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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2009-02-12, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2009.Editorials Opinions Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie GroppAdvertising, 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 FAX 887-9021 E-mail norhuron@scsinternet.com Website www.northhuron.on.ca Looking Back Through the Years 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 Letter to the editor Feb. 11, 1965 The winners of the Massey- Ferguson bonspiel trophy in Brussels were: first, Ross Veitch, Frank Carter, Don Fraser and Doug Hemingway; second, Hugh Pearson, Oliver Wray, Ken Tyerman and Wayne Lowe. The Veitch rink also took second at a bonspiel in Seaforth. Winners of the ladies’bonspiel in Brussels were: first, Betty McDonald, Rhea Vallance, Ethel Brewer and Pearl Baeker; second, Jean Oldfield, Nora Stephenson, Inez McDonald and Karen Cardiff. A fire gutted the kitchen of the home owned by Mrs. Stanley Rutledge on Mill Street. Prompt action of the local fire department was creditted for containing the fire to the rear of the building, thus preventing its spread to the rest of the house. The World of Henry Orient, starring Peter Sellers, Paula Prentiss and Angela Lansbury was playing at the Lyceum Theatre. This was “the story of funny misadventures of a pair of teenagers. It’s sparkling fun for all.” An Ottawa report said that thousands of Canadians were going to own a version of the new Canadian flag that was the wrong shape, colour and had the wrong maple leaf illustration. “In their eagerness to exploit another segment of the Canadian market, Japanese textile manufacturers have flooded the country with a flag that while it purports to be the official version was actually in production before there was an official version.” The result, it said was a maple leaf with 13 points rather than 11, with sharp serrations between the points instead of rounded valleys. The colour and dimensions were also wrong. The annual firemen’s ball in Brussels featured the music of the Ken Wilbee Orchestra. Two Grey Twp. youths escaped serious injury after their car collided with a train at the Ethel station. The boys were taken aboard the train to Atwood where they met Dr. Bigelow who transported them to Listowel Hospital. Feb. 6, 1974 A Blyth native who became something of a celebrity across the province passed away in Kitchener. A.H. Wilford, who was born in Blyth, March 16, 1887, became known as the Rutabaga King. He spent his entire life promoting something or another, including Canadian commercial products. He acted as goodwill ambassador for Fairview Park shopping centre and started a photo-marketorium in Kitchener and Toronto to help small Canadian manufacturers get in touch with foreign trade delegations. Wilford said he “ran away from school at 13 and never went back. At 19 he bought a warehouse at Wingham and packaged butter and cheese for shipment. He later took a job consolidating small creameries into a large marketing pool for the Saskatchewan government then went on to organize the Ontario Egg Pool. In the 1930s he went into publishing after purchasing a Toronto magazine, which he ran for 10 years. Despite a rebuff from the Ministry of Transportation and Communications Blyth council pushed ahead with an attempt to gain a licence issuing office in Blyth. Feb. 5, 1986 While most local people hardly noticed, southern Ontario felt the shocks of an earthquake, measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale. The quake was centred beneath the American shore of Lake Erie, about 50 kms north-east of Cleveland, but minor vibrations reached this area. A Blyth woman was working in her antique shop when she heard the crystal and china tinkling. Blyth lost its Saturday mail delivery. Huron Feeding Systems in Brussels was awarded for top sales in Ontario for grain bins and aeration equipment. The presentation was made at the Canada Farm Show in Toronto. A Kodak Disc 3100 camera was on sale at Stewart Pharmacy for $36.99. Muriel Coultes of Belgrave received a UCW life membership certificate and pin in appreciation for her leadership as president of the Huron-Perth Presbyterial for the previous two years. Ron Bonnett of RR1, Gorrie, succeeded Ross Procter of RR5, Brussels as president of the Huron Cattlemen’s Association. Feb. 7, 1996 After awaiting word from the provincial government regarding funding cuts to junior kindergarten, the Huron County Board of Education decided to continue the program for the time being. County councillors voted to discontinue a rebate of 25 per cent of the county levy for highways. The Optimists committed to pay the rent for The Ark, a drop-in centre in Brussels, for one year. The arrival of natural gas in Brussels meant savings for Huronlea. With the estimated cost of $13,000 for conversion it would mean only $5,000 savings in 1996, However, it was expected that the total amount to be saved, $18,400, THE EDITOR, As an 11-year-old child, bringing a doll to school was social suicide even if you played with them with your friends at home. Wearing clothes that no one else wore meant you were an outcast. Having your hair done the way the other girls had theirs done meant you moved along the social ranks with each passing year. Expecting that our children would not feel the same social pressures to fit into their school environment is not logical. It is a part of growing up and learning socially appropriate behavior. The difference is that our children will be expected to meet high school social expectations at the ages of 11 and 12 years old. For some this is the year of their first menstrual cycle. The pressure is not only more intense but it is given to children who do not yet have the maturity to negotiate appropriate responses to inappropriate situations. Children who are struggling to fit in will mold themselves after the ones they want to be accepted by, their peers. When their peers are as old as 18, what kinds of behaviours will they be imitating? Are there condoms in the washrooms these children are using? Are there students engaging in sexual behaviours in the hallways? Is skipping school something these kids have had an opportunity to do before joining their peers? Were drugs and alcohol as accessible to these young children before being pushed into an environment we know provides these opportunities for them? Children have nine years to be children. Nine years to feel safe to be children without the added pressures of having to act grown up. Why would we risk their safety and their happiness for the sake of filling seats in an oversized high school? I for one will not allow my children to be used a pawns in a political game played by the board. My children are worth more than that. If you want the children in your schools to stay with the public school system and not be swayed into private education then maybe you need to start treating our children like children instead of like herds of cattle that you can move from one pen to the next with no forethought on the detrimental effect your decisions will make on their futures. Joanne Smith, Blyth 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 Smart people need to eat A report called “Ontario in the Creative Age” was delivered to the provincial government last week just about the time the devastating job- loss figures showed 71,000 jobs lost in Ontario last month. The report, commissioned by Premier Dalton McGuinty from forward thinkers Richard Florida and Roger Martin of the Martin Prosperity Institute at University of Toronto suggests Ontario must make the transition from “muscle” jobs to creativity-oriented jobs. Some commentators have suggested this means Ontario must downplay traditional job producers like manufacturing, mining, forestry and farming for urban-oriented jobs of the mind and the imagination. Certainly in a world where high-paid manufacturing jobs are being exported to low-wage countries at an ever-accelerating rate, we must look to find new ways for people to find meaningful work. The province must also educate its residents to be able to adapt to whatever changes may be coming down the way. That said, some balance needs to be struck between this battle of mind and body, between human creativity and the natural world we live in. Just as a great thinker who does nothing but sits at a desk and thinks great thoughts will soon be in trouble because his body lacks the exercise to stay healthy, so a healthy society needs a balance of mind and muscle. Smart people need to be nourished by the food grown by farmers. Without the miners to mine iron ore, the steel workers to make it into steel beams and the construction workers to construct buildings, the creative workers Florida and Martin envision will be working in the cold and snow. Certainly it’s good to encourage creativity, just as long as it doesn’t demean and undervalue the many other people who contribute to the health of our society. — KR Better invisible pollution? Officials in Montreal are attempting to ban the installation of wood stoves in the city because it claims half of all pollution in the winter time comes from wood-burning stoves and fireplaces. The city isn’t alone in targeting the burning of wood. Other municipalities are also complaining. Yet wood has the advantage of not adding new carbon to the atmosphere, unlike the “clean” alternatives of natural gas and oil that free carbon that has been stored in the earth for thousands of years. It leads to the question of whether we’ll ever make progress in reducing greenhouse gases. People complain about windmills generating electricity. They gripe about plant-based ethanol fuel for cars. Apparently the invisible problem of fossil fuel carbon pollution is more acceptable than the alternatives. — KR &