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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2009-10-08, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 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 CCNA Member 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 Oct. 7, 1965 Ross Knight won the ensilage corn competition at the Brussels Fall Fair. The fair got underway with C.W. Bray, agricultural society president followed by the Seaforth High School trumpet band leading the school parade to the grounds. MPP Murray Gaunt officially opened the fair. Robert L. Cunningham was master of ceremonies for the afternoon activities. Despite rain attendance figures equalled those of the previous year, according to secretary Norman Hoover. Exhibits were up. Team standings for bowling were: Karen’s Go-Gos, Willis’s Wonders, Lois’s Lions, Marilyn Marauders, Jack’s Jokers and Mary’s Lambs. High singles were held by Elaine Nichol and Allan Nichol. Doubles leaders were Karen Hastings and Allan Nichol. Anthony Quinn and James Coburn starred in A High Wind in Jamaica. “Based on a famous novel by Richard Hughes, this is an adventure drama that will keep you entertained from start to finish, read the ad for the Lyceum Theatre in Wingham. A half-gallon of Neilson’s Jersey ice-cream was on sale at Weber’s General Store in Ethel for 79 cents. Other specials were: 16-oz box of Kellogg’s cornflakes, 29 cents; five 10-oz tins of Campell’s tomato soup, 57 cents and two economy size boxes of Kleenex, 57 cents. Oct. 7, 1981 Brussels Legion hosted the First World War veterans of Zone C-1. Among those present were: Norman Norry, Exeter; Joe White, Seaforth; Fred Thuell, Brussels; J.K. Cornish, Clinton and Russ Wilson, Blyth. Also in attendance was Jack McLaren, one of the original Dumbbells, who provided entertainment during the war and also appeared on Broadway. It was Mel Brooks’History of the World plus A Change of Seasons playing at Brownie’s Drive-in in Clinton, while the feature at the Park Theatre in Goderich was Private Lessons with Silvia Kristel, Howard Hesseman and Eric Brown. At the Mustang Drive-in it was The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Oct. 8, 1986 Brussels man Kevin Wheeler, 20, and his 14-year-old pairs partner Michelle Menzies of Preston captured the silver medal at the senior freestyle pairs competition at the international level at St. Ibels near London, England. They were bumped to seniors standing by their coach the world famous Kerry Leitch to get noticed by international judges. Brussels council took steps to put back into gear a long-delayed plan to connect the Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre with the village’s sanitary sewer system. Agriculture was the subject of a professional development day at Huron elementary schools. Lawrie’s fastball team took the fastball championship. Several individual league awards were also awarded to team members. Brian Bromley won the regular season batting award with a .471 average; Steve Cook finished 10th overall, batting .367. In the playoffs Brad Bromley finished second in batting with a .500 average. Lawries’pitcher Rick Scrimgeour and Londesborough pitcher Glen Lamb were voted playoff MVPs and Jim Johnston and Brian Bromley were voted team MVPs by their fellow players. John E. Lawson received an award and a life membership in his professional association for designing and building an automotive voice synthesized warning system, an electronic warning system for installation in automobiles. A graduate of Central Huron Secondary School in Clinton, Lawson was the son of Reg and Helen of Londesborough. After being postponed for the second time because of pouring rain and soggy fields, the Huron County Plowing Match was hoping for some co-operation from Mother Nature. Brussels playschool would be holding classes in the library after reaching an agreement with council. Oct. 9, 1996 A community meeting with the CIBC district manager and Blyth branch manager Sharon Motycka led to some positive results. However, the plan to streamline services stood. Blyth clerk-treasurer John Stewart said that large business and farm accounts would be transferred to the Brussels, Wingham or Goderich branch, but customers would not have to travel to do business as bank personnel would come to a client’s home to discuss larger loans. One concession allowed by the bank was to permit the local branch to remain open until 6 p.m. Fridays. Despite pleas from a number of concerned citizens, the Huron County Health Unit planned to close the Brussels branch office. The Seaforth Community Hospital announced the establishment of a pediatrics clinic and an obstetrics/gynecology clinic. Chris O’Donnell and Gene Hackman starred in The Chamber at the Park Theatre. At the Capitol Theatre in Listowel it was Maximum Risk with Jean Claude Van Damme. THE EDITOR, I have lived in this community all of my life, and what a wonderful community it is. We even decided to stay here and raise our family. In this community we work, play and serve together and that is what makes us like a big family. We are always there to support one another in times of trial whether it be sickness, an accident or a disaster. We always come together, usually in financial support to make sure our ‘family’ is taken care of. Well, our community/family is once again needed to come together to support one another. But this time it isn’t financial support we need. It is your physical presence and your verbal support to save Brussels and Grey Central Public Schools. We are both on the chopping block in the accommodation review and if we don’t stand together as a community they are going to tear our community apart and leave two big holes where there used to be one big heart! Their concerns are money, structures and declining enrol- ment. Our concerns are our children, families and our community. We may not have all the answers, but let us show the board we may be small but we have a mighty voice that knows what we want and we won’t take anything less. We cannot do this without all the voices of the parents, businesses and community members, so please help us be heard! The first accommodation review meeting is on Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. at Elma Public School in Newry and it is open to the public. If you need more information contact your school and they can put you in contact with an ARC or parent council member. Let’s keep our family together! Dawn Hastings, Brussels Public School, Parent Council Member. 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 Divided, and conquered Residents served by Brussels Public School and Grey Central, now that their schools are part of an accommodation review, are waking up to the reality people in Londesborough, Blyth and Belgrave have lived with for the past year. People tend not to really listen to the news until it affects them, so many people didn’t pay attention to the troubles of their neighbours to the west, content that their own schools weren’t on the line. This tendency, to worry only about what affects us directly, is the greatest weapon used against us. Rural residents should have risen up years ago to fight a provincial funding system that provides money to build new schools, but not repair schools we have; to truck students many miles to these new schools, but not provide the resources needed to make existing schools work. Instead, we bury our heads in the sand, barely noticing when schools in other parts of our school district are closed and offer no help to those fighting the issue alone. Then, eventually, the same forces are arrayed against our neighbourhood schools and it’s our turn to fight alone. The “bad guys” in the issue are seen as the officials of the local school board, but they are only applying the rules handed down by the province. Dalton McGuinty’s Liberal government has not done enough to repair the disastrous funding formula imposed by Mike Harris’s Progressive Conservatives. That’s where the blame needs to be focussed, even while fighting at the school board level to save local schools. What’s more, rural MPPs are the only people in authority who have something to lose if voters turn against them. If people in all rural ridings united in their opposition, the provincial government has to listen. Instead, we go on fighting local school boards, in isolation from people in similar situations. We are like the person German anti-Nazi activist Pastor Martin Niemöller spoke of, saying the Nazis came for the Communists, the trade unionists and the Jews and each time that person didn’t speak up, because he was not one of them. Finally the Nazis came for him – but there was no one left to speak up. — KR Planting the negativity seed Such is the negativity on the part of vocal critics of U.S. President Barack Obama since he took on health care reform, that he’s even been blamed because Chicago lost its bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games. Under constant attack, the President’s popularity has plummeted in just over nine months since he took the oath of office. Obama’s decline has been paralleled on this side of the border by the plight of Michael Ignatieff who has seen his popularity free fall since he became Liberal Party leader in January. Today it’s hard to hear a good word about this man who was internationally celebrated. Some of this he has brought on himself, such as his unwise declaration he wanted to bring down the government when people didn’t want an election. Yet the negativity seems hardly justified by the actions. Could it be that the tone was actually set by the Conservative Party’s attack ads that cast Ignatieff in a negative light, just as they did with his predecessor Stéphane Dion? The insidious thing about negativity is that it sticks in the back of the mind likes a poison and helps shape future opinions, even if you think you’ve rejected the negativity. — KR &