The Citizen, 2002-03-27, Page 1WELC,OVE
f B LY.T1-1
ESTABIJSIED 1877
Going, going
There were some great items up for grabs during the Blyth Midget Bulldogs fundraising auction
on Saturday. The event was to help cover the cost of the team's trip to Montreal to participate
in a tournament. Community participation was excellent with the auction raising enough to help
the team on their way. As auctioneer, Steve Sparling did his part pushing for the highest bidder
on this Team Canada jersey. It was a big weekend for the team with the Bulldogs going on to
claim the E All-Ontario crown in three straight against Sunderland during the final game on
Sunday. (Vicky Bremner photo)
Midget Dogs Ontario champs
Pg. 12
Pg. 23
A farewell to all
the survivors
Rita MaCNeil comes
to Blyth
Road
Watch
launched
By David Blaney
Citizen staff
NORTH HURON PUBLISHINaCOMPANLY INS
Inside this week
Pg. 8
Pg• 9
PeeWees up by 2
in series
Curling Club wraps
up season
Taxes to jump in Pg. 10 Central Huron
e Citizen
Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County
Volume 18 No. 12
Wednesday, March 27, 2002
75 Cents (70c + 5c GST)
Road Watch Huron was officially
launched on Monday with a press
conference at the Huron County
Health Unit building in Clinton.
Representatives from the organizing
committee, the OPP, the Health unit
and yarjous sponsors gathered for
the prOgram kickoff.
Road Watch Huron is a
community-based program,
designed to involve individuals and
the community as a whole, in
promoting safety on the road.
Awareness and education as well as
enforcement are stressed.
Sixteen large signs are being
erected at entry points into the
county to make drivers aware that
the program is in effect. As well, 66
smaller signs will be located at the
entry points into villages and towns
within Huron county.
The organizing committee will be
working with local driver education
and driving instruction schools to
incorporate Road Watch into their
programs. It is also intended to
purchase two radar- equipped speed
signs with digital displays to help
alert drivers to the actual speed they
are travelling.
Citizens are, asked to aid police by
providing information regarding
impaired, aggressive or unsafe
driving. Road Watch reporting forms
will be provided at numerous
locations and 24 locked boxes have
been placed around the county to
allow local citizens to report
incidents of dangerous driving.
The forms will be collected
weekly and after the information
has been verified the OPP will
respond. The response will be at
three different levels &Signed to
make the car owner. aware of the
problem.
The first incident involving a
vehicle will result. in a letter
describing the incident being sent .to
the owner. The second will result in
both a letter and a phone call from
the OPP.
Continued on page 6
The Blyth Midget Bulldogs
completed their playoff run with a 5-
i victory in Sunderland on Sunday
to capture the All-Ontario Midget E
championship.
Blyth has now claimed six all-
Ontario hockey championships. -
The game was close throughout
the first two periods with the
Bulldogs carrying a 2-1 lead into the
third period. Blyth scored midway
Old' Man Winter is not through
with Huron yet and last Thursday
and Friday saw some of the area's
worst winter weather this year.
A stream of cold Arctic air moving
over the Great Lakes caused intense
snowsqualls to develop.
Environment Canada first issued
severe weather warnings for Grey,
.Bruce and Simcoe Counties early
-Thursday morning. Warnings for
Huron and Perth were added in the
afternoon.
Snowfalls of up to 20 cm in some
areas of Huron were driven by winds
that ranged from 46 to 74 km/h. The
driving winds and drifting snow
caused driving problems over much
of Huron County.
Huron OPP Sr. Const. Don
Shropshall reported that the hardest
hit area appeared to be in Huron
South and Huron East ranging from
the Hensall area up through
Brussels. He said that much of
County Rd. 12 from Kippen to
Brussels was . closed due to a
combination- of accidents and
whiteout conditions. County Rd. 83
was also closed due to accidents.
through the last period and added
two more goals late in the game to
clinch the win and a sweep of the
final series.
Micah Loder scored twice for the
winners with singles going to Matt
Bromley, Rob Archambault, and
Neil Salverda. Assists were added by
Loder, two; Cole Stewart, two;
Bromley, Andy Toll, Kirk Stewart,
Shaun Henry and Mike Bean.
Shropshall said there were a total
of 28 crashes reported on Thursday
and several more on Friday. He
noted that despite the large number
of accidents drivers should consider
themselves, "very very fortunate,"
that there were no-serious injuries.
Although there was several
incidents involving multiple
vehicles, Shropshall said that the
majority were single vehicle
accidents He noted many were
caused by drivers travelling too fast
for the conditions.
Steve Howe, a spokesman for the
Avon Maitland Board of Education
said that he felt every school in the
Huron-Perth area probably had
buses affected on Thursday. He said
the problems were as minor as
slower trips home and as serious as
two or three hour delays.
Most local schools had little
difficulty in seeing the pupils safely
home. However, some students
attending Seaforth Public School did
have problems.
Hwy 8 was closed between
Clinton and Mitchell prior to the end
of the school-day. The school was
Travis Shelton had a great game in
the Blyth net.
Rounding out the Bulldogs' roster
are T.J. Marks, Paul Walker, Ryan
McClinchey, Nick Courtney and
PeeWee callups Jeff Elliott andlosh
Albrechtas. Team officials included
Doug Walker, Steve Bromley, Doug
McClinchey, Robb Finch, John
Stewart and Barney Stewart.
forced to make alternate
arrangements for those pupils living
along this road. Many went home
with friends or were picked up at the
school by parents or relatives. Howe
said that despite the problem,he felt
most Seaforth students were on their
way home by 5 p.m.
According to Kim Black the
principal of Blyth Public School two.
of her students were not so fortunate.
The students who are part of a gifted
program were in classes at the
Clinton Public School when the
storm struck. With much of Hwy 4
closed for several hours, Black said
the pupils didn't reach 'home until
after 7 p.m. when the OPP had re-
opened the road.
Most roads in the area had been
reopened by 7 p.m. on Thursday,
according to the OPP. However
drifting snow and severe icing
resulted in several crashes on Friday
and in sonle areas the driving was
still difficult well into Saturday.
Most area schools decided to close
their doors Friday rather than risk a
continuation of Thursday's weather
and the icy conditions.
Huron E.
gets peek
at budget
By David Blaney
Citizen staff
The council for Huron East got its
first good look at the shape of the
budget for 2002 at the March 19
meeting.
In presenting the first draft
Treasurer Brad Knight
acknowledged that the budget
process was not as far along as he
would have liked. He explained that
year-end reconciliation,
apportioning of area rated expenses
and the auditing and finalization of
the 2001. budget were consuming a
great deal of staff time.
Although a number of areas have
yet to be finalized Knight said that
he wanted to give council time to
review and comment on those areas
which were completed. He also
suggested that council should review
the information presented in the
other areas and provide comments
and suggestions.
Revenue for the 2001 year was not
as high as expected in several areas
and this is reflected in the estimated
revenues for 2002. Public works
revenue was nearly $40,000 less
than expected and investment
income was short by a similar
amount. Revenue from the various
municipal water systems was
$60,000 less than expected.
The Vanastra. Day Care Centre
receivednearly $33,000 more in fees
than budgeted in 2001. However the
county contribution was $156,078 as
opposed to the $245,150 that had
been estimated.
A Considerable amount of
construction occurred in the new
municipality and fees from building
permits was almost double the
expected $50,000.
The Brussels, Morris and Grey
Recreation Centre also showed a
healthy surplus although Knight
cautioned this was somewhat
misleading as the figures reflected
more than 12 months of rental
income.
Policing costs in all wards will be
higher in 2002. This reflects a higher
level of service for which the
community has contracted.
Brussels will see the costs rise by
10 per cent and Grey by nine. In the
case of Brussels this is an actual
increase of approximately $3,700
and for Grey, an increase of
approximately $4,800.
Expenses for council and
administration exceeded the 2001
estimates by a little less than
$10,000 with much of the extra
being accounted for by higher than
expected meeting costs as well as
unforeseen advertising costs related
to the issue of school closing within
the community.
Computer and equipment
maintenance also exceeded the
budgeted amounts.
The current suggested budget_t.iir
council and administration for the
year 2002 is $642,500. This would
be 411 increase of approximately
- Continued on page 6-- - r0
Spring blows in with a fury