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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1999-04-21, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 1999. C itizen P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. NOM 1H0 Phone 523-4792 FAX 523-9140 E-mail norhuron@scsinternet.com The North Huron >cna P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. NOG 1H0 Phone 887-9114 FAX 887-9021 Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie Gropp Advertising Manager, Jeannette McNeil Member Ontario The Citizen is published 50 times a year in Brussels, Press Council 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 $100.00/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 Mail Registration No. 09244 Canadian Publication Mail Agreement No. 1374990 Let the kids have fun In the midst of the national celebration of the great career of Wayne Gretzky, will anyone stop to listen to his advice about what hockey should be for kids? Gretzky took advantage of the national forum he was given because of all the attention paid to his farewell to the NHL to say hockey for kids should emphasize just plain having fun, not winning or drcams of a professional career. Youngsters, he said, shouldn’t ] be worried about defensive positioning. They shouldn't have too much coaching. They should be given a puck and a patch of ice and be left alone to have a good time. Perhaps, the Great One said, the game should be tailored to the size of the participants. Baseball has shorter basepaths and smaller bats and balls for kids. Maybe hockey should have a smaller puck, smaller rink and kid-sized goals, he said. Gretzky's prescription returns to his own past when he had endless hours to play on the backyard rink his father Walter constructed. He would play six or eight hours a day, he remembered. Other great players like Gordie Howe polished their skills on the open ponds of western Canada with endless hours to play and experiment. Most kids don't have that luxury today. Most play on artificial ice on indoor arenas (recent winters have made outdoor rinks almost impossible). Since the rinks are expensive to operate, ice time is limited. Coaches try to get the most out of the available time by teaching kids instead of letting them develop on their own. With a lol of money invested in equipment and minor hockey registration, some parents want to see a return on their investment — a winning team. Competition is healthy at higher levels. Certainly there was no more determined competitor than Gretzky who revealed it became harder and harder to accept losing as he grew older. Yet Gretzky knows that you have to grow to love the game first, then all things arc possible. Here’s hoping coaches, parents and minor hockey officials all across Canada will listen to this hero. Let's make the game fun first, then once the kids love the game, let them discover that it’s also fun to win. — KR Peace takes two sides As the war over Kosovo drags on without any quick victory for NATO bombers over Yugoslavian army and police who are driving ethnic Albanians from their homes, the inevitable opposition has started to mount here in Canada. Sample letters in one major newspaper recently went along the lines of “give peace a chance”. Would it were so easy. While it is commendable Canadians don’t simply accept the line that our Canadian government is always right, there's an opposite fallacy in figuring the allies, particularly the U.S., are always wrong. Many people seem to accept that if NATO just stopped the bombing, negotiations would start and the war would end. The allies should "cash in their chips and negotiate while they arc ahead", one writer said. Yet Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic had plenty of chance to negotiate before the bombing started. He fell he could win because he doubted the will of the people of NATO countries to sustain a protracted war. Hold out for a few weeks, he figured, aad the democracies would find out support had eroded. A few (or a few hundred or thousand) of his people would have been killed but that sacrifice was worth it to have his own way in driving non-Serbian people from Yugoslavia. Nobody, with the possible exception of a few generals, wants to see people killed in this war whether they be innocent Kosovar refugees, innocent Serbians living near targets or NATO air crews and soldiers. But what is the alternative, to sit back and watch people be slaughtered because they have the misfortune not to be of Serbian bloodlines? If our world is ever to move toward lasting peace we must create some sort of international police force to let gangster regimes like that of Milosevic know they can’t expect to gel away with murder. But police, even here in peaceful Canada, risk their lives when they try to assure law and order. If we are to develop an international police force, no doubt lives will be lost in the name of protecting innocent lives. The NATO force is a poor substitute for a true international police force but it’s all we have right now. Having NATO walk away would be like police leaving a house while a murder was in progress. — KR E ditorial Photo by Janice Becker Looking Back Through the Years From the files of the Blyth Standard, Brussels Post and North Huron Citizen April 25,1979 Lion Keith Richmond of Blyth was elected as one of the zone chairmen at the District A9, Lions International Mini-Convention in Port Elgin. About 300 persons attended the first bazaar and bake sale of the Children's Workshop held in the Auburn Community Memorial Hall. David Leibold, Blyth, placed 56th out of 24,142 students who took part in a Junior Math contest for students in Grades 9 through 11. The entrants came from 1,097 high schools from across Canada. The Hullett Central School kids put on a spring concert featuring the operetta Going West. April 26.1989 Boy Scouts and Beavers from Blyth spent a Saturday morning planting trees on the farm of Norman Vincent near Londesboro. The program called Trees for Canada sees the Scouts help the environment by planting trees while at the same time raising money for Scout work by taking pledges. The bottom line of the Huron County Board of Education budget meeting meant an approximate 10 per cent increase after the inclusion of a special projects. This meant a raise in taxes of about $40 on the average residential property. Winners of the first Brussels Lions Bingo Jackpot were Marjorie H-artleib of Belgrave and Wenda Stroop. Each received $500. Grade eight students at Blyth Public School were working their way to Ottawa and making the vil­ lage spic and span. They organized 'Lawn Busters' and were cleaning yards for a fee that was used towards the cost of the trip. Manivan Larprom of Grey Central'School was the big winner at the Huron County Science Fair in Clinton. She won a trip to the Canada-Wide Science Fair in Newfoundland. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure was showing at the Park Theatre in Goderich. April 20,1994 Philadelphia played at the Park Theatre, while D2, The Mighty Ducks played at the Lyceum Theatre in Wingham. With an accumulated net revenue for the year of $29,607, village councillors are anticipating no increase in the mill rate for general purposes for Blyth ratepayers. Kate Lucas, of Kent, England took part in a teacher exchange between her home board and the Huron County Board of Education. This allowed her to visit Canada from April 2-16. She was to host Grey Central Resource Teacher Marilyn Elgie during July at East Peckham County Primary School in the County of Kent. Writer says more than helmets necessary to ensure safe cycling THE EDITOR, I am writing in response to the article in last week's Citizen entitled "OPP lay down law on bike helmets". As I was reading this article I couldn't believe that "helmets can reduce cycling-related head injuries by up to 85 per cent." I think that there has to be other factors involved than just wearing a helmet. The biggest reduction would be the speed of the impact and second where the impact was. I realize that a bicycle is a vehicle under the Highway Traffic Act but I'm sure everyone would agree that in a collision the cyclist doesn't have much of a chance. I'm not saying that we shouldn't enforce the law of helmets. I would never let any one of my children leave the property without one on. I think that we should all remember that this is bicycle season for children and we should reduce our speed if we see them. Maybe we have the right of way on the road but we could save a life too. I have lost a son to this type of accident and he was wearing a helmet. Please reduce speed and save a life. This is as important as "wear your helmet and save yourself some money." Diane Anderson.