The Citizen, 2008-02-28, Page 1The CitizenVolume 24 No. 9 Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008 $1.25 ($1.19 + 6c GST)Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County
Inside this week
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Pg. 20
Students get Legion
awards
Local athlete a top
college rookie
Sorority donates to
CT campaign
Special honour for
local musician
Hullett, Blyth
students speak off
While the new proposed library,
has been generating a lot of
attention as of late, focus turned to
preserving the past last week with
Huron East council.
One of the first concerns when
the whole accessibility issue was
first raised, was the fate of the
Carnegie Library.
A recommendation came to
council from the Huron East
heritage advisory committee last
week proposing just what the
citizens of Brussels asked for at the
last public meeting, a heritage
designation on the Carnegie
building that would see its historic
integrity preserved no matter who
buys it or what it’s used for.
The committee submitted some
historical information to council
along with the actual bylaw ready
for the mayor and clerk’s signatures.
The move comes with minimal
budgetary impact to the
municipality; council just has to run
an advertisement in the local
newspapers and pay to register the
bylaw, but there have been concerns
that the Carnegie building may be
harder to sell once it is associated
with a historical designation.
This came from conversations
council had when the suggestion
was first brought up last year, it was
raised again earlier this month. A
petition was presented to council
and an offer was received from a
local property-owner that could see
the new library end up on the main
street as opposed to its current
planned site, behind the existing
building.
The bylaw was tabled, however,
until the next public meeting which
will be on March 11 at 7 p.m. at the
Brussels, Morris and Grey
Community Centre.
There will be talk of the historical
designation bylaw at the meeting
and citizens can expect some plans
for the new library as well.
Looking down from above
It was a great day for outside fun this past weekend and Braidon Abell-Rinn, three, and
Candice Abell-Rinn, six, took every opportunity to enjoy the fresh air. In addition to some hilltop
entertainment, they also created some unique artwork, with snow as their medium. (Vicky Bremner
photo)
People don’t often get the chance
to sit down and share thoughts and
ideas with a federal politician.
But that’s exactly what happened
last week with a hastily put-together
meeting with Nova Scotia MP Scott
Brison. The Official Opposition
critic for Industry, Science, and
Technology had spoken with Huron-
Bruce federal Liberal candidate
Greg McClinchey about the
possibility of getting together to
discuss the needs of this corner of
rural Ontario.
“He would have been content with
a coffee at the local café,” said
McClinchey. “But I thought if he’s
coming here then we need to hear
from more people.”
McClinchey contacted Huron East
mayor Joe Seili about the idea and
the two “quickly brought something
together.”
“Huron East has had a good record
of out-of-the-box thinking, so I
called Joe and we put together a
group that included representation
from the general public, business
and government,” said McClinchey.
“What we wanted to look at was
what the government can do to help
small rural communities maintain
economic sustainability.”
The group assembled, said
McClinchey, already know what
they need to survive. “Now it’s time
to tell government.”
At the root of Huron’s challenge is
the shrinking tax base which is
putting greater demands on
municipal infrastructure, said
McClinchey. “We can’t raise taxes
so we have to look at ways to
invigorate our communities.”
Among things discussed were the
blending of agriculture and
manufacturing. Topics such as corn-
based plastics were among the ideas
thrown out.
“This forum was about bringing
out-of-the-box thinking to the
surface,” said McClinchey. “As it’s
been said, south-western Ontario has
the potential to be to green energy
development what Alberta is to
oil.”
Challenges with how support is
currently doled out were also
mentioned. Seili referred to the gas
tax, which is, while appreciated,
currently only allowed to be saved
for two years. If, he explained, that
could be saved for 10 years, it could
be used to do such work as costly
bridge repairs.
Getting the message to Brison, a
policy developer, can only help
improve the government’s
understanding of what challenges
are faced by rural municipalities.
“It’s a matter of ending a one-size
fits all approach,” said McClinchey.
“And for the first time in recent
memory we have a rural MP in a
position to make these kinds of
policy. I was not prepared to have
this visit pass by.”
McClinchey felt the session was a
great success, and said Brison was
pleased to have had the input.
“Fifteen people were at the table
and another 25 in the gallery.
Everybody had a chance to say
something. There were good ideas
put into that room with people who
can put them to action.”
McClinchey hopes to do more
economic development discussions
as he sees it as one of the single most
important issues facing this area.
North Huron council’s call for
increasing traffic safety at the King and
Queen Streets intersection in Blyth has
been unanswered.
County Road 4, or Queen Street, is
under county jurisdiction. Council sent
a letter to Huron County with several
recommendations, each one of which,
they learned at the meeting Feb. 19, had
been turned down.
The first request was to post a school
crossing sign over the intersection. Don
Pletch, county engineer, denied the
request saying that Huron OPP have
not been advised of safety or crossing
concerns. Pletch recommended the
town hire a qualified traffic
engineer/consultant to determine the
needs of the location.
Town council’s concern is that hiring
an engineer will cost up to $10,000 and
does not guarantee the county will
make necessary changes.
Pletch also recommended hiring a
crossing guard but that post is hard to
fill as the job is only two one-hour-
periods per day and requires a
dependable person who will be there
every day.
The second recommendation of
posting a community safety zone with a
30 kilometre an hour speed limit was
also denied. Community safety zones
carry increased fines to speeding
motorists. The current limit is 50 km/h.
Pletch said the recommended speed
limit was too low and that community
safety zones only reduce traffic speeds
with heavy enforcement. He also said
the OPP have not been advised of
speeding issues.
The third recommendation was to
signalize the intersection. Pletch denied
that option saying signalization is not
warranted and all previous collisions at
By Bonnie Gropp
The Citizen
Group brainstorms with
Opposition critic Brison
County
says no,
no, no
to NH
Citizens
protect
history
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
An 80-year-old Brussels-area man
perished in a car crash after making
a wrong turn.
Firefighters and police responded
to the scene at 8:30 p.m. Feb. 21.
Lloyd Weber had turned onto Bolton
Street, a short dead end road, at the
edge of Brussels. It is assumed,
police said, that thinking he was on
Cranbrook Road, which is located
just south, Weber accelerated and
slammed head on into a tree at the
end of the street.
Grey and Brussels firefighters
extricated the victim, who was then
taken to Wingham hospital before
being air-lifted to London Health
Sciences Centre. He died there as a
result of his injuries.
Man dies when
car hits tree
By Dominik Kurek
Wingham Advance Times
Continued on page 3