HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2007-05-24, Page 1The CitizenVolume 23 No. 21 Thursday, May 24, 2007 $1.25 ($1.18 + 7c GST)Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County
Inside this week
Pg. 6
Pg. 8
Pg. 9
Pg. 18
Pg. 19
Torch Run comes
through Blyth
Soccer teams
continue play
Hot time expected
at Belgrave
Auburn WI
turns 85
Country talent
comes to Blyth
As a result of a meeting between
Grey and Brussels councillors, a
meeting is set for May 29 at 7:30
p.m. to bring the fate of the Brussels
Library to the public.
The meeting will take place at the
Brussels, Morris and Grey
Community Centre.
Allan Avis Architects Inc. prepared
a report, outlining three options to be
brought to the people of Brussels.
However, by the time the clerk-
administrator’s report came to
council on May 15, one of the three
options had been nixed from the list.
“We have two options. It’s a lot of
money that we’re spending and we
want to make sure that we spend it
right. Will we satisfy everybody? No.
But we want to make sure that it’s
spent the way the public wants it
spent,” says Huron East mayor Joe
Seili.
“Yes, we’re elected to make
decisions, but there are times when
you need input and at our level, this
is the only way of getting input from
the public.”
The first option for the Library is
an addition to the west side of the
existing Carnegie Library building,
enlarging the existing main floor
level to accommodate the library and
providing more basement space for
additional development.
The first option is the same one
proposed in the original 2005 study.
Another option is to build a new
library. It would be built on the
newly expanded property that
extends over to Elizabeth Street. The
new library would be a one-storey
building with grade level access.
With this option the existing
Carnegie building would then be
freed up for other uses.
The option no longer in the
running, was to construct a grade
level addition to the west side of the
building allowing for grade level
access to the addition. This would,
however, create a split-level library.
Clerk-administrator Jack
McLachlan said the reasoning
behind such a quick meeting was to
have the thoughts of the ratepayers
by the next council meeting. Because
there’s a fifth Tuesday in May, this
meeting can take place before
council’s next meeting where they
can discuss the meeting’s results.
The previous meeting on the fate
of the Brussels Library was very
well-attended.
“I hope a lot of people will come. I
hope so, because it helps us to make
the decision,” Seili said.
“There are differences. Renovating
the old will cost more money, but it’s
their tax dollars, so it’s a chance for
people to have a say in how their tax
dollars are spent.”
Library
meeting
set for
May 29
It didn't take long, but the weather
that thrashed through southern
Ontario last week left its mark on
Huron County in a hurry.
When Tuesday, May 15 gave way
to night, Huron County and most of
southern Ontario was hit by heavy
rains and wind, and in some areas, it
is circulating that tornadoes touched
down.
Orville Storey is sure of it.
Although he has no meteorological
evidence to back it up, he has a
different kind of evidence; a
destroyed barn garage and large tree
limbs strewn around his property.
He said it only lasted three or four
minutes, but by the time it was
through, Storey’s property, south of
Winthrop, was not the way he left it
and a lot of homes throughout
Huron and Perth Counties were left
without power.
“We were on the porch here, but it
was raining so hard that we couldn’t
see a thing out the window. Tree
limbs came down near the window,
so that didn’t help any, but it was
raining so hard that we couldn’t see
out the window at all,” he said.
“It came up on us so suddenly that
we didn’t even realize what was
going on. The barn was blown right
down, three or four trees and one
great big tree were all blown over.
We’ll need a new roof on the house
because some of the limbs landed on
the roof. As far as I’m concerned it
was a tornado, but I think that’s what
they’re calling it.”
According to the Hydro One
website, there were well over 1,500
homes without power in and around
Huron County. And while Blyth
never lost power, Brussels, Walton
and Ethel weren’t so lucky. The
lights went out in homes and
businesses alike Tuesday shortly
after 6 p.m. The power was not
quick to return, causing major
problems in Brussels.
Brussels Variety had to pack all of
their ice cream into a car and take it
to Wingham, using their supplier’s
freezer until power was restored
which happened just before 2:15
p.m. Wednesday.
In most places. While much of
Brussels was back in business
by Wednesday afternoon, Brussels
Foodland was granted partial
power and didn’t have full power
until early Thursday (May 17)
morning.
“We lost a bunch of meat and ice
cream. We didn’t even get full power
back until Thursday morning, 7:30
a.m.,” Brittany Benniger of Brussels
Foodland said.
“We didn’t have our freezers
working, we had to rent a freezer
trailer, but as far as I know, we
should be reimbursed for these
losses. We have a pretty good
insurance plan.”
J.R.’s also experienced high
losses. Although power was restored
to the restaurant and gas bar by 3
p.m. on May 16, owner Shahzad
Ahmed estimates his losses from
Tuesday night to Wednesday
afternoon at around $2,000, $5-
6,000 if he factors in fuel sales.
Now, however, everything is back
to normal.
The day after Brussels Foodland
got full power back, they assured
shoppers that they were fully-
stocked on most items.
Storey, however, has no plans to
rebuild his barn any time soon. He
says he may build one eventually,
but he isn’t sure.
Humanitarian, activist and living
piece of history, Kim Phuc is
stopping in to Auburn to share her
story with the people of Huron
County.
Phuc may be better known to
people visually, rather than by name.
Phuc is the subject of the Pulitzer
Prize-winning photograph from
Vietnam that changed the way the
world looked at warfare.
An explosion is the background,
while Phuc treads naked down the
middle of the street, her flesh afire
with napalm.
Phuc is now in her 40s, living in
Ontario and has become a rather
high-profile philanthropist in the
fight against children being affected
by war.
She will be on hand at Huron
Chapel in Auburn on May 26 at 7:30
p.m. to talk about her life before the
picture and after the picture.
After the photograph, taken by
Associated Press photographer
Huyong Cong Nick Ut, Phuc went
through years of painful burn
therapy, coming back louder than
ever in the fight against children
casualties, both mental and physical.
Phuc started the Phuc Foundation
in 1997, a charitable organization
whose funds go to assisting children
affected by war, in Chicago and then
brought the foundation to her new
home, Canada, in 2000.
The Foundation’s mission, as
stated on its website, is to help the
wounds suffered by innocent
children and restore hope and
happiness to their lives by providing
much-needed medical and
psychological assistance.
The recipient of the 2004 Order of
Ontario, Phuc has received
numerous honorary doctorates at
various Canadian universities, was
the 1997 UNESCO Goodwill
ambassador for peace and the subject
of a Canadian documentary, Kim’s
Nature’s nasty nature
A sudden storm ripped through the area last week leaving some areas without power for 20
hours, uprooting trees and causing extensive damage to buildings. Orville Storey’s property,
south of Winthrop was hard hit with a shed destroyed and large trees torn from the ground.
Friends and neighbours were on hand Wednesday to help clean up the mess. (Shawn Loughlin
photo)
Mother Nature turns ugly
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Former MPP Paul Klopp has been
elected to lead the Huron-Bruce
NDP into the next provincial
election.
A closely-fought contest was held
Thursday night in Goderich between
well-known local activist Stephen
Webster of Blyth and Paul Klopp,
former Huron MPP from Zurich.
Both candidates delivered
impassioned speeches. In the end
Klopp emerged the victor with
Webster pledging his support and
moving that the room make the
choice unanimous.
Klopp demonstrated that he will
be an MPP who puts the people of
Huron-Bruce first by making a
strong commitment to roll back the
23 per cent raise Liberals and
Conservatives gifted themselves
before Christmas.
“This pay raise is obscene when
Ontario’s poorest paid workers have
been told they need to wait several
years just to make a $10 minimum
wage and when so many farmers are
having to take off-farm jobs just to
pay the bills. I commit to working to
roll back this Liberal and
Conservative scheme to reward
themselves when they have not
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Klopp wins NDP nomination
Kim Phuc
to speak
in Auburn
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 11 Continued on page 6