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The Citizen, 2017-09-28, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2017. Editorials Opinions Publisher: Keith Roulston • Associate Publisher: Deb Sholdice Editor: Shawn Loughlin • Reporter: Denny Scott Advertising Sales: Brenda Nyveld • Heather Fraser 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 $36.00/year ($34.29 + $1.71 G.S.T.) in Canada; $160.00/year in U.S.A. and $205/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: Mon. 2 p.m. - Brussels; Mon. 4 p.m. - Blyth. PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40050141 Canada RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPT. PO BOX 152 BRUSSELS ON NOG 1H0 email: info@northhuron.on.ca We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada. • The Citizen P.O. Box 429, P.O. Box 152, BLYTH, Ont. BRUSSELS, Ont. NOM 1 HO NOG 1 HO Ph. 519-523-4792 Phone Fax 519-523-9140 519-887-9114 E-mail info@northhuron.on.ca Website www.northhuron.on.ca AOCna tom. Member CCNA Member of the Ontario Press Council CMCA AUDITED We are not responsible for unsolicited newsscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are m Copyright Great job of coping, folks If there's one thing a career in farming does it's teach people how to adapt when the weather isn't co-operative. That skill was put to work last week by the farm -oriented organizers of the 2017 International Plowing Match. A rainy Monday, the day before opening, was compounded by a rainier Tuesday, which turned heavily -travelled areas of the tented city on the Ryan family's fields, into a soupy mess. With four years of dreaming and hard work on the verge of being washed away, the organizing committee had to make the hard decision to cancel Wednesday's events while they worked on making the grounds usable. By Thursday, the rain gave way to the heat, with a prolonged period of temperatures 30°C or higher for the first time all summer. Suddenly protecting volunteers from too much heat was the goal. Preparing to welcome 100,000 people to what, until a few weeks earlier had been a hay field, is a huge task without the complications Mother Nature can throw at you. Although final attendance figures aren't known as this is written, probably they won't reach the pre -match expectation, with one day being lost entirely. That's disappointing for all the volunteers who'd worked and planned for years to host the match. Still, anyone close enough to see the work that's been involved and the fast action of the planners to adapt to the early weather issues, can only marvel at how successful the IPM turned out to be. — KR Nobody can boss him around! U.S. President Donald Trump stunned observers last week with the bluntness of his first-ever address to the United Nations. With a complete lack of diplomatic niceties he basically said the United States should be sovereign, having to answer to no outside body like the U.N. but reserved the right to interfere in other countries as it sees fit. Trump's world-view is that of a rich man, accustomed to getting his way, who is now president of the world's richest and most powerful country, also used to getting its way. While with his crudeness, Trump is an outlier among past U.S. leaders, he is still saying many of the things the U.S. has stood for in the past. As a major power, the U.S. does not like ceding jurisdiction to agencies beyond its control. The Americans, for instance, have refused to join the 124 nations that are members of the International Criminal Court, because they don't want anyone but Americans to be able to judge the actions of U.S. citizens who are doing things the rest of the world might find criminal — such as when they invade a country to overthrow a government that is not acting "in America's interest". The same desire not to give up any of its bully -power to outside control is also present in the demand of the U.S. government, during the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, to get rid of international tribunals that settle trade disputes. They want Americans to decide what's fair — fairness being what suits Americans. When you are rich and powerful, whether as an individual or a country, it's easy to resent anyone who has the power to tell you that you can't do something or to tell you what you've done is wrong. The lesson of successful countries, however, is that even the rich and powerful must be willing to relinquish some control to the rule of law. As long as the most powerful societies like the U.S. think that no international law should apply to them, the hope of having a peaceful world will not be accomplished. — KR Real problems versus noise While the schoolyard antics of "I dare you/I double -dare you" fly back and forth between North Korean leaders and U.S. President Donald Trump, the real problems for millions of people aren't getting the attention they deserve. Across the Caribbean, whole islands have been made uninhabitable by successive record -strength hurricanes. In Mexico, earthquakes have taken hundreds of lives and devastated major parts of the country. Meanwhile in Southeast Asia, upwards of a half -million Rohingya people have had their villages burned, their relatives killed and have escaped their homeland in Myanmar for nearby Bangladesh. And yet the silliness between North Korea and the U.S. has the potential to top all these tragedies if a reasonable amount of sanity doesn't prevail soon. The problem with the brinksmanship employed between the two countries is that something can be misinterpreted. Last Saturday, for instance, a real earthquake in North Korea was at first suspected of being another North Korean nuclear test. What if the U.S. had acted precipitously. Meanwhile, U.S. bombers escorted by fighter jets flew close to North Korea's east coast. What if North Korea had feared it was being invaded and retaliated? It's a terrible feeling to hope that saner heads will prevail when there seems to be little sanity at the top of either country. — KR Looking Back Through the Years September 27, 1944 Just under 85 donors came out to support a blood clinic held at Melville Presbyterian Church in Brussels. The clinic was support by a mobile unit along with its driver, Miss Wall. The first-ever Canadian printing of the Bible was rolling off the presses at the Canadian branch of the Oxford University Press. Already over 25,000 copies had been sent to the United States from Canada. Residents of Brussels were told to expect new ration books on the week of Oct. 14-21. The new books would be good for 50 weeks and new books would be distributed in October of 1945. The Huron Holstein Calf Club held its achievement day at the Seaforth Fall Fair and a number of members put together some impressive performances. Bruce Roy of Londesborough placed first with 916 points, followed by Murray Roy, also of Londesborough, in second with 908. September 28, 1967 Mrs. Ken MacDonald of Teeswater was the guest speaker at the regular meeting of the Brussels Horticultural Society. MacDonald took those in attendance on a historical trip of Canada through pictures, reading a number of poems along the way. Members of the society also decided they would enter an exhibit into the Brussels Fall Fair, which was coming up soon. The Wingham Salvation Army was in the midst of preparing a special band concert to be performed in Brussels on Sept. 29. September 23, 1981 Dianne Oldfield of Seaforth was chosen as the Huron County Queen of the Furrow at the county's match the previous weekend. The match was held at the home farm of Mrs. Viola Adams of RR5, Brussels. Jacquie Robertson of Bluevale was the first runner-up. Several locals were among the winners. Ken Innes of Brussels was named the senior champion in plowing and Barry Gordon was the reserve champion, while Brian McGavin of RR4, Walton was the junior champion, followed by Bevan Shapton of Exeter, who was the reserve junior champion. The Blyth Figure Skating Club and Blyth Minor Sports were proud to announce that Don Jackson, a world-famous figure skater, would be part of a special Sports-a-rama at Blyth Memorial Hall on Sept. 30. In March, 1962 in Prague, Jackson became the first person in history to successfully land a Triple Lutz jump. For his five-minute program, he earned seven perfect marks on his way to winning the World Skating Championship. That same year he was awarded the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada's outstanding athlete for the year and he would also later be inducted into Canada's sports hall of fame. Jackson would be in Blyth to offer some young skaters tips and he would also be signing copies of his new book, as well as skates. October 1, 1997 A Brussels -area business had been hit by thieves for the second time in just a few months. All Season Repair on County Road 16 in Morris Township was relieved of more than $1,500 worth of tools in the evening of Sept. 27. That same night, thieves also entered McNeil Auto Body and stole four toolboxes from the shop, including a battery charger and several impact wrenches. Firefighters arrived at the East Wawanosh home of Ronald and Bonnie Cleghorn in the early morning hours of Sept. 29 after a fire had started in one of the house's bedrooms. They remained there for three hours battling the fire. Wingham Fire Chief Harley Gaunt said the cause of the blaze, which was contained within the bedroom, had yet to be determined. He did say, however, that he estimated the heat, smoke and water damage to be in the neighbourhood of $15,000. A trust fund had been set up for the family at the TD Bank in Wingham. Huron County teachers, who were represented by a handful of unions, were scheduled to hold an "informational demonstration" outside the office of MPP Helen Johns to protest Bill 160, provincial legislation that aimed to pull $1 billion in funding from the education sector. "Our working conditions are our students' learning conditions," said Mary Ann Cruickshank, president of the local district of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation. "Our members are here to tell Helen Johns we will not back down to government initiatives which will bankrupt our public education systems." The steering committee of the Blyth Community Greenway Project was set to host the second annual Autumn Walk along the Greenway Trail on Oct. 4. During the walk, members of the committee were going to highlight some of the work being done on the trail and outlining a number of additional activities that were planned to be rolled out in 1998.