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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2011-12-15, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 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 $36.00/year ($34.29 + $1.71 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 December 20, 1950 Applications for the position of secretary treasurer with the Brussels School Board were being accepted. Chairman William Leach was receiving the applications and duties were to commence in January of 1951. A concert performed by the Brussels Lions Boys and Girls Band was well received at Brussels Town Hall. The evening featured renditions of “White Christmas” and “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” featuring Betty Cousins on the piano. Mr. and Mrs. Robert Nichol, a Morris Township couple, had just celebrated their 68th year of marriage. They were married at the old Knox Church in Ainleyville, before it was renamed the Village of Brussels. The Brussels Legion held its second annual night of turkey bingo. There were three grand prizes of $25 that night. December 22, 1976 Several schools in Hensall and Zurich were set to adopt an all-day, alternate-day approach to kindergarten for the 1977/1978 school year. The boundary committee of the Huron County Board of Education declared that it may decide to reopen the former home of Conestoga College in Vanastra with hopes of opening an elementary school in the building. The cost of the rental would be just over $21,000 per year to the board. The Huron County Board of Education approved a new swimming program for the students of Seaforth District High School that would be implemented into the students’ third year physical education program. A fire at a turkey barn near Auburn caused a loss of nearly $100,000. The Blyth Fire Department arrived at the fire just before 11 p.m. on Dec. 18 and were soon joined by members of the Clinton Fire Department as well. Firefighters battled the blaze for nearly three hours using water from the nearby Maitland River to ensure that it didn’t spread to other buildings in the area. The loss of the 128,000-square foot barn was estimated at $80,000. The owner, however, also lost 12,000 young turkeys in the blaze, with an estimated value of $20,000. December 17, 1986 The Blyth Festival was celebrating its eighth straight year of finishing ‘in the black’ as the year- end financial statement was presented at the annual meeting of the Blyth Centre for the Arts. The Festival reported record audiences and a successful fundraising campaign that helped the theatre to a surplus of $5,261 for the 1985/1986 season, which officially ended on Oct. 31. Turnberry Township Reeve Brian McBurney was elected to the position of Huron County Warden, making him the youngest-ever warden, at the age of 35. McBurney had been a member of Huron County Council for six years earlier before he was nominated for the warden’s position by Lionel Wilder of Hay Township. Wilder told council he had great respect for the valuable judgement of McBurney. Upon being elected, McBurney told council he wanted to employ an aggressive approach to attracting new business to the area. He said he wanted to a see a county-wide approach implemented in the next year. Some area teachers, principals and vice-principals received an early Christmas present in the form of a four per cent raise throughout the Huron County Board of Education. The raise was awarded retroactively for the 1986/1987 school year. December 16, 2004 The Blyth Festival wrapped up another successful season posting a year-end surplus of $27,000 at the Dec. 9 annual meeting. The surplus was crucial for the Festival, which was in the midst of recovering from a “disastrous” 2003 season which posted a loss of $145,000. North Huron Reeve Doug Layton was acclaimed to the position of Huron County Warden. Layton was nominated for the position by Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh Reeve Ben Van Diepenbeek. Layton began his involvement in municipal politics in 1997, right around the time he retired from his funeral home business. While local retailers had reported good Christmas sales numbers in the weeks leading up to the holidays, many still believed that the best was still to come, with a late surge in Christmas shopping on the horizon. The Brussels Oldtimers hockey team was set to hold its second annual new year’s eve dance at the Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre. This year’s theme would be “messing with your minds”. Local business MDL Doors celebrated its 20th anniversary at its Christmas party in Brussels. Several employees were honoured for years of dedicated service to the company. North Huron Council approved a payment to Central Huron to cover a 25 per cent shortfall in capital budget costs for the Auburn Hall. 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 Something’s got to change No matter what happens with Central Huron and Huron East’s appeal of a ruling reducing the number of seats they have on Huron County Council, something’s got to change to give fair representation. It’s perhaps a waste of taxpayers’ money for the municipalities to appeal Superior Court Justice’s ruling that the reduced number of electors on the voters list in Central Huron, Huron East, North Huron and South Huron meant each qualified for one fewer councillor. Still, if County Council cares about fair representation of all its people, it will do something to restore representation. Take a look at the situation in Huron East. Prior to municipal amalgamation, there were representatives from Brussels, Grey, McKillop, Seaforth and Tuckersmith at County Council. With the new ruling there will be only two councillors. In North Huron, where there used to be two representatives from Wingham and one each from Blyth and East Wawanosh, there will be but one councillor. This is fine by some advocates who think council would be better if it was smaller yet – pointing to jurisdictions like Bruce County which has only nine councillors instead of the 16 that remain on Huron’s council. Of course those who are fine with the change are those whose municipalities were unaffected. But the feeling that a councillor is a councillor overlooks the reality that people in different communities have different needs that should be heard. North Huron, for instance, has three distinct wards. Wingham is a town, with several of the county’s most important industries. East Wawanosh is a rural area populated by farmers. Blyth is a village with a unique place in the county. A single representative from one of these communities is unlikely to be able to fully express the unique needs of the people of all three. There’s a point where “efficiency” can become inefficient. If we save money, if we save buying a few chairs for councillors, but fail to harness the best ideas and address the best interests of all the people of Huron County, we will lose, not gain, by reducing representation. — KR Are we paying attention? Canadians who over the years have been proud to identify themselves overseas by wearing little maple leaf pins, seem to care little that under our current federal government that identification may become a source of being singled out for resentment. The ideals that Canada has become known for, that were the reason we were proud to identify our nationality, have been rejected by the government of Stephen Harper. On Monday, Canada became the first nation to withdraw from the Kyoto agreement to reduce greenhouse gases. The withdrawal itself is anti-climactic and the Conservative government is, in a way, just acknowledging reality. Since the Liberal government of Jean Chretien signed the Kyoto agreement in the 1990s, Canadian governments haven’t done much to meet the targets we agreed to. But the Harper government has gone beyond continuing down the sad path the Liberals began. His government has been downright belligerent on the subject of climate change as it seeks to protect the oil sands industry in his home province of Alberta. He has no problem whatsoever making Canadians the brunt of jokes and rage by people around the world who worry about the planet’s future. It’s part of a new attitude on international affairs expressed in many other ways. Canada has always been seen as a country that tried not to take extreme positions. With our reputation of being part of nearly every United Nations peacekeeping mission, Canada could talk to people on both sides of a conflict, and sometimes broker peace. Compare that to the Harper position of choosing sides. So Israel, for instance, is always right and it’s Arab neighbours always wrong. Even when a Canadian peacekeeper in Lebanon was killed by an Israeli rocket, Harper’s position was that the United Nations shouldn’t have had him there. Such a change in attitude is fine if Canadians want to be seen that way. If it’s happening just because we don’t care enough to pay attention, then it’s a sad commentary on the state of our democracy. — 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.