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PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JULY 11, 2001
Editorials
Opinions
Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie Gropp
Advertising Manager, Jeannette McNeil
The Citizen is published 50 times a year in Brussels, Ontario by North
Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance
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The Citizen
P.O. Box 429, PO. Box 152,
BLYTH, Ont. BRUSSELS, Ont.
NOM IHO NOG IHO
Phone 523-4792 Phone 887-9114
FAX 523-9140 FAX 887-9021
E-mail norhuron@scsinternet.com
Website www.northhuron.on.ca
ocnaC4, NA n
i Member of the Ontario Press Council foriMM
Where did moderation go?
I A, NESPOLOM anthnesp@wincom.net
.1
THE EDITOR,
Maybe it is a coincidence, maybe
not. Nevertheless, the Blyth Festival
Theatre has made International Year
of the Volunteer a memorable
experience for those volunteers
associated in any way with The
Outdoor Donnellys.
First, the Festival opened its ranks
to 41 community players, 34 choir
members and 17 young dancers.
What an opportunity to be under the
direction of Janet Amos in a
professional setting! What a
challenge she met in bringing out the
best in us through a combination of
her professionalism and her patience!
Janet gathered the volunteer actors,
and quarterbacked the research of
diaries, books, court records and
newspaper articles. Our assigned
homework produced a Donnelly
timeline of events, as well as our
interpretation, which Janet readily
incorporated into her script writing.
This participation in script
construction gave us such a sense of
ownership.
As the rehearsal script unfolded,
Janet's gentle direction and strict
discipline molded amateurs, from age
11 to 70, into a "family" of confident
performers. The "senior" cast
members particularly enjoyed being
associated with, a group of mighty
fine young cast members. These
young people brought not only strong
school theatre arts skills, but also
enthusiasm and energy to every
performance.
In addition, the "Trial" choir and
the "Ryder Wedding" dancers
provided an added dimension to the
respective vignettes.
Then, another segment of the
community came to the rescue to
transport the audience from venue to
venue. Owners of trailers and antique
tractors and community-minded
implement dealers provided the
necessary equipment.
Of course, the co-operation of the
Huron Pioneer Threshers in
providing people movers, bleachers
and facilities and of Blyth venue
owners made it all possible.
- But what is equipment without
operators? Again, community
volunteers responded to usher and to
fill 144 tractor-driving time slots for
16 shows.
Special thanks is due Sam
Dougherty, George Ribey and David
Perrie for co-ordinating the tractors,
trailers and drivers.
Finally, to the administration of
Blyth Festival, we say thank you for
the opportunity to participate in such
a daring and innovative project. The
Festival Theatre's production of The
Outdoor Donnellys, in co-operation
with the Blyth Threshers and a
supportive community has surely
made Blyth's spot on the map
considerably brighter. Congratu-
lations! Keep up the good work!
The community players say
THANK YOU for allowing us our
"15 minutes" in the spotlight.
It's great to be a volunteer!
On behalf of the community
company,
Sincerely
Bruce Whitmore, Seaforth.
July 15, 1981
Blyth students raised over a third
of the money for the county in the
MS readathon. Taking part were:
Selina Hubbard, Lori Leibold,
Elaine Poore, Katrina Somers,
Nicole Richmond, Lori Armstrong,
Kathy Snell, Jamie MacDonald,
Sonya Johnston, Lisa Watson, Joel
Jenkins, Jane Whitmore, Ken Medd,
Leah Richmond, Graham Glousher,
Kelly Cook, Troy Chambers.
The Twp. of East Wawanosh held
an appreciation dance for Clarence
W. Hanna, who had served the
township as councillor, reeve and
road superintendent. Hanna retired
in June.
Blyth Bantams finished third in
the gold division of the George
Radford memorial boys softball
tournament. Team members were:
Coach Gary Hesselwood, Gerry
Hakkers, Todd McDonald, Kevin
Lee, Kent Howatt, Larry Good,
Mike Chalmers, Brent Brooks,
Calvin Mackers and Donald Good.
Anne Chislett's Quiet in the Land
premiered at Blyth Festival to rave
reviews.
It was announced that over the
next three years 1,714 acres of
marshland in Hullett Twp., would be
develope din co-operation with the
Ministry of Natural Resources and
Ducks Unlimited, a non-profit
group.
George Radford Construction
Ltd., was one of the firms involved
with the construction of dykes for
the flooding of the marsh areas. The
smallest area to be flooded was 59
acres. The largest was 550 acres.
The end result was to be a natural
wetland habitat for ducks, muskrat
and other wildlife.
July 9, 1986
An Elma Twp. firm expressed
interest in renting the old Morris
municipal shed and township
a plant to process wooden moldings.
A Brussels woman voiced her
concerns to village council about
whether or not there was a disaster
plan in place to deal with
emergencies. Tom Hanrahan of
Brussels, hired by the government
and by the joint Emergency Planning
Program was taking the county as a
whole and setting it up as one large
municipality, gathering plans
throughout to make them work
together. He said that 26 per cent of
the county's municipalities had some
form of emergency plan.
Member of the alyth Festival
company and administration took on
a team from the Huron Country
Playhouse in a ball game.
Murray Cardiff MP for Huron-
Bruce was present to cut the ribbon
for the official relocato\ion grand
opening of the Farm Information
Centre in Wingham. As of July 1,
the centre changed to a non-profit
company with a board of a directors.
The old steps were removed at the
Brussels Library.
July 10, 1991
Calling the request for a 28 per
cent increase in the budget of the
Huron County Children's Aid
Society unacceptable, county
councillors asked for a review.
Councillors had the option of
accepting the budget or asking for a
Child Welfare Review and past
Warden Lionel Wilder argued for the
review.
Organizers of this year's Brussels
FunFrest hailed the three-day event a
success. Winners of the river events
were: log rolling; Mike Thomas,
John McKercher, Pam McLean,
Karen VanSoest; bathtub races,
Warren Knight and Bruce Fischer,
Gail Semple and Pam McLean;
canoe races, Warren and Curtis
Knight, Karen Smith and Karen
VanSoest.
Barry and Diane Engel won the
$500 Bessie Bingo and Jim Snider
won the $1,000 Duck Race prize.
Maxine and Bill Seers sold
Maxine's Lunch in Auburn to Helen
and Jerry Sabo from Georgetown.
Rev. Carolyn McAvoy led the
decoration day- service at Brandon
Cemetery in Belgrave.
Emily Phillips, a Blyth-area
resident was elected as president-
elect of the Registered Nursing
Association of Ontario.
Blyth's summer recreation
program was led by Sherri Howson,
Heather McDonald, Jody Sippel,
Karrie McClinchey and Danielle
McDougall.
Fifteen visitors from Japan got a
close-up look at the Blyth Festival
when they were given a tour of the
facility after- attending -a
performance of Barbershop Quartet.
The visit was to see the theatre that
made Anne Chislett's The Tomorrow
Box famous. The play about a Huron
County farmer who decides without
telling his wife that they are selling
and moving to Florida was a major
hit in Japan, where it toured for over
three years.
July 10, 1996
Among the Madill scholars were
locals Ursula Eigenheer, Joel Pegg,
Aaron Barnes, Rowan Kerr and
Rebecca Corrigan.
Husband and wife Rev. Chris
Johnston and Rev. James Murray
took over duties at Brussels and
Ethel and Walton and Bluevale
United Churches respectively.
Fusarium head blight hit some 20
per cent of the county winter wheat
crop.
In this age when everyone wants black and white answers, is moderation
dead?
Here are two examples from current news events.
In Elgin County the Children's Aid Society stepped in and took children
away from a local family because they wouldn't promise not to use
corporal punishment when disciplining their children. The parents say
their religion calls for use of corporal punishment.
The issue has reopened the debate over the rights of parents to use
something stronger than words to discipline their children versus the rights
of children not to be physically touched. CAS officials in Elgin, for
instance, say spanking leads to beating.
But shouldn't the issue be the amount of force used, not making parents
guilty of assault for any physical punishment, no matter how mild? Using
belts and sticks is decidedly different than a single open-handed slap on
the behind of an offending youngster.
Most adults today survived varying degrees of spanking and generally
seem unmarked. On the other hand, teachers today say their jobs are made
difficult by the general lack of respect some young people have for adults.
They know there's no real punishment the school system can hand out so
the students can be as insolent as they want without impunity.
Somewhere between abusive power and a total ban there must be a
reasonable limit to physical punishment.
On another issue of moderation, some Huron County councillors last
week called for the provisions of the weed act to be followed uniformly
across the county, whether to a rural property owner with a field full of
weeds or an urban dweller with a natural wildflower garden with some
plants that are on the noxious weeds list.
Current thinking by weed officials is if someone is growing a weed that
isn't harmful to humans and isn't likely to spread to a farm field, they
should be left alone. Seems like a reasonable policy, but not to those who
want strict, black and white, rules.
It's strange that at the same time as our world is becoming more and
more complex, people are falling back on a desire for rules that are
interpreted to the letter. At the same time we object to people telling us
how we're supposed to behave, we want the security of telling other
people "this is the way you have to behave, or else!".
Unfortunately life isn't simple. Circumstances differ and trying to find
one set of rules that applies to all situations ignores human reality. — KR
Letters to the Editor
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Looking Back Through the Years