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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2008-06-26, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 2008. Looking Back Through the Years June 27, 1962 Pomona, California was undertaking a 10-year rebuilding of the city, and the surrounding Pomona Valley. Plans included such features as a block-long pedestrian mall, traffic underpasses, relocation of railroad rights of way, off-street parking districts, among several new additions to the area. The most exciting parts of the plan still remained the mall and the transportation centre, both very advanced for their time. The Pomona plan was one of its kind in being financed and led by private enterprise, without relying on state or federal aid. The city’s population had grown from 35,000 in 1950, to 227,000 in 1961, and expected almost double that by 1980. Authorities at Alcatraz Prison were in a frenzy after two inmates escaped. The convicts constructed a dummy head which was placed in the sheets on the pillow to deceive passing guards while they made their escape through a large hole in the floor. How the hole was made and concealed was unknown, but police were conducting a national search for the escapees. The Russian population, particularly their youth, continued to gain great interest in space travel and technology. Since Russia’s successful launch of the Sputnik satellite, the first of its kind, the publicity and interest in space had been increasing. The Moscow Planetarium hosted hundreds of students and adults every day. June 24, 1981 The Blyth Standard joined other local newspapers, The Brussels Post and The Huron Expositor, in becoming members of the Ontario Press Council. The council served as a self-evaluating organization which monitored complaints from the public about anything to do with their circulated press. Membership in the council had been on a steady increase, and now included the majority of the rural newspapers across the area. Blyth’s Children’s Theatre was now accepting registrations, from young children to older teens. Marni Walsh and Leslie Anne Bentley would be the leaders for the summer. Both girls were third-year acting students at York University in Toronto and would be helping kids discover their love for acting over the seven week program. The Blyth slo-pitch team placed as the runners-up in a tournament held in Lucknow, attended by 32 teams from across the county. The team received $150 and Molson’s Mugs for their performance. Members of the team were: Lori Whitfield, Gord Haggitt, Scott Wilson, Gary Ritchie, Dale Whitfield, Wayne McDougall, Bob Hillis, Wayne Coultes, Barney Stewart, Kevin Carter, John Watson, and Steve Howson, accompanied by team captain Gary Courtney, assistant coach Dave Cook, and coach Ken Stewart June 27, 1990 Dorothy L. Thornton of Bluevale was the winner of The Citizen’s Canada Day essay contest. Thornton submitted the entry in the over 21 category, and received $15 as the prize winner. Despite a downpour of rain, Blyth’s first-ever Rutabaga Festival was a great success. With countless different events to participate in, there was no end in activities available to entertain and to enjoy. Simon Hallahan was presented with a plaque for Citizen of the Year during celebrations held in connection with the Rutabaga Festival. Hallahan, who had been involved in nearly everything that happened in the community for many years, was named Citizen of the Year by a panel of citizens after being nominated in the Citizen newspaper’s annual contest. Among his many contributions to the community, Hallahan had served as reeve of East Wawanosh and as secretary for the Huron Pioneer Thresher and Hobby Reunion. Some students of the jujitsu martial arts program being held in Brussels were to receive their yellow belts. Instructors Chuck and Jean Hasson presented yellow belts to students Steve Machan, Jesse Hutchins, Jonathon Trollop, Jeremy Clark and Cory Smith. Also taking part in the program were students Kent Brittain, Scott Clarkson, Steve Machan, and Mike Seili. Playing at the Park Theatre in Goderich was Dick Tracy, the adaptation of the popular comic book for film. Warren Beatty both directed and starred in the feature picture. June 21, 1995 The hot and humid weather plaguing the area had resulted in heavy thunderstorms, downpours and hailstorms across Huron County and south-western Ontario. Streamers of high winds and pelting hail tore through sections of the county, causing downed grain crops and broken branches. Heavy damage was seen in scattered fields, while light damage was also seen in several areas. An Auburn man escaped serious injury when he lost control of his tractor while driving downhill, which resulted in a rollover. He instead sustained minor injuries, but the tractor had major damage. THE EDITOR I would like to thank the Blyth Legion for the wonderful dinner that they catered for the 34th gala opening of the Blyth Festival. It was not only delicious but served so professionally. The servers looked so nice attired in their black and white. A first-class act. Lois van Vliet THE EDITOR This summer the Huron County Library is adding teen game nights and drop in gaming to its slate of year round program offerings with the goal of creating positive community associations with the library and offering genuine public space in which all members of the community can congregate. Effective immediately, all 12 branches have a variety of board and card games on their shelves which are there for in library use. Families and groups of friends can drop in and play whenever the library is open, or parents can set their children up with a game to free them to browse the library collection. Beginning in July, 10 of the 12 branches will begin hosting monthly gaming events for Huron County youth ages 12-18. Each event will feature a Big Screen Nintendo Wii tournament (featured games will include Rock Band, Guitar Hero, Super Smash Brothers and Dance Dance Revolution, to name a few) as well as a variety of video, card and board games available for use. Prizes and snacks will be provided at each event and all of this comes at no cost to the patrons. During the summer all events (with the exception of Blyth’s) will run from 6 - 8 p.m.; however some libraries may switch to 4 - 6 p.m. in the fall to accommodate students coming directly from school. For more information those interested should check with their local librarian or visit the Video Games at the Huron County Library Facebook group where all relevant dates and details are available and updated regularly. The schedule for local branches in July is a follows: Thursday, July 17, Brussels, 6 - 8 p.m.; Saturday, July 19, Blyth, 12 - 2 p.m. Natalie Vander Burgt, Teen Program Co-ordinator 20 years of ignoring reality Twenty years to the day after he spurred the climate change debate by saying he was “99 per cent certain” humans were warming the global climate, James Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies returned to Washington, Monday, to warn: “We have reached a point of planetary emergency”. In Monday’s speech, Hansen warned the carbon level in the air is already so high it will bring greater forest fire risk in Canada, extinction of polar and alpine species, danger to coral reefs and the ocean life that depends on them and refugees because of higher sea levels due to melting ice sheets in Greenland and the western Antarctic. Hansen called for a carbon tax on coal, oil and gas, not to increase government coffers but to be refundable to taxpayers in a way that would reward low producers of greenhouse gases while taxing those who are major creators of the problem. Meanwhile another study released this week showed that wealthier people created more greenhouse gases than poorer people. This is obvious because wealthier people can afford larger homes that take more to heat, own more and larger vehicles and can afford to travel more. They can also, while complaining all the time, afford to keep up their wasteful lifestyle by devoting more of their money to higher energy prices. This kind of person can also pretend there isn’t really a problem, that we can go on living this way forever. Last week U.S. President George Bush and Republican presidential candidate John McCain both called for more offshore drilling to find more oil. Hansen call this idea “crazy”, ironically exactly the same word Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper used last week to blast the carbon tax proposed by Liberal leader Stéphane Dion. And so we go on toward the point of no return with stubborn, wealthy optimists thinking the problem of climate change will go away as long as we find more oil to feed our addiction. Someday everyone will pay the price for their wilful ignorance. — KR It could be much worse While politicians are often poorly regarded in Canada, at least we have democracy, unlike the unfortunate people of Zimbabwe. There the leader of the opposition announced he was quitting a run- off election for president because his supporters were being killed and he, himself, took refuge in the Dutch embassy to escape troops. His deputy leader is in jail charged with treason because he released results of the earlier election because the election commission wouldn’t, giving rise to fears the government was cooking the books. All this comes when the people of Zimbabwe desperately want to change the government because President Robert Mugabe has driven his country’s economy into the ground. But Mugabe insists God wants him to lead his country and refuses to leave. At least our leaders have gone when we booted them out.— KR Letters to the editor 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 FAX 887-9021E-mail norhuron@scsinternet.comWebsite www.northhuron.on.ca 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 $32.00/year ($30.48 + $1.52 G.S.T.) in Canada;$101.00/year in U.S.A.and $175.00/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. 09244RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPT. PO BOX 152 BRUSSELS ON N0G 1H0 email: norhuron@scsinternet.com We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP) toward our mailing costs. 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