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HomeMy WebLinkAboutGoderich Signal Star, 2011-09-21, Page 8rr to the editor ber of Commerce represents entire business community open letter to the Goderich. mmunity. On behalf of the e Huron Chamber of Com- ould like to extend our pro- itude to those individuals town in our recent disaster. dividuals include His Wor- r Deb Shewfelt, town CAO abe, and Town Councillor/ f Commerce CEO Judy Craw - II as all of our town emrtoy- f their long hours and tireless s the worst storm to ever hit following the event Mayor in his wisdom, .appointed Crawford as the town's Hat- e business community that ffected by the storm. Our ieheartedly supported Ludy nd allowed her to step aside for the interim. As I'm cer-. f you were aware, our office et was behind the cordoned we operated from a tempo- the arena with. a wonderful erthought .... toward the shore ed one and all ed up o'er the bluff land now in its maw s, it laid terrible waste s it destroyed broken in its wake tides that once were trees Iplessly aloft ity brought to its knees afe, enormous loss hing left d hearts reft staff of volunteers. Communication at best was extremely difficult during the first week after the storm and there might have been some misconceptions that arose as a result. It appeared that there was some confu- sion by some of the business commu- nity about the role of the Chamber of Commerce and the BIA. Perhaps this might be an opportunity to clarify the purpose and mandate of these two organizations. Firstly, the Chamber of Commerce is a not for profit business organization funded mostlyby its mem- bers. It is totally independent of any level of government.. Our mandate is to assist the business community- in the area of Huron County that encompasses Goderich and District, as outlined in our catchment area, including Central and North Huron. The BIA is committee of Town Coun- cil, fundedby a tax levy with specific boundaries in the downtown Goderich core. To put it simply we, the board of the Chamber of Commercerepresent- ing the entire business community, were concerned about the effect of the storm ---Carolyn Parks Mintz 'oral song ble to musicians T all musicians - choirs, groups, ists, and instrumentalists. Paul Howe, and lyricist, Dale amed up to write a rousing song n for the residents of Goderich, were affected to some degree by do last month. is now available to any interested at North Street United Church, Fridays from 9:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. d of the month. Dale Wefts on the commerce and economy of all of the businesses in Goderich not just the businesses in the downtown core that were affected in the path of the tornado. Through it all I was impressed with the resiliency of our business commu,. nityin coming to grips with the immedi- ate loss of their locations. Many.busi- nesses of course have returned to The Square and others have found tempo- rary locations in which to carry on their business. We applaud these individuals for carrying on the entrepreneurial spirit that is the backbone of our community. I look forward and welcome any com- ments or concerns that you, the busi- ness community, might have in connec- tion with the role that the Huron Chamber of Commerce has played in the past several weeks following the tor- nado. I can be reached through the Chamber of Commerce business office or by telephone, (519) 440-0861. Garry LaRose Chair of the Board Wedneeday, September 21, 2011 • . Signal ,Star 7 } L_• JV-. �w JO IZ if 444V nch, Id„t How far bCk;dO:y�U want to go? A funny little 'what if' it was a few weeks after the tor- nado and Goderich was divided as to how it should be put back together. A large contingent insisted that everything be rebuilt. exactly as before. Many others' beliefs were• along the lines, of "who cares, so long as it's quick." Both sides were collecting money from people who naturally expected different things for their donations. When the time to spend the money eventually came around, it was still unclear how much would go to where, and what restraints would be on the rebuilders. Town Hall tried to clear up the red tape but the love of his- tory was too intense to stymie. Willy, a tender old fool just north of West and Waterloo, thought he had enough negativity and decided to paint his house neon pink to cheer himself up everyday. No sooner had he put on the first coat than a man came around with a ringed book of photocopied pictures of some of the older; more prominent buildings in the town. The stranger told him they had photographic evidence.. his house was histori- cally sepia -coloured, and so the pink had to go. Bettemess through sameness. Foresight through retrospect. Progress through restraint. The slogans were posted on every remaining hydro pole in town. Some people were not happy with that. "Why fix now what nobody bothered to fix before?" they asked, moments before they were booed out of town. Opera houses, grand hotels, even defensive forti- fications were all reconstructed, although most of their original purposes no longer existed and they were silently allowed to fall into disrepair. That is, until one day an enter- prising young history buff exam- ined Goderich's heritage even fur- ther than most. She found the Ojibway hunted and fished on the Column land well before the white man drove them off or conned them out of it. So, in keeping with the heritage of the place, the Square was torn down and owners had their choice of tepees or wig- wams. The former was good for seasonal business while the latter was more costly due to the scarcity of birch bark. Next, the Menesetung Bridge was tom down and the rubble was used to reconstruct Ship island. This was a great gain for the First Nations, who had little say in the sacrifice of their fishing post so many years ago. All in all, history was being rebuilt. Not everybody was happy with that, but most let it go. It was nice to see people working together, after all. But, all good things come to an end and one day, an even more enthusiastic history buff noted that even before the First Nations dreamt of the Great Turtle, there Gerard Creces online were peoples who came from Siberia chasing the wooly mam- moth: It was believed they lived in caves, though their settlements are largely lost to the ages. Regardless, the tepees and wigwams were taken down and great caves dug all around the Square. Zoning bylaws prohibited caves deeper than three storeys in order to pre- serve the skyline. The only form of signage allowed was cave draw- ings, unless you could prove your baddit sign predated history. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing. A massive surge in tree donations, paired with the vast open spaces led to a reforestation of Goderich's downtown. Never had the place been greener, save before even the nomads made their way to North America. This attracted huge tourist dol- lars, and before long everyone was back on their feet, which were meters below surface level. To this day, the great underground busi- ness district remains a marvel of modern engineering, and is cele- brated as a true Canadian heritage frontier AND a wonder of the andent world. www.goderichsignalstaccom Community news: Dominique Milburn 1111111it gssnews@bowesnet.com News Sports Special Sections Arts/Lite Multimedia City Living Community Sports Service Clubs