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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