The Citizen, 2002-06-12, Page 1f
e Citizen
Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County
Volume 18 No. 23
Wednesday, June 12, 2002 75 Cents (70c + 5c GST)
NORTH HURON PUBLISHING COMPAN, IN,
Inside this week
Pg Wildlife centre . 0 hosts canoe-in
p g 10 A Lacrosse team
splits action
Pg. 19 If litytechn)Itltr at
. Pg 22 A !overly 'Lady'
A 8 at Stratford
Pg. 12 Donnellys' back in
8. hd° Blyth
Centre
hosts
active
event
The Wawanosh Nature Centre is
hosting a - hiking and biking
fundraising event on Saturday, June
.22. Visitors are invited to explore the
trails from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
and help raise funds for the nature
centre.
For each $5 in pledges or
donations participants will receive a
ticket for a draw to be held at 12:45
p.m. Prizes include books,
binoculars and backpacks. The
grand prize is a 21-speed Norco
Pinnacle mountain bike. Prizes will
also be awarded to the first 10
people with pledges of $30 or more
and for the person with the most
donations or pledges.
To be eligible for the prizes,
donations and pledge money must
be received at Wawanosh by 12:30
p.m. Receipts will be issued for
donations of $10 or more. For
pledge sheets or more information
call 335-3557.
The fun continues in the afternoon
from 1 to 2 p.m. with a free Boots,
Bubbles and Bugs program. Bring
your family and friends to explore
life in the Belgrave Creek. Nature
Centre staff will collect and identify
stream creatures. Nets and
magnifying glasses will be available
so you can get a close-up look at the
animals and plants found in the
creek.
Visitors are welcome to wade in
the creek but be sure to bring old
running shoes or rubber boots.
The Wawanosh Nature Centre
offers conservation education
programs to schools and community
groups across the Maitland
watershed. The property is owned
and managed by the Maitland Valley
Conservation Authority. The
Maitland Conservation Foundation,
a registered charitable organization,
provides financial assistance for the
operation of the Nature Centre.
The Nature Centre is located north
of Blyth, west of County Rd. 4, on
Nature Centre Rd.
By Keith Roulston
Citizen publisher
Some 416 businesses representing
nearly 3,000 jobs have been helped by
the Huron Business Development
Corporation since its beginning in
1993, Paul Nichol told Huron County
council at its June 6 meeting.
Nichol, economic development
manager with the HBDC, said nearly
$6 million has been invested by the
agency which accessed money from
banks and other institutions for
another $13.5 million to help the
businesses.
But though funding from the
federal government for the HBDC
and 250 similar organizations in rural
and small town Canada is guaranteed
for the next five years, Nichol agreed
with Deb Shewfelt, Goderich
councillor, that government concern
is switching to the problems of cities,
not rural areas.
Shewfelt said he'd recently
attended a conference and the debate
was mostly about the problems of
cities and the need for more
government support to them. Rural
areas could' lose their support, he
worried.
Nichol agreed that rural economic
development was once "sexy" but the
focus in the media recently seems to
be mostly on urban issues.
Shewfelt said one of Huron
County's problems is "sometimes we
really don't know who we are." While
Nichol had said in his presentation
that Huron County was 40 per cent
rural in its population, Shewfelt said
he felt it was 100 per cent rural in
terms of its state of mind. "We've
really got to pin down our identity,
promote who we are or we're going to
get run over by the cities."
Nichol said that despite the ongoing
problem of the loss of young people
and young families, there are young
families moving into the county and,
he'd like to sit down with some of
them to learn what attracted them to
Huron. "Once you understand what's
motivating people to come to a rural
area, you can use it as a marketing
tool," .he said.
Oat-migration of youth is one of the
weaknesses in a local economy that
has many strengths, Nichol had said
earlier. He also pointed to stagnant
population growth and downtowns
that are struggling id many
communities. About half of all retail
dollars are spent in Goderich, he said
and 25 per cent in Exeter. The other
towns and villages fight for their
share of the other 25 per cent.
On the other side, manufacturing
has grown to the point it now
contributes $900 million to the
economy and Huron continues to be
the number one county in Ontario
with $650 million in farm gate sales
and one in three jobs coming from
agricultural-related business.
Nichol noted that while the
problems are often the same among
communities, the solutions are
different in each community. HBDC's
involvement is always a collaboration
with volunteer and community-based
organizations, he said.
The efforts of many of these Huron
groups are winning provincial and
national renown, he said.
"Communities in Huron are on the
cutting edge of how to create
economic development," he said,
pointing to groups like the Huron
Manufacturers' website and the
Huron-Perth Connect Proposal to
adopt uses for technology to spur the
local economy.
Goderich Councillor Ellen
Connelly, a member of the Goderich
Marine Heritage committee thanked
Nichol for HBDC's financial support
for her group which helped it proceed
with about three decisions, including
the purchase of sonar equipment to
help explore shipwrecks.
Old
town
office
to come
down
By David Blaney
Citizen staff
The former Brussels municipal
office will soon be gone. At the June
4 meeting of the Huron East council
a motion was passed calling for
tenders by July 15 to have the
building demolished.
Brussels councillor Greg Wilson
brought up the subject when he
asked if it would be possible to find
out what it would cost to have the
structure removed. The discussion
rapidly moved on to an actual call
for tenders to have the job done this
year.
Councillor Joe Seili suggested,
"We should get it down before
someone falls in love with it." It
was suggested by several
councillors that removing the
building sooner rather than later
would save the municipality money.
Councillor Sharon McClure
asked if it was the intention of the
councillors to have the building
removed as soon as possible. She
suggested that if that was the
intention; "it would be nice to do it
before another heating season."
The building is actually a remnant
of several joined structures which
ran north to the river where the
medical dental clinic now stands.
According to Gerald Gibson, as
reported in Our Story the history of
Brussels compiled for the 125th
anniversary celebrations in 1997,
the site saw many businesses in its
day. He reports everything from a
horse stable on the lower level that
needed to be evacuated in the face
of spring floods to a woolen mill.
In its day the larger structure
housed businesses as diverse as a
garage to a paint shop for wagons
and buggies. For several years the
old mill was the location of a garage
operated by W. A. Lowery.
Harry McCutcheon eventually
purchased the building and ran
several businesses from the north
side while Joe Kelly operated a
Cities Service gas station in the
south portion.
The former municipal office was
the headquarters of the Brussels,
Morris and Grey Telephone
Company.
Huron East is currently in the
process Of removing the last of the
old Brussels records to the new
municipality's offices in Seaforth.
The fire siren which nov sits on the
roof will also need to f nd a new
home.
The building is reported to be in
poor condition and needing a new
roof. It is also relatively expensive
to heat. According, to Seili, "The
building is falling allow that is the
long and short of it."
Hair raising
It was wacky hair day at Blyth Public School last week. Student council judges awarded top
prizes in each classroom to, clockwise, from bottom left: Lauren Cronin, Kristina Eckert,
Ashley Cook, Hailey Hulzebos, Brandilyn Bearss, Rachelle Ducharme and Laura Peach. (Bonnie
Gropp photo )
HBDC helps 416 businesses