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The Citizen, 2007-09-06, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2007.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 $32.00/year ($30.19 + $1.81 G.S.T.) in Canada;$92.00/year in U.S.A.and $175.00/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 Sept. 6, 1950 New students going to Brussels Public School kindergarten were: Susan Martin, Patsy Chisholm, Wayne Davison, Bobby Higgins, Elmer Jermyn, Gwendolyne Martin, Sandra Lowry, Barbara Bray, Terry McWhirter, Raymond Bronson, Barry Currie, and Carol Bryans. Also new to the school were some much needed improvements and renovations including some interior redecorating, new lighting, and some moving around of classrooms. Playing at the Regent Theatre in Seaforth was the classic The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland and Ray Bolger. Also playing were Clifton Webb, Jeanne Crain, and Myrna Loy in Cheaper by the Dozen, as well as Bill Williams, Jane Nigh, and Ralph Morgan in Blue Grass of Kentucky. Sept. 6, 1961 A large barn on the eighth concession in Morris Twp. was demolished by flames. The barn, located on a farm belonging to Adolph Van Poucke, was struck by lightning during a freak storm and immediately started burning. Van Poucke awoke to see the reflection of flames on his wall and hurried outside after calling the fire brigade. The Blyth firefighters rushed to the scene but nothing could be done to save the barn or any of its contents. Lost in the blaze was a season’s worth of crops, a hayloader, 1,100 laying pullet chickens, and some other farm machinery. The estimated damages were up to $15,000, only part of which was covered by insurance. Despite this, Van Poucke planned to rebuild as soon as possible. In St. Augustine, another barn was lost in an unexpected blaze. The barn of William M. Hardy was destroyed by a fire which was thought to have been started by a spark generated by a threshing machine being stored in the barn. Workers were able to salvage the threshing machine as well as several head of cattle, but they were unable to stop the fire. The Lucknow Fire Department was called in to try to save the home and a nearby shed as nothing more could be done for the barn. Damages were estimated at $10,000 and partially covered by insurance. With the beginning of a new school year came good news that the enrollment at Blyth Public School was up from past years. enrollment was up to 151 students, and was expected to rise to 155, almost 10 more students than the past year’s enrollment. Naturalists and zoologists around the world were very happy to hear about the successful hatching of a whooping crane chick in the New Orleans Zoo. The whooping crane was America’s tallest and rarest bird, and thought to be a gravely endangered species. Most scientists believed that these birds were likely to go the way of the dodo bird and become extinct. They had even earned the nickname, the “modern dodo”. With this new birth, the number of whooping cranes in captivity was brought up to seven, and with only forty still surviving in the wild, the worry was far from over. Sept. 6, 1972 Marilyn Robertson of East Wawanosh was crowned Queen of the Furrow for 1972. The winner was announced by Huron Plowmen’s Association president Ken Stewart and passed on by former Queen of 1971 Irma Price. Runner up was Beth Passmore. A record attendance was expected at a meeting of the Canadian Cancer Society to be held in Clinton. The guest speaker was to be one of Canada’s best known radio and television personalities, Bill Brady. Huron County had raised over $28,000 in donations for the 1972 campaign. The federal government was reaching out to the farmers of Ontario and Quebec in an effort to help support them after a particularly challenging harvest season. The government was offering a $400 cash grant to approximately 22,500 farmers across the area to help cover losses suffered from a very wet season which destroyed countless crops completely. Sept. 7, 1988 The Queen of the Furrow 1988- 1989 was crowned at a special ceremony at the Huron County Plowing Match held near Brussels. Cheryl Regele of Dublin was presented her crown by Queen of 1987-1988 Audrey Bos of Auburn. Bos’s last duty as queen was to represent Huron County at the International Plowing Match held in Stratford. The Huron County Health Unit had reason to be concerned after reports of a rabid llama. The llama had died a week prior but it was discovered that the animal had a bad case of rabies. The health unit was asking anyone who thought they may have come into contact with the llama to get medical attention immediately. The llama was owned by Harry Burgsma of Goderich, and was part of a large collection of exotic animals which drew many visitors to come see them. Though it was not believed that anyone was in any real danger, visitors were still asked to have a check up. THE EDITOR, At all levels of government including the local municipal level, it is important to have healthy democratic conditions in place. One of those conditions in municipal governance is the availability of a few capable citizens willing to give their time to serving the public as members of council, combined with a fair and open system by which people are elected to office. The next civic election in North Huron will take place in 2010. Since the inaugural election at the time of amalgamation, 10 years will have passed. Up to this point, only one council position and one reeve-ship has been determined by election. All other offices have been filled either by acclamation or by council appointment. Now that a Wingham ward councillor has resigned, a decision will be made by council whether to appoint or call a by-election. Even if the choice is for by-election this time, the democratic option will not have played a significant role in local politics in this decade. This is not a democratically healthy situation. Acclamations are sometimes the result of a council’s outstanding performance where no one sees the need for change or improvement. One can scarcely believe that this is the case here. The North Huron council since 2000 has given what is in all respects a most lackluster performance, seldom doing more than reacting to crises and pressure. Can anyone think of a single good idea or compelling vision coming from this group? It is to be hoped that before the 10 years are up there will be an impressive slate of candidates for all council positions in all wards with good ideas and the competence to implement them and the honesty to treat its citizens with openness, fairness and honesty. Brock Vodden. 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 Are we this stupid? Has it come to this, that voters are so uninformed and short-sighted that politicians have to make promises they should know they can’t keep in order to have us vote for them? Heading into the 2003 provincial election the Liberals under Dalton McGuinty were dogged by Progressive Conservative accusations that they were spendthrifts. To counter this, McGuinty foolishly signed a pledge not to raise taxes, even though the Mike Harris government had starved government services in favour of making tax cuts. McGuinty was elected and immediately found out the Tories had left a time bomb of a deficit (in effect, borrowing money to give us those tax cuts). In order to have money to make improvements in the health care system he had promised, the new premier created a new health care tax. He’s been paying a heavy price ever since, labeled as a leader who doesn’t keep his promises. So we’re coming up to another election and it’s John Tory, leader of the Progressive Conservatives who is now offering pie in the sky in an effort to unseat the Liberals and return the Tories to their “rightful” place in power (only three governments in the last 60 years haven’t been PC). Tory’s Tories are promising to eliminate McGuinty’s controversial health premium which contributes $2.6 billion to government coffers, but still find more money for health care and education over the four-year first term of his government. How is he going to pull off this magic trick? The old “efficiencies” solution. Even if the Liberals have been as lax as Tory would have us think, it’s hard to believe there can be that much wastefulness after they inherited eight years of Mike Harris’s slash and burn of government programs. It seems obvious that this is another set of promises that just can’t be kept. It’s easy to blame politicians for being dishonest in their promises but we, the voters, are to blame. It seems we want to believe they can give us all the government services we want and yet not raise taxes. We want to believe there is so much inefficiency in government that good manage- ment can make pie in the sky possible. We need to have honest expect- ations if we expect politicians to be honest in their promises. — KR A scandal unnoticed Thirteen people died in “accidents” on Ontario roads this weekend, the worst toll in 10 years on the Labour Day weekend. The deaths got minimal attention in the media. Imagine if there had been 13 murders on the weekend? It would have made headlines for days with worries about the outbreak of violence. Imagine if 13 soldiers had died in Afghanistan on the weekend. There would have been calls for immediate withdrawal of our troops and extensive stories on each of the victims. But we accept death by traffic accident as a sad fact of life. We buy cars from companies that promote their products with images of speed and thrills. We allow drivers to be distracted by talking on cell phones. While government needs to take action, many lives can be saved by each of us being responsible, being patient and slowing down. — KR & Letter to the editor