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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1999-07-14, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 1999. Photo by Janice Becker HuronC itizenTheNorth (♦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 Preee Council PO Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. NOM 1H0 Phone 523-4792 FAX 523-9140 E-mail norhuron@scslnternet.com The Citizen is published 50 times a year in Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $27.00/year (S25.24 + $1.76 G.S.T.J'in Canada; S62.00/year in U.S.A, and $100/year in other foreign coun­ tries. 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 newsscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright. Publications Mail Registration No. 09244 Canadian Publication Mail Agreement No. 1374990 Be on the alert There are lessons for us all in the failure of a last-minute effort to reopen debate on a single-tier form of government for Huron last week. The price of democracy is vigilance. Bev Hill of Varna, representing the Concerned Citizens for the Promotion and Implementation of a Single Tier Government in Huron, admitted his group should have joined the debate over the amalgamation process long before now. Like everybody else, he confessed, his group had been preoccupied with other matters, and hadn’t reacted to happenings in county politics. Now the group has awakened and at the last moment is trying to get the county to reconsider. That plea fell on deaf ears of councillors who have spent more than a year trying to negotiate local amalgamation projects. Hill’s group included some of the most community-minded people in the county, people of a great deal of prominence including local residents like former MP Murray Cardiff and Walton resident Neil McGavin. If people like this can miss the boat about getting involved, how much worse will it be for the majority of people who just want to be left alone while somebody else does the job of government? The 1990s has been a time of tremendous stress that has led many people to retreat to the safe cocoon of their own home and family, ignoring the outside world. Meanwhile, however, tremendous changes are taking place, both politically and economically. By the time people emerge from the comfortable cocoon, they may find the local world has been changed beyond recognition. Comfortable as it is io retreat, the world is going on and is being reshaped by others in ways we may not like. The only way to make sure our ideas have a chance of being heard is to be active. Municipal councillors have been extremely frustrated in the lack of interest in the municipal restructuring issue. People just haven’t been interested in debating the issue and giving them direction. It’s hardly surprising, then, that councillors reacted with outright resentment at the late entry of this group of interested citizens. If you re among those who have retreated comfortably from the world, wake up. The future of your community is endangered by political forces both locally and externally. The heart of your community, its main street, is endangered by huge multi-national businesses in nearby towns and cities — businesses you are supporting with your shopping dollars. Don’t sleep through these massive changes then try to react when it’s too late. — KR Paving paradise? Canada is the best place in the world to live, according to the United Nations Human Development Index, but indications are we may be losing our way. For the sixth year in a row Canada led the UN index which measures the quality of life by combining data on life expectancy, per capita income and access to education. A UN spokesperson said Canadians can take legitimate pride that their investments in medicare and education have paid off in a better standard of living for all. Canadians, however, have a new fixation that has nothing to do with “investment” in things like medicare and education and everything to do with investment in things like stocks and bonds. That standard of living so admired by people around the world has been built on the twin supports of individual initiative and government-led infrastructure. Canadians today are demanding tax cuts that can only lead to the decline of the government sector. Already it is harder for children of poor parents to get an equal education. The federal and provincial governments, through cutbacks, have also reduced the quality of care in our health system. And, the UN report says, we already rank only ninth in the area of helping poorer people, both at home and abroad. We have become a nation of “me” people not “us” people. We have become a nation where those who have money have become angry over the assistance they are asked to give to the less fortunate. As Joni Mitchell says in her song Big Yellow Taxi, “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you've got 'til it’s gone?” Let’s not "pave paradise to put up a parking lot”. — KR E ditorial Looking Back Through the Years From the files of the Blyth Standard, Brussels Post and North Huron Citizen July 15, 1987 The new Brussels reeve was named. After the resignation of for­ mer Reeve Hank TenPas, Gordon Workman was named by the other councillors to step up to the reeve’s chair. Hullett Twp. had been left with a vacant seat on council for the sec­ ond time in slightly over six months. The resignation of Harvey Stewart of RR1, Clinton was announced at the regular meeting of Hullett council, although Stewart did not attend the meeting. The tired but happy members of the Brussels 115th anniversary Homecoming met at the Community Centre to wrap up the Homcoming celebration. The playlet presented to proud parents by the youngest group of aspiring actors in the Blyth Festival’s Youth Workshop was called Turn on the Sun. For the first time in the history of the Blyth Festival, the entire run of a new play had sold out - even before the play opened. Miss Balmoral of the Bayview, the new comedy by Colleen Curran, opened at the Festival and advance public interest was so great that all 16 per­ formances had been sold out. July 12, 1989 Huron County Councillors reluc­ tantly agreed to approve a proposal for a two-location Huronview after being told there would be no gov­ ernment funding available for building Huronview units in the southern part of the county as well as the centre and the north. The final tally was almost com­ plete and the consensus appeared to be that the first Annual Brussels Funfest was not only entertainingly successful but financially success­ ful as well. Huron County councillors lis­ tened to John Eakins, Minister of Municipal Affairs, assure them that the report of the Consultation Committee on County Government is not government policy, then went back into session to pass a position paper opposing many of the report’s key recommendeations. July 13,1994 The Brussels Lions’ annual Rubber Duck race went on despite the demise of the Brussels Funfest that year. The Brussels Bulls Junior C hockey team held a slowpitch tour­ nament on the July 8 weekend. The winning team was the Blyth Body Glove, and the B chamionship went to the Brussels Relics. Huron County council took the first steps toward establishing a 9- 1-1 emergency telephone service in the county. The service would cost a minimum of 32 cents a month for each telephone owner. Brussels residents affected by the installation of the proposed Branch F of the Nichol Drain met with Morris Twp, council to obtain more information. Dr. Maarten Bokhout, Medical Officer of Health for Huron County expressed his disappointment that Huron County had rejected a provincial offer to pay for enforce­ ment to anti-smoking legislation.