Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2005-02-24, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2005. Editorials Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie Gropp Advertising, Heather Armstrong & Capucine Onn The Citizen 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 + $1.96 G.S.T.) in Canada; $85.00/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. PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40050141 PUBLICATIONS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM REGISTRATION NO. 09244 RETURN UNDEUVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPT.Canada PO BOX 152 BRUSSELS ON NOG 1H0 email: norhuron@scsinternet.com We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP) toward our mailing costs. P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. N0M 1H0 Phone 523-4792 FAX 523-9140 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. NOG 1H0 Phone 887-9114 FAX 887-9021 E-mail norhuronGscsinternet.com Website www.northhuron.on.ca jpcna^A Member of the Ontario Press Council ■KD03HI We are not responsible for unsolicited newsscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright Crossed purposes The Kyoto Accord came into effect last week and under Canada’s commitments to help reduce the greenhouse gases that create global warming, we are all supposed to be cutting back. The problem in rural Canada is that the nation’s environmental agenda and the agenda of the large commercial enterprises that are driving the nation’s way of doing business are going in opposite directions. Environmentalists have long complained that the suburban model where everyone drives a car to shop or take part in just about any community activity, wastes much more eneigy than the downtown model where people walk or take mass transit. In rural Ontario we’ve been adopting a suburban model with regional shopping centres replacing local village and town downtown shopping areas. If the average rural family now burns two gallons more a week in shopping than a decade or so ago, that’s a lot of greenhouse gases put into the air, taking us in exactly the opposite direction than our Kyoto obligations say we must go. If energy efficiency was the test, there would be more processing and manufacturing of agricultural products in rural areas where the bulky raw materials are grown. Instead, the agenda of commerce is to truck large volumes of agricultural commodities to urban centres for processing because that’s where they want to build their factories. Producing those agricultural products has also changed. According to the book Feeding the Future, in 1940 the average American farm produced 2.3 calories of food energy for every calorie of fossil fuel energy it used while today three calories of fossil fuel are used for every calorie of food produced. If creating less greenhouse gas is the object, the so-called efficiency of the modern farm, with its dependence on high amounts of electricity, diesel powered equipment and chemical fertilizers, is counterproductive. If we really believe, (and many doubt it still) that the future of our children and their children depends on reducing the amount of greenhouse gases, then we country and small-town residents need to re­ examine our whole rural lifestyle. — KR There's no hockey Santa Santa died last week for National Hockey League players. The team owners have made it clear they’ll even cancel a season rather than go on losing money in order to pay exorbitant salaries to the stars. Professional sports is a strange world where some owners were so caught up with the prestige of winning they’d pay any cost to collect star players, subsidizing their salaries from their personal wealth. Naturally, players hoped to see this continue. It’s nice not being tied to the realities of the marketplace but of course it can’t go on forever if you can’t find enough billionaires with big egos to own all the teams. If the teams are to be businesslike to survive things had to change. Like the rest of us, players must learn to live on what their employers can afford to pay. Still, it will be far more than we can dream of. — KR Looking Back Through the Years EDITOR’S NOTE: — Newspapers are always looking for ways to help their readers understand how to property prepare a letter to the editor. The following appeared in an edition of the Rocky Mountain House (AB) Mountaineer One of the best read parts of any newspaper is the letter to the editor column and there are usually more than enough to make issues lively and interesting. Rules of writing letters are quite simple. Stick to these and we will be quite happy to print them, if not one week, then the next. • Address your writing to the editor. With "Open letters" to someone else, we always get the feeling of snooping in someone eise's mail • "Thank yous". Please use our card of thanks column in the classified section, or have your group budget for display advertising space, rather than using a letter to the editor Letters are the place to express opinions and carry on debates • Bad taste. This is a family newspaper. People can make their points without vulgar language • Libelous material. To bad mouth someone in public is slander, to do so in print is libel. If we allowed someone's character to be unduly attacked, we are just as subject to a libel suit as the author of the letter • Illegible and incoherent letters. Our typesetters are renowned for their ability to read bad handwriting However, the most ideal situation is to have the letter typed and double spaced. Some letters ramble and make no sense, no matter how nimble our EDITORIAL POLICIES mental gymnastics. If we can't make heads or tails out of the letter, we won't make our readers try If we can edit the letter to make it clear, we will. • Length. This is not the place for a textbook of personal opinion We suggest that most people can get their point across in fewer than 750 words. Keep it short and to the point. It is in the best interest of the writer for the letter to be interesting and understandable to other readers. • Prose and poetry. We are a newspaper and not a literary magazine. There are places for short stories and poetry. The only time we will publish such material is if the item is, in itself, newsworthy such do our writer worth worth Winning a competition with a poem or story is a good reason On occa­ sion we will invite material as we annually for Christmas edition. • Anonymous letters. If the doesn't believe the letter is i signing, we can't believe it is reading. The opinion is more valid if the writer is willing to stand behind it. If a person does not want his name to appear, he must make a strong case to us in person. • Unsubstantiated facts. If you want to quote "facts" in the letter, tell us where they come from so readers can check on them • End of Debate. After we feel all sides of a debate have been thoroughly aired and letters on the subject become repetitive, we will put an end to it. • Local Interest. Any topic is fair play, but letters should be of interest to the people of our community. Feb. 25,1948 A brown leghorn hen excelled herself when she produced an egg that measured eight and one eighth inches in length and six and one- quarter inches in width. Blyth’s new fire alarm system had its first test. The wail of the siren was, according the The Blyth Standard, a “startling revelation to this community, who in the past have been used to the clanging of the fire bell”. A five-pound bag of quick cooking oats was one sale at Superior Food Stores for 23 cents. Feb. 22,1950 The musical play Randolph Ranch was being staged at the Brussels Town Hall for “three big nights.” Appearing in the production were Mami Van Norman, Donald Edgar, Jessie Little, Bill King, Laurie Cousins, Charlie Thomas, Bill Rann, Mary Lou McFarlane, Jean Jewell and Gerald Gibson. The J Girls were Doreen Long, Doreen McCreath, Betty, Isabel Speir. Chorus girls were Donelda Willis, Glenna Stephens, Marie Bennett, Jean Cardiff, Karen Buschlen and Madalon Ryan. Appearing as “guests” were Elma Cousins, Aleatha Rann, William Speir and L.W. Eckmier. The Brussels Lions were planning a community sale to raise money for uniforms for the Boys and Girls Band. The Voice of Temperance told of a workman offered a drink by his employer. “He had three drinks. On the way home he struck a pedestrian who later died in hospital. The widow instituted a civil action for damages. She was awarded $14,000.” “Any workman who drinks and drives runs the risk of this costly dilemma.” Playing at the Capitol Theatre in Listowel was Miranda starring Glynis Johns and Coogie Withers. At the Regent in Seaforth it was The Younger Brother with Wayne Morris and Janis Paige. Feb. 23,1972 Mr. and Mrs. Doug Callander announced the sale of Callander Nursing Homes. The new owner, Grenville Austin, was president of a firm operating several nursing homes in the area. A good number of people braved stormy weather to attend the Brussels firefighters annual banquet. Plans for Brussels Centennial advanced with a report of 1,000 invitations having been sent. It was learned that Miss Canada would not be available to attend but further details indicated a steam calliope and midway being part of the event. Specials at McCutcheon Grocery included Cousins ice-cream, a half gallon for 87 cents and two pounds of corn syrup for 43 cents. An ad reminded dog owners that owners of dogs caught in contravention of the bylaw stating they must be tied at all times, faced a fine of $50. Feb. 21,1973 A cutline under a front page photo showing a huge line-up of people said: “The good old days were never like this. It used to be hard to get people inside the old Huron County jail house in Goderich. However when an open house was called, thousands lined up and waited for over an hour in freezing teipperatures to see inside the old stone walls. The jail has been the centre of controversy recently because of a plan by the Town of Goderich to turn it into a museum and another plan by the county and the owners of the building to tear down one wall and expand the regional assessment office next door.” A fire left an Auburn-area family homeless. Richard W. Collings, of RR1, Blyth, was selected to be included in the 1973 edition of Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges. Collings was a member of the 1973 class of Springfield (Mass) College. He was among 30 SC seniors selected on the basis of scholarship, participation and leadership. A new teacher at Hullett Central was Miss Donelda Adams. Jack Riddell defeated three other candidates to capture the Liberal party nomination for the by-election in Huron. Feb. 19,1986 Barring a last minute collapse of the deal, Brussels would soon lose a hotel and gain a new supermarket. Village council approved a bylaw to sell the historic Queen’s hotel to McLaughlin-Inland International Inc. of London which would develop the property into a 6,090 square foot supermarket. The Ontario government instituted a new program requiring people have their picture taken for their driver’s licence. Huron County warden and Grey Twp. reeve Leona Armstrong was honoured with a presentation from the Bank of Commerce in Brussels. Feb. 25,1998 It was a busy week for Blyth firefighters as they put out a shed fire, a truck fire and a “nuisance” call. Top public speakers from Hullett and Blyth were Kristi Klasen, Sonya Schultz, Steven Empey, Bryan Klasen. Heather Elliott. Charlotte Worsen, Erin Moore, Lindsay Gibson and Justin Plant. Receiving awards at the annual Scout banquet were John Battye, Joan Clark and The Citizen.