HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2009-09-24, Page 1Look! No hands
It was one of those rare times where hands were not needed to steer this bike around last
week at the Brussels Fall Fair. The midway afforded hundreds of students the opportunity to
hop aboard a motorcycle and have all of the fun with none of the risk. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
The weather played a big factor in
the success of this year’s Brussels
Fall Fair.
Not only was the actual fair graced
with pleasant, warm weather last
week, but president of the Brussels
Agricultural Society Dorothy
Cummings said the late crops, due to
the colder weather helped.
“It was a very good fair this year,
it was very well-attended,”
Cummings said. “The crops came in
late, so that helped us in terms of
submissions.”
Cummings said flower
submissions were down slightly this
year, but the entries they did get,
were very good. On the other hand,
she said, the livestock exhibits were
up significantly due to the
encouraging participation of the
local livestock groups, including the
4-H clubs.
This year also marked the first dog
show. Cummings called the dog
show a success, with nine entries.
Tuesday night was very
successful, she said. There was local
dancing and music on stage in the
auditorium, while people enjoyed
the midway as well as the dog show
and all of the displays on the arena
floor.
There was also a cooking
demonstration, which proved to be a
popular attraction that night.
“I was very pleased with the fair
overall,” Cummings said. “The
attendance was up, the fun level was
up and the noise level was really
good.”
Cummings said that she has been
in charge of several festivals and that
this year’s Brussels Fall Fair was
one of the smoothest to run from
start to finish.
“Everywhere I looked there were
smiling faces,” she said. “No one
came to me with any problems and
there were a lot of people there. I
think we did well.”
Due to the sudden illness of a key
staff member last week, the
remainder of The Citizen staff
scrambled to fill in.
In the rush to meet deadline,
several errors were made, including
the use of an old template for
the story menu on the top of
page 1, resulting in misleading
information.
The Citizen regrets this and other
errors in this issue.
What can we say? It happens
Long-time member of the Blyth
Fire Department, David Sparling,
has been named deputy fire chief for
the newly-amalgamated Fire
Department of North Huron, which
will officially form on Jan. 1.
North Huron reeve Neil Vincent
made the announcement last week
after a very thorough process.
Sparling will be joined by Keith
Hodgkinson, who will also take on
the responsibility of deputy fire
chief.
Sparling will be the deputy fire
chief of administration, while
Hodgkinson will be the deputy fire
chief of operations.
Hodgkinson will oversee the
division of fire suppression, division
of training and the division of
mechanical equipment and
apparatus. Sparling, however, will
oversee the division of
administration, division of public
education, division of emergency
medical services and the division of
personnel safety.
Hodgkinson has been with the
Wingham and Area Fire Department
for over 20 years, while Sparling has
been with the Blyth Fire Department
for 17 years.
Sparling began his time with the
Blyth Fire Department as simply a
volunteer firefighter, but soon
moved up in the ranks, becoming a
lieutenant and most recently, a
captain.
“This is an exciting opportunity,”
Sparling said. “We’re taking an
existing, successful organization and
seeing it through this
amalgamation.”
Sparling says that everything has
been positive so far, however, there
will no doubt be changes throughout
the amalgamation process.
“I’ll be looking after emergency
medical response and so far, I have
been really encouraged with the
changes I’ve seen going in that
direction,” Sparling said.
“It’s still going to be an important
part of the job and now it’s
being added as a service to
Wingham, where it wasn’t available
before.”
Sun shines for
Brussels Fall Fair
CitizenTh
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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009
Volume 25 No. 37SPORTS- Pg. 8Lightning wins tournament WINNERS - Pg. 10 Brussels Fall Fair resultsbeginCOMMUNITY- Pg. 7Folks have fun at Belgrave’s89th school fairPublications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 PAP Registration No. 09244 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
Sparling named
deputy fire chief
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
About 15 petitioners met with an
independent facilitator on Monday
night in Seaforth to express how
they felt about the process that has
resulted in the eventual closure of
Blyth Public School.
Margaret Wilson, who was
appointed to take on the appeal by
the Ministry of Education, met with
petitioners in Seaforth on Monday
and then Accommodation Review
Committee (ARC) members on
Tuesday at Blyth Public School.
Wilson heard concerns from
petitioners as well as a lengthy
presentation from “lead petitioner”
Ernest Dow, citing the many reasons
why he, and several others believe
the ARC process treated the
community, and more specifically,
Blyth, unjustly.
Wilson said that in addition to
hearing from ARC members and
petitioners, she would be visiting
Blyth Public School and F.E. Madill
Secondary School as part of the
research she will be putting towards
her eventual report back to the
Ministry of Education.
While she was not able to make
any decisions, Wilson, who has been
involved in education for nearly 40
years at various levels, clarified
some of the contentious areas of the
process.
Petitioner Michelle Nesbitt
expressed her unease with the way
the ARC process was carried out and
the feelings towards their board
trustee representative Colleen
Schenk.
Schenk was described by several
petitioners as uninterested in the
plight of Blyth, the area she has been
assigned to represent, and was
referred to as “untouchable”
throughout the process.
Several parents said they were
made to feel “inferior” upon
attending ARC meetings and that
they felt they were being dictated to,
rather than represented.
When discussing the prospect that
their children would be attending a
secondary school two years earlier
than they might have traditionally,
Wilson urged petitioners to relax,
adding that students going to
secondary school at Grade 7 is
hardly out of the norm when taking
global education into account.
Michelle McDonald, however,
likened the decision, which she felt
was being made for her, to children
seeing a PG-13 movie. The mother
of three said she would not take her
11-year-old daughter to a PG-13
movie. In the case of education,
however, the decision had been
made for her, her children would be
attending a secondary school two
years earlier than they might have
earlier, with the Avon Maitland
District School Board judging her
readiness, as opposed to that
decision being made by her parents.
“My daughter will be gone for six
hours a day, more now on a bus and
I have no control over that. My
parental rights have been taken away
by the trustees,” she said. “The board
has put us in a position where we
have to find alternative education.”
This was a sentiment that was
echoed from the rest of the room,
with several other petitioners, saying
they are already in the process of
finding education alternatives to the
Avon Maitland District School
Board.
Wilson responded simply by
saying, “Don’t panic.”
“I totally understand where you’re
coming from. Where I was born, in
Scotland, children go to high school
in Grade 7,” she said. “Just take a
deep breath. I’m not trying to
promote it, but it’s not abnormal.”
Wilson also assured the parents
their children will not be as easily
corrupted as they might think, and
ARC petitioners face facilitator
Continued on page 6
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen