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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2009-07-23, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 23, 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 July 29, 1965 Singer-actress Dinah Christie alternated with Jan Rubes as performing host on the new CBC radio about folk music Cantando. The series featured special guests from the world of folk music. Bob Cunningham was appointed local BP representative for the Brussels and Ethel area. Playing Thursday and Friday at Brownie’s Drive-in in Clinton was Flipper’s New Adventure with Luke Halpin and Pamela Franklin. The weekend feature was Elvis Presley and Ann-Margaret in Viva Las Vegas. July 24, 1974 Blyth council complained about the number of trucks parking on main street in the village to unload merchandise. An excellent example of the situation was captured by a Standard photographer, the picture showing an ice-cream truck parked in the middle of the street causing a traffic holdup. There was plenty of space at curbside, not to mention space for deliveries at the rear. A number of municipalities in Ontario were having problems with dumps and government regulations. Wingham mayor DeWitt Miller read a letter from the Ministry of the Environment to his council regarding the East Wawanosh dump. The Ministry wanted Wingham to pump water away from the dump, located in an old gravel pit, and grade all refuse to a 30-degree slope. All trash was to be covered daily and all burning was to cease. Seaforth was hoping to get other communities to use its new landfill in order to get the cost spread a little thinner. Faced with inspectors’ reports the town purchased a $115,000 incinerator to burn all garbage. Neighbours helped carry the furniture out of an RR4, Walton home when a spark from the fireplace chimney set the roof on fire. After an 18-mile trip to the scene Blyth firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze but not before it caused about $8,000 damage. This year marked 25 years for Junior Farmers in Huron. The association was planning a celebration that included a reunion and dance. Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand starred in The Way We Were showing at Brownie’s Drive- in. At the Park in Goderich, it was a double feature Cops and Robbers, starring Cliff Gorman and Joseph Bologna, and Sleeper with Woody Allen and Diane Keaton. It was also a double feature at Goderich’s Mustang Drive-in with American Graffiti and Robert Redford, Katharine Ross, Robert Blake and Susan Clark in Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here. Theatre Passe Muraille performed 1837 The Farmers’ Revolt at the Huron Historic Gaol in Goderich. Tickets were $2 for adults and $1 for “kids”. July 16, 1986 R. Harkness Victorian Millwork rented the former Morris Twp. works garage to use as a factory. Just seconds after signals were set off, different coloured smokes drifted across Frank Rutledge’s farm outside Brussels. Astra-Pyrotechnics Canada Ltd. held a demonstration to show residents first hand what products the industry would be making if the Guelph plant located on the outskirts of Brussels. Plans for the new Huron County Pioneer Museum were unveiled at a public meeting in Holmesville. Crops in the area were doing well over all, but could benefit from a good rain, according to OMAF crop specialist Brian Hall. Roy and Marie Krauter, formerly of Kitchener, moved to Londesborough to open the Trading Centre. Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis starred in Top Gun, playing at Wingham’s Lyceum Theatre. July 17, 1996 A former Brussels reeve, J. Calvin Krauter, passed away at the age of 82. Four Blyth Cubs, Adam Jackson, David Kelly, Jesse Hakkers and Nathaniel Peel moved up to Scouts. There were accolades from all corners when former Liberal MPP for Huron and Bruce Counties, Murray Elston and his family were honoured at an appreciation night. Elston served 13 1/2 years in provincial politics, until he lost his bid for his party’s leadership to Lyn McLeod in 1992. He had recently turned down the offer to run a second time. Local Seaforth and Central Huron Ontario Scholars were Marcy McCall, Julie Glauser, Todd Shaddick, Erica Clark, Joseph Johns, Lindsay Anderson and Paula Allen. Blyth students Heather Elliott, Katelyn Linner and Adam Young were the big winners in the Family Literacy Festival. They won third, first and second respectively for their posters. Bob Cunningham received the Senior of the Year award for his contribution as chair of the Grey 140th birthday celebration. Playing at the Lyceum Theatre and Listowel’s Capitol Theatre was Independence Day. People were invited to come sample A Taste of Country at the food fair in Blyth. THE EDITOR, What happened to our fighting spirit? Blyth must be going soft. Our forerunners did not accept arbitrary decisions of others. They either fought them or ignored their detractors and went ahead with what they thought was right. Today, we are faced with an arbitrary and prejudicial decision which will rob this village of its school. We have raised our objections respectfully and politely. We’ve presented well-documented arguments against the decision by a group of outsiders to make this assault on our community. The ARC committee did an enormous amount of research and solid work. In return, we have been ignored. We have been fed official stories. We have been subjected to a consultation process which seemed rigged against us before we began. Surely it is time that we stop being polite. Time that we begin to treat the Avon Maitland District School Board in the manner they so richly deserve. Time that we take some action and make them at least extremely uncomfortable, if not repentant. Time to report their methods to the Minister of Education, who needs to understand what the provincial policy on school accommodation has unleashed on rural communities across this entire province and on this community in particular. We sat idly by when amalgamation was forced on us a few years even though 99 per cent of the community opposed the process. The adventure increased our costs, diluted our representation on municipal council, and produced no discernable advantages. It is too late to go back on that fiasco. We lost on that one. In this case, we already know that there are no advantages to this change in school arrangements, and that we in Blyth are facing serious and irreparable damage to our children and our community. If ever there was a reason for protest, this is surely one of them. Let's not stand there. Do something! Brock Vodden. 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 Victims of indifference Pork producers from across the region will descend on Stratford Friday to try to bring their disastrous plight to the attention of governments and the public. So far they have been a victim of indifference on a number of fronts. Hog producers are currently losing $30-$40 on every hog they send to market. They have been losing money for nearly four years because of a “perfect storm” of combined bad news. While some of this might be characterized as the normal fluctuation of markets, some is the result of external factors which are made worse by indifference by the government and other powerful forces like the media. The latest blow to pork farmer has been the H1N1 influenza outbreak. Initially called “swine flu”, this disease immediately linked pork with a disease that was being portrayed as potentially deadly. When the first cases were reported in Canada, some countries banned the importation of Canadian pork. Prices, which normally improve in the summer barbecue season, fell instead. Worse, CBC, Canada’s national broadcaster, stubbornly continues to refer to the disease as “swine flu”, even after other media outlets became aware of the damage they were doing in calling it by that name, and began using the proper H1N1 name. Our taxpayer dollars are being used to hurt a vulnerable sector of our economy. The price of pork is also depressed by the effect of the complicated U.S. “country of origin labeling”, known simply as COOL in farm circles. COOL has put a downright chill on exports of Canadian pork and beef to the U.S. Many pork producers were exporting their quality young weaned pigs to U.S. farms which raised them to market weight. Now these pigs must be tracked and their meat shown on the label to come from pigs grown in the U.S. but from piglets imported from Canada. This is an obvious trade barrier, yet the Canadian government announced last week it would drop its challenge to the legality of COOL under world trade regulations. Canadian farmers have been exhorted by both Conservative and Liberal governments in recent years to produce more export products. Having encouraged exports, the federal government has a duty to protect producers against unfair trade barriers like COOL. Barring that help, it has an obligation to compensate farmers – such as through the $30-per- hog subsidy recommended by the Canadian Pork Council. Why should you, a non-farmer, care? Huron County is the biggest pork-producing county in Ontario, closely followed by its neighbour Perth. The pork farms provide direct jobs, in the people who help raise those pigs, but also jobs in feed mills, feed nutritionists, vet clinics, equipment manufacturing and sales and even in business advisors. What’s more, as a recent letter to the editor in a Guelph daily newspaper pointed out, pork producers are members of the community, giving valuable service in their churches, sports teams, etc. The indifference by the federal and provincial governments and by the CBC must end or rural Ontario, Huron County in particular, will suffer a stunning economic and social blow. — KR &