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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2008-11-13, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2008.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 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 $34.00/year ($32.38 + $1.62 G.S.T.) in Canada;$105.00/year in U.S.A.and $175/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 TOCIRCULATION DEPT. PO BOX 152 BRUSSELS ON N0G 1H0 email: norhuron@scsinternet.com Nov. 13, 1940 Frank C. Mitchell of the Brussels Legion shared his thoughts on Remembrance Day and its celebration on a rainy day in 1940. He was pleased to see a Brussels record on poppy day, with $51 raised and a sell-out by 6 p.m. resulting in many disappointed people who arrived later to purchase a poppy. Mitchell also extended his thanks to the Brussels United Church, where the Remembrance Day service was moved to due to the weather. He said the church was made quite comfortable and housed a large congregation with just one hour’s notice. Knox Presbyterian Church was in the midst of preparing for its 75th anniversary on Nov. 17. The day was to feature a morning and evening service, both with Rev. F.G. Fowler speaking. A service station previously owned by Charles Pope was purchased by Mr. J.H. Brown of the Grey-Bruce Gasoline Company of Teeswater. The new owners immediately advertised Angelo Gasoline, a high-test gasoline, saying “You’ve tried the rest - Now try the best.” The week’s food specials were grapefruit, said to be “full of tangy, zippy flavour that accelerates lagging appetites,” at a price of 25 cents per half-dozen. The second, a Saturday special only was soup, priced at three for 25 cents. Flavours available were chicken with rice, asparagus and cream of mushroom. Nov. 11, 1981 Blyth saw its first sewer hookup successfully installed on Wellington Street. Bill and Lynn Logue’s home was the recipient, with Mrs. Logue saying she was impressed with how smoothly everything went. Trustees Dorothy Wallace and B.P. Morin both put their hats into the race for chairman of the Huron County Board of Education. Wallace, who represented Goderich and Morin, who represented Howick and Turnberry Twps. both announced intentions to run for chairman at the Clinton meeting, while trustee Eugene Fraye announced he would stand for election as vice-chairman. Hullett council approved a bylaw that would regulate the holding of public entertainment in the township. Nov. 13, 1991 With development on their minds, Huron’s rural reeves began planning a meeting where changes in severance policy would be discussed. The changes would seek to allow more rural lots to be sold for development. The idea had been pushed by Usborne reeve Gerry Prout before expressing his sentiments at a recent Huron County Council meeting. The vice-principal of Central Huron Secondary School was named Huron United Way’s first campaign leader. The administrator wasted no time adding two of his students from the co-op program to the United Way staff. An advertisement from the Village of Brussels informed residents that composters were in stock and available from them for $20 each. Five candidates vying for the leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party were in Clinton to face questions from Huron County residents. The candidates hailed from York North, Mississauga West, Thunder Bay,Timiskaming and York Centre. The Maitland Valley Conservation Authority celebrated its 40th anniversary this week as well. Nov. 15, 2007 Brussels citizens voted by a margin of 12-4 in favour of a new library to replace the existing Carnegie building. It was estimated a new library would begin construction in the spring of 2008. At the time, Huron East council proposed a $600,000 ceiling of cost for the project. Council announced that of the $600,000 in proposed costs, it would accept $300,000 of the cost, Morris-Turnberry would pay $100,000, councillors expected to see $75,000 in revenue from the sale of the Carnegie building and expected $125,000 in fundraising from the citizens of Brussels. Huron County took one step closer to broadband as it was one of 18 municipalities that received conditional funding towards broadband internet capability. North Huron councillor Greg McClinchey argued to award a tender to a local business that was not the lowest bidder in the case of a snowblower. Council, however, accepted the low tender. Dr. Alma Conn was sworn in as a North Huron councillor at the Nov. 5 meeting, filling the seat left vacant by Arnold Taylor earlier in the year. An administrative shift by the Avon Maitland District School Board brought Wendy Armstrong- Gibson to East Wawanosh Public School as its new vice-principal. This came as a result of East Wawanosh’s former principal, Frank Stretton being moved to Wingham Public School to take over principal duties there. At the time, Jane Morton, principal at Blyth Public School assumed principal duties for both Blyth and East Wawanosh Public Schools. 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 Still paying for past mistake From planning issues to fire protection, many of the most disruptive issues being dealt with by local municipalities these days date back to the horribly flawed process of municipal amalgamation a decade ago. Huron County council last week dealt with a dispute between North Huron and Morris-Turnberry over zoning for land on the edge of Wingham but in Morris-Turnberry. The rural municipality wants to allow commercial development for urban purposes that would serve Wingham while North Huron objects. Meanwhile a group of residents of the former Morris Twp. on the edge of Brussels feel they have more in common with Brussels than Morris-Turnberry and have petitioned to be annexed by Huron East, of which Brussels is now a part. On top of that, fire protection for the northern part of Huron is being reorganized because of the desire of North Huron to amalgamate the Blyth and Wingham fire departments under one chief who will answer to its council. This leaves municipalities like Morris-Turnberry and Howick on the outside looking in. All these issues are a hangover of the unnatural union of municipalities created by the bullying tactics of the Mike Harris government. Harris’s government wanted fewer municipalities and through a few landmark cases like the forced union of the former metropolitan Toronto and of the Chatham and Kent councils, struck fear into local councils so they set out to amalgamate to head off anticipated government action. The result has been marriages of convenience that have remained inconvenient. It would have been more difficult, but made more sense, if the province had promoted redrawing municipal lines on a community basis instead of sticking to hard municipal boundaries that already existed. What if, for instance, Brussels had been the centre of a reorganized community that took in portions of Grey and Morris that have long been associated with the village? What if that land on the edge of Wingham was part of a Wingham-centred municipality that represented the Wingham community? What if Blyth, instead of being on the forgotten edge of Central Huron, Morris-Turnberry and even North Huron, had been the centre of its long-established community? Councillors elected to these new municipal councils are trying to create new “communities” in these ungainly sets of lines on a map. But how do you create a community, for instance, in Huron East when it stretches from Molesworth to Hensall? These problems are bound to go on, despite the hope that people will get used to the new structure. What’s really needed is for the province to look at the failure of the previous administration and try to undo the harm that has been done. It would be messy in the short term but in the long run it would result in healthier communities that work. — KR & EDITOR’S NOTE: — Newspapers are always looking for ways to help their readers understand how to properly prepare a letter to the editor. The following appeared in the Rocky Mountain House (AB) Mountaineer. One of the best read parts of any newspaper is the letter to the editor column and there are usually more than enough to make issues lively and interesting. Rules of writing letters are quite simple. Stick to these and we will be quite happy to print them, if not one week, then the next. • Address your writing to the editor. With "Open letters" to someone else, we always get the feeling of snooping in someone else's mail. • "Thank yous".Please use our card of thanks column in the classified section, or have your group budget for display advertising space, rather than using a letter to the editor. Letters are the place to express opinions and carry on debates. • Bad taste.This is a family newspaper. People can make their points without vulgar language. • Libelous material.To bad mouth someone in public is slander, to do so in print is libel. If we allowed someone's character to be unduly attacked, we are just as subject to a libel suit as the author of the letter. • Illegible and incoherent letters. Our typesetters are renowned for their ability to read bad handwriting. However, the most ideal situation is to have the letter typed and double spaced. Some letters ramble and make no sense, no matter how nimble our mental gymnastics. If we can't make heads or tails out of the letter, we won't make our readers try. If we can edit the letter to make it clear, we will. • Length.This is not the place for a textbook of personal opinion. We suggest that most people can get their point across in fewer than 750 words. Keep it short and to the point. It is in the best interest of the writer for the letter to be interesting and understandable to other readers. • Prose and poetry.We are a newspaper and not a literary magazine. There are places for short stories and poetry. The only time we will publish such material is if the item is, in itself, newsworthy. Winning a competition with a poem or story is a good reason. On occasion we will invite such material as we do annually for our Christmas edition. • Anonymous letters.If the writer doesn't believe the letter is worth signing, we can't believe it is worth reading. The opinion is more valid if the writer is willing to stand behind it. If a person does not want his name to appear, he must make a strong case to us in person. • Unsubstantiated facts.If you want to quote "facts" in the letter, tell us where they come from so readers can check on them. • End of Debate.After we feel all sides of a debate have been thoroughly aired and letters on the subject become repetitive, we will put an end to it. • Local Interest.Any topic is fair play, but letters should be of interest to the people of our community. EDITORIAL POLICIES