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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1998-11-04, Page 4Soft touch Photo by Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot Looking Back Through the Years From the files of the Blyth Standard, Brussels Post and North Huron Citizen November 7, 1968 At the Seaforth commencement, Joanne Elligsen of RR4, Walton gave the valedictory speech and received the Academic Shield for the highest marks in Grade 13 as well as several other awards. Also receiving Academic Shields were Carolyn Fraser of RR2, Blyth for Grade 11 and William Perrie. of RR3, Brussels for Grade 12. In an effort to rally interest, an article was written regarding the first Brussels Santa Claus Parade in several years. Out of an article regarding pranks that occured Halloween night, it was said that 'evil smelling litter of a cattle beast's innards' was dumped on the main street by some grue- some ghoul. It also stated other Hal- loween pranks that had occured, such as opened fire hydrants and fires on the streets. A motor vehicle survey showed that from 1950 to 1960, the number of people per car on the road declined from 3.2 to 1.4. November 7, 1973 A bylaw was passed by Blyth council that required all restaurants, snack bars and lunch counters in the village to be licenced. Oklahoma Crude starring George C. Scott, Faye Dunaway, John Mills and Jack Palance, Brother of the Wind, Joe and The Philadelphia Story starring Katherine Hepburn were all playing at the Lyceum Theatre in Wingham. The Triple K Restaurant outside of Blyth held its grand opening cel- ebrations. The owners, Mr. and Mrs. Keith Hesselwood, had previ- ously lived outside of Londesboro. The restaurant offered a takeout window as well as a coffee bar and table service. As of Jan. 1, 1974, the new Ontario minimum wage was to be increased 20 cents to $2.00 an hour for employees in general industry and to $2.25 for employees in con- struction. Also effective on that date, all employees were entitled to two weeks vacation. November 5, 1997 Hide and Shriek, a book by writer R.L. Stine was banned by the Huron County Board of Education THE EDITOR, It was a lovely day in October when I looked out my window at the Huron County Health Unit behind Huronview in Clinton and saw several men working away at the cairn back in the field. This memorial cairn sits in the middle of a harvested field with a little white picket fence around it. from all elementary schools. All other books in Stine's Fear Street series were being monitored. In municipal elections, Hullett Reeve Thomas Cunningham faced challenges from Robert Szusz and John VanBeers. In Grey Twp., Dale Newman and Robin Dunbar were competing for the position of reeve. Seven candidates ran for posi- tions on the board of education. They were Colleen Schenk, Della Baumgarten, Abby Armstrong, D.W. Dave Hallman, Vicki Culbert, Lynda Horbanuik and Louise Mar- tin. Playing at the Park Theatre in Goderich and the Capital Twin Cin- ema in Listowel were Morgan Free- man's Kiss the Girls and Rowan Atkinson's Bean. I've been curious about it for sometime and was disturbed at it being taken down. Imagine my anger when I found out it marked the graves of over 120 souls buried to the north of the monument. I have since discovered that it was a decision of Huron County Continued on page 6 Letters to the editor Move of cairn angers writer PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1998. The North Huron itizen O a n eNA P 0 Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. NOM 1H0 Phone 523-4792 FAX 523-9140 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. NOG 1H0 Phone 887-9114 FAX 887-9021 Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie Gropp Advertising Manager, Jeannette McNeil ,• eciLico IMIZEMIN E-mail norhuron@scsinternet.com The Citizen Is published 50 limes a year 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 Does policy work anywhere? As rural school boards across the province announced lists of possible school closures to meet new provincial government requirements for occupancy many rural leaders thought the policy was particularly hard on small schools. With the announcement last week that more than 130 Toronto schools might have to close, that theory went down in flames. If anything, the provincial allotment of 100 square feet per elementary student may have caused more chaos in Toronto than in rural areas. That footage includes everything in the school — classrooms, gyms, hallways, washrooms. Older schools with wide hallways were particularly hard hit by the policy and many of the schools in older areas of the city were built when saving a few square feet wasn't a priority. By comparison, most of the school buildings in rural areas have been built since 1960. The provincial policy had a laudable goal in trying to increase the efficiency of schools but the method seems to have been faulty. In some cases, for instance, school boards arc preparing to close existing schools, bus the students to a neighbouring school and house them in portable classrooms until new classrooms can be built onto the school. This makes sense? You've already got a building but you build a new one? It's time to take the policy back to the drawing board and come up with one that shows a little common sense. Surely there are better ways to save money than forcing students to take bus rides to distant schools which need to be enlarged to accept them. Aren't there ways of reducing overhead of smaller schools by sharing administration and other costs? The provincial policy sought one simple solution to fit all schools when the problem is much more complex. The issue of efficiency must be tackled board by board, school by school to find creative alternatives to provide the best in education at the most economical cost. — KR Merger mania picks up steam Whoever said small is beautiful wasn't in tune with the 1990s in business. Definitely bigger is better these days as another rash of merger announcements last week confirms. Nearly every aspect of business life is affected by the changes the mergers of the past year will bring. Sobeys supermarket chain announced it will buy the Oshawa Group which includes the IGA and Knechtel food markets, both represented in our local shopping area. So far it's unknown what affect this will have in our communities. The Toronto Star's offer to buy Sun Media could also have an impact on Huron County. Sun Media, through its Bowes Publishing subsidiary, owns publications such as Ontario Farmer and the Signal-Star Publishing chain which publishes many community newspapers and the Focus newsmagazine. On top of the proposals for mergers of the Bank of Commerce with the Toronto Dominion Bank and the Royal Bank with Bank of Montreal, it means that the games being played on Bay Street now reach right into the lives of rural residents. Where once our business community was self-contained, with local businesses owned and operated by people who were part of the community, more and more our businesses are run from afar. We're becoming like a suburb of the cities with decisions being made by people who may not understand the differences in rural life. If rural people want to retain some control over their lives they must find alternatives to the current trend in business. The Citizen, for instance, is a community-owned newspaper independent of the maneuvering of the media barons in Toronto. Likewise community credit unions aren't likely to pull up stakes and leave. We can be helpless to the whims of big business or we can find creative ways to take control of our lives. — KR Frightening mindset The frightening side of Qudbec nationalists was demonstrated again last week when Premier Lucien Bouchard charged that Liberal leader Jean Charest isn't a real Qudbecois because he has been in Ottawa so much. Earlier one of his cabinet ministers suggested Charest couldn't be trusted because his name on his birth certificate read John, not Jean. If the Parti Quebecois thinks it can gain votes by such racis: attacks it is a frightening prospect if Quebec ever gains independence. — Editorial