Loading...
The Citizen, 2009-02-26, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2009.Editorials Opinions Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie GroppAdvertising, Ken Warwick & Lori Patterson The CitizenP.O. Box 429,BLYTH, Ont.N0M 1H0 Phone 523-4792 FAX 523-9140 P.O. Box 152,BRUSSELS, Ont.N0G 1H0 Phone 887-9114 FAX 887-9021 E-mail norhuron@scsinternet.com Website www.northhuron.on.ca Looking Back Through the Years 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 $34.00/year ($32.38 + $1.62 G.S.T.) in Canada;$105.00/year in U.S.A.and $175/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 PAP REGISTRATION NO. 09244 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPT. PO BOX 152 BRUSSELS ON N0G 1H0 email: norhuron@scsinternet.com Commentary Feb. 25, 1965 Girl Guides of Canada announced it would be using the new Canadian flag in place of the Union Jack. A radio newscast flooded the BM&G telephone switchboard with calls from frantic relatives and friends. The newscast reported a disastrous nursing home fire which claimed the lives of 19 residents in Brussels, Belgium. The anxious callers apparently caught the word Brussels and nursing home. The R. J. Bauer Farm Equipment curlers competed at the Massey- Ferguson bonspiel in Hanover. Two Brussels women, Gail Wilson and Alice Tribner, received provincial 4-H awards. Anne Exel, Nancy Strickler and Orma Smith were local recipients of county honour certificates. Thieves were busy in the area. Topnotch Feeds in Brussels was broken into and the office was ransacked. McCutcheon Motors had a sum of money and a quantity of cigarettes taken after thieves smashed a side window to gain entry. Gas was stolen from McGavin Farm Equipment and a number of businesses in Clinton and Auburn were also robbed the same evening. The Brussels arena was looted after thieves forced open the front entrance and broke into the refreshment booth. Taken were chocolate bars, gum, cigarettes and some cigars. Specials at Lowe’s Red & White were preparing shoppers for Shrove Tuesday. A two-pound tin of Beehive golden syrup was selling for 35 cents, while Aunt Jemima pancake flour was 39 cents for two pounds. Other features included six Baby Ruth or Butterfinger chocolate bars for 49 cents and two pint bricks of ice-cream for 49 cents. At the Lyceum Theatre in Wingham, Troy Donahue, Connie Stevens, Ty Hardin and Stephanie Powers were starring in Palm Springs Weekend. “... college fellas and gals go looking for fun and romance during Easter recess.” Feb. 20, 1974 This week from Ottawa it was reported that Agriculture Minister Eugene Whelan announced the sale of $34 million of skim milk powder, more than 35,000 metric tons, to Mexico. Also the federal government allocated $66 million to the student summer employment program. Almost half would be spent on opportunities for youth. Brazil had purchased 18.5 million bushels of wheat from Canada at the international market price. And finally, the country’s health ministers agreed to seek legislation making the wearing of seatbelts in vehicles compulsory. Yvonne Youngblut had the top single score in the Clinton-Blyth ladies’ bowling league. The Blyth Minor Sports committee decided to institute a program of annual trophies to be awarded to minor hockey’s most valuable player and most improved player in each division. Oscar DeBoer, manager of the Blyth branch of the Bank of Commerce was named the new president of the Blyth Board of Trade. Deliverance, starring Jon Voight and Burt Reynolds was showing at the Lyceum Theatre in WIngham. Bingo players were vying for the $150 jackpot at the Blyth Lions bingo night. Locals elected as township representatives to the Huron County Pork Producers Association were: Ross Eedy, Eric Moore, Jim Williamson, George Campbell, Lloyd Stewart, Doug Fraser, Alan Miller and Adrian Vos. Students enjoyed a long weekend in Huron as schools swapped their usual Easter Monday for a mid- February break. Public speaking winners at Blyth were Jeanette Manning, Sherri Marshall, Julie Shobbrook, seniors; Bernice Passchier, Paul Craig, Jeff Wittich, junior. Feb. 19, 1986 Brussels council approved a bylaw to sell the historic Queen’s Hotel to McLaughin-Inland International Inc. The building would be demolished and a supermarket built in its place. A new program by the Ontario government would see photos of drivers on their licences. Figures at county council revealed that more than $150,000 was paid in salaries, honorariums and expenses to councillors and board appointees the previous year. Feb. 21, 1996 Union workers described the Harris government as “criminals, single-minded, senseless and jurassic.” Area residents, public sector workers and union leaders gathered at a meeting in Wingham to discuss the agenda of Mike Harris and his PC government. Graeme Craig of Walton was named chair of the 1999 International Plowing Match. Fourteen area Scout and Guide groups were recognized in The Citizen’s annual salute. Bernard Computer Training Centre of Walton expanded to Exeter. Happy Gilmore, starring Adam Sandler was playing at Goderich’s Park Theatre. Specials at IGA in Brussels included: sockeye salmon, $2.69; seedless grapes, 99 cents a pound; bonless chicken breasts, $3.99 a By Meg Westley AMDSB Trustee Several years ago, I offered to run a drama workshop at my son’s elementary school on their annual literacy day. I would present to groups of 20 students ranging from kindergarten to Grade 3. Groups of students would rotate through my designated classroom every hour, so I would run the workshop six times altogether. I wanted students to explore aspects of theatre and take part in a very short “production” of The Pied Piper. The youngest students would play the rats, who only squeaked. They would wear whiskers. Slightly older students would play the children and sport rosy red cheeks. The oldest would take the parts of townspeople and don costume hats or scarves. I decided to start by reading the script and have the children improvise action to music. Then they would pick out props and put on costumes bits and make-up. Their verbal cues would be on colour-coded signs. When I held up a yellow sign all the rats would squeak; a red sign told the “children” to giggle or scream; the blue signs actually had lines on them that the townspeople were to shout out. It sounded like a dandy plan: short sessions with lots of variety. I was excited as I headed to the school that morning. The children also got excited, so excited they didn’t really listen or pick the right props. They were most interested in the make-up, which took longer to apply than I’d thought. Improvising action meant racing around, shouting. Still, we got through it. The first group did their little production. I was pleased. We launched into the afternoon sessions. I read my voice hoarse. They improvised, shrieking and cavorting about the room. I slapped on make-up and shouted at them not to fight over the props. The show went on, rats squeaking when the townspeople were supposed to speak, children giggling when they were meant to cry. They continued to enjoy themselves. I lost track of whether they were learning anything or whether the “show” made sense. When the bell finally rang at the end of the day, I barely had the strength to drag myself home. Teachers instruct the same students five days a week, for ten months. They teach many different subjects to children with different learning styles. And somehow, they remain cheerful, patient and enthusiastic. How lucky we are that skilled, caring individuals devote their lives to engaging rambunctious youngsters in learning. If you think their job is easy, try a day in the classroom. I dare you. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP) toward our mailing costs. We are not responsible for unsolicited newsscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright & Difficult choices The school situation in northern Huron provides some difficult choices for parents and Avon Maitland District School Board officials. The Accommodation Review Committee has recommended the closure of four elementary schools in Belgrave, Blyth, Turnberry and Wingham and building of one large new school. They foresee this new school being able to provide resources to students that they’ve never been able to get from the smaller schools it would replace. But the new school deals with only one part of the school board’s dilemma. One of the very reasons so many parents support the new school idea is that they want to prevent senior elementary students from being moved to F. E. Madill Secondary School. That move would help boost numbers at the high school, making it more viable to continue. Parents worry about their Grade 7 and 8 students being exposed to the worst elements of high school behaviour and they have a right to be. It goes further. In a society that seems to press teenage aspirations on pre- teens, the last thing we need to do is immerse young people in a teenage culture any sooner. Still, if a solution is found to keep Grade 7 and 8 students out of the high school, what is the ramification for secondary education in the area? The new school proposal comes out of an age-old human desire to provide the best for our children. The idea that students will have the best resources to boost their education has won many parents’support for the proposal. No doubt exposing some students to art and music or more technical facilities will open their eyes to new opportunities, and could lead them into careers they might not have explored otherwise. But the “best schools” desire only goes so far. In some U.S. cities there have been fights because people want to get their children into the best daycare so they can go to the best preschool so they can go to the best private school so they can go to the best university. If we can’t afford to send our children to a high-brow private school, if they can’t afford or qualify to go to Harvard or Oxford, does that mean they are condemned to a life of misery? Like those parents feuding over daycare, we need to keep a balance on what is a good education and what isn’t. This decision also comes down, to some extent, to choosing between what’s best for the individual – the student – and what’s good for the community. More and more the centralization of decision-making, whether in the form of district school boards or municipal amalgamation, is stripping the sense of control from the lives of residents. It is also stripping away the community facilities. For Blyth and Belgrave, what will be the economic and community impact from losing their schools? All these decisions are artificial, in a way, forced by the “reality” of a provincial funding formula that isn’t providing enough support to keep schools open. The real solution is to fix the funding, not close existing schools and spend millions to build a new one. — KR