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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, June 30, 2011
Volume 27 No. 26
COUNCIL - Pg. 10North Huron makes moveto quiet councillor REVIEW - Pg. 18‘Hometown’ opens 37thBlyth Festival seasonSPORTS- Pg. 9Locals excel at Legion trackand field meetPublications Mail Agreement No. 4005014 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
The Blyth Campgrounds will
become host to countless four-
legged furry competitors during The
Bluewater Kennel Club Dog Show
on July 5-7.
Featuring handlers and breeders
from around the continent, and dogs
from around the world, the event
showcases canines as paragons of
their breed, as champions of
obedience, and as models in their
group, according to Bluewater
Kennel Club President Joe Lobb.
The show, which is the only
Canadian Kennel Club-sanctioned
purebreed competition in the area,
provides an opportunity for tourists
and residents of Huron County to get
a glimpse of the world of dog
breeding, handling and training that
they otherwise may have to travel
outside of the area for.
Dogs can compete through several
different programs, including,
obedience trials, and breed judgings.
New to the show this year will be
several new competitive classes for
each competition.
“Baby” puppy classes have been
added and will feature puppies from
three to six months old, and a
veteran class has been added to let
dogs seven years or older strut their
stuff.
Organizers hope that this will
allow old champions and dogs that
have been put out to stud to compete.
A breeder’s competition will also
be continued this year, allowing
breeders to show what they’re
capable of instead of handlers,
which are widely used throughout
the dog show circuit.
“Dog shows used to be about
breeders showing their dogs, but its
not as common as it used to be,” he
said. “Most dogs are shown by
handlers, this contest will only be for
people to show dogs thebrey have
bred themselves.”
The all-breed puppy sweepstakes
will feature puppies (aged six to 12
months) from any purebred breed,
and be judged against their breed
standards.
Lobb says the show is a real
A long time coming, the final
results of the business retention and
expansion study conducted in
Brussels were presented to the
public on June 22.
Huron East Economic
Development Officer Jan Hawley
made the presentation alongside
Councillor and chair of the
municipality’s Economic
Development Committee Andy
Flowers and Mayor Bernie
MacLellan.
Hawley says that while there are
areas that need improvement, there
are also plenty of reasons why
Brussels should hold its head high.
There were several aspects to the
project, including hours worth of
interviews with dozens of Brussels
and area business-owners, public
presentations and a writing
component, which was taken on by
Carolyn Parks-Mintz of Central
Huron.
Originally from London, Parks-
Mintz was charged with writing a
business-by-business account of
Brussels’ main street and several
‘historical fiction’ stories set in
Brussels.
Parks-Mintz read one of her
historical fiction stories that night at
the Brussels, Morris and Grey
Community Centre entitled “A
Bump In The Night” which told the
story of a couple living in Brussels
in the 1880s.
In addition to Parks-Mintz’s
artistic contribution to the village
project, there had also been two
evenings entitled ‘The Colours of
Brussels’, one in Goderich and the
other in Brussels, where the best of
Brussels was showcased in the form
of readings, musical performances
and business showcases.
The final business retention and
expansion results total over 30 pages
of information, which is now
available on the newly-redesigned
Huron East website and it is also
available on CDs at the Huron East
municipal office.
The process began in 2009, shortly
after Hawley had left the Goderich
BIA and taken her current position
in Huron East.
The study found that those doing
business in Brussels are very pleased
with the level of municipal services
they are receiving, the cost of doing
business and the quality of the local
workforce. In addition, Hawley said,
98 per cent of those surveyed
classified the quality of life in
Brussels as ‘excellent’ which
Hawley called phenomenal.
While there were plenty of
strengths, there were also some
weaknesses listed, including the size
of the local market, access to
adequate workforce training,
potential for population decline and
the deteriorating downtown core.
Hawley said there had been plenty
of meaningful consultation and she
felt the picture of Brussels was much
more complete now that the study
had been finished and the results had
been compiled.
When everything was said and
done, Hawley identified seven
priorities facing Brussels going
forward. They are: downtown core
revitalization; rebranding Brussels;
improving communication; local
training opportunities; available land
and buildings; exploration of
opportunities and environmental
awareness.
To end her portion of the
presentation, Hawley read a
testimonial from former Brussels
resident Sheila Richards who passed
away earlier this month. Richards
detailed the strength and potential of
a community like Brussels in her
testimonial, but cited The Citizen as
an example of a potential partnership
with other communities to
Grey Central Public School will be
adopting a new moniker and could
soon be known as North Woods
Elementary School provided the
recommendation of the Brussels-
Grey transition committee is
approved by the Avon Maitland
District School Board.
The committee, which had its
inaugural meeting on Tuesday, June
21, as part of their initial set of tasks,
suggested a new name for the school
to be voted on by school board
officials and, according to Grey
Central principal Jim Binns, the
process went very smoothly.
“Everyone was looking for a new
name for the school,” Binns said.
“No one was territorial either, no one
suggested Grey Brussels, or keeping
the school’s old name, everyone
came together with ideas.”
The name change depends on a
pending decision from the school
boards June 28 meeting.
Huron East Councillor Dianne
Diehl stated that the process may
have ran a little too smoothly, and
too quickly, for her taste.
“The decision was made awfully
fast,” she said. “It would have been
nice to slow it down, get a final four
and get some kind of feedback from
the community.”
Diehl stated that, while there is
nothing wrong with the name, she
would have preferred if it were
attached to something in the area.
“Some people suggested names of
previous villages in the area,” she
said. “There’s nothing wrong with
the name, it just doesn’t point to
anything in the area.”
Diehl also stated that, of the 17
people who took the time to visit the
school board’s website and suggest a
name, nine wondered why the name
had to be changed at all.
“Having a fresh start with a new
name might be nice for the students
and make it more welcoming,
however other schools have kept
their name through similar
transitions,” she said.
Aside from choosing the name
suggestions, the committee also
toured the grounds at Grey Central
to determine where fundraising
would be needed for the new school.
Binns explained that,
unfortuantely, a lot of what the
school needs and what will be
provided will be up in the air until
the assets from Brussels Public
School are catalogued and the school
board decides where they will be
allocated.
“Some of our playground
equipment will need to be changed,”
Binns said, stating that the school
has equipment for a Kindergarten to
Grade 8 school.
Binns cited specific examples like
basketball nets needing to be
lowered but said a lot of the new
equipment would be determined by
what the students would want.
Dog show returns
Brussels project made public
Too cool for school
It was pretty bright out on Sunday, so Shelby Vanderhyden, right, was sporting her shades to
keep the rays out of her eyes. Shelby and her sister Lindsay were shopping for silent auction
items at Woodlands Links in Clinton for the fifth annual Ainsleigh Bontaine Memorial Golf
Tournament. There was plenty of golf being played, food being eaten, items being auctioned
off and even a few professional hockey players signing autographs, including Blyth native and
Carolina Hurricane goalie Justin Peters. (Vicky Bremner photo)
New name chosen
for Grey Central
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Continued on page 7
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 16