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The Citizen, 1987-01-21, Page 1VOL. 3 NO. 3 Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1987.40 CENTS Brussels news Page 2 Blyth news Page 3 Editorials Page 4 Letters to the editor Page 5 Farm Page 14-15 Sports Page 16-17 Classified Ads Page 20-21 Entertainment Page 23 Bruce Shillinglaw of RR 1, Londesboro, right, was one of the recipients of the 1986 Norman Alexander Conservation Award, along with Jack McGregor of RR 5, Clinton, centre, at the annual banquet of the Huron County Soil and Crop Improvement Association in Varna on Friday. Presenting the award is Norman Alexander of Londesboro, after whom the trophy is named. Bruce Shillinglaw wins award Blyth councillor Cronin resigns Blyth village council will go looking for a new councillor following the resignation last week of councillor and former reeve Tom Cronin. Mr. Cronin’s resignation letter was read atthe end of council’s January 13 meeting and took most of the councillors by surprise. The resignation takes effect February 1. After a few moments of shocked silence, other councillors began asking Councillor Cronin to recon­ sider and tried to get Mr. Cronin to reveal his reasons for leaving. Mr. Cronin sat quietly saying he was ‘ ‘just through ’ ’ but after consider­ able prodding did say ‘ ‘you people who have not been reeve, you have no idea what you sacrifice for your town.” Duringthefiveyears he was reeve, Councillor Cronin said, he was in Goderich on Huron County business on average about one day a week meaning that he had to leave his own back hoeing business idle. Mr. Cronin was first elected to council in 1977 and served as reeve from 1980 to 1985 before deciding to run for the Nov. 1985 election as councillor. ‘‘I’ve had a fair taste already of what the man must have been going through,” said Reeve Albert Wasson. ‘‘I don’t know how he did it for five years.” Councillor William Howson said he was sorry to see the resignation come in and asked if Councillor Cronin would take time to sleep on it and reconsider but Mr. Cronin said he already had slept on it. Reeve Wasson saluted his pre­ decessor saying he had served the community well both as a council­ lor and as reeve and deserved the gratitude of council and the community. After accepting the resignation, council made no plans for the appointing of a successor. Farmers from Londesboro and Clinton have been named co-winn- ers of the prestigious Norman Alexander Conservation Award for 1987, the first time in the award’s history that it has been shared jointly by leaders in conservation practices in Huron County. Bruce SHiliinglaw of RR 1, Londesboro and Jack McGregor of RR 5. Clinton were selected as this year’swinnersby a panel of judges made up of past recipients, and received their awards at the annual Awards Banquet of the Huron Soil and Crop Improvement Associa­ tion (HSCIA) in Varna last Friday. Mr. Shillinglaw was nominated for the award in recognition of his use of conservation tillage techni­ ques, plowdown of red clover and crop rotation practises, woodlot and waterway management, and reclaimation of gravel pits. Mr. McGregor was also recog- Blyth council helps fund tourist brochure Biyth village council voted last week to help a group of Blyth merchants promote tourist shopp­ ing in the village. Elaine Scrimgeour and Bev Elliott, who have been spearhead­ ing publication of a brochure featuring some of the unique shopping experiences of the vill­ age, approached village council to see if council wanted to take part in the promotion by paying for the front cover of the brochure. The group is co-operating with the Blyth Festival and 5,000 smaller versions of the brochure will be mailed out with ticket orders while 12,000 full-sized brochures will be distributed through tourist information booths around the province. ‘ ‘The theatre has really good nized for his tillage methods, using ridge till, mulch till, and no till in the interests of soil conservation, as well as for his use of crop rotation and cover crops, and his woodlot management system. Both men were presented with plaques by Norman Alexander of Londesboro, as well as with Ontario Farm Conservation A- wards presented by Bert Visscher, chairman of the Huron Soil and Water Conservation District. Others nominated for the 1986 Alexander award were Lyle Martin of Ethel; Ken Gascho and Roy Erb, both of RR 3, Zurich; and Jim McIntosh and John and Harry Swinkles, all of RR 4, Seaforth. Each nominee was presented with a framed certificate by Mr. Alex­ ander, for whom the award is named. Gordon Johnson, chairmanof locations for all their brochures so they said they would take them around for us,” Mrs. Elliott said. Councillors, although reserving their decision until later in the meeting, praised the merchants’ efforts. “Blyth has been lacking in a business association for a number ofyears and it is good to see people involved in promoting the village. Councillor William Manning urged the women to forge ahead toward forming a business associa­ tion saying he was sure there would be government money available to help pay the cost. Mrs. Elliott said that hopefully in the long run an association would be formed but for the present project the group was just trying to promote the unique shops and restaurants in the Ausable-Bayfield Conserva­ tion Authority, presented the annual ABCA Individual Award to Jerry Giesen, an Ilderton-area farmer, for his conservation work, in reclaiming a gravel pit on his farm; while the Group Award went to Huron Centennial School in Brucefield, in recognition of the students’ active involvement in a number of conservation projects over the past year. In other HSCIA awards, director Dale Knight of RR 3, Brussels, presented the annual Soil and Crop Project Award to Wayne Hopper of RR 5, Brussels; while Booster Awards went to Jane Sadler- Richards, formerly of the Clinton OMAF office; to Earl Wagner, on behalf of the Hensail District Co-op; to George Smyth of George Smyth Welding of RR 2, Auburn; and to Andy Williams on behalf of CKNX in Wingham. the village. Mrs. Scrimgeour also asked council if they had any information pn what government help might be available for set ting up a tourist booth in Blyth. There are still people who come to Blyth who aren’t aware of the theatre or the mills. A tourist information booth would make information about not only these but bed and breakfast guest homes and other local attractions. Currently the Festi­ val’s box office staff also try to make such information available but they have limited time when they’re already busy just filling ticket requests. Reeve Wasson agreed that it was imposing on the theatre’s time to provide the service. Mrs. Elliott said that more Brussels councillors get $100 raise Brussels village councillors vot­ ed themselves a $100-a-year raise when they adopted a new pay schedule at a January 16 meeting. Reeve Hank Ten Pas will make $2,100 instead of $2,000. Council­ lors will make $1,500, up from $1,400. Inaddition, councillors will get$50 per half day and $75 per day for special meetings, up from $48 and $70respectively. Travel will be paid for at a rate of 25 cents a kilometre. Clerk Hugh Hanly will receive $19,500 in salary in 1987. Donna White, will receive $7.00 per hour. Dave Hastings, general utility man, building inspector and by­ law enforcement officer will re­ information would also facilitate new business coming to town. She wondered about the possibility of the village making the news of the retail requirements of the com­ munity better known, perhaps through advertising. Several peo­ ple lrom other areas had expressed interest in relocatingin Blyth after they had been informed in conver­ sation of the things the town had to offer, she said. Later in the meeting the council agreed to provide $340 for a one-fifth share of the cost of the brochure. After Councillor Tom Cronin had suggested that the council should support the initia­ tive Reeve Wasson agreed, saying: ‘ ‘The most important thing is to indicate to these people that the council is behind them.” ceive $9.50 per hour. John Pipe, general utility man will receive $8.85. Public Utilities Commissions will receive $925 while the PUC chairman will receive $1,175. Marg Exel will receive $5.20 per hour to clean the library. Fire Chief Howard Bernard will receive an increase from $350 per year to $400 per year. Max Oldfield will replace Nancy Exel as the village’s representative on the Wingham and District Hospital Board at a fee of $20 per meeting and $6 per meeting for mileage. Brussels' representatives on the Brussels, Morris and Grey Recrea­ tion Committee will be Betty Graber. Albert Ten Pas. Keith Mulvey and Max Demaray. Represcntativesonthe Medical. Dental Centre Board for 1987 will be Betty Graber, Jim Cardiff, Dave McCutcheon and Cecil Moore. The Brussels Cemetery Board representatives will be Jack Bry­ ans, J im Cardiff, WayneTodd, Jim Bowman and William King./ Appointed to the Homecoming committee were: Gerry Wheeler, chairman; Barb Mutter, treasurer; Mary Lowe, secretary; Wayne Lowe and Sarah Stephenson, vice-chairmen. Sam Sweeney, Don Jolly and Clayton Sauve were appointed fenceviewers at $8 per hour. Joe Gibson is the weed inspectorfor the village. Crawford, Mill and Davies were appointed solicitors for the village and $500 retainer paid. The appointment of Spicer- MacGillivray and Co. is under review.