afternoon, while Suzuki entertained questions from elementary students, broke into groups to with a Guelph- based educational program, My World, My Choice,to learn about sustainability and community leadership. Suzuki took the elementary students, according to Hullett Central Public School students, on an imaginary trip backwards in time, and discussed with them what the world would be like without plants, water and oxygen. Suzuki then told them that, if the world isn’t cared for, that imaginary past could become the future. He then started taking questions. Wind turbines, a hot topic around southwestern Ontario, was addressed by Suzuki, answering a question regarding turbines and public health from Hullett Central Public School students. Teresa Atkinson, a student from Hullett Central Public School, put two questions to Suzuki; are wind turbines dangerous to people who live near them and what are the greatest benefits of turbines? Suzuki answered, in no uncertain terms, that turbines are not reported to affect the health of those around them and, compared to other producers of noise, are also not particularly noisy. “People say that people get sick around turbines, this is just a bunch of nonsense,” he said. “There is no indication from countries like Denmark and Germany, which have a huge number of turbines [in them], that health problems have come [from wind turbines].” Suzuki stated that the greatest danger from turbines is to the bird and bat populations, if they are placed improperly. He stated that, out of 1,000 birds found in countries that have heavy turbine populations, only 10 have been killed by turbines if they are properly placed. Most are killed by large buildings, cats or cars. Bats, on the other hand, are reported to be attracted to turbines due to the noises they emit, and can be hurt by them. Jacob Bjerg, another student from Hullett, was surprised to hear that. “I was surprised that he said that turbines don’t affect people, and I was surprised they’re so bad for bats,” he said. From other topics, local students learned a lot. Atkinson stated that she was surprised to hear Suzuki state that global warming nay-sayers are similar to people who said that tobacco didn’t harm people in that they are probably benefitting from a company that produces greenhouse gases. Scott Dolmage, of Brussels Public School and Shelby Hamp of Hullett both said they learned about how the world will react if the environment continues to degrade. Twins Sean and Emily Mitchell of Brussels Public School both said they learned the importance of conservation and said they would begin looking at ways to reduce their carbon footprint. Paige Gibbings of Hullett Central said the main message she heard from the meeting was that sustainability is important, and that renewable resources like turbines and solar power are good to use. Gibbings was also the only from the two groups that went from Brussels and Hullett who was not By Denny Scott The Citizen Continued on page 22 By Denny Scott The Citizen Continued on page 22