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The Citizen, 2000-06-07, Page 4PAGE 4, THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7, 2000 Editorials Opinions Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie Gropp Advertising Manager, Jeannette McNeil 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 countries. 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 We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP) toward our mailing costs. Publications Mail Reg. No. 09244 Canadian Publication Mail Agreement No. 1374990 The Citizen RO. 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 E-mail norhuron@scsinternet.com Aocna@“. < Member of the Ontario Press Council One issue serves all purposes When a story becomes as big as the Walkerton E. coli outbreak, when dozens of media personalities are busy seeking a new angle, it’s fascinating to watch how an issue can evolve and become something entirely different that what it started out to be. Nothing will change the tragic facts of the issue — possibly 11 deaths can be attributed to the fact E. coli got into the Walkerton water supply; hundreds more became ill; lives have been disrupted; businesses have been devastated, many forced to close until the situation is cleared up. Yet the issue that started out as the sad consequences of the failure of Walkerton officials to protect the water supply, (and warn the residents when they couldn’t), kept growing and mutating as various groups hitched their agendas to the juggernaut of publicity the crisis generated. People concerned about intensive livestock operations, for instance, quickly jumped on the bandwagon. The particular strain of E. coli that infected Walkerton’s water, comes most often from livestock, particularly cattle. The word livestock alerted the opponents of livestock farming. Yet the usual target of most of that anger is large swine operations and there’s no tie between this strain of E. coli and pigs. What’s more, while “intensive” livestock operations are under the microscope, the number of animals doesn’t really matter. It would take only a few cattle in a picturesque pasture field to produce enough bacteria to contaminate the water. And, as Premier Mike Harris pointed out, he’s not aware of any “factory farms” in the immediate vicinity of Walkerton. And speaking of Premier Harris, his opponents and those who have been against his cuts, were handed an issue to reshape to their own liking. The concern quickly became, not the failure of one or more people in Walkerton to deal with the problem and be open about it, but the fault of the provincial government to prevent this kind of tragedy from occurring. To his credit, the premier has listened to the criticism and announced a public inquiry will be held into the whole matter. No doubt this story will continue to evolve as more groups try to make it suit their own agendas. In the long run, however, we can only look at the situation as to what we can learn from it. Last week in just two days 400 people in Huron County asked to have their water tested, more than 40 times the normal level. With so many people in the county living on private wells, such renewed concern over the safety of water could be the best legacy the victims of the Walkerton tragedy can leave. — KR Health or wealth? If you could choose health or wealth the choice would seem simple: all the wealth in the world doesn’t mean much if you’re dead. Yet in Canada current policies seem to be choosing wealth ahead of health. The World Health Organization this week produced figures to show Photo by Janice Beckerthat a child born last year in Canada could expect to live 72 healthy years before debilitating illness stuck. Sounds good, except that Canada ranked How much is...? 12th in the world. The United States, however, the world’s richest country, ranked 24th. The huge gulf between rich and poor in the U.S. showed the bottom five per cent of Americans could expect only 55 years of good health. And yet our recent drive has been to emulate the U.S. Why? Because our tax-cut agenda is being driven by the well-to-do. Statistics of U.S. well-off were given they’d probably show they live long lives — and the well-to-doare all that matters. It’s called survival of the fittest.— KR Letters to the Editor Looking Back Through the Years THE EDITOR, As a co-operative project between the Village of Blyth, MVCA, MNR, and the residents and community service organizations of Blyth, the Blyth Community Greenway Trail is a great success. Since the fall of 1995 when the project was first proposed, the committee has had the good fortune to work with a host of volunteers that have helped to make the trail the great place it is now. Volunteers have helped by planting trees and shrubs, and planting and weeding gardens, building nest boxes, stairs and railings and a gazebo. Others helped to trim trails and build fitness trails, and still others placed rocks in the creek to improve fish habitat. The Greenway Committee would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been involved with this project to date (far to many to list here). Phil Beard of MVCA, who has been involved in two other community trail projects, said “Blyth’s been the most satisfying. This project had few resources and they managed to pull it off anyway”. The MVCA asked the Greenway Committee to become a partner in the Maitland Stewardship Partnership and the committee has agreed to do so. With amalgamation and funding cuts to many government organizations it is important that such community involvement continues. We encourage anyone with a suggestion for the trail, to contact the committee with their idea. Donations are always welcome. Please enjoy the trail and mention it to others. Members of the committee can be reached by leaving a message at the Blyth Clerk’s Office. Sincerely yours Donna Taylor Secretary Blyth Greenway Committee. June 5,1974 The more things change the more they stay the same. At the May session of Huron County council, Gardner Church of the Ministry of Treasury, Economics and Intergovernmental Affairs, spoke about John White’s proposals for re­ structuring local government. He told county officials the objective was simply to eliminate as many special purpose bodies as possible and ideally, to have one body co-ordinate “all the demands on the taxpayers’ money”, but he warned that local government might not have been ready for that responsibility. County council’s executive committee was responsible for looking into a request from Huron County’s Police Commission asking the solicitor general to conduct a study on policing needs in Huron County. Huron’s Historic Jail board was to be given approval from county council to use the former jail for whatever was deemed advisable by them providing the terms of an agreement, expected to be drawn up and signed shortly, were met. June 6, 1990 Marilyn and Peter Verbeek of RR 1, Belgrave fulfilled a long-time dream as they launched the Glen Yukon in Goderich Harbour for the first time. Built by the couple at their home, the pleasure craft had been eight years in the making. The new boat was somewhat bigger than the one the Verbeeks originally owned, and slept up to six people. Although the final budget was not yet approved, it was likely village residential taxpayers of Blyth would be facing an increase of over eight per cent. A meeting was held for the BMG recreation board and the three municipal councils who jointly maintained the community centre, to discover basically who’s the boss. Members of Brussels Public School principal Jim Axtmann’s family were on hand to help him celebrate his approaching retirement at an open house at the school, after 34 years in education. June 7,1995 After consultations with students and secondary school principals, Superintendent of Program with the Huron County Board of Education Gino Giannandrea announced to trustees at the June 5 meeting that Huron County Grade 9 pupils had once again topped provincial averages in reading and writing. The (unofficial) 1994-95 results showed a jump of three per cent, over the 1993-94 marks, to 97 per cent for the number of students performing at or above expected levels. In perhaps one of the more peculiar political developments in the provincial campaign in Huron, three candidates said no to the students at F.E. Madill and did not attend their all-candidates debate - despite apparent repeated invitations. This left only Progressive Conservative hopeful Helen Johns and the Family Coalition Party’s Phil Cornish to debate their respective view points on education, job creation and the future for today’s youth. Some 300 students listened to the platforms. Meetings were held with municipal politicians and employees and emergency service people to bring them up to speed on the process for municipal addressing (9- 1-1) in Huron County.