Loading...
The Citizen, 1985-11-27, Page 1Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townshi's. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1985. VOL. 1. NO. 6 40 CENTS The first "All Round Cord" to be presented to a member of the Blyth Girl Guides since the Blyth company was formed in 1980 was presented Wednesday night to Diane Hallahan, daughter of Frank and Marian Hallahan. Presenting the award was District Commissioner Carol Strickland of Clinton. Miller, Elston honoured at Brussels bash Largest turnout in years for Brussels meeting The largest turnout for a public ratepayers meeting in years showed up at Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre Novem- ber 20. New councils take office next week The first week of December sees new councils take office across the district for a new three-year term. First council to be sworn in for the new term will be Grey township council which meets at 10 a.m. on Monday, December 2. Morris township council and McKillop township council will be sworn in at 11 a.m. on Monday, December 2. A new reeve (Doug Fraser) and new deputy reeve (Clem McLellan) will be sworn in in Morris. Brussels village council will have its inaugural meeting with new reeve Hank Ten Pas at 7 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 2. West Wawanosh will swear in its new council bright and early on December 3 with a 9:30 a.m. meeting. Hullett township will hold its meeting the same day at 10 a.m. Colborne township will meet at 11 a.m. on Dec. 3. East Wawanosh will swear in new reeve Ernie Snell at 11 a.m. on December 4. Blyth village council will hold its inaugural meeting Dec. 5 at 7:30 with new reeve Albert Wasson in the chair. The inaugural meeting for Hur- on County Board of Education is Monday, Dec. 2 at 2 p.m. New Ethel correspondent The Citizen is pleased to an- nounce a new correspondent to serve the Ethel and north-Grey township area. Mrs. Margaret McMahon will be covering local news in the area for The Citizen. If you have news to report, particularly of achieve- ments by area people, please contact Mrs. McMahon at 887-9250. Santa Claus has a date with youngsters in Brussels on Satur- day when the big Santa Claus Parade is held at 12 noon. The parade will feature the Seaforth District High School Girls Trumpet Band, the Brussels Legion Pipe Band, the Wingham Canadettes and the Brussels Twirl- ettes. Floats from many area business- es and service clubs will compete for prizes. More than 30 people attended the meeting and, if they didn't fulfill the worst nightmares of some councillors in being super critical neither were they corn- Close to 50 years of service to Morris township was represented on stage when retiring reeve Bill Elston and retiring deputy reeve Tom Miller were honoured by more than 300 people at the Brussels, Morris and Grey community centre Friday night. Representatives from most of the municipalities in the county were present as well as many from the township itself. Doug Fraser, incoming reeve, said it had been a privilege far other councillors to have served under the leadership of the two men during their long service. Mr. Elston had served for 30 years, 12 as councillor and 18 as reeve. Mr. Miller had been on council for 18 years. Following the parade, Santa will hand out candies to the children. Cartoons will be shown for the kids at the Brussels Legion from one to two p.m. Entries for the parade will assemble at the Brussels Agromart at 11 a.m. Anyone wanting more details about entering a float or decorated bicycle, etc. can see the ad in this issue or call 887-6943. pletely tame in their questioning. Reeve Cal Krauter led off the meeting with a report on the happenings at the county level, outlining progress toward a new Paul Steckle, Huron County Warden said that it had been many years since his association with Mr. Elston had started and that they had become not just colleagues but friends. He said he had also served with Mr. Miller from 1977-80 when both were deputy reeves at a time before deputy reeves had voted them- selves off county council. Mr. Steckle noted that both he and Mr. Elston are going into retirement at the same time and that both had the added privilege of wearing red ties when they did so (referring to their work with the Ontario Liberal party). He said that when Mr. Elston started in politics, he was still in overalls going to school and joked that he must be more progressive than Mr. Elston because he'd managed to do in 15 years what took Mr. Elston 30 years. Ross Proctor, a former councillor represented the ratepayers of the township and said thanking the two was more like thanking neighbours than politicians. People, he said, felt more comfortable dealing with politicians at the local level than anywhere else but they were also more demanding of their local officials because they were so close every day. He predicted that one way or another the men would miss the phone ringing with people complaining about barking dogs or Huron County Pioneer Museum, saying that new director Claus Breed has some interesting ideas and has been getting grants from senior governments to hold down dusty roads or roads not plowed in time. He said that most people in the community don't realize how much time is involved in being a good local politician. People see the one meeting a month but they don't see the special meetings and the Conventions and all the things that take up the hours of a politician who really wants to do a good job. He noted that the Kitchener- Waterloo Record spoke recently of regional politicians discovering a "new" concept of "pay-as-you- go" financing but in Morris the council under the two men had built bridges and built up roads and built a new municipal building and all had been paid for when they were built. "I wish more politicians would be that way", he said. Nancy Michie, township clerk- treasurer made presentations to the wives, Isabel Elston and Harriett Miller for their many years of answering phones and taking messages and always being cheerful through it all. Dried flower arrangements were pre- sented by Helen Martin, former township clerk and Florence McArter wife of the late Bill McArter, township road superin- tendent until 1980. Plaques were presented by Mr. Miller by incoming deputy reeve Clem McLellan and to Mr. Elston taxes. The museum is one of the better pioneer museums in Ontario and Canada, he said, so it's worth holding onto. At the same time the county council also had undertaken re- novation of Huronview. "I thought Huronview was even more impor- tant than the museum because people are more important than an old plow," Reeve Krauter said. When Huronview was built, he said, it wasn't a "home" it was an institution and renovations were needed to make it more pleasant for residents. When the renova- tions, much of it likely financed by a grant from senior governments, are finished, Huronview will be a model for all Ontario, he said. Nearly half the yearly budget of the county goes to roads, he said. Generally costs are kept within budget although the County Library "scoots over budget every year." Speaking about planning, he said he had been connected with planning in the county since 1968. It pays to plan, he said. "I've always believed in planning and I still do." Bruce McCall reported for the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority (MCVA) and said that the past year had seen the realization of a long-time dream for him with the completion of the new Brussels dam. "It was my mandate to get a new dam for Brussels. For a long time it seemed to be an impossible dream but now it's a reality." The dam project was helped by a large federal grant, the second largest in all southwestern On- tario, he said. $372,927 of the total cost of $397,927 came from the federal government. Part of the credit for the grant goes to Brussels people who packed the Brussels Library to the doors when an initial meeting was held with federal officials. At that time the local people pledged to raise $65,000 toward the process and the officials were so impressed they agreed to go ahead with the project and later when more money became avail- able decided even to pick up the village's portion of the cost. This coming year $8,000 has been budgeted for improvements to a spillway at the dam which needs to be narrowed in order to keep the water at the proper level. A proper use for the old mill is still to be found. Brian Howard who had been with the MCVA, had wanted the mill to be a satellite museum to the Huron County Pioneer Mus- eum in Goderich but nothing has developed on that idea. Mr. Howard has since left MCVA for another position. Incoming reeve, Hank Ten Pas remarked on the nice turnout to the meeting and said he'd like to see more people come to council meetings not just talk on the street corners and in the coffee shops. That way, he said, they would get the whole story not just half the story. Reporting on the road commit- tee, he said that the village had to come up with 50 cents of every dollar spent on streets so had to be careful in roadbuilding. It had seemed to take a long time getting around the village paving the streets because many times the streets had to be excavated and refilled but with this process done, money will go farther now. Also, he said, thanks to money available through the Ontario Neighbour- hood Improvement Project (ONIP), council had been able to pave some areas such as the trailer park, that would not qualify for regular Ministry of Transport and Communications grants. Speaking of his elevation to reeve next month, he said, "I'm looking forward to it now that I decided to do it." He said he knew it would take a lot of time to carry on Santa's Coming!