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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2000-03-01, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2000. C itizenTheNorthHuron Aocna (*?NA P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. NOM 1H0 Phone 523-4792 FAX 523-9140 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. NOG 1H0 Phone 887-9114 FAX 867-9021 Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie Gropp Advertising Manager, Jeannette McNeil Memb«r Ontario Press Council E-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 Mai) Agreement No. 1374990 E ditorial CZZZZ2ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ1 Political landscape is changed The protests of truckers faced with high diesel fuel prices and the reac­ tion of their governments show fairness is no longer a goal of our gov­ ernments. Today's politicians pay attention only to political clout. Faced with skyrocketing costs because of fuel, independent truckers have been protesting across Canada in the past week but their cries for help have fallen on deaf ears. Asked about their complaints, Prime Minister Jean Chretien said they should raise the prices they charge to customers. Apparently he hadn’t been lis­ tening when they stated they were locked into contracts that didn't allow them to charge more. The truckers approached Premier Mike Harris asking that he help them out by reducing the provincial tax on fuel. The great tax-cutter, who reg­ ularly not only boasts of how much he has cut income tax but lectures the federal government on how it should be following his example, said he couldn’t cut fue] taxes, not even in an emergency. But while both governments throw up their hands and say they can’t help the hard-hit truckers, the federal budget this week announced mas­ sive tax cuts — even though polls show the majority of Canadians don’t place a high priority on cuts. What Canadians have said they’re worried about is the health care system, yet the federal government promised far more money for tax cuts over the next five years than for putting health care back in shape. It’s not how many people want tax cuts that matter, it’s which people want tax cuts. Influential business leaders earning top incomes have been threatening to take their businesses out of Canada if they don’t get a bet­ ter tax deal. They, like the owners of Canada’s professional hockey teams, know how to get the government’s attention. The truck owners, by comparison, don’t have that clout. Like farmers, if they go broke there will a'ways be someone else to take their place. But what kind of message is being sent? The truckers, like western grain farmers before them, are being told they really don’t matter. Political leaders don’t even sound very sympathetic when they say no. Are we telling the truckers that only when they really get pushy will their concerns will be heard? Are we inviting the violence that desperate peo­ ple often turn to when they feel ignored by society? Surely our governments are meant to help all the people, not just those with economic and political muscle. — KR Life will go on Some communities across Huron and Perth, including the village of Walton, are suffering something akin to a death in the family this week with the announcement that their schools will be closed. Like a death in the family, they know life will go on, but it will never be the same. A community that loses its school is a little less of a community. Other communities have suffered that loss before and they’ve survived, but life may be less rich when the education of the children is no longer part of the local social fabric. Seaforth is feeling particularly wounded because of the closure of its high school, a step that’s happened decades earlier in villages like Blyth and Brussels. There's no doubt something will be lost in Seaforth when young people are bused out of the town for their schooling, just as there was something lost in the other communities earlier. When students go to a local school there is a sense of community pride when a team wins in sports or a choir or band performs. Even those who don’t have children in school take part in activities. It’s never quite the same when the school is outside the community. If a student athlete is part of a winning school team the community may feel proud of the athlete, but there’s little iden­ tification with the school itself. Somehow the value of the community doesn’t seem important any­ more. Whether it’s schools or municipal amalgamation, there’s the sense there’s nothing more than the provision of a service and there's no dif­ ference where that service is provided. Perhaps it's natural in our globalized, impersonalized, internet world that personal relationships like feeling a part of something, feeling loyal­ ty to something, are judged no longer important. Yet one of the strongest human needs is to belong, whether it’s to a family, a tribe, a community or a nation. One can't help feeling somewhere down the line, perhaps too late, people will realize human beings don’t really change, and the per­ sonal touch will be important again. — KR Photo by Bonnie Gropp Looking Back Through the Years From the files of the Bl} Feb. 26, 1975 A program of promotion of the Village of Blyth was unveiled at the annual meeting of the Blyth Board of Trade. The program called for welcome signs at each of the entrances to the village and place­ mats for use in local restaurants. Take a Beaver to Lunch, was to be the first professional theatre pre­ sentation to be seen in Memorial Hall since it was put back in service Feb. 26. Considerable discussion took place at the West Wawanosh Twp. council meeting about a new bridge in the township. A group of six ratepayers was present to discuss the possibility of building a bridge over the Maitland River on Concession 4 and 5. The Huron County Board of Education voted unanimously to disregard a suggestion from the Ontario School Trustees Council that trustees "fight fire with fire" in salary negotiations. The trustees council meeting in Toronto asked the 141 school boards in the province to refuse to enter into salary talks with teachers in 1975. Feb. 28, 1990 Blyth-area residents were given the chance to say if they think rutabagas may be the next thing h Standard, Brussels Post besides theatre, leather mills and steam engines to put their village on the map. A meeting was set in the Blyth council chambers to discuss a proposal for the Blyth Rutagaga Festival to celebrate the important role of rutabagas in the community. There are more strenuous marathons to raise money for good causes but many young people from Londesboro United Church took part in the all-night rock-a- thon to raise money for the Canadian Bible Society. Blyth was scheduled to host one of the two meetings in the county to review the latest stage of the County of Huron Waste Management Master Plan. More than 200 Huron County dairy farmers gave Don Pullen a standing ovation after he announced he would be stepping down as agriclutural representative for Huron at the end of March, end­ ing his 22 years as head of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food’s Clinton office. Despite indications that Hullett taxpayers don’t want a new hall, over 75 people crowded into the Londesboro Hall to discuss a pro­ posal from Hullett Central Public School to build a new centre onto the school in conjuction with the and North Huron Citizen township. March 1,1995 After netting about $60 from the Brussels Variety in a bold daylight robbery, police believe the man may have then hit a store in Kitchener. The provinces’ plan of amalga­ mating appeared as though it wouldn’t have any impact on the Huron County Board of Education, dispite the government’s plans to reduce the number of school boards in Ontario by 40 to 50 per cent, and limit the amount of money a board spends on administration. The long-awaited and much- anticipated federal budget was announced to the usual variety of reactions. One increase that affect­ ed everyone was an increase in the gasoline tax, set at 1.5 cents per litre. At approximately 12:30 a.m. the occupants of a house in Tuckersmith Twp., were awakened by a loud noise. A I4-year-old girl had suffered a suspected bullet wound to her lag as she lay sleeping in her bed. Preliminary investiga­ tion revealed a number of apparent bullet holes in the front wall of the house. The victim was transported to Victoria Huspital in London for treatment.