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The Citizen, 2019-01-31, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 2019. Editorials Opinions President: Keith Roulston • Publisher: Deb Sholdice Editor: Shawn Loughlin • Reporter: Denny Scott Advertising Sales: Brenda Nyveld • Heather Fraser The Citizen P.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 $38.00/year ($36.19 + $1.81 G.S.T.) in Canada; $160.00/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: Mon. 2 p.m. - Brussels; Mon. 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 January 31, 1973 George Sloan, who had served as Blyth’s clerk-treasurer until 1962, passed away on Dec. 27, 1972 at South Waterloo Hospital in Cambridge. Sloan lived in Blyth his whole life until he moved to Cambridge just before his death. His funeral was held at Tasker Memorial Chapel in Blyth on Jan. 30, 1973. The Blyth Fall Fair would be discontinued thanks to a vote by the directors of the Blyth Agricultural Society. The vote took place at the directors’ meeting, which immediately followed the society’s annual meeting, held at Snell’s Banquet Hall in Westfield. Directors gave several reasons for their decision, including difficulty recruiting volunteers for the fair and declining fair attendance. However, the greatest issue at play, the directors said, was ongoing difficulty in recruiting a president to lead the organization. Murray Scott had served as the president of the organization for three years at the time, but had made it known that he could not serve at the head of the society for another. With no one eager to take over for him, Scott said he would stay president if no fair would be held. Premier Bill Davis announced that a by-election would be held in the Huron riding to fill the seat in the provincial legislature left vacant with the retirement of Charles MacNaughton. The provincial government approved the purchase of 400 acres of land in East Wawanosh Township by the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority with the help of a provincial grant of $29,500. The Authority hoped by purchasing the land to provide the public with forests, wildlife and land use benefits in line with Authority objectives. It was estimated that development on the land would be completed before the end of the year. February 1, 1995 After months of meetings, discussions and public input and testing, the search for a new Huron County landfill site had been whittled down to just one final site in Ashfield Township. This came after the search had been focused on four sites, three of which were eliminated from contention when the Ashfield Township site was chosen. The prospects for the 1999 International Plowing Match to be held in Huron County were improving by the day according to Walton’s Neil McGavin. After attending two planning meetings, McGavin said that five local sites had been included on the list. Confirmed farms on the list were located in Winthrop, Ethel, Dashwood and Grand Bend, while interest had been shown in a farm near Vanastra, though nothing had been made official. The future of the Walton Community Hall was in question after the Walton Women’s Institute was having trouble with upkeep at the building after buying it in 1976 for $1 from the Walton Community Club. McKillop Reeve Ron Murray was concerned, saying community input was needed in order to gauge public interest in the hall. If there wasn’t any, he said, it could simply disappear like the library had. February 5, 2009 Jacob McGavin from the Walton area was named one of 12 Ontario Junior Citizens for 2008 by the Ontario Community Newspaper Association. McGavin was one of 117 nominees for the awards, which are handed out annually by the Ontario Community Newspaper Association. Nominated by Brussels Public School Principal John Carr, McGavin was recognized for his involvement in worthwhile community service. The Blyth PeeWee Rep Bulldogs defeated Drayton to become the Western Ontario Athletic Associa- tion (WOAA) champions. John Looser of Cranbrook was featured on Animal Planet on The Discovery Channel on the strength of his “extreme birdhouses” some of which boasted over 100 rooms. February 1, 2018 Blyth residents Sharlene Bolen and Patty and Irene Kellins stepped up to create a petition they hoped would implore the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) to consider keeping its Blyth branch open despite its plan to close the location that September. The trio hoped to present the petition to CIBC representatives at their mandated public meeting in Blyth, which was set for April 19. The Huron Centenaires hosted a special hockey night in Seaforth to raise money for charities associated with Rebecca Kipfer-Pryce and Tanner Steffler, both youths from the Seaforth area who had passed away under tragic circumstances. Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson was named chair of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Caucus after the party shuffled several positions under interim party leader Vic Fedeli. Thompson would also continue to serve as the Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Critic for the party. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada. We are not responsible for unsolicited newsscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright Does it matter? Given how much time has been spent by municipal councils across Ontario debating whether or not to allow retail stores in their communities to sell marijuana, it seems there were probably better ways to spend their time. The provincial government sent councils scurrying when it required municipalities to decide by Jan. 22 whether or not to allow cannabis retailers within their jurisdiction. Given that there are only 25 retail outlets licensed to sell pot in the entire province beginning April 1, it seems as if it will be a long, long time before there’ll be any store on the main street of Brussels or Seaforth no matter what councils decided. If you’re keeping score, Morris-Turnberry and Central Huron voted to accept cannabis retailers, Huron East deferred making a decision (which essentially means “yes”) and North Huron voted a vociferous “no”. Despite the vehement opposition of North Huron councillors, their choice not to permit cannabis to be sold in North Huron won’t make any real difference in the use of the drug in their municipality. A certain portion of the local population has been using pot for years and will get what they want from retail outlets elsewhere if they can’t get it in North Huron. Local police will most likely be involved in the same number of driving-while-high cases no matter where the pot is purchased. At least the debate is over and local councillors can go back to dealing with issues more relevant to their community.— KR Let’s keep cool It’s strange how attaching the word “terrorist” to an incident can automatically raise it to a much higher alarm. Last week a 16-year-old boy from Kingston was arrested on terrorist charges after he gathered bomb-making supplies and tried to persuade another man to help plant the bomb he planned to make. Now if this were a white suburban 16-year-old from a family that looked like us, we would have shaken our heads and wondered how an individual could get so screwed up. Attach the word terrorist to it and people see the teenager as part of a world-wide conspiracy. While the identity of the bomb-maker has remained secret because he’s a minor, the name of a 20-year-old man arrested in the original RCMP raid on two Kingston homes has become public. Though police questioned him, they found little evidence he was participating in a plot, so released him. Still, the man has faced death threats over social media. When it became known, shortly after the arrests, that the 20-year-old was the son of Syrian refugees, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer immediately disgraced himself and his party by saying this was proof the government needed stricter investigations before refugees were allowed to enter Canada. The refugee’s parents, meanwhile, having lived through the terror of the Syrian civil war before they found refuge in Canada, had to suffer through the trauma of the RCMP breaking down their front door and seeing their son arrested. Now they must watch their son being terrorized by those people who are sure he’s guilty because they suspect people who don’t look like traditional Canadians. There’s a principle of Canadian law that accused people are innocent until proven guilty. Embarrassingly, many Canadians are ready to convict people of crimes they weren’t even charged with, especially if they have foreign roots. In such cases we need to stay calm until the facts are known. — KR History muddies the present Trying to find reality among the mess that’s taking place in Venezuela these days is muddied by the history of the U.S. in meddling in Central and South America. The U.S. has endorsed the claim of opposition leader Juan Guaido that he is the true president of Venezuela. Nicolas Maduro, the sitting president, was re-elected last May in a vote from which most opposition leaders were barred from participating. The election also had the lowest voter turnout in Venezuela’s modern history. Certainly Venezuela has deteriorated under the Maduro regime, in power since 2013. Despite possessing the world’s largest reserves of oil, Venezuela’s economy is in a shambles with hyper inflation and shortages of many supplies. Two million refugees had fled to Columbia next door. Maduro has billions of dollars in U.S. and Swiss bank accounts that have been frozen. The International Criminal Court is investigating crimes committed by the Venezuelan army during Maduro’s reign. He’s not helped by his choice of friends: dictatorships like Russia, China and Cuba. Guaido, meanwhile, is endorsed by the U.S., Canada, most of Venezuela’s neighbours and several European countries. Still, as U.S. President Donald Trump says he hasn’t ruled out taking military action, it’s hard to feel confident in his assessment. It’s hard to forget the number of Latin American countries the U.S. has invaded in the last 150 years for trumped-up reasons. It’s hard to accept Americans as the good guys when they’ve misbehaved so often in the past. — KR &