HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2010-02-11, Page 1After many months of dealing
with issues over the dissolution of
the Wingham Area Fire Board,
Morris-Turnberry council is now
involved with problems over Blyth
and District Area Fire Area Board.
Council asked Nancy Michie,
administrator, clerk-treasurer, to
send a letter to North Huron asking
for confirmation that municipality’s
fire department would continue to
provide fire service from the Blyth
station until all matters regarding the
disbanding of the Blyth department
are solved.
Michie reported to council on a
meeting held Jan. 22 in Central
Huron with representatives of
Central Huron and Ashfield-
Colborne-Wawanosh at which a
lawyer suggested all partners in the
old Blyth board should have agreed
on the sharing of assets. North
Huron retained the assets for the new
Blyth station of the North Huron
Fire Department and the lawyer
questioned the use of those assets
without an agreement.
The lawyer was instructed, at that
meeting, to send a letter to North
Huron calling for the reinstatement
of the old Blyth fire board for six
months until the business of that
board could be wrapped up properly.
That’s a twist
The Acro Group performed on Saturday afternoon for the Epic Shift Youth Festival event held
in Blyth Memorial Hall this past weekend. The schedule included a variety of entertainment
and performances featuring young people for young people. Presented by Engaging Huron’s
Youth in Arts and Culture the event highlighted visual art, music, film, theatre and dance. (Vicky
Bremner photo)
The Huron East/North
PerthAccommodation Review
Committee got down to business at
their last meeting, identifying viable
options and removing others from
the table.
Hosted by Eastdale Public School,
Feb. 3, the meeting opened with
comments from North Perth mayor
Ed Hollinger and other members of
the public in attendance.
Before discussing the options
available to the ARC, Brussels
representative Jim Prior requested an
update on the Renewal Capital
Assest Planning Process (ReCapp)
data. Meeting chair Mike Ash said
the process has hit a few bugs, but
the plan is to present as much
information as possible before the
next ARC meeting on Feb. 24.
“Our hope is that before the next
meeting we will be able to give you
everything we’ve got done,” he
said.
The ReCapp data is used by the
Ministry of Education to project
building infrastructure needs and if a
school board’s request for funding is
legitimate. However, Ash said the
financial side of things shouldn’t be
focused on by the ARC.
“If we’re able to take the money
off the table, it might be a productive
thing to do,” Ash said. “Let’s talk
about the education of our kids.”
A seventh option was added to the
growing list of ideas for the ARC
committee to consider, this one from
the Grey community to create a
single administration for Grey and
Brussels schools, sending
kindergarten through Grade 3
students to Brussels and Grades 4-8
to Grey. The option would save any
schools from closing but would
subject Wallace and Howick’s
schools to a future ARC review in a
couple of years. Ash commented that
he has seen twin administrations
work in some cases, but said it
wouldn’t address the issue of
capacity here.
“I’m not sure if that’s just
shuffling the deck chairs as far as
enrollment is concerned,” he said. “I
worry that it’s not creating a critical
mass needed for a sustainable
school.”
A recommendation was made to
go through each of the options and
eliminate those that the ARC
committee felt weren’t viable.
Starting with the first option to close
Brussels and Grey, Prior and Susan
Alexander moved to remove it from
the list, and the committee carried it.
Option two, consisting of three
different boundary adjustments and
closing Brussels school, was pared
down to one recommendation of
splitting attendance amongst Grey,
Brussels and the new school
proposed for North Huron.
The third staff option of keeping
Brussels open and closing Grey was
voted to be removed from the table
for its similarities to existing
options. Support for North Perth
council rep Jeff Bannerman’s fourth
option was split down the middle, as
the committee liked the idea of
closing Grey and dividing those
students between Elma and Brussels,
but was not in favour of sending
Grade 7 and 8 students to
Wingham’s high school.
Option six was presented by Prior
at the last ARC meeting, and
included the closing of Wallace
school and adjusting the surrounding
boundaries to send students to Elma,
Howick, Brussels and Grey. Huron-
East councillor Bernie MacLellan
motioned to keep the option for
discussion, as he felt it had some
merit.
“I think the option of closing a
single school and leaving the urban
centres open has a lot of merit and
deserves some more discussion,” he
said.
The motion to keep option five on
the table was passed. On the
opposite side of the debate, the sixth
option from Wallace for all schools
to remain open and change the
boundaries was defeated, as Prior
commented that it doesn’t address
the accommodation concerns. The
newest option, number seven, was
also voted down.
The ARC committee is now left
with three options for consideration
heading into their meeting at
Listowel Central Public School on
Feb. 24 at 7 p.m.
ARC left with 3 options
The Citizen will be closed for Family Day, Monday, Feb. 15.
As a result copy for editorial and advertising will need to be in the office
by Friday Feb. 12, 2 p.m. in Brussels, 4 p.m. Blyth.
What a game it was on Saturday
for Blyth’s own Justin Peters.
In his NHL debut with the
Carolina Hurricanes, the butterfly-
style goalie made 34 saves enroute
to a 3-1 victory against the New
York Islanders. He earned first star
of the game as well as admiration
and praise for his poise under
pressure.
Called up just the day before from
the Albany River Rats to back up
Manny Legace (starting goalie Cam
Ward is out with a back injury), the
23-year-old had sat out the game
against Buffalo that night, said his
mom Janice who had travelled down
with her husband Jeff to watch it.
“But he came out after and said he
was getting the start in Saturday’s
game,” she said, adding that the
family had to go back to Blyth, but
were back in the stands to see their
son’s stellar performance in New
York.
“It’s pretty surreal,” said Janice.
“You wait for this. He’s been called
up before. When it finally happened
it happened so fast. We had to come
back to see him play.”
In a taped interview after the
game, a breathless Peters fought
back tears at times as he shared his
thoughts. “I’m overwhelmed.
Finding out last night, my family
being here, it’s pretty special.”
“He came out after the game to
see us. He was just so excited,” said
Janice.
The patience that Peters
demonstrated in the game is
something he’s perhaps learned
since being chosen as a second-
round draft pick by the Hurricanes
in 2004. Saturday’s game was
something he’d waited for a long
time, he said, and credited his
teammates for the work they did in
front of the net that night to help
him.
Asked about how he kept his
nerves in check, Peters said he
approached the game like any other,
taking the fundamentals he’d
learned, and believing in them.
What this means now is of course
not written in stone. While his
performance and Ward’s injury
could mean Peters will see more ice
time with the Hurricanes, he knows
that only time will tell. “He was
happy to have played,” said Janice.
“We’ll just wait and see now.”
Offices closed Monday
CitizenTh
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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, Feb. 11, 2010
Volume 26 No. 6SPORTS- Pg. 8Blyth Atom Reps in WOAA championship NEWS - Pg. 20 Threshers win culturalawardSPECIAL- Pg. 6More financial andinvestment tipsPublications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 PAP Registration No. 09244 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
Peters named star
in first NHL game
By Bonnie Gropp
The Citizen
JUSTIN PETERS
Stops 34 shots enroute to victory
in first NHL game
By Andrew Smith
The Listowel Banner
Fire board woes
continue for M-T
Continued on page 2
By Keith Roulston
The Citizen