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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2010-06-10, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 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 16, 1948 The Blyth Lions were set to take the summer off, holding their last regular meeting until September, and at that meeting, the Lions set the date for their annual Summer Frolic, which would take place on July 21. Arrangements then commenced with the committees working out the details for the event. In taking the summer off, the June meeting would also be the last held by the current executive, as President Bert Gray passed the torch to Franklin Bainton, who thanked everyone for electing him and asked for their co-operation for the coming year. Shirley Temple’s daughter, Linda Susan, who was four-months-old at the time, made her public debut, with The Blyth Standard running a picture of her and her mother in their first public appearance. Races were to be held at the Clinton Raceway on June 23, with four different harness races totalling $1,200 in winnings between the four purses. After the races, there was also a dance to be held at the Clinton Town Hall where “a good orchestra” would be playing from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. June 13, 1968 The Brussels Lions installed their officers for the 1968-1969 term, electing Jan van Vliet as the new president, Cal Krauter as the first vice-president, James Armstrong as the second vice-president and Henry Exel as the third vice-president. Cecil McFadden was elected as the secretary and Cecil Parker was elected to be the treasurer. The construction of restrooms at the Brussels Community Park was underway, which was happening thanks in part to a Centennial grant. Chairman of the grant committee, Archer Grewar said that in addition to the restrooms, he hoped that dressing rooms would also be added to the building at a later date. The work was being completed by TenPas Construction. In addition to the construction of the restrooms, the park’s bleachers were undergoing repairs as well, those repairs, however, were being undertaken by the Brussels Lion Club. A small, orange-coloured balloon reading Higginbotham School was found on a property on the Fourth Concession in Morris Township. It was later discovered that the balloon originated from Detroit, Michigan. A decoration service was held by the Western Star and Morning Star Lodges, as well as the Brussels Legion, at the Brussels Cemetery on June 9. Several other local groups, including the Oddfellows and the Rebekahs also participated in the service and eventual parade from the cemetery to the Brussels United Church, led by the Brussels Legion Pipe Band. June 13, 1990 Stone was being laid in the Blyth Memorial Hall courtyard in preparation for opening night of the 16th season of the Blyth Festival. It was said that construction would not be completed in time for the opening of the Festival, but that a ribbon- cutting ceremony would take place later that week. An addition to Grey Central Public School was slated to begin construction in late August, it was announced at the June 4 meeting of the Huron County Board of Education. Construction at the school was approved at a board meeting in May. The school had two portables on the property at the time and after construction was completed, the portables were scheduled for removal. The Brussels Midgets started their season off with a bang, winning their first six games of the season. Gremlins 2: The New Batch was playing at The Park Theatre in Goderich. June 12, 2008 Morris-Turnberry council voted down a proposal to allow hunting in the municipality on Sundays. The vote, which went five votes against Sunday hunting and two votes for Sunday hunting, was turned down despite some passionate arguments to allow hunting on Sunday. The motion’s mover and seconder, Mark Beaven and Paul Gowing, respectively, were the only two councillors who supported the motion. Beaven called hunting a good family activity that could take place over the weekend because of parents’ busy schedules throughout the week. Arguments to the contrary argued many of the same points, but in favour of other activities. “Sunday is the only time you can go for a walk in the bush without having to worry about someone taking a pot-shot at you,” said Deputy-Mayor Jim Nelemans. For the program’s third year, Healthkick Huron brought medical students from the University of Western Ontario in London to Huron County in order to familiarize them with a rural community, as well as help educate local high school students on the post-secondary option of a career in the healthcare industry. Belgrave’s Janisa Coultes celebrated her 100th birthday at the Belgrave Community Centre with dozens of friends and family members. 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 Local control lost As Brussels-area residents move with trepidation toward the June 22 date on which Avon Maitland District School Board trustees will decide the futures of the Brussels and Grey Central schools, the difficulty is that they are dealing with people who have limited knowledge of their communities, who are operating under funding rules created by provincial officials who know even less about the realities of rural communities. In an ideal world, if a community decided it was willing to pay a little more to keep its school open, it should have that right. If the residents of Grey Twp., for whom the Grey Central school is not just the source of education but a community centre, want to ante up the cost of keeping their school open, they should have that option. But the only source of funding local services is property tax and there are so many demands on that tax source, that municipalities many years ago asked the province to step in. The old saying that “he who pays the piper calls the tune” is true when it comes to education. In return for providing the money, the province sets province-wide standards that leave little room for local realities. The province developed a funding formula in an effort to bring equality of education to all students, a formula that turns education into a utility like electricity rather than a part of the community. The province even determines the size of school districts, meaning they are distant enough that community emotional ties to a school are not a part of decision- making about whether a school will close or stay open. Trustees are in a tough spot. They are generally well-meaning people who have to try to make the limited funding they are provided stretch to cover their schools’needs. They know that whatever decision they make they’ll be condemned by somebody. The real problem is deficiencies in the local tax system that make funding so short that community decisions aren’t made in the community. Until that is fixed by the province, we’ll continue to have our communities shaped by people who know little about them. — KR Risky behaviour Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams said Monday that it’s just too expensive for underwater oil wells to have the kind of secondary relief wells that would have allowed a faster end to the devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. So how expensive is the chance of disaster? Our North American society has an addiction to oil and, like an addict, we seem ready to take greater and greater risks to get our fix. As the gulf disaster has shown, drilling wells deep under water is not like drilling on dry land. It’s easier for something to wrong, and if it does, it’s hard to fix the problem in water so deep that humans can’t go there. And yet such is our dependence on oil that any suggestion we should not drill in dangerous offshore waters is ignored. For instance, U.S. President Barack Obama came to office opposed to the idea of drilling offshore wells in the Arctic, which had been supported by his predecessor George W. Bush. Mere days before the Gulf environmental catastrophe began, Obama had given in to the pressure of filling the U.S.’s need for oil from American sources and decided to allow Arctic drilling. Part of the Gulf disaster comes from the lack of back-up protection valves on the drilling rig that exploded, burned and sank, leaving an oil well running full-flow into the sea. Those extra protections would have cost “too much money”. New wells being drilled off-shore in Newfoundland are even deeper under water than the gulf well that caused the problem. Now Premier Williams, whose province will benefit from the money to be made from oil drilling, but pay the highest cost if there’s a similar spill, says it’s too expensive to take precautions – that drilling would stop if governments insisted relief wells be drilled. We want the oil so badly we’re willing to risk the fish, the birds, the shorelines, but we also want it cheap. Yet we also don’t like the disasters being cheap can cause. We can’t have it all. — 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.