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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2011-08-18, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 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 August 16, 1950 At a meeting of the Brussels Public School Board, it was decided the rates that would apply to students attending the school living outside of the village would start at $25 per pupil. Fees then rose up to $75 for four pupils. Morris Township Council approved a grant to the Blyth Community Centre in the amount of $250. Additional grants were also approved, including a $100 grant for the new floodlights at the Brussels ball park and $100 to the Belgrave Community Centre. A large advertisement in the August 16 issue of The Brussels Post outlined an offer made by Canadian Railroaders to their employees. The advertisement outlined the stance that a strike was unnecessary, saying that the new agreement would cost the employers $37,000,000 per year. There was also discussion of the eventual implementation of the 40-hour work week, which the advertisement called a “moral obligation” to make the change. The entire offer to the workers, however, was outlined in the advertisement. East Side, West Side was playing at the Capitol Theatre in Listowel starring Barbara Stanwick, James Mason, Van Heflin and Ava Gardner. That show was followed the next night by Malaya, featuring Spencer Tracy and James Stewart. The Brussels Lions Club’s annual Frolic was to be held on August 30. The Brussels Boys and Girls Band would be in attendance parading from the library to the park twice that day and there would also be softball games, races for the children, a midway, Bingo and dancing later in the night. Proceeds from the event would benefit the Lions welfare work. August 13, 1986 After a near-miss in attracting major industry to the village, Brussels Village Council passed a motion to allow the purchase of industrial land. The purchase in question was a 13-acre parcel of land in the north end of the village that would be purchased from William Wheeler. Council had been discussing the purchase for some time, but due to budget constraints, the purchase was not allowed to go ahead until the August 5 meeting. Initially, council had been considering a two-acre parcel of land on Turnberry Street that was already serviced, leaving it ready for industry. In the end, however, the larger parcel was favoured in order to attract industry to the village. The Newry Royals captured the A championship at the annual Blyth slo-pitch tournament. Newry defeated Port Albert by a score of 13-3 in the tournament’s final game. The Blyth Lawn Bowling club also held its annual tournament on August 9. The tournament filled all eight greens for the double draw games. Upon coming out on top, the Vodden Trophy was presented to Mr. and Mrs. Rick Tompkin of Kitchener. In a Letter from the Editor, Keith Roulston lamented the lack of good movies showing in theatres and wrote that he was not keen on spending $500 to purchase a VCR and get in on the home video craze that was sweeping across North America at the time. August 19, 2004 The future of the Blyth/Hullett landfill was still unknown to councillors, who were waiting for an engineer’s report. Clerk-Administrator John Stewart said testing had been done on the wells a while ago and the tests showed levels of chloride to be higher than the standards set by the Ministry of the Environment. The report would detail the cost associated with fixing this particular problem. An emergency response plan designed by Sparling’s Propane was being considered for implementation by the state of Arizona. At an annual conference in Colorado several states throughout the U.S. expressed an interest in implementing the plan that originated with the Blyth-area business. Officials from Arizona said they would consider applying the Ontario plan, which was adopted from the Sparling’s plan in 1996. Ben Miller of Nile, a member of the Auburn Lions Club, had been elected district governor at an international Lions Club convention that was held jointly by Detroit and Windsor. As part of his new position, Miller would now have to visit the 44 different Lions Clubs in his district including areas such as Goderich, Tobermory, Mitchell, Meaford, Beaver Valley and Orangeville. The Farm Safety Association, with the help of the Provincial and Federal Governments developed a manual for farmers to increase awareness of the safe movement of farm equipment on roadways. Test Drive opened at the Blyth Festival and it starred Artistic Director Eric Coates in the role of Earl. A second dead crow was found in Exeter that tested positive for the West Nile virus. 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 Getting closer As the October 6 provincial election draws closer, apparently so do the contenders, at least according to a poll published Monday. A close election is a good thing if it gets people to pay more attention to the issues. The Nanos Research poll showed the gap between Tim Hudak’s Progressive Conservatives and Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals has narrowed to less than five percentage points from a much wider gap earlier in the year. Some observers suggest as the election gets closer, people are paying more attention to the issues. The more cynical might say the drop in strength for the Hudak might be the result of the Liberals broadcasting attack ads against Hudak to counteract the attack ads the Conservatives had broadcast earlier against McGuinty. Of course polls, as Hudak said Monday, don’t mean much until election day. Just look at May’s federal election when polls failed to forecast the strength of the NDP across the country, and especially in Quebec. The New Democrats must be hoping for the same late surge in Ontario since they trail badly in this poll. Still, though they may have drawn closer, it’s going to be an uphill fight for McGuinty’s Liberals. For one thing, third terms aren’t handed out easily by voters. As one opposition strategist pointed out, after eight years in office it’s easy for voters to just get “tired of your face”. As well, there are all the irritants, mild and major, that accumulate when a government has been in office eight years. People in areas with wind turbines get mad. People who have had to wait for surgery get mad. People who see the extra money for HST on their shopping bills get mad. On top of that, the government is the target not only of ads from opposition parties, but from every group that has an axe to grind. The Liberals have been under the gun from everybody from the owner of Windsor’s Ambassador Bridge to the power workers union which wants to see fewer small green energy projects and more plants where power workers will work. The challenge for voters is to sift through all these loud noises and study the real issues – the ones that will help determine which of the three parties offers the policies which will serve Ontario best in the next four years. With seven weeks left until election day, it’s time to start studying. — KR Principle or fanaticism People who compromise too easily can be dismissed as not standing up for their principles, but there’s a thin line between maintaining principle and fanaticism. Religion is one of those areas of life when the line between principle and militancy is most easily erased. Take the sad situation in Somalia where people are starving but hard-line Muslim groups are telling people they must not take aid from the “infidels” of foreign aid groups. Instead, they must trust in God to save them, the religious leaders say. Reports say 2.8 million people in Somalia are in danger of starving, 2.2 of these in the area controlled by al-Shabob, the militant Islamist group. The militants aren’t the only group hindering aid to the desperate people of a country where 29,000 children have already starved to death and others have fled to refugee camps in Kenya. Human Rights Watch reports that government soldiers, militia loyal to the government and even African peacekeepers and Kenyan police have increased the suffering of these unfortunate people. Still, the tales of refugees make it obvious that the worst offenders are al-Shabob supporters. One farmer said his 40 goats and 20 cows died because he wasn’t allowed to take feed for them from relief agencies. In other cases buses of those trying to flee to refugee camps were stopped by the militants who arrested refugees or forced them to return home. Sadly, these fanatics are getting their way. Their actions are not only hindering agencies from helping starving people, but discouraging people from donating money for aid. For our part, we mustn’t let fanatics keep us from trying to prevent millions from starving. — 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.