The Citizen, 2004-08-26, Page 1Inside this week
Pg•2 Brussels 'Citizens'
honoured
e Citizen BiatTSSE es.
Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County
Volume 20 No. 33
Thursday, Aug. 26, 2004
$1 (93c + 7c GST)
Pg.2 Time nears for
-7 school buses
Venturers' project .7
Pg. takes wing
D, Q Brussels girl wins at
I S• Highland Games
Special exhibit pg.
1 7 opens in Goderich
By-election
Monday
By Bonnie Gropp
Citizen editor
Just four days remain until voters
cast their ballot in the by-election for
a North Huron councillor for the
Blyth ward.
Deputy- clerk Kathy Adams said
that voter turnout for the. advance
poll on Saturday was "average" for
Blyth with a total of 18 ballots cast.
,_ Following the resignation of
councillor Ralph DeVries, council
decided to choose someone to fill the
vacancy from those submitting
nomination papers. However, with a
total of seven people stepping
forward. councillors felt it was
important that the citizens of Blyth
be given the opportunity to select
their representative.
By the deadline for withdrawing,
though, only three candidates
remained in the running, Edgar Daer,
Helen Grubb and Dave Pattison.
Election day in Blyth is Aug. 30 to
choose one of these candidates to fill
the vacancy on council. The poll is
open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the
Blyth Community Centre.
Weather
bad for
business
By Bonnie Gropp
Citizen editor
You don't need statistics to tell you
that weather-wise, this summer has
been less than hoped for.
However, while the rain and cool
temperatures have been
disappointing for most, there are
those who are impacted far more
greatly.
Carolanne Doig, a co-owner and
general manager of the Seaforth Golf
and Country Club said that the rainy
days have definitely cut down on
regular traffic.
League play too has been affected.
"It seems to rain Sunday night to
Monday, the day the seniors play.
The course is too wet for the carts,
which they need to use, so they can't
play and we lose that momentum."
Byron Adams, treasurer at the
Wingham Golf and Curling Club
said that the wet spring brought a
significant drop in the number of
golfers compared to other years.
"Summer wasn't great either.
Golfcourses are always treading
water as far as cash is concerned.
July sort of helped because of special
tournaments we held, but the
weather has definitely had an effect."
"This business needs good weather
or numbers are definitely down,"
said Doig.
She also expressed frustration with
the weather announcers. "They
continue to broadcast the negative. If
there's a 90 per cent chance of
sunshine they say there's a 10 per
cent chance of rain. People hear that
and they make other plans to go
shopping or the theatre."
The accuracy, Doig said, makes
things even more frustrating. "When
they predict rain people stay away,
but we usually don't get the rain.
(The weather reports) are totally
useless."
Not only has the weather been a
Continued on page 6
The winner is
The Brussels day camp wrapped up its last week and to celebrate a successful summer, the
group is aoing to Point Farms camping grounds. This week the kids had lots to keep them busy
from kick-the-can to a Survivor challenge. On Monday the children gathered at the arena to
play name that jingle, where they were told a commercial phrase and had to guess which one
it was. Group two jumped with joy as they took a two-point lead in the game. (Elyse DeBruyn photo)
NORTH HURON PUBLISHING COMPANY INC.
County smoking bylaw getting mixed reviews
By Elyse DeBruyn
Citizen staff
A change is about to hit Huron
County that is causing mixed
emotions among local businesses
and residents.
As of Sept. 4, Huron County will
be smoke-free in accordance to a
new bylaw which requires all public
places and work places with be 100
per cent smoke-free with the
exception of long-term care and
psychiatric facilities.
Colleen Elliott, owner of JR's
Family Restaurant in Brussels, said
she is glad the bylaw is coming into
effect.
"I don't think it will affect
business. I'm actually looking
forward to it and so is my staff," said
Elliott.
Since Bell's Pizza opened in
Blyth, it has been a non-smoking
restaurant and manager Dixie
Embling said the bylaw isn't really
'going to affect them.
"We've always been smoke-free
here and the Wingham restaurant has
been smoke-free for five years.
People respect that," said Embling
She said she hasn't come across a
situation when she has had to ask a
smoker to leave because "people just
know."
Mary Divok of Grimsby who is
visiting friends in the area, said she
is very much in favour of the bylaw.
"Smoking (in restaurants) causes
hardship for the people next to you.
People get sick from your smoking,"
said Divok.
She said she is in favour of the
bylaw being enforced, but only in
designated areas.
"I was at a pub that had no
smoking inside and no smoking
outside on the patio. It seems silly
that people can't smoke outside.
Why not have a designated area
outside that people can smoke at?"
said Divok.
Although the bylaw may be
pleasing to the average non-smoker,
some smokers have a different
opinion.
Penny Ribey of Blyth, says the
new smoking bylaw "really sucks."
"It's not fair because five years
ago you could smoke everywhere.
Now they're pushing us out
completely. There has to be a happy
medium for everybody," said Ribey.
She said the decision to have
either a smoking or non-smoking
business should not be enforced, but
"should be up • to each individual
business owner."
Agreeing is Keith Godwin of
Cambridge, who said although he
isn't a smoker, he still thinks the
bylaw is unfair to smokers and it
should be up to the business owner
to have a smoking or non-smoking
facility.
Since smoking has been proven to
cause damaging effects to both
smokers and non-smokers, the
bylaw has people, like Wendy Gaunt
of Wingham, thinking that it's "a
wonderful idea."
"It's about time that it's come,"
Gaunt said.
Herb Shannon of Blyth agrees
with Gaunt in supporting the new
county law.
"I don't like the smoke and it's
harmful, so why do the rest of us
have to suffer and put up with it,"
Shannon said. "Go smoke outside."
Jane Gardner, general manager of
the Blyth Festival said she thinks the
bylaw is a good thing because "the
number of tourists that come to the
community," should have the choice
of where they can go if they can't be
around smoke.
"As people get older, their
allergies and asthma can be
heightened and they can become
more sensitive to smoke. Knowing
their choices of where they can go
makes it easier to go places," said
Gardner. "It's a good thing for
people who want to go somewhere
for the first time."
She said there hasn't been any
problem with people understanding
they can't smoke in the Festival
since it has been a non-smoking
building for a number of years.
Jo-Ann McDonald, spokesperson
for the Brussels Legion, said she
thinks the bylaw will "probably hurt
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