The Citizen, 1989-02-22, Page 1CNmust operate Brussels line 18 more months
VOL. 5 NO. 8 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22. 1989. 45 CENTS
Comedy
opens
Festival's
15th season
The comic life of rural Perse
phone Township, portrayed in two
previous hit one-man shows, will
be featured in a full-cast show to
open the Blyth Festival’s 15th
season June 16 at Blyth Memorial
Hall.
Perils of Persephone” has been
chosen as the first of five produc
tions for the season, Katherine
Kaszas, artistic director of the
Festival announced last week.
"For our 15th season we have
chosen five outstanding plays,
three of them premieres, which hail
from British Columbia, Saskatche
wan and Ontario,” Ms. Kaszas
said in announcing the season
Friday. “Each of our five presenta
tions tells a different story, but
each, I believe, holds a special
appeal for our faithful audience
here in Huron County, as well for
all those who travel from across
Canada to see our premieres.
In “Perils of Persephone” play
wright Dan Needles returns to rural
Persephone Township where his
successful one-man plays, “Letter
from Wingfield Farm” and “Win
field’s Progress” were based. Both
played during the Festival’s fall
and spring programs in the last few
years.
This time Eldon Currie, farmer
and life-long resident of Perse
phone Township is the central
character. Eldon hankers for the
fame and glory of political life, until
the night a truck carrying atomic
waste comes hurtling into his ditch.
The threat of a nuclear spill in his
own backyard and the schemes of
the provincial mandarins who des
cend upon his farm to help, provide
the man-who-would-be-reeve with
more experience than he ever
dreamed possible. Queen’s Park
and rmal Ontario go nose to nose in
this hilarious romp.
The play is a product of the
Festival’s workshop program
where Dan Needles worked on it
last summer and again in Decem
ber. The show has a seven-person
cast and plays until Sept. 9.
The second play of the season is
the first play of the award-winning
Donnelly trilogy by James Reaney.
“Sticks and Stones: The Donnellys
(Part 1) brings the historic Donn-
ely story back to life. Although it is
more than a century since the
murder of Lucan’s Donnelly family
Continued on page 33
The entertainment choices in a bombshelter after a nuclear war can be rather limited, Diane Bradshaw [right] tells
Lauralee Johnston in a scene from the Central Huron Secondary School production of “First Strike” at the student
drama festival at Blyth Memorial Hall Friday night. Tony Latour [back] and Dave Latour also took part in the comedy
that shows human concerns go on even after a nuclear haulocaust. Schools from Wlngham, Llstowel, Cambridge,
Palmerston and Port Elgin also took part in the two day festival.
The fight to save the Listowel-to-
Wingham CN railway line through
Ethel and Brussels, led mostly by
one persistent Wingham industry,
has been successful.
The National Transportation
Agency of Canada (NTA) announc
ed Feb. 13 that it has ordered
Canadian National (CN) to operate
the branchline for an additional 18
months. The decision was based on
the NTA’s finding that although
the railway is now unprofitable, use
of the line is increasing and there is
a potential that it could be made
profitable in the future.
Under the procedures of the
National Transportation Act of
1987, the NTA must decide if a rail
line is economic and, if it is not,
whether there is a reasonable
probability that it might become
profitable in the future. Under the
new act the burden of proof that the
line can be made profitable is put
on the users of the line.
When the NTA held two days of
hearings in Wingham last July into
the future of the branch line, the
main case for the line’s retention
was put by Premdor Inc. Canada’s
largest manufacturer of wooden
doors with seven plants located
throughout Canada including one
in Wingham.
The Wingham plant is the single
biggest user of the branch line and
its future could depend on the
future of the line, the hearing panel
was told. Sol Spears, President of
Premdor told Edmund O’Brien,
hearing chairman, that if the line
closed and the company could not
bring in its large requirement of
lumber by rail, the plant, with its
Continued on page 33
MVC4 approves
$2.3 million
budget
BY BOB MURPHY
Maitland Valley Conservation
Authority directors have approved
a $2,367,927 budget for 1989. The
budget was approved at the author
ity’s annual meeting Thursday at
MVCA headquarters in Wroxeter.
Provincial grants will provide
$1,657,818 of 1989 revenue while
the $710,109 remainder will be
raised through municipal levies,
general revenue and donations.
A breakdown of costs shows that
overall administration costs have
been budgeted at $341,700 while
capital costs for water and related
programs have been set at
$1,189,816 and another $346,511
has been set aside for administra
ting the same programs.
Administration costs for conser
vation and recreation programs will
cost $62,400, while capital costs are
estimated at $42,400. Operations
and maintenance accounts for
$232,700 of the budget and special
programs will cost $152,000.
Included in the water and related
land management capital projects
are: $938,148 for the Listowel
Conduit, Phase 7 construction;
$44,500 for the Wingham Howson
Dam, design engineering and up
date of hydrology calculations;
$60,000 for Goderich Bluffs erosion
control project, design engineering
and class environmental assess
ment; $40,000 for a shoreline
management program, and $85,500
for land acquisition for the Sara
toga Swamp project.
Special programs in the 1989
Continued on page 6