The Citizen, 2012-06-21, Page 1CitizenTh
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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, June 21, 2012
Volume 28 No. 25
CLINIC - Pg. 12Blood donor clinicreturns to Blyth FESTIVAL - Pg. 19 38th annual BlythFestival opens FridayAWARD- Pg. 6Local woman honouredwith OPP awardPublications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
Final Bontaine tournament to be held Sunday
School lives on as
business incubator
Londesborough inferno
Members of the Fire Department of North Huron (FDNH) were on the scene when an electrical
transformer exploded just west of Londesborough on Friday afternnoon. The flaming wreckage
resulted in grass fires that caused plumes of pure white smoke to rise into the sky until
firefighters got the blaze under control. (Denny Scott photo)
The sixth annual Ainsleigh
Bontaine Memorial Charity Golf
Tournament on June 24 will be the
last for the Children’s Hospital at the
London Health Sciences Centre
according to organizer Brent
Scrimgeour.
The (until now) annual
tournament is held in memory of
Ainsleigh who passed away due to a
drowning incident in 2006.
“I’m fairly sure we’ve raised near
$90,000 since the tournament started
and I think we’ve met what we set
out to do,” Scrimgeour said. “We’re
happy with what we have raised,
we’re happy that we’ve helped kids
and we’re happy to have a day
reminding us of Ainsleigh. We felt it
was time to move on.”
This year’s event, which will be
held at the Woodlands Links outside
of Clinton, will feature all the staples
from the past five years including a
meal and an auction and some fairly
big local names have signed up for
the event.
While some have yet to finalize
their attendance, invitations were
sent out to the following:
• Blyth’s Justin Peters, currently
of the NHL Carolina Hurricanes but
also an unrestricted free agent.
• Blyth’s Anthony Peters of the St.
Mary’s Huskies.
• Blyth’s Alex Peters of the
Plymouth Whalers.
• Clinton’s Matt Dalton, a
goaltender for the Vityaz Chekhov in
the Kontinental Hockey League in
Russia.
• Clinton’s Kurtis Bartliff who
plays for Colgate University in
Hamilton, New York.
• Varna’s Cal O’Reilly who
currently plays for the Wilkes-
Barre/Scranton Penguins.
• Cody Sol of the Kitchener
Rangers.
• Fifth-round 2009 Draft Pick for
the Washington Capitals Brett
Flemming.
• Saginaw Spirit right-winger
Jordan Szwarz.
• Michael D’Orazio, currently of
the Saint Mary’s Huskies and
formerly of the London Knights,
Owen Sound Attack and
Mississauga Majors.
• Brett MacLean of the Phoenix
Coyotes.
Also possibly attending are scouts
and coaches from several nearby
teams including the Kitchener
Rangers, the London Knights and
the Sarnia Spitfires.
While the tournament is set to end
this year, it will be far from the last
time that the family of Ainsleigh
assemble to remember her,
according to Scrimgeour.
“We’ll definitely still do
something as a family,” he said.
“We’ll get together and remember
her. We just wanted to have one last
tournament and let people know how
much we appreciate the donors, the
community, the sponsors, the
hospital and the guests.”
The tournament has been a
success, according to Scrimgeour,
because people know it’s a good day
out, regardless of the end result, and
they know that it is a day to have
fun.
Getting ready for that, however,
has taken a lot of time and effort
over the years and Scrimgeour said
that thanks needed to be said to
several people including media
sponsors CKNX Radio, AM920,
101.7 The One and The Bull. A lot
of thanks, however, has to go to the
people behind the scenes, he said,
like Blyth’s Karen Stewart.
“Some years Karen has been up to
2 to 3 a.m. getting the auction items
ready,” he said. “People need to be
aware of support like that.”
Scrimgeour said that, in looking
back, he realized that the tournament
has been a great opportunity to get to
know new faces.
“I’ve enjoyed doing it a lot,” he
said. “I’ve met a lot of cool people
who come out to have fun and
support a good cause.”
The tournament currently has 12
spots open (or three foursomes).
Dinner tickets are also available
for those who don’t feel at home on
the golf course and the meal is set to
begin at 5 p.m.
For more information or to sign up
for one of the remaining spots,
contact Scrimgeour at 519-523-
4551.
Going against consultant George
Cuff’s recommendation, Huron
County Council has voted to move to
15 members, passing a
recommendation at the June 13
Committee of the Whole meeting.
The recommendation stated that
council should consist of 15
members; the mayor (or reeve) of
Howick, Morris-Turnberry and
North Huron and the mayor (or
reeve) and deputy-mayor (or deputy-
reeve) of Ashfield-Colborne-
Wawanosh, Bluewater, Goderich,
South Huron, Central Huron and
Huron East.
A debate was then ignited,
however, as to whether the lower tier
municipalities should have the right
to send whichever representative
they want, as opposed to it being
dictated that it has to be the first and
second in command.
Bluewater’s Tyler Hessel was
critical of the recommendation,
saying that a long legal battle had
just concluded defending the
county’s composition bylaw, only to
trash it months later.
“We’ve spent a lot of county
Brussels Public School will live on
in the hands of Huron East Council
as a business incubator in the Village
of Brussels, it was announced Friday
afternoon.
It was announced in Seaforth that
the Municipality of Huron East has
purchased the property from the
Avon Maitland District School
Board (AMDSB) for $142,500, a
significantly lower figure than the
board’s original asking price, says
Mayor Bernie MacLellan.
MacLellan says the board was
originally asking for between
$170,000 and $180,000, which was
the asking price suggested to the
board by an appraisal company.
“I am delighted that Huron East is
making this purchase and ensuring
that the school property will
continue to be an important part of
the community for years to come,”
said AMDSB Chair Jenny Versteeg
in a press release that afternoon. “I
trust the old school will serve as a
pleasant reminder of happy school
days for former students.”
While MacLellan couldn’t go into
detail on the discussions had about
the school property, as most of them
took place in closed session, he said
the municipality expressed interest
in the school property very early on
in the process.
“The initial idea of making an
offer on the property first came up
over a year ago,” MacLellan said in
an interview with The Citizen on
Friday. “We very quickly agreed.
The board donated the playground
equipment back to the village and
that was where it started.”
MacLellan said the municipality
was legally one of the first names on
the list the board had to negotiate
with before offering the property up
to the general public.
“Ever since the property became
available council has had a lot of in-
depth discussion,” MacLellan said.
“We wanted to make sure we were
not competing with local industry.”
MacLellan says the concept of a
business incubator is not new and
that it has been used at various levels
in many areas throughout the
province over the years.
“The idea is that you could have
someone at the front working for
multiple small companies offering a
service or in an office setting,”
MacLellan said. “It’ll be a spot you
can work out of.”
MacLellan said the municipality
will act as landlord of the property
and not have any involvement with
any of the businesses that will
occupy the building in the months to
come. However, he said, there will
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 10
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Council may shift
size once again
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 20