The Citizen, 2001-12-12, Page 4Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie Gropp
Advertising Manager, Jeannette McNeil
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ocna eNA
Member of the Ontario Press Council IIMIXIM
Looking Back Through the Years
q lorti-cte-, •- 1.!
PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2001
Editorials
Opinions
THE EDITOR,
As the holiday season approaches,
many of your readers may notice
that they are receiving an ever-
increasing number of appeals for
donations to various charitable
organizations. With this in mind, I
offer the following friendly
warnings.
There are currently more than
70,000 charities operating in
Canada. I should point out that most
of them are legitimate organizations
that truly help to improve the lives
of people in need. However, there
are also many groups in existence
who are eager to cash in on our
collective and individual generosity.
Phoney fundraisers run the gamut
from freelance canvassers who
approach you on the street to
sophisticated operations with
impressive offices and stationery.
Many groups .offer simple
merchandise for sale and say the
proceeds, will go to a certain charity.
In most cases that is accurate but, in
some situations it is not.
At a time when real charities may
be having a hard time meeting their
goals, it is important to make sure
your money is not being wasted on
frauds. Charity swindlers steal from
donors and cheat those who truly
need our help.
In an effort to sort out which
charities are real and which are not,
I would offer the following ten
suggestions.
1. When giving to charity, use your
head as well as your heart:
2. Your donation is -a gift and it is
your decision to give any charity a
gift. They cannot force you to give.
Any group who attempts to force
you to give to their cause is not a
reputable organization.
3. Donate only to establish
charities and don't be fooled by
names that may look or sound like
those of well-known organizations.
4. Few legitimate charities solicit
by phone. If you receive a call
Continued on page 5
Dec. 13, 1950
Santa Claus was coming to town
and bringing some favourite -
storybook characters with him.
Riding along the parade route were
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,
Mother Hubbard and Mickey and
Minnie Mouse.
There was a mysterious shopper in
Brussels. The first person to approach
and correctly identify him (or her).
would win a turkey. The individual
was to be approached by saying
"Pardon me sir (or madam) are you
the mysterious shopper today?"
Cash winners at turkey bingo were
Stanley Kitchen, Elizabeth Pipe,
Harvey Stephenson and Mrs. J.
Bryans. Winning turkeys were Mrs. J.
Bryans, Shirley Herd, Billie
Stevenson, Jas. S. Armstrong,
Hartley Fischer, Geo. Galbraith,
Robert Kennedy, Mrs. Bob
Campbell, Mrs. Harry Bowler, Mr.
W.H. Bell, Barbara Allen, Len
Armstrong, Jas. Smith, Vern
Densmore, Mrs. N. Dodds, Mrs.
Bidwell.
Dec. 14, 1977
Brussels village employees were
hard at work cleaning up the large
accumulation of snow which had
fallen over the previous weekend.
Max Oldfield presented "a plaque
on behalf of the Brussels Business
Association to Mr. and Mrs. J.
McCutcheon, who had recently
retired from their grocery busin-
ess.
The first puck was dropped at the
new Brussels, Morris and Grey
Community Centre for a game
between Monkton and Brussels.
Dave Smith, captain of the Monkton
Wildcats faced off with Bob Reeve of
Brussels for the puck dropped by Jim
Prior. Both sticks and the puck were
to go in the trophy case in the foyer.
Grey Twp. received a new grader,
at a cost of $67,838. On hand for the
presentation of the keys were Reeve
Roy Williamson, grader operator
_Harry Gillis,' Co.uncillor John Gillis,
Clerk Edythe Cardiff, Councillor
Leona Armstrong, road
superintendent Ross Engel,
'Councillor John Johnston.
Dec. 11, 1985
Blyth Centre for the Arts whipt
operated the Blyth Festival showed a
surplus for the seventh consecutive
year.
If the next three-year term was to
be anything like the first session of
the new village council, Brussels
taxpayers were going to get their
money's worth. The inaugural
meeting on a stormy night lasted until
3 a.m. New council was Reeve Hank
TenPas, Councillors Gordon
Workman, Betty Graber, Dave
Boynton and Malcolm Jacobs.'
Retiring Brownie leaders in Blyth
were Sheron Stadelmann, Bev Blair
and 'Mary Rouw.
Brussels Starlets won prizes at the
Autumnfest Majclrette Competition.
Cherida Garniss was third overall,
senior; Tracy Finch was third over,
junior; Angie Yoon was second
overall, junior and Amy Thomas was
third overall, novice. Deena Ropp
was first overall in the novice
division and Michelle McNeil. was
first in the senior division. Other
members of the team were Kim
Mulvey, Carrie Cooper, Sibylle
Menzies, Krista Hastings, Priska
Menzies, Lori Willie, Dianne Hall,
Lara Parker and Sheri Jacklin.
East Wawanosh new council was
Reeve Ernie Snell, Councillors Don
Schultz, Ray Hallahan, Jim Taylor.
Grey residents were represented by
Reeve Leona Armstrong, Deputy-
Reeve Lyle Pettapiece, Councillors
Fred Uhler, Helen Cullen, Graeme
MacDonald.
Dec. 12,1990
Brussels and area youth gave new
meaning to the words 'kids on the
street" as in the true Spirit of
Christmas some 60 teens gave of
their time to take part in an
ecumenical food drive. Youths from
Brussels, Walton, Bluevale and Ethel
went house to house carolling and
collecting toys, food and clothing for
those in need. A total' of 29 large
boxes of food and 25 bags of mittens,
toys and clothes were delivered to the
Christmas Bureau.
Joan Van den Broeck was
acclaimed to a second term as chair
of the Huron County Board of
Education.
Joining Blyth Brownies were
Becky Archambault, Diana Bakelaar,
Julie Cowan, Kelly-Ann Dalton,
Christina McClure, Robin Mason,
Rachel de Boer, Amanda Fidom,
Rosalyn Hartman, Sara Plant and
Ashley Taylor.
Dec. 13, 1995
Winter's blast hit early and with
ferocity leaving mostof the province
a winter wonderland.
The old Orange Hall in Blyth was
dismantled by area Mennonites. The
Loyal Orange Lodge Was organized
in Blyth in 1858. East Wawanosh
built the building as a school in 1867.
Local craftspeople opened the
Crafter's Market in Brussels for
holiday shoppers. They were
Dorothy Cummings, Clem and
Phyllis Steffler, Alicia Deitner, Mary
Ann Miners, Isabel Nadeau and Chen
Fransen.
Five new members were inducted
to the Royal Canadian Legion Branch
420: Danielle McDougall, Tim
Airdrie, Angela Cotton, Darren and
Michelle Richmond.
Blyth PeeWees were champs at the
Zone C-1 hockey tournament in
Blyth.
Villages under attack
The announcement this week that Blyth and Brussels will lose their last
medical clinics, part time as they were, adds to the sense of small-town
people that their way of life is endangered and nobody seems to care.
In this age when people drive outside their community for more and
more, the loss of medical service is an inconvenience for many. For the
elderly and those who can't drive, it's a serious problem.
What's more, what does this loss hold for the future of the villages? The
one thing they've always had going for them is that they were retirement
centres for people moving in from the surrounding farms. More and more,
however, people want to be near medical care — if not hospitals, then at
least doctors who are available on a full-time basis. Will they abandon the
villages in future to be closer to doctors?
The direction medicine is going, the direction the government wants
doctors to go, is to come together to operate in 24-hour clinics, thus
relieving the hospitals of their burden of acting like after-hour clinics.
This situation is just the latest example of losses of yital services in our
connunities. What's depressing is that there seems nowhere to turn for
assistance. In the winner-take-all society we've been part of for the past
decade, nobody cares for communities that fall through the cracks.
Certainly the provincial and federal governments don't care if these
villages dry up and blow away. What's more, communities like Brussels
and Blyth no longer even have the levers of local government to try to
come up with solutions. •
What we can do, if we want it badly enough, is to turn to our tradition
of coming together to find solutions. We can take our futures into our own
hands by mobilizing all the resources of our communities: the ideas and
hard work of the people, the incredible energy that people can generate
when they are working for something they care about. It would be a
struggle; it might not even work; but at least we'd try.
If we don't care enough to fight for our own comunities, why should
anyone else? — KR
More than one kind of security
Since Sept. 11, security has come to mean only one thing: protection
from terrorist attacks. What's more, in Canada that has come to be defined
as beefing up the border so Americans feel safe from terrorist attacks that
might originate in Canada.
But the dictionary defines security as "Freedom from danger or
anxiety". The federal government's so-called "security agenda" then is
addressing only one small part of security.
The lack of federal funding for healthcare, for instance, is allowing
implementation of an agenda of privatization of more and more health care
procedures, meaning many people are losing their sense of the security of
being covered in case of illness. Federal withdrawal from support for low-
cost housing means more and more people worrying about not being able
to afford a roof over their heads. How can these people feel secure?
Canadian farmers are struggling to stay on the land when world prices
for grains and oilseeds are low, but the federal government says it can't
help because its money is tied up in security. But what should be more
important to a country than having a secure, locally-produced food
supply?
Fighting terrorism mustn't blind us to other security needs.— KR
Letters tr-9 the Editor