The Citizen, 2003-12-03, Page 1$1 (93c + 7c GST)
Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County
Volume 19 No. 47 Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2003
NORTH HURON PUBLISHING COMPANY INC. |
Inside this week
Foodgrains project
yields 3,395 bushels
BEST gets new
pumper
Santa comes to
Brussels
Huron Perth
connect for project
Tykes continue
winning ways
RIDE
begins
The Huron OPP’s annual RIDE
program started on Nov. 28 and
already police say they have arrested
two for impaired driving and given
out two 12-hour license suspensions
On Nov. 28. a 32-year-oid Central
Huron man was charged with
impaired driving and driving a
motor vehicle with over 80 mgs. A
19-year-old male passenger was also
charged with a liquor offense.
The - next day a 19-year-old
Bluewater man lost his driver’s
license for 12 hours and was also
charged with a liquor violation. The
same day another driver was issued
a 12-hour license suspension plus a
liquor violation charge.
On Nov. 30. a 39-year-old Huron
East woman was charged with
impaired driving and driving a
motor vehicle with over 80 mgs.
The Huron OPP are working with
communities and the Wingham
police.
Other groups that have become
avid supporters are MADD.
members of OSA1D and community
partners. Together they help to fund
additional RIDE program checks.
These funded checks along with
regular RIDE enforcement checks
will be strategically and randomly
located throughout the county over
the next month.
Urlin pulls
out of race
In a surprise announcement at the
end of the Nov. 26 meeting of
county council. Dave Urlin
announced he would not be seeking
a second term as warden of Huron
County.
Urlin had earlier announced he
would seek a second term but at the
Nov. 6 meeting of council
Bluewater councillor Bill Dowson
announced he also planned to run
for the office.
In his withdrawal statement Urlin
said eight of the 18 councillors had
committed to support him.
The withdrawal left Dowson
unopposed for the warden’s chair at
the Dec. 2 inaugural meeting.
Meeting for the first time
Kiera Henry gazes up at Santa during his visit at Memorial Hall last Saturday evening. He
brought bags filled with treats for all the good little boys and girls after they had a chance to
sit on his knee and say what they would like for Christmas. (Eiyse DeBruyn photo)
Health officials frustrated
By Keith Roulston
Citizen publisher
Huron County councillors have
approved the hiring of a media
consultant to help get the message
across that the county’s beaches are
not as dangerous as some national
newspaper reports have said.
Articles in The National Post,
Ottawa Citizen and London Free
Press have all picked up on
comments from the Ashfield
Colborne Lakefront Association
about high E. coli readings at county
beaches but have not picked up
health unit press releases trying to
show some light on the situation,
said Penny Nelligan. director of the
Huron County Health Unit.
Nelligan said the complexity of
the issue isn’t coming across in
media reports that called Lake
Huron the latest "pollution hot
spot”.
Nelligan said the articles have
misinterpreted the new signs posted
permanently on some beaches that
warn that E. coli can be higher for
two days alter rainfalls by claiming
the beaches are permanently closed.
As well, Nelligan said. The
London Free Press reported there
has been a huge surge in illnesses
caused by beach water when the
health unit, which has regular
contact with doctors, has not been
aware of any increase in problems.
"We’re struggling with how to
proceed (to get the word out)” said
Nelligan.
Bluewater councillor Diane
Denomme said it was important to
counter the bad publicity because
already some resort owners are
having long-term reservations
cancelled for next summer. "It will
impact our economy if we don’t get
the message out.”
Bluewater councillor Bill Dowson
expressed frustration with the
Ashfield-Colborne group. “We have
a group of concerned people, who
say they want to save tourism in
Huron, but they spread propaganda
that destroys tourism. Let’s work
together to clean up (the county) not
destroy it.” It was Dowson who
made the motion to hire a media
consultant.
Goderich councillor Deb Shewfelt
said the problem does illustrate that
county council will have to become
a leader in the problem of beach
water quality.
"Water is the huge issue that can
either make us or break us,” he
said.
Huron County is the breadbasket
of Ontario, Shewfelt said, and as
such should be getting more help
from the province to solve water
quality issues.
Scott Tousaw, director of planning
and development said that when
wellhead source orotection moves
toward implementation, one
suggestion has been to have a well
head protection committee for every
municipal well in the county and
groundwater initiative staff to
oversee the process.
But South Huron councillor Rob
Morley worried that "could end up
being the biggest department the
county has ever seen.”
But Shewfelt argued that if the
county doesn't take leadership,
water quality improvements won't
get done.
“The county has to be a player, but
I think we have to go forward
cautiously."
Trustees
offer best
wishes
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen
The 2000-03 term for the Avon
Mailland District School Board drew
to a close Tuesday. Nov. 25. with
trustees exchanging goodwill and
good wishes for those who are
moving on. those who are coming to
the table for the first time, and those
who remain.
The goodwill even extended as far
as maverick Huron East/Centre
representative Charles Smith, who
sparred often with several of his
counterparts. Smith was acclaimed to
a position on the board in 2000, after
leading a successful challenge of a
1999 decision to close Seaforth
District High School. He’s now
leaving, having failed in a bid to
prevent the closure from eventually
taking place in 2002, but doggedly
challenging the board — to varying
degrees of success — on other issues
over the past three years.
North Penh trustee Don Brillinger,
who’s leaving to join municipal
politics, almost always lined up on
the opposite side of those issues as
Smith. But Nov. 25. Brillinger
credited the Seaforth industrial
owner for joining the board for the
principle of representing the people
of his area, and for being a keen-eyed
“numbers man.”
Board chair Meg Westley, who was
re-elected as one of two Stratford
trustees in the Nov. 10 municipal
election, admitted she and Smith
"rarely saw eye to eye and had many
heated debates.
"But you served with integrity,”
she told Smith, adding “you often
played — or rather, were — the
devil’s advocate, and that improved
the effectiveness of our decision
making process.”
Smith kept his comments to a
minimum, choosing only to thank
Brillinger, and joking with Westley
that he “appreciate(d) the promotion
from “the devil’ to”; the devil’s
advocate’.”
Smith’s replacement. former
Holmesville school council chair
Shelley Kaastra, was in the audience
at the meeting, as she has been
faithfully twice per month for about
two years. Making her first
appearance was the new North Perth
trustee, Jenny Versteeg. Both Smith
and Brillinger took time to give
credit to their replacements. The
three other new trustees, not in
attendance at the Nov. 24 meeting,
are Emily Milley in Northwest
Huron, Doug Pratley in Stratford,
and Tina Traschel in Perth East.
The outgoing Perth East trustee,
former chair Wendy Anderson,
received the most tributes from
fellow trustees. Brillinger described
her as "a mentor.” while Westley
described her decision not to seek re
election as “a great loss to the
board.”
"I believe you have had a
significant effect on the culture of the
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