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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2007-10-04, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2007.Editorials Opinions Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie GroppAdvertising, Ken Warwick & Lori Patterson 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 Oct. 4, 1950 Great weather and lots of enthusiastic participation helped to make Brussels annual fall fair a success. Events included a parade featuring the Lions Club Boys and Girls Band, as well as judging of several different categories of livestock, gardening and cooking. A Canadian film was receiving rave reviews upon its screenings across the continent and the world. Director Grant McLean’s film Family Circles depicted several different stories of children facing tough situations and their ways of dealing with problems. The film was also endorsed by the Home and School IODE as well as other distinguished organizations. This film, shot at various locations from Toronto to Montreal, represented one of the first thoroughly Canadian films to have success outside the country. As a testament to his cinematic skill, the director, Grant McLean, a member of the National Film Board of Canada, had been called upon by the United Nations to do some filmwork in war-torn nations such as Korea and China. Oct. 4, 1961 Disaster was narrowly missed at a fire at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Johnston and family at the Terrace Apartments of Blyth. The fire started in a back kitchen of the home and began to spread quickly as the family slept. Neighbours noticed the flames and one called the house to alarm the family. Another call was made, and soon the Blyth Fire Department were on the scene, battling the blaze. Thankfully, damages were confined to one room, but in that room were stored the children’s winter clothes, toys, and Mr. Johnston’s work tools, all of which were destroyed. The cause of the fire was unknown. In another incident, that same week, a fire started on the farm of Mr. and Mrs. Mason Bailey. The Blyth Fire Department was called out again after passers-by noticed smoke coming up from between the two barns on the property. Upon arrival, firefighters discovered that the source of the flames and smoke was a rubbish pile, but the flames had threatened to spread to the barns if firefighters did not arrive as quickly as they did. Exact cause of the fire was also unknown. After success in Auburn, the Blyth Telephone Commissioners expected a large increase in subscribers to the dial telephone exchange system for phonelines. With each current subscriber of dial making at least five calls a day, it represented a tremendous increase compared to the number of daily calls on the old phone system. Blyth planned to make the switch as soon as possible, as plans were progressing rapidly and work was being completed right on schedule. Seeing several posters promoting young men to enlist, two particularly young men had to be turned down after their enthusiastic attempt. Two young boys, five and six years old, attempted to enlist at a Covina, California enlisting office only to be turned down on an obvious account of their age. At first confusing many but later thought to be an innovation in safety, the Suffolk Veterans of Foreign Wars were one of the first to spell the word ‘ambulance’ on the front of their ambulance backwards. The purpose was to enable a driver in front of an ambulance to be able to identify the vehicle as an ambulance by reading the word more easily from their rear view mirror. The tactic would soon catch on. Hurricane Esther continued to rip through the United States, hitting Atlantic City, New Jersey with wicked torrential rains and gale- force winds. Oct. 4, 1972 Canada’s Agricultural Minister H.A. Bud Olsen was on a tour of Huron County. Among visits to area farming operations, Mr. Olsen also spoke with Huron Liberal candidate Charles Thomas. and was also interviewed for CKNX TV. Playing at Brownie’s Drive-In in Clinton was the Jules Verne epic The Light at the Edge of the World, starring Kirk Douglas, Yul Brynner and Samantha Eggar. Also playing was Darker Than Amber, starring Rod Taylor as Travis McGhee and Suzy Kendall. In the Sunday night “4 Feature Dusk-To-Dawn Show!” were The Losers,Edgar Allen Poe’s Cry of the Banshee starring Vincent Price,Angel Unchained, and another Edgar Allen Poe work Spirits of the Dead, starring Brigitte Bardot, Alain Delon, Jane Fonda, Terrence Stamp and Peter Fonda. Oct. 5, 1988 The federal government announced a grant totalling more than $450,000 to go to the Blyth Festival. The money would go towards the Festival’s $1.8 million capital expansion project. The announcement, coincidentally, was made only hours after Prime Minister Brian Mulroney announced a federal election for November. As a fundraiser for the Festival, several well-known and talented faces from the area put on a production of Colleen Curran’s Murder Most Academic. Featured in the production was beloved local author Alice Munro. The production, drawing over 100 guests, raised over $2,000 for the expansion project. THE EDITOR, Ontario stands out as the worst jurisdiction in Canada when it comes to ensuring the proper care of captive wildlife. With few regulations in place, the province makes it far too easy for residents to collect wild animals and house them in small, barren cages. Out of more than 40 zoos in Ontario, only seven are accredited by the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums (CAZA). The majority are roadside zoos; substandard facilities that lack trained professional animal care staff and the finances to ensure the proper care and housing of each animal. Deprived of opportunities to behave naturally, animals at roadside zoos show symptoms of psychological disturbance, boredom and frustration. Though a permit is needed to keep some native wildlife in captivity, there are very few conditions to abide by. Surprisingly, no permit at all is required to keep exotic wildlife such as tigers and monkeys, though two-thirds of the animals kept in Ontario zoos are not native to the province. As well, there are no regulations to address the numerous health and public safety risks inherent in these facilities, despite several reports of zoo visitors being bitten and clawed and animals escaping from their cages. A number of people have been injured and a few even killed in Ontario by captive wildlife and zoo escapes are all too frequent. Most other provinces have zoo regulations that cover both native and exotic species and stipulate specific safety requirements for all dangerous animal exhibits. It's high time Ontario followed suit. Where do our electoral candidates stand on this issue? Sincerely Daniel Steep, student Clinton 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 The wrong electoral reform Voters going to the polls in Ontario Oct. 10 will have an opportunity to vote on electoral reform. Too bad it’s not the reform that’s really needed. The kind of reform that’s really needed is one that will reinstate the importance and the integrity of the individual member of the legislature by reversing the trend that concentrates power in the hands of the premier or leader of the party. Instead, the Mixed Member Proportional Representation (MMP) model being proposed by reformers will put even more power in the hands of party leaders and reduce the power of the individual MPP still further. Key to the drive for reform is the elimination of the “wasted vote” in which someone can vote for a candidate of a losing party in a riding. Because the candidate does not go to Queen’s Park, the vote doesn’t count toward the standing of the parties. The proposal is that voters would be able to vote for a local candidate and for a party. The votes for the party would be tallied across the province. If a party receives fewer seats in the riding-by-riding tally than they received in the total provincial vote, their party will select members from a pool named by the party (in advance of the election) to match its representation to its popular vote. There are several problems with this. First, it creates two classes of MPPs: those who have constituents they must solve problems for like getting health cards or birth certificates and those who haven’t that burden and can concentrate on the “big” issues. Which would you want to be? If a government or a party leader is choosing a cabinet or shadow cabinet, who is more likely to get the post: the hand-picked member or the one selected by the party hierarchy? For rural Ontario there are more direct problems. The number of ridings will be reduced to 90 from 107, with 39 “at large” seats created to balance out the popular vote. With fewer seats, rural ridings will get larger and rural Ontario will be more sparsely represented. Supporters of MMP say the parties will be held responsible for giving fair representation on their list of appointed candidates to rural areas but in an increasingly urban-centric province, that’s a leap of faith many will fear making. MMP supporters say the current system must be fixed, and it does. But creators of the present system saw a system of representative democracy where the best person in each riding would be elected so we’d have the best minds at work in the legislature. In the days of Sir John A. MacDonald members weren’t so loyal to their party that they sent against their own beliefs and those of their constituents, to court favour with the party leader and the closed circle of advisers. There would be a bottom- up government where the best ideas of all the MPPs were heard. Instead, we now have a perverted, top-down system where the only minds that count are among the small group of advisers gathered around the premier or party leader. Backbenchers, even those in government let alone those in opposition, are left with little to do but constituency work. The electoral reform that’s needed is to pry power from the hands of this group and give it back to the individual MPP. Instead, MMP promises more power to the party leadership, not less. — KR & Letter to the editor