The Citizen, 2008-03-13, Page 19Obviously the winter weather
makes people want to get away and
plenty of people have.
Returning from a trip to Florida
are Stewart and Madeline Steiss.
They have been away for two weeks
with Madeline’s brother and wife,
Bill and Donna Quipp. They drove
to St. Petersburg and stayed with
their sister Sharon and husband
Tom Wolfe, who live there.
Madeline said they picked
oranges from the tree and toured
around the St. Pete’s area. They
visited with Bob and Rene
Richmond as well.
The weather wasn’t really warm
but it was sunny.
Returning from a place quite a bit
warmer are travellers Bob andJoyce Alexander. They were off on atour to Costa Rica. They travelledby bus from one side of the countryto the other and travelling the roughroads meant waiting numeroustimes while the flat tires werechanged.They stayed in five differenthotel/resorts. From the coast to themountains and the rain forests there
was plenty to see.
They found that the coastal areas
were quite warm but up in the
mountains was quite often cool.
They saw banana trees where the
bananas are already wrapped in
plastic bags, then are picked green
and shipped. They also saw
pineapple groves, cotton plants and
coffee beans growing on the trees.
They were away for 15 days and
had quite the flights to get there and
back. They flew from Detroit to
Fort Lauderdale, then to Costa Rica
to Houston to Cleveland and finally
Toronto.
They spent a lot of time going
through airports but enjoyed the
experience.
Congratulations to Val and Jamie
Schurter on the birth of a son,Darren Mac last week. Val grew upin Walton and is the daughter ofDave Collins and Carol Humphries.Unfortunately, lack of attendanceand participation has the OntarioEarly Years program held at WaltonUnited Church on Wednesdaymornings temporarily suspended.With only one family regularlyattending it was decided to break
until more families show interest in
resuming the program.
Families are welcome to attend
other Early Year programs being
held throughout the area such as
Brussels, Blyth, Ethel and Seaforth.
Just watch for the signs. It was a
wonderful program that created a
learning and social setting for
children and their caregivers and the
best part was it was free.
A terrible event has changed the
lives of a Walton couple. In the wee
hours of the morning, Gene
Marcuccio awoke to the sound of
the smoke detector and immediately
fled his house. Blyth Fire
Department responded and Brussels
Fire Department was also on hand
to help out and keep the fire from
spreading to the neighbours, Donand Pat Nolan’s home.The fire destroyed the Marcucciohouse. Joyce, Gene’s wife, wasaway at the time up north at hermother’s and Gene was unhurt.The Marcuccios came to theWalton area about 15 years ago andhave two grown daughters, Dawnand Angie, who live in Kitchener.Joyce has been a cook at the
Walton Inn for the past few years
and Gene drives a truck.
The couple had decided recently
to sell their home and move closer
to the Pembrook area.
We express our regrets to the
Marcuccio family on their loss but
are thankful that Gene was not hurt.
It was an amazing thing that most
people could not believe, but
Murray Lowe actually went away
on vacation. Murray, along with
Ruth, Wayne and Hope Lowe and
son John Lowe took a whirlwind
trip to Nevada, Arizona and
California for two weeks. The
group flew from Detroit to Las
Vegas and of course took in some of
the casino action. You will have to
check with them on whether lady
luck was on their side or not.They rented a car with Johnbehind the wheel and they were offto California. They went to BeverlyHills and of course Hollywood. Thehomes were magnificent and huge.Estates in the mountains werefantastic.They also went to Catalina Islandand had a great time.The group then flew to Tucson,
Arizona to check out that area. They
also took a day trip across the
border to Mexico, but were not
really impressed with what they
saw.
Welcome back everyone.
Celebrating birthdays this past
week were Matthew Campbell, Neil
McDonald, William Ringgenberg,
Jerry Zwep, Fred McClure,
Marianna Ryan, Carali McCall,
Alex Melady, Allison Baan, Jo-
Anne Workman, Joanne Black, Lisa
Gingerich, Jim Humphries and Ross
Mitchell.
Duff’s United Church will be
having breakfast following service
this coming Sunday and we
will welcome back Rev. Sandra
Yule.
THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2008. PAGE 19.
The issue of a proposed provincial
ban on smoking in vehicles where
children are present took some
interesting turns at county council,
March 5.
Discussion began following a
motion to approve the
recommendations from the board of
health. These supported the private
members Bill 11 with an
amendment. This stated “Inclusion
of a comprehensive strategy which
provides support for families and
caregivers including education and
awareness on the effect of smoking
in vehicles with children, access to
supports for those wanting to quit
and for vulnerable populations.”
Huron East councillor Bernie
MacLellan raised the often-raised
issue of enforcement. “I have no
problem with this other than there’s
no benefit in passing a bylaw that
can’t be enforced.”
MacLellan then put a new spin on
the discussions. “I think we need to
take this a step further. Let’s just
stop selling cigarettes.”
“Just give it all to First Nations,”
quipped Goderich councillor Deb
Shewfelt.
A smiling MacLellan agreed that
this could be the reality. “But in
fairness, it will minimize the amount
of people who get access to tobacco.
And black market opportunities are
something the police will go after.”
“And if there’s a drop of 10 per
cent, then you’ve accomplished
something.”
Warden John Bezaire noted that
the report was asking for input and
opinion, not asking council to pass a
bylaw.
Councillor John Grace of
Goderich referred to MacLellan’s
suggestion as “silly. With all due
respect to my colleague, I can’t see it
as being even looked at. The essence
of what the board of health has
proposed is education and
awareness.”
Undeterred, MacLellan made a
motion that the county ask the
province to consider a ban on the
sale of tobacco products. This was
seconded by councillor Max
Demaray of Howick.
Councillor Neil Vincent of North
Huron argued that this was going to
make a situation worse. “The profit
in the drug trade is because of the
rules against it. This is creating an
illegal industry.”
Point taken, MacLellan then asked
to withdraw his motion and make
another that might be more
palatable. This motion suggested
that the legal age to purchase
cigarettes be increased by one year
each year. “Over the course of the
next 30 years we will eliminate this
problem.”
This motion was seconded by Neil
Rintoul, councillor for Ashfield-
Colborne-Wawanosh.
There were, however, still
concerns among some of the
councillors. Bezaire said he believed
that the health unit was working
towards behaviour modification.
Adding that he wished the health
unit director Penny Nelligan, or a
representative, had been present at
the meeting for this discussion, he
said, “I’m not sure they would
support this simply because it’s not
achievable.”
South Huron’s Ken Oke said that
it’s difficult now to keep up with
illegal sales and thought this would
only make the problem bigger.
“And I can’t imagine some 25-
year-old having to ask his father to
buy cigarettes for him.”
However, while few had spoken
up in favour of the motion, which
was defeated, the vote was, in the
words of Shewfelt, “close but no
cigar.”
Councillor takes smoking ban a step further
TT hh ee CC ii tt ii zz ee nn
55 11 99 --55 22 33 --44 77 99 22
55 11 99 --88 88 77 --99 11 11 44
Get Your Message
AROUND THE WORLD
IMMEDIATELY
If you have important papers that need
to go somewhere FAST ... use
THE CITIZEN’S
FAX MACHINE!
Our Fax machine can contact any other
Fax machine, in the world, instantly.
We offer this service for a cost of $4.00 per
printed sheet for the first one and $1.00 per
additional sheet. (And the long distance
charges are free in North America)
Our Fax Number, is also your number,
so use it to receive your messages at
$1.00 per sheet.
HERE ARE OUR FAX NUMBERS...
BLYTH 519-523-9140 BRUSSELS 519-887-9021
WE CAN RECEIVE 24 HRS. PER DAY!
By Jo-AnnMcDonaldCall 887-6570PEOPLE AROUNDWALTON
By Bonnie Gropp
The Citizen