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The Citizen, 2009-08-27, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 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 Aug. 26, 1965 Orval Gray of Mitchell purchased the Texan Grill in Brussels. A Willowdale man faced two charges as a result of a two-vehicle crash near Wingham that claimed five lives. Excellent weather has sped up the harvesting of spring crops with yields and quality above expectations. At the Lyceum Theatre in Wingham Marshall Thompson and Betsy Drake starred in Clarence the Cross-Eyed Lion. Smith’s Rexall Store was giving out a free ball-point pen with every purchase of $1 or more for back-to- school. At Brownie’s Drive-in in Clinton it was double feature time with George Hamilton and Susan Oliver appearing in Your Cheating Heart, and Connie Francis and Jim Hutton starring in Looking for Love. Running through the weekend was Father Goose with Cary Grant, Leslie Caron and Trevor Howard. Aug. 26, 1974 With a federal ban on urea formaldehyde foam insulation, homeowners had already begun ripping the material out of their homes. However, there was a word of caution from health inspector Ed Harrison who recommended people not panic before test results became available. Eleven people were sent to hospital, most with minor injuries, cuts or bruises, following an explosion at Huronview. Fumes from a broken gas line were ignited by an electric pump. The building’s auditorium was destroyed. A minister who had brought new ideas to the charges he served was leaving. Rev. Dan Sargent, who at one point saw to the needs of four Anglican church communities in Auburn, Blyth, Brussels and Belgrave was moving to St. Stephen’s in London. A roller skate-a-thon in Blyth raised over $1,200 for roller skates for the arena. Endless Love, with Brooke Shields and The Four Seasons with Alan Alda and Carol Burnett were playing at Brownie’s Drive-in. He Won’t Come in From the Barn was held over at the Blyth Festival. Aug. 20, 1986 Blyth taxes increased 6.7 per cent. Vera Fraine was the top winner at the Brussels Horticultural Society’s summer flower show. The Lite Bite opened in Walton in the former Doug Ennis store. It was run by Ed and Tammy Chalmers and son Joshua, who moved to the hamlet from Mitchell. Walton Women’s Institute marked 30 years of service. The Ethel and Brussels United Church congregations honoured Rev. and Mrs. Charles Carpentier on the occasion of their 40th anniversary. The Brussels Legion Pipe Band was still going strong after more than 30 years. The Band began in 1952 with 12 members who were all veterans. In 1986 the membership had grown to 18 with six new members taking lessons. Graduating members of the Quest for Success 4-H Club in Auburn were Glenyce McClinchey, Angela Schneider, Lisa Duizer, Astrid Van Eeden and Annette Losereit. A Wingham doctor was appointed acting medical officer of health for Huron County. Dr. James McGregor assumed the position until a replacement could be appointed to succeed Dr. Harry Cieslar who resigned in June. An Auburn woman, Debbie Cunningham, was part of a program to computerize a Huron County school’s library. She, along with Betty Van Wonderen of Varna, was attempting to catalogue the more than 6,000 books in the Huron Centennial Public School library in Brucefield. It was Club Paradise, with Robin Williams and Peter O’Toole and One Crazy Summer on the playbill at the Mustang Drive-in in Goderich, while Armed and Dangerous with John Candy, and Howard the Duck were playing at the Park Theatre. Aug. 28, 1996 Lieutenant Governor Hal Jackman mingled with Blyth Festival patrons before presenting a certificate to the theatre marking a $25,000 grant. Volunteers and parents worked together to ensure Walton Public School had a playground before the first day of classes. Much of the playground equipment had been removed because of safety concerns. The community raised half of the required $8,500 needed to pay for the new swings, slides and climbing structures. The Hullett Minor Ball Association, parents and players showed their appreciation to Hank Blok of Auburn for his 17 years of dedication to coaching Auburn’s T- ball teams. July Miller was named Huron County’s Queen of the Furrow at the match, which was held at Neil and Marie McGavin’s McKillop Twp. farm. Charlene Townsend, 1995-96- Queen passed on the crown. There were four contestants. The season ended for Blyth’s Kinderball team: Drew Taylor, Leticia Kolkman, Colton Durie, Trevor Ritchie, Katie McClinchey, Natasha Lee, Laura Youngblut, Kenny Plunkett, Curtis Kolkman and Mathew Chalmers. 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 They’re not making any more Even in southern Ontario, the most densely populated part of Canada, we appear to have so much farmland that we undervalue it. Every year thousands of acres are lost to the expansion of cities, to dumps to bury our garbage, to power lines and wind-turbines to power cities. In fact, from a supply and demand point of view, even farmers could argue there’s too much farmland. Despite the farmland losses over the years, farmers have increased their productivity to the point there’s always a surplus of food and prices are depressed. But to see the future we have only to look at the rest of the world. The latest concern is that countries that don’t have enough land to feed their own people are buying up huge swaths of farmland in poor countries to farm for food to send back home. In Madagascar, a country where half the children under the age of five are malnourished, a South Korean company reached a deal with the government to buy up nearly half of all farmland in the country. This so outraged the populace that the government was thrown out of office but elsewhere the trend goes on. Oil-rich, but food-poor Gulf states like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar are buying up huge chunks of African farmland, including land in Ethiopia where the world has been sending food aid because people are starving. They’re joined in what some critics are calling a “new colonialism” by China and India. For Canadian farmers, the implications could be even more bad times ahead. Despite short-term problems, our farmers have always comforted themselves that countries that can’t produce enough food for their own people, would soon come calling for our surpluses and farmers would be rewarded with prices they need to be profitable. If these countries are going to produce food in foreign lands, they could short-circuit market forces and keep prices for Canadian farm produce low. That doesn’t mean our farmland is worthless and should be turned into subdivisions and superstore parking lots. As a local realtor used to advertise, they aren’t making any more land. A field that becomes a parking lot will never grow food again. Short-term market forces which may indicate land is worth more for development than for food production, don’t take into account that some day we may need food more than a place to park cars. The challenge for our society and our governments, is how to make it profitable enough for our farmers to keep on farming so we keep on having farmland. Today our distorted priorities mean that the single most important job in the country, producing the food to keep us alive, is rewarded with incomes that barely allow farmers to pay their bills, while the CEOs of companies that went bankrupt and begged for government aid, get multi-million-dollar bonuses. We need food. We need the land to grow it on. We need the people who grow it. Other countries have seen this. When will we? — KR & EDITOR’S NOTE: — Newspapers are always looking for ways to help their readers understand how to properly prepare a letter to the editor. The following appeared in a recent edition of the Rocky Mountain House (AB) Mountaineer. One of the best read parts of any newspaper is the letter to the editor column and there are usually more than enough to make issues lively and interesting. Rules of writing letters are quite simple. Stick to these and we will be quite happy to print them, if not one week, then the next. • Address your writing to the editor. With "Open letters" to someone else, we always get the feeling of snooping in someone else's mail. • "Thank yous".Please use our card of thanks column in the classified section, or have your group budget for display advertising space, rather than using a letter to the editor. Letters are the place to express opinions and carry on debates. • Bad taste.This is a family newspaper. People can make their points without vulgar language. • Libelous material.To bad mouth someone in public is slander, to do so in print is libel. If we allowed someone's character to be unduly attacked, we are just as subject to a libel suit as the author of the letter. • Illegible and incoherent letters. Our typesetters are renowned for their ability to read bad handwriting. However, the most ideal situation is to have the letter typed and double spaced. Some letters ramble and make no sense, no matter how nimble our mental gymnastics. If we can't make heads or tails out of the letter, we won't make our readers try. If we can edit the letter to make it clear, we will. • Length.This is not the place for a textbook of personal opinion. We suggest that most people can get their point across in fewer than 750 words. Keep it short and to the point. It is in the best interest of the writer for the letter to be interesting and understandable to other readers. • Prose and poetry.We are a newspaper and not a literary magazine. There are places for short stories and poetry. The only time we will publish such material is if the item is, in itself, newsworthy. Winning a competition with a poem or story is a good reason. On occasion we will invite such material as we do annually for our Christmas edition. • Anonymous letters.If the writer doesn't believe the letter is worth signing, we can't believe it is worth reading. The opinion is more valid if the writer is willing to stand behind it. If a person does not want his name to appear, he must make a strong case to us in person. • Unsubstantiated facts.If you want to quote "facts" in the letter, tell us where they come from so readers can check on them. • End of Debate.After we feel all sides of a debate have been thoroughly aired and letters on the subject become repetitive, we will put an end to it. • Local Interest.Any topic is fair play, but letters should be of interest to the people of our community. EDITORIAL POLICIES