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The Citizen, 2009-12-17, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 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 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 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. 09244 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPT. PO BOX 152 BRUSSELS ON N0G 1H0 email: norhuron@scsinternet.com Letter to the editor Dec. 16, 1965 The Brussels Legion Ladies Auxiliary elected its officers for the new term. Past president was Doreen Rutledge: president, Vera Hastings; first vice-president, Mary Pennington; second vice-president, Jean Lamont; secretary, Mary Lowe; treasurer, Kay Duncan; Sgt.-at-arms, Mabel Willis and Doreen Rutledge; executive committee, Fanny Somers, Bernice MacFarlane, Evelyn Smith. Pianist was Bertha Elliott, auditors were Jean Grenke and Noreen Eder and Sunshine was Elsie Shaw. William H. King resigned as Brussels clerk to become the clerk of Waterloo Twp. Playing at the Lyceum Theatre in Wingham was The Secret Invasion, starring Stewart Granger and Mickey Rooney. The Saturday matinee was The Three Worlds of Gulliver, starring Kerwin Mathews. Specials at Willis’s included: Heinz spaghetti sauce, two for 37 cents; Aylmer ketchup, five for 89 cents and a 16-ounce jar of sweet mixed pickles for 29 cents. Dec. 16, 1981 A total of 111 signatures went on the petition asking for a crossing guard at the corner of Queen and King Streets in Blyth for youngster crossing to and from school. Fran Cook was a local winner of the Lite Up Blyth contest. Over 200 children lined up at Memorial Hall for a visit with Santa and to watch a movie. A refugee family from Laos arrived in Blyth and the winter weather was a bit of a culture shock. The family had spent the previous two years in a refugee camp where temperatures in January were on average about 69°F. The family had been sponsored by the Blyth Christian Reformed Church. East Wawanosh councillors were concerned that they might have to pay considerably more for fire protection if a proposal to expand and renovate the fire hall in Wingham went ahead. The township would have to pay its share of expanding and renovating the existing building, estimated at $30,000, plus an annual fee for heating and maintenance. Township employees were granted a sizable increase in pay. The clerk’s salary went from $15,000 to $19,000 while the grader operator went from $7.72 an hour to $8.60. Lyle Martin in Ethel received the award for the highest producing herd in Huron at the Holstein Club’s annual meeting. William Gibbings was the new club president. Outland and Body Heat were the double feature playing at Goderich’s Park Theatre. Dec. 17 1986 For the eighth year in a row, the Blyth Festival ended in the black. A record total audience and an extremely successful fundraising campaign helped the theatre to a $5,261 surplus. Revenues were up to $666,311 from $622,421 the previous year. Brian McBurney, reeve of Turnberry Twp. was acclaimed warden of Huron County. McBurney was the youngest warden in the county’s history. He was 35 and had been a member of county council for six years. Long years of service on Brussels main street was recognized by local businesspeople as Velma and Bill Stephenson received a plaque. Conrad Bos, 11, of RR3, Blyth, was the winner of the Blyth Vet Clinic trophy for showing the top pre-4-H calf during the season as well as placing second in the pre-4- H showmanship class. Victor Stackhouse was installed as worshipful master of Hullett Lodge #568. Hullett council on the other hand as looking for a new councillors since the resignation of Stackhouse from that position. Stackhouse had moved from Londesborough to Wingham. Audrey Bos won the congeniality trophy at Hallrice 4-H Club awards night. Arthur Bos was a double winner taking the prize for top junior calf as well as top junior showman. Dec. 18, 1996 Blyth residents had the opportunity to meet the Seaforth physicians who had moved to the medical centre. Keeping office hours were Dr. Janet Zettel and Dr. Daniel Rooyakkers. Office administrator was Gwen Devereaux. Union Gas was going mobile in the North Huron area. In 1995 natural gas service was extended to the area and 350 homes and 80 businesses had switched. In order to respond to the community’s changing needs the company changed their current stores in Blyth, Brussels, Wingham and Turnberry, into a mobile office that would travel throughout the area. The Belgrave Girl Guides welcomed eight new members at a candelight service. New to the group were: Laura Walker, Lindsay Hoff, Bridget Kellington, Nicole Meier, Ashley Gaunt, Haylan Hicks, Sara Somers and Ashley Warwick, Brussels Grade 7 student Matthew Clarkson organized a charity drive which brought in clothes, toys and food items for the Huron County Christmas Bureau. Travis Koehler opened All Season Repair at the edge of Brussels. THE EDITOR, I have been listening to the discussions regarding closing our school and have the following comments: Close our school - young families who choose to move here because we have a local school will choose to be closer to another school. Close our school - takes our young children out of local/comfortable environment and throws them into a big pond of strangers. Close our school - young children will spend extended time on buses thus making their day longer and reduce the exercise they get walking to school. Close our school - after school activities will be affected even more because of limited transportation. Close our school - those young families and children will spend their shopping dollars in other places even more than they do now. Close our school - fewer clients in town may cause even more businesses to fail which will draw fewer customers and more businesses will fail. Close our school - all the losses mentioned above will result in a smaller tax base and the rest of us will pay higher taxes or endure reduced services. Close our school - children who do well in our familiar environment may run into problems in the big pond and require help from social services - at a cost. Rather than investing in our existing building it is proposed that there is no problem getting money for more school buses. Those buses cost money, require maintenance and the staff to keep them going, they will wear out and require replacing. They require drivers. Children miss school days because of poor weather. Is it really less expensive in dollars and benefits in the areas mentioned above? While our school building requires updating and maintenance I would like to see the numbers versus the ongoing cost of the buses. And finally: it is a fact that public transport in Toronto is the biggest pollution factor in that city (and elsewhere, I imagine). Are these school buses so special that they won't pollute our environment?? Sandra Clark 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 Having it both ways A survey of shoppers, reported by CBC’s The National this week, showed many are waiting for the last moment possible for their Christmas shopping, hoping to take advantage of bargains from retailers desperate to meet their sales targets. But what will this bargain hunting cost in the long run? In his book “The Price of a Bargain”, Calgary author Gordon Laird argues the current system which has seen consumer prices driven lower for nearly two decades, cannot be sustained. The “bargaineers”, as Laird calls Wal-Mart and the multitude of other discounters like dollar stores, create an economy where only they can thrive. But like a viral infection, he says, when one organism infects and dominates another, the host dies. But the vast majority of the population ignores any warning signs and just keeps on bargain hunting. They may see their neighbours lose their jobs because the work has been taken to China or India but they think it will never happen to them. Public sector workers feel particularly immune. This week the public transit strike in London was settled when workers grudgingly accepted a settlement that will pay them an additional 3.5 per cent per year in wages and benefits despite an economic recession in which the cost of living hasn’t risen. How many of them then go shopping for the lowest-priced Third World bargains they can find while expecting First World incomes? Santa Claus stops visiting most of us as we get older, but while we no longer expect to get something for nothing under our Christmas trees, we still haven’t grasped the concept there’s a price to be paid, even for a bargain. — KR Tarred by the tar sands brush As Canada daily picks up “Fossil Awards” from environmental groups at the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit for its backward position on fighting climate change, all Canadians are having their reputations blackened by the efforts of Stephen Harper to protect the prosperity of his home province of Alberta. Though the Prime Minister hides behind harmonizing emissions reduction plans with U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration, his policies seem more in line with those of former president George W. Bush who also came from an oil-producing state. What’s worse, the policies that seem so embarrassing may not even be the government’s real position. CBC television obtained cabinet briefing documents leading up to this meeting which showed the government may have changed its 2007 policy which would cut the current levels of emissions by 33 per cent by 2020, to just 11 per cent. What’s more, the cabinet document projects the growth in emissions from the Alberta tar sands at 165 per cent by 2020. The new policy would try to reduce that growth by just 10 per cent. The whole goal of the Canadian position on climate change seems to be to protect the tar sands. Canadians’reputation is suffering because our “Canadian” government is really an Alberta government. — KR &