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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1995-01-11, Page 4Winter wonderland Photo by Janice Becker Looking Back Through the Years From the files of the Blyth Stan- dard, Brussels Post and the North Huron Citizen 55 YEARS AGO JAN. 10, 1940 The inaugural meeting of the Blyth municipal council was held. After members took the oath of office Reeve McNall and council- lors Cook and Johnston discussed bills and accounts. Miss Gladys Fawcett was hon- oured by friends and co-workers at the Blyth Municipal Telephone System. After 12 years of service she left to take a position in Toron- to. In the Town Hockey League the Savages defeated the Rovers 3-1, while the Ruffians embarrassed the Indians with a 6-1 win. Mr. J. C. Shearer, agricultural representative for Huron, was the guest speaker at a Women's Insti- tute meeting in Memorial Hall. A new law passed in the legisla- ture required the pasteurization of milk in certain municipalities. Blyth residents were made aware that the bill would come into effect in three months. 28 YEARS AGO JAN. 12, 1967 George McCutcheon was elected chairman of the newly formed Morris, East Wawanosh Township School Area Board. Only four people attended the Centennial Committee meeting at the Brussels library. Officials Letters THE EDITOR, As a refreshing wind came the news from Paul Carroll, Huron County director of education, that religious exercises in Huron County are alive and well. A week later we were shocked by the news of a local newspaper that a move was afoot to ban all Chris- tian related activities. Minority pressure groups find it offensive to warned if more interest wasn't shown at the next meeting the pro- ceedings would be cancelled. The president of the Brussels UCW was Mrs. Carl Hemingway. The treasurer was Mrs. Bill Miller. The New Year meeting of Melville Women's Missionary Society featured Mrs. Margaret Continued on page 5 be exposed to our traditional, age old custom to celebrate and practise what we have held dear for so long. What is even more disturbing is that most of the opposition comes from people we took under our wings because of the oppression they faced in their country of origin. Canadian tolerance gave them the opportunity to free expression. I can't believe that they now want to restrict ours. More important, are we holding still for it? The government is apparently weak enough to consider it. It is time to show some spine, defend and promote our Christian way of life founded in love. We must let our lawmakers know that Continued on page 6 Citizen eg3NA The North Huron eN A P.O. Box 429, P.O. Box 152, BLYTH, OnL BRUSSELS, Ont NOM 1H0 NOG 1H0 Phone 523.4792 Phone 887-9114 FAX 523-9140 FAX 887.9021 Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie Gropp Sales Representatives, Jeannette McNeil and Julie Mitchell The Citizen is published weekly In Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $23.00/year ($21.50 plus $1.50 G.S.T.) for local; $33.00/year ($30.85 plus $2.15 G.S.T.) for local letter carrier In Goderich, Hanover, Listowel, etc. and out-of-area (40 miles from Brussels); $62.00/year for U.S.A. and Foreign. Advertising is accepted on the condition that In the event of a typographical error, only that portion of the advertisement will be credited. Advertising Deadlines: Monday, 2 p.m. - Brussels; Monday, 4 p.m. Blyth. We are not responsible for unsolicited newscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright. Publications Mall Registration No. 6968 PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 1995. Paying the (delayed) price Off hand, you mightn't think there was any connection between Christmas shopping and complaints about poor municipal election coverage on radio and television last November but in a round about, very long-term way, there is a tie-in. Councils across the county have expressed their distress over what they felt was poor coverage of the local municipal election results. There's no doubt that it was frustrating for anyone from a smaller municipality to get results with the CFPL-CKNX television coverage centred on cities like London, Windsor and Sarnia. Owen Sound and Goderich might get some coverage but residents of smaller towns, villages and the townships were in the dark. This was certainly not the kind of coverage Huron residents were used to when CKNX television had its own studio in Wingham. It's certainly not what people were used to in the day when the Cruickshank family operated first the radio station, then the TV station in Wingham. But although there is anger with the way the new owners ignored the area, in many cases we're getting what we paid for. Sometimes when you make a bargain you see the results instantly. Sometimes it takes years, even decades. The current lack of coverage results from decisions we as consumers have made over the past two decades. When Doc Cruickshank began CKNX there were only two TV stations available and everybody shopped in their hometown. Advertisers had only two stations on which to advertise, and all the TV ad dollars from this area went to support the local station. But we weren't satisfied with that. We wanted more than two stations and repeater stations and cable TV carne along, splitting the audience. If a national advertiser such as Campbell Soup, for instance, wanted to reach the local audience why would they bother paying for time on CKNX when they could get a large part of the audience through their ads on stations from Kitchener and Toronto picked up on local cable. With the audience split, fewer people watched CKNX meaning the station got less when it did run an ad.The Cruickshank family could see the writing on the wall and sold out to CFPL. The Blackburn family continued to carry on valiantly for many years but as costs rose revenues weren't keeping pace. More and more people were heading to Kitchener or London (or Port Huron) to shop. This took money out of the hands of local merchants who might have advertised. When the Blackburns decided to sell to Baton Broadcasting, the CKNX station was quickly closed. Few people seem to grasp the interconnectedness of a community and the ultimate ramifications of the little decisions they make. Shopping out of town to save a few dollars may undermine the very community we live in. Eventually there is a price to be paid. If main streets die, the community is the loser. If the media dies (TV already has, maybe radio and local newspapers will someday follow), we are left not even knowing what is going on in our own backyard. It's ironic that in the day when the world is supposedly becoming smaller, we can be losing the ability to communicate to ourselves in our own area. Upsetting as the lack of TV coverage of the local election results was, perhaps we got the coverage we deserve, the final payment for a bargain we made years ago. — KR Down-sizing democracy Renovation plans for the Huron County Courthouse were approved by county council last week and in a way they show the crazy way government has gone in the past few decades. The $1.7 million renovation was undertaken for several reasons, not the least being the need to upgrade the mechanical and heating facilities, improve fire safety and make the building more accessible for those with handicaps. But part of the need also came from the increased size of the county bureaucracy. This growth has come at the same time as the number of elected representatives has been reduced, and reduced again. When the courthouse was built in the 1950s, following the disastrous fire that destroyed the old courthouse, there was a large elected council. Twice now the size of the council has been reduced, the most recent being with the last election when each municipality, no matter what the size, was allowed only one representative. The move headed off pressure from the province to reduce the size of councils. Strangely, the provincial government continues to promote "efficiency" by cutting out a few council stipends while forcing municipalities to hire more staff to run provincially-mandated programs. Maybe soon we'll do away with council altogether. —KR E ditorial