HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1998-05-06, Page 4C itizen
Cn
P.O. Box 429, P.O. Box 152,
BLYTH, Ont. BRUSSELS, Ont.
NOM 1H0 NOG IHO
Phone 523-4792 Phone 887-9114
FAX 523-9140 FAX 1387-9021
E-mail norhuron@huron.net
Publisher, Keith Roulston
Editor, Bonnie Gropp
Advertising Manager,
Jeannette McNeil
PAJO
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 CD Copyright.
Publications Mail Registration No. 6968
The North Huron
Up and growing
Photo by Bonnnie Gropp
Looking Back Through the Years
From the files of the Blyth Standard, Brussels Post and North Huron Citizen
May 9, 1968
About 400 public school pupils
from Brussels, Blyth and Belgrave
schools competed in the various
classes offered at the second annu-
al music festival held at the Blyth
Public School. Laurie Hanes, of
Clinton Public Scool, took top hon-
ours with 88 points.
Fire completely destroyed the
barn on the farm of Carl Heming-
way, in the early hours of Saturday
morning. No livestock was in the
barn, but a large quantity of grain
was lost, with an estimated value
of $7,500.
More than 200 girls attended the
Clinton 4-H Achievement Day,
held at Central Huron Secondary
School. Provincial honours and
certificates were presented to Anne
Klein-Haar and Donna White-
house, Kippen; Mary Lou Murray,
Seaforth; Marilyn Keys, Varna;
Karen McKinley and Carolynne
Robinson, Zurich.
To Sir With Love was the feature
of the week at Brownie's Drive-In.
May 9, 1973
Due to lack of interest baseball
and softball were not offered in
Blyth. The Blyth Minor Sports
Committee decided they would not
proceed with the ball program but
would operate a minor soccer pro-
gram involving three teams each
from Blyth, Londesboro and Bel-
grave and one girls' team from
each village.
Blyth council took its first offi-
cial step toward the installation of
sanitary sewers in Blyth. The coun-
cil also decided it would again par-
ticipate in operation SWEEP, the
summer employment program for
students through the Maitland Val-
ley Conservation Authority. The
last two years students helped
clean up the banks of the Blyth
Creek and the old Anglican ceme-
tery on North Street.
Corrie's Foodmaster boasted
prices on pork roasts, 5 to 6 lbs,
pork butt roasts and pork chops, at
65 cents, 75 cents, and 88 cents,
respectively.
May 7, 1997
A tiny trio of raccoons, along
with two other siblings and their
mother, were left homeless when
strong Ntinds brought down a por-
tion of a tree in Brussels, in which
the young family had found lodg-
' ing. As the tree, which was block-
ing the road, was being removed,
Hugh Nichol, road superintendent
moved the babies until later that
evening when their mother came to
take them to a new home.
Gordon McGavin, founder of
McGavin Farm Equipment in Wal-
ton, was posthumously inducted
into the Ontario Agricultural Hall
of Fame at the 18th annual ceremo-
ny.
News of a strike by the Sec-
ondary School Teachers was
buzzing around when the Huron
County Board of Education was
given a warning at its May 5 meet-
ing, that the Ontario Secondary
School Teachers' Federation
(OSSTF) would be holding a strike
vote during the week of May 26.
Letters
THE EDITOR,
I was excited to witness a
phenomenon that was a new
revelation to me last Saturday. Now
it is quite possible that it has been
here all along and to some degree I
am certain that it has. But being
that it is a new experience to me,
and human nature is to share with
others what we are enthused about,
these are my thoughts.
Saturday evening, the Blyth
School Advisory Council took on
the challenge of catering a dinner
theatre function at the Memorial
Hall. Parents with various talents
and skills came together with a
Continued on page 7
PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 1998.
Undermining democracy
Speaking on the topic of municipal amalgamations, recently,
someone said that the amalgamations would go ahead, whether we like
it or not.
It's not an unusual comment, it's heard all the time. But isn't it a sad
commentary on the state of democracy that people now feel that it
doesn't matter whether people
want something or not, it will be
rammed down their throats?
Isn't it an indictment of the
federal and provincial
politicians that people feel they
really don't matter anymore?
Mr. Chretien, Mr. Harris: it goes beyond just getting your own way.
If we lose faith in democracy, this country is going to be in worse shape
than any deficit would ever have made us. Democracy is our most
precious possession. We should guard people's belief in it with all our
might. — KR
You've got to have clout
It was symbolic of Canada in the 1990s, that the same day the
government of Jean Chretien was clubbing its MPs into supporting a
deal that refuses to compensate victims of hepatitis C, the millionaire
NHL owners were in Ottawa crying they needed a better deal if they
were to keep their teams in Canada.
The government was claiming it couldn't give in to the demands for
compensation for the hepatitis victims because it would undermine the
health care system, but does anybody want to bet against various
governments finding money to help rich owners and players of NHL
hockey teams? In the 1990s, it's not what's right that counts, it's who
has the most clout.
The hepatitis scandal, along with the thousands of people who
contracted AIDS through bad blood, is one of the saddest incidents in
Canadian history. The Red Cross decided not to test for the diseases
even when it could. The federal and provincial governments have
agreed that was wrong, but claim they owe nothing to people who got
hepatitis before 1986 because supposedly there was no test for blood
products then. Now some provinces have made the issue even more
distasteful by saying yes, there should be compensation for all victims
— but the federal government alone should pay.
But the NHL situation could be a close second for distastefulness if
the teams get what they want. The Canadian NHL teams and league
commissioner Gary Bettman, said if the governments want to keep the
remaining NI-IL teams in Canada, they need to help them out. As fans in
Winnipeg and Quebec City learned, filling the building is not good
enough. Teams want new arenas at less than cost, a share of concessions
and parking and any other angle they can find. They complain that U.S.
taxpayers give even better deals, in some cases giving reduced property
taxes on the arenas. And then there's the higher income tax and the
Canadian dollar that's worth 70 cents U.S.
Faced with these inequities, Bettman warned more Canadian teams
are bound to move south. But he ignored the good deal the NHL gets
from Canadians. While taxes on hockey arenas in Toronto and Ottawa
may be higher than in Phoenix, those cities must find the money
somewhere to run dozens of smaller facilities which provide the training
for the young Canadian hockey players who still make up a large
majority of the talent in the NHL. How many players have come out of
Phoenix lately?
Canadian taxpayers are also the volunteers who make the minor
hockey system work, the system on which the NHL depends. Should
these people pay more income or property tax so the NHL teams can
pay $7 million a year instead of $6 million to spoiled hockey stars?
Canadian taxpayers support the CBC which, through Hockey Night
in Canada, has the largest hockey audience in North America and pays
the highest fees for broadcast rights. Those rights are split with teams
like Phoenix and Dallas. If we're talking level playing field, shouldn't
those teams just get by on revenues from in their own market?
But as usual, the well-to-do businessmen who run the NHL teams are
twisting the facts to meet their own desires. There's plenty of money in
hockey in Canada if some greedy people weren't trying to grab too big a
share. But the immoral stand of the NHL is more likely to be rewarded
by our cynical political leadership in the 1990s than the moral cause of
helping hepatitis C victims who have been abused by society.— KR
E ditorial