Loading...
The Citizen, 2007-01-11, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 2007.Editorials Opinions Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie GroppAdvertising, Ken Warwick & Kelly Quesenberry 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 ($30.19 + $1.81 G.S.T.) in Canada; $92.00/year in U.S.A.and $175.00/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 Jan. 18, 1950 Plans were confirmed to proceed with some much-needed renovations and redecorating of the Brussels Town Hall. Refurbishing had been in dire need for quite some time, however a new waterworks system had depleted funds. Nevertheless, many volunteers gave their time and efforts not only to raise money, but also to offer their labour in the renovations as well. Sweden elected a new president of the Swiss Confederation to succeed their soon-retired former president, Ernst Nobs. Dr. Max E. Petitpierre, a member of the Radical-Democratic Party, received his formal title as prime minister, and has a period of office of one year. A coin meter had been installed in a fleet of vehicles as a way of paying for gas as you drive. A quarter was inserted into the machine, which in turn released an amount of gas, then buzzed a warning when time was running out. This method had formerly been used on refrigerators and televisions. A new race car was being test driven by world-class drivers to see if its predicted top speed was really as fast as the world record speed expected. Race car driver Raymond Mays was one of the first to drive this hybrid at an airfield in Folkingham, England. The car was made of parts from hundreds of different companies, and was specifically designed to reach a world supremacy speed of 200 miles per hour. A shocking photo comparison of two very differently built boys demonstrated the work being done by UNICEF organizations around the world. One photo depicted an unbelievably skinny boy, who was starved because of war, while the picture opposite showed a full- faced, well-fed child. The boys in these pictures were one and the same, one taken six months earlier than the other. The boy was one of millions who had been aided greatly by UNICEF, but it was stressed that there were millions more who needed the same type of attention. Jan. 11, 1961 A former SS commander Major Richard Baer, the last commander of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz, was arrested in Frankfurt, West Germany. Known as one of the most powerful commanders of the Nazi forces, Baer was working as a woodcutter under the name of Kurt Neumann on the estate of Prince Otto Von Bismarck, a leading member of the West German Parliament. Pope John XXIII gave his annual Christmas message before the audience of St. Peter's Square. He called on all Catholics to wage a war against a "diabolical conspiracy against truth" being carried out though all forms of art and mass communications media. The 5,500- word address was broadcast globally on radio. Sir Winston Churchill was pictured lighting up a cigar while leaving his home in London for the first time since a spinal injury. At 86 years old, he was defying age, accidents, doctors, and weather to make the trip outside his home after breaking a bone in his back, but he seemed to be getting along excellently. Jan. 13, 1988 The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture celebrated its 100th anniversary. In attendance at the celebration held at the Clinton OMAF office was Huron MPP Jack Riddell, Ontario Minister of Agriculture and Huron County Agricultural Representative Don Pullen, and Rural Organizational Specialist Jane Muegge among several other important parts of the Ministry's heritage. Blyth Festival had reason to celebrate as well as it ended its 10th season in a row with a debtless budget thanks to the box office success. Jan. 16, 1991 Charlie Shaw of the Blyth Lions Club was honoured with a commemorative plaque for his long service as youth exchange officer for the Lions Club. Presenting him with this honour was Lions Club District A-9 Governor Mel Bogie of Goderich and Kristin Byatt, a youth exchange student from New South Wales, Australia who Mr. Shaw had aided in a successful exchange program. The Belgrave Midgets and Intermediates hockey team, the winners of the Tri-County League and WOAA championships in 1970, were back to play another game in their hometown. Members of the Midgets of 1970 were: Owen Fear, Cam Procter, Don Edgar, Glen Whitehead, Clayton Bosman, Grant Vincent, Keith Elston, John Thompson, Kevin Pletch, Rodney White, Keith Black, Larry Robinson, Neil Bieman and Ken Hopper, with coach Glenn Coultes and manager Harvey Edgar. Intermediates were: Niel Edgar, Fraser Strong, Grant Coultes, Ross Peacock, Wayne Coultes, Bob Higgins, Tom Black, Jim English, Bryan Coultes, Lloyd Peacock, Ron Purden, Ken Henry, Keith Pletch, Keith Johnston, Wayne Elston, and Larry Elston with coach Murray Shiell, manager Hugh Blair, inter- county president Bill Elston, and arena manager Gordon Pengelly. THE EDITOR, First, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself to your readers. For those who may not know, on Dec. 18 I was sworn in as the Blyth Ward councillor for the Twp. of North Huron. For the next four years, I (along with my Blyth colleague Murray Nesbitt) have been tasked with the duty of representing the interests of the people of Blyth at the municipal level of government. To do this, I need to hear from your readers. While I am already seeking to convene meetings with representatives from BIG, the Communities in Bloom Committee, the Horticultural Society, the Blyth Business Association and the North Huron recreation department, I also want to be accessible to all. I would urge readers who have ideas for our village’s future to contact me at gregmcclinchey@yahoo.ca or at 519- 357-8297. Second, I would like to take a moment to address the Dec. 21 Citizen article, which stated, “The reality of North Huron’s high tax rate was rationalized by council at Monday night’s meeting followed a report from economic development officer Kerri Herrfort.” While I have nothing but respect for the work undertaken by Citizen staff, I would not want your readers to be left with the impression that council was justifying high taxes. To the contrary, while I am new on council, I believe that the councillors were seeking to find out why our municipal taxes are high and how best to address that reality in the upcoming budget cycle. Additionally, I would also like to relay the fact that considerable time was spent during Ms Herrfort’s presentation commending the people of Blyth for their work in “branding” the village so effectively. In short, the work of volunteers in Blyth was held up as a positive and notable example to the rest of North Huron. As an extension of that, I would also like to add my compliments to those assisted with the branding effort. In closing, I thank you for the opportunity to elaborate on the above and I look forward to serving the people of Blyth in the years ahead. Sincerely, Greg McClinchey. 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 Show us the money While rural communities struggle to keep the churches and schools open, main street stores filled and people living on farms, apparently there is a glorious future, at least according to some prognosticators of future life. The latest optimistic outlook was delivered by Dr. Vern Osborne when he spoked to those attending Grey-Bruce Farmers’ Week in Elmwood on Monday about a team he’s been part of at the University of Guelph looking at farming in 2050. With Ontario’s population expected to grow by nearly 12 million to 20 million by 2030, Osborne said, land will be at a premium. “If you own land, don’t sell a square metre of it,” he told farmers because by 2050 land will be sold by the square metre, not the acre of hectare. The greatest potential for the future rural economy, Osborne says, is the creation of energy from growing crops to produce ethanol and biodiesel, generating methane gas from manure from animals and electricity from wind power (though he warns against what he calls “sky pollution from too many windmills). If only the present was as hopeful for rural areas as the thinkers are always telling them the future will be. A few years ago it was futurists like Dr. Gordon Surgeoner who were telling farmers that “pharming”, the growing of medicines in farm crops and animals, was about to change their lives. So far it hasn’t happened. And if it does happen, who will really benefit? In the odd cases where animals have been used to produce milk with pharmaceutical ingredients, the money has mostly gone to the drug companies. So far, the biggest profits from wind generation in Huron County have gone to large Alberta-based energy companies. The first attempt to let local people share the profits through an energy co-op, has been stalled because the large corporations have tied up all the capacity on transmission lines out of the area and there’s a freeze on new projects. If we hope to revitalize our rural economy for the future we must be aware of the potential options discussed by people like Osborne and Surgeoner. The problem is to find ways to assemble the capital needed to invest in them if we are to make sure the profits stay in rural areas and not migrate to the cities, leaving local areas, once again, as suppliers of “raw materials”. To do that, said Geri Kamenz, president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, it’s important that farmers (and, he could have added, village and small town residents) have enough money so they can take advantage of future opportunities. We must also put ways in place to harness our combined financial resources to take advantage of capital-intensive opportunities. Countryside Energy Co-operative Inc., organized in part through the Huron Business Development Corporation, was partway through the long process of getting approval to sell shares when the halt to new energy projects was announced. We need organizations in place in advance to take advantage of new opportunities, not have to try to come up with a structure to finance these projects one by one. Otherwise, large corporations with ready cash will sweep in and we’ll be left with a fraction of the profits. We must find ways to take control of our own future. — KR & Letter to the editor