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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1989-08-23, Page 1Queens sought Brussels fair looking for queens See page 2 Talented lady Patti Archibald brings world of experience to new job See page 5 Box office smash Blyth Festival sells out 4 shows See page 22 VOL. 5 NO. 34 oorving dtussbis, oiyin, MUDurn, DBigrave, cinei, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 1989.45 CENTS lip-synched to the music to the amusement of several dozen in the audience. The summer program ended last week after a summer of treating Blyth-area youngsters to crafts and activities. Young swingers Young rock stars in the making showed their stuff Thursday night at the wind-up picnic for the Blyth summer recreation program. Julie Ritchie (left), Ashley Howson and Elisha Courtney stylishly Blyth approves Festival expansion plan The calling of tenders for the expansion of Blyth Memorial Hall was approved by Blyth village council early Saturday morning Skating duo splits Schooling comes first Well-known area skating duo, Peter MacDonald and Kerrie Shep­ herd, are calling it quits after six years together as Kerrie wants to concentrate on her education. The couple have recently attained triple gold status. This means that they have each earned their gold medal in dance, figures and free-skate which is the top award for the test structure. Miss Shepherd, who will begin studies at the University of Water­ loo this fall, has decided to retire from competitive skating. Mr. MacDonald will continue skating on weekends to keep in condition and will wait to see if another partner comes along for him. after a marathon meeting that took up two nights last week. After meeting for nearly five hours Thursday night (the first According to Mr. MacDonald’s mother the pair have been like siblings and are parting as good friends. This dance pair from Brussels and Blyth have many impressive accomplishments to show from their years together. The most noteworthy was their selection as alternates to the Junior World team, which was close to their final goal. They also attended the Na­ tional Championships three times and won the Novice Variation their second year in the Canadian com­ petition. Last year they placed eighth in the Junior competition which was their first year at that level. hour in committee of the whole) the council went back into session Friday night to discuss the Hall plans and other business, a meet­ ing that lasted well past midnight. In the end, council passed a motion to allow Blyth Centre for the Arts to call for tenders for an addition which will link Memorial Hall to the Festival’s administration building. The tenders will not actually be awarded, however, until council and the Festival have reached an operating agreement for the new addition. That may be the sticky point in the plans as councillors indicated they will seek quality guarantees in the agreement to make sure the Festival, not the village taxpayer, pays for repairs that might be necessitated by work being done in the cold weather of late fall and early winter. Councillor Dave Lee expressed concern over the quality of work­ manship that might be done under adverse conditions. “I’m in favour of the building going ahead,” he said, “but I can’t see it all coming together. 1 think they should leave the link until next year.” He felt the Festival should proceed with renovating its own building and putting a new roof on Memorial Hall but shouldn’t break ground on the addition until better weather conditions in the spring. “It’s fine they’re paying the shot to build (the addition) but we’re the ones that have to maintain it,” he said. If the bricks start falling off five years from now because they were put on when the weather was too cold, he said, it would be the village that would be stuck with the cost of repairs. That, suggested Reeve Albert Wasson, was one of the things that should be included in the opera­ tional agreement. The lack of an operational agree­ ment was one of the stumbling blocks in council’s giving approval to the plans. When the Festival Continued on page 3 Steven Sparling new Blyth councillor In a controversial 3-0 vote Thurs­ day night, Blyth village council appointed Steven Sparling to fill the seat left vacant last month by the resignation of Dave Medd. Mr. Sparling was one of three people who submitted applications for the vacancy. Also nominated were Lynn Logue, and Fred De­ boer. Although the vote was taken in open council the councillors had met earlier to discuss the three applicants. All three candidates were present at the meeting to hear the official verdict. The decision brought an imme­ diate response from one of the spectators present. Al Donaldson, father of Mrs. Logue said he liked Mr. Sparling very much but “1 just feel we’re going about this appoint­ ment the wrong way.” He pointed out Mrs. Logue had stood fifth in the election last November and that 253 voters had cast their ballot for her. That support should have counted for something when it came to choosing a replacement for Mr. Medd, he said. He felt that Mrs. Logue should have been asked if she was willing to serve on council before advertisements were placed in the paper seeking appli­ cants for the vacancy. Reeve Albert Wasson tried to explain why council had gone the route it had in choosing a new councillor. Forty-five days follow­ ing an election, he said, the voters list for that election is no longer valid. At that time council, facing a vacancy, can go to the polls in a by-election (an expensive process) or it can fill the vacancy through an appointment. There was nothing to stop coun­ cil from appointing someone from the previous list of those who ran for council last time, he said, (there were two other unsuccessful candi­ dates besides Mrs. Logue who ranked below her in the polls) but council didn’t feel it wanted to set a precident. If council this time took the next candidate down the line and another vacancy opened and it took the next candidate, it could get to the point council was taking STEVEN SPARLING New Blyth councillor