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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2000-01-05, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2000. The___North Huron P.O Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. NOM 1H0 Phone 523-4792 FAX 523-9140 itizeng: P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. NOG 1H0 Phone 887-9114 FAX 887-9021 Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie Gropp Advertising Manager, Jeannette McNeil Member Ontario Press CouncilE-mail norhuron@scsinternet.com The Citizen is published 50 times 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 $100/year in other foreign coun­ tries. 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 newsscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright. Publications Mail Registration No.‘ 09244 Canadian Publication Mail Agreement No. 1374990 A future in good hands E ditorial It's easy sometimes to get down on the generation that’s coming to adulthood but a recent Maclean's magazine article on 100 young leaders of tomorrow shows there are some remarkable young people already making a mark on the world. Take, for example, Roxanne Joyal, 22, of Winnipeg who, at age 19 lived for six months in the slums of Bangkok as a volunteer, tak­ ing women and children with AIDS to their health appoint­ ments. The next year she worked in Kenya, helping women orga­ nize a gift shop to sell their traditional art and supplement their family income. After studying at Stanford and Oxford Universities, she would like to work with women in developing nations. Or how about Hau Truong, a 22-year-old medical student at McMaster University who spent last summer doing ground-breaking genetics research at Harvard University. Truong’s family came to Canada as Vietnamese boat people in 1981 and he has repaid the kindness shown to him by working summers volunteering in Bosnia, Romania and else­ where. The stories go on for pages and pages: the innovators, the competitors, the activists, the artists, the risk takers, the givers, the thinkers. Their sto­ ries are truly inspiring. Would that every high school student in Canada could read these stories and realize just how much people like them are accomplishing. As Kumi Teranishi a 2l-year-old University of British Columbia stu­ dent who volunteers in several different programs, says: “Give young people more opportunities and they will prove themselves.”— KR Photo by Janice Becker Armageddon turns into ho-hum After being terrorized by fears of computer glitches shutting down the world technology when the calendar changed to Jan. 1, 2000, the whole event ended up being anticlimactic. Now some people are questioning if there ever was a problem. It’s estimated companies and governments world-wide spent $600 bil­ lion to prevent problems with computers designed to use just the last two- digits of the date that, when they turned 2000, got confused going back­ ward from 99 to 00 instead of ahead from 1999 to 2000. Canadian computer expert Peter De Jager made an industry of predict­ ing all the terrible things that could go wrong. Elevators, he said, might fall because of imbedded computer chips that might require dates. Planes might crash. Cars might not start. And of course there could be power failures and water shortages. Some of this was no doubt fear-mongering and overreaction, but to say that because none of this happened all the fears were false, is an overre­ action in the other direction. It took thousands of technicians years of work to assure that there wouldn’t be problems (one Canadian bank spent $200 million and had a staff of 1,000 working on the problem). To say nothing would have gone wrong without their intervention is naive and doesn’t credit them for their hard work. When the clock changed to 12:01 Saturday morning and nothing went wrong, we should all have been say­ ing a silent thank you to those who prevented problems. The lesson to be learned from the whole affair should be one of humil­ ity. The best computer minds of their generation created this $600 billion problem because they didn’t think far enough ahead to realize there’d be a problem at the end of the century. Hopefully, that lesson in fallibility might spread to other brilliant minds tinkering in areas like biotechnolo­ gy who are sure they have all the answers. — KR Looking Back Through the Years From the files of the Blyth Standard, Brussels Post and North Huron Citizen Toward a democratic world Canada’s trade minister Pierre Pettigrew thinks the World Trade Organization needs to be reformed and has proposals he’d like other nations to examine. Whether his plan is the right one or not, it’s certain the WTO needs a new plan. The riots at the WTO meeting in Seattle show that many people feel left out of the process of trade reform. The perception is that the rules are being reshaped by governments of rich, developed countries on behalf of huge multinational companies and their shareholders. Some new form of international government is needed if'-multinational companies aren't to be left to play one national government against another. If democracy is to be preserved, a new type of WTO must be devised. — KR Jan. 1,1975 The Blyth Midgets, although defeated in their first game, came back to win two games and the Consolation trophy in the Kincardine Midget Tournament. Team members were Larry Howatt, Steve Bromley, Sandy Marshall, Ken Ritchie, Doug Chamney, Terry Pierce, Brian Bromley, Manager Charlie Bromley, Don Carter, Gary Manning, Ken Machan, Gary Hull, Paul Warwick, Ronnie Plunkett, Brad Bromley, Kevin Carter and Coach Frank Szusz. The Blyth Atoms travelled to Forest for the annual international Silver Stick tournament. They brought home the D runner-up tro­ phy. A group of interested Auburn area people met to form the new Auburn Snowmobile Club. The executive included president, Allan Craig; vice-president, William Seers; treasurer, Gordon Daer and secretary Charlie Kerr. Walt Disney’s Robin Hood, and Cabaret were playing at the Park Theatre in Goderich. Trustees John McCann and Oscar Keiffer who had served on the Huron-Perth Roman Catholic Separate School Board for six years were honoured with a retirement party. The Honourable Leo Bernier, Minister of Natural Resources announced approval of a provincial grant in the amount of $7,500 to the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority for a preliminary engi­ neering study of the conduit on the Maitland River in Listowel. Jan. 3, 1990 About 25 Swinging Seniors from Blyth journeyed dqwn to Huronview on Dec. 13 to host the December birthday party and enter­ tain the residents. The Army Cadet Corps spon­ sored by the Brussels Legion was in danger of being disbanded due to declining enrollment. Without a gym to hold a Christmas concert due to renova­ tions, students at Brussels Public School spent Thursday afternoon before Christmas caroling. When long-time residents of the community of Wroxeter heard the name Audrey McLaughlin they may not have thought of her as the new NDP leader but as a young mother of two who with her hus­ band Don resided in the village for a few years. The movies playing at Goderich’s Park Theatre were Ml Dogs Co to Heaven and Look Who’s Talking. At the Lyceum Theatre, Fred Savage’s The Wizard and She-Devil were playing. The Blyth PeeWees lost the Lucknow Legion tournament championship to Brussels after defeating Ripley and Hensail. The Brussels Junior C Bulls con­ tinued to battle for first place in league action, downing Grand Valley and Goderich, then losing to Mount Forest. Jan. 4, 1995 Murray and Shelley Ducharme of RR3 Brussels had the first of three babies bom on Jan. 2 at Clinton Public Hospital, making their child, Tilynn, the area’s New Year’s Baby. A total of five impaired charges were laid in the Wingham OPP detachment area during the annual RIDE campaign, which ran from Nov. 27 to Jan 1. There were also nine 12-hour suspensions and 13 liquor related charges. There were 1,603 vehicles checked. For the elderly travelling to visit relatives and youth commuting to employment, transportation via the Cha-co Trails would no longer be available. The bus service was can­ celled due to poor ridership. There was an excellent turnout of the Grey Twp. New Year’s Day Levee as 150 showed up to see the new municipal office and council chambers. Tim Allen’s The Santa Clause was showing at the Lyceum Theatre while Star Trek Generations played in Goderich.