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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2004-01-14, Page 44 -THE HURON EXPOSITOR, Jan. 14, 2004 Your Community Newspaper Since 1860 Tom Williscraft - Publisher Susan Hundertmark - Editor Dianne McGrath - Su s/Cbssifieds Bernie Pugh Office/Sales . Sara Campbell --Reporter Anne Roden - Distribution C� OUEBECOR MEDIA E-mail us at seaforth@bowesnet.com Visit our home page at www.seaforthhuronexpositor.com SUBSCRIPTION RATES: LOCAL - 35.85 o year, in advance, plus G.S.T. SENIORS: - 33.85 a year, in advance, plus G.S.T. USA & Foreign: 35.85 o year in advance, plus $78.00 postage, G.S.T. exempt Published weekly by Signal -Star Publishing at 11 Main St., Seaforth. Publication mail registration No. 40029693 held at Seaforth, Ontario. Advertising is accepted on condition that in the event of a typographical error, the advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. In the event of a typographical error, advertising goods a services at o wrong price, goods or services may not be sold. Advertising is merely an offer to sell and may be withdrawn at any time. The Huron Expositor is not responsible for the loss or damage of unsolicited manuscripts, photos or other materials used for reproduction purposes. Changes of address, orders for subscriptions and undeliverable copies are to be sent to The Huron Expositor, P.O. Box 69, Seaforth, Ont. N0K 1 W0. Pubikation Mail Registration No. 7605 Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2004 Editorial and Uesin.ss Offk.s - 1 1 Mala Nr..t.,$.af.rtls Ar pbon. (519) 527-0240 fax (519) 527-2558 Melling Addr ss - P.O. Ei.x 69, $.af.rlh, Oaten., NOK 1 WO Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association, Ontario Community Newspapers Association "We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada, through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP), toward our mailing costs." Editorial Everyone is working to make Seaforth trust more open Election promises, made last fall, to make the Seaforth community development trust more open to the public are being pursued eamestly by almost every member of Huron East council. And, because ratepayers made their concerns about the trust known to councillors representing all wards of the municipality, Seaforth councillors who actually sit on the trust are feeling the heat. Both Councillors Joe Steffler and Lou Maloney have promised to make the trust more accessible and have followed through by inviting the Huron Expositor to the trust's first meeting of council's current term. They have also asked the trust members to send monthly minutes and quarterly financial statements to council, use the municipality's auditor for its annual audit and hold a public meeting to answer any questions ratepayers may have about how the trust is managing the $1.4 million Seaforth earned by selling its Public Utilities Commission to Festival Hydro in Stratford. But, they're beginning to get frustrated by a push by council to amend the bylaw that formed the trust to put those changes on paper and have gone so far as to consult a lawyer for a legal opinion about whether or not they can be forced to make those changes. While Steffler's and Maloney's plea for time to show how open the trust can be is understandable and reasonable, they need to realize that council's continuing interest in the trust is also reasonable. The fact that trustees still express some hesitation about sharing minutes with council and are feeling victimized by "doubters" and "critics" is a strong reminder why concerns were first expressed about , the trust. The trust spent its first year and a half of operation in virtual darkness, sharing nothing more with the people of Seaforth about the public money it was administering than the annual financial statement required by the bylaw that formed it. And, even that one requirement was fulfilled three months late, drawing the concem of Huron East's auditor. Trustees made it clear that they would be following the trust agreement to the letter and should not be surprised now if council -wants that agreement to reflect the openness that doesn't necessarily have to be spelled out to other public bodies. While Seaforth's new councillors do deserve a chance to make good on their election promise, they have to realize that winning back the community's confidence is always a more difficult job than operating with a spirit of openness in the first place. tt ri< . -- can be made to us by noon on Mondays at: st aforth{@ Bowe t corn An ' letters and submissions must be signed and accompanied by a day -time telephone editing. Opinion letter A lying superpower more threatening than dictator half a world away, says reader lb the Editor, If Saddam Hussein could hide himself as well as he hid his supposed weapons of mass destruction, he could still be a free man and the undisputed hide -and -go -seek champion of the world. Saddam hid his weapons of mass destruction so well that the United States has seemingly given up on finding them. The 400 -person team known as the Joint Captured Materiel Exploitation Group (which at one point consisted of 1400 people) charged with finding Saddam's WMDs has been withdrawn from Iraq with nothing to show for months of intensive searching except for sand in their shoes and a killer tan. So where are the weapons? You would think that it might have crossed the minds of American officials in the pentagon and the White House that Iraq might not have the weapons of mass destruction program that the}, thought...well, the idea did cross their minds. In a recently -released report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace detailing all aspects of the States' case for war on Iraq, one of the findings was that, "(American) Administration Officials systematically misrepresented the threat from Iraq's WMDs and ballistic missile programs." This was accomplished in part by, "routinely dropping probabilities and expressions of uncertainty in intelligence assessments from public statements" and "misrepresenting inspectors' findings in ways that turned threats from minor to dire." But what about Iraq's supposed ties to terrorism and al- Qaeda? On Jan. 8, Colin Powell (the U.S Secretary of State who presented the case for war against Iraq to the United Nations) said that he had not seen, "a smoking gun, concrete evidence" of links between Saddam and the al-Qaeda Terrorist Network. The previosuly mentioned report stated that, "There was no solid evidence of a cooperative relationship between Saddam's govemment and al-Qaeda" and that "there was no evidence to support the claim that Iraq would have transferred WMD to al-Qaeda and much evidence to counter it." Remember, the threat that Saddam's WMDs posed to the world, and to a lesser extent Iraq's involvment with al-Qaeda, was the reason the U.S waged war against Iraq. Neither of these claims have held up and it has become particularly obvious that the U.S. lied to the entire world. Sure, the world is now free of Saddam Hussein, but the idea of the world's sole superpower (who is now developing nuclear weapons to be used on the battle -field and spends $400 billion per year on its military) lying to not only other countries but to the United Nations worries me more than a dictator half a world away. Paul Milton Stratford Anticipating the next snow day has become a daily ritual in my house With the Christmas season behind us, my children are now anticipating the more erratic but inevitable holiday that comes all too often in Huron County - the snow day. Since the first two snow days last week, which began the day after Christmas's two-week break, a daily ritual has begun in my house. It begins in the early evening with longing looks out the window. A snow day could well be on the horizon to grant a reprieve from homework, my kids assert. Good try, intones their bubble -bursting mother. After scanning the skies at bedtime, a Christmas Eve -type Susan Hundertmark buzz starts to build if snowflakes can be . seen drifting earthward. Maybe that snow foreshadows a highway - closing blizzard that means a snow day the next day, they murmur excitedly. Maybe not, counters their not -so -enthusiastic mother. The next morning, if snow can still be seen falling outside the window, a crowd gathers in my bed for the ritual observation of the radio news report. The pushing and shoving and giggling ceases as strains of Sorb POSS$IUTY, Pogo 5 `Fearful' road conditions cause Brussels stage to `capsize' on way to Seaforth in 1879 JANUARY 17, 1879 Last Monday, Mr. Bennett who lives north of Exeter, had a wood chopping bee which passed off pleasantly. While the fun was at its height some marauders collected the Buffalo robes, rugs and blankets and distributed them carefully about the premises. In the morning the lost robes were found in a hole in the straw stack and the cushions on top of the barn. On Monday as the Brussels stage was going north it capsized throwing the occupants out. The stage turned out and on meeting a team and on turing onto the track again. Mrs. Jackson got her leg severely sprained. The road between Seaforth and Walton is in a fearful condition. About 3 a.m. on Thursday the store on Main and Goderich Streets was discovered to be on fire. Nothing could be done to save the contents. W. Leitch, of Kinburn, fell from the lift in his barn stepping on a loose board. His arm was broken and he was stunned. Professor Jones, of Brucefield, opened a singing class on Friday last. JANUARY 15, 1904 The stormy weather at Farquhar has made the roads very bad in this vicinity. The worthy mail carrier, Mr. Riley, has his trip every day. We wish the railway service was as good. Patrick Rowland, of Walton, has undertaken to cut a quantity of wood for S. McPherson. Gco. Memer of Dashwood, had a very serious accident. He fell accidentally on some Years Agone... hard object and broke his knee cap. The leading roads have been ploughed out and levelled and are now in passable condition at Leadbury. R. N. Brent, of Seaforth, has shown us the skins of two white foxes which he had tanned. They belonged to John Rankin and were sent to him from Siberia by his brother. Wm. Cudmore has been in Sudbury for several weeks disposing of a lot of horses. The Ladies Aid of First Presbyterian Church will have a Scotch supper and all that implies in Cardno Hall, the anniversary of Robert Burns. Most of the farmers and villagers are busily engaged in the swamp getting out their supply of wood. The congregation of the Thames Road Presbyterian Church had a bee and fixed up the stables which fell in two weeks ago. JANUARY 18, 1929 J.J. McGavin was in Toronto disposing of some livestock that was shipped from Walton station on Saturday. James Jordon, for 30 years clerk of Hibbert Township, has resigned. Few men serve the public so faithfully for such a long period. The morning train went down on time as the snow plow went out before 5 a.m. Messrs. Glenn Love and Fred Watters, of Hillsgreen, have secured positions in Hamilton. Messrs. Harold Munn and John Passmore of Hensel) have secured positions on the Seaforth OHA Juniors. The late storms have made the roads impassable for cars and several were tied up but the sleighing was good. Friends are glad to learn that Miss Mary Smith has been successful in passing the provincial examinations in London and has attained the degree of R.N. Messrs. J. F. Daly and W. A. Crich, G. C. Bell and W.A. Wright were in Toronto attending the motor show. Messrs. John and Casey Hudson expect to have a skating rink in good shape for skating the first of next week. Popularity of Grand Bend as a summer resort has so increased in recent years that the amount of hydro power has gone up 300 per cent. JANUARY 15, 1954 The inaugural meeting of the Tuckersmith school area board was held in the Seaforth Town Hall when members present were Wilmer Broadfoot, R. Forrest, D. Dayman, C. Neil and M. Falconer. W. P. Roberts is Elle secretary treasurer. Construction of a curling rink was nojed at a meeting of the Seaforth Curling Club when members re4iewed the possibilities of erecting a building. No decision was reached but the meeting named a committee to explore the proposal from all angles. The committee was as follows M.A. Reid, J.E. Keating, Wm. Leyburn, Frank Kling and Harry Ball. W.J. Dale chose warden of Huron County Council. Mrs. Raymond Nott assistant manager of this district spent last week in Montreal attending the Ronald's Parties Convention. Mr. and Mrs. Geo. Simonds have taken up residence in Mr. and Mrs. Robert Eberhart's apartments. JANUARY 18, 1978 A new Ontario Health Ministry formula says Seaforth Community Hospital (SCH) could lose 16 of its 40 active treatment beds. All province's hospitals will get details of their 1979 budgets from the ministry based on the new formula, tomorrow. The Seaforth Public Utilities Commission will tender again for a new one ton truck. This time the tender calls for (1) price on a new $ruck less trade-in of presht, truck and (2) the price or.a,txew truck only. The PUC will sell tiiealiresent truck. Teacher Kerry Jones and his wife Julie are staying at the home of Seaforth District High School teacher John Ball. Mr. Jones and Mr. Ball exchanged teaching positions for a year with the Ball family now living in the Jones home in Canberra, Australia. • Tuckersmith Township council agreed to go along with a request from the building inspector Henry VanWieren, of Kippen, that he be paid on a salary basis yearly rather than by the agreement he has now. His salary will amount to $3,300 per year plus mileage of 12 cents per kilometer. He will be responsible for his own insurance fees such as Workman's Compensation. Ron a Dave We've got -NI ..and we ve the biggest got a hundred snow fort on snowballs) the block) . We're a dinefronaskleososs by David Lacey It's no fun being the only Superpower on the block. Hey, let's go after that little kid down the street) ,Air