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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2005-05-19, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 19, 2005. Editorials Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie Gropp Advertising, Heather Armstrong & Dianne Nonkes 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 PAP REGISTRATION NO. 09244 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPT. PO BOX 152 BRUSSELS ON NOG 1H0 email: norhuron@scsinternet.com Canada 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 1 HO Phone 887-9114 FAX 887-9021 E-mail norhuron@scsinternet.com Website www.northhuron.on.ca Jpcna (£cna Member of the Ontario Press Council We are not responsible for unsolicited newsscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright More than a personal choice Personal choice has come up against community health with an outbreak of rubella (formerly known as German measles) that has spread beyond its origins in Oxford County into the nearby region. The outbreak spread through members of a particular church group that feels their religion forbids them to be vaccinated. For most people rubella is not dangerous but if a pregnant woman is infected the health of her unborn child is endangered. The minister of the church said if a child is born with problems church members will rally around to help, but that doesn’t do much for the child who is being given no say in the process. Religious beliefs aren’t the only reason people are refusing to be vaccinated these days. Some people cite rare cases of life-altering adverse reactions as the reason they don’t want their children to be vaccinated for various diseases. We have lived for so long with reduced disease because of vaccination that we can’t remember the pain, death and suffering that were widespread before the age of vaccination. Not aware of the disease, people worry too much about the cure. In invoking their personal right not to be vaccinated, people are often endangering their children and helping to keep diseases alive that might have been extinct by now if there was a lack of hosts. — KR Why rush to judgement? Last week’s exoneration of Judy Sgro, who resigned as immigration minister in a flurry of accusations of influence pedaling, demonstrates why a federal election should not be held in Canada until Justice John H. Gomery has handed in the report of his investigation into the scandal over misdirected moneys in the sponsorship program in Quebec. The opposition and the media feasted on any accusation against Sgro, even from a man who had used every trick in the book to keep from being deported. Now the ethics commissioner has cleared her of these accusations and her most prominent accuser has recanted rather than go to trial to defend himself against libel. A woman’s life has been made hell and her career is in ruins and it can’t be undone but there are no apologies from the opposition or the media. This is why we don’t send a jury out to deliberate without hearing all the evidence. Holding an election now, with only part of the story heard would be as dangerous as the rush to judgement in the Sgro case.— KR Looking Back Through the Years Commentary By Geoff Peach, The Coast Centre We have witnessed the gradual degradation of Lake Huron’s waters and coastlands, particularly over the last three decades. It can be easy to get discouraged when you have worked for a long time doing Great Lakes conservation work. The Lake Huron Centre for Coastal Conservation has worked for a number of years to help make progress in the struggle against environmental degradation. Every time progress is made, there seems to be another problem that comes along to set things back. Often it has been people’s cavalier attitude toward water or biodiversity that ends up causing the problems. Every so often, though something can happen to bolster the spirit and give a sense of hope. Something happened this week along Lake Huron that was quite remarkable. It was not a government-funding announcement, or a bi-national initiative to discuss cleaning up the laek. It was three humble First Nation grandmothers who departed Sault Ste. Marie at the end of April to walk the entire perimeter of Lake Huron carrying a pail of water. It’s called the Mother Earth Water Walk 2005. The symbolism is powerful. For the Anishnaabe people, the responsibility of taking care of the water belongs to the women. Water is considered sacred and the lifeblood of Mother Earth. At various points along their journey, the grandmothers will stop and make offerings and prayers to the water. We met the grandmothers in Goderich on May 13. We were privileged to walk with them for a couple of kilometres. We joined them for a brief ceremony which included a healing prayer, an offering of tobacco to the lake (part of a cleansing ritual) and a song by the women to the lake, The concern of First Nations people for the health of the Great Lakes is highly spiritual. Water is more than a commodity or resource. There is a deep reverence toward water. To many people in Ontario water is taken for granted, To the First Nation people, water is sacred. The Water Walk is an opportunity to learn more about their respect for water, to pause and think about ways we might be able to have greater respect for water in our daily lives, Why would three grandmothers go to the effort? As one said, “We did it for the water, for the earth, for the animals, for the insects, for the trees, for all the two-leggeds. To remind all those we came across that the walk was for them. Not us. The walk was for the next generations, we walked with the water for them also. They will know, as Mother Earth knows, that we walked with the water for all of creation.” A selfless act by three remarkable women. We have a lot to learn from our First Nation cousins when it comes to respect for the environment and the safeguarding of our water. We have not been very good listeners. There is a powerful message to be learned. May 19, 1948 Blyth Lions agreed to an ' immediate donation of $100 with a future pledge of $200 towards the installation of floodlights at the park. The band concert raised $50 for the band fund. Girls softball teams from Blyth, Walton, Brussels, Seaforth and Au­ burn were gearing up for a new season. A variety concert at Auburn featured Cameron Geddes, a bass soloist from radio station CJCS in Stratford, violinist, Mrs. A.F. Schultz; Scottish dancer, Joy Lutz; piper, D.A. McLennan; the Richards Family, “acrobatic and tap dancing specialists’” and piano soloist, Harold Victor Pym. The new Spartan Midget electric radio was available at Blyth Radio Service for $34.95 in white and $32.95 in brown. At the local theatres it was Red Skelton, Virginia O’Brien and Gloria Grahame in Merton of the Movies’, Esther Williams and Jimmy Durante in This Time For Keeps and William Powell, Myrna Loy and Shasta in Song of the Thin Man. Goderich Boys School Patrol was doing traffic safety duty in front of the town’s public schools and at the main intersections, assisting children across the streets. The boys were instructed by the provincial police. Morning Cheer coffee was 49 cents a pound at Holland’s Grocery and Locker Service. Other weekend specials included two 20-oz. tins of tomato juice for 19 cents and Old English wax for 49 cents. May 17,1950 Brussels Cadets passing signals examinations were John Edgar, Kinloch Grewar and John Kerr. The five finalists in the Grade 9 public speaking contest at Brussels Public School were Heather Allen, Karen Buschlin, Donald Edgar, Marion Hull and Mary Smith. The winner, Karen Buschlin received $2. Second prize of $1 went to Donald Edgar, while the 50 cents awarded for third went to Heather Allen. A three-act comedy Hen-Pecked Henry was staged by the Walton Dramatic Club, sponsored by the Majestic Women’s Institute. At the local theatres it was Edmun Gwynne, and Donald Crisp in Lassie the Wonder Dog and Dick Powell, Jane Greer, Agnes Moorehead and Burl Ives in Station West. Most popular price ranges for new homes was $10,000 to $14,000 (31 per cent), $ 15,000 to $ 19,000 (18 per cent) and $7,500 to $9,999 (17 per cent). Popular styles were Cape Cod (27 per cent), ranch (24 per cent) and contemporary (18 per cent) May 17,1972 A special invitation was issued to the mayor of Brussels, Belgium to attend the Brussels Centennial celebration. Two wolves were spotted on a Grey Twp. farm. The Goderich Signal Star’s Mother of the Year was Mrs. Mary Bird, a former resident of the Brussels area. The story stated; “It was John Masefield in The Widow in The Bye Street who wrote, ‘Life can be bitter to the very bone when one is poor, and woman, and alone’.” John Masefie'd didn’t know Mary Bird ... or he would never have written that line. In fact Mary Bird has a line of her own which would be Masefield’s thought to shame. ‘I look forward to every day,’ says Mary Bird, a widow for eight years, the mother of two sons and a foster parent to boot.” “Life dealt Mary Bird a cruel blow almost eight years ago when her sons were two and four. That was the year that Mary’s husband died of emphysema, leaving the family to fend for themselves on a farm near Brussels.” The story went on to explain that Mary left the farm after one year to move to Goderich and had made a good life for herself and her sons — 37 foster children, eight mothers with marriage problems, countless babysitting charges and several boarders. May 21,1986 A plan tt> redesign the western and southern parts of Lions park got council approval. The major change would see a new entrance off Gypsy Lane at the south end of the park. A long-term look at the future of the Blyth Festival was underway. The study would look at the next 10 years including improvements that might need to be made to Memorial Hall and necessary facilities for the building of sets, props and costumes. Tom Hanrahan was named president of the Brussels Home and School. East Huron Women’s Institute held its annual meeting. Executive was: president, Leona McDonald, past resident Peggy Cudmore; director, Jean Mathers, secretary-treasurer, Margaret McMahon; alternate federal representative, Ruth Harding; first vice-president, Frieda Lassen; auditor, Pamela McLellan; Tweedsmuir curator, Ruth Galbraith and PRO, Marion Feldskov. May 20,1998 Rhonda McArter opened It’s A Shear Thing in Brussels. Blyth Rebels won the broomball championship. Team members were: Brenda Huber, Barb Huber, Angie Huber, Marlene Huber, Joanne Huber, Shirley Archambault, Dianne Howson, Joy Lammerant, Patti Alexander, Nicole Kerr, Karen Van Soest, Debbie Cook, Kim Harris, Stacey Rean, Kim McDougall and Barb Elliott, coach Paul Pierce, manager Steve Rintoui and trainer Dave Kennedy.