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The Citizen, 2011-04-21, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 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 April 19, 1950 The Huron Presbyterial Society celebrated its 25th anniversary in Clinton. The meeting was billed as a very special one that would sum up the Society’s last 25 years in Huron County. An Easter dance sponsored by the Majestic Women’s Institute was held on April 13 with a large crowd in attendance. Music for the evening was performed by Henderson’s Orchestra. Listowel Dry Cleaners had just begun making its way down to the Brussels area, offering a pick-up truck in the village every Tuesday and Friday going forward. A man had been apprehended in North Bay and was being held for questioning in connection with the robbery of $500 from Brussels Export Packers. The money, which was stolen from the plant’s cash drawer, had been discovered missing by the plant’s manager in the early hours of April 15. There had been no sign of forced entry, so it was believed that entry had been gained through the theft of the manager’s keys earlier that night from his home. His cigarettes, lighter as well as a small sum of money had also been taken. Brussels resident Ian McDonald was still looking for his stepladder, which had been missing for some time. “Somebody borrowed our stepladder. They forgot to say who,” McDonald’s notice in The Brussels Post read. “They forgot to return it. This was last fall. If you are through with it, I could use it now.” April 17, 1974 Huron MPP Jack Riddell said that he was concerned about strong rumours that Ontario Hydro wished to construct a nuclear power plant just south of Goderich in Huron County. Riddell said that the plant could negatively affect prime agricultural land, while waste from the plant could adversely affect crop production in the area as well. “We cannot afford to sacrifice prime agricultural land, which can only lead to more serious food shortages, and we cannot afford to ignore the possible threat to the environment inherent in these nuclear power plants,” Riddell said. A powerful tornado that struck the Seaforth-Dublin area knocked out area power in Blyth and much of Huron and Perth Counties. As a result of the tornado, trees were uprooted and several barns were destroyed. Estimates of the damage done to the power lines running through that area were somewhere between $250,000 and $500,000. Power was knocked out, but eventually restored to Blyth, Brussels, Stratford, Dublin, Clinton, Mitchell, Bayfield, Goderich, Sebringville, Hurondale and even parts of Exeter and Hensall. The Huron County Board of Education was scheduled to present its 1974 budget on April 17, first for an hour-long closed session and then a subsequent public session. Because of a worldwide energy crisis, Ontario Hydro was predicting that an energy shortage would continue in Canada, despite the fact that the country had successfully cushioned the blow in recent months. April 16, 1986 After resigning for just four days, Brussels Reeve Hank Ten Pas met with the rest of Brussels Village Council and agreed to withdraw his resignation. Despite Ten Pas’ one-sentence- long resignation letter, he decided to come back after a letter signed by over 20 residents urged him to reconsider leaving. Huron County proposed a new highway that would help re-route drivers around Ball’s Bridge. A public meeting, which was held at the Auburn Community Hall, presented the road to residents, which would effectively replace the need for Ball’s Bridge in the Huron County road system. May 7, 2003 The Avon Maitland District School Board was asked to once again revisit the Seaforth Public School catchment area. While the current catchment area had been in place for over three years, changes were being requested from families living in the southeast corner of Morris, the southwest corner of Grey and a small area just west of Egmondville. If Walton Public School had not closed, these students would most likely have attended public school in Walton. As part of the study phase, 11 families in the aforementioned areas received letters asking them for their comments. The Maitland Valley Conserva- tion Authority won an appeal and a new trial was ordered in the organization’s lawsuit regarding a new manure tank being built for Cranbrook Swine. A permit to build the tank was required and obtained from the township, but the authority still had its own concerns over the tank. Lucknow’s Sarah Mann began a summer-long stint at The Citizen, building on her education in journalism at Humber College. “In my first week here, I got to meet Mickey Mouse. It doesn’t get much better than that,” she said. 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 Bottom up, not top down The televised debate, last week, between the leaders of the four major parties in the May 2 federal election drew up to eight million people at various times, confirming again that many people will base where they put their vote by the leaders they like best, or who impresses them most. But it also emphasizes how this country has become such a top-down society, and why leaders get so full of themselves if they become Prime Minister. For decades now, through both the Liberal and Conservative governments, power has been increasingly concentrated in the office of the Prime Minister. His or her unelected advisers carry more influence over how the country is governed than the MPs elected by the people. One former Prime Minister famously said backbench MPs were “nobodies”. This kind of attitude helps explain why the current Prime Minister refused to give MPs the real figures on the cost of some of his programs and was found in contempt of parliament. After all, the elected MPs are just a hindrance to getting things done. The purpose of elections has been turned on its head. The intention was that we were supposed to elect the very best people from the local level to send to parliament. From the best of these, a leader would be chosen. Instead, local MPs have become merely the way we tally which party gets to form the government. With too much focus on the leaders, the local candidate is too often elected by the tag that says which party they represent. At times it seems we might as well hang party signs on fence posts and select one, for all the power an MP really has. When elected, too often the MP becomes a representative of the government to the people, rather than telling the government what the people want. Certainly the party leader and the party’s platform matter, but when you are deciding who to vote for, take some time to try to find out which local candidate would best represent Huron-Bruce in the upcoming parliament and make that part of your decision process. — KR Speeding the problem A little known regulatory change made by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) may help change the landscape and the economy of Huron County. On March 2 the CFIA announced it was changing the restrictions on the movement of logs and firewood from ash trees so that they could move freely throughout any of the counties where emerald ash borer (EAB) has been found. EAB is an insect that was accidentally imported to North America which kills ash trees. While it can fly from tree to tree, the spread of the insect is most often sped up by firewood being taken from one part of the province to another. When the insect has been found in a county in the past, moving ash wood out of that county has been prohibited. Huron County has been a quarantined area since EAB was found in the Bayfield area in 2008, so what’s the problem with allowing more movement with other counties that also have the insect? Well people like David Pullen, Huron County’s Forest Conservation Officer, and Steve Bowers, co-ordinator of the Huron Stewardship Council, say the regulatory change is likely to make all of Huron County susceptible to damage from the insect years sooner than would have happened otherwise. Only a small area of Huron (and nearby Perth) has been infected at this point. Left on its own, it will take years for the insect to spread to the rest of the county – years for existing trees to grow and become more valuable, years for scientists to work on finding a control to stop it. But if logs and firewood are allowed to move freely from areas of Ontario that are heavily infested, into areas of Huron that are currently unaffected, the insect will spread more quickly and there will be more local points of infestation for them to spread from. Ash makes up a significant proportion of Huron County’s trees. Loss of the species will change the look of the county. No regulation that speeds the spread of EAB should be permitted. — 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.