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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2010-05-27, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 27, 2010.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; $105.00/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 PAP REGISTRATION NO. 09244 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPT. PO BOX 152 BRUSSELS ON N0G 1H0 email: norhuron@scsinternet.com June 2, 1948 The Blyth Ball Park took a step forward with the arrival of the poles for the flood lighting. Fundraising for the project was still ongoing, with over $500 still needed to consider the project fully- funded. Franklin Bainton was elected as president of the Blyth Lions Club and was set to serve his term from 1948 to 1949. Bert Gray, the outgoing president, was elected District Deputy Governor by his fellow Lions Club members. It was the first time such an honour had come to the Blyth Lions Club. Members of the Blyth Masons, as well as members of the St. John’s Masonic Lodge in Brussels, travel- led to Walton to attend a Divine Service at Duff’s United Church which was officiated by Rev. Hazelwood. The time had come for the provincial election, which was set to be held on June 7. The Blyth Standard said the local campaign had been conducted in a quiet manner, with “very little enthusiasm being shown by the man on the street.” At the regular meeting of the Blyth School Board, a motion was carried that a notice be published in The Blyth Standard seeking applications to fill the vacancy left when Miss Johnston resigned. The position was set to be advertised with a minimum annual salary of $1,500. The position would include an annual raise of $100 to a maximum annual salary of $1,700. It was asked that applications be submitted by June 15. May 30, 1968 Robert Stanfield, national leader of the Progressive Conservative party, came to Huron County on May 30, addressing a full-scale rally at Wingham Public School. Stanfield and his wife were flown to Wingham by helicopter, landing just west of Wingham District High School, where they were introduced to students from the school and then taken for a tour of the library. Stanfield also stopped by CKNX for a quick interview. The Brussels Lions Club had just purchased a 16mm movie projector, as well as a screen, with the proceeds from the sale of the year’s hockey tickets. The projector, they said, was for use throughout the community. Tommy Hunter had just begun a national tour that would bring him through Ontario, the prairie provinces and western Canada. After the tour, he made his way back to Toronto to begin filming the third season of The Tommy Hunter Show on CBC. May 30, 1990 Simon Hallahan of Westfield was named the Citizen of the Year for Blyth and area due to his extensive work with the Huron Pioneer Thresher and Hobby Association as its secretary, as well as being a community 4-H Club leader, despite being 91 years old. Hallahan was one of the founding members of the organization that would become the Threshers. He also served on the Belgrave Co-op board and was East Wawanosh Reeve for seven years, serving on council for another 10. Well-known Blyth resident Luella McGowan celebrated her 90th birthday with an open house held at the Blyth United Church. She also received birthday greetings from Ontario Premier David Peterson. An advertisement in The Citizen declared that “now” was the time to get ready for the proposed GST by picking up a GST information kit, which had been mailed to businesses across Canada. The Huron Country Playhouse in Grand Bend received a grant from the Ministry of Culture and Communications to pay for one third of an estimated $100,000 project that would improve the facility’s lighting system. May 29, 2008 Fire chiefs from the Huron East, Blyth and Wingham Fire Departments met to discuss the new boundaries for the three departments within Morris-Turnberry. Huron East Fire Chief Marty Bedard, Blyth Fire Chief Paul Josling and Wingham Fire Chief Harley Gaunt attended the meeting along with James Zimmerman and Bert Kuntz from the Ontario Fire Marshal’s office. The meeting came as a result of the Brussels Fire Department now being equipped with a water tanker and being able to service the rural areas near Brussels, which the department could not service before. Huron East council began looking into the placement of the ambulance stationed in Brussels, which eventually moved the vehicle from the Brussels Fire Hall to Huronlea Home for the Aged. The Blyth Youth Park was celebrating its first anniversary, marking one year since skateboarding equipment was installed there. The review process of Huron County’s official plan began with several public consultation sessions set up throughout the entire county. Janisa Coultes celebrated her 100th birthday at the Belgrave Community Centre. Kira Isabella, a “sensation” from Orleans, won the am920 Ontario Open Country Singing Contest’s Rising Star Award. 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 A difficult challenge As this fall’s municipal election approaches, candidates will have to struggle with the problem of how, in today’s far-flung amalgamated municipalities, they can represent the interests of people in all the diverse parts of the municipality and still look after the realities of the municipal budget. The news has been full of stories of this sort of struggle lately. In this week’s paper, Huron East councillors turned down a grant for the Clinton Public Hospital Foundation, saying they could only support the hospital within its own boundaries. But Huron East’s Tuckersmith Ward touches right on the boundary of the old town of Clinton, and Vanastra, in that ward, is practically a suburb of Clinton. One councillor mentioned that if they supported Clinton hospital they might be asked to support Listowel, since many of the residents of Grey Ward might go to that hospital. So Grey residents are supposed to be satisfied to see their tax dollars support the Seaforth Hospital that they never use while the hospital they do, gets no support? This same sort of issue was raised last week by The Citizen’s Londesborough correspondent Brenda Radford in her coverage of the meeting of Central Huron council in Londesborough to discuss fire coverage for the northern part of Hullett Ward. She reported that one speaker had pointed out that residents of Londesborough and northward tended to have closer ties with Blyth and yet they were being asked to help pay for the new fire hall in Clinton and the Regional Equine and Agricultural Centre of Huron while being told that it was too expensive to buy faster fire service from North Huron’s Blyth station. Then there’s the situation in the southern Wawanosh Ward of Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh where council has decided that, in order to save a few thousand dollars spread across the tax bills of all the residents of the municipality, local residents will have to wait for Clinton or Lucknow fire departments to arrive, rather than the much closer firefighters from Blyth. As time goes by, there’s the tendency for councillors and staff to see these amalgamated municipalities as one unit and the interests of the visible majority representing the interest of the less visible minorities living off at the fringes of the municipality. We’re stuck with a system that slices communities in half (or thirds in the case of places like Auburn and Blyth). We can’t change this system, so it’s going to be up to councillors, today’s and tomorrow’s, to be able to somehow keep the interests of the minorities in mind while they also do the business of the whole municipality. It’s a nearly impossible task, but if they can’t do it, councils are going to fail some of their residents — KR Caught in the middle Pardon ordinary citizens if they shake their head in disbelief at the happenings in the financial world these days. The debt crisis in Greece and some other countries is affecting things that seem to have no connection to Europe. The Canadian dollar is down, for instance, not because of any problems in Canada, but because currency traders, spooked by what’s happening in Europe, seek the “safety” of the U.S. dollar even though that country is sinking in red ink. What’s frightening about this turmoil is the sense that there’s a showdown, of sorts, between governments and financial institutions. When European governments devised a plan to support indebted European nations and support the Euro, the common currency, some traders almost took it as a challenge, saying the deal wasn’t good enough. Big business delights, these days, in scolding governments over their deficits, even though much of the deficit was caused by governments borrowing money to save failing financial institutions and industries and prevent an even deeper recession. Financial institutions are trying to fight off greater controls to prevent them from making mistakes in the future. This showdown between business and government has ordinary people caught in the middle, likely to be hurt while having no control. — 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.