HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2008-03-27, Page 1The CitizenVolume 24 No. 13 Thursday, March 27, 2008 $1.25 ($1.19 + 6c GST)Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County
Inside this week
Pg. 8
Pg. 10
Pg. 11
Pg. 19
Pg. 20
Brussels Novices
WOAA champs
Local students speak
off at Legion
Students plan
Earth Hour event
Farm leaders meet
and discuss
Council continues
library discussions
Since its inception several years
ago, this event has provided not just
a night of entertainment for
hundreds of people but contributed
$125,000 in support of various
causes.
The Brussels Optimists’ annual
dinner and auction is being held this
year on April 5 at the BMG
Community Centre. Proceeds will be
divided between the Make a Wish
Foundation South-Western Ontario
and community betterment.
According to committee chair Don
Sholdice last year’s event raised
$16,000 for the park rejuvenation
project. Other organizations that
have benefitted through the years
have been the Cystic Fibrosis
Foundation, the Children’s Hospital
of Western Ontario and the local fire
departments.
Besides the money raised from the
auction, Sholdice said the club has
over the past two years put $55,000
into community betterment.
The doors open at 5:30 p.m. so
people can look over the silent
auction items and get their bids in.
The all-you-can-eat dinner, served
up by local caterer Beth Earl, is set
for 6:30 p.m. with the live auction to
follow.
Sholdice said the list of items is
growing but they are still interested
in donations for the auctions.
Anyone wanting to contribute can
contact him at 519-887-6836, Kevin
Deitner at 519-887-6502 or any
Optimist member.
Tickets, which must be purchased
in advance, are $25 and in addition
to the meal and a chance to bid on
some great items, attendees will also
have a chance to win a door prize.
“This year we have 10 prizes,
valued at $100 apiece to be spent on
any business within the village,” said
Sholdice. “It keeps the money in our
community.”
Winners are to contact Sholdice as
to where they would like to go
shopping and he will get the gift
certificate for them.
For Mikayla
Blyth Lions Club is holding a benefit night April 25 for Mike and Katie Ansley whose daughter
Mikayla (pictured) is currently undergoing chemotherapy to try and save her eyesight and her
life. The one-year-old was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a rare childhood cancer. She began
her treatment Feb. 5 and will be finished in April. Her mother quit her job to be with Mikayla,
while Mike, a former Blyth resident, has cut his hours back as well to spend time with his
family. The benefit will include a silent auction and a dance. Tickets are $10 and are available
from any Lions member. (Courtesy photo)
Auction
April 5
Two individuals are being held in
police custody in relation to an
armed robbery at Radford Fuels on
the evening of March 20.
Less than 24 hours after the
incident, a 39-year-old Huron East
man and a female young offender
were arrested in connection with the
robbery. The two are being held by
police, pending a bail hearing in
Goderich court.
On March 20, just before 7:30
p.m. a female suspect approached
the gas bar booth holding a gun. Her
face was covered as she demanded
money from the register.
“It was around 7:20 p.m. and I
was adding up debit receipts and I
looked up to see a female with her
face covered and a gun in her hand,”
said Kelly Stevenson, a Central
Huron Secondary School student
who was the lone employee
working that evening.
“As soon as I looked up, she told
me to hurry up and give her the
money, so I gave it to her. She asked
me if I had any more, I said no, and
then she took off.”
Donna Govier of Radford Fuels
estimates that the robbery would
have yielded between $700 and
$800 that night. With the robbery
taking place near to closing, Govier
is confident that whoever robbed the
station knew the procedure.
“I was totally shocked to hear
this. I wouldn’t think someone in a
small town would do something like
this with a weapon,” Govier said.
“I’m not too worried, but I’m
worried for my girls, all three of my
employees here are young ladies.”
Govier says that the prospect of a
robbery is discussed with her
employees frequently, and that she
encourages total compliance when
something like this happens.
Stevenson waited until she
couldn’t see the female suspect
before she went for help.
“I tried to call the police and the
phone wasn’t working, so I ran
across the street and someone was
in the shop,” she said.
After the robbery, the female
suspect fled on foot westbound to
King Street before meeting with a
male suspect. Witnesses then
reported a dark green minivan
travelling quickly down King Street
to Gypsy Lane, then south out of
town.
The male suspect’s face was
covered as well.
While the robbery was a
traumatic experience, Stevenson
reported for her shift the next day.
She says that she won’t cut her
By Bonnie Gropp
The Citizen
Armed
robbery
at gas
bar
Blyth Lions have put their hearts
into organizing a fundraiser for little
Mikayla Ansley, daughter of former
Blyth resident, Mike and his wife
Katie.
Mikayla had not yet celebrated her
first birthday when she was
diagnosed Jan. 28 with
retinoblastoma, a rare childhood
cancer.
Her mom said Mikayla was about
eight months old when she first
noticed that her daughter’s right eye
seemed to wander off to the side
when she was tired. “I confronted
our family doctor at her nine-month
checkup and she assured me that it
was nothing to be concerned about,
that most children her age are still
developing eye muscles.”
Shortly after, Katie started to
notice in photographs of Mikayla
there was a white patch on the pupil
of her right eye. “You could only tell
after the picture was developed and
only if her pupil was dilated at the
time the picture was taken.”
Katie decided to book an
appointment with the Paediatric
Optometry Clinic at the University
of Waterloo. They were booked for
three weeks, said Katie, and didn’t
seem to see any urgency when she
explained her concerns.
“During the appointment, the
optometrists had no idea what was
wrong. They had never seen a live
case of retinoblastoma before.”
The illness affects only 25
children each year in Canada. It’s the
same one that claimed the eyesight
of well-known blues and jazz
musician Jeff Healey at the age of
one. Healey passed away recently at
41 after a life-long battle with
cancer.
Retinoblastoma can strike from
the time a child is in the womb to
five years of age. It is curable if
caught early. However, as the
tumours cannot be removed from the
eyes the only options are to remove
the eyes or try chemotherapy to see
if the tumours will shrink.
For the Ansleys the diagnosis
came later that day at Sick Kids
Hospital in Toronto. Mikayla had
cancerous tumours in both of her
eyes. “The worst being the left eye,
the one I thought was fine.”
“You never imagine that
something so terrible could happen
to you. Mikayla is the happiest little
girl. That she has tumour, which if
left untreated could take her life was
so hard to believe.”
In the days following the diagnosis
Mikayla’s parents struggled with
this monumental shift in their world.
“I would never want to relive that
time. At times my heart was so
heavy that I felt myself gasping for
air. I watched Mikayla play and
laugh, knowing that she had no idea
the fight she would have over the
next few months.”
As the next two weeks passed,
Lions plan benefit for Ansleys
Continued on page 6
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 3
By Bonnie Gropp
The Citizen