HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News Record, 2016-06-15, Page 15Wednesday, June 15, 2016 • News Record 15
Get to know your local Local athlete wraps up impressive year of rugby
town councillor
Justine Alkema
Clinton News Record
This eight week column features a dif-
ferent Central Huron councillor each
week. This week's interview was with
Councillor Burkhard Metzger.
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in southwestern Germany
near the Swiss border between the
Black Forest and the Swiss Alps.
When and why did you
move to Huron County?
My wife and I moved from Germany
to Huron County in 1997 to pursue a
business interest there.
Our first home was just outside of
Brucefield, and we moved to our farm
on Maitland Line about eight years ago.
The Maitland River valley reminds me a
lot of the area I grew up in; I always
struggled with how flat some areas of
Ontario are.
When and how did your interest
in municipal politics originate?
The loss of municipal control and the
carte blanche given to wind power
developers through the green energy
act pushed me to get involved in
municipal politics. After attending
some landowner meetings held by a
potential wind developers in Central
Huron, I was so upset that I decided to
run for council to try to make a
difference.
What's your favourite thing
about the position?
Meeting and getting to know all the
movers and shakers and the municipal
staff in the community and being there
if someone needs help with a munici-
pal issue is my favourite. It is a totally
different connection to the community
because we deal with all kinds of differ-
ent issues affecting the municipality at
council. A good active council can
make a difference.
What's the most challenging
thing about the position?
To affect long lasting change and
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Councillor Burkhard Metzger.
move Central Huron forward we need
the general public involved.
Someone compared the public
attention span with a "ferret on a
double espresso" and that's our main
issue, not only municipally. People
only participate when they have a
problem or don't like something
(that's how I got involved). There is no
time to participate in strategic plan-
ning sessions or budget meetings or
even elections.
Complacency lets politicians get
away with stuff like the green energy
act, and then it's too late.
How to get people involved so we
make good decisions for Central
Huron's future is the biggest chal-
lenge. [There is] nothing more frus-
trating than a budget meeting with no
public attendance.
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Ryan Clancy
Special to the News Record
As Monique Sluys looks
back on the last 12 months of
the calendar, she might very
well refer to it as "the year of
rugby': Recently the 17 year
old from Clinton accepted a
rugby scholarship to the
defending national champions
McMaster University where
she will study kinesiology.
Sluys has just finished the
2016 high school rugby season
by captaining the St. Anne's
Eagles to their 9th consecutive
WOSSAA title and a 6th place
finish at the OFSAA provincial
championships. She already
has two medals at OFSAA and
despite not gaining another
medal in 2016, she constantly
turned heads with her strong
play and phenomenal will to
win.
Just before Christmas,
Sluys returned from Bogota,
Colombia after touring with
the Regina based U-19 Dog
River Howlers. The select
rugby side featured players
from across the country as
they traveled on a ten-day
rugby tour that also allowed
Photo courtesy of Ryan Clancy
Monique Sluys (holding the ball) was the team captain of the St. Anne's
Eagles this year.
for clinics to run for impover-
ished youth in the area. The
Howlers feature a "who's
who" of rugby alumni from
Canada's national team and
has a terrific record of chari-
table donations both here in
Canada and abroad.
Prior to that, she competed
with the Niagara Rugby Union
regional side winning a silver
medal from the prestigious
New York 7's tournament in
the Premier High School Divi-
sion. Her summer was filled
with a club season for Water-
loo County and NRU 7's. It has
been quite a year.
The ultimate goal would be
to play internationally for Can-
ada. Given the last year of
Monique's development and
achievements, we will just
have to wait and see what the
future holds for this incredible
young athlete.