The Citizen, 2010-12-02, Page 1CitizenTh
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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, December 2, 2010
Volume 26 No. 47
SPORTS - Pg. 8Wingham Silver Stickholds games in Blyth AGRICULTURE - Pg. 23 Over 700 meet to discussthe future of farmingPICTURES- Pgs. 6&7The Brussels Santa ClausParade in pictures
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INSIDE THIS WEEK:C e l e b r a t i n g 25 YearsTheCitizen1985-2010
Hall was Blyth Festival season’s inspiration: Coates
Associations consult
public on potential
hockey partnership
Christmas time is here
Four-year-old Maddie Bernard, right, and her two-year-old sister Casey visited with Santa and
Mrs. Claus on Saturday night at the Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre after the
annual Santa Claus Parade. Santa and his better half were in Brussels for the parade, which
featured dozens of floats and entries, and to hear the wish lists of the children who came out
that night. In addition to visits with Santa, there was also food, face painting and plenty of other
things to do. For a full gallery from the Santa Claus Parade and the events following at the
Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre, visit The Citizen’s website at
www.northhuron.on.ca (Vicky Bremner photo)
Blyth Festival Artistic Director
Eric Coates says that last week’s
announcement of the 2011 Festival
season will result in a lot of flag
waving in Blyth next summer.
Coates says the season will pay
homage to the very building the
Festival is housed in and the
inspiration behind it.
The fact that the Festival is housed
in a building with the history and
purpose of Memorial Hall has never
been lost on Coates. He has always
respected the Festival’s home in a
hall that doubles as the village
cenotaph, but in 2011, he says he
wanted to go the extra mile to
celebrate it.
The season’s first two shows will
meet the Festival’s theme head-on,
with Hometown and Vimy .
Coates says that Vimy came to him
as part of a realization that he
shouldn’t be fighting the opening of
the season’s second play, as he has
every year.
“Because of how the calendar and
the season work together, our second
show always opens close to Canada
Day,” he says. Coates says that the
holiday is generally a tough time to
get people into the theatre because of
the holiday and plans that people
may have for the long weekend.
This season, however, he hopes
will be different, as he hopes to
embrace Canada Day and what it
means to the Festival’s 2011 season.
“This year we’ve decided to meet
it head-on,” he says. “We want to
celebrate Canada Day and use it as
almost like an interim Remembrance
Day.
“This way we can remember why
we can celebrate Canada Day,”
Coates said. “There’s going to be a
lot of Canadian flag-waving, that’s
for sure.”
Coates says that a play like Vimy ,
while it isn’t a new play, is
somewhat of an honour for him to
have produced at the Festival. He
says it’s a powerful play that is made
even more powerful because of
where it’s being produced. He says
that having the play on the Memorial
Hall stage, where the names of
actual local soldiers are honoured
every year, is something that is very
special to him.
The play, which is written by Vern
Thiessen, focuses on four soldiers in
a field hospital after the battle of
Vimy Ridge.
Coates is clear in saying that Vimy
“isn’t a happy play on any level” but
that the focus on the battle, what it
meant to Canada and the toll the
battle took on these men is
something that is important to all
Canadians.
The season’s opening production,
Hometown, is far from a
conventional play, Coates says, in
that it stemmed from a discussion he
had with former Festival Artistic
Director Peter Smith about Blyth.
The discussion focused on Coates’
office.
As Smith sat in Coates’ office, he
noticed that Coates was seeing the
same things that Smith had seen, just
a few years later. He said he was
seeing the same people and the same
activities, just a few years later.
This inspired an idea that grew
into Hometown, where several
playwrights, from all over the
country, were asked what the word
“hometown” means to them and they
were asked to prepare a short play on
their thoughts.
Coates says that many different
takes on a hometown will be covered
and that live music will also be
featured in the production, thanks to
the return of David Archibald.
The season’s third show, the
comedy Rope’s End, focuses on a
man in his mid-40s, who Coates
calls “a loser”.
“He lives alone in a crummy
apartment, he’s a failed movie critic
and he’s considering ending it all,”
he said.
Things change, however, when he
remembers a pact he made with his
first love at summer camp when he
Blyth and Brussels Minor Hockey
executives, concerned parents and
members of the Western Ontario
Athletics Association (WOAA) and
the Ontario Minor Hockey
Association (OMHA) gathered on
Tuesday, Nov. 23 and Thursday,
Nov. 25 to discuss the potential
amalgamation of Brussels and Byth
hockey associations.
The presentation was a joint effort
between executives from Blyth and
Brussels.
The proposed move, according to
members of the executives,
addresses several concerns that
players, parents and volunteers
have been facing over the past few
years.
Brussels Minor Hockey President
John VanVliet stated that the process
started in 2009 and, if the two groups
vote to amalgamate, a two year trial
period will follow.
To amalgamate, members of both
associations have to vote two-thirds,
or 67 per cent of those present at the
annual general meeting held on
January 11, 2011 in favour of
combining.
If amalgamation is implemented,
and the two year trial is completed,
another vote will take place, asking
whether the members of the minor
hockey association wish to continue
amalgamated or revert to two city-
centres. This vote will require a two-
thirds majority to decide.
The paramount concern that led to
the four-year-long process,
according to Blyth Minor Hockey
Past-President Steve Howson, is the
dwindling number of players in both
centres.
Through amalgamating the two
player bases, the executives of the
two associations hope to create
teams they have the player base to
support.
Another concern, outlined by the
group, is that they have lost players
due to the lack of a ‘local league,’ or
developing team.
“Some players don’t want to play
on Rep teams,” Howson stated.
“This will allow them to play at a
level they’re comfortable with.”
Both centres have something to
gain, according to the presentations
made, as Brussels has less players
and will be able to find better
competitive matches for them, and
both squads will be able to use
available ice time in both centres –
something that has been hard to find
in Blyth.
The executives explained that
every effort would be made to see
that all players would spend equal
time practising and playing in both
facilities.
The primary reason for suggesting
amalgamation, according to the
executive, is that if they didn’t
choose to amalgamate now with
a local club, they could be forced
With the holiday season just
beginning, the Ontario Provincial
Police (OPP) are reminding
motorists that there will be a visible
increase in OPP officers again this
holiday season as they focus their
efforts to track down motorists who
place everyone’s safety at risk by
drinking and driving on Ontario
roads and highways.
This year’s annual OPP Festive
RIDE (Reduce Impaired Driving
Everywhere) campaign began on
Friday, Nov. 26 and will run through
Jan. 2, 2011.
As of Nov. 21, 304 people have
died on OPP-patrolled roadways, 50
of which were alcohol-related
collisions. The Festive RIDE
initiative has proven to be an
effective deterrent and an important
tool in raising awareness about the
continued, senseless loss of life and
injuries that result from driving
while under the influence of alcohol
or drugs.
During the 2009 five-week OPP
RIDE initiative, OPP officers
stopped 1,199,280 vehicles at
roadside checkpoints, compared to
884,729 in 2008.
As a result, 299 persons were
charged with criminal code alcohol-
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Continued on page 31
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
RIDE launched for
2010/2011 holidays
Continued on page 32
Continued on page 32