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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2007-03-08, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 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 March 8, 1950 Paul Pettit became one of the youngest athletes to be signed with an NBL team at the age of 18. A native of Lomita, California, high school student Paul signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates for a handsome salary, plus a $100,000 bonus to be paid over 10 years of continued service to the team. Two Mormon missionaries were seized by Czechoslovakian officials in Moravia. The Mormons, Aldon Johnson and Stanley E. Abbott were being held for attempted entry of a prohibited area. American officials in Prague were gravely concerned over the issue, and vowed to take immediate action. The air force was preparing to introduce a revolutionary new helicopter which had been specifically designed for rescue maneuvers in the Arctic. The Piasecki H-21 would be as big as an airliner, and able to land on snow, ice, water, tundra or marshlands. It would also include a hydraulic swivel hoist, enabling it to haul litter cases and make various pick-ups at spots where landing is impossible. It would be capable of carrying 27 passengers and two crew people. The community of the Eye Polder Dike of Haarlem in Holland would soon be the home to a monument honouring a storybook hero of the country. Hans Brinker, a character created by author Mary Mapes Dodge, was said to have been a young boy who bravely saved his community by keeping the flooding waters back by sticking his finger in a hole in the large concrete dike. A statue was to be erected in honour of this beloved character and to honour the fact that the large dike in Haarlem was named by National Geographic to be one of the oldest and longest standing in the world. March 8, 1961 Sir Winston Churchill became the first politician in power in British history to be portrayed on film. A ban had previously been placed on such an occurrence, starting with Queen Victoria and had included all members of the Royal family. Sir Churchill would be seen briefly in a scene from the film The Siege of Sidney Street. A one-pound stamp depicting detailed paintings of Queen Elizabeth and a view of the Windsor Castle was picked over 5,900 other entries as the most beautiful by a jury of artists and stamp collectors. First placed on sale in 1955, the stamp was printed in black and white. March 8, 1972 Brussels council continued to wage a defense against the horde of stray dogs which had taken up residence around the village. The council had given permission for the purchase of dog traps to be used in an attempt to try and control the situation. They also stressed the requirements of dog owners to have proper licenses, and also to keep their pets on a leash when in public. More than five different accidents took place in the Huron County area in a single week due to extremely unfavourable stormy weather which seemed to have engulfed the entire area. The Blyth Midgets hockey team were successful in capturing the WOAA Midget E championship. Members of the winning team were: Chris Exel, Rick McDonald, Peter Gibson, Gerald Wheeler, Darrell Bauer, Blaine McCutcheon, Lloyd Vallance, Bruce McCall, Paul Mutter, Bill Boneschansker, Keith Raymond, Doug Smith, Robert Stephenson, Bill Sellers, Roger Humphries, and John Elliott, with coaches Don Laurie and Allan Nichol. March 9, 1988 Brussels council was threatening a ban on snowmobilers in general if action was not taken to dramatically decrease the amount of public disturbances caused by the enthusiasts. Councillors were upset by the lack of common courtesy shown by snowmobilers when passing through the village. With temperatures warming and ground softening, the machines were more likely to do more extensive damage to lawns, gardens and shrubs. It was largely agreed that there was no reason for snowmobilers to be on properties and that if these acts did not cease, there would be a ban put in place. Blyth would become one of the scheduled stops on a tour being held in an attempt to improve tourism. The Opportunity Tour was being organized by the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Technology, scheduled for September 1988. It was confirmed by Blyth council that the village would most definitely be one of the stops on the tour, joining four other municipalities in Huron County also included on the tour. The Blyth Bears volleyball team were the winners of a five-school tournament held in Clinton. Members of the team were: Debbie Logue, Tammi Medd, Laurie Wahrton, Donna Lynn Armstrong, Julie Bromley, Heidi Scrimgeour and Rhonda Stadelmann. March 6, 1991 Playing at the Park Theatre in Goderich was a Walt Disney presentation of Jack London’s classic novel White Fang. Also playing was a film based on a true story, Awakenings, starring Robert De Niro and Robin Williams. THE EDITOR, I would very much like to make contact with anyone in Blyth and surrounding district who is a keen local historian and genealogist. I am asking this as I need a local historical “sleuth” to assist me in sorting out a chapter in my family history. My great-great grandparents, John and Susannah Cullen took their five children to Ontario around 1853/4 and settled in what I believe to be the Blyth district. By 1862 the severity of the winters drove them to leave Ontario and return to Britain. They left there again within, I believe, three weeks to settle in New Zealand. Four children were born to them whilst in Ontario and the family Bible gives place names of Blyth, Hullett, and Morris. Blyth is the only town I have managed to find on a map and I would like to correspond with someone who could explain the other names and locations for me and perhaps help me with finding the family on the 1861 Ontario census, and the location of the land they farmed. During the Second World War several young male descendents of John and Susannah Cullen trained with the RAF in Ontario and I understand that there may have been a Cullen farm or road still bearing the name at that time. The children who were born in Ontario would have been baptized in a Congregational or similarly independent Protestant chapel. If anyone could assist me I can be contacted by email : jddowgray@yahoo.co.nz in the first instance. I am happy to pay for copies of documents and postage should that arise. Yours sincerely, Dorothy Dowgray nee Cullen 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 Some security! Gas stations without gas. The economy damaged because goods that can’t be delivered due to a shortage of diesel to fuel the trucks. In a security-obsessed age somebody has obviously overlooked something. Millions, if not billions, have been invested to prevent a terrorist attack that could kill our residents and cripple our economy, yet the happenings of the past week have given terrorists a graphic lesson in how to hit at the weak underbelly of our economy. If a fire at one oil refinery combined with a rail strike can cause so much disruption, how much could a few well-placed bombs do? Our country is on two contradicting paths. On one hand we’re worried about security. On the other, we have been building an economy that’s efficiency is based on the certainty of peace and predictability. So refined has our business model become that factories only get the parts they need hours before they are needed under a “just in time” delivery system. Efficiency also means specialized parts of a production system may be spread over a far-flung region. Even in a land of plentiful food production, Canada has made itself vulnerable because so much of our food is imported, for the sake of price or variety. Many things we once produced in Canada are no longer profitable for our farmers. Apple juice, even apples themselves, are coming all the way from China, a situation that has Canadian orchard owners tearing out their unprofitable trees. We’re importing milk protein concentrates all the way from New Zealand that are replacing Canadian milk in the making of many cheeses. Locally, we’ve had our own lesson in our growing insecurity in recent weeks with the number of storms that have prevented travel in the region. We’ve adopted an “efficient” regional shopping centre model that sees people who once shopped in their own communities, travel miles to get needed goods. But what happens when stormy weather hits and people can’t travel. If we continue to deplete our local retail sector we may end up in a situation where we can’t get necessities in our own communities. The happenings of the last couple of weeks should have us rethinking the way our economy is organized before we make ourselves even more vulnerable to terrorists, or to terrorizing weather conditions. — KR Mixed messages Politicians, always looking for a positive spin, have often resorted to telling farmers during the recent economic crisis that the solution to the problem is differentiating their product by adding value. But while the government has been encouraging value-adding the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) has been designating buildings required for these efforts as commercial, or even industrial. MPAC tried to declare maple syrup shanties as commercial facilities, until the government stepped in to restore some sanity. The silliness reached a zenith in the case of a Mitchell honey producer who made wine from some of his honey. MPAC tried to reassess the basement where the wine was made as commercial. If the government wants farmers to add value to their products it must tell MPAC to get real and recognize these facilities are part of a farming operation, not a factory. — KR & Letter to the editor