HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1992-06-10, Page 22One big happy family
Mrs. Betty Battye of Blyth was the happy hostess of three Japanese visitors during their tour
with their play Kanashibetsu . Left to right: Fran Cook (Mrs. Battye's daughter), Chie
Moriyama, Mrs. Battye, Michiko Naito, Catherine Welsh (another daughter) and Yoshiro
Hashizome.
Woman hosts Japanese visitors
Grand Open, June 17
BY CHRIS ROULSTON
Numerous Blyth and area fami
lies had the opportunity to serve as
host families to the touring theatre
troupe from Furano, Japan for five
days this past week.
Mrs. Betty Battye of Blyth
counts herself as very fortunate for
having been able to provide a home
for three members of the Furano
group: Yoshiro Hashizome who
was involved with production; Chie
(nicknamed Totoro) Moriyama
who was involved in lighting; and
Michiko Naito was an actress in the
production.
Mrs. Battye says she couldn't
have had nicer house guests. The
three of them never had any com
plaints and they were very appre
ciative of every small thing. She
thoroughly enjoyed their visit and
was very sad to see them leave on
Sunday morning, as were all the
other host families.
The Blyth Festival first
approached Mrs. Battye about
receiving some of the Japanese
visitors through her daughter Fran.
Fran had been asked to house a vis
itor and she informed them that her
mother would probably be interest
ed also.
The Japanese arrived on Tuesday
evening and were treated to a hefty
North American meal of pizza by
the Festival and a welcoming com
mittee comprised of host families,
town council members and other
interested people.
Mrs. Battye said Yoshiro, Totoro,
and Michiko were quite exhausted
by the time they finally got home to
her house.
At first, communicating was a lit
tle rough and a lot of hand signals
had to be used, but Mrs. Battye
says they got along fine. Yoshiro
spoke English the best and he
helped out when the girls had any
problems communicating.
The Japanese were very
impressed by the space here in
Blyth and by the stars at night. In
Tokyo you can't see the stars
because the buildings are too tall
and the light from the city blocks
off the stars.
Yoshiro, Totoro and Michiko
also loved the colours of the fields,
especially the fields of canola.
They found the area very beautiful.
Michiko says she wants to return to
Blyth for her honeymoon and stay
with Mrs. Battye.
The Japanese troupe was taken to
a bam dance Thursday night. It
was quite a new experience for
them and they thoroughly enjoyed
it. Unfortunately Totoro couldn't
attend because she had to work on
lighting.
Totoro was treated instead to
canoeing and fishing with Mrs.
Battye's family. Mrs. Battye says
that Totoro and her grandson got
along very well remarking how
much better children seen to com
municate.
Her guests, she said, were very
surprised at the reception they
received in Blyth. Everywhere
they went, people greeted them on
the streets. They were over
whelmed by the friendliness.
County to express concern
over changes
Huron County Council will regis
ter its concern over loss of cover
age for rural issues caused by the
closure of production facilities at
CKNX TV and the sale of the sta
tion to Baton Broadcasting.
County councillors supported a
resolution from Hullett Township,
Thursday, expressing concerns over
the CKNX changes. Blackburn
communications first announced
the closure of production facilities
at CKNX television, then a few
days later announced the sale of
CKNX and CFPL to Baton Broad
casting, the largest television sta
tion in the country. Hullett Reeve
Tom Cunningham worried that
with a large urban station taking
over, and with no production facili-
Letter to the editor
continued from page 21
with its diminished view of human'
potential.
Finally, why did I pick apart
Christianity with such vehemence.
The numerous problems confront
ing planet Earth (social, ecological
decay, political, economic, popula
tion growth, etc.) stem in part or
wholly from centuries of pro
religious attitudes about Man's
position in nature. It is “Christian”
nations which are responsible for
most of the ecological decay
affecting our global village. In
over-population, the Judeo-
Christian was, and still is, raw
demographic aggression, an
attempt to subdue the earth by
turning the human uterus into a
baby machine with sexist attitudes
Mrs. Battye says she doesn't
know if there was anything that her
guests didn't like, such as food,
because they were much too polite
to ever complain. They did men
tion that we eat a lot more meat
here than they do in Japan. They
are used to the idea of North Amer
ican food however because of the
cosmopolitan nature of Tokyo.
Mrs. Battye was upset to see her
new found friends leave, however ,
she would like to visit Japan herself
in about three years time, and she
also hopes that they will come
again to Blyth.
at CKNX
ties, CKNX may become just an
urban station.
The resolution pointed out
CKNX had a mandate to provide
agriculturally-oriented program
ming for Huron, Bruce and Grey
counties and that with the reduction
in staff that would be difficult.
CKNX should not merely be a
relay station for CFPL but should
retain its identity as the voice of
this area of midwestem Ontario, the
resolution said. It called for the
county's concerns to be made
known to Martha Blackbum of the
Blackbum Group, owner of the two
stations, and to the Canadian
Radio-Television and Telecommu
nications Commission, which will
have to approve the sale to Baton.
and to dehumanizing gender roles
inherent to Christianity. The
success of this is indicated by the
fact that Christianity is the largest
religious group on earth. Child
abuse is traceable to the retarding
Christian teachings on human
sexuality as well as a host of other
societal ills. The list could go on
and on.
The last correction is that
Abraham Lincoln was not inspired
by the bible. He was a Humanist as
was Albert Einstein, George
Orwell, Thomas Edison, Thomas
Jefferson, Albert Schweitzer, Carl
Sagan, Mark Twain, Charles
Darwin, Margret Atwood,
Morgentaler, and many, many
more.
Doug Trollope
With the Grand Theatre's stages
dark until the fall, attention has
shifted to “play” of a different sort.
The Grand Theatre & Kellogg
Canada Inc. Second Annual
Women's Open is set for
Wednesday, June 17, at Greenhills
Country Club in Lambeth. A full
day of great golf and hospitality is
planned.
The inaugural event in 1991 was
hugely successful, raising over
$22,000 for The Grand Theatre.
Kellogg Canada Inc. has
generously renewed its support of
the tournament in the form of a
substantial funding commitment,
volunteers and other assistance for
the day of the event. Last year's
appearance of the Tony the Tiger
hot air balloon from Battle Creek,
Michigan was a special feature of I
the tournament. At this year's]
outing, the Canadian Tony balloon
will be launched from Greenhills t
during the day, weather permitting.
The tournament is part of an all- 1
inclusive day from lunch to golf to
dinner and a fabulous prize table -
every golfer will win a gift from a
great array of good and services
donated by dozens of local
businesses. A truly gifted golfer
could be the lucky winner of a
1992 Mazda Miata. The trick?
Merely sinking a hole-in-one!
East Wawanosh's 125th
Birthday 8
Prince and Princess %
Contest *
WAWANOSH
When: Friday July 3rd Winners announced at Family Dance
Where: Belgrave Auditorium
Contest Rules:
1) Must be 12 to 17 yrs. of age as of July 3rd
2) Must be a resident of East Wawanosh Twp.
3) Deadline to register is Wed. June 24th
Contest Requirements:
1) Speech (1 1/2 to 2 mins.) Topics to choose from:
-Why I enjoy living In East Wawanosh Twp.
or -My contributions to East Wawanosh Twp.
2) Interview (History of Twp. Current Events, etc.)
For more information or to register please call
523-9469 - after 5:00
or 357-2862 - after 5:00
Maitland Manor Nursery
& Landscaping
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Regardless of golf acumen, each
registrant will have an equal shot at
the tournament's best prize, as each
golfer will be entered in a draw for
tickets for two to Europe donated
by Canadian Airlines International.
The Theatre's special events co
ordinator, Alison Janzen, will be
pleased to take reservations or
handle enquiries about the golf
tournament. The entry fee is $125
and a tax receipt of $75 will be
issued to each golfer.
CHRYSLER W
All you have to do
Is drive one.