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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2008-10-16, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2008.Editorials Opinions Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie GroppAdvertising, Ken Warwick & Lori Patterson The CitizenP.O. Box 429,BLYTH, Ont.N0M 1H0 Phone 523-4792 FAX 523-9140 P.O. Box 152,BRUSSELS, Ont.N0G 1H0 Phone 887-9114 FAX 887-9021 E-mail norhuron@scsinternet.com Website www.northhuron.on.ca Looking Back Through the Years 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/year in other foreign countries.Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error,only that portion of the advertisement will be credited. Advertising Deadlines: Monday, 2 p.m. - Brussels; Monday, 4 p.m. - Blyth. PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40050141 PAP 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 Oct. 17, 1962 Two Blyth girls were reported missing from their family homes after failing to return from school. After leaving school at lunch hour, and being spotted by a mail delivery official later in the afternoon, the girls were still nowhere to be found later in the evening alarming the parents. The police were informed, and a province-wide search was initiated. It was discovered the girls, aged eight and 10, had gotten a ride to Wallaceburg where they were expected to visit an aunt. Instead, they ended up at a mechanic’s garage, which is when the police were notified. The girls were both safely returned to their worried parents, and the community rested easier. An investigation was still being conducted into identifying the individuals who gave these gravely underage girls rides, allowing them to get so far away from home. The fact that this feat was so easily accomplished by such young girls created a deep sense of concern in many parents. Nelson C. Drummond struggled to shield himself from paparazzi as he was led, handcuffed, by FBI agents from the federal courthouse in New York City. Drummond was arraigned on charges of conspiring to peddle U.S. defense secrets to Russia. Tanks from Campo de Mayo, the rebel headquarters, began bombarding Esteban de Luca military arsenal at Riachuel River, which connected Buenos Aires with Avellaneda, as Argentina’s conflicts continued to progress the nation toward civil war. Oct. 20, 1976 The construction of the Blyth and District Arena and Community Centre continued to steam along at a brisk pace. Already, the structural steel for the building had arrived and been assembled, despite having to deal with cold and wet weather. Though the progress seemed impressive, the project was actually right on schedule, with only another three weeks to go before completion was expected to be at hand. There would still be more work to be completed even at that point, but it was hoped that the winter sports program would still be able to proceed as planned. The Belgrave walkathon raised over $2,500 to go towards the building of its own arena and community centre. The Huron County Library was dealing with financial woes, as their end-of-the-year budget was already expected to be over by almost $20,000. According to librarian Bill Partridge, part of the over- expenditure was due to a deficit carry over from 1975 of $8,000, and an increase in costs for books of between eight and 10 per cent. The County Library Board would be meeting to discuss the question of budget deficit, and it was expected that emphasis would be focused on how to fix the problem, and how to prevent it from happening in the future. Oct. 14, 1981 A Medieval Feast was being planned by the Blyth Centre for Arts in an effort to raise more funds for the expansion and improvements made to the Blyth Memorial Hall. The King and Queen would be played by Ted Johns and Janet Amos, also lovingly known as Aylmer and Rose Clarke from the Festival success He Won’t Come in from the Barn. Two Wellington County farmers were convicted and fined $1,000 each for violations under the Ontario Ministry of Environment’s Water Resources Act. The case was heard at Guelph County Courthouse, where the pair pleaded guilty to dumping 200,000 gallons of pig manure into the Upper Nith River, causing a major fish kill and affecting water quality for about five miles downstream. This was not the first time that this utter carelessness for surrounding nature had been identified. A few months earlier, a Perth County farmer had been convicted and charged $500 under the same laws. The farmer was found to have dumped 20,000 gallons of liquid pig manure into the same river system, causing additional environmental damage. The Environmental Ontario staff from London used a portable air blower to pump life-giving oxygen into the Nith River after this rash of manure dumps threatened the aquatic life, in an attempt to reverse the damage done. Playing at the Park Theatre in Goderich were Blair Brown and John Belushi in Continental Divide: “When they met they heard bells. And that was just round one.” Also playing was Tess: “As timely today as the day it was written.” Oct. 18, 1995 The alleged ringleader of several acts of vandalism in Brussels remained in Walkerton jail awaiting a court date. The 20-year-old was to appear on several charges, including arso,n in Wingham’s provincial court. The incidents for which the defendant was arrested in connection with included use of pop bottle bombs, thefts, various explosions, and the torching of an outhouse at the Maitland Valley Conservation Park. Five others had also been arrested, suspected to be conspirators. THE EDITOR, Ontario’s Report All Impaired Drivers (RAID) is asking all businesses, community organiza- tions, hospitals, libraries, municipal offices and those interested in reducing impaired driving and the resulting death toll in the province to help raise awareness of the Ontario RAID program by contacting administration@ontarioraid.ca Any Ontario Provincial Police detachment also is encouraged to contact for additional materials for RIDE checks. The program provides information for citizens with the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) dispatch phone numbers to call to report a suspected impaired drivers before they cause further death or injury. There is simply no place for drinking and driving on our roads. Far too many people have been seriously injured and killed in alcohol-related crashes. Tragedies can and do happen so quickly, and they become a time of grief and sorrow when someone recklessly gets behind the wheel after drinking.” The main components to the RAID program are awareness and education, and keeping roads safe by encouraging community involve- ment. The program partners with businesses that distribute material and through OPP detachments across the province, with officers distributing wallet cards and other information at RIDE check stops. Impaired drivers can be reported directly to OPP dispatch at 1-888- 310-1122 at *OPP (*677) on a cell phone, or by calling 9-1-1. Citizens should take down the licence plate, a description of the vehicle and the direction in which it was travelling. Possible signs of an impaired driver include driving unreasonably fast, slow or at an inconsistent speed; drifting in and out of lanes; tailgating and changing lanes frequently; making exceptionally wide turns; changing lanes or passing without sufficient clearance; overshooting or stopping well before traffic signals; disregarding signals and lights; approaching or leaving intersections too quickly or too slowly; driving without headlights on; failing to lower high beams; leaving turn signals on; or driving with the windows open in cold or inclement weather. Doug Abernethy Founder, Ontario RAID 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 We contradict ourselves It’s a given that everyone likes the idea of paying less tax. Most people also want to improve the environment. Often, though, our com- peting interests prevent accomplishing both these goals. This time of the year when the gloriously coloured leaves fall from the trees and clutter yards and sidewalks, many people want them removed. Once people heaped up the leaves and burned them, but complaints about poor air quality finally put an end to that practice. Now people demand that their municipality provide a service to pick up their leaves. Throughout the region, the cost of picking up the leaves amounts to thousands of dollars that must be added to the taxes – taxes that people will later complain are too high, and blame on wasteful politicians. The trucks involved in picking up the leaves burn many gallons of fuel, adding to the problem of greenhouse gases. There’s also the problem of what to do with the leaves once they’ve been gathered from the curbsides. Enlightened communities have set up composting sites to turn the leaves into valuable leaf mould, but that doesn’t happen in all cases. All this activity is unnecessary. Almost every yard has an area large enough to contain a leaf composting pile. In a few months the leaves can be turned into valuable fertilizer for the homeowner’s garden. There’s no need to pay for the costs of collection. There’s no need to burn fuel to have trucks going up and down every street several times each fall. It all comes down to an attitude change on the part of homeowners. If you want to save taxes and help the environment, then just take the situation in your own hands and compost your own leaves. — KR Now government matters Government, the target of many derogatory comments by business and right-wingers in recent years, is proving its worth in the current global financial crisis. Ironically, many of the governments praised for “getting out of the way” of business with reduced regulations and low taxes, are now having to spend staggering amounts of money to nationalize banks and insurance companies that were insolvent because of their own greed in trying to maximize profits with “sophisticated” schemes to make big profits from loaning to people who’d never qualify to buy a home in more restrictive countries. Meanwhile our Canadian government, already in good shape financially by comparison to our American neighbours because of balanced budgets, doesn’t have to spend hundreds of billions on bale-out packages like the U.S. and European countries. Our banks, which probably chafed at government regulations when they looked at the freedom elsewhere, are now in sound condition while others flounder. Suddenly our too-cautious Canadian system looks pretty good. — KR &