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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2009-04-02, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 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 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 April 1, 1965 L.E. Cardiff of Brussels and Huron County’s MP celebrated his 25th year in office, becoming a member of the exclusive 25-Year Club of the House of Commons. The 1965 annual skating carnival at the Brussels arena hosted an “unusually small number of spectators,” which was likely due to the multitude of community events going on that weekend, the Brussels Post said. Carnival Queen was Sharon Willis. The most graceful couples were Norman Hoover and Marlene Eadie; Ben Akker and Nancy McWhirter and Gail and Connie McWhirter. At the end of March, a minor hockey tournament held at the Brussels Arena was touted as an “unprecedented success” with over 300 hockey fans in attendance. Scores in the final round had the locals coming up just short in the PeeWee and Midget divisions but winning the gold in the Bantam division with a 6-3 victory over Blyth. Brussels Maitland Authority set its budget at $68,186. The new president of the Walton Women’s Institute was Mrs. Roy Williamson. Other executive members include: past president, Mrs. Kenneth McDonald; vice- presidents, Mrs. Jan van Vliet Jr., Mrs. Alvin McDonald and secretary- treasurer, Mrs. George Hibbert. Playing at the Lyceum Theatre in Wingham was Send Me No Flowers, a comedy starring Rock Hudson, Doris Day and Tony Randall. March 27, 1974 Huron County kept its road budget at the same level as it was in 1973, however, the amount of road work to be done was cut “drastically.” The total road budget was $2,129,000, with the government of Ontario’s share amounting to over half of the total costs at $1,222,000. Huron County’s development officer Spence Cummings discussed the need for a tourist promotion association in this issue. Cummings tabled a report of his work during 1973, saying that an association would help to handle the increased number of tourists expected in the area over the summer. March 26, 1986 Huron County council approved the Huronview building project in its 1986 budget, which came in at over $18.7 million, a rise of nearly five per cent. The vote was recorded, with 18 councillors voting in favour of the budget and 12 councillors voting against the budget. In the breakdown of the budget, over $2.2 million was set aside to be spent on roads, just under $2.1 million set aside for general purposes and the Huronview building project came in at just under $250,000. Locally villages were not hit hard with the tax increase, with Blyth seeing just over one per cent of an increase and Brussels seeing just under one per cent of an increase. However, some towns received over 10 per cent increases, evening out the average, with Goderich on the receiving end of an 11.666 per cent increase and Stephen receiving a 10.721 per cent increase. A blaze which firefighters found themselves on the losing end of left a Londesborough family homeless after the house caught flame from a trash fire. Blyth firefighters were able to prevent the building from having to be destroyed, however, the damage is estimated to be beyond repair. Burglars gained nothing after breaking into the office of Howson and Howson Ltd. Despite the fact that people were working through the night at the flour mill next door, burglars broke into office through a window at the rear. They broke every file cabinet or locked drawer in a fruitless search for money. Nine area students were among 46 from F.E. Madill in Wingham, who won free trips to Expo ’86 in Vancouver. Patrick Cull and Heather Morton of Belgrave, Tom Bailey and Gisele Kelly from Blyth and Veronica Bakelaar, Shelley Bray, Cherida Garniss, Karen Knight and Linda Thysson from Brussels won a poster contest around the transportation theme of Expo. March 27, 1996 A number of residents gathered at Morris council chambers to begin planning for the township’s 140th anniversary. A one-day celebration would be held featuring activities such as a parade, fiddlers’jamboree, barbecue and dances. Officers from the Wingham OPP investigated a break-in at Stickers in Auburn. There was little doubt that the Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union strike was a hot issue, but that took on a more literal meaning on the weekend. Vandals set fire to a shack built as a shelter for strikers outside the Wingham Ministry of Natural Resources Office. In protest against the cuts to education People for Education was organizing a rally at Queen’s Park. The group was a coalition of parents, children and students from across southern Ontario, who were reacting to cuts and teacher layoffs. The North Huron Community Foodshare opened its doors for the first time. THE EDITOR, I am writing in reference to the public meeting held by the Municipality of Morris-Turnberry regarding fire services. I attended this meeting and came away very frustrated. In my opinion it was a total waste of time and taxpayers’ money. They told us absolutely nothing that wasn’t already in the local newspapers. Our mayor stated that we will not be going down without a fight. Why is there a fight? An agreement is an agreement. It states a minimum of two appraisals shall be sought: so get another one. Why spend thousands of dollars on legal fees. We have to get along with our neighbours in order to survive, especially in tough economic times. North Huron has given their termination notice one full year in advance as per the agreement. Howick Township has decided to form its own fire department and Blyth Fire Board is disbanding. These decisions leave Morris- Turnberry without fire services on Dec. 31, 2009. I would like to commend North Huron council for looking to the future and making a wise decision. It’s only common sense to have one fire department and one fire co- ordinator in their municipality. Howick Twp. is in a unique situation as they already have a fire hall which is located approximately in the centre and can serve most of their area. They also have trained personnel. This is a great decision for them. At the meeting the council stated they may consider the following options: form a Morris-Turnberry Fire Department or enter into a joint board if other municipalities are interested,or purchase fire services from other municipalities. In my opinion it would not be geographically possible to service Belmore to Walton and Lower Town with our own department. Response time would be too long. Some service would have to be purchased. Why not buy it all? It is not economically feasible to set up our own fire department either. The costs involved to buy land, build a fire hall, recruiting and training manpower, purchasing a firetruck, water truck and equipment would be phenomenal and we still couldn’t service our whole area. Some service would still have to be purchased. But wait. Maybe we can afford a fire department if we can afford a $300,000 renovation to our office, grant or no grant. Where do you think grants come from? Us, the 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 Squeezed from both ends In difficult times like these, even pro-business people like heads of failing banks and car companies rediscover the value of government. But government has a cost, as Ontario taxpayers discovered last week. The provincial budget’s biggest item – almost making a promised deficit become invisible – was the harmonization of the GST and provincial sales tax. While this won’t be noticed on many purchases, there are serious financial ramifications in others. When you buy a house, for instance, it’s going to cost more. When you heat your house, it will cost more. When you buy a newspaper or advertise in one, it’ll cost more. In general these changes have been accepted as beneficial to business, but of course some businesses will be hurt. So some businesses, like car companies, are being baled out, while other companies, as well as individuals pay higher taxes, to help pay for the assistance. Those higher taxes make it important for lower paid people to get a raise in the minimum wage so they can afford to heat their homes, etc. Yet increasing the minimum wage hurts some of the small businesses that can’t turn to government for handouts if they get in trouble. It’s crazy that both the struggling small businesses and their low-wage workers are being hurt to save the jobs of highly-paid auto workers who balk at making further concessions to save their jobs. — KR Too big to fail Announcing an extension to deadlines for reorganization of the auto industry, U.S. President Barack Obama this week said the companies cannot be allowed to disappear. But the consequence of companies that are too big to fail is that inefficiency and incompetence are not punished as they are for smaller businesses. The argument when small businesses fail and are absorbed by bigger businesses, is that this brings greater efficiency. But when consolidation leads to monopolies, or near monopolies, the price to be paid in those mammoth companies failing spreads to the entire economy. When the lives of millions hang in the balance, governments fear the consequences of companies going out of business. And still, we keep allowing companies to get bigger and bigger, such as last week’s merger of Petro-Canada and Suncor. What’s more, the concern over concentration of power has evaporated with talk of companies needing to be large enough to compete globally. In the Darwinian world of business, it’s accepted that small companies that fail are part of an evolutionary process. That evolution leads naturally to monopolies. But if the monopolies are in trouble, evolution may say the giants should die or be broken up to smaller companies but it won’t happen when the consequences for others are so dire that the company can’t be allowed to fail. — KR & Continued on page 5