HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2007-03-22, Page 1The CitizenVolume 23 No. 12 Thursday, March 22, 2007 $1.25 ($1.18 + 7c GST)Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County
Inside this week
Pg. 9
Pg. 11
Pg. 15
Pg. 19
Pg. 20
Brussels skaters
receive awards
Local business gets
national honour
Area curlers on
winning teams
Brussels Legion
hosts convention
Parr Line girls bring
home the gold
The deadline to nominate a
Citizen of the Year for each of the
Blyth and Brussels areas has been
extended to April 30.
To date only two nominations
have been received. Forms are
available in the The Citizen or at our
offices.
Names that were submitted in
previous years must be re-submitted
to qualify. However, nominators
need not complete the entire form as
once a name is submitted, the earlier
nominations are included for
consideration.
There are many people in our
areas who strive in one way or
another to make their communities
and the lives of those around them
better. In a perfect world they could
all be honoured. This award is
presented each year by The Citizen
in an effort to give at least some of
them their due.
The selection is made by a
committee of volunteers who look at
a variety of factors from community
involvement to personality.
Spring thaw brings rising
temperatures and water
A helping hand
After his two opponents got a solid start, this contestant said his tricycle was broken and the
race was re-run, but not before the referee tried to give him a leg up in the competition at the
alumni game fundraiser for Blyth Minor Hockey last weekend. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
Blyth Minor Hockey had a decent
day on Sunday. If you consider a
$5,000 pull decent.
The alumni game fundraiser in
Blyth raised just over that amount
between all of the events of the day,
events that included the game itself,
a chuck-a-puck competition, tricycle
races, a silent auction and more.
“It was a bit stressful, but I think
we got through it,” Kendra Prescott,
president of Blyth Minor Hockey,
says. “I think it was successful
overall.”
Prescott says that although all of
the events were well-received, the
silent auction was the biggest
success of them all. And the item that
netted the most money: A signed
Justin Peters jersey. The local boy’s
jersey and John Hancock came with
a final pricetag of $500.
“[Peters] is our hometown boy.
That was impressive for us, so that
was great,” Prescott said.
Other items that proved popular in
the auction were autographed jerseys
from Sam Gagner and Steve Downie,
a replica summit series jersey signed
by Frank Mahovlich and a signed
stick by Anthony Peters.
With the doors to the arena
opening an hour before the puck
dropped for the alumni game, people
were eager to pay $4 each to support
Blyth Minor Hockey and be a part of
the game.
With the silent auction taking
place on the upper level of the arena,
downstairs, people were buying
tickets for the tricycle races and
numbered pucks for the chuck-a-
puck competition.
After the Blyth alumni took to the
dressing room for the first
intermission, the Blyth Mites hit the
ice for a short game that yielded one
goal. Then came the chuck-a-puck
event, where one lucky young
hockey player earned a brand new
stick for his aim.
The Blyth alumni took to the ice
for the second period, then gave way
to the tricycle races, which provided
another stick for one lucky winner.
Prescott says she heard nothing but
good comments.
“I did hear a lot of good things
from the players who participated.
Some of those guys hadn’t played
hockey in years, hadn’t been on
skates in years. So I think the
comments from the players were
awesome,” she said.
Prescott said she hopes to make
this fundraiser an annual event,
based on the success, but that she has
something else on her plate at the
moment.
“I was challenged on Sunday,”
Prescott says.
“One of the guys who participated
in the game played on the 1972 All-
Ontario team for Blyth Minor
Hockey and he wants to bring them
back in the fall. So I’ve told him that
I promise to make that happen.”
Huron County. Under water.
Not quite, but with the recent mild
temperatures and more approaching,
rising water levels should be a point
of concern for everyone.
With warmer temperatures
expected by the end of the week
through to the weekend, people are
urged to stay away from
watercourses.
In a press release from the Huron
County Health Unit and
corroborated by the Maitland Valley
Conservation Authority, all
watercourses from now until the end
of spring should be considered
unsafe.
“We were fortunate last week that
we had almost ideal conditions
where we had warm days and then it
went below freezing overnight. I
don’t think that’s going to happen
this week,” Dave Grummett, director
of operations for the MVCA
said.
“So once we start the run-off, it
will go right through the weekend
and we might see higher water levels
as a result. If there’s any flooding, it
will likely be concentrated to low-
lying areas.”
Grummett says the MVCA
monitors this activity 24 hours a day
through the flood watch, saying that
they try to keep ahead of things
there. While he expects warmer
weather by the end of the week,
patterns can always change.
He did say, however, that Huron
County is in decent shape because of
the ideal conditions last week.
“Last week we saw a bit of a
spring break up with the mild
temperatures. We saw water levels
come up a bit and we saw the
majority of the ice go out of the river
system,” Grummett said.
“We experienced the odd little
jam of some of the bridges further
down stream that would last
from two to three hours and
then break up again. There’s still a
little ice in the river, but overall I
think it’s pretty open from top to
bottom.”
Grummett says that the MVCA
does a snow survey on the first and
15th of each month, measuring snow
depth and water content.
As of last week, the majority of
the snow in the area stood between
2.3 and 3.8 inches of water content
remaining in the snow.
“It varies as you go across the
watershed and it varies as you get
closer to the lake,” Grummett says.
“They’ve receded quite a bit though,
since Friday of last week.”
With rain expected later in the
week, Grummett says that whether
we will experience flooding or not
relies heavily on the warmth of the
coming days and the amount of
precipitation we get. Either way, he
says it is not safe to be around
watercourses.
“The key is to stay away from all
watercourses and the ice along the
banks. If there are ponds that still
have ice on them, people should
remain off of them because the ice is
definitely unstable at this point in
time,” he said.
“Any activity near any type of
watercourse, a stream, creek, river or
a pond, people should refrain from
such activity.”
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Names
please
Hockey
day nets
$5,000
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Seaforth Manor and Queensway
Residence have opened their doors to
the residents of Maplewood Manor
in Seaforth, as 21 seniors have found
themselves in need of a new home in
the wake of Maplewood’s sudden
closure.
Maplewood Manor will close
within the month and residents are
forced to find alternative housing.
By mid-week, last week, Seaforth
Manor had welcomed more than half
of Maplewood’s residents on a
permanent basis. Residents began
moving in March 15 and would
continue to do so throughout the
week. Seaforth Manor will provide
moving services for any residents
who require assistance, free of
charge.
Home closes,
residents
relocated
Continued on page 11