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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1987-06-17, Page 1Gala opening for 13th Blyth Festival Friday The 13th season of the Blyth Festival opens Friday night with a dinner, opening night celebrations and a performance of the new musical by John Roby and Ray­ mond Storey “Girls in the Gang’’. The opening night festivities begin at 5 p.m. with the opening of an exhibition of art from Huron County High Schools in the Festival art gallery. Art Clark, chairman of the Board of Education will officially open the exhibition. Headtable guests will be piped into the dinner at 6 p.m. by Blyth piper Rick Elliott. Special guests for the opening include Harry J. Boyle, Huron county native, and author of the “Clover’’ books which were adapted for the first Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships. VOL 3 NO. 24 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 1987.40 CENTS John Ainley returns for Brussels Homecoming John Ainley, the great-grandson of the man who founded Brussels, is coming “home’’ to help his village celebrate its 115th birth­ day. Homecoming Committee secre­ tary Mary Lowe confirmed Mon­ day that Mr. Ainley will be arriving in Brussels on Friday, July 4, and will be staying with his good friends, Jack and Mary Bryans in the village, along with his son, Dwayne, and a couple of his grandchildren. The family will be guests of honour at all homecom­ ing events, and the senior Mr. Ainley will lead the Saturday parade as Parade Marshall, as he did during Brussels’ Centennial celebration in 1972. John Ainley is the great-grand­ son of Yorkshireman William Ainley whofounded Brussels in 1855, underthe name “Ainley- ville,” a name it kept until 1874, when the village was incorporated and re-named “Brussels.” The eldest direct descendant of Brussels’ founder, John Ainley was tracked down in time to serve as the guest of honour at the Brussels Centennial, and has been back to visit friends here at least once since. His lovely wife, Margaret, has passed away since , the last time he was here, but many ‘ people are looking forward to visiting with members of the family once again. “They’re thegreatest people you’ll ever meet,” Mr. Bryans says. “They’re just regular folks, like you and me.” Peters says Liberal complacency behind Hwy. 4 rejection The “scandalous” state of Highway 4 between Blyth and Wingham is converting more long-time Liberals to Tories than he himself is, claims Nico Peters, Progressive Conservative candi­ date for the new provincial riding of Huron. Mr. Peters made the statement in an interview with The Citizen following a business luncheon for P.C. riding workers at the Wing­ ham Golf and Country Club on Monday. ' The Seaforth-area farmer who was acclaimed as candidate in April condemned the condition of the highway which has come under fire from local communities lately, especially since it became known that the Ministry of Transportation The large maples in Blyth Union Cemetery provide cooling shade on a scorching day for the many people attending the Blyth Legion’s Decoration Day ceremony on Sunday. James Came of the Auburn Missionary Church was guest speaker for the service. A decoration day service was also held in Brussels on Sunday. lyth council continues highway fight Blyth village council, working with Huron county and area municipalities will continue to fight for rebuilding of Highway 4 fromBlythtoWingham while at and Communication did not con­ sider it a high-priority for repair within the next five years. “The reason that no money is being spent on this road is that Huron is considered a safe Liberal ridinginthe eyes of the govern­ ment,” Mr. Peters said. “In recent (provincial)budget.'mostof the money promised was targeted at Tory and NDP ridings; in these times, it pays to be Tory or an NDP supporters!” Mr. Peters went on to say that he is planning to ‘ ‘exhibit the scope of the problem” by videotaping two transport trucks passing each otheron “oneofthosehillsnear Belgrave.” “I’ll bet we’ll find that the space between them is dangerously small,” he said. the same time putting together a presentation for improvements to Blyth’s main street to be presented to the Ministry ofTransport and Communications (MTC). Reeve Albert Wasson reported to the June 9 council meeting that he and Dennis Merrall, Huron County Engineer, had designated to organize a meeting of area municipalities with local MPP’s Jack Riddell and Murray Elston about the highway. The latest move comes after letters from Gerry Browning, Regional Direc­ tor of the MTC to area municipali­ ties and the county saying that he did not feel the use of the highway or the accident record warranted the extra expense of rebuilding the highway to prevent winter snow­ bank build-up rather than the simple resurfacing the Ministry now plans. “The County was not impressed with that (reply)”, Reeve Wasson said. “I certainly don’t feel any differently about what they’re planning on doing,” the Reeve said. “In my opinion it is wrong.” He said the issue now seems to be taking hold and said Mr. Riddell’s office had already ex­ pressed interest in the meeting. In the meantime, council on Friday conducted a tour of Queen St. (Hwy. 4) from the north end to The Citizen wins 2 national awards TheCitizenhaspicked up two awards in a national competition for weekly newspapers. The Canadian Community Newspaper Association’s Better Newspaper Competition saw The Citizen awarded a blue ribbon award in the competition for tabloid newspapers with under 2,000 circulation (circulation has grown since the entry was made to 2,100). A blue ribbon is awarded to newspapers that place in the top third of the papers in the competi­ tion. Blyth Festival hit, “Mostly in Clover’’ and Bill McNeil, author and co-host of the CBC radio programme “Fresh Air’’. Following the dinner, entertain­ ment will begin about 7:30 p.m. outside the hall on the lawn. The Blyth Festival Singers will enter­ tain, not only for playgoers but for anyone who wants to listen. Festival officials report that both the opening night dinner and the performance are sold out and some performances, particularly mati­ nees and Saturday nights, are already sold out. Voucher sales (discounts for buying four tickets) have finished for the season with sales up 10 per cent over last year. Highest ticket sales so far have been recorded by “Miss Balmoral of the Bayview,’’ the new Colleen Curran comedy followed by “Bor­ dertown Cafe,’’ by Kelly Rebar, “Girls in the Gang’’, “Bush Fire’’ by Laurie Fyfee and “Another Season’s Promise,’’ by Anne Chislett and Keith Roulston. the south end of the village to see what improvements should be made if and when rebuilding of the highway is undertaken. Council has expressed concern in the past about the bottleneck created when the highway narrows Continued on page 19 The Citizen also placed third in the competition for the best editorial on a national subject. The category saw competition among community newspapers of all sizes from the tiniest to large suburban weeklies. Finishing ahead of The Citizen in the category were two other Ontario papers, the Tilbury Times and the St. Mary’s Journal Argus. The awards will be officially presented at the CCNA annual convention July 22-25 in St. John’s, Newfoundland.