The Citizen, 2003-11-12, Page 1Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County
Volume 19 No. 44 Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2003 $1 (93c + 7c GST)
NH
I NORTH HURON PUBLISHING COMPANY INC.
Inside this week
Pg. 6
7
Pg- 9
Pg. 19
Groundwater forum
in Wingham
New management
at Blyth Inn
Pg- 8 Juveniles split
action
Optimists host
tournament
Gifted students
visit Festival
Some 911
names
may
change
By Keith Roulston
Citizen publisher
Some street and road names in the
county may need to be changed to
avoid confusion for emergency
crews because of duplicated names,
Huron County council was told Nov.
6.
County engineer Don Pletch said
that lower-tier municipalities were
responsible for the original naming
of roads under the 9-1-1 emergency
numbering system and some did not
take the advice not to duplicate
names.
Rob Morley, South Huron
councillor agreed that municipalities
did not heed the advice of the co
ordinator in charge of implementing
emergency numbering to have the
same names apply to a road clear
across the county. He cited County
Rd. 83 which was to be called
Thames Rd. until residents in
Dashwood objected. Now the road is
called Thames Rd. east of Exeter and
Dashwood Rd. west of the town.
But Huron East councillor Bernie
MacLellan warned that citizens
would not be happy if they were
forced to endure another changing of
their addresses. Some had already
had two or three different addresses,
he said. He warned “It’s not going to
be pretty” when people find out they
have to change.
Pletch, however, said there are
some ambulance and other
emergency officials who come from
outside the county and they find
multiple names confusing.
Central Huron councillor Bert
Dykstra pointed out there was an
accident on Airport Line in
Bluewater to which two ambulances
were dispatched but one ended up at
Airport Rd. al the Goderich airport.
A meeting with clerks and
administrators from the lower-tier
municipalities will be held in January
to consider the situation.
Under grey skies
A light drizzle fell as members of the Brussels Legion, Ladies Auxiliary, Cadets, Guiding
groups, students and general public attended the annual Remembrance Day service at the
Legion cenotaph on Tuesday morning. (Keith Roulston photo)
Election has upsets, close races
By Bonnie Gropp
Citizen editor
There were some big upsets and
some close races as local residents
went to the polls to elect their
municipal governments, Monday.
The unofficial results as if
Tuesday morning’s press time
showed that in Huron East, Robin
Dunbar was narrowly defeated for
the position of mayor by former
Brussels councillor Joe Seili.
Dunbar garnered 1,149 of the votes
while Seili got 1,165.
For deputy-mayor, incumbent
Bernie MacLellan held on taking
1,318 votes to challenger Maureen
Agar’s 994.
The only local race for council
was in Grey where incumbent Alvin
McLellan topped the polls with 307
votes. Coming in second was Mark
Beaven with 252. Losing the race
were Dale Newman with 168 and
Debbie VanBeek with 88.
For school board trustee, Shelley
Kaastra defeated Paul Dyck and
Michele Colquhoun. Kaastra had
1,134 to Dyck’s 1,007 and
Colquhoun’s 915.
Elected in Seaforth is Lou
Maloney with 508 and Joe Steffler
with 463. Defeated was incumbent
Dick Burgess who had 340 votes.
The remaining wards were filled
by acclamation. In Brussels it’s
David Blaney and Frank Stretton. In
McKillop it’s incumbents Fergus
Kelly and Sharon McClure.
Tuckersmith councillors are Bill
deJong and Larry McGrath.
In Morris-Turnberry incumbent
mayor Keith Johnston was toppled
by former clerk Dorothy R. Kelly.
Kelly received almost double the
votes of her opponent taking 1,123
to Johnston’s 601.
Winning the three Morris council
spots were Edna McLellan with 518,
newcomer Paul Gowing with 510
and Neil Warwick with 486. Jim
Hunter had 483 votes, while
incumbent Kevin Pletch received
434.
A long-time councillor in
Turnberry was also defeated. Wayne
Riley received just 214 votes.
Elected in Turnberry was Bill
Thompson with 478, Lynn Hoy with
405 and Jim Nelemans with 383.
In the West Wawanosh ward of
Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh
incumbents Neil Rintoul and Kevin
Shiels were re-c+ected. Defeated was
Walter Elliott. The numbers were
366, 336 and 228 respectively.
Reeve BenVanDiepenbeek was
acclaimed as were Doug Fines and
Eric Gosse for Colborne.
Elected in Ashfield were Carl
Sloetjes and Marilyn Miltenburg
with 625 and 869 respectively.
Defeated was Connie Black
North Huron councillors for East
Wawanosh, incumbents James
Campbell and Murray Scott and for
Blyth, Ralph DeVries and
incumbent Murray Nesbitt as well as
reeve Doug Layton were acclaimed.
Incumbents Archie MacGowan
and Arnold Taylor retained their
seats as Wingham councillors,
defeating Earle O’Neil.
In Central Huron, acclaimed as
reeve was former deputy-reeve Bert
Dykstra, who took over as head of
council when Carol Mitchell was
elected MPP. His deputy reeve will
be John Bezaire who defeated David
Jewitt 804-556.
Vying for three spots to represent
the east ward were Marg Anderson,
Darren Stevenson, Tim Collyer and
Bill Colquhoun. Anderson had 693,
Continued on page 20
Belgrave
begins
park
plans
By Bonnie Gropp
Citizen editor
Thanks to . the work of some
dedicated community volunteers
kids in Belgrave this summer should
have a brand new, and safe,
playground.
The Belgrave park enhancement
committee formed in September,
after considerable discussion
through the previous year.
Chair Yvonne Fischer said the
existing playground had gone
through a regulation review and
much of the equipment was
removed. “Which was probably a
good thing. There have been
concerns and everybody knew that
changes were needed.”
Once reality settled in, local
parents got actively interested in
finding a solution. An invitation was
posted for interested individuals to
get involved and a committee was
formed. Working on it with Fischer
are Sue Richmond, Jen Hopper,
Tracey Brohm and Jo Schurter.
“Next we questioned the
community on what people would
like to see, especially the experts, the
children.”
The arena board was informed-of
the committee’s plans and the group
has been working with the Twp. of
North Huron’s director of
recreation/facilities Dan Cousins.
“He provided input and suggestions
and we are hoping to be working
with him throughout the project,”
said Fischer.
Different manufacturers were
consulted and quotes obtained. “We
don’t want to just jump into this,”
said Fischer, explaining that in this
case it’s not necessarily about the
money. “You also wanted the
safest."
Plans are to complete the work in
two phases, the first to be hopefully
ready by spring, 2004 and the
second projected for late summer or
fall.
Besides the playground equipment
the group is going to have a
basketball net area installed for the
older youths. The playground will
also be fenced to protect little ones
from the traffic to and from the ball
diamond.
There will also be benches
constructed for parents to sit on
while their children play.
“And we’re still open to opinions
and suggestions because this is just
the beginning.”
With an estimated cost of $60,000,
a minimum $40,000 of which is
committed to the playground, the
committee has already begun
fundraising. A one-night chocolate
bar blitz resulted in a profit of
$1,700. “It went over quite well.”
The biggest fundraiser is the
classic car draw. Tickets are being
sold at $10 for a chance to win a
1967 Chev Malibu. Its second
Continued on page 16