The Citizen, 2004-12-02, Page 4HEY, WALLY, HOW ARE RITA'S VIOLIN LESSONS COMING ALONG
Looking Back Through the Years
Dec. 3, 1952
Morris Twp. officers were
returned by acclaimation. Reeve was
Harvey Johnston. Councillors were
Sam Alcock, Bailie Parrott, William
Elston and Charles Coultes. For
school board it was Bernard Thomas
and Robert McMurray.
In Brussels all councillors were
returned to office by acclamation.
Reeve was R.B. Cousins.
Councillors were L. Workman, H.J.
Stretton, R.A. Bennett and A.
McTaggart.
Dec. 4, 1969
Stuart Bryans, a resident of Morris
Twp., received the degree of
Accredited Rural Appraiser from the
American Society of Faim
Managers and Rural Appraisers.
A report from Queen's Park, sent
in by Huron-Bruce MPP Murray
Gaunt, said that beginning Dec. 1,
restaurant patrons dining with
family or friends, would not have to
ask for separate cheques to avoid
paying the provincial tax. Their
meals were to be shown separately
on the same bill with the 10 per cent
sales tax applying only to an
individual meal over $2.50.
Dec. 6, 1972
Brussels 4-H club member, John
Van Vliet earned himself the
Victoria and Grey Trust Co. award
fcir being the champion 4-H swine
showman.
Greg Love of Zurich won the
Huron Pork Producer's Association
trophy for holding the highest score
in the 4-H Swine Club. -
Brussels reeve, Jack McCutcheon
returned for another two-year term
by a slim three-vote margin over his
only opponent Alan Nichol after the
municipal election. McCutcheon
had 293 votes while Nichol had
290.
The Belgrave branch of the United
Co-operative of Ontario, reported its
highest.sales record in history during
from 1971 - 72 with a gross business
of $606,822.
Barbara Dunbar was the first
.3voman to be elected into the Grey
TvAp. council, polling 337 votes. -
During the 4-H awards
presentation, the Vincent Farm
Equipment Trophy went to Jim
Fairies of Gorrie for having the
highest score in the 4-H Tractor
Club.
Gordon Hill, from Varna, was re-
elected president of the Ontario
Federation of Agriculture.
Dec. 3, 1986
It was a day of triumph when the
Londesborough. Lions Club far
surpassed its fundraising goal of
$30,000 by bringing in more than
$45,000 during the Back the Biter
campaign. The required amount was
used to purchase a fully-equipped
van for -Lion Ron Nesbitt, who was
in a wheelchair since being injured
in a swimming accident.
With the the surplus of more than
$15,000, the Lions Club decided to
set up a charitable trust fund which
provided the basis for a similar
award.
Several Londesborough music-
ians took part in the annual
Christmas concert at Central Huron
Secondary School.
Two men and a 16-year-old
juvenile were in custody following
an armed robbery of Brussels
Variety. The men, one armed with
what later turned out to be scissors,
but mistaken for a knife, entered the
store around 8:40 p.m. One man
wore a stocking mask and one wore
a ski mask. In the store were clerk
Joanne Van Vliet and customer
Shelley Jorritsma. The juvenile
remained in the car.
Up to 200 of the 886 rural mail
couriers in the Huron Division of
Canada Post were in imminent
danger of losing their jobs when
their contracts came up for renewal
in 1987. They were prepared to fight
to keep their jobs.
Joe Steffler of Walton received his
15-year service pin at the annual
Huron County Road Department's
banquet and dance in Blyth.
Debbie Craig of Blyth received a
framed certificate from OMAF
Rural Organization Specialist Jane
Muegge to mark five years of
service as a leader in the Blyth III, 4-
H club.
Crystal Black of Belgrave was
enrolled as Pathfinder by District
Commissioner Mary Vair, marking
the first Pathfinder ever to be
enrolled in the Guiding movement in
the Belgrave.
Dec. 2, 1994
Refrigerators were going cheap at
Queen's Villa apartments in Blyth as
24 of the 14-year-old appliances,
along with 24 stoves, were removed
from residents' homes and replaced
with new ones.
Kevin Rintoul was presented with
the J.A. Anstett Award as champion
junior beef showman at the Seaforth
Fair.
Miranda MacDonald of Auburn
was presented with the John Franken
Memorial Trophy at the Huron 4-H
awards night. The award was for the
highest score among horse club
members. She also won the W4
Stock Farm Trophy for high point
exhibitor.
Dec. 6, 1999
Ralph Watson was sworn in as
Brussels village councillor, filling
the.seat left vacant by a councillor's
resignation in November.
Dickie Bird, alias Richard
Knechtel, had the rapt attention of
his audience during his performance
at the Brussels Legion.
St. Michael's Catholic Church in
Blyth, joined with _ Catholic
Women's League members, marked
the 75th anniversary of the
CWL.
PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2004.
Editorials
Opinions
Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie Gropp
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We're all paying for past mistake
While Huron and Perth recently celebrated the recruitment of 12 new
physicians to the region, nearly every community remains under-
serviced by doctors and the problem is forecast to get worse as doctors
retire in the coming years. Meanwhile George Smitherman, Ontario's
minister of health, is being criticized by the Ontario Medical Association
for a $6.9 billion offer to increase doctor's salaries over the next four
years.
It seems we're all, communities and government alike, paying the
price for a decision a decade ag6 to reduce the number of doctors in
Ontario.
The theory back then, was that medical costs would soar out of
control if the number of doctors wasn't reduced because each new doctor
effectively had a blank cheque to fill up his/her billable office hours at
the expense of the government. If you decreased the number of doctors
you decreased the number of office hours and you cut costs. Much like
the blunder of filling nursing staffs with as many as part time nurses as
possible which meant graduate nurses headed to the U.S. to get jobs, this
mistaken judgment has come back to haunt us.
With fewer doctors graduating, the workload on family physicians,
particularly in smaller communities, increased. The heavier workload
meant fewer medical students wanted to go into family practice,
particularly in rural areas. The heavier workload also exhausted doctors
making some cut back on their practices and others retire, leaving even
more people without family physicians. Not unexpectedly as doctors had
to work harder they became dissatisfied with their compensation.
So now we're in a crisis with an aging pool of doctors who are often
burned out by their heavy workloads. Even cities are now finding they
have shortages of family physicians and the situation in rural Ontario is
worsening by the year. With a short supply of doctors the demand for
higher remuneration is natural in order to keep the doctors we have and
to recruit more. A government already strapped for money for medicare
is under pressure to spend more on keeping what service we already
have.
Today the prevailing theory in medical reform is to encourage/force
doctors to go into group practices instead of individual practices or
partnerships. Here's hoping there's more wisdom among the deep
thinkers behind this solution than there was among those who advocated
cutting the number of students training to be doctors. — KR
Salute their bravery
It's hard to put ourselves in the place of the brave people in the
Ukraine who have camped out in the streets for a week to protest the
results of an election international observers have called fraudulent.
In this country we're considering fiddling with the election system in
an effort to lure more people to take a few minutes out of one day every
four or five years to vote, but there, more than 100,000 people are willing
to brave the wintery weather and perhaps even the violence of police or
troops, because they want to claim a true democracy instead of the sham
being perpetrated by a government that doesn't really believe that the
public should be trusted to choose its leaders.
We've been privileged to witness several of these brave exhibitions of
people-power in Europe in recent years as people, newly introduced to
the concept of democracy, refused to let corrupt politicians stack the
odds to keep power. Though the fall of Communism was celebrated more
than a decade ago, democracy is really only being fOrged now in these
countries by the will of the people. Some countries, like Russia, seem on
the verge of losing democracy as leaders like Vladimir Putin manipulate
the system, but in countries like Ukraine, the people are willing to risk at
least comfort, and perhaps physical violence, to preserve this precious
gift.
Their bravery has been encouraged by western governments,
including Canada, who insist truly fair elections must be held. We should
be grateful our government has made this stand and hope that
international pressure will help deliver democracy to the people of
Ukraine who deserve it so much.
As we watch these brave people we should also realize the precious
gift we enjoy, and make sure we exercise the right to vote. — KR
Letter to the editor
DEAR EDITOR, • such a pleasure to see the house so
It was only when I dug out last well kept by Rick Elliott and his
year's Christmas cards that I found family.
a letter and news of BIG. I hope your ambition of seeing the
I'm very proud of local residents' town blossom into what it has
efforts to promote our little village; always been - a good place to live, to
my hometown of 87 years ago. work, and spend the senior years -
There are a few old friends left, but (is realized.)
very few. I'm always happy to visit Good luck.
the main street and King Street and Sincerely,
see the home where I was born. It is Kathleen Logan Naftel