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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1990-02-28, Page 1New columnist Humourist Arthur Black starts this week See page 5 Drug program Bd. of Ed. begins program See page 15 J Winners! Bulls, Crusaders, Blyth Atoms all victorious See page 20 Hullett Twp. residents undecided over new hall VOL. 6 NO. 9 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1990. 50 CENTS " Rutabagas next Blyth attraction? Blyth-area residents will have a chance to say Thursday night if they think rutabagas may be the next thing besides theatre, leather mills and steam engines to put their village on the map. A meeting at 7:30 in the Blyth council chambers to discuss a proposal for the Blyth Rutabaga Festival to celebrate the important role of rutabagas in the community. The idea first emerged at a meeting of local merchants in November, Jane Gardner, Com­ munications Director of the Blyth Festival and one of the group organizing the Thursday meeting explained. Looking for an idea to base a village festival on, the idea of rutabagas was discussed and more and more madcap possibili­ ties involving rutabagas kept roll­ ing out of the members. The idea is for a fun event, Ms. Gardner said with the idea of involving as many groups as possi­ ble. One date suggested was the weekend of June 22 and 23 which would tie in with the Blyth Lions Club’s Fifties dance the same weekend. When the idea was discussed at ' the February meeting of village council, councillors got right in the spirit of things laughingly suggest­ ing possible additions to the event such as dressing one of the councillors up in a rutabaga suit. Although the object of the Festi­ val would be not to take itself too serious, Ms. Gardner said, there are some serious sides to rutabagas in Blyth. The G. L. Hubbard Rutabaga plant exports rutabagas all over North America and is a sizeable local employer. Blyth and Exeter are -two of the main ruta­ baga growing areas in the pro­ vince. Mr. Hubbard has lent his support to the proposal. Growth of the industry was aided by Blyth resident Russell Doherty’s invention of a precision seeder for rutabaga seeds. The group has sent out a survey to village businesses to gauge support for the idea and the meeting Thursday will seek input from the community in general. “We felt it was important not to go ahead without participation from the merchants,’’ Ms. Gardner said. The group pulling the plans together includes John Elliott, chairman; Don Scrimgeour, Vai Gauley, Diane Wasson, and Dave Williams. Latest waste study to be discussed March 8 Blyth will host one of two meetings in the county to review the latest stage of the County of Huron Waste Management Master Plan on Thursday, March 8. The meeting will be held at the auditorium of the Blyth and District Community Centre (arena) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday to consider the two-inch-thick document. The Stage 2A document is designed to eliminate some sites as possible sites for a waste disposal site by reason of their environmental vul­ nerability, closeness to urban areas or to such facilities as airports. The study also looks at possible markets for recycled materials and energy from waste. Copies of the Stage 2A report are available at county libraries. An open house will be held to view the report from 3:30 to 7 p.m. A second meeting will be held at the Hensail arena Wednesday, March 7 at 7:30 p.m. Don Pullen retires as Ag Rep More than 200 Huron County dairy farmers gave Don Pullen a standing ovation Friday after he announced he would be stepping down as Agricultural Representa­ tive for Huron at the end of March. After Mr. Pullen made the announcement .at the annual meet­ ing of the Huron County Milk Committee in Brussels Friday those present rose to applaud his 22 years as head of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and food's Cinton office. Mr. Pullen said later that he had made the decision to retire now because an early-retirement pro­ gram at OMAF ends March 31 and it was now, or wait until the regular Continued on page 23 Feet up There are more strenuous marathons to raise money for good causes but Chris Van Loo finds the rock-a-thon at the Londesboro United Church his kind of fundraising event. Young peopie from the church took part in the all-night rock-a-thon to raise money for the Canadian Bible Society. BY LISA BOONSTOPPEL Despite indications that Hullett taxpayers don’t want a new hall, over 75 people crowded into the Londesboro Hall on February 20 to discuss a proposal from Hullett Central Public School to build a new centre onto the school in conjunction with Hullett council. But nothing was resolved at the meeting which was called after Ron Jewitt, principal of Hullett Central school contacted Tom Cunning­ ham, Reeve of Hullett, to talk about the addition which would be an auditorium for the school and a hall for Hullett. It is a proposal that may have fanned the idea to build a hall in Londesboro which was almost ex­ tinguished by the results of a questionnaire Hullett council sent out with last September’s tax billing. The questionnaire was composed of three main questions to discover if taxpayers wanted a new hall or wanted to renovate the existing Londesboro hall. “We were sur­ prised at the results,” said Reeve Cunningham after telling the gath­ ering that out of the 220 question­ naires that were sent back, an overwhelming 171 said no to build­ ing a new facility while only 21 said yes. There were two maybes. When asked if they even needed a facility, present one included, 94 taxpayers said no and 94 said yes with two maybes. “We were amazed that people wondered if we even needed a hall,” said Reeve Cunningham. The final question asked residents if they thought the existing hall should be renovated and 111 people said yes, 66 said no and 11 said maybe. But the questionnaire did not include the option of building a new facility onto the school and so the meeting was called for public input on the proposition. Reeve Cunning­ ham said, “We (council) didn’t want to pursue this idea further until we found out if the public was interested in the concept.” John Jewitt, Hullett trustee for the Huron County Board of Educa­ tion (HCBE) told the gathering that the school needs more space and something has to be done. “The way the school is situated (in town) we thought we could work out a co-operative agreement with Hul- lett to build an auditorium for the school that the town could use,” he said. Using a conceptual drawing with the new auditorium on the school, Paul Carroll, Superintendent of Operations at HCBE explained that if the new addition became a reality, the existing auditorium at Hullett would be divided into a library, two classrooms and space for special education classes. He also mentioned an idea to build a closed meeting room in the auditor­ ium for smaller meetings and gatherings. But the idea did not seem to win a majority approval at the meeting either as m$ny people voiced their concern over the proposal, includ­ ing Hullett council. “The idea may have merit,” said Reeve Cunning­ ham, “but it bothers us from a council standpoint because we wonder who would own and control the building if something went wrong, who would be responsi­ ble.” Don McGregor, Hullett tax- Continued on page 6