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The Citizen, 2012-11-15, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2012.Editorials Opinions Publisher: Keith Roulston Acting Editor: Shawn Loughlin • Reporter: Denny ScottAdvertising Sales: Ken Warwick & Lori Patterson The CitizenP.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. N0M 1H0 Ph. 519-523-4792 Fax 519-523-9140 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. N0G 1H0 Phone 519-887-9114 E-mail info@northhuron.on.ca Website www.northhuron.on.ca Looking Back Through the Years CCNA Member Member of the Ontario Press Council 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; $115.00/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: Monday, 2 p.m. - Brussels; Monday, 4 p.m. - Blyth. PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40050141 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPT. PO BOX 152 BRUSSELS ON N0G 1H0 email: info@northhuron.on.ca November 18, 1965 Students at the Wingham District High School were honoured as the school held its annual commencement exercises. The evening’s special guest speaker was Dr. J. M. Gillies and the school’s valedictorian was James Robinson. Robinson was also awarded the Ontario scholarship and University of Waterloo tuition scholarship and Floyd Smith received the University of Waterloo first year scholarship and the Leonard Foundation scholarship. Douglas Bieman, Harold Campbell, Ruth Casagrande, Mary Haugh, Doug McTaggart, Joyce Procter, Marlene Russell, Lorna Woods, Smith and Robinson were all recipients of Dominion provincial student aid bursaries while Haugh and Smith were both given Atkinson Foundation bursaries. The Majestic W.I. entertained several dozen guests on its annual family night. The guest speaker for the evening was Cliff Robb, farm commentator from CKNX Radio. The Village of Brussels held its annual Remembrance Day ceremony with wreaths being laid by Brussels Reeve Calvin Krauter, Morris Township Reeve S. Procter and Grey Township Reeve C. Dunbar. L.E. Cardiff laid a wreath on behalf of the Province of Ontario, while Brussels Legion President Tom MacFarlane laid a wreath on behalf of the Legion. November 11, 1987 Politicians from all over Huron County gathered in Brussels on Nov. 6 to honour outgoing Huron County Warden Brian McBurney at the annual Warden’s Banquet, held that year at the Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre. In the crowd that night were past cabinet ministers Jack Riddell and Murray Elston, while the event was chaired by past warden Leona Armstrong of Grey Township. The closure of the Wingham/Listowel CN Rail Line was being protested by Brussels Village Council. A hearing on the line was set to be held in Wingham on Dec. 1 and Brussels Reeve Gordon Workman felt council should have a representative at the meeting. November 23, 1994 The Brussels 5R’s Community Thrift Shop reported sales of over $44,000 for the year. Linda Garland, a member of the board of directors, said the sales figures were impressive, especially due to the fact that the average price of an item at the shop is $2. Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs crop consultant Allan McCallum said the season’s yields were good due to a number of weather factors. “The entire season was quite a good year for crop yields,” McCallum said. The abnormally warm fall resulted in an uneventful harvest season. Warm, reasonably dry days created good conditions for the many farmers who began plowing their fields early and just enough rain to soften the soil began to fall. George Langlois celebrated 30 years of business on the main street of Brussels with his hairstyling salon, George of Brussels. Interview With The Vampire starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt was on the big screen at the Park Theatre in Goderich, while Stargate starring Kurt Russell and James Spader was playing at the Lyceum Theatre in Wingham. November 15, 2007 Huron East Council announced that Brussels would have a new library built as early as spring of 2008. A public meeting held at the Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre yielded a poor turnout with a vote deciding to build a new library passing by a tally of 12-4. Mayor Joe Seili strategically scheduled the meeting at the arena after the annual Duff’s United Church supper to ensure the largest turnout possible, but in the end the people didn’t come out. The decision was based largely on the quoted prices, with costs for a renovated library spanning from $525,000 to $788,000 and costs associated with a new library running the municipality between $750,000 and $993,000. With such a small margin between the two prices, councillors said it just made sense to build a new building. Seili said council had to make a move, regardless of what it was, as the next time the library would be inspected, it wouldn’t meet accessibility standards and its doors would have to be closed. “To do nothing is not an option,” Seili said. Dr. Alma Conn was formally sworn into her new position as a North Huron councillor. The ceremony was held at the Nov. 5 North Huron Council meeting in Wingham. Huron County Council approved a recommendation from the cultural services and seniors committee to go ahead with a museum study that would cost the county roughly $50,000. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage. We are not responsible for unsolicited newsscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright Make it easier to create jobs Frustrations over red tape raised by Blyth business owners at a meeting with North Huron Council could probably be repeated by business people all across Huron County, Ontario and probably Canada. At a time when we need more entrepreneurs to reinvigorate our villages, towns, province and country, we’re making it harder and harder for people to start businesses and create jobs. This issue is particularly crucial to small towns and villages where it is small entrepreneurs, not multi-national businesses, that provide most of the jobs. Even without bureaucratic roadblocks, there is already a problem for such communities because few younger people are willing to leave the security of a paid job with a benefit package in order to risk starting a business. Those brave enough to do so need to be encouraged, not beaten down by costly and frustrating delays. There could be no better example of the hurdles entrepreneurs must go through that the lengthy delays faced by the owners of several of the new businesses that put a new face on Blyth’s main street this year. Some were months late opening because they had to meet new regulations. Elsewhere, Goderich businesses, trying to rebuild after that town’s 2011 tornado had the added frustration and expense imposed by red tape. While most people see this as an issue only for those who want to operate a business, it is important to us all. The big corporations like Volvo are taking their jobs elsewhere. Government jobs like those at the Bluewater Youth Centre are disappearing too. In future, jobs are likely to come from local people who stick their necks out to start or expand businesses. As one local businessman told North Huron officials, “We should make it really easy for a new business owner.” — KR Why a tree can’t be trusted In this age of concern over climate change, one would think there could be no greater “motherhood” issue than planting and preserving trees. But trees, it seems to some people, lose out to other concerns that become a higher priority. The latest example is a Toronto area mother who chairs her local school’s allergy committee and has called for oak trees growing next to the school to be cut down because their acorns might endanger children with nut allergies. Allergy experts say a child would have to actually swallow the bitter-tasting nuts to actually be in danger of an anaphylactic reaction, but who wants to argue in favour of a few trees and against the possibility a child getting sick or dying. In southern Huron County there’s a different kind of battle of two “rights”. A group of local tree lovers have been battling for the lives of a number of majestic elm trees along the side of Highway 4 that the Ministry of Transportation says are too close to the road and are endangering drivers who might lose control of their cars and strike the trees. Apparently drivers are more likely to hit the trees these days than they have in the decades the trees have grown beside the road. After Dutch Elm Disease nearly wiped out elm trees in Ontario, surviving elms are of particular importance because they may be rare examples of trees with resistance to the disease. Still, who wants to argue that the future of some trees is worth possibility endangering a careless driver? Closer to home, the Huron County Public Works Department has been stripping County Rd. 4 between Clinton and Wingham, of roadside trees, for whatever reason. The irony of removing roadside trees for safety issues is that in this snowbelt area, trees can also save lives. We should be planting windbreaks of trees along all Huron County roads to prevent the white- out conditions that have killed and injured dozens of people over the years. Even the roadside deciduous trees like those being removed, can provide an anchoring landmark in a disorienting snowstorm. There may be reasons that some trees need to be removed but before doing so, we need to take a balanced look at each situation. We mustn’t let one “right” cause decide an issue just because one group speaks loudest or their argument becomes the latest cause celebre. — KR & Letters Policy The Citizen welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must be signed and should include a daytime telephone number for the purpose of verification only. Letters that are not signed will not be printed. Submissions may be edited for length, clarity and content, using fair comment as our guideline. The Citizen reserves the right to refuse any letter on the basis of unfair bias, prejudice or inaccurate information. As well, letters can only be printed as space allows. Please keep your letters brief and concise.