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The Citizen, 2010-01-07, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 2010.EditorialsOpinions Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie GroppAdvertising, Ken Warwick & Lori Patterson The CitizenP.O. Box 429,BLYTH, Ont.N0M 1H0Phone 523-4792 FAX 523-9140 P.O. Box 152,BRUSSELS, Ont.N0G 1H0Phone 887-9114 E-mail norhuron@scsinternet.comWebsite 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;$105.00/year in U.S.A.and $175/year in other foreign countries.Advertising is accepted on thecondition that in the event of a typographical error,only that portion of the advertisement will becredited.Advertising Deadlines: Monday, 2 p.m. - Brussels; Monday, 4 p.m. - Blyth.PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40050141PAP REGISTRATION NO. 09244RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPT. PO BOX 152 BRUSSELS ON N0G 1H0 email: norhuron@scsinternet.com Letters to the editor Jan. 7, 1948 Bernard Hall was selected as the new clerk-treasurer for Blyth. His annual salary was $500. Local members of Huron County council were: R.B. Cousins, Brussels; Franklin T. Bainton, Blyth; Cecil Johnston, Ashfield; Stanley Snyder, Colborne; John McNabb, Grey; Clifford Roland, Grey deputy; John W. Armstrong, Hullett; Dan Beuermann, McKillop; Harvey Johnston, Morris; J.D. Beecroft, East Wawanosh and Everett Finnigan, West Wawanosh. A fireside hour was begun at the Blyth manse after church for young adults. Planned by Mr. Rogers and Mr. Henderson the time would involve a sing-song and discussion. A medium package of Ivory Snow was selling for 25 cents at A.L. Kernick’s, while a package of Dare cookies was 18 cents and a pound of coffee was 51 cents. Jack Wilson, general merchant, Belgrave was selling “new dark shades” of 45-gauge nylons for $1.55 a pair. There was a variety of viewing for movie lovers in the area. At the Roxy Theatre in Clinton Nora Prentiss was the feature entertainment. The movie starred Ann Sheridan, Kent Smith and Robert Alda. At the Capital Theatre in Goderich it was The Enchanted Forest with Edmund Lowe and Roy Rogers and Dale Evans were starring in Bells of San Angelo, which was playing at Seaforth’s Regent Theatre. Electric heaters were on sale at Speiran’s Hardware for $17.50. Jan. 4, 1968 A subscription to The Brussels Post was now $2 per year. Ernie Back had the high individual standings in the Brussels and Cranbrook area dart leagues. Kraft peanut butter was on sale at McCutcheon Grocery for 49 cents, while Westinghouse lightbulbs were selling two for 53 cents. At Stephenson’s Grocery, 400- sheet boxes of Royale facial tissue were three for 83 cents. Jan. 3, 1990 The Cadet Corps sponsored by the Brussels Legion was in danger of disbanding, due to declining enrolment. The new NDP leader, Audrey McLaughlin was a former resident of Wroxeter. She and her husband Don had moved there in the 1950s and stayed for a few years. They had purchased a home at the outskirts where Mr. McLaughlin had hoped to have a mink farm. This didn’t prove profitable, however, and he taught high school in Wingham to support the family. The Brussels Bulls were well- represented on the Western Jr. C all- star game with Marty Rutledge and Murray Foxton, both voted to the starting line-up, as well as Ron Strome, Corey McKee and Jeff Roy on the roster. At the Park Theatre in Goderich the feature was Look Who’s Talking, starring John Travolta and Kirstie Alley. The weekend matinee was All Dogs Go To Heaven. At The Lyceum Theatre in Wingham it was Fred Savage in The Wizard, as well as Meryl Streep and Rosanne Barr in She-Devil. Jan. 5, 2000 It was an uneventful final week for the OPP RIDE campaign with no drunk driving charges. However, throughout the entire campaign, OPP charged nine drivers with impaired. This was a slight decrease from the previous year when police charged 14. Blyth and Brussels Libraries received the Community Access Project funding extension for internet access assistants. Keith Dow, Blyth and Sarah McMullin, Brussels would continue to provide internet training for the public and develop web pages for community organizations. A West Wawanosh man died in a farm mishap when the front-end loader he was operating slid off the edge of an embankment, rolled and pinned him beneath the rear wheel. A Lucknow couple welcomed the area’s first baby of the new millennium, Natasha Jennie Rose Keddy. After all the concern regarding Y2K, everything rolled smoothly into the new year for area hospitals. OPP and investigators from the Ontario Fire Marshal’s office were investigating the cause of a house fire in Auburn at the corner of County Roads 25 and 22. Blyth’s first PeeWee OMHA E champions from the 1971-72 team were honoured when the Auburn Lions Club presented the hockey association with a professionally framed portrait of the team and its individual players. Winners of the Blyth Legion Remembrance Day contest from Blyth Public School were: Melissa Black, William Miller, Heather Elliott, Jessica Aldrich, Alicia Marshall, Katelyn Linner, Taylor Hesselwood, Brianne Schultz, Darcey Cook, Nikki Hill, Rebecca Schultz, Kerissa Van Amersfoort and Jacob Rouw. Playing at the Capitol Twin Cinema in Listowel were The Green Mile, starring Tom Hanks and Three Kings with George Clooney. The matinee was the family film, Stuart Little. John Wharton, RR3, Blyth was the winner of the 2000 Chevy pickup in Blyth’s arena draw. THE EDITOR, You deserve great thanks and congratulations for producing such a wonderful community newspaper at all times, but your Christmas issue was an excellent example of what a local newspaper can and should be. In particular, the interviews with the former citizens of the year and the responses from children to a variety of interesting questions, instead of just the standard, “What do you want for Christmas?” provided real insight into what a unique community we have. We know that producing such an extensive issue took a great deal of work at a very busy time of year. We really appreciate your efforts and the quality of what you produce. Jim and Pat Barnes. THE EDITOR, Thank you, thank you and thank you! What a wonderful community we live in! Through the many donations received from the citizens and merchants of North Huron County the the Christmas Bureau in Wingham was able to help 163 children and their families. Every child received pajamas, clothing, socks, underclothing, hats, mittens, toys, stocking stuffers and food. Our many thanks for your over- whelming generous, support. We wish everyone all the best for 2010. Eileen George and Susan Hotckiss, Co-Chairs, Wingham Christmas Bureau Sacred Heart Church. THE EDITOR, I hope you will forgive me if this question requires the use of some oxymorons but: A young man got explosives on board an airplane and didn’t try to act until the last hour of the flight so a knee jerk reaction kicked in and all precautions are aimed at the last hour of all flights now. Where is the intelligent thinking in this? Now we can’t have pillows and blankets on our laps during the last hour. Is no one so inclined going to take action during the first part of the flight? Also, did anyone consider that other terrorists might use this information and take action during the first hours of the flight? And if carry ons are being hand searched individually then why can’t they fulfill their mission and carry it on. Why do I have the irresistible urge to shake my head every time this enters my conscious thought? or to snicker? and even to LOL! Thanks for listening A. Sandra Clark We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP) toward our mailing costs. We are not responsible for unsolicited newsscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright Democracy in danger The contempt Prime Minister Stephen Harper has for democracy is truly frightening. His move last week to porogue Parliament in the middle of a sitting (announced by a minion from his office, not the Prime Minister himself) is the latest example in an escalating sense Harper seems to have that as Prime Minister, he is an absolute ruler. The decision to shut down Parliament is a transparent attempt to prevent the opposition parties from continuing their damaging questioning of the cover-up of what the government knew about torturing of prisoners turned over by Canadian troops to Afghan authorities and when it knew it. Parliament won’t sit again until after the Olympics when Harper is sure Canadians will be feeling so good about themselves they won’t care about an abuse of power that happened months earlier. Harper has taken it for granted that Canadians are so bored with politics that they won’t care, especially coming as the announcement did, in the middle of the holidays. But University of Toronto professor emeritus Peter Russell, who edited the book Parliamentary Democracy in Crisis following last year’s prorogation by Harper, said “Canadians don’t realize that parliamentary democracy is in danger. What this is is a continuation of a very authoritarian approach to government by the current prime minister . . . this particular prime minister does not want to govern in an accountable democratic manner. It is extremely dangerous.” What’s even more dangerous is that Harper’s anti-democratic tactics are designed to deliver a majority government he so desperately wants. He’s a true believer of a philosophy of his mentor Tom Flanagan that Canada must be made into a conservative society and that whatever it takes to remake the country, should be done. If he can manage the abuses of democracy he has done with a minority government, what might he try to do with a majority. Yet Canadians seem ready to reward Harper with the power he seeks. Every one of his tactics seems to result in a rise in his party’s support, edging it toward the magic level to win a majority government. He creates doubts in voters about opposition leaders by launching devastating attack ads before they can really shape public opinion through their own actions. When the parliamentary budget officer questions government projections, his budget is cut. When the heads of the RCMP’s Public Complaints Commission and the Military Police Complaints Commission produce reports that Harper doesn’t like, he doesn’t renew their contracts.When Canadian diplomat Richard Colvin told a parliamentary committee he’d reported the torture of Afghan prisoners, he was attacked by the government as a pawn of the Taliban. Demonizing of enemies is a common tactic in non-democratic regimes, rallying people to the government. Canadians like to think we’re more advanced than that, but if citizens are so bored they pay no attention to abuses of democracy, we aren’t as smart as we think. — KR &