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The Citizen, 2019-02-07, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 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 February 8, 1968 Michael Kernaghan and Donna Workman of Brussels both participated in the Canadian Figure Skating Association’s dance tests in Exeter. Workman passed the “Canasta”, the second of three preliminary dances, while Kernaghan passed “Ten Fox”, the first of the junior bronze set. Both Kernaghan and Workman would be back in action in the spring when the next round of tests would be held. Twenty-year-old Robert Stewart Smith of RR4, Brussels was set to stand trial in Goderich in connection with the armed robbery of the Bank of Montreal in Brucefield on Jan. 3. Smith was arrested on Feb. 4 in Nashville, Tennessee and was in the process of being transported back to Huron County for the trial. February 7, 1973 After a pair of meetings, Memorial Hall would be inspected from top to bottom. The inspections were deemed essential in order to proceed with needed renovations so the building could once again be used. At a meeting of the Blyth Recreation Committee, members were informed that plans for new fire escapes had been moved up to the Ministry of Labour for approval and once they were returned, construction could begin. Wiring had also been named one of the problems with the building. Blyth Village Council took its first steps towards installing sewers in the village at its Feb. 5 meeting. Council directed Reeve Robbie Lawrie to get in touch with the reeve of Zurich for some more information. Zurich, which was only slightly smaller than Blyth, was having sewers installed at the moment and councillors felt they could maybe learn something from what Zurich was going through. The Belgrave District Credit Union was celebrating its 20th anniversary with a special banquet, followed by a dance on Feb. 2 at the Belgrave Women’s Institute Hall. February 8, 1995 Over 100 Hullett Township residents piled into Hullett Council chambers to hear discussion on a controversial decision to build a municipal council and adminis- tration building. The project, which was estimated to cost $300,000, had many residents wondering where the money for the new building was going to come from. They were opposed to the vote, which stated that council would replace its current structure in the public works building with a new structure that was wheelchair accessible. Despite significant opposition from residents, however, council opted to stick with its decision to build a new structure. Council told residents that funding from provincial and federal levels of government would cover two-thirds of the cost, but that Hullett Township residents would have to come up with the remaining one-third themselves. After the dismissal of Helen Grubb from her position as the village clerk-treasurer for Blyth, resident Con van Vliet questioned the timing of the decision, which was made two days before her mother would pass away. “It was not a very opportune time to dismiss a person when she had a personal tragedy,” van Vliet said as he addressed council at its Feb. 6 meeting during the public question period. In response to van Vliet’s concerns, Reeve Mason Bailey said the village’s new lawyer, John Skinner from Stratford, had advised council to dismiss the former clerk- treasurer and said that council couldn’t let Grubb’s personal situation stand in the way of “working for the people”. February 12, 2009 The Avon Maitland District School Board’s accommodation review committee held another meeting, this time at East Wawanosh Public School near Belgrave, to further discuss the future of five community schools. Parents were concerned because of the introduction of a potential scenario that would see local Grade 7/8 students attend high school. Heather Toll, chair of the review’s subcommittee, said parents were starting to feel deceived. While she said parents were told that Turnberry Central Public School was the school that “triggered” the review, parents were starting to believe there was an ulterior motive to the review. She also couldn’t help but note Hullett Central Public School’s exclusion from the review, saying that rumours were abound that school would find itself in a review the following year alongside Holmesville Public School. With a deadline of 2010 for costly accessibility upgrades, Huron East Council was hoping to land a Trillium grant for upgrades to the Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre. Abi Corbett from the centre said that upgrades were anticipated to cost between $60,000 and $70,000 and the hope was that a successful grant would cover one-third of the cost. 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 You can’t please everybody It’s virtually impossible for political leaders to please all their constituents all the time. Sometimes they must weigh the pros and cons of the options and make a decision that makes the most sense for the most people. Such is the case of the Township of North Huron Council in deciding a location for a new fire station in Blyth. Council is running out of time before they must vacate the old fire hall, which has been purchased by Blyth Cowbell Brewing Company, yet two proposed sites for a new station have met opposition from citizens. In the case of the North St. location, neighbours protested the noise and safety concerns of having fire trucks rushing to fires. In the case of last week’s meeting to judge public acceptance for putting the fire hall on the corner of the Blyth campground, losing a ball diamond in the process, not only would neighbours be inconvenienced but one of Blyth’s best assets, home of the Huron Pioneer Thresher Reunion, would be diminished. Council’s focus seems to be on using a site the township already owns. Unless it frees up money to purchase land on the edge of the village, the fire hall is going to end up being near houses and businesses. So there’s the hard choice for councillors. Either they spend more to buy land for the fire hall or they’re going to have to makes some neighbours unhappy. The clock is ticking. They must decide soon. – KR What we all can learn It was heartbreaking (and heartwarming) last week during the days of victim impact statements presented at the sentencing hearing of the truck driver who caused the deaths of 16 people and injuries to a further 13 on the Humboldt Broncos team bus, to hear so many people who forgave the driver. It’s almost easier to understand the handful of parents who said they could never forgive the driver than it was the majority who forgave him. That group could see there was no intent to kill anyone on that day in April last year. They could see his remorse and that he had pled guilty to save the families the agony of a long trial. They could see that the driver would be tortured for the rest of his life by what he had done, no matter what the prison sentence imposed (and because he’s only a “permanent resident” not a citizen, he’s likely to be deported). Perhaps, too, they could remember errors of inattention they themselves had made while driving over the years – moments that would have been much more serious if they had been driving a large truck that collided with a bus. Sadly for all involved, nothing can undo the terrible damage of that crash. Going forward, the only good is for each of us to remember that when we’re behind the wheel of a vehicle, whether compact car or semi- trailer, we are controlling a deadly weapon. A moment’s inattention can have deadly consequences. We need to remember the tragic results of the Humboldt crash as a reminder to ourselves to stay alert at all times. – KR You can’t have it both ways Quebec Premier Francois Legault last week said there was no Islamophobia in his province, at the same time as he prepares legislation that would keep Muslim women working for the government from wearing head coverings. Many Quebec politicians seem to want to have it both ways. They want to think of themselves as open-minded at the same time as they pander to an element within the province’s population that pretty much wants to keep Quebec as it was before immigration diluted the 400-year history of a French enclave. Earlier, Premier Legault played the empathetic leader when he attended the second anniversary of the murder of six worshippers at a Quebec City mosque by a shooter who hated Muslims. Meanwhile, a Gatineau councillor said Islamophobia doesn’t exist in Quebec. She then went on to complain: “Those people do not integrate. Those people do a lot of harm, with their trucks and all those things.” Many people assumed she was talking about Islamist terrorists who drove trucks into crowds in Europe. Statistics also tell a different tale. There were 117 hate crimes against Muslims in Quebec in 2017 compared to 41 a year earlier. Then there’s Maxime Bernier’s new People’s Party of Canada whose biggest policy seems to be to limit immigration to Canada. This has led Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives, afraid of splitting the right-of-centre vote in this fall’s election, to teeter on the edge of anti-immigrant rhetoric themselves. It’s time to stop playing footsie with racists and people who’d reduce immigration if they could. Certainly being around people who speak and dress differently than we do may now and then cause discomfort. Still, Canada has prospered because of immigration. We have gained from the diverse viewpoints, experiences and ideas that people with a variety of backgrounds can give us. Let’s make such people feel welcome. – KR &