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The Citizen, 2009-05-28, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 28, 2009.EditorialsOpinions Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie GroppAdvertising, Ken Warwick & Lori Patterson The CitizenP.O. Box 429,BLYTH, Ont.N0M 1H0Phone 523-4792 FAX 523-9140 P.O. Box 152,BRUSSELS, Ont.N0G 1H0Phone 887-9114 E-mail norhuron@scsinternet.comWebsite 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 thecondition that in the event of a typographical error,only that portion of the advertisement will becredited.Advertising Deadlines: Monday, 2 p.m. - Brussels; Monday, 4 p.m. - Blyth.PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40050141PAP REGISTRATION NO. 09244RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPT. PO BOX 152 BRUSSELS ON N0G 1H0 email: norhuron@scsinternet.com Letter to the editor May 27, 1965 A listing of fall fairs in Ontario provided the dates for over 70 of these annual events. Richard Burton, Ava Gardner and Deborah Kerr starred in The Night of the Iguana, the feature playing at the Lyceum Theatre in Wingham. The Saturday matinee was The Island of the Blue Dolphins. A frost-free 13 cubic-foot Westinghouse refrigerator freezer was on sale at Oldfield Hardware in Brussels for $329. Troy Donahue, Connie Stevens and Ty Hardin were the stars of Palm Springs Weekend, playing at Brownie’s Drive-in in Clinton. Specials at Smith’s Rexall Drug Store in Brussels included asprin, 59 cents; razor blades, 69 cents; hair colour, $1.95 and milk of magnesia, 79 cents. May 22, 1974 A total of 34 Opportunities for Youth grants were awarded to Huron County groups, including two to Blyth. A group headed by Evelyn Benjamins of RR1, Blyth received a grant to provide varied recreational activities for the elderly in senior citizen homes in Goderich, Clinton and Seaforth. Six students were involved in the project which had a total budget of $4,900. Marsha McNall of Blyth headed the second project which involved planning and subsequently landscaping Blyth Union Cemetery. This also included six students and had a budget of $4,375. The Creamcheeze Good-Time Band was performing for Ontario’s Largest Spring Fair in Clinton. The event featured livestock shows, horse pulling contests, parades, queen competitions and a baby show as well. The fun wrapped up with a gospel show on Sunday evening at the Grandstand. Cheese was selling for 99 cents a pound at Snell’s Grocery Store in Blyth. A pound of bacon was 89 cents and the 20-oz. aerosol can of Windex was 79 cents. At Stewart’s Red and White Food Market, Schneider’s wieners were 75 cents a pound, while two pounds of bananas were on sale for 35 cents. It was martial arts action at the Mustang Drive-in in Goderich with Enter the Dragon and The Chinese Connection starring “the master of karate kung fu” Bruce Lee. At the Lyceum Theatre in Wingham it was American Graffiti, while the Park was showing Walt Disney’s That Darn Cat, starring Hayley Mills, Roddy McDowall, Dean Jones and Dorothy Provine. May 21, 1986 A plan to redesign the western and southern part of Lions Park got Blyth council’s approval. The major change would see a new entrance off Gypsy Lane at the south end of the park. At the same time, the new roadway would free the north end of the park from traffic so it could be developed for other uses. A long-term look at the future of the Blyth Festival was underway. The study would look at the next 10 years including improvements that might be required and needed facilities for the building of sets, props and costumes. The defunct Blyth Agricultural Society dispersed its money to: the Horticultural Society, $200 and $500 to the Belgrave, Blyth, Brussels School Fair. Rainy weather didn’t stop a large crowd from attending the annual Victoria Day fireworks display in Londesborough. Tom Hanrahan was named president of the Brussels Home and School. Norman Garrett, who had made his mark as a teacher in the area, was honoured at an open house to celebrate his 90th birthday. The new executive of the East Huron Women’s Institute was: Leona McDonald, president; Peggy Cudmore, past president: vice- president Frieda Lassen; secretary- treasurer, Margaret McMahon; PRO, Marion Feldskov; director, Jean Mathers; alternate federal representative, Ruth Harding, auditor, Pam McLellan and Tweedsmuir curator, Ruth Galbraith. A pyramid scheme called ‘airplane’ was circulating in the Listowel and Atwood areas. Steve Souch won the midget championship at the Huron Perth track and field meet. May 22, 1996 You didn’t need to be a weather person to know that there had been some serious rainfall in the area. In a 30-hour period a total of 74.5 mm of rain fell in the area. Widespread flooding was reported. A single strike of lightning blew apart a mature pine tree at a Blyth residence. Four windows in the house were broken, some blown in by the force of the strike and others were sucked out by the changing pressure. A Brussels teen was off to England after winning the right to play on the Canadian dart team at a competition in Burlington. Anita Little, then 15, was one of four from Ontario to win a spot. The Village Eatery opened in Blyth. The officers of the Huron East District WI included Kathy Bridge, Marg McMahon and Ruth Bauer. New Blyth Pathfinders were Amanda Bailey, Rachael de Boer, Jamie Lewis and Jennifer Black. Stratford Festival launched its $13 million renewal campaign. THE EDITOR: In Canada in 1909 a pound of bacon cost 23 cents and the average annual income was $944 or roughly $2.58 per day – from that we learn that a pound of bacon would cost 8.9 per cent of a day’s wages. Fast forward to 2009. An average annual income is $41,401, or roughly $113.42 per day and our pound of bacon is now approximately $4, and .03 per cent of the daily income. If we had kept constant with incomes and costs a pound of bacon would now cost $10.09 or more! Eggs originally at 32 cents would be even more. Bacon and eggs have been produced by farmers who have made cost efficiency a hallmark and yet, in this country, produce food that is nutritious, safe and conveniently available. This comes at a cost, not to the consumer but to the producer. The Brussels Agricultural Society is aware of the economics of food production and when producers are hit by an issue not of their making but by media shorthand, shall we say, the Society is very concerned and hopes that others will share that concern. We are justifiably proud of the farmers in this area who contribute so much to the standard of living we all enjoy. We also acknowledge the reality that the producers provide these goods at profit margins that are infinitesimal; any hiccup in the supply chain is a blow to the solar plexus for the producer. We assure consumers that the pork products they purchase are the same safe, nutritious and available products consumed prior to H1N1and will be the same after concern has passed. We strongly urge all consumers to ascertain the facts in regard to their purchases. When that is done they will find that the pork products on offer are the same ones that have always been available. The family of the producer eats these items, as well, and, I know, would never, knowingly, put their friends, family or community at risk. The reality is that the level of care and concern given by pork producers in Canada is exemplary; to them there is never an occasion to permit poor hygiene or poor practices. There is no cause to fear but much cause to give thanks that we can afford to purchase meat products that are not a threat but a treat and will continue to be so thanks to the hard work, diligence and intelligence of our farmers. If you have questions contact www.ontariopork.on.ca and always be guided, as we are, by knowledge and understanding and with that make the right decision. Yours truly, Dorothy Cummings President Brussels Agricultural Society. 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 Local news coverage needed Here’s a twist on the old philosophical question about whether, if a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, did it make a noise: if a tree falls in a forest and no one was there to report on it, did it really happen as far as society knows? That’s the reality behind the rallies in support of local television news held across Canada last weekend. There was something self-serving about the rallies, sponsored as they were by CTV and its subsidiary the A Channel stations, but the issue’s real just the same. The networks see the solution as charging cable and satellite carriers a fee to carry their programming. The cable and satellite companies argue that the networks are spending so much on buying U.S. programming that there’s no money left to do their duty in providing local programming. While the networks may have had ulterior motives for the rallies, the importance of the issue of providing local news coverage remains important on a number of levels. We may be part of a larger world, but we must live with local condi- tions. In our region, we must deal with the peculiarities of living in the lee of Lake Huron with its severe winter weather. We need accurate locally-oriented weather forecasts, not information by people delivered from outside the region who don’t really understand how different our weather is. We live in a rural and small-town world with issues different from even cities like London, let alone Toronto. We need media to explore issues like concerns over wind turbines that dominate our region more than any other in Ontario. We need to know that the misuse of the term “swine flu” has a real cost, creating lower incomes for our pork farmers. On the opposite side of the coin, local news coverage is what brings issues to national attention. Many of the developments in the Tori Stafford case in Woodstock, for instance, were covered first by local media. National networks picked up on that coverage, in some cases using local TV coverage to back up national reporters. Will the loss be that great if local TV news is lost? Quite frankly, local TV coverage has been a shadow of itself since CKNX television was shut down and production moved to London. Still, there has been some coverage and that has helped provide competition for radio and newspapers, prodding the other media outlets to do a better job – sometimes finding news the rest of us have missed. Behind the controversy is the issue of lack of “ownership”, real and metaphoric, of local news coverage. Huron County residents can only dream of the days when Doc Cruickshank helped shape a local society through the efforts of CKNX radio and television. Nowadays we’re told we afford that. It’s ironic that in a nation where people have never been as wealthy as we are today, there are so many things we once took for granted that we can no longer “afford.” — KR &