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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2010-08-19, Page 1CitizenTh e $1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, August 19, 2010 Volume 26 No. 32SPORTS- Pg. 8Seaforth Country Classicreturns for third year SPECIAL - Pg. 20 CHAT and HEAT presentto Central Huron CouncilFALLFAIR- Pg. 2Morgan Deitner crownedBrussels AmbassadorPublications Mail Agreement No. 4005014 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK: With all the awards handed out and the races complete, The Walton Parts Canada TransCan event has come to a close. Chris Lee, owner of the track that hosted record crowds over the weekend, said that the weekend was a big success. “We had record attendance as of Sunday,” he said. “It surprised me, because of the way the weather looked like it was going to go.” Local riders who did well included Cody Richmond of Bluevale, who placed first in the MX2 125 Junior B Races with 75 of 75 possible points and 10th in the Super Mini races; Trevor Keys of Seaforth, who placed 18th in the MX2 125 Junior B races with 10 of 75 possible points; Tyler Listman of Seaforth, who rode his Kawasaki to 13th place in the MX2 125 Intermediate finals; Damion Donaldson of Lucknow, who placed seventh in the 50 Pee Wee races; and Walton’s Mitchell Godkin who placed eighth in the Super Mini races and sixth in the School Boy races. The King of Walton award was given to Bobby Kiniry of New York, who placed first in the MX1 overall. Kiniry was presented his award on Sunday, as well as the sword that he holds until a new king is crowned, Huron-Bruce MP Ben Lobb. First place finishers for the individual events were: • MX1 250 Junior - Brandon Spencer of Picton, Ontario • MX2 125 Junior “A”, MX3 GP Junior “A”, and School Boy - Bradley Dool of Ashton, Ontario • MX2 125 Intermediate - Cole/Kyle Thompson • MX3 GP Junior “B” - Craig Moosberger of Port Burwell, Ontario • MX3 GP Intermediate - Nicky Beatty of Wyoming, Ontario • 50 Pee Wee (4-6) - Jeremy McKie of Beloeil, Quebec • 50 Pee Wee (7-8) - Nicholas Cryer of Dunnville, Ontario • 60 Pee Wee (7-9) - Christopher- Jay Da Silva of St-Jean Sur Richeliue, Quebec • 60 Pee Wee (10-11) and 80 (7- 11) - Joey Crown of Metamora, Michigan • 80 (12-16) and Super Mini - Michael Da Silva of St-Jean Sur Richeliue, Quebec • Youth (12-24) - Greg Durivage of Waterville, Ohio • 25+ - Josh Woods of Cairo, Georgia • Vet Junior - Jeff Van Niekerk of Cambridge, Ontario • Vet Master - Doug DeHaan of Thorndale, Ontario • 40+ - Matt Crown of Metamora, Michigan • Ladies - Taylor Miller of Alabaster, Alabama. With Huron East Mayor Joe Seili declaring that he would not seek the mayoral seat for a third term, Huron East Council could face some change in this fall’s election, but several familiar faces have already declared their intent to run again. Brussels ward councillor David Blaney, despite being involved in recent controversy surrounding comments he made regarding the Brussels and Grey Central Public Schools situation, says that there is still plenty of work to be done and filed his papers earlier this month. Priorities going forward for Brussels are the Brussels Library, Brussels and Grey Central Public Schools, the village’s infrastructure and economic development throughout the entire municipality. It had gone through Blaney’s head to not run, but he felt that council was in the middle of too many different projects for him to not consider being a part of council once again, he said. However, he said, he knows that of the priorities he has listed, some can be controlled by council more than others. “The school is definitely an important issue going forward,” he said. “but it’s not as much in council’s hands as I’d like it to be.” In regards to the Brussels Library, Blaney acknowledges that little work has been done on the project in the last year because of its potential tie-in to a new school in Brussels. During the Accommodation Review Committee (ARC) process, members of council discussed proposing a new public school and library near the Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre, similar to a project that had been undertaken in nearby Howick. Howick’s library saw a large spike in library usage because of the new library’s nearby location to the arena. However, with the Avon Maitland District School Board trustees voting to close Brussels Public School, those discussions were abruptly halted and the issue has yet to be raised since. No matter what may happen with the appeal of the aforementioned decision that has been filed by several concerned members of the community, Blaney says the library should be one of the Preliminary items the new council tackles after this fall’s election. “Hopefully the library will be one of the first things council deals with in the new year,” he said. “There will have to be a restart to the fundraising process and some sort of public meeting, I would think.” Blaney said that if he is elected to represent Brussels once again, it is bound to be different, as Seili is the only mayor he has served under. Blaney says that he has always felt that Huron East Council has operated well within its five wards after amalgamation. He said this was an idea that began with Huron East’s first mayor, Lynn Steffler and was carried on by Seili. Running in Seili’s impending absence will be Deputy-Mayor Bernie MacLellan, who, at press time, is the only person to file papers for the position of Huron East Mayor. Seaforth ward Councillor Joe Steffler has filed for MacLellan’s current position of deputy mayor. Other than Blaney, Steffler and MacLellan, McKillop ward Councillors Andy Flowers and Bill Siemon have filed to run for another term, while Seaforth Councillor Bob Fisher and Tuckersmith Councillor Les Falconer have both filed to run for their current seats once again. Blaney says that doesn’t surprise him, as he thinks council could look very similar in the fall. He says that in Huron East specifically, historically, candidates often wait until just before the deadline to file for the upcoming election. He said that one term is just enough to begin to understand how municipal politics work, so the filing by Fisher, Flowers, Falconer and Siemon didn’t surprise him one bit. “It’s more complicated than people think,” he said. “It takes a year or two of just watching how things are done.” Blaney, who had a background in politics before running also added that he had reported on Huron East Council for one year for The Citizen, prior to declaring his intent to run. He says he felt it gave him a head start on his way to filling the position. One facet of the job in which people get very frustrated upon becoming a municipal councillor, Blaney says, is finding out where council has decision-making power and where council’s hands can be tied by another government body. “It can frustrate people in so many instances with so many things that directly affect a municipality’s ratepayers that council often has no say over,” he said. “Orders in certain situations can come down the pipeline and there’s nothing you can do about it.” Blaney cites something like the decision made by the school board trustees as a situation in which council is “extremely restricted” in what it can do to affect the outcome. When it comes to the divide that is said to be growing between the Record attendance at 19th annual TransCan Huron East Council to have new look Start your engines While the annual Walton TransCan has been called many things, small has never been one of them. Here, as a group of hopefuls begin a race, just getting going off the starting line on August 12, the action was just beginning, readying the track for the weekend action. This year the TransCan has only grown, setting an attendance record for the Sunday races as well as expanding to include a tailgate party in Blyth last week. In its 19th year, the Walton TransCan is now bigger than ever. (Jim Brown photo) By Denny Scott The Citizen By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen Continued on page 20