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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2010-08-12, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, AUGUST 12, 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 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPT. PO BOX 152 BRUSSELS ON N0G 1H0 email: norhuron@scsinternet.com August 11, 1948 Blyth baseball teams were experiencing a slump, with the Blyth Legionettes leading the way, losing to Auburn by a score of 16-13 and in turn, being eliminated from the playoffs. The remaining teams were set to duke it out with Brussels taking on Walton and Seaforth playing Auburn in the semi-final matchups. The Blyth Lions were also going the wrong way, losing their most recent league game to Clinton after a loss to Seaforth by a score of 18-11. Hoping to break the trend, however, in a different sport was the Blyth team that recently entered a junior football league. The Blyth team was set to open the season in Ethel on August 30. A severe electrical storm on August 1 caused a fire that destroyed a barn and crop belonging to West Wawanosh farmer Harold Gauanta. The loss included 15 pigs, two sows, the season’s crop of hay, several loads of wheat and the year’s crop of oats, which had just been combined a week earlier. Gaunata’s truck was also damaged. Just $150 remained to level the donations for the new ball park floodlights. Two people had contributed $8 in the last week to bring the total still required down to $150. A letter from a Dutch family was received by Murdie Young, expressing thanks for clothes that were sent to Holland months ago. August 15, 1968 Dr. J. A. Bozyk was set to open a full-time practice in Brussels. It was set to open on August 19. Bozyk had been practising medicine in Canada for 12 years and was looking to move into the Brussels area as soon as possible. The Brussels Fire Department sponsored a softball game, which was then followed by “Donkey Baseball” which was held on August 24. An entire hay crop and 65 pigs were lost in a $23,000 barn fire on the farm of Stuart Clokey of Brussels. Firefighters were able to save a shed which was 50 feet from the barn. A manure spreader was also lost in the fire, the cause of which had yet to be determined at the time of publication. August 15, 1990 An early morning accident resulted in the loss of three Brussels youths and two other young people from the area. Todd Rice, Scott Bremner and Neil Pipe, all from the Brussels area, were killed in the accident that occurred on County Road 25 about 10 kilometres east of Walton. The incident occurred at 3:15 a.m. on a foggy morning. Of the five, only one, the driver, was wearing a seat belt. Lorna Fraser was named a new councillor for Blyth, being officially sworn in on August 8 to fill the vacancy left by Ken Brown, who had resigned earlier in the summer. Fraser, a life-long resident of Blyth, was an employee at the Blyth Book Store and was the super- intendent of Sunday School at the Blyth United Church at the time. An all-candidates meeting for the upcoming provincial election was scheduled to be held at Central Huron Secondary School on August 24 to discuss agricultural issues. The meeting was sponsored by the Huron County Federation of Agri- culture. Jim Fitzgerald was elected to be the Liberal candidate for the Huron- Bruce riding, while Ken Campbell was elected to represent the Progressive Conservative party in the coming election. August 14, 2008 The Blyth Festival honoured the Phillips family and named its Dinsley Street studio after the long- time supporters of the Festival. The theatre, which was formerly known as The Garage, is home to Young Company productions and work- shops for the Festival season’s productions. After he visited Huron County just one month earlier, Stéphane Dion sent one of his top advisors to Huron County to tour the area. Gerard Kennedy spent an entire day touring Huron County with federal Liberal candidate for Huron- Bruce Greg McClinchey. The pair toured the Regional Equine and Agricultural Centre of Huron (REACH), the Gateway to Rural Research facility in Seaforth. Kennedy was the guest of honour at the inaugural Huron County Mayor’s Council meeting. The Walton TransCan was set to kick off, with property owner and organizer Chris Lee expecting 30,000 people to pass through the event’s gates by the end of the week, with 15,000 expected on Sunday alone. Kari Bell was crowned as the Brussels Fall Fair Ambassador for 2008, receiving her new hardware from the winner of the 2007 competition, Sara Baker. Bell was sponsored by the Brussels Legion Ladies Auxiliary. The 81st annual Huron County Plowing Match was coming to a Walton-area farm on August 22. The event was held on the farm of Henry and Mary Ann Grobbink. Innocence Lost premiered at the Blyth Festival. The play, a story about Steven Truscott would go on to win playwright Beverley Cooper an award for her writing. 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 Time to reconsider If the Avon Maitland District School Board (AMDSB) needs an additional $1 million to build its Wingham super school to serve the north-central part of Huron, perhaps it’s time to go back to the drawing board an re-examine the validity of the whole project. The AMDSB recently announced that it is $1 million over budget on the $11.6 million school, due in part from additional site costs and delays caused by an Ontario Municipal Board challenge by neighbours of the new school. Officials said they had asked the provincial government for additional funding on top of the $8.8 million the province promised a year ago. The economics of the super school that would replace Blyth, East Wawanosh, Turnberry Central and Wingham Public Schools have always been questionable for those on the outside of the board’s decision- making process. While there would certainly be savings in maintenance costs in building a brand new school to replace 50-year old facilities, there would also be added costs in transporting students greater distances – costs that would be a wild-card because fuel costs are expected to soar in coming years, but we don’t know by how much. Tack on an additional $1 million (and who knows how much more that might turn out to be by the time the building is actually completed since there hasn’t even been a sod-turning yet) and the questionable economics become that much more problematic. Add in the disruption to students, the destructive environmental impact of driving school buses all those extra kilometres every year and the detrimental economic hit to communities like Blyth from losing an important part of its infrastructure and this school seems like an increasingly bad deal in the big picture. When the province, last year, announced its $8.8 million dollar pledge of support two weeks before trustees were to vote on the proposal to close the community schools and build a super school, it effectively prejudiced the vote. Now it’s being asked to bail out a floundering proposal with even more money. Supporters of community schools should lobby MPP Carol Mitchell and the government not to make the situation worse by anteing up even more money. Let’s make the AMDSB go back to the drawing board and show that this super school proposal still makes economic sense. If not, it’s time to reconsider the decision to close perfectly good community schools. — KR Warning signs The refusal of the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper to admit a mistake in its bid to drop the compulsory requirement for selected people to fill in the long-form census should give voters pause about what it would mean to elect him with a majority government. Very few voices have been raised to support Harper’s libertarian belief that it’s a terrible imposition to tell people they must, under penalty of law, complete the longer census form that a small, selected portion of the population receives. On the other side there has been near-universal condemnation of the plan, the biggest problem being the validity of the statistics that will be able to be compiled. Despite this, the government has stubbornly refused to back down, even though it has taken a hit in its popularity, according to recent public opinion polls. When it comes to his bedrock ideology, the prime minister appears unwilling to budge, even when in a minority position and not riding high in the polls. For some, that can be a sign of a man who stands up for his principles, but when the majority of Canadians don’t agree with the ideology he stands for, it’s a word of warning about giving him a majority that would really let him run with his convictions. Part of the government’s opposition to the census is perhaps that it likes to be able to challenge the validity of statistics that go against its ideology. When reporters threw Statistics Canada figures at Stockwell Day, president of the treasury board, to challenge the need for more prisons, Day claimed there were statistics showing a great deal of crime goes unreported. It’s always better to be able to create your own statistics when you need them than have somebody else compile them. — 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.