The Citizen, 1987-03-18, Page 1Bev Elliott
new Blyth
councillor
Blyth village council will have a
feminine point of view in its
debates in the next year and a half
following the appointment of a
Blyth businesswoman to fill the
vacant seat on council.
Beverley Elliott, part-owner of
Christmas and Country was chosen
by councillors from among three
candidateswhohadlettheir names
stand. The vacancy had been
created by the resignation of
former reeve Tom Cronin from
council in January. Also applying
for the open position were Joe
Hallahan and John Stadelmann,
both of whom were at the meeting,
prepared to take a seat if they were
appointed. Mrs. Elliott was absent
on vacation but had sent a letter
consenting to serve if chosen.
Reeve Albert Wasson said the
council had gone over the applica
tions and “it did take a while”. He
told the two other candidates that
he hoped their interest continues.
“There will be an opportunity in
another 18 months to take up your
ambitions again.” He said he was
pleased with the interest in the
vacant post since in recent years it
had been difficult to get enough
people interested in running for
council.
Mr. Hallahan expressed disap
pointment in the fact that he had
been told by people at a dance the
previous weekend that a woman
had been chosen for the job. He
saidhehadthoughtthatwhena
Related letter to the editor
on page 6.
VOL. 3 NO. 11
Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel,
Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 1987.40 CENTS
decision was made the other
candidates should have been the
first to know the results.
Reeve Wasson said he didn’t
know how the rumour had been
started and it “was not our intent
that it got out on the street. ’ ’ In any
case, he said, the decision was not
officially made until the motion had
been passed at the council session
that night.
i/l/e can dream
For all of us who can’t use the March break to get away to the south we
can at least dream, and get a tan out of it. Judy Brown takes advantage
of the tanning machine in her Blyth beauty salon “Chauncey’s” to
think summer. During the winter months a number of people in the
Blyth area have sported tans without ever going farther south than
Londesboro.
Hullett pressured over Auburn streets
The irresistable force met the
immoveable object at a meeting of
Auburn ratepayers with Hullett
townshipcouncil Monday night
and nobody gave an inch.
The irresistable force was the
village board of trustees and about
35 residents of the Hullett side of
the village who came to prod the
township council into doing more
to improve their streets and other
Blyth sees building boom
After seeing new construction
virtually stagnate last year, the
village of Blyth seems to be on the
verge of a minor building boom in
1987 headed by the construction of
a new eight-unit apartment build
ing.
Blyth village council released
information Wednesday morning,
followed a closed meeting at the
end of its regular council session
Tuesday night, that it had sold a
parcel of land just south of the
Queen’s Village senior citizens
apartments on Queen Street at the
south end of the village to Robbie
Lawrie, a Blyth businessman and
developer. Mr. Lawrie will con
struct the eight-unit building on
the site.
Mr. Lawrie, who owns a decora
ting business in Blyth as well as
aspects of life in the southern part
of the police village. The immove
able force was the Hullett township
council which patiently explained
it was there to listen to the wishes of
the ratepayers but could not be
provoked into making any promis
es for future action to rectify the
ratepayers’ complaints.
Hullett Reeve Tom Cunning
ham, in answering a question as to
apartment buildings in other cen
tres, was unavailablefor comment,
being in Switzerland playing in an
oldtimers hockey tournament, but
Bill Howson, Blyth village council
lor, said construction is expected
to begin soon on the project.
The land in question was
expropriated several years ago by
the village from the Gordon Estate
with the thinking being that it
would be used for future expansion
ofthe Queen’s Village project. Mr.
Howson said council was concern
ed about the number of seniors who
were moving from Blyth to other
municipalities because of the lack
of apartments to rent.
The apartment building joins a
number of houses that have
already been announced for con
struction this spring.
who is responsible for roadwork in
the village said that the first
responsibility lies with the village
trustees but noted that since the
village is allowed to collect only a 15
mill levy, there just hasn’t been
enough money for them to improve
the roads. Because of that, he
explained, Hullett, East Wawa-
nosh and West Wawanosh had
reached an agreement in 1984 with
the village trustees that each
township would look after the
streets in its part of the village.
Ratepayer Dennis Bricker said
“It just kind of gets you when you
go out in the township and the
sideroads are fixed up ... but two
cars can’t meet on John Street.”
He noted that there was quite a bit
of tax money on that street.
Hullett clerk-treasurer Harry
Lear reminded him that a large
portion of that money goes to the
board of education and the county
level.
George Collins, one of the
trustees, said the trustees had
taken a written proposal to the
Hullett council in March of 1986
and proposed repairs but that the
trustees had not had a response.
“What will it take to get a
response,” he said.
Reeve Cunningham said the
trustees had been told at that
meeting that the council was
applying for funding under the
Ontario Neighbourhood Improve
ment Program (ONIP) and that if
the township got the money, it
wouldcontact the trustees. The
money, however, did not become
available. The township has now
applied again under the successor
to the ONIP program, the Pride
program. However, the applica
tion can be made for only one
McDonald and Shepherd
skate at Ontario Games
National-class figure skaters
Kerrie Shepherd of RR 1, Blyth and
Peter MacDonald of RR 3, Brussels
will skate at the Ontario Winter
Games which start tomorrow
(Thursday) in London.
The novice dance champions will
skate their compulsory routine at
12 noon on Thursday, March 19,
and their variation dance at 4 p.m.
on Friday, March 20. They will
appear in practice at 8:50 a.m. on
Thursday and at 1:15 p.m. on
Friday as well; practice sessions
are also open to the public. All
figure skating events take place at
the Earl Nichols Arena on Homer
view Road.
The pair competed at the
Canadian National Finals in Ot-
municipality and the grant has
been sent in in the name of
Londesboro. Mr. Lear said if the
grant was received, council inten
ded to apply for Auburn the next
year.
Trustee Collins wondered if the
odds were any better for Pride
funding than they were for getting
Continued on page 8
tawa last month, and delighted
their many fans with a guest
appearance at the Blyth Figure
Skating Club’s Carnival on March
6.
The area’s other competition
figure skater, gold medalist Kevin
Wheeler of RR 5, Brussels, and his
junior pairs partner Michelle
Menzies of Prescott will not
compete in London: since they
were the only Ontario couple to
enter in their division, the competi
tion will not be held this year.
The Ontario Winter Games are
the provincial championships for a
numberof amateur sports; London
will host the indoor games this
year, while the outdoor events will
take place at Thunder Bay.