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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2008-01-31, Page 1The CitizenVolume 24 No. 5 Thursday, Jan. 31, 2008 $1.25 ($1.19 + 6c GST)Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Inside this week Pg. 2 Pg. 7 Pg. 8 Pg. 10 Pg. 15 Special presentation at Legion Victim Services there when needed Teams take playoff series Local farm family gets recognition AMDSB’s director resigns The Huron County Health Unit reported last week that influenza had arrived. Confirmed cases were found in Brussels and Goderich. Christina Taylor, public health nurse, explained that doctors are encouraged to do swabs when patients complain of cold-like symptoms. “This was the first for Huron, but only 12 per cent of people feeling ill actually go to a doctor, so this is not an isolated cases. This is just getting the ball rolling and we are going to be seeing a bunch of cases.” Taylor said last week that there were no cases of the flu at Huronlea and that the system is monitored carefully. “There is a protocal in place, influenza surveillance. Patients are monitored throughout the day and if there are any signs of illness a swab is done immediately.” In these cases, if caught early, there is medication to lessen the severity of the illness. A flu shot will also ease the misery, said Taylor. “It won’t keep you from getting the flu, but you will recover more quickly. Without a flu shot the illness tends to linger, you will have a cough for weeks and feel run down.” Influenza usually comes with a high fever, headache, sore throat, cough and head/muscle aches. In seniors and people with chronic health problems, such as lung or heart disease and diabetes, the illness can lead to complications. “Many people confuse other illnesses with influenza, but it tends to be more serious,” said Taylor. If you feel sick, but are still able to get fluids and have no other health issues, you can probably fight the bug without medical intervention. Taylor reminds that it’s important to stay home when you’re sick to avoid infecting others. Others should seek professional help immediately. However, the best medicine, said Taylor is preventative. “It’s never too late to get a flu shot. It takes up to 14 days to get immunity, so now is a good time. In that way, when you know there is activity all over the county, you will be protected.” She adds that shots are free and can be received by making an appointment with a physician or through the health unit. The flu bug arrives in Brussels ‘Snow’ nice outdoors It was the annual Snowfest at Wawanosh Nature Centre on Sunday afternoon. With fairly mild temperatures and just enough snow on the ground to be pleasant it was a perfect day for an outdoor outing. Taking in the scenery were Celina Hussey with son, 10-month-old Alessandro, and her mother-in-law Marion Hussey. (Vicky Bremner photo) North Huron council discussed some of its options last week in the war against speeding on the road connecting all three of its communities, County Road 4. The issue was sparked by a letter from concerned parent Michelle Nesbitt to council, suggesting that a crossing guard be stationed at the corner of County Road 4 and King Street in Blyth during times when children would be travelling to and from school. However, the issue of a crosswalk had been raised before. The speed at which vehicles travelled through Blyth’s downtown was mentioned in a 2007 conference call councillor Greg McClinchey had with all of main street business owners. “Since then, council has become quite concerned with the speed at which traffic moves through town and the danger it poses to school children crossing the street, to pedestrians, to whomever,” McClinchey said. After the issue was first raised, council authorized a crosswalk to be placed at the aforementioned intersection, a move that can be executed as soon as the roads are suitable for paint, says McClinchey, but there are still more measures to be taken. “Council has discussed a number of options and we have authorized the installation of a crosswalk. We’ve also got some correspondence going with the county on this,” he said. “We just can’t do anything to the main street, because it’s a county road, but the town is ours and there is a great concern with the issue on council. We don’t want to wake up one morning to find that some school children have been run down.” While a crosswalk or a crossing guard would serve to possibly reduce speeds and increase safety during peak times, (the times suggested in the letter being from 8:20 a.m. to 8:50 a.m. and then from 3:15 p.m. to 4 p.m.) McClinchey says these measures may do little to solve the problem. “There is a mindset that no one measure is going to fully accomplish what we want to do. Right now we do what we can, but it’s not having the desired impact, so I think we have to start looking a little outside the box,” he said. “As good as a crosswalk is, it’s not enough. That still doesn’t get at the heart of the matter here, which is, how do you slow traffic down? And until we answer that, I view the danger as being very real and present.” At the Jan. 21 meeting of council, several options were discussed. Besides the crosswalk and the possibility of a crossing guard, there was an idea to make the whole downtown stretch of the main street a community safety zone and even a traffic signalling intersection at the intersection of County Roads 4 and 25. If council wanted to pursue the option of making the downtown Blyth stretch of County Road 4 a community safety zone, they would have to run it by the county’s public works department. As far as the crosswalk is The opinions of Morris-Turnberry residents surveyed about municipal services were released Jan. 24, but it was a question that wasn’t asked that intrigued many. Wayne Caldwell and Rian Allen who conducted the survey, presented the findings to about 40 people at Bluevale Hall, including questions about the future shape of the municipal council. The 27 per cent of residents who replied (an excellent result, Caldwell said) clearly said they were not interested in reducing the number of councillors but their opinion on whether or not to stay with two wards or go to one was unclear, Noting that there were three options offered (a retention of the current system of six councillors and a mayor in two wards; a reduction to four councillors and a mayor in two wards or four councillors and a mayor with no wards), councillor Mark Beaven said there should have been a fourth option that council missed in setting up the survey: six councillors but no wards. Beaven said he had had comments from residents both in person and by phone that this option should have been offered. Certainly the feeling of many at the meeting was that they wanted to see the ward system abolished. “If there’re six people on council they should be representing me, but I didn’t get a chance to vote for (half of) them,” said one resident. The possibility of sending out a short survey with upcoming tax bills that would offer the four options was raised by one resident. On other topics, 59 per cent of residents were opposed to the idea of curbside pick up for garbage (the By Bonnie Gropp The Citizen Council discusses crossing guard By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen Continued on page 3 M-T reveals survey results By Keith Roulston The Citizen Continued on page 6