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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2004-01-08, Page 4"Eyes thatfire and sword have seen -- And horror in the hall of stone Look at last on meadows green And trees and hills they long have known." - from1.11.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit Looking Back Through the Years Jan. 8, 1959 Hartley Fischer, former clerk of the Brussels, was appointed issuer of motor vehicle licences and permits. The Melville Guild had 29 members meet at Jean Conlon's home. A meeting was held to organize the Brussels Minor Hockey league. Grand Champion steer of the International Livestock Show in Chicago, brought $25 a pound to eight-year-old Gregory Wood and 17-year-old Chuck Wood. Jan. 5, 1969 About 64 local curlers met at Brussels arena for a mixed spiel. Brussels, Blyth and Belgrave schools were attended for the first time by 750 students who formerly attended 15 one-room schools in Morris. Jan. 4, 1989 Volunteer firemen and emergency personnel from Grey and Wingham worked side-by-side to free a victim from a fatal car accident on County Rd. 16. Walton Feed Mill was purchased by Dauphin Feed and Supply Ltd of Dunagnnon. The Brussels Stockyards were up and running again under new facility owner Gordon Brindley of Dungannon. The final sale of 1988 was held under the business's new name Brussels Livestock Inc. The new Brussels Legion was officially opened with a gala ribbon- cutting ceremony less than seven months after the building was almost totally destroyed by fire. Candice and Amanda Bearss contemplate the sweet times ahead as they looked at a gingerbread house they won in a draw at The Saga in Blyth. Merle Hoegy purchased the Brussels Agromart. Hullett Twp. councillors held their inaugural meeting at the township office and passed a resolution opposing a move by the-provincial' government to use lottery funds for other than recreational and cultural purposes. Joyce Ducharme shops faster than ever as she takes part in the final Brussels Merchants Shopping Spree. She crammed $251.24 worth of groceries into her cart. Murray Cardiff, former MP for Huron-Bruce announced that the Corporation of the County of Huron was granted funding in the amount of $18,150 for the pruning and planting of trees in the Town of Wingham. A massed choir from Londesborough, Blyth and Auburn churches took part in an interdenominational service at Londesboro United Church. Jan. 5, 1994 Children were happily playing in the mounds of snow which had quickly piled up around the area over the previous two weeks. Brussels insurance costs went up one per cent. A Goderich man started his Volvo one morning and the entire engine compartment exploded and burst into flames. With the assistance of the residents of the county, the Huron County Christmas Bureau was able to help provide Christmas for over 1,000 children. A Brussels couple were boasting about their grandson being the first to be born in Ontario in 1994. Brussels councillors met their counterparts from Blyth to discuss proposals for the expansion of the sewage facilities of the two municipalities. Mason Bailey was elected unanimously to the presidency of the seven-person Clinton Community Credit Union board of directors. Nancy Darlow of Wingham earned her 4-H award for completing 18 club. The new executive of the Blyth Horticultural Society was president, Harvey Snell, Donna Taylor, Lois VanVliet, Betty Battye, Deb Hakkers, Thelma Johnston, Alvin Snell, Dan McGinnis, Fred hakkers, Dan Taylor, Deanna Snell, Sheron Stadelmann, Russell Cook, Marion Cook, Joanne McDonald. Grey Central students, Steven Boyer, Scott Zehr, Darlene Hemingway, Katie Kuepfer and Thomas Baker won the Brussels Santa Claus parade poster contest. Louise Martin was acclaimed as chairperson of the Huron Perth Roman Catholic Separate School Board. Jan. 6, 1999 Winter weather made a delayed appearance in the area dumping upwards of 30 centimeters of snow in just a few days across the province. Huron OPP stopped 6,079 vehicles during its RIDE program between Dec. 1 and Jan. 4. In an effort to relieve the shortage of doctors in rural areas, the Grey Bruce Huron Perth District Health Council made a series of eight recommendations to Minister of Health Elizabeth Witmer. Jill Sholdice, a member of the Brussels Skating Club, passed her final Gold Dance test. Shannon McGavin and her children Jacob and Mackenzie, enjoyed some of the fun educational toys that were part of The Sunshine Club, McGavin's newly opened pre- school program. The Huron OPP accepted applications for its Auxiliary. Tim and Donna Prior were among the honourable mention recipients at the Ontario Pasture Competition. Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie Gropp Advertising, Jamie Peters and Alicia deBoer 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 $30.00/year ($28.04 + S1.96 G.S.T.) in Canada; 5.80.00/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. 40050141 The Citizen P.O. Box 429, P.O. Box 152, BLYTH, Ont. BRUSSELS, Ont. NOM 1H0 NOG I HO Phone 523-4792 Phone 887-9114 FAX 523-9140 FAX 887-9021 E-mail norhuron@scsinternet.com Website www.northhuron.on.ca ocna ENA Member of the Ontario Press Council PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2004. Editorials Opinions The food safety predicament The investigation surrounding Aylmer Meats and other Ontario packing plants that have failed to meat food safety standards has prompted the Ontario government to promise an inquiry into the province's packing business. Depending on who the province chooses to conduct that inquiry, the effect on rural areas of the province and on farmers could be immense. When the inquiry is held, no doubt there will be horror stories of some small packers that fail to meet standards and there will be calls for imposition of federal standards across the board. With headlines over the supposed deficiencies of small plants, there will be little sympathy for the plight of small operators when they protest they'll be put out of business if they must meet federal standards, many of which seem to have no real effect on food safety. The raw statistics of supposed failures in the meat processing system can be misleading,. Speaking at a meeting on the abattoir situation last year, Neil Metheral, who operates a modern abattoir at Creemore, said a food safety auditor once gave his plant seven severe and five critical deficiencies but when Metheral expressed his dismay that his plant should have so many problems, the auditor felt it wasn't really a bad result at all. That lack of concern can perhaps be traced to the fact that one of those "critical" deficiencies was simply a burnt-out lightbulb. When statistics hit the urban media, however, that burnt-out bulb will be lumped in with more serious health concerns as an example of failures in the system. Toughening provincial regulations have already closed 40 of the 351 provincially-inspected abattoirs that were in business in Ontario in 1991. If closure of these businesses improved the safety of Ontario's food, then it would be tough to argue with this sacrifice. But when Mike Beretta closed his abattoir-in Brussels in 1999 it was because he was being asked to provide expensive upgrades like replacing wooden pens with steel and paving the lane to his plant, changes that seemed unlikely to improve the quality of the meat being processed there. What's more, the scary stories of hundreds getting sick from hamburgers infected with E. coli 157:1-17 have generally come, not from small processors, but from huge, federally-inspected U.S. packers. If the Ontario inquiry brings in expensive new requirements, even more small abattoirs are likely to close. Not only does this mean a migration of more jobs from small-town plants to large urban-based_ packers, it also means fewer options for farmers. That conference at which Metheral spoke was organized by farmers who sold their products directly to consumers and worried about the future of small processing plants on which they depended. Small direct-to-consumer farm operations will disappear if the only processing is done in large federally-inspected plants that don't do small lots. As the current BSE crisis has shown, lack of competition in the processing of older cattle has meant farmers were getting so little from packers that they often opted to give the meat away to food banks. Even that option would disappear if there were no small packers to process those animals. And during the 1998 crisis in the hog industry, it was small local processors like Green's Meat Market in Wingham that stepped forward and tried to do whatever they could to help hard-hit farmers. So as the province prepares for its inquiry, here's hoping they pick commissioners wise enough to be able to balance all the complicated issues and not just read the scary headlines. We need safe food but we need regulations that will deliver safe food without pushing the industry into the hands of monopolistic giants.— KR terrori sts of A A favourite tactic of terrorists a couple of decades ago was to hijack aircraft and hold passengers hostage. Since the Septa 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, terrorists have been able to hold millions of supposedly free people hostage, just by creating threats or perceived threats. The U.S. government has had that country on high alert throughout the holidays. Now it has instituted tough new identity checks on people entering the country. Who has the real power, the mightiest country in the world or one terrorist hiding in a cave somewhere in Afghanistan?— KR Letters Policy The Citizen welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must be signed and should include a daytime telephone number for the purpose of verification only. Letters that are not signed will not be printed. Submissions may be edited for length, clarity and content, using fair comment as our guideline. The Citizen reserves the right to refuse any letter on the basis of unfair bias, prejudice or inaccurate information. As well, letters can only be printed as space allows. Please keep your letters brief and concise.