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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2011-11-24, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 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 $205/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 November 22, 1950 Mr. R.S. Warwick of the Warwick Poultry Farm captured first place in the category of Rhode Island Red breeds in all of Canada. This was the second consecutive year Warwick had been given top honours. In the previous five years, he had place first twice and third three times. Local hunters with some good luck were documented in The Brussels Post as Mr. Harold Jacklin of Grey Township shot two deer with one shot on a recent hunting outing. Jacklin killed a buck and a doe with a single shot during the hunting season that was open from Nov. 16-18. Also hunting with Jacklin were Richard, Carl, Ken and Leslie Jacklin along with James Warwick. The 1950 campaign for the sale of Christmas Seals was set to open on Nov. 27. Arrangements had been made locally for special broadcasts to take place on the CKNX radio station in Wingham. The broadcasts would take place on Nov. 28, Nov. 30, Dec. 5 and Dec. 12. As the organization was anticipating a sell-out, once they sold out at local malls, people were instructed to visit their local Lions Club. Sewing class the Wee Woolly Workers held their monthly meeting at the home of Mrs. Davis in Grey Township where they worked on different types of weaves. December 3, 1975 Three men had put their names forward for the title of Huron County warden, including Brussels Reeve Jack McCutcheon, McKillop Reeve Allan Campbell and Clinton Reeve Harold Lobb. McCutcheon was the only first- time candidate in the group and he had also indicated that 1976 could very well be his final year in municipal politics. A session of the Ontario Royal Commission on Power Planning was held in Wingham to discuss potential expansion of power plant facilities in the area. Over 300 people were in attendance to argue that there was no space for such an expansion in Huron County. What local police were describing as the biggest case of cattle theft ever in the area had taken place in East Wawanosh Township a week earlier. Eighteen steers were stolen from the farm of Murray McNichol, but this was not the first case of theft on McNichol’s farm. Two weeks earlier, thieves had taken 85 pre-cut two-by-fours, a large amount of nails and several power tools that were being used to build a new house on the McNichol farm. The night before the theft, McNichol had checked his grounds at around midnight, but upon investigating the area the next morning, he found the cattle to be missing. Estimated losses from the theft were in the $6,000 to $7,000 range, police said. A public meeting being held in Clinton dealt with the divide between urban and rural municipalities throughout Huron County. Residents were concerned that communication between the urban and rural municipalities wasn’t as strong as it could be and over 115 people were in attendance to propose solutions to the problem. November 26, 1986 A Walton-area woman was crowned Huron County Queen of the Furrow as the Huron County Plowing Match held in Walton. Sandra Hunt of RR4, Seaforth was named the winner. She had also been crowned Seaforth Fair Queen in 1985. Denise Nethery of RR4, Brussels came in a close second to Hunt. “It was a very difficult decision,” said one of the event’s organizers Marie McGavin. Championships in several different divisions of the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto went to local farms, including Bodmin Farms Limited, Huronia Farms, Loreldo Farms, Jan Van Vliet, Hugh and Jo-anne Todd, Brent Robinson of Vista Villa Farms and to the ‘amazing’ Rintoul girls of West Wawanosh. November 25, 2004 Community newspapers through- out Huron County were taking part in the Huron County Christmas Bureau’s bag program for the seventh straight year in hopes of boosting donations for the organization. Originally spearheaded by The Huron Expositor, the Seaforth Lions Club and the Seaforth Agricultural Society, the initiative aimed at involving local newspaper subscribers in collecting donations for the Christmas Bureau. The annual Brussels Santa Claus parade was set to make its way down the village’s main street on Nov. 27 as residents were all decorating their floats and preparing their seasonal costumes. East Wawanosh Public School students Rachel Cook and Drew McKee were in Goderich with the Kids Booster Club where their artwork was being displayed. The Reuben R. Sallows Gallery in Goderich was preparing for the holiday season by opening an exhibit called Christmas at Home in Goderich. It was said to be an old- fashioned Christmas celebration featuring seasonal customs from Sallows’ time (1855-1937). 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 Don’t undervalue politicians Congratulations taxpayers! Thanks to a judge’s decision on a dispute between Huron County’s municipalities, you’ll save a few thousand dollars next year in having fewer county councillors. Of course it cost thousands in legal bills to achieve this saving. On Monday, a judge sided with municipalities that argued that some municipalities should immediately lose one representative on County Council under the county’s bylaw on how many representatives a municipality should have based on the number of electors it has. The county had argued this reduction couldn’t take place until after the next election. (See story on page 18.) So Central Huron, Huron East, North Huron and South Huron will all lose a representative on county council. Under the ruling, county council will shrink to 16 members. Those who have been around a while will know that County Council is about half the size it was 40 years ago. During the same time it’s a safe bet that the county’s payroll has gone the other way, doubling the number of employees. So we have half the number of councillors overseeing twice the number of employees. And yet it’s reducing the number of politicians we seem to be obsessed with these days, as if they are pests to be irradicated. The argument, of course, is business gets done more efficiently when there are fewer people on councils. Why don’t we just get right to the most efficient form of government: dictatorship. We could save money on council and committee meetings; save all that messy arguing about issues. Surely the county employees would find it much more efficient, too, if they had to run their ideas by only one person. Municipal politicians are not a problem. They are a group of indivi- duals who should be praised and treasured. They are people who, unlike most of their fellow citizens, will step forward and serve their comm- unities. They bring their energy, ideas and oversight to municipal affairs. What’s more, we need a variety of ideas. We need those councillors who see the potential for municipalities to provide new services which will improve lives or spur growth, but we also need those curmudgeons who scrutinize every penny the municipality spends. If you reduce representation too much, you risk not having the blend of personalities a council needs to be efficient. There’s also the geographic factor in these days of amalgamated municipalities. Too few representatives means some areas can be overlooked in decision-making: just look at the “efficiency” of school boards where villages like Brussels and Blyth feel unheard. As Winston Churchill said, democracy is the worst form of government – except all the others that have been tried. Functioning democracy requires the messiness of proper representation. — KR Our own double standard As protesters crowded Cairo’s Tahrir Square this week in an effort to save the democracy they thought they’d won in last spring’s protests that brought the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, most Canadians are cheering for the people who are breaking the laws of the ruling military government. In nearby Syria, a crackdown against protesters by the government of President Bashar al-Assad has seen thousands killed in the past few weeks. While we would sympathize with the people fighting for democracy, al-Assad sees these people as lawbreakers. But while we admire people in far-off lands breaking laws in fighting for a cause, here in Canada many, many people are upset with a few hundred people across the country who are breaking municipal bylaws by camping in parks overnight to protest the growing divide between the highest-paid people and the vast majority of society. We can’t stand even a little bit of rebellion by those protesting something that most of us actually agree is a problem. Who knows if the Occupy Movement can accomplish anything but for sure real change won’t come if we can’t accept even the level of discomfort a few camps in parks seem to cause us. — 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.