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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2011-06-02, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 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 May 31, 1950 Children from several area schools were working to contribute to the Manitoba Flood Relief Fund. Contributions were being made through The Brussels Post and were then forwarded along to The London Free Press. The donations would then be sent along to Winnipeg. S.S. No. 7 School Cranbrook had already donated $20 to the cause with more donations to follow. The Brussels Lions Club had also authorized a donation to the Manitoba Flood Relief Fund in the amount of $50. The Krauters were set to purchase the former Eckmier store, which had operated as a grocery business for the previous 23 years. The Krauter brothers were planning on operating their plumbing, heating and tinsmithing business out of the new location. The Krauters, Calvin and Gordon had been operating their business in Brussels for the previous two years. Both were veterans of the Second World War. The juvenile soccer schedule was to start on May 31 with Ethel travelling to Brussels for the first game of the season. The season would wrap up on July 12 with Brussels travelling to Ethel for the season finale. Anniversary services were scheduled for Knox Presbyterian Church on Sunday, June 11. Musical performances at the service would be provided by the Knox Presbyterian Choir from Ethel and a quartette from Melville Presbyterian Church in Brussels. May 29, 1974 The Huron-Perth Roman Catholic Separate School Board settled its contract with the board’s custodians, resulting in a three-year deal that would run through 1977, but members of the board were upset with local newspapers. In reference to reports in the Stratford and London newspapers, David Teahen of Stratford called reports stemming from board meetings “an injustice in reporting, in the wording of board meeting reports”. John Lyndon, a 54-year-old theatre manager from Goderich was nominated to represent the Huron- Middlesex Liberal party in the upcoming federal election. The Blyth Board of Trade held its second quarterly meeting where it would hear from R.G. Shrier, president of Signal Star Publishing as the guest speaker. May 28, 1986 Over 300 young people had registered for swimming lessons at the new Brussels, Morris and Grey swimming pool. The program would begin on June 2 and run throughout the summer. Lessons were also going to run longer than they did at other community pools. Lessons at the Brussels pool would run over four weeks, as opposed to the normal three weeks that was in use at other community pools. Rehearsals had already begun for the 12th installment of the Blyth Festival. The season’s opening play that year was Another Season’s Promise, written by Keith Roulston and Anne Chislett. The play would deal with the farm financial crisis and its effect on one Huron County family and it would be directed by Miles Potter, whose success with The Farm Show had made him well known to local theatregoers. Several area school principals were shifted around by the Huron County Board of Education. Ken Scott, the principal at Brussels Public School was being moved to East Wawanosh Public School where he would take over the principal duties from Bill Stevenson. Stevenson was going on leave from the school. In addition, Jim Axtmann, principal at Grey Central Public School would be shifted to Brussels Public School to cover for Scott while he was gone. Rick Whitely, vice-principal at Wingham Public School would be covering for Axtmann at Grey Central Public School for the time being. All four of the principals had been with the Huron County Board of Education since its inception in 1960. June 11, 2003 Two Blyth residents travelled to the annual OFSAA track and field meet in St. Catharines and came back with medals. Megan Campbell won silver in the junior women’s triple jump and Kerissa VanAmersfoort earned a bronze medal in the midget women’s discus. Both girls were students at F.E. Madill Secondary School. The Huron County Health Unit had adopted a new plan to battle West Nile Virus by using a new larvicide that would help control the mosquito population, therefore preventing the spread of the disease to humans. Premier Ernie Eves presented his election policy paper entitled “The Road Ahead” and created significant concerns throughout municipal councils, especially in regards to decision-making ability of lower-tier governments. “The province would really tie the hands of local politicians,” said North Huron Reeve Doug Layton. Layton was speaking specifically of a clause in the paper entitled “The Fair Deal for Municipalities” which would require municipalities to hold a referendum seeking voter approval prior to any tax increase. 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 Death wish, anyone? As Canada faces the possibility of a postal strike starting Friday, there are Canadians out there who can’t remember the last time we went through this in 1997. They’re also likely to be the people who couldn’t care less about whether the strike happens at all. For many people, Canada Post seems an anachronism. They don’t send letters, they send e-mails or use social networking sites. They pay their bills online. They even send wedding invitations and birthday cards via the internet. In arguing its case with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Canada Post has noted that letter mail volume has dropped more than 17 per cent since 2006. Perhaps even union officials understand how tentative the position of their lawyer is. They have backed away several times from calling a strike until they apparently felt they had no choice. They probably know that if they withdraw services they will encourage even more people to find ways of not using Canada Post. But Canada Post and the postal union are part of a sick organization that is its own worst enemy. The corporation doesn’t seem to grasp that its in a customer-service business. The corporate culture (aside from most of the friendly people in our local post offices) is that we, the customers, should be grateful for the service the company deigns to provide us. Where once there was a pride in delivering a letter no matter what, Canada Post now tells people their letter won’t get delivered unless the address conforms perfectly to its regulations. Meanwhile, communicating with anyone beyond the local post office is like fighting your way through a barbwire maze. Part of the blame lies with an increasingly out-of-touch management and part with unionized workers who have their “rights” to stick to the letter of their union agreement, even if it means the people who pay their generous wages don’t get their mail delivered promptly. But while Canada Post may be unnecessary sometime in the future, it’s still an essential service today. Even if letter mail volume has dropped 17 per cent, that means that there’s still 83 per cent of the mail being sent that there was in 2006. Nowhere is Canada Post more essential than in rural Canada where there aren’t as many options. Yet Canada Post seems to resent rural users, constantly trying to cut service, including closing post offices. What’s more, they’ve cooked the books to make rural post offices seem unprofitable in order to argue for closures. North Huron Publishing, for instance, spends over $100,000 a year for delivery of publications through Canada Post but these days the cheque goes to Ottawa, so none of that money gets credited to the local post offices that do the work. Businesses that use postage machines for all their mail, pay centralized companies rather than the local post office. Ironically, a postal strike would show us how much we still need the post office, yet encourage even more people to make sure they don’t have to depend on Canada Post and its self-serving union members. — KR Pushing the anger-button Going into this fall’s provincial election Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak apparently wants to tap into the anger of voters who see things they think should be different and want to strike out in frustration. How else to explain his announcement that he would make prisoners do community service work which would create chain gangs? The urge behind the policy is easy to agree with. Why shouldn’t prisoners do something good for society to make up for the damage they’ve done? The practicality is something else. How much will it cost us for additional guards to control these people when they are out in the public? Do we really want the kinds of chain gangs seen in movies about the southern U.S.? But the frustration factor seems to be a big vote-getter these days. It wins support of the federal Conservatives who vow to keep people in prison longer, even if it costs us billions. Voters should contemplate, however, the cost of their anger. — 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.