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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2011-06-09, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 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 June 7, 1950 On June 5, local sportsmen, coaches, players and others interested in sports met at the Brussels Library to discuss ways that floodlights could be obtained for Victoria Park in Brussels. A committee was formed and it was decided that fundraising would begin immediately. The group’s objective was $3,000 and any donations made would be printed in The Brussels Post each week. As garden season was upon the village, a warning was sent out to all Brussels dogs by Chief of Police W.H. Bell. “No dog shall be allowed to run at large in the Village of Brussels during garden season. Any dog so found running at large shall be liable to be killed and the owner or harborer prosecuted.” The East Huron Agricultural Society was set to host Monster Bingo on June 14 at the Crystal Palace Ballroom in Brussels. After the Bingo party, a dance would follow with music provided by Jack Henderson’s Orchestra. Knox Presbyterian Church in Cranbrook was holding its anniversary service on June 11 with a morning service as well as an evening service. Rev. R.G. MacMillan of Goderich was slated to be the event’s guest speaker. A quartette from Melville Presbyterian Church in Brussels would perform for the congregation as well. The new rate of $23 per year was adopted for all subscribers of the Brussels, Morris and Grey Telephone System. Customers who paid their annual rate within 30 days of being billed, however, would receive a $1 deduction from the annual rate. June 5, 1974 Huron County Councillors were advised to undertake a study on the restructuring of local bodies of government. Gardner Church of the Ministry of Treasury, Economics and Intergovernmental Affairs advised council that the objective should be to eliminate as many special purpose bodies as possible, leaving just one body to co-ordinate taxpayer funds. He did warn council, however, that local government might not be ready for such a responsibility. A study to investigate the policing needs to Huron County was requested by the Huron County Policing Commission. The decision to launch the study stemmed from a report from the Task Force on Policing in Ontario which suggested that municipalities under 15,000 people should be policed by the Ontario Provincial Police and that all other police forces should be disbanded. Taxes in Blyth were set to rise drastically with the rise in the Huron County tax levy largely to thank. Blyth Village Council approved a budget on June 3 that would result in a 10-mill increase in taxes on residential properties and a 13-mill increase on commercial properties. June 4, 1986 Janis Soots, a parent from Goderich had some questions for the Huron County Board of Education regarding the discipline in the board’s schools. Her concerns surrounded appropriate behaviour for students coupled with disciplinary measures being taken at the schools. A new EMA Supermarket in Brussels would not have the financial support of Brussels Village Council it was decided at the June 2 meeting of council. The request was that council contribute in order to help reduce the cost of electrical service to the market. Costs to provide electrical services to the market were higher than they were for most other properties, but council felt the reason was the developer’s decision to have power supplied to the front of the building, rather than to the back. Luella Hall of Blyth celebrated her 90th birthday. Luella had spent years teaching at Blyth Public School before retiring and taking a position at the Bernard Hall Insurance Agency. June 25, 2003 The Brussels Library was set to receive a makeover with Huron East Council approving measures that would make the building more usable and more comfortable. CBC Radio personality Erika Ritter was scheduled to be the speaker for the Blyth Festival’s 29th opening night on June 27. The Festival’s opening show later that night was Anne Chislett and David Archibald’s The Perilous Pirate’s Daughter. The Blyth Legion would be holding its second annual Elimination Draw on June 28. Barb and Joe Terpstra hosted the Ontario Team Penning competition at their farm on June 20. Over 100 teams were in the area to compete in the event. With the Provincial Government downloading ambulance services to the lower tier municipalities, Huron County Council was forced to examine its coverage area. After having three ambulance stations constructed throughout the county, a plan to build a fourth was in the works. While nothing had been finalized, it was estimated that it would be in North Huron, the lone area still using previous facilities. 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 Too much of a good thing Last week Huron County councillors voted to support a moratorium on wind power development until more study is done into the safety of wind turbines to people living nearby. The support was given even though the county doesn’t have any jurisdiction under the Green Energy Act. Under the act local municipal councils, have no control over the approval or siting of wind turbines, even if local residents don’t like what is happening. The Green Energy Act was created to prevent not-in-my- backyard (NIMBY) harassment of green energy projects through over- restrictive zoning regulations by local councils, and to give green energy developers clear rules to play by across the entire province. There can be an argument to support the Green Energy Act, but only within reason. Reason seems to be going out the window, however, when developments like the Kingsbridge II Wind Power Project are approved by the province. In a recent public notification in lakeshore newspapers, Capital Power Corporation outlined its plans for 150 wind turbines in an area from Carlow north to Lucknow and west to Lake Huron. It makes the few dozen turbines already located there under the Kingsbridge I windfarm seem tiny by comparison. It will mean that people in that area will practically never be out of sight of a wind turbine and in some cases will be surrounded by them. To get an idea of what the area will look like after the project is completed, one might travel into Bruce County near the Bruce Power nuclear station where there is a wind farm with such a density of turbines that it is actually intimidating. Green Energy can be a good thing and the winds off Lake Huron are a public resource that can help the province meets its electrical needs in a way that doesn’t produce greenhouse gases. But it’s hard to call it an environmentally-friendly source of electricity when a region of the country is turned into virtually an industrial zone. It’s also easy for people sitting in Queen’s Park to legislate against NIMBY-ism when it’s somebody else’s backyard that is being made almost unliveable. Either the people of a rural area have a right to control wind projects that affect their lives, or the provincial government must put greater limits on the density of developments so they do not overwhelm the local human environment. — KR No thanks likely Last week, while U.S. President Barack Obama toured a Chrysler auto plant in Ohio to celebrate the auto company’s triumphant return to profitability after near bankruptcy in 2008, U.S. employment figures were announced that got experts suggesting the U.S. may be about to go back into recession. As last November’s Congressional elections showed, when the economy is not working, the President gets blamed. What’s more, some voters were angry with Obama because of the money the government spent to bail out the auto companies and the financial industry. It’s understandable that ordinary people fumed when the government helped keep Wall Street giants afloat while the executives of those companies refused to give up their bonuses. It’s understandable that minimum-wage workers weren’t appreciative when the government helped refinance automakers where assembly-line workers made much more than they did. The reality is that, despite the slow recovery, the great recession that started in 2008 is a shining example of what government can do. With its extraordinary resources the U.S. government prevented economic catastrophe, not just for itself, but for the world. The unemployment rate in the U.S. would be much worse now if the government hadn’t acted. But it’s not only taxpayers who are unappreciative. Financial leaders, who were saved by the government bail out, are now criticizing the government for the debt they helped create. The U.S. president may be the most powerful man in the world but he’s also everybody’s whipping boy when things don’t go right. — 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.