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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1993-04-14, Page 4VERIFIED CIRCULATION .A.471 % PAID A slatted view Photo by Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot Looking Back Through the Years From the files of The Citizen FIVE YEARS AGO April 13, 1988 Winners of the Brussels Public School science fair were Devon Henry, Kelly Overholt and Carla Johnston. Three Blyth speakers represented the Lions Club at the Effective Speaking Finals in Walkerton. They were Steacey Elliott, Stephen Souch and Kim Medd, who won the top English Speaking Girl com- petition. Hullett science fair winners were: Melanie Knox, Michelle Goven- lock, Sara Lyons, Shelley Meurer, Jennifer Nott and Raymond Wilts. Glen Coultes was presented with a gift in recognition of his 22 years of coaching hockey in Belgrave. Grey science fair winners were: Jolanda Vanass, Ann Uhler, Kent Bray, Danny Mitchell, Manivan Laprom, Surang Laprom, Sabrina Vandale, Stacey Boyd, Barb Alexander, Grant Martin, Lyall Winger and Seth McCutcheon. Winners of Celebration 88 medals were: Gordon Pengelly, Jack Shiell, Harvey Black, Terry Daer and Brian Potter. Crusaders won the WOAA Inter- mediate "A" championship. The Canadian Chamber Ensem- ble performed at Blyth. PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 1993. E ditorial Sock it to the other guy There's something more than a little morally dishonest about most of the calls for cuts in government spending. Everybody who expresses concern over the deficit situation almost always sees taxing someone else, or cutting services to someone else as the answer to the problem. While some people say no politician should talk about deficit reduction without spelling out how he or she would do it, perhaps the same approach should be applied to ordinary people. Read the letters to the editor or listen to the radio call in shows and people always have a ready answer as to who should pay the costs — anybody but them. There's always a scapegoat somewhere. People generally like to pick on the people who have the least in the first place, those on welfare or unemployment insurance, as the culprits. On one recent call-in show a government employee, worried about her job, suggested that if the government would just stop supporting illegal refugees there wouldn't be a problem. She may have a point, but is it really costing $18 billion or so to keep refugees until they have their hearings? Government waste is another favourite subject. Here is a comforting target because it means we can continue to get every service we've got while still cutting costs. There is no doubt there is waste in government, even after years of trying to introduce efficiency (just as there is waste in every big business you can name) but if every cent of waste was rooted out, we still wouldn't likely achieve the kinds of savings we must if Ontario (or for that matter the federal government) is to balance its budget in these times of diminished revenues. Let's face it, whatever we do to reduce the deficit is going to hurt somebody. Honest critics will look at what service they might sacrifice for the cause of deficit reduction that would hurt themselves before they start talking about other people's sacrifices.What government service that you benefit from would you give up in the interest of deficit reduction? Once you've answered that question then perhaps you can expect others to share the pain equally.—KR Remembering hidden assets The announcement of a $155,371 grant for rehabilitation of Blyth Brook may remind area people that they often overlook assets in their community that have always been here and we've come to take for granted. Let's face it, our streams and rivers have been pretty well forgotten in the grand scheme of things in the past few decades. Oh in some cases, such as the dam and park at Brussels, we have taken the time and effort to beautify a riverbank to create a park, but the rest of the river has still been ignored, and often downright abused. Only in the last couple of years has there been a stress on returning rivers to their natural situation. The closing of Lake Huron beaches brought a focus on what was happening upstream on rivers like the Maitland. What was seen wasn't pretty. Pollution comes from things like poor septic tanks and inadequate sewage treatment facilities and from animal wastes that get into the water, either from animals getting directly 'alto the water to drink, or from runoff from fields where manure has been spread or from leakage from manure storage facilities. Increased cash crop farming has put more stress on soil structure and led to more erosion, carrying soil into the streams bringing even more pollution from pesticides and chemical fertilizers and fouling fish spawning grounds. All this has brought a cost that few of us have stopped to look at. Blyth Brook, for instance, was once known as a fine brook trout stream but with so many changes in the environment the number of trout has dropped greatly. An increace in the temperature of the water by a few degrees, for instance, can make the difference between trout living in a stream and dying. Among the things now getting attention along rivers are buffer zones of long grass and trees that keep cattle out of the water and filter out run-off from fields. The trees, sheltering the streams, also cool the water and protect fish life. While we've tended to ignore the rivers because we're too busy making money elsewhere, we're missing a huge potential economic spin-off. Recreational fishing is one of the most lucrative forms of tourism these days with some people estimating there is more money spent by weekend fishermen on the Great Lakes than is taken in by the commercial fishery. The partners in the Blyth Brook project, including the federal and provincial governments, the Village of Blyth, Blyth Scouts and Blyth Optimists and other groups like the Maitland Valley Anglers, deserve praise for taking on this project. Perhaps their foresight will open the eyes of the rest of us who have been ignoring this resource.—KR C itizen The North. Huron P.O. Box 429, P.O. Box 152, BLYTH, Ont. BRUSSELS, Ont. NOM 1H0 NOG 1H0 Phone 523-4792 Phone 887-9114 FAX 523-9140 FAX 887-9021 The Citizen is published weekly in Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $20.50/year ($19.16 plus $1.34 G.S.T.) for local; $31.03/year ($29.00 plus $2.03 G.S.T.) for local letter carrier in Goderich, Hanover, Ustowel, etc. and out-of-area (40 miles from Brussels); $60.00/year for U.S.A. and Foreign. 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