Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1997-07-16, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 1997 The North Huron P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. NOU 1H0 Phone 523-4792 FAX 523-9140 itizen P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. NOG 1H0 Phone 887-9114 FAX 887-9021 E-mail norhuron@huron.net Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie Gropp Advertising Manager, Jeannette McNeil The Citizen is published weekly in Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $27.00/year ($25.24 + $1.76 G.S.T.) in Canada; $62.00/year in U.S.A, and $75.00/year In other foreign countries. 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 they will have a healthy future or not. E ditorial I.......-.............................i Hanging on Many of Huron County’s small communities are at a crossroads in history. It will be up to the residents of those communities to decide if The combination of the prolonged recession of the 1990s and the explosion of extra retail space in the region with the construction of several "big box" stores is sapping the lifeblood of main street businesses — in other words, money. More and more people are turning to these large stores for their purchases, leaving the independent merchants to try to hang on picking up the scraps, the money people want to spend when they aren't willing to make a trip out of town. But it's more than just the money. There is also the sense of hurt and futility these merchants feel. They have tried to provide a valuable service to the people of their community and now they see people turning Lheir backs and heading to the supposed glamour of the big stores, to be like their cousins in the city. The people who have come to them for donations for the church auction, who have wanted sponsorships for ball teams, who canvass merchants first for the Heart Fund, arc abandoning them for savings of a few cents or dollars. As the merchants feel discouraged, it's easy to not be as excited, as aggressive in marketing, as cheerful to customers, as they should be. If they sink into that kind of depression, they are losing the one advantage they have over their competition. There is still doubt among many business leaders that the big box stores can find enough business in this part of the country to survive even if they drive most of lheir small competitors out of business. If they can't, local shoppers will be left with nothing, neither their hometown merchants or the big stores in neighbouring towns. Right now it's like watching a whole community slowly commit suicide. People are willingly killing off the heart of their community by starving the downtown core of many towns and villages of cash. You, as a consumer, are voting with each dollar you spend. If you spend that dollar in your own community, you are voting to support a community that will help support the other things you want, from convenient shopping to activities like recreation. If you spend your dollars with the big stores in the bigger communities, you arc voting against a future in which your community will have a healthy downtown to provide services directly, and indirectly through taxes and support of good causes. The choice is yours. — KR Best things in life aren’t free The best things in life are free, we are reminded — like fresh air and sunshine. Except this week people in southern Ontario have learned they aren’t. In this week's heat wave, fresh air suddenly was a rare commodity. Pollution caused by cars and industries in southern Ontario and in the northern U.S. produced air of such poor quality that it became dangerous to breathe. Doctors were warning people with breathing problems, the elderly, and even children, not to go out in the murky conditions. Some officials said sending children out to play in the polluted air of early this week was the equivalent of sending them out in a raging blizzard. But despite the unusual conditions that came together to create a crisis this week, this was not an isolated incident, say some experts. "We have chronic air problems in our province and it's our children who are suffering," said Ian Morton, air quality co-ordinator with The Lung Association. One in every 10 children has asthma, a doubling in the past 10 years, he said. There has been much talk in the past few years about solving the debt crisis so we won't burden our children with having to pay our debt. Nobody seems to be talking about the other problems we are leaving to our children. If we have doubled the number of children who suffer asthma, we are doubling the number of people who will suffer their whole lives because we have been willing to trade a lifestyle of possessions (cars, TVs, etc.) for clean air and water. Today, our children may think they want all those gadgets. As they grow older, however, they might gladly trade all their material possessions for what we took for granted: clean air and water. We owe it to them to clean up our act. — KR Photo by Janice Becker Letters to the editor THE EDITOR, Thanks to the commitment of young people from Blyth and area, families in Senegal will soon have clean water, in Uganda the World Vision's Trauma Centre will provide children of war with clothes, shelter, food and counselling, and in Thailand young girls will be given education and training so they can be spared a life of prostitution. Those efforts are all being funded because young people from your community raised $920 in the 1997 World Vision 30-Hour Famine. Participants consumed only clear fluids for 30 hours while raising money to support World Vision's relief and development programs. Thus far, Canadian young people have raised $1.5 million in this year's Famine. These young people can hold their heads high because their efforts have helped shape a brighter future for the world's children. On behalf of World Vision Canada and the children who will benefit from their caring, I say "Thank you Blyth and area." Sincerely, Dave Toycen, President. P.S. Antipersonnel mines kill 800 people and maim 1200 every single month - one victim every 20 minutes. World Vision's Hour Famine will fund projects in Cambodia, Mozambique and Angola where children will be trained in mine-awareness. THE EDITOR, Everyone has days when it feels like the entire world is filled with darkness. We call this feeling depression. For most this feeling goes away in a relatively short period of time however, for those who suffer from a depressive illness this negative feeling can last for days or even weeks. Depression is an illness which is very common and often misunderstood. At any one time approximately one in four women and one in 10 men in Canada suffers from depression. Depression is an illness and is not the result of a personal failure or weakness, it affects men and women from every walk of life, both young and old. Some individuals suffering from depression also experience mania. Mania is a condition in which the Continued on page 7