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Home My WebLink AboutThe Citizen, 1995-11-29, Page 1610 GST 650 Vol. 11 No 47 Wednesday, Nov. 29, 1995 Brussels youth nominated for Jr. Citizen award See page '2 Brussels Crusaders split weekend hockey action See page 8 Huron 4-H members get awards See page 17 Bainton Gallery opens with `Exuberance' See page 27 Merchants wait for season rush The North Huroh itizen Animals lost Volunteers from the Blyth Fire Department battled a blaze at Lot 2, Conc. 11 Hullett Twp. on Friday Nov. 24 at 7 a.m. Chief Paul Josling said the small barn, which was owned by Walter Oliver, housed 300 rabbits, two pot-belly pigs, a litter of four pot-belly pigs and two ferrets, all of which perished in the blaze. Firefighters were at the scene for 2 1/2 hours. A heat lamp used for the pigs is believed to have started the fire. Josling estimates the damage at $6,000. By Janice Becker With less than four weeks until Christmas and ample snow to get most in the spirit of the season, local merchants are finding shop- pers cautious to nonexistent. "People are shopping around this year," says Tamara Bearss of Remember When, Blyth, "Money is tight. They are being sure (of their purchases). A lot are just looking for ideas right now." The number of customers ranges from good on Saturdays to no one on other days, says Bearss. This experience is shared by Ruth Webster of Webster's Cloth- ing and Footwear in Blyth. "Busi- ness has been terrible; very very slow." Webster is also concerned that many of her customers may be going to larger shopping centres in neighbouring communities. Merchants can't survive on last minute shopping done at home, she says. For Deanna Snell of Blyth's Christmas and Country, this year seems pretty slow compared to last year. One Blyth businessperson who has seen an increase in business in recent days is Luanne Taylor of Luanne's Country Flowers.. "The (Christmas) season has just started," she says, "but Dec. 1 will be when the big push to shop starts." Orders at the Sears office have also increased recently, says Tay- lor. "People can shop from home, 24 hours a day, with a 1-800 num- ber and the price is competitive with Wal-Mart." The end of a federal government subsidy on postal rates for commu- nity newspapers has resulted in a subscription rate increase for The Citizen. "The subsidy, which has been in place for most of the century has benefited readers of newspapers in small communities," said Citizen Publisher Keith Roulston. "With its end The Citizen can't absorb the increased cost without putting its future in jeopardy." The rate increase applies only to subscribers in the 60 km radius of Brussels who have been getting Citizen delivery at the lowest rate. The situation is complicated by the fact that Canada Post has still not announced what the new rate will be when it comes into effect April 1. Since nearly half of the subscrip- tions to The Citizen come due in December, however, it would mean a huge loss for the community- owned company if those papers were renewed at the current sub- Shopkeepers in Brussels are experiencing similar mixed buying trends. "(In the last two or three days), there have been a lot of toys sold," says Curtis Graber, an employee at Oldfield Pro Hardware and Radio Shack. "However, they seem to be more cautious, checking the value of the products." For Kang Yoon of Brussels Pharmacy, things have been quite slow since September or October because of the big stores in Goderich, he says. "Things are quite different from last year, much slower." Yoon says he hopes to draw peo- ple into town through advertise- ments, but has not seen a signi- ficant change yet. Agnes TenPas of Just For You, is trying a different tack to draw cus- tomers to her shop. Beginning Nov. 24 and running until Christmas, she will be having a large sale. "People are just looking. They may be in the store once or twice before making a decision," she says. "We can't blame customers for looking for the best deal and we can't force them to buy here. We have to hang in until they come back home to shop." McDonald Home Hardware and Lumber has fared some better, indi- cating sales have picked up in the last couple of weeks. At Rice's Store in Hullett Twp., business has been fair, says owner Jim Rice. "The snow has made sales better because people have to have (snow gear), but money is scarce." scription rate but had to be deliv- ered for most of a year at the new Canada Post rate. "Based on the most recent avail- able information from the Canadian Community Newspaper Associa- tion, which is negotiating with Canada Post, we decided a $2 sub- scription rate increase was the most fair," Roulston said. The increase will cover a portion of the addition- al costs that will be incurred in delivering papers for the period from April 1 to December, 1996. "It's troubling to newspaper pub- lishers everywhere that in the last five years we've had to raise rates several times for GST, newsprint price increases and now postal rates without gaining anything for our own financial needs," Roulston said. Still, he observed, even at the new rate a yearly subscription to The Citizen will be several dollars cheaper than other community newspapers in Clinton and Wing- ham. With the holiday season fast approaching, the Ontario Provincial Police is reminding the public of the danger of mixing alcohol with travel. In a continuing effort to make Ontario highways safer, the OPP plans to crackdown on impaired driving violations this holiday season. From Nov. 30 to Jan. 4, the OPP will team up with other police agencies and organizations for the annual RIDE (Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere) campaign in an effort to curb the death toll on Ontario roads. As part of this year's campaign, MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) will once again distribute its familiar red ribbons to motorists to promote sober driving. In addition, Canada's Safety Council has proclaimed "The Hidden Faces of Impaired Driving" as the theme for its 40th annual Safe Driving Week, Dec. 1 - 7. These undertak- ings will complement the OPP's festive season initiative with the common objective of promot-ing safe, sober driving. Exeter, Goderich and Wingham OPP detachments, along with other police agencies in Huron County, will be conducting RIDE checks all through the same time period. These RIDE initiatives are promoted to make highways as safe as possible for the travelling public, especially for young children whose level of anticipation is greatly highlighted at this time of the year. Last year, during a five-week RIDE festive season initiative which ran from Nov. 27 to Dec. 31, a total of 485,131 vehicles were stopped at roadside checkpoints. A total of 1,813 12-hour licence suspensions were issued and 678 criminal code alcohol-related charges were laid. In other words, for every 194 drivers stopped at a RIDE checkpoint, one driver was either charged with impaired driving or was issued a 12-hour licence suspension. During the same period, the OPP investigated 46 fatal collisions in which 52 people were killed. Nearly 40 per cent of these fatal Continued on page 13 Alarm saves man The presence of a smoke alarm saved the man's life. "This could have been a much worse story," says Blyth and District Fire Chief Paul Josling. Jim Cook of Walton, awoke in the early morning hours of Nov. 23, to a house filled with smoke. The fire started in the chimney and progressed to the structure of the home, says Josling. A total damage estimate is $3,000 to $4,000, including damage to an end wall. The Blyth firefighters arrived on the scene at 4 a.m. and remained until approximately 6 a.m., after receiving a back up call from the Brussels department. rates to rise Subscription OPP begin RIDE