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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2000-04-26, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26, 2000. C itizenThe?North Huron Aocna 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 887-9021 Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie Gropp Advertising Manager, Jeannette McNeil Member Ontario Pm 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 What’s wrong with this picture? The newspapers and the nightly television news are filled these days with pictures of starving children in Ethiopia. The newest crisis is crowding out the story of western Canadian farmers worried about losing their farms because a surplus of grain has sent prices, and farm incomes reeling. What’s wrong with this picture? It would seem that, given these two realities, it would be a priority of world governments to do something about creating a system that would allow the poor of the world to benefit from the incredible productivity of North American and European farmers. What could be more important than feeding people who may not live another day without help? What could be more important than keeping people in business who can produce that food so efficiently? But this is not a priority. Canada has cut its foreign aid in the name of fighting the deficit and right wing parties like the Canadian Alliance still think we give too much aid. Rather than feed the starving, the urgent task of our government and governments in many countries, is to reward the already wealthy with more money, by slashing taxes. If we don’t, we’re told, these people will leave and our country will be poorer. Now experts in foreign aid know that the solution to world hunger is not as simple as taking surplus Canadian grain and giving it to people in poorer areas of the world. The ultimate solution is to help people become self-sufficient in producing their own food. But sometimes that doesn’t work. Self-sufficiency has been the goal of many aid agencies in Ethiopia for several years now but the drought has overwhelmed those efforts. In times like these there’s no alternative but aid. Food aid would also help struggling western farmers, burdened by huge grain surpluses. Yet these problems are likely to get little attention by our governments bent on pleasing business and the well-off. A society like ours, more concerned on making the rich richer than helping the starving, is as sick as the poor people in Ethiopia. — KR Special award for integrity Now that the Ottawa Senators have been knocked out of the Stanley Cup playoffs, perhaps a special award should be minted for the team for integrity and service to the game. Instead, management and ownership of the team is likely to be swamped with criticism for its failure to knuckle under to star Alexei Yashin in his demand to have his contract rewritten. Yashin had refused to honour his contract with the team, demanding more money. When players have done this in the past their team has often traded them to some other team that would pay them more. The result has been a constant escalation of player salaries and the idea among players that contracts only bind the team to pay them, no matter how poorly they play. If they play well, they deserve more. The cynics have already been criticizing Ottawa for harming the team by its stubbornness. The Senators should have made their point by suspending Yashin, then traded him to get another player or players they could use, they say. Yet these same critics then lay the blame for escalating salaries at the feet of owners who “just can’t say no”. By making Yashin lose an entire year of his career, Ottawa may bring some sanity to the game of hockey. Maybe that should be the name of the award specially made for the team: the Sanity Cup. — KR Strange bedfellows E ditorial Photo by Janice Becker Looking Back Through the Years From the files of the Blyth Standard, Brussels Post and North Huron Citizen The bizarre case of young Elian shows politics indeed makes strange bedfellows. Ready to do anything to discredit the Democrats and President Bill Clinton, the Republicans and leadership candidate George W. Bush have jumped all over the issue. The Republicans claim to be the party of family values, yet they’re lambasting the government for taking strong action to reunite a father with his son. They are the party of law and order yet they support a rowdy group of people who defied the government’s orders to release young Elian to his father. The Cuban-Americans who defied the government claim young Elian must live in a democracy, rather than going back to the evils of Communist Cuba, yet they make a mockery of democracy. And then there’s the sight of the U.S. government using armed men to help Fidel Castro win a public relations victory. Strange indeed. — KR April 24, 1974 The Huron County Board of Education approved a budget of $13,185,831 for 1974 at a special meeting in Clinton. The budget was up 9.24 per cent ($1,115,503) from 1973. Blyth Reeve Robbie Lawrie was among the 80 Huron County elect­ ed and appointed officials who attended a special workshop in Goderich on local government. A five-legged piglet was born on the farm of Bruce Hulley and Don Papples east of Londesboro. The village of Blyth showed an operating deficit of $4,757 for 1973 according to figures contained in A.M. Harper’s auditor’s report released. Clerk-Treasurer Larry Walsh explained that the major rea­ son for the deficit was the construc­ tion of a new water reservior which was not included in the 1973 bud­ get when it was prepared by Mr. Harper. The Way We Were starring Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand was playing at the Park Theatre in Goderich, while Clint Eastwood was Dirty Harry in Magmum Force at Wingham’s Lyceum Theatre and Paul Newman starred in the MacKintosh Man at Brownie’s Drive-In. April 25, 1990 Blyth Cubs and-Scouts planted trees on area farms in honour of Earth Day. Area environmentalists and politicians were frustrated and dis­ appointed by Environment Minister Jim Bradley’s announcement to get rid of a requirement that says soft drink bottlers must provide 30 per cent of their product in refillable bottles. The Hunt For Red October star­ ring Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin was playing at the Lyceum Theatre. April 26, 1995 Keith Johnston was nominated to the post of deputy-reeve of Morris Twp. at a special meeting. The seat had been vacant since Deputy Reeve Bert Elliott assumed the role of reeve after the resignation of Clem McLellan in late March. It was a small but enthusiastic group of Brussels residents who gathered in the library to discuss plans for the village’s 125th birth­ day celebration in 1997. Though there were many ideas discussed the one definite thing was the date for the event. It was agreed that Thursday, July 31, 1997 would be the kickoff with things wrapping up on Monday, Aug. 4. Things looked to be in good shape for Blyth when they received the assessment of the Auditor Paul Seebach, regarding the auditored report which was filed at the April 18 meeting of Blyth council. The good news from the audit was an accumulated net revenue of $86,487. A Howick Twp. resident got a bit of a surprise Saturday morning after finding a cooler on the side of the road. The brown and beige cooler, which was discovered eight miles north-east of Fordwich, con­ tained 96 sticks of dynamite and 75 electronic detonators. The explosives were badly deteri­ orated.