The Citizen - Aug. 12, 2022

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The

THIS WEEK

Citizen

Huron County’s most trusted independent news source

Volume 38 No. 32

Friday, August 12, 2022

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See special insert of the Huron County Plowing Match

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Policy tied to usage

By Denny Scott The Citizen

In the line of fire The minor baseball season in Huron County is rapidly winding down, but there is still plenty of action on local diamonds as teams prepare for their year-end tournaments. On Friday night, the Brussels U11 Girls took on their counterparts from the south, Seaforth,

and ended the game with a convincing 19-7 win. The Brussels squad can be pleased with its successful season, sitting with a record of 13-2-2 on the season, just ahead of its year-end tournament, which goes ahead this weekend alongside several other year-end tournaments. (Denny Scott photo)

Vanstone, Watt file for deputy-mayor

By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen With just one week until nominations close for this October’s municipal election, ballots throughout the county are beginning to fill out.

The nomination period opened in May and will close on Friday, Aug. 19 ahead of the Monday, Oct. 24 municipal election.

In the Township of AshfieldColborne-Wawanosh, Mayor Glen McNeil is hoping to return to the position for a second term. DeputyMayor Roger Watt has also filed to return to his position, but he will be contested by current Councillor Bill Vanstone, who has also filed to be the township’s deputymayor.

Incumbent Councillors Jennifer Miltenburg, Anita Snobelen, Gloria Fisher and Wayne Forster have all filed to return to their at-large councillor positions, while newcomers Patti Wilkins and Peter McKee have also filed in hopes of becoming a councillor.

Sylvie C. Barbeau-Chmielewski of Sarnia has put her name forward to be the area’s French-language Separate School Board Trustee for the Conseil Scolaire Catholique Providence.

Three men have filed their paperwork in hopes of becoming North Huron Reeve: Incumbent Reeve Bernie Bailey, current Deputy-Reeve Trevor Seip and newcomer Ranko Markeljevic.

Incumbent East Wawanosh Councillors Anita van Hittersum and Chris Palmer have both filed.

Newcomer Kelly Tiffin of Belgrave has also filed paperwork in hopes of becoming one of the municipality’s two East Wawanosh councillors in the coming term.

Ric McBurney and Kevin Falconer, incumbent Blyth Ward councillors, have also filed paperwork to return to their positions.

Mitch Wright of Wingham is currently the only person who has filed to be a Wingham Ward Councillor.

Ray Berg, Patricia Elaine Smith

and Michel Starenky have all put their names forward to be a school board trustee for the Avon Maitland District School Board for the region serving North Huron.

Central Huron Mayor Jim Ginn made good on his June 20 promise to run again for the municipality’s top spot, filing his paperwork on June 28. Current Deputy-Mayor Dave Jewitt has also entered the mayoral race, filing his paperwork on July 18 in hopes of earning the top spot.

Long-time Central Huron East Ward Councillor Marg Anderson has put her name forward to be the municipality’s next deputy-mayor.

Jared Petteplace is contesting for the position after running for the same position in 2018.

Incumbent West Ward Councillors Alison Lobb and Michael Russo, as well as East Ward Councillors Danny Colquhoun and Adam Robinson have all filed paperwork to return to their positions again this fall.

Newcomer Jennifer Cox has also filed in hopes of becoming a

councillor for Central Huron’s East Ward.

In Huron East, incumbent Mayor Bernie MacLellan has put his name forward to again fill his position, filing his paperwork on June 10.

He is not running unopposed, however, as newcomer Nancy Craig filed to be Huron East’s next mayor on June 1.

Incumbent Tuckersmith Ward Continued on page 14

North Huron Township Council made changes to how its recreation facilities will be run during its Monday night meeting which will put community centres in Blyth and Wingham on equal footing, however staffing shortages continue to be an issue.

Council approved a new policy to dictate when ice could be put into the Blyth and District Community Centre or the North Huron Wescast Community Centre, tying it not to a specific date, but to usage.

The policy, prepared by Director of Recreation and Facilities Vicky Luttenberger, dictates that the regular ice season for the centres will run from Oct. 1 to March 31.

Ice may be removed earlier in March, however, if usage declines below 35 hours per week at either facility, according to the policy.

Pre- or post-season ice usage will be considered, according to the policy, for up to two weeks, provided that 35 hours of ice time are being booked during the extended period. The rental fee for pre-season ice will be nonrefundable, the policy states, once the machinery to maintain the ice has been started.

“The decision to offer pre-season ice is an operational decision that will be at the discretion of the Director of Recreation and Community Services,” the policy says.

Even though the policy allows it, ice won’t be in early this year, according to a report from Luttenberger, as the municipality’s recreation department continues to face staffing shortages.

“Although council has approved hiring additional facility operators, the hiring and training process takes four to six weeks to complete,” she said in her Continued on page 2

ACW reserve levels concern Miltenburg

By Denny Scott The Citizen Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh (ACW) Councillor Jennifer Miltenburg is concerned that council has put too much into reserves after reviewing the municipality’s 2021 audited financial statements.

Nancy Bridge of Seebach and Company presented the consolidated financial statement of the township during a meeting held late last month. Bridge said the municipality is in good financial shape, saying that, over the past five years, ACW has continued to accumulate money to spend on Continued on page 20

PAGE 2. THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022.

Goderich Mayor dies

More than just tunes Fathers and Sons, the four musicians to the right of the stage, were one of the first acts to perform on Saturday during the Goderich Celtic Festival. The group took to the Greeting Stage to share their story and music. (Denny Scott photo)

Goderich Mayor John Grace, 64, passed away on Tuesday, as the result of a boating accident at his family’s tourist business, Old Post Lodge Resort, located at Pickle Lake near Thunder Bay. Sioux Lookout Ontario Provincial Police have confirmed that Grace was killed on Lake St. Joseph, just south of Pickle Lake.

The London Free Press reports that the incident happened just before 11 a.m. on Tuesday and that the Ontario Ministry of Labour is now investigating.

The Town of Goderich confirmed Grace’s death on Wednesday morning, saying that the mayor would be missed by the community, council and staff. Grace is survived by his wife Wendy and their children and grandchild.

Grace served in municipal politics for 17 years, including nearly four years as mayor that started in 2018. He was to defend his position in the 2022 election.

Representatives of the Town

of Goderich, in a press release, said that Grace was “a man of the people” devoted to bettering the people and the community.

“John was a strong leader and decision maker, who worked tirelessly for the town of Goderich,” the report stated.

Grace was recognized for his efforts after the F3 tornado that devastated Goderich and, most recently, in guiding the community through the COVID-19 pandemic.

His work on projects like the Maitland Recreation Centre and Maitland Valley Medical Centre was also noted in the release from the town.

On Wednesday morning, Huron County Council and staff, during council’s regular meeting, observed a moment of silence to honour Grace and pass their condolences for his family. Warden Glen McNeil said council’s thoughts are with the Grace family, the Town of Goderich and its council and administration.

Blyth centre staffing to change, staff shortage persists Continued from page 1 report. “Therefore, it is unlikely these positions will be filled to allow for the installation of preseason ice in Wingham. Even if the Wingham Minor Hockey Association and the [Junior A] Wingham Ironmen did commit to book and pay for a minimum of 35 hours of ice per week for the 2022/2023 pre-season, staffing shortages would prevent the township from being able to fulfill this request for the 2022/2023 season.”

Earlier in the evening, council had received a letter from Wingham Minor Hockey Association President Ryan Sanders, who said that, since council or staff had not discussed the issue in a month, the association moved their ice use to Teeswater.

“Since [July 4] we have heard nothing back regarding when ice will be put into the complex in Wingham,” Sanders wrote. “In the meantime, we have booked ice in Teeswater starting Sept. 6-18. We have booked 40 hours for those two weeks [and] we have also tentatively booked another 30 hours for the remaining two weeks [of September] in Teeswater while we wait to hear about the ice in Wingham.”

Sanders said that Teeswater and Mildmay have offered ice throughout the year, as has Belmore, and said the “indecisiveness” of council has created stress for the volunteer-run organization, which currently has more than 330 registrants looking to play hockey in September.

“Booking ice elsewhere is not what we would like to do, but we feel we are being pushed into other areas to provide sports for kids signing up to play in the Wingham Minor Hockey organization,” he wrote.

While Sanders said he looked forward to speaking with council at the Aug. 8 meeting, no discussion between council and Wingham Minor Hockey took place.

In response to a number of letters, including Sanders’, Deputy-Reeve Trevor Seip said that, while he appreciated the feedback, the reality is that changes in a municipality don’t happen overnight. He said that, since the July 4 meeting that Sanders referenced, staff have been working to create the policy dictating when the ice could go in

and council didn’t see it until its Aug. 8 meeting. He said that, while private organizations and businesses can make changes on the fly, municipalities don’t have that luxury.

Seip also applauded Luttenberger on creating the policy, saying that something tied more to usage than specific dates was exactly what council wanted.

Council approved the new policy.

ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE Council also approved a change in staffing structure for the recreation facilities operation division during its meeting.

Luttenberger said that, in the past, the Blyth and District Community Centre had a “Lead Hand” position who was responsible for operations at the site. The position was discontinued due to budget cuts a number of years ago and responsibilities were spread over the facility manager position, which became a “working manager” position (responsible for both managerial work and facility operation responsibilities).

She recommended replacing the Blyth facility manager position with a lead hand position, who would then answer to the Wingham facility manager. She said both existing facility managers agreed that the lead hand position worked well, and were in support of it being implemented again.

Luttenberger said eliminating the facility manager position in Blyth and creating the lead hand position would, for the remainder of 2022, create a cost savings of approximately $23,000, some of which would be used to re-brand the facilities manager role, if necessary.

“The remainder of the cost savings will be used to offset costs associated with the recentlyapproved facility operator positions,” she said, referencing council’s recent decision to both find new hires for the department and change existing part-time positions to full-time positions.

Council discussed the issue both when handling the new ice policy and after receiving Luttenberger’s report, with council members asking several questions about current staffing levels and relaying frustrations from correspondence they had received.

Councillor Kevin Falconer asked why there was a “staff shortage” when, by his measure, North Huron had the same number of staff they had historically had.

“We never had an issue in the last 10 years,” he said, adding that staffing levels hadn’t changed since then.

Luttenberger said the department had the same positions, but not the same number of “bodies” working them.

Councillor Ric McBurney asked if staff were aware of the proposed changes, saying he had heard that they weren’t.

Luttenberger said the issue had been discussed at the management level, but not general staff levels.

McBurney went on to say he couldn’t discuss the issue further without naming individuals, but said he felt the effort to solve the staffing problem should involve the whole team. He also felt there were “too many layers” with the proposed staffing arrangements.

Falconer thanked McBurney for bringing the issue up, saying he

Guilty verdict in ’17 case On July 12, 2022, the Ontario Court of Justice found Laurie Joan Macpherson guilty of developing and interfering with a wetland.

The charges were laid in the summer of 2017 when works were undertaken that led to the destruction of the wetland located at 38926 Moncrieff Rd., Township of North Huron.

The wetland is part of the Westfield Wetland Complex and is designated as provincially significant.

A sentencing hearing will be held in the fall of 2022 to determine the penalty, which could include

a restoration order and fines of up to $7,000 per count.

Maitland Conservation reminds landowners that development activities within a regulated area require permission from the Conservation Authority. Both property owners and contractors considering work in a regulated area should contact Maitland Conservation to determine if a permit is required.

“Getting information before starting work ensures infractions like this don’t occur,” said Patrick Huber-Kidby, Planning and Regulations Supervisor.

wanted a closed-to-the-public session so council could discuss it.

Falconer said he had received nine calls on the issue in just the two days prior to the meeting and it led him to believe there was a failure in communication in North Huron. He said there was a “large disconnect” between what council is being told and what the reality is for staffing.

Councillor Chris Palmer urged his fellow council members to be

careful as they were entering “micromanagement” of the issue.

He said council should either accept the creation of the lead hand position or not, saying the general staff likely wouldn’t be told about the change until council either approved it or denied it.

Council did eventually approve the change, though the vote wasn’t unanimous, with some voting against it.

It was sin which wove the crown of thorns!

(J.C. Ryle, “Holiness, Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots”) Surely that man must be in an unhealthy state of soul, who can think of all that Jesus suffered — and yet love those sins for which that suffering was undergone!

It was sin which wove the crown of thorns!

It was sin which pierced our Lord’s hands and feet and side!

It was sin which brought Him to Gethsemane and Calvary, to the cross and to the grave!

Cold must our hearts be, if we do not hate sin and labour to get rid of it.

“God be merciful to me a sinner?” Luke 18:13 A Grace Gem Submitted by: Immanuel United Reformed Church, Listowel, ON 519-492-1359

THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022. PAGE 3.

Say cheese Glimpses of the Past with Karen Webster When settlers arrived in this area, among the earliest industries to be established were those of cheese and butter making. In fact, the first cheese factory in Canada started in 1864 in Oxford County, followed by one in Dunham, Lower Canada (Quebec) in 1865. By 1873, there were 200 cheese factories in Canada.

Until the 1860s, cheese was likely made by women as part of the farm enterprise for a family’s own consumption. Converting milk into cheese makes it a less perishable good that can be stored or transported elsewhere. Small rural factories that facilitated the pooling of the milk from neighbouring farms was the next step in the local history of cheese making.

There were seasonal fluctuations in cheese production. It is recorded that in the month of May, one year, 10 pounds 10 ounces of milk were required to make a pound of cheese.

By October of the same year, only eight pounds, 14 ounces were needed to make the same amount of cheese. Over winter, many factories closed down as most cows were dry (not milking) during that period and would resume making milk when their spring calves were born.

Locally, almost every village and hamlet had its own cheese factory at one time or another. Much of the cheese produced was exported to Great Britain.

In July of 1891, it was reported that a joint stock company for the

manufacture of butter and cheese in the Township of Ashfield had made an application to the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario for the letters patent under the Great Seal. The officers of the proposed company were: President Thomas Edward Findley and Directors William H. Reid, Thomas Hussey, John Kilpatrick and Joseph Kilpatrick.

The factory was to be erected on Lot 7, Concession 7 in the East Division of Ashfield. It was touted to be of great advantage to the farmers of the area.

The February, 1893 annual shareholders’ meeting was well attended, even though the weather was severe and the roads not in good shape. It was reported that there were 78 shareholders who had supplied 1,053,932 pounds of milk, from which 98,664 pounds of cheese had been made, resulting in a profit of $9,352.88. Cheese maker Mr. H. White was congratulated for his efforts.

By the 1901 annual meeting, things had changed. Both the amount of milk received and the cheese produced were approximately half of that of the previous eight years. And in the spring of 1902, the factory and contents were offered for sale by tender. This attempt at creating a value-added product for local farmers lasted a mere 10 years.

Folks in Bluevale were pleased to hear in October of 1889 that 700 units of cheese, made in August,

The Citizen

had been shipped. Cheese maker T. J. Dillon had recently won prizes for his cheeses in London, Toronto and in Hamilton, where a large cheese placed first and a small cheese came in second. However, in 1902, the shareholders decided to switch production from cheese to butter. This was the same decision as the one made by the Springbank Cheese Company in nearby Fordwich that same year.

What these three businesses had in common was that advances in technology and equipment were factors in these decisions. Cheese factories made use of whole milk to make their product. By 1902, many farms were equipped with cream separators. A cream separator consisted of a large metal bowl on a sturdy stand. Below this bowl was a series of metal disks. Milk was poured into the bowl and, by turning a crank, the milk was spun through the disks causing the cream, which was lighter, to separate from the heavier milk.

Each liquid poured out a different spout. The cream would then be sent to a factory to make butter, but the skim milk was kept on the farm to feed calves and pigs.

More recently, Blyth Farmers’ Co-operative Association under the leadership of Simon Hallahan, Walter McGill, George Powell, Cliff Dow, George Watt, Lewis Whitfield and Robert Henry opened a modern cheese-making factory on Dinsley Street, on July 1, 1945.

Unfortunately, this building burnt in November of 1951. By May of the following year, a replacement building was erected. In time, competitors began to offer more per hundredweight of milk than this local factory did and, as a result, the decision was made in 1957 for the Blyth enterprise to become one of six branches of the new United Dairy and Poultry Co-operative, which today is known as Gay Lea Foods located in Teeswater. The equipment and operations of the Blyth plant were moved to Guelph.

Fast forward to the 21st century and we find that the cheese factories in places like Ethel, Newry, Lucknow, Bluevale, Winchelsea, Brussels, Winthrop, and Corbett to name a few, are

distant memories or merely entries on the pages of history books.

In our era, there are new kinds of cheese factories to be found in our part of Ontario. In our midst, is the Blyth Farm Cheese company, not a co-operative like its predecessors, but an individual enterprise.

Located just southeast of Blyth, this company produces gouda cheese from its own sheep herd. Paul VanDorp brought his cheesemaking skills from his native Holland and evidence of the excellence of this cheese is borne out by the many awards achieved at the Royal Winter Fair.

So, say cheese, enjoy its goodness, and think of all the folks involved in its production over the years.

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PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022.

Editorials & Opinions

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The ties that bind...

Just two weeks ago, former Prime Minister Stephen Harper endorsed Conservative Party of Canada leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre in a move that was widely seen as the momentum needed to put Poilievre over the top in the upcoming leadership race when ballots are counted and announced on Sept. 10. After all, Poilievre cut his teeth as a member of the Harper government and this endorsement should solidify the image of the kind of “populist conservatism” to which both adhere.

But, apparently, the endorsement from Harper may not be the “advance to go” card that it first appeared to be.

While Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau may be on the verge of overstaying his welcome, voters may not be quite ready for a return to Harper-style leadership either. A new Nanos Research poll showed that 35 per cent of respondents said that Harper’s endorsement made them think more negatively about Poilievre and only 19 per cent said that it improved their view of him.

So, the ties to Harper may bind the Conservative membership base that could elect him leader, but those same ties might make moderate Conservative and disillusioned Liberal and NDP voters wary of a shift when it comes time to mark their X. – DS

The Icarus of lies Alternative facts, ignoring the truth and questioning reality have all become ways of life for an entire sect, especially in recent years as the COVID-19 pandemic has dominated the world. We have seen people ascend to some of the highest stations in the land riding on wings of lies, but Alex Jones and his Infowars empire seem to have been caught flying a little too close to the sun on those aforementioned wings.

The radio host and noted conspiracy theorist is no stranger to denial and has cast doubt on the veracity of official stories tied to historical events like the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Oklahoma City bombings and, most notably, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting of 2012. But now, after years of court proceedings, Jones finds himself in need of almost $50 million to pay damages after the family of a Sandy Hook victim took him to court, pushing back after Jones spent years discrediting the event as a hoax and dismissing factual evidence. With many more families hurt by Jones, this could be just the beginning and just the first person to put their hand in Jones’s pocket.

Many have pointed to this as a win for the truth and a blow against the fake news that fills questionable Facebook posts and Tweets every day. Surely the persistence and strength of the families is to thank, as most would have likely walked away at a certain point. The world will never, unfortunately, fully rid itself of its Alex Joneses, but this verdict does feel like a win for those who champion the importance of truth.

Freedom of speech is essential, but this is someone, finally, saying no, you can’t deny easily provable facts. “A lie ain’t a side of a story.

It’s just a lie,” reads one of the most famous quotes from HBO’s The Wire. Jones (and hopefully others like him) learned a valuable (and very expensive) lesson on telling the truth, freedom of speech and that a side of a story can’t be convenient fiction, crafted out of thin air. – SL

Get up, stand up (or shut up) While it’s great that Huron County voters are seeing competition for some of the highest municipal offices in the land, the fact remains that, with just over a week before the deadline, there are a number of wards in Huron County that will, at best, see candidates acclaimed, and at worst, see some areas underrepresented or not represented at all.

As of last Monday, the competition was heating up for local municipal council leaders in communities like North Huron and Huron East, with the former having three people running to be Reeve and the latter having two to run for Mayor. It’s a nice change of pace from previous years where many Mayor or Reeve positions have been acclaimed or had little competition for them. However, some areas, like a number of wards in Huron East, North Huron’s Wingham Ward and Morris-Turnberry, won’t have enough people to fill their seats without some late-breaking moves from municipal council hopefuls.

North Huron’s Wingham Ward has only one of two needed council members running, while the Blyth Ward currently has its two incumbent council members running unopposed. Morris-Turnberry, with its at-large election system, couldn’t hit quorum if the deadline was on Monday.

Huron East’s Brussels Ward has only one candidate, the same as McKillop, Seaforth and Tuckersmith, while its Grey Ward had no one running at all. Central Huron has competition for its Mayor and DeputyMayor positions, but only four candidates for six positions between its East and West Wards, three of whom are incumbents.

Now is your chance to make a difference and influence change in your community, and there are few positions better to do it from than councillor, as they vote on every issue before them. So, stand up now or hold your peace for the next four years. – JDS

Looking Back Through the Years August 19, 1965 Jack McCutcheon had another pair of successful nights on the race track, with a feature win and a heat win at the Flamboro Raceway and then winning the title of mid-season champion at the Delaware Raceway after winning the mid-season championship and Austrian Pursuit races.

The Huron County 4-H Club was working to begin a new homemaking project to create “sleeping garments”. The club was open to any young girl between the ages of 12 and 26 who wanted to take on the challenge.

Open air Bingo was set to take place at Seaforth Lions Park on Aug. 25. Ten regular games would cost patrons $10 each.

August 20, 1975 The Huron County Board of Education voted to discontinue safety protocols at public schools in Goderich and Exeter.

Director of Education D.J. Cochrane told the board that legislation defined the limits of the board’s jurisdiction over pupils as being on school property or on the bus. If the decision wasn’t made, the board could have been put in a position where it could have been sued if an accident occurred on a board-sanctioned sidewalk, he said.

East Wawanosh Township Council approved expanding the area served by the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority, meaning it would serve the townships of Ashfield, Colborne, East and West Wawanosh, part of Huron, Kinloss and Culross Townships and the villages of Lucknow and Ripley.

August 20, 1997 A weekend of thrills and excitement got off on a tragic foot when a 25-year-old Essex County

man suffered a head injury during a run at the Walton TransCan. While it was still early, the man’s condition had been listed as critical, with doctors saying he was nonresponsive, but stable.

Two separate break-ins at McGavin Farm Equipment in Walton resulted in the loss of over $12,000 in goods from the dealership.

The first incident occurred overnight between Aug. 4-5 when the thieves entered the business through a rear door and stole over $8,000 worth of tools. On Aug. 8, thieves then entered a second-floor window and opened a bay door, taking a number of tool boxes and a power washer for a total of over $4,000.

The Brussels Tigers advanced to the second round of the Huron County Fastball League playoffs after a two-game sweep of the rival Brussels Bulldogs.

The Walton Women’s Institute was set to meet again on Aug. 20 and the guest speaker was to be Brad Knight, Grey Township clerk, who was going to address citizenship and legislation at the meeting.

Kittie and Don McGregor hosted Hilde Moi of Norway as part of the Lions Youth Exchange program.

The young woman stayed with the McGregors at their Hullett Township home for over a month before returning to her home country.

August 16, 2012 Meagan Dolmage was crowned the new Brussels Fall Fair Ambassador, succeeding Hannah McCutcheon, who was pictured crowning the winner on the front page of The Citizen.

Nearly 200 jobs in Huron East

would be lost when the E.D. Smith salad dressing plant closed in the fall of 2013. TreeHouse Foods, based in Chicago, announced it would be closing the plant in its second-quarter report, alongside a soup plant in Mendota, Illinois.

In a statement to the media, Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson blamed the provincial Liberal government for the company’s decision, saying the government had failed to create a suitable environment for businesses to thrive in Ontario.

The Ontario Fire Marshal was involved in the ongoing fire coverage dispute between North Huron and Morris-Turnberry, encouraging the two councils to get together and find a resolution.

The Walton Brewers continued their struggles in the Huron County Fastball League, dropping another game to the Sebringville Sting by a score of 13-2.

In other league action, the Brussels Tigers beat the Belmore Stingers by a score of 5-1 and the Blyth Barons beat the Fullarton A’s by a score of 8-7.

Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Chris Lewis was in Goderich to officially dedicate County Road 12 as the Police Memorial Highway in honour of fallen officers. The move aimed to honour officers who had lost their lives in Huron County, such as Vu Pham, Bruce Crew, Dave Mounsey and others.

Huron County Warden and Huron East Mayor Bernie MacLellan said he was pleased to participate in the Brussels 140th Homecoming event and was proud to have finished second out of 10 participants in the Boothill Bash Rodeo as a celebrity rider.

THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022. PAGE 5.

Other Views

Information doesn’t equal truth

V

isit anywhere people have time on their hands and you’re likely to witness the scene I see at the clinic where I go for my monthly blood tests: people intensely occupied thumbing through their telephones for messages or checking out websites.

It’s hard to realize that it was only a dozen or so years ago I was at the newspaper conference when a tech-savvy publisher was demonstrating what the new iPhone could do. The rest of us sat in awe of the latest technology. No doubt most people present could hardly wait to get their hands on a similar communications tool. The world changed when more and more people got a smartphone.

But while the others waiting for a blood test all appear similar, they might be tied to entirely different universes through their phones. Some may be viewing a website from CBC, CTV or The Globe and Mail and getting the accepted version of the day’s happenings. Right by their side can be someone who looks outwardly similar but is in a different world with a different belief system as they watch Fox television or some even wilder alternative news source.

Those thoughts were brought to mind last week as judgements were handed down in a Texas courtroom against Alex Jones, who used his Infowars American far-right conspiracy site to claim the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that took the lives of 20 children and six teachers never really happened. For nearly 10 years, Jones claimed the shooting was staged in order to raise anger and get greater control of guns in the U.S. Some of the parents who lost children sued Jones for his propaganda and last week won a judgement that Jones must pay $4 million in direct costs and $45 million in punitive damages.

Keith Roulston From the cluttered desk Jones will claim that he can’t pay because he is bankrupt. It would be nice to think he was – that he was an unheard voice in the wilderness. Reports were, however, that Jones used the celebrity status he gained through Infowars to sell hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of products each day! Even earlier in the week the judgement against him was delivered, as he denied there was any credibility to the Sandy Hook murders, Jones was asking for donations from his loyal followers to help in his defence.

Only after the judgement was handed out did he admit the Sandy Hook shooting was real.

Also last week, Adrian Monck, managing director of the World Economic Forum conference in Geneva, told The Globe and Mail that far-right groups saw the COVID-19 pandemic as an issue used by governments to control the public. Among these groups are ones that argue that Germany’s National Socialists (who formed the Nazi government of World War II’s Germany) weren’t really bad and that the Holocaust, the slaughter of more than six million Jews, Romani, homosexuals and other people unwanted by the Nazis, never happened.

On one of the morning shows Jill watches, several of the hosts recently said they had disconnected from their phones because they were getting dozens of messages a day, many

disagreeing with things they had said on air, and some actually threatening them.

The irony is, that this sort of debate over issues isn’t allowed in right-wing countries like Russia or Communist countries like China. Yet former U.S. President Donald Trump, who regularly attacks newspapers and television stations that question him, and supports outlets like Fox that support him, praises these countries that don’t have a similar free exchange of ideas.There, only the government’s version of events is allowed to be spread, no matter how many channels of communication there are in our modern world.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a good example of the alternate “truths” that exist. Back in the winter, people, including truckers, shut down downtown Ottawa for two weeks to protest government restrictions, which were imposed to try to stop the spread of the disease. Yet though they rejected the limitations imposed on them, the protesters caused several businesses in the area to close because their customers couldn’t get to them because of the blockade.

The fact that there are people out there who reject the proven facts of a situation in favour of their own beliefs is hardly new. I remember laughing (and crying) after reading an article several years ago about an annual convention of the Flat Earth Society – people, who despite centuries of growing proof, including film of the revolving earth from space, still believe that the earth is flat. If you can’t prove the earth is round, what hope is there that people will accept the truth about more controversial issues?

Ironically, while allowing them to live in alternative universes, those smartphone users at my blood lab aren’t communicating with the real people right beside them, as they might have done in the past.

The cultural touchstones of Denny’s Den

I

’ve bemoaned this dozens of times to friends and family, but the lyrics of Disney songs that my siblings watched have firmly planted themselves in my brain.

Every day I forget important things, like where I put my keys, but I can recite songs from movies like Hercules, The Little Mermaid and, yes, as I referenced last week, Pocahontas (though eagle-eyed readers may notice it was misspelled - my bad).

Thank goodness my anniversary is on an easyto-remember date, or else I’d probably be blaming Dinsey for forgetting it every year.

Back to Pocahontas. Last week, when, in this space, I wrote that I believe people shouldn’t be able to own beaches on public lakes, I said “not to get all [Pocahontas] on everyone, but at some point the earth isn’t just something we can all claim”. I wasn’t referencing the actual individual, but the movie, which is why it was italicized.

Specifically, I was referencing a tune called “Colors of the Wind”. Part of the song goes a little something like this: “You think you own whatever land you land on, the Earth is just a dead thing you can claim” so it was quite fitting to the core argument I was making.

It occurred to me on Friday morning, however, when The Citizen received a response criticizing my reference, that I realized that anyone not familiar with the plethora of Disney songs bouncing around my head may have found the reference off, at best, and insensitive at worst, and that wasn’t my intention. It made me wonder if I’d made a misstep regarding how popular the film and the song were.

When you’re reading these columns, whether it be founding Citizen Publisher Keith Roulston’s above me or editor Shawn Loughlin’s, to the right, you’re getting our view of the world through our experiences, our

Denny Scott Denny’s Den pop culture references and our belief systems.

That means that, for me, you may be seeing the world through a lens that includes MASH, Scrubs, and a dozen other television sitcoms in between, or Disney movies and television shows spanning from about 1990 to 2005 and from 2015 to the modern day. If I’m talking about music, it’s from a background that includes everything from the 1950s to today, from orchestral arrangements to hard rock and from old country to new country.

So if you’re not familiar with my pop culture references, I may inadvertently end up saying something that could be, at best, nonsensical and at worst, offensive, as may have happened last week.

I try to use references that I think most people will get. I’m not going to do too many “deep cuts” on Scrubs, for example, because, while I think it is some of the best television out there, it may not be as widely appreciated as I believe it should be. I did believe, last week, however, that Pocahontas was a pretty solid cultural touchstone to tie the sentiment of not being able to claim all the world. I was apparently wrong because every proofreader who saw it wasn’t familiar enough with it to either agree or disagree with its usage.

This isn’t the first time this sort of thing has happened. A number of years ago, probably coming up on a decade here, we had a front page photo of some young boys playing

dodgeball (there’s a lens for you - I don’t know if dodgeball is still a thing for young people today) at a local church camp. The photo, still one of my favourites to this day, shows a young boy twisting his body mid-air to avoid getting hit. My mind immediately went to The Matrix trilogy.

For those of you not familiar, the fantastical story deals with humanity living inside a simulation, and a few key humans being aware of that. Knowing they live in, essentially, a video game, allows them to push the boundaries of physics and dodge bullets, often bending their bodies in weird ways to do so, just like the young dodgeball player. So I put a headline on the photo of “There is no spoon”, a quote from the first movie of the trilogy.

Despite the films being among the best-rated trilogies in the world, however, one of the people proofreading the paper didn’t get the reference, leading to us scrapping the headline and going with another.

So, it’s not the first time I’ve missed the mark with a cultural reference, and it may not be the last. However, given the nature of the reference, it could have been particularly offensive this time around and, for that, I apologize.

Final Thought The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Shawn Loughlin Shawn’s Sense

Mother knows best

R

egardless of how much we try, Mother Nature will always be in charge. This is something that we’ve all learned in different ways over the years. Just a few weeks ago, I wrote about power outages and how they can - more or less - ruin my night, regardless of how brief they may be. Those usually aren’t an electricity problem, they’re a Mother Nature problem and, as I said, she is someone who always has the last word.

Late last month, I embarked on the MS Bike fundraiser, travelling on two wheels from Grand Bend to London on one day and then back again on a second. However, for the first time in the ride’s history (I was told), we didn’t head back again on Sunday. Thunderstorms, torrential downpour and water pooling on the roadways caused organizers to cancel the second day of the ride with the goal of keeping the riders out of harm’s way that day.

As riders took shuttle buses back to Grand Bend to be reunited with their cars, some lamented the cancellation, while others (like me) welcomed it. (Training has fallen by the wayside, to say the least, since we had Tallulah and parenting became priority number one.)

Regardless of which side of the fence you were on in that debate, it was clear that it was all up to Mother Nature and she had decided that no one was riding that day.

That has also been an aspect of the Blyth Festival Harvest Stage that has no doubt frustrated people like Artistic Director Gil Garratt and General Manager Rachael King.

Of course, they would dial up a steady diet of warm, but not too warm days full of sun and devoid of rain if they had their druthers, but it’s not up to them, so show cancellations are a fact of life.

Last season, Jess and I missed out on seeing Jewel - the show I really wanted to see the most last year - because of a weather-related cancellation. We (foolishly, we now know) bought tickets for the last show of the run.

Without any back-up dates, it was that day or bust and, unfortunately, it was bust that day.

I was just speaking with a neighbour about this and the unfortunate reality of rain delays and cancellations, especially for people who have to travel a fair distance to get to Blyth.

Jess and I just had this conversation. In the pre-pandemic, pre-child days, if we travelled to Toronto for something, we made a day of it.

We would head in early, get some lunch, occupy ourselves for a few hours and get some dinner before our event. So, if our event was cancelled late - like the scheduled show by The Weeknd on the day of the big Rogers outage, just minutes before the doors were set to open - people like us would be more than a little annoyed. We would have been in Toronto for six hours at that point, all to get back in our car and turn right around.

Back to the weather - boring, I know - I guess I’m not as phased by it because I grew up playing a sport very affected by the weather: baseball. Not only did I play in games that were at the discretion of the umpire when the rain started to fall, but I umpired for a number of years as well, so I found myself in that decision-making position on more than one occasion. How much rain is too much, when looking at a group of kids that just really want to play baseball?

Weather is a fact of life and, like age, there’s very little we can do to control it - and that’s not even getting into the whole climate change of it all, but that’s a discussion for another day.

And it can be humbling that, despite your best laid plans, it all comes down to what the sky is doing that day.

PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022.

At the Branch

Ace VIP group started

Road trip!

The Canadian Coasters, a group of antique vehicle owners, took a stop on their crossCanada tour on the weekend to visit Don McNeil’s antique collection over the weekend.

Every five years, the group starts a journey in St. John’s, Newfoundland and travels to Duncan, British Columbia, with a “trail master” in each province setting up stops like Brussels to see attractions across the country. The 2022 event marked the 55th anniversary of the group. (John Stephenson photo)

By Jo-Ann McDonald I have to be honest and say that the early part of the week at the Brussels Legion Branch was quiet.

Everyone was recovering from the homecoming celebration I guess.

The weekend made up for it.

The Branch fish fry crew headed to Mitchell to cook for the Mitchell Lions Club. The crew fed 340 folks a delicious fish dinner. A great job

by Rick and Jo-Ann McDonald, Judy Lee, Chris Brown, Mabel Glanville, Randy White and extra helpers Paul and Nancy Clarke of Mitchell.

The fish fry crew was off again the next day to cook for the Winthrop United Church. It was another good day cooking for 300.

The crew included Jim, Sandra and Chris Brown, Eric and Deb Ross, Kathy Burkholder, Joe and Deb Seili and Nancy Bridge. Another great job was done and finished up just before the rain started.

Tonight, Friday Aug. 12 is the

first Catch the Ace draw under the new licence. The draw is held at 7:15 p.m. on Friday. Tickets are available at the usual outlets including Brussels Pharmacy, Brussels Variety, McDonald Lumber and the Brussels Legion.

Join the VIP group and be guaranteed a weekly ticket, even when it gets up to the thousands.

You must check in at the Branch for more details and during the first four weeks of the draw. Stop in today and talk to Sandra.

Pub grub this week before the draw will be pulled pork on a bun and next week, on Aug. 19, it will be big hot dogs.

Homecoming still a hot topic in village A NOTE FROM BETTY

By Betty Graber Watson Call 887-9231

I think the word afterglow is what people in the community are feeling this week. Many conversations start or include a favourite bit of homecoming detail. It’s such a nice place to be, sharing snippets of that weekend and hearing stories you hadn’t heard before. Stories of the many who made it back and adding names of the folks you saw and they missed – it was good times all over again. Regrets were heard of events

Contact The Brussels U11 Girls posted a convincing 19-7 win over Seaforth in Brussels on Friday night. The Brussels squad has posted an impressive record of 13-2-2 over the season. The team was set to start its year-end tournament earlier this week. (Denny Scott photo)

missed but excused for better reasons of attending many other places. So enjoy the glow and tell all those homecoming volunteers how much you enjoyed their efforts.

The Brussels 5Rs did a brisk business this past week or so, as visitors to homecoming forgot hats, sunglasses and blankets to protect them from the variable weather, so it resulted in good sales for us. Then students leaving home for college and university saw nice needed items in the store and now some of our treasures have new housing sites. It is so nice to share the story of our thrift shop with folks who appreciate the ecology and economics of our well treated recycled items.

The rain came and the ground responded. It’s a wonder to watch the world that nature offers everyday. It’s also a good reminder that we are not in charge of our world. Good thing.

Watching adult soccer on Sunday afternoons in our backyard is very pleasant. With the extreme heat on Sunday, soccer was played with regular enthusiasm, much to our amazement. The rain arrived, the play went on and at the ending time, it seemed the players were really

enjoying their much-needed outdoor shower. Thanks for the smile.

COVID-19 is still around, so use your good sense, especially when indoors with folk of unknown vaccination status. This virus will stay around and it will take a while for our immunity to develop. In the meantime, be careful, wear your mask and wash your hands. You know the drill. Look after your health.

Many seniors are heard to complain of things they can no longer do. I often wonder why they still want to! Listening to an author on television talking about her mother’s death, she used the phrase, “superior numbers” when talking about her mother’s aging friends.

For me that sounded pretty fine and I’ve used it twice already. Both times, the business people I was talking with laughed and said they would be telling their mothers.

Healthy aging is our goal and we need to be thankful we have achieved a superior number!

Bye now, Betty G.W.

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NEWS FROM BRUSSELS

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THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022. PAGE 7.

Weather good for all From Marilyn’s Desk

By Marilyn Craig Call 523-9318

Quite the performance Blyth’s Maple and Moose marked its 15th anniversary over the weekend with a special event that included hot dogs and a performance by The Academy, a dance company with studios in London and Clinton. The group performed what was billed as a “mini Cirque du Soleil” event in front of the shop, shown above. (Denny Scott photo)

Happy birthday to Rhonda (Badley) Rickwood, who celebrates Aug. 12; Corine Falconer and Matthew McNichol, both on Aug. 13; Graham Jackson, Aug. 16 and Brenden Howson, Aug. 17. Enjoy your special day everyone.

Happy anniversary to Bill and Bernadette Andrews of Goderich, who will celebrate on Aug. 17.

Those of us who are lucky enough to have had holidays at the beach have had the best weather for swimming and enjoying time together. The sunsets over Lake Huron are spectacular, even seeing them from my yard is always worth watching. Mother Nature is treating us well this summer with hot weather and rain when we need it.

The crops in this area are going as well as expected, just take a drive through Huron County and view the sights that we have to offer.

Stay safe and have a good week.

Give someone a phone call to let them know you are thinking of them.

NEWS FROM BLYTH

North Huron approves subsidized daycare funding

By Denny Scott The Citizen

North Huron Township Council officially entered an agreement with the provincial and federal governments on Monday night to provide relief for families through subsidized daycare programs.

The agreement will eventually see enough funds channeled to the municipality to provide $10-a-day childcare, being

phased in over several years.

In her report to council, Director of Recreation and Facilities Vicky Luttenberger said the program, called the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Childcare program, will reduce childcare fees, increase childcare spaces available, provide financial support to increase wages and increase supports to encourage more people to become Registered Early Childhood Educators.

By signing the agreement,

childcare providers have to reduce fees by 25 per cent, retroactive to April 1 of this year with families receiving reimbursements within 60 days of the Consolidated Municipal Service Manager (a Huron County position) approving the program.

“Families can expect to receive a further fee reduction of 25 per cent by the end of December, 2022,” Luttenberger said in her report.

“Ontario’s plan provides for

another reduction in childcare fees in September of 2024, and the last reduction will be implemented by September of 2025, at which time the average fee for childcare will be an average of $10 per day, per child.”

The program isn’t just a subsidy allocation, Luttenberger said, explaining that staff had been attending meetings and webinars to learn about it and discovered it goes beyond just financing.

“It is a strategy to address a number of issues in the childcare services field: childcare costs, the need for additional childcare spaces, the low wages of childcare workers and the workforce shortage,” she said in her report.

“Staff believe participation in the program will not only benefit the families that use the North Huron Child Care Centre but it will also provide additional funding needed to support the centre.”

Based on the information in her

report, Luttenberger recommended that council approve the plan and sign the agreement.

Council approved the move with little discussion. Earlier in the meeting, however, Deputy-Reeve Trevor Seip addressed a number of items of correspondence that council had received in support of the agreement.

He said that, while he appreciated the ratepayers weighing in on the issue, he felt that some letter writers didn’t understand that this was the first time council had addressed the issue.

Some of the correspondence asked why council hadn’t supported the program earlier, to which Seip said that, while the federal and provincial governments had discussed the issue at length, the actual program hadn’t been put in front of council until now. He said council had never said it wouldn’t support the program and that he would support it when the vote was called.

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The Citizen Service with a smile Maple and Moose’s 15th anniversary, held over the weekend, featured some chances to win gift baskets, some specials in-store, a dance and acrobatics demonstration out front and a chance to grab a great lunch benefitting a great cause. Above, Gerald Hakkers, left, and John Elliott dished out some hot dogs available for a donation to the Blyth Lions Club. (Denny Scott photo)

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PAGE 8. THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022.

‘Habitability’ defined by province, county

By Denny Scott The Citizen

Bringing the heat The Brussels Tigers U17 Boys team faced off against Stratford on Friday evening, edging out the visiting competition by a score of 13-12. The Brussels squad played Wilmot on Wednesday evening, however a score was unavailable as of press time. The Tigers will have next week off before playing a double-header against Norwich on Aug. 21. The team will then take to the field in the year-end tournament set for Aug. 27 . (Denny Scott photo)

After asking staff to re-evaluate the term habitable in regards to surplus farm severances, AshfieldColborne-Wawanosh (ACW) Township Council members may not have got the answer they were looking for.

Huron County Planner Celina Whaling-Rae, responding to a request from council made earlier this year, reviewed various documents regarding habitability and provided a report to council during its July 19 meeting.

The request came after WhalingRae and ACW staff suggested council not support a proposed surplus farm residence severance for multiple reasons, including the habitability of the residence.

In her report, Whaling-Rae explained that neighbouring municipalities in Middlesex, Bruce, Perth and Wellington Counties also required buildings to be habitable in order to be severed, as did other

Huron County municipalities.

She also said that any amendment would have to be consistent with the Provincial Policy Statement (PPS) and the Huron County Official Plan, and staff wouldn’t be able to support changing ACW’s official plan and the county official plan based on the provincial statement.

“Should council wish to pursue the potential to allow residential severances in agricultural areas which do not meet current provincial requirements for habitability and for being surplus, council could direct staff to provide comments to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing during the next review of the PPS on the matter on council’s behalf,” Whaling-Rae reported.

“Amendments to the PPS typically are undertaken every five years.”

Whaling-Rae said she would expect a review during the current term of the provincial government.

Council reviewed Whaling-Rae’s report.

Agricultural construction projects draw interest

Thought for the week: “I can go forth today – sure that events will move me in the right direction even though I can’t see what’s around the corner. There will be no unplanned event in the big picture.”

We often hear about summer being referred to as construction season. The reasons for this are obvious, when one considers the winters we can have in Southwestern Ontario.

Road construction and infrastructure work must be terrible for large cities. Remember the summers when Seaforth and Clinton had main streets torn up? Minor inconveniences compared to what can happen in London, Toronto or Kitchener, perhaps. And will they ever get finished with Highway 401 in that stretch east of Kitchener?

The road/bridge repairs that have happened along Londesborough Road this summer may seem like an inconvenience, but being held up by the traffic lights in those places is minor. First they worked to the west of the village in the area of the Kreugers. Now I see they are east of the village in the area of

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Londesborough Road and Bandon Line.

And it seems the Bosma enterprise must be expanding. It looks like preparations have begun for the construction of a new barn just down from the corner of Hwy. 4 and Hullett-McKillop Line.

Many of you will remember an item from Denny Scott last summer about the barn that blew down on the corner of Hwy. 4 and Summerhill Road – the one that was ordered through the Sears Catalogue in the early 1900s. A cute new addition is presently going up on the foundation of that former barn. A rather ingenious way to continue to have just enough shed/farm/barn storage and use the remains.

All construction projects will have benefitted from the warm, dry weather we have experienced this summer. The rain of the last 10 days was welcome.

I welcomed the pleasant, dry evening last Saturday as I finally experienced the Blyth Festival’s Harvest Stage. There really was no reason for me not getting there sooner, as it is only a short walk for me. It was a lovely experience.

The play was definitely thoughtprovoking, the staging unique and the weather warm. An added pleasure was introducing a teenage grandson to open theatre. Young folk have been so used to being blown away by spectacular movies and/or big productions that a quiet country production was a major experience for him. He will have something to share once school

starts with his drama teacher and class.

Londesborough United Church was on vacation during July, giving folks the chance to attend other services in the area. However, services resumed in Londesborough on Aug. 7 with Sue Barnett conducting that service. Please mark your calendars so you can be in attendance for some special upcoming Sundays. And remember the services now begin at 10 a.m.

On Aug. 21, the Official Board will be holding a tree planting/dedication to honour the 28 years of service Ken Hunking gave to the Londesborough congregation.

Rev. Aylward will also offer communion that morning. A light lunch will follow the dedication.

The following week, Aug. 28, Rev. Aylward will be offering baptism for two youngsters. Sunday school classes will resume on Sept.

11. On Sept. 18 the congregation

will worship in Ball’s Chapel on Base Line Road. And another wee lad will be baptized on Sept. 28.

This next is an attempt to tie a couple of random thoughts together.

I was dismayed to hear CKNX Radio recently announcing that the subject of their podcast that week would explore the difficulty experienced finding minor sports referees and coaches. Seems no matter how often bullying is talked about, the message just isn’t being heard. And this podcast wasn’t just commenting on the young persons in the sports, but adults as well.

The latest edition of The Focus carried a story about 75 years of camping at Camp Menesetung. One of the remembrances in that article spoke about the 21 years Barb Hicks spent as camp director. Her philosophy resulted in her nickname, “Spoony”. Knives and forks cut and prick and hurt others but a spoon picks everyone up.

It might be good if more of us adopted Barb’s philosophy as we go through each day.

NEWS FROM LONDESBORO

Summer Sports Pages Coaches and parents We need your team's picture and players' names 1. Please submit team photo A.S.A.P. 2. Please include players' and coaches' names for under photo.

Brussel

s

Pre Mite: Back ro w, from left: Co row: Ai aches: de Brooke DeWit. n Albers, Conn lyn Jo Front ro or w: Hayd Kellington, Co hnston, Mat Shor tre t Sh ed. en Bene rn dict, Ad elius Versteeg or treed, Patri cia Beue el Fisc her, Br , Ty Somers, Br rmann. ook Be Middle uerman idget McCall um n, Jesa Fische , Ryker r, Conn or

• Soccer • Baseball • Lacrosse

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THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022. PAGE 9.

Fire Chief costs concern ACW

By Denny Scott The Citizen

Safe!

An error benefited this Brussels Tigers U17 Boys player, as one of his opponents from Stratford missed the mark with a throw to third to tag out the Tiger. Brussels posted a 13-12 win over Stratford on Friday night. (Denny Scott photo)

After losing its part-time fire chief, Goderich Council may be looking at hiring a full-time chief which had some members of Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh (ACW) Council and staff members concerned about potential cost increases.

During ACW council’s July 19 meeting, Deputy-Mayor Roger Watt – who sits on the Goderich Fire Board because ACW purchases fire suppression services from Goderich – told council the change may be coming.

He said Chief Darren Doak, had resigned, reportedly saying that the part-time chief’s responsibilities had steadily increased over the years.

“He resigned, citing the inability to continue to do the work with an increased workload at work and an increased workload as fire chief,” Watt said.

Watt then said Doak felt it was impossible to continue with the chief position as a part-time position, and that, if another parttime chief is hired, that person will

likely burn out quickly.

The move, Watt said, will double the cost of the salary and increase the budget for a benefits package.

He said his math estimated that ACW would pay an extra $15,000 to $20,000 a year as a result.

After discussing how the department will operate without the chief, with Watt saying the deputychief may take over, Watt and Councillor Anita Snobelen said that, since ACW purchases services from Goderich, council didn’t necessarily have a say in the issue.

Councillor Bill Vanstone agreed, going further and saying to “let [Goderich] carry on” as ACW gets very good fire protection services from the neighbouring town.

Chief Administrative Officer Mark Becker explained the notification of the change came too late to be part of ACW’s agenda for the meeting. However, he noted there was no background information included, with Becker specifically citing the fact that there were no details as to the chief’s increased responsibilities or the committee’s decision.

Becker agreed with concerns

aired by Councillor Gloria Fisher, who had said it was a big change and she wanted more information before sharing an opinion on the issue.

“I’d like to know what this individual’s duties are,” Becker said, adding that other neighbouring municipalities had gone with fulltime fire chiefs, but that the cost wasn’t passed on to ACW because their new responsibilities didn’t impact ACW. Becker specifically pointed to the Huron-Kinloss Fire Department, which has a full-time chief, but the chief is also the Community Emergency Management Coordinator for Huron-Kinloss, meaning ACW doesn’t pay for that part of the wages.

Councillor Jennifer Miltenburg agreed, saying it’s important for ACW to see a job description, especially if council were to endorse the change to a full-time chief position..

Clerk Florence Witherspoon suggested she could gather more information and bring it back to council at a later date when council members could again discuss supporting the move.

Wingham Hitmen hold top position in fastball league while Goderich beat Wroxeter on Friday night by a score of 8-7.

Belmore was also in action Friday night, losing to Monkton by a score of 11-8 and Milverton beat Sebringville that night as well by a score of 14-2 in five innings.

Milverton beat Fullarton on Thursday by a score of 12-8, while the game between Monkton and Mitchell scheduled for Aug. 4 was postponed.

The Walton Brewers were set to host the Sebringville Sting on Tuesday night, but a score was unavailable as of press time.

Mitchell was also in action that night, travelling to Belmore to play a game rescheduled from July 7, but a score was unavailable as of press time.

There were three games scheduled for Wednesday night, two of them in Brussels, as the Tigers hosted the Wroxeter Rippers for a double-header to make up games scheduled to be played on July 20 and Aug. 7. Mitchell was also due to host Wingham on Wednesday night, but scores were

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Podium placement The defending champion Brussels Tigers, shown above during a recent bout with the Walton Brewers, are holding on to third place in the Huron County Fastball League. (John Stephenson photo)

By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen The Wingham Hitmen remain atop the Huron County Fastball League standings with a stellar record of 102 and 20 points. They have remained perfect at home on the season with a record in Wingham of 6-0.

The Belmore Stingers are hot on

their tails with a record of 8-2 and 16 points, followed by the Brussels Tigers in third with a record of 8-3 and 16 points. The Walton Brewers are in fourth place with a record of 8-6 and 16 points, while Milverton rounds out the top five with a record of 7-5 and 14 points.

Wingham beat Fullarton on Sunday afternoon by a score of 6-3,

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unavailable as of press time.

On Thursday, Goderich was due to travel to Belmore for a game, while Brussels has a date in Milverton.

On Friday night, Sebringville was due to travel to Monkton for a game, while Mitchell was set to play a game in Wingham that was rescheduled from July 10. Fullarton was also scheduled to travel to Wroxeter that night for a game against the Rippers.

On Sunday, there was a trio of games scheduled. Sebringville was scheduled to head to Goderich for a game with the Grizzlies, while Monkton was set to travel to Wroxeter and the Fullarton A’s are due to host Mitchell.

On Tuesday, Aug. 16, Goderich will head to Wingham for a game against the Hitmen that was rescheduled from Aug. 3, while on Wednesday, Aug. 17, Milverton will

Busety Saf

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PAGE 10. THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022.

Looking back on Huron’s past IPM matches

The Money Match This week, in preparation for the return to a more traditional Huron County Plowing Match next Thursday and Friday, The Citizen is looking back on the goal of most of the plowers that take part in local matches: the International Plowing Match (IPM). Each IPM in Huron County has come to earn a nickname through its timing, weather or success, including The Money Match, shown above. The match, held near Wingham in 1978 on the farm of Jim and Carol Armstrong. The moniker came from the fact that the match resulted in a significant financial boon for the area and set attendance records with 215,000 people attending the event. (File photo)

By Keith Roulston The Citizen After the tented city was finally packed up just south of Walton in September of 2017, it was the fifth time Huron County had hosted the International Plowing Match (IPM) – not including the match that never was.

IPMs were held in Huron County at Port Albert in 1946, Seaforth in 1966, Wingham in 1978, Dashwood in 1999 and most recently in Walton in 2017, but the county’s first attempt to host the big match in 1942 was undone by World War II. The Match That Never Was In the spring of 1942 The Blyth Standard, The Stratford Beacon Herald and probably most other local newspapers announced that, several miles northwest of Seaforth and eight miles northeast of Clinton, Huron County would be hosting its first IPM that fall (the next nearest match had been in Perth County in 1930). The site chosen was the farm of L.W. Whyte on the eastern edge of Hullett Township, and surrounding farms in both Hullett and nearby McKillop Townships. Since the match was only months away, it’s

obvious that there wasn’t quite as much planning required as today when IPM sites are chosen four years in advance.

The site was almost the exact centre of the county, since six farmers had signed agreements to allow their land to be used.

It was predicted that 100,000 or more visitors would attend the match along with 300 teams of horses and 150 tractors. Hotels in Goderich, Clinton, Seaforth, Blyth, Brussels and Hensall were expected to be booked solid to accommodate the crowd. The Commercial Hotel in Seaforth was chosen as headquarters for the match where judges and officials would stay.

A special feature of the match was to be a banquet for 1,000 to be held in either the Seaforth or Clinton arena (Clinton was in the midst of building a new arena at the time).

But farmers never had the chance to attend the match when it was cancelled. Gasoline rationing had just been declared in April, 1942 in an effort to save fuel to help the armed forces fight the war. There wouldn’t be another IPM until 1946.

The Victory Match During the war years Gordon

The Victory Match While The Victory Match, which followed the end of World War II in 1946 and was hosted at an abandoned air force base at Port Albert, was plagued by rain, it wasn’t quite wet enough to earn the title of The Mud Match, instead having its history tied to the end of the war and its unique location. The match was wellattended, but, due to the weather, didn’t hit the record numbers organizers hoped it would. (File photo)

McGavin of Walton was the president of the Ontario Plowmen’s Association and in 1946 he had a perfect, if unusual location for the first post-war IPM, named “The Victory Match” – the abandoned air force base at Port Albert.

As part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, parts of seven farms on the east side of Highway 21 at Port Albert had been purchased in 1940 and turned into the Royal Air Force Air Navigation School where from Oct. 1940 to Feb. 1945 advanced navigation techniques were taught to classes of 1,200 navigators at a time from all the allied countries training for their roles with bomber crews. Even before the war ended, training at the base had been scaled back as the allies beat back Nazi Germany. In 1946 the base was declared surplus but before it was dismantled it would have one last hurrah as home to the Victory Match.

It was a convenient venue in terms of accommodating the match because the old runways could be used for parking up to 10,000 cars while four large aircraft hangars would provide lots of room for exhibits without the need for the Tented City we’ve become familiar with these days.

The Goderich Signal-Star of Feb. 26, 1946 first announced that the IPM would be coming to Port Albert from Oct. 15-18. Among the committee planning the event were McGavin, Hugh Hill, who was in charge of the plowing, George Feagan and Huron County Warden R.E. Shaddick. W.T. “Doc” Cruickshank, founder of CKNX radio, was chair of the publicity committee.

On May 23, the paper also reported that John Hanna, the local MPP had announced there would be $1 million in road construction in his riding that summer which would include paving Highway 21 from Port Albert to Amberley, helping to speed visitors to the site.

As the match neared, more details of the planning were reported. The Sept. 17 Signal-Star told of a discussion during a plowing match host committee meeting about accommodation. The committee

planned to host 400 people by billeting them in local homes but the accommodation chair said some of the housewives, who would bear the work, didn’t think the $1.25 per night they would receive was worth it. When he suggested the charge might be increased to $2, one committee member was quoted as saying, “I don’t think that charging $2 is showing much hospitality to our visitors”. Nevertheless, the committee voted to allow people to charge up to $2 a night.

Admission to the match was 50 cents per car, with passengers free.

The committee was hoping for the best-attended match ever, the previous record being 170,000 people at the 1940 match at St. Thomas.

Also requiring major planning was a banquet for 1,000 on the Friday night of the match.

On Sept. 26, The Signal-Star reported that a record number of competitors were expected for the match because the first and secondplace winners in the top competitions would win a free trip to Great Britain.

On Oct. 10, The Signal-Star published a special section for the match and also announced that Governor-General of Canada Field Marshal Lord Alexander would be arriving in Goderich on the noon Canadian National Railways train to open the match on Oct. 15.

Attendance at the opening day was reported at 80,000, the largest ever one-day attendance at the time.

The Signal-Star reported bumperto-bumper traffic from Goderich to Port Albert. One of the things that was not so ideal about the old airport site, only a mile from the Lake Huron shore, was that people could come to it from only three directions. As well, when you see the modern Highway 21 travelling over the beautiful sweeping concrete bridge across the Nine Mile River at Port Albert, it’s hard to picture the bottleneck of those days when the path of the highway

led travellers on a circuitous route through the centre of the village and over the old iron bridge that can still be seen in downtown Port Albert today. In God Speed the Plow, The History of the Ontario Plowmen’s Association, it’s reported that traffic trying to enter the grounds was backed up all the way to Sheppardton, four miles to the south and to Dungannon, in the east.

In his history of the Port Albert air base, Eugene McGee points out that such a celebration after the years of war-time deprivation brought people out in droves. They were celebrating an end to rationing of gasoline, sugar and butter and other hard-to-get items. At the match they were also able to see displays of the first new cars in years, now that automobile assembly lines were returned to their original purpose after being turned over to weapons production during the war.

After such an enormous opening day crowd it seemed the previous attendance record was bound to be topped but then it started to rain and attendance fell. In the long run, the four-day attendance reached 140,000, well shy of the goal of beating the St. Thomas record.

Once the match was over the buildings of the air base were sold off and moved away and within years it was hard to see evidence that the old air base had ever existed.

The Mud Match Twenty years after first hosting the Victory Match, Huron County won the right to host the IPM again on Oct. 11-14, 1966 at Seaforth.

The organizing committee had plans for the biggest and best match ever, but as in Port Albert, Mother Nature had other ideas.

Gordon McGavin of Walton and Larry Snider of Exeter were cochairs of the organizing committee.

James M. Scott’s farm, just west of Seaforth on Highway 8 was to be Continued on page 11

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THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022. PAGE 11.

Sun, rain make for memorable Huron matches

The Mud Match The Mud Match, like The Victory Match before it, was plagued by rain. The fields were so muddy that the host farms were finding rubber boots, among other things, stuck in the fields for years afterwards. The match, held in 1966, was hosted by James Scott and his neighbours. Above, Blyth’s Joe Hallahan pushes his tractor and a wagon full of attendees through the muddy fields of the event. (File photo) Continued from page 10 the site of the tented city. Right from the beginning the weather seemed determined to ruin the event. The Huron Expositor in Seaforth reported that intermittent driving rain, hail and high winds struck on both of the first two days.

Plowing went ahead but other activities were cancelled.

With the site a mucky mess, tractors were on standby throughout the grounds to haul out vehicles that became mired in the mud. Few cars used the parking fields.

Because of the weather it was decided to extend the match until Saturday to give more people a chance to attend. It seemed like a good move when Friday dawned sunny and the streets of the tented city began to dry out. Once again the hopes of the host committee were crushed Saturday morning when the rain started early and wiped out the gains made with Friday’s dry weather.

It became a plowing match legend because, for years later, the

Scott family was plowing up rubber boots that had been sucked off the feet of match visitors.

On the bright side, Amy Stewart of Seaforth, was crowned Ontario Queen of the Furrow. She was the daughter of Ken Stewart, Warden of Huron County and Reeve of McKillop Township, the host municipality.

The Money Match After rain plagued Huron County’s previous International Plowing Matches in 1946 and 1966, Mother Nature smiled on the 1978 match held Sept. 26-30 just east of Wingham on the farm of Jim and Carol Armstrong, and adjacent farms on Hwy. 86.

Nearly 180 volunteers were involved in the committees organizing the match in the years after Huron was awarded the IPM four years earlier. Howard Datars of Dashwood was the chair of the organizing committee.

Officially opening the IPM was Neil Armstrong, the U.S. astronaut who nine years earlier had been the

first person to walk on the moon.

Blessed with warm, dry weather, (dust was more of a concern than mud this time around) the match welcomed record crowds.

For local communities, the match provided a huge financial boost. At the time a new building code had seen many community arenas condemned and communities were busy raising funds for replacements (or paying off the remainder of costs on those erected). Both the Belmore and the Brussels, Morris and Grey arena committees hosted tents catering to hungry match

visitors. Belmore served over 6,300 lunches, with visitors feasting on 1,222 pies (50 from one baker alone). The Belmore caterers also served breakfast on three mornings, the busiest having 200 guests. In all, the hard-working committee raised $15,000 for the community arena and curling club.

The Brussels, Morris and Grey tent was also busy, serving 5,150 lunches to the public, 920 to officials and providing 324 dinners at the official banquet. Business built rapidly from just 185 meals served on Monday to 1,485 on Thursday, 1,495 on Friday, and 1,590 on Saturday. The cooks used 2,183 pounds of roast beef and 618 pounds of ham.

Generous local residents donated 2,145 pounds of potatoes, 525 pounds of carrots and 1,200 pies, among other foods. The Brussels tent also offered breakfasts Thursday, Friday and Saturday and had a snack bar at the front of the tent that served 1,216 pounds of hamburger and 214 pounds of hotdogs, topped off with 15 gallons of hot dog relish and 50 pounds of cheese slices.

The Sunshine Match In 1999, Huron County won the right to host the last IPM of the century (and the millennium).

The farm of Earl Becker near Dashwood in the southwestern corner of the county hosted the match, held Sept. 21-25.

Once again Huron County was blessed with sunshine. Chair Graeme Craig of Walton said exceptional weather was just one of the factors that made the match a near-perfect undertaking. From

$30

efficient transportation of visitors from the parking lots to the tented city, the high quality of entertainment and well-attended displays, there was nothing he would have done differently, Craig told Janice Becker of The Rural Voice in a wrap-up of the event.

He attributed the success to longterm planning by members of the 26 committees and execution by more than 1,000 volunteers who worked during the match. Among the volunteers were six local tug o’ war teams that put up 23,000 feet of snow-fence around the site in a single day.

The Huron County organizing committee was the first to take advantage of the internet to publicize and document the IPM. Jim Prior of Brussels set up the website two years prior to the match and it included information on everything from where to buy tickets to accommodations.

Among the displays, two stood out especially. The late Bruce County artist Allen Hilgendorf created a huge 40-by-8 foot mural depicting the previous IPMs held in Huron at Port Albert, Seaforth and Wingham.

Also demonstrating the diversity of Huron County was a mosaic featuring fruits, vegetables and grains grown in the county.

The idea had been brought back to Huron by Glen and Vanda McNeil of Goderich, who had seen something similar in a farming show in Sydney, Australia. Floral designer, quilt maker and former home economist Loralee Marshall of Kirkton designed a display based Continued on page 19

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Colours and produce While many people may remember the 1999 International Plowing Match as The Dust Match due to the dry, warm weather, one of the big features was a combination mural-mosaic on display, shown above.

The mural, created by the late Allen Hilgendorf of Bruce County, was paired with a mosaic made of produce put together by Glen and Vanda McNeil of Goderich. The mosaic featured fruits, vegetables and crops produced in Huron County. (File photo)

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PAGE 12. THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022.

Eat Local Huron highlights producers with Farm Crawl

Up close and personal Eat Local Huron, an online farmers’ market connecting locals with locally-sourced food, recently hosted its first-ever Farm Crawl. The event presented the opportunity for locals to tour area farms and connect with food producers and farmers, like Katrina McQuail, left, at Meeting Place Organic Farm near St. Helens. Little Ennio Diceccio and his mother Krista were among those who were able to get an up-close-and-personal look at some farm animals, learning more about where their food comes from. (Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot photo)

nutrient-dense at harvest.

Wagon riders viewed the pastured poultry, which are moved every day on grass. The ephemeral ponds, due to their seasonal nature, are not home to fish. This makes them ideal nurseries for amphibians. McQuail also pointed out the innovative water pump system he imported from New Zealand to pump water from a lowlying pond to a reservoir high on the property. This water then serves as drinking water for animals and irrigation water for crops, gardens and an orchard.

After the tour, visitors enjoyed watching a young foal nurse from its mother, piglets scampering around a cow, ducklings in a barrel and Fran McQuail’s perennial garden near the house.

Katrina, who now runs the farm, was thrilled with the turnout and says as planning proceeds for future Farm Crawls, emphasis will be placed on providing safe activities for families.

Morrison Berries Did you know that eating seven strawberries provides as much vitamin C as one orange? This fact is why strawberry farmer Emily Morrison encourages every child on the farm crawl to eat at least seven strawberries out of the field.

“We had a big rush... and we taught them all about strawberries,” said Emily, walking first to a threeacre field that has been newly planted with strawberry plants. Each field had irrigation lines under each row of plants because “water is what makes a berry grow big and heat is what makes them turn red.”

Morrison was full of fun facts, teaching that: strawberry plants last for four years; the first berry on the plant is called a king berry and is the largest; each plant produces about seven berries with the latest ones

being the smallest; strawberries are the fruit with seeds on the outside and strawberries need a quarter-inch of rain every week to thrive.

Work in the newly-planted field involves walking it weekly and popping off all the flowers. The goal is for the plants to grow roots and get stronger, rather than produce fruit the first year.

In the other fields, five different varieties of strawberries are grown to provide early, mid- and lateseason berries. Due to June’s frost, the mid-season berries were affected with much of the fruit deformed.

That cold snap also pushed back the late-season berries. It’s this late season variety called Malwina that is her favourite because of its smooth, mellow taste. It turns dark purple when it is ripe.

Next on the strawberry farming agenda is mulching the fields with straw. The clean straw serves as a weed suppressant, cooling agent and keeps the berries clean. “It also provides a nice picking experience which we want for our customers,” says Morrison. It will compost and add humus into the soil as well.

Firmly Rooted Farm As the day ran late, I missed the crowds at Firmly Rooted, who were keen to see what was growing in the five large greenhouses at the organic vegetable farm near Belgrave.

The owners, Tamara McMullen and Brian Wiley, have realized their vision to create a small-scale farm business that provides food four seasons of the year using 3.5 acres of a seven-acre farm. They use the rest of the land to provide habitat to pollinators and other beneficial insects and animals, as part of their focus on biodiversity and sustainability.

Tamara gave a tour of the farm Continued on page 13

By Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot The Rural Voice People are thrilled to get on a farm to see and learn how food is grown, says Katrina McQuail of Meeting Place Organic Farm near Lucknow.

McQuail was instrumental in organizing last month’s Farm Crawl via Eat Local Huron, a not-for-profit online farmers’ market dedicated to bringing locally-sourced food to the doorsteps of Huron County residents. The Farm Crawl was a chance for people to see where the food and products they are buying are made.

This Farm Crawl took place in northern Huron County with more farm crawls planned in different parts of the county throughout the summer.

Meeting Place Organic Farm Meeting Place was one of the stops and if you arrived on time, you were encouraged to hop on a hay wagon pulled by horses and driven

by Tony McQuail (Katrina’s dad) who explained the ecological methods practised on the mixed farm. “We are trying to imitate what the bison do,” said McQuail of the pastures, grazed in rotations by about 40 head of mixed beef cattle.

“We like to see the grass trampled because for soil microbes to have a good life, they need soil cooled under the mulch.”

The farm is managed with regenerative principles and a focus on biodiversity. As such, hay fields are cut later to ensure bobolinks have a chance to raise their young as part of the “Delay the Hay” campaign. Late hay can be tough and nutrient-poor for cattle, so the McQuails graze the hay fields in April and early May and let it grow after that, so the new growth will be

37th Annual Citizen of the Year Award Nominations Open Pictured from left, Zoey Onn being presented her 2021 Citizen of the Year award by North Huron Publishing member Ralph Watson.

There are so many people out there who do so much to improve their community.

This is your opportunity to show your appreciation for all they do.

Each year a committee chooses an outstanding citizen from each of the Blyth and area and Brussels and area communities to receive an award for contribution to the community. If you know someone you think should be honoured, please fill in the form and send it in. You may attach a longer explanation of why you think your nominee should win, if you like. If you have nominated someone before and they didn't win, we encourage you to submit again.

Emailed submissions can be sent to Shawn Loughlin at editor@northhuron.on.ca I nominate ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ as Citizen of the year for

q

Blyth & area

q

Brussels & area

q

Huron County**

** New this year! Due to requests from the wider community we have added a category for Citizen of the Year Huron County to recognize outstanding citizens from beyond Blyth & Brussels.

I feel she/he deserves this award because ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Nomination Deadline September 30, 2022.

Name and phone number of nominator Fax: 519-523-9140 Box 429, Blyth, ON N0M 1H0

THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022. PAGE 13.

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Agriculture

BLYTH 519-523-4244

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Brussels Livestock report

Veal sells on strong, active trade at weekly sale Total receipts for Brussels Livestock for the week ending Aug. 5 were 962 cattle and 592 lambs and goats.

On Tuesday, a light run of fed steers and heifers sold steady with quality considered. Choice steers and heifers sold $168 to $179. Aged and medium sold $150 to $152.

Holstein steers and heifers sold $115 to $139. Cows sold steady.

On Thursday, veal sold on a strong active trade with prices $3 to $5 higher. Beef veal sold steady with quality considered. Lambs sold barely steady. Goats and sheep sold steady.

On Friday, calves and yearlings sold higher.

Francis Riley of Walkerton, consigned nine head. One rwf steer weighed 1,470 lbs. and sold for a price of $179.

There were 180 cows on offer.

Beef sold $100 to $125; good holstein cows, $95 to $122; medium holstein cows, $80 to $96.

Bulls sold $140 to $166.

There were 145 head of veal on offer. Beef veal sold $154 to $191; good holsteins, $175 to $195; SL heavy holsteins, $160 to $178; heavy holsteins, $150 to $160; medium holsteins, $155 to $170; plain holsteins, $124 to $148.

Rudy Shetler of Lucknow, consigned 12 head.

One holstein steer weighed 705 lbs.

and sold for a price of $195.

Murray Burkhart of Linwood, consigned three head. One red heifer weighed 855 lbs. and sold for a price of $191.

Lambs under 50 lbs. sold $282.75 to $305; 50 - 64 lbs., $270.75 to $305; 65 - 79 lbs., $221 to $265; 80 - 94 lbs., $198.50 to $232; 95 - 109 lbs., $191 to $209; 110 lbs. and over, $180 to $182.

Sheep sold $100 to $250.

Goats: billies sold $150 to $450; nannies, $100 to $250; kids: meat, $300 to $335; dairy, $235 to $255.

Jason Mayberry of Atwood, consigned eight head. Three lambs averaged 56 lbs. and sold for an average price of $305.

Jason Hoggart of Londesborough, consigned eight head. Three kid goats averaged 59 lbs. and sold for an average price of $335.

Top quality stocker steers under 400 lbs. sold $303.50 to $310; 400 - 499 lbs., $256.50 to $297; 500 599 lbs., $245.50 to $285; 600 - 699 lbs., $248 to $265; 700 - 799 lbs., $232.75 to $268; 800 - 899 lbs., $216.75 to $228.50; 900 - 999 lbs., $210 to $219; 1,000 lbs. and over, $200.50 to $216.50.

Top quality stocker heifers, 500 599 lbs. sold $180.50 to $197; 600 - 699 lbs., $171 to $210; 700 - 799 lbs., $201.50 to $215; 800 - 899 lbs., $195.50 to $200; 900 lbs. and over, $178 to $199.

First Farm Crawl focuses on the north gardens and a vacuum seeder for planting trays. “Just because we are small does not mean we cannot benefit from technology,” says Tamara.

Coastal Coffee The final stop on the tour was Coastal Coffee, a coffee roastery situated in an old church on Kintail Line near Goderich.

Owners Ben and Bri Gingerich have developed relationships with growers in countries like Colombia and Guatemala to import fresh beans to roast here in Ontario. They also have large gardens, chickens and bunnies to make sipping coffee at the church a visual experience while simultaneously growing food for their family.

Edward M. Martin of Lucknow, consigned four head. Four red white-faced heifers averaged 886 lbs. and sold for an average price of $200.

Matt Piel of Ripley, consigned 68 head. Fifteen charolais heifers averaged 701 lbs. and sold for an average price of $215. Ten charolais steers averaged 784 lbs. and sold for an average price of $250.

Dustin McCabe of Pictou County, Nova Scotia, consigned 61 head.

Eleven black steers averaged 770 lbs. and sold for an average price of 231.

Franken Farms of Teeswater, consigned 19 head. Twelve gold steers averaged 1,019 lbs. and sold for an average price of $216.50.

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A great day

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The first Eat Local Huron Farm Crawl featured farms in the northwestern portion of Huron County, including Meeting Place Organic Farm, Morrison Berries, Coastal Coffee and Firmly Rooted, above, owned by Tamara McMullen and Brian Wiley and their family.

The second Farm Crawl is set for this weekend, heading south to Five Chicks and a Farmer near Seaforth, Harm-n-e Longhorns in Central Huron and River Road Brewing near Bayfield. (Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot photo) Continued from page 12 including the gorgeous Salanova beds filled with green and purple salad greens. New seedlings and new beds are started weekly so they can provide greens to restaurants, stores and Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) clients until Christmas. Then they take a break and start all over in March.

Firmly Rooted is a colourful, thriving place that employs seven workers besides Tamara and Brian.

One greenhouse is filled with skyhigh tomatoes, another with cucumbers growing up trellises.

Tamara will pick 100 cucumbers a day out of the greenhouse until the cukes, which are particularly

August 2022

susceptible to disease, succumb.

Then new ones are started and the process continues. The outside gardens are filled with rows of lettuce, carrots, zucchini, asparagus and other vegetables.

They have around 150 CSA clients in the spring, 200 in the summer and 250 in the fall. While Tamara doesn’t offer tours (there just isn’t time) customers are welcome to explore the gardens while picking up their vegetable boxes.

A walk to the back of the farm shows a constructed wetland being built with an additional area to process waste water from the greenhouse. Beside the pond is a man-made hibernaculum, which is

made of large rocks above and underground to provide hibernation space for snakes. Tamara said visitors were fascinated by the hibernaculum, as is she because she believes in providing habitat for creatures. As such, they continually add hedgerows containing native shrubs, such as chokeberry or trees like hazelnuts to provide shelter and food for wildlife and insects.

With three acres of gardens, five huge greenhouses and two little ones to manage, Tamara and Brian are busy, but happy farming according to their beliefs. They make use of small-farm technologies, such as a salad harvester that is run by a drill, a five-row seeder for the outdoor

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PAGE 14. THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022.

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ROLLING LANDS FARMS IS looking for enthusiastic, reliable and caring part-time milkers. Times are from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and the occasional morning. Please call 519523-4492.

31-3p --------------------------------------------

Maple Lane Haven is looking for dependable, self-motivated individuals to join our team for banquet serving and bar service as our university staff heads back to school.

• Mostly weekend work, but there are weekday events as well.

• Good wages and shared gratuity.

Will train for server position but would like bartenders to have some experience.

Citizen-To-Citizen

Email your résumé to maplelanehaven@gmail.com or call 519-440-8116

Morrison, Wilbee running in H. East “SWAP SHOP” ad Let us help you turn that junk into $$ • Free ad up to 25 words, (max. 3 items) person-toperson only (no businesses), items valued at $1,000 or less. Price must be included in your ad. Your ad will run three times unless it sells faster!

• The Citizen reserves the right to limit the number of items or ads per person.

Call 519-523-4792 or email: info@northhuron.on.ca PETER JOHN GIBSON His siblings, Mary Douma (Maurice) of Brussels, Don Gibson (Cathy) of Stratford and Peggy Aitchison (Bill) of Brussels, wish to thank people for the many acts of kindness shown to us following our brother’s passing from brain cancer on July 7, 2022. The cards, goodies, hugs, stories and condolences, especially at Brussels Homecoming, were greatly appreciated. Left to mourn are his dear wife Kate (née Avery) of Stratford, daughter Pamela Egli (Tom) and family of Blyth, sons Mark of Stratford and Scott (Stephanie) and family of Stratford.

Also left to mourn are many members of the Avery family as well as many Gibson cousins, nieces and nephews.

32-1p

Help Wanted

FOR SALE - storm door with screen and hardware, 79" high x 36" wide, 2" thick, $150. Pictures available upon request. Please call 519-357-4040.

31-3 -----------------------------------------FOR SALE - mint condition floral La-Z-Boy sofa and chair, $500.

226-422-2159.

30-3 -----------------------------------------FOR SALE - golf clubs, Nike Covert VRS irons, excellent condition, new grips, $250. 519357-3008.

30-3 -----------------------------------------FOR SALE - four good summer tires 215-65-R-16 on aluminum rims; back seat out of Dodge Caravan, $250 for all of it. 519527-2676.

30-3 -----------------------------------------FOR SALE - Crown jars with glass tops – quarts $1 each, pints 75 cents each; couch and chair rustcoloured upholstery, $75 for both; antique gramophone, $50; 42" round wood table, fold-down sides with two chairs, $75; 3 pt. hitch 6 ft. Mott mower, pto driven, $400.

519-523-4711.

30-3 ------------------------------------------

FOR SALE - four tires Hercules high thread LT265 over 75 R16, six-stud on stainless steel rims, $75 each; one tire LT265 over 16, mud terrain on aluminum rim, $20; four tires - 215 over 65 R16 with aluminum rims, five stud, $10 each. 519-357-5558 or 519-8878455.

29-3 -----------------------------------------FOR SALE - six Family Herald magazines from 1960s; Dungannon newspaper 1915; several old comics, make an offer. 519-3579467.

29-3 -----------------------------------------FOR SALE - Razor scooter, $50 (price negotiable); hutch with coaster wheels, $90. 226-2340699.

29-3 -----------------------------------------“One person’s junk is another’s treasure”

Continued from page 1 Councillor Ray Chartrand filed on July 11 to return to his position.

Incumbent Bob Fisher has also filed his paperwork to return as a Seaforth councillor. He is currently serving as the deputy-mayor, which is chosen from among elected councillors who put their name forward after the election.

Incumbent Brussels Ward Councillor Justin Morrison, who was appointed to the position following the resignation of John Lowe, has filed again in hopes of returning to the position. Gloria Wilbee, another incumbent councillor, has also filed her paperwork in hopes of returning to her position.

Incumbent Robert Hunking has also filed to return as the Avon Maitland District School Board trustee for the region serving Huron East and Central Huron, but he will be contested by Dennis Valenta, who has run for numerous federal and provincial elections over the years.

In Morris-Turnberry, the roster of those who have filed has remained unchanged for weeks. Incumbent Mayor Jamie Heffer put his name forward to return to his position, filing his paperwork on July 5.

Current Deputy-Mayor Sharen Zinn has filed to be a councillor once again (in Morris-Turnberry, the deputy-mayor is awarded from within council to the councillor who receives the most votes in the municipal election). Incumbent Councillor Kevin Freiburger has also filed in hopes of returning to his position.

In Goderich, incumbent DeputyMayor Myles Murdock. Allison Segeren, Liz Petrie, John Thompson and Randy Carroll have all put their names forward for councillor positions.

Joseph Cohen has filed paperwork to be the Avon Maitland District School Board trustee serving the Goderich area.

Incumbent Mayor John Grace had filed for re-election ahead of his untimely death just days ago.

In Howick, Reeve Doug Harding is seeking another term as the

township’s top politician.

Incumbent Councillor Megan Gibson has filed to run for the deputy-reeve position, while Marvin Grimes is seeking a return to his councillor position.

Incumbent Mayor Paul Klopp remains uncontested on his path to return to his position in Bluewater.

Incumbent Hay East Ward Councillor John Becker and Hay West Ward Councillor Alwyn Vanden Berg have both filed in hopes of becoming the deputymayor. Two people - Winona Bailey and incumbent Shawn LaPorte have put their names forward in hopes of earning the Zurich Ward councillor position, while incumbent Peter Walden has filed paperwork to be the councillor for the Stanley East Ward.

Incumbent Bayfield Ward Councillor Bill Whetstone is seeking a return to his position, as are Hensall Ward Councillor Scott Harris and Stanley West Ward Councillor George Irvin.

In South Huron, incumbent Mayor George Finch is hoping to return, but he will be challenged by Maureen Cole, whom he defeated in the 2018 election.

Incumbent Deputy-Mayor Jim Dietrich has put his name forward again. He will be challenged by Karen Brown for the position.

Incumbent Councillors Marissa Vaughan and Dianne Faubert, as well as newcomers John Pond, (Norris) Wayne Desjardine, Sheila Preszcator, Wendy McLeodHaggitt, Milt Dietrich and Philip Van Raay have all filed for two Ward 1 - Stephen councillor positions.

In Ward 2 - Exeter, incumbent Councillors Aaron Neeb and Barbara Willard have filed for two councillor positions, while incumbent Ted Oke has filed in the hopes of returning to the one Ward 3 - Usborne councillor seat.

Keep watching The Citizen for updates as more candidates put their names forward ahead of this fall’s municipal election, which is set for Monday, Oct. 24. The nomination period closes on Friday, Aug. 19.

All word ads in The Citizen classifieds are put on our webpage at www.huroncitizen.ca

THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022. PAGE 15.

Bieman one of 12 to earn 4-H agriculture scholarship

By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen

Recognized Belgrave’s Emily Bieman, shown above during the 4-H beef show at the Dungannon Little Country Fair over the weekend, was recently named a 2022 TD 4-H Agriculture Scholarship winner through 4-H Canada. (Denny Scott photo)

Belgrave’s Emily Bieman is one of 12 youth leaders who has been awarded a 2022 TD 4-H Agriculture Scholarship through 4H Canada.

The scholarships total $30,000 for the year, which have been provided by TD Bank Group. Each of the 12 4-H members will receive $2,500 towards their postsecondary education in agriculture, agricultural science or agricultural business this fall.

“TD is proud to support 4-H Canada in advancing its mission to develop future leaders in agriculture,” said Alex Morley, TD senior vice-president of agriculture services and business banking. “We wish this year’s scholarship recipients success as they pursue a career in an industry we are all reliant upon.”

In a press release from 4-H Canada, it said the organization is committed to promoting positive youth development and providing youth with tools and guidance to lay the foundation for a life-long love of learning in the field of agriculture.

“More than ever, food security is a critical issue in our country and around the world, and we are proud to congratulate these 2022 scholarship recipients as they pursue a post-secondary education

in the vital field of agriculture,” said Shannon Benner, chief executive officer of 4-H Canada.

“We are proud to partner with TD in supporting our youth.

Congratulations to this year’s deserving recipients, we wish them all the best in their educational and career pursuits.”

Bieman, of Belgrave, is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Animal Biology at the University of Guelph.

The remaining 11 winners are: Ryan Chesterman of Edgerton, Alberta; Lauryn Craswell of Rustico, Prince Edward Island; Brooke-Lynn Finnerty of Sturgeon County, Alberta; Shannon Fraser of Berwick, Nova Scotia; Amie Loder of Corner Brook, Newfoundland; Cassidy Porteous of Winchester, Ontario; Emily Sebastian of Montmartre, Saskatchewan; Kara Sickle of St. George, Ontario; Annalise Steadman of Victoria, British Columbia; Ashlynn Trefenanko of St. Paul, Alberta and Ashlyn Whetter of Brandon, Manitoba.

For more information on the TD 4-H Agriculture Scholarship, visit 4-h-canada.ca/scholarships.

Club takes to the water in canoes, kayaks back to the meeting spot, the members enjoyed a watermelon

snack and closed the meeting with the 4-H motto.

Procters host church PEOPLE AROUND BELGRAVE

By Linda Campbell Call 357-2188

Balancing Henry Drennan was determined to keep his kayak going the right way during the 4-H’s Sporting Chance Something Different Club meeting on July 23. (Photo submitted)

By Henry Drennan The fifth meeting of Wawanosh 4-H’s Sporting Chance Something Different Club was held on Saturday, July 23 beginning at 9:30 a.m. at Lake Wawanosh Conservation Area with all members and leaders in attendance.

President Kayla Drennan opened the meeting with the pledge, followed by the roll call, which asked members, “What experience have you had canoeing or boating?

Where have you canoed? What did you enjoy about it?” For some members, it was their first time canoeing. Next, Nora Gulutzen read minutes from the previous meeting.

Following the minutes, leader Reba Jefferson demonstrated the different paddling strokes and how to properly get into a canoe. After that, all life jackets were checked for size, and if they were put on properly. It was then decided which members would use a kayak and which would go in a canoe. The group had a great time canoeing and no one ended up in the lake.

The members enjoyed a snack then president, Kayla Drennan closed the meeting with the motto.

By Nora Gulutzen The fourth meeting of the Wawanosh 4-H’s Sporting Chance Something Different Club was held on Thursday, July 21 at 6:30 p.m.

Members gathered with their bicycles at the Goderich-to-Guelph Rail Trail at Auburn. The meeting opened with the 4-H pledge.

Leaders first made sure everyone’s bike was safe to ride and that all helmets fit properly. While attendance was taken, the roll call question was, “If you had to be a part of a bike, what part would you be and why?” The answers varied, some of the answers were: fender, tire and chain.

The club was then ready to bike and headed towards Blyth. As the group got farther along the trail, they came to a road crossing and then a rocky hill and a bridge over which they walked the bikes. Some of the members stopped along the way to pick and eat delicious black raspberries. Once the group arrived

Congratulations to Jeff and Shae Lebold on the birth of their daughter, Heidee Joy, who was born on June 11. Proud grandparents are Rod and Heather Jones and Floyd and Kathy Lebold.

The farmers worked hard to get the wheat harvested. The corn and beans welcomed the rain. Now the crops look much healthier.

Last Wednesday, we were lucky to get two-and-a-half inches of much-needed rain. There were also severe thunderstorms and tornado warnings out in some areas.

It was a beautiful day under sunny skies when Allen and Kim Walker looked after the church service at Ken and Lila Procter’s pond on Sunday, Aug. 7. The guest speaker was Walter Miedema. Jim Hess is the guest speaker on Aug. 14. The church service is at 10 a.m. at the Procter’s pond for the month of August. Please bring a lawn chair, bug spray if you wish, and you may need a hat. If it is raining or threatening rain the service will be held at 10 a.m. in the Belgrave United Church. Everyone is welcome.

Birthday greetings are extended to Karen Gaunt, Aug. 18; Ross Peacock, Aug. 18 and Donelda Cottrill, Aug. 19. Have an enjoyable day.

Karen and Dan Gagne of Texas were guests for two weeks at the

home of Karen’s mother, Arlyn Montgomery.

There were 19 people enjoying the community coffee break on Tuesday, Aug 9 in the Belgrave Community Centre. The next coffee break is on Aug. 23, 9:30 11 a.m. Everyone is welcome.

NEWS FROM BELGRAVE

The Citizen

519-523-4792 or 519-887-9114

Advertise your business here!

One of the most read areas of the paper

SUDOKU Fun By The Numbers Like puzzles?

Then you’ll love sudoku. This mindbending puzzle will have you hooked from the moment you square off, so sharpen your pencil and put your sudoku savvy to the test!

Here’s How It Works: Sudoku puzzles are formatted as a 9x9 grid, broken down into nine 3x3 boxes. To solve a sudoku, the numbers 1 through 9 must fill each row, column and box. Each number can appear only once in each row, column and box. You can figure out the order in which the numbers will appear by using the numeric clues already provided in the boxes. The more numbers you name, the easier it gets to solve the puzzle!

PAGE 16. THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022.

CERH calls grandparent, children camp a success Each individual at the camp found a way to step outside their own comfort zone by either trying new foods, challenging themselves during activities,

participating in new games or all of the above. This camp relies on that level of commitment and a sense of adventure.

Fields being cleared PEOPLE AROUND WALTON

By Jo-Ann McDonald Call 887-6570

Quality time The Gateway Centre of Excellence in Rural Health (CERH) held its Grand Sparks summer camp recently. The event focuses on children and their grandparents and was held at the Edge of Walton course. The program had taken a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, but returned with more than 30 participants this year. (Photo submitted) The Gateway Centre of Excellence in Rural Health (CERH) had another successful year of Grand Sparks summer camp; a day camp for kids and their grandparents. Late last month, the Gateway CERH team, along with the Edge of Walton, re-launched the Grand Sparks summer camp after a two-year break due to the COVID19 pandemic, with over 30 grandparents and grandchildren participating. The camp itself took place at the Edge of Walton Challenge Course. This camp

focused on bridging the gap between grandparents and grandchildren through physical play and nutrition.

The participants engaged in some unique physical activity and meal preparation. The week included traditional summer camp activities (canoeing, yoga biking) and some new adventures too (high ropes course). After a busy morning the intergenerational group prepared lunch together. This time was very valuable for grandparents to pass down some of the skills they have

mastered to their own grandchildren. “It’s an awesome thing to witness a five-year-old cutting avocados to make some guacamole!” exclaimed one grandparent.

According to the participants, the activities were engaging and tailored to individual ability, making it feel very inclusive.

The week certainly challenged both grandparents and grandkids to leave their comfort zone and experience new activities and foods.

Finally, the rain we have been waiting for has come. Reports vary from two inches to three inches in our area and more out of our area.

There was some damage done during the storm that gave us the rain; strong winds knocked down tree branches, rows of corn and damaged to a couple of houses.

Nothing is safe when there are strong winds. More rain arrived Sunday and more rain again on Monday. I think we can take a break from rain for now.

Most of the wheat harvest has been completed from what I have seen, but there are a few fields out there to be combined. Lots of fields have straw waiting to be baled and other fields waiting for the bales to be loaded and drawn off the field.

Corn and soybeans are looking better because of the rain and now we wait again for the next crop.

Our family gathered at the home of our daughter Kelly and Adam Jarosz to enjoy a swim and barbecue on Sunday. It was a chance for the whole family to have a visit with uncle Neil before he returned to Vancouver. It was also a very hot day and the swimming was great. The kids had a great time and they are all becoming little fish, even two-year-old Logan loved it and did not want to get out.

Celebrating birthdays this past week were Bruce Godkin, Angela Huether, Kenneth Huether, Adrienne Wakabayashi, Ken Glanville, Erin Mitchell, Marie Mitchell, Laurie Grobbink, Darryl Houston, Lisa Huether, Heidi Bachert, Greg Humphries, Brian McGavin, Tina McClure, Katie Williamson Janmaat, Wendy Bachert, Barb Tervit and Taylor McKee. Happy birthday to all.

Obituaries expressions of sympathy, donations to Huronlea Volunteer Auxiliary or the Canadian Cancer Society would be appreciated.

Condolences may be left at riversidefuneralhome.ca

RETA JUNE (née Cousins) JOHNSTON Mrs. Reta June (née Cousins) Johnston passed away peacefully at Huronlea Home for the Aged, Brussels on July 27, 2022. She was in her 87th year.

Reta was the loving wife of Bob Elliott for 47 years. She was the sister of Ruth (Marty) Buchannan, Shirley Gilbert and Don Cousins and the sister in-law of Sharon Cousins.

Reta will be sadly missed by the Elliott family. She was predeceased by her sons Wayne and Paul Johnston, first husband Alvin Johnston, brothers Jim Cousins and Bob Cousins.

Reta loved to go to ball games and cheer on the 8th Liners. She loved camping and fishing and being outdoors. She was a very social person and made friends easily. She was a very dedicated friend and enjoyed everyone’s company.

Cremation has taken place. A celebration of Reta’s life will take place at a later date.

In lieu of flowers and as

MARION KNOX Marion Knox passed away peacefully at Kingsway Lodge in St. Marys, on Monday, July 25, 2022. She was 86.

Marion was the devoted mom of Dennis and Patty Knox, Jeff Knox and Sandra, Dwain Knox and Phillip Knox and Pauline and the loving grandma of 11 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. She was the dear sister of Bill Hull and Annie Edgar.

Marion will be lovingly remembered by her special friend Dorothy Riehl, sisters-in-law Dorothy Hull, Marj and Dave Martin, June Knox, brother-in-law Murray Govier and several nieces, nephews and friends.

Marion was predeceased by her parents Arthur and Gladys (McNeil) Hull, sisters Juneve (William) Flood, Elaine (Lawrence)

Jacklin, Jean Hull, brothers Charles Hull, Archie (Jean) Hull, sisters-inlaw June Hull, Mildred Jacklin, Antonia Hull and Dorothy Govier and brothers-in-law Lawrence Edgar, Charlie Knox and Robert Marshall.

A graveside service was held at Brussels Cemetery on Tuesday, Aug. 2. Rev. Jeff Hawkins officiated.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations to the Canadian Cancer Society would be appreciated.

Online condolences may be left at www.mcburneyfuneralhome.com

Laureen Duclos, Marathon and Gerald and Christine Beck, Belgrave. Danny will be lovingly remembered by his many nieces, nephews and extended family. He was predeceased by his parents Raymond Beck and Doreen Toye and stepfather Charles Cook.

Private arrangements have been entrusted to McBurney Funeral Home, Wingham. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations to the Canadian Cancer Society would be appreciated.

Online condolences may be left at www.mcburneyfuneralhome.com.

Past obituaries, alongside news, photos and opinion pieces can be found at huroncitizen.ca DANNY BECK Danny Beck of Brussels, passed away unexpectedly, at his home on Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. He was 57.

Danny was the beloved lifepartner of Linda Brooks, Brussels; the loving dad of Justin and Jenna Beck, Teeswater; Crystal and Jeff Hancott, Kitchener and the cherished grandpa of Damien, Charles, Hunter, Dominik, Elayna, Dylan, Corra, Cally, Aaron and Isaac. He was the dear brother of Sheila Whalen, South Porcupine; Denis and Carol Beck, Alberta;

NEWS FROM WALTON STRATFORD MEMORIALS Creating Memories in Stone for Over 95 years

Call or email to make an appointment.

Masks are preferred for meetings.

519-524-8457 email: mfalconer@stratfordmemorials.com

Goderich/Clinton Michael Falconer Memorial Counsellor www.stratfordmemorials.com

Remembering your loved one Honour your loved one by placing their obituary in

The Citizen.

This is a free service provided by The Citizen. We encourage you to share the story of your loved one in a special remembrance of their life.

Cards of thanks can be placed in our classified section, starting at just $7.00.

THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022. PAGE 17.

From the Minister’s Study

Finding true freedom in God: van Leeuwen

By Pastor Gary van Leeuwen Blyth Christian Reformed Church In the book of Exodus, the story of how the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt is gold.

Usually we focus on the events that led up to the liberation of the people who had been slaves for 400 years, and rightly so. The Egyptians were probably the most powerful nation in the world at that time, and they would not let their free labour force disappear without resistance.

God overcame that resistance, we read in Exodus, by sending plagues on the land of Egypt, plagues which devastated their economy and brought them to their knees. God is given credit for the emancipation of the Israelites.

There is something quite important about the story that we tend to neglect, because we live in Canada. It is hard for us to comprehend that, in most of Egypt, especially in the southern regions, it hardly ever rains. The Egyptians both today and in biblical times depend on the water of the Nile River to irrigate their farmland and provide water for their daily use.

Everywhere that the land is irrigated is green, but take no more than a few steps beyond the irrigated land and you enter into some of the most inhospitable land on earth: the Sahara desert. In many places absolutely nothing grows in the unirrigated wilderness while just a metre or so away, crops grow abundantly on the irrigated land.

When the Israelites were freed from Egypt, they left the green fields to enter into a miserable wasteland. They travelled only a few steps, literally, to move from a place that could support their lives to a place where they would almost certainly die due to lack of food and water. They would have died in the wilderness, for although a few people lived in that area, subsisting off the scant resources, the numbers

of Israelites who fled Egypt were greater than the land could sustain.

Further, the Israelites were untrained to live in such a miserable wilderness.

When we read the story from Exodus and the freeing of the people from Egypt, we have to ask this question: they were freed from slavery, but what kind of life would they have in the wilderness?

Although slavery is hard, wandering in a wilderness like the Sahara desert is even harder. It is no wonder that some of them, when they became hungry and thirsty, began to think seriously about returning to slavery in Egypt. At least they could survive.

The people would have died in the wilderness, except for one important thing: God was with them. Moses led the people through the wilderness, and God provided for them by providing them with food and water until they reached Mount Sinai, a small rocky mountain among many small, rocky mountains. There God met with his people and made them this promise:

he would be with them, and he would provide for them. Even though they were in the wilderness, they would not have to fear for their lives.

The account of the commitment

by God to the people at Mount Sinai is patterned after ancient treaties made between kings and their people. In those treaties, the king promises to provide for the people, giving them land and security, but he also asks that the people keep the laws that he would put into place. A good king would give laws that benefitted the people, enabling them to live in harmony with each other and the world around them. This is what happened at Mount Sinai. God promised to be like a king to the Israelites, but he asked that if they accepted him as their king that they would also obey the laws he would give them. The laws that God gave the Israelites had many similarities to a relatively new justice system developed in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iran and Iraq) and which ensured that people of all

Sunday, Aug. 14, 10:30 a.m.

Missions Team Guest Speaker - Jordan Martin (John 13:34f)

Weekly service live-streamed at 10:30 a.m. on our facebook page or on youtube @St. Paul’s-Trinity Anglican Church Wingham.

The­Regional­Ministry­of­ Hope www.regionalministryofhope.com 519-357-7781 email: revjoann@hurontel.on.ca

Trinity

St. John’s

BLYTH 9:00 AM

BRUSSELS 12 NOON

St. Paul’s Trinity

WINGHAM 10:30 AM

Come Worship with Us!

BRUSSELS

United Church Worship with us Sunday, August 14 *Service Time 11 a.m.*

Contact Alex at minister.brusselsandblythuc@gmail.com Website: brusselsandblythuc.ca P.O. Box 359, Brussels ~ 519-887-6259

MELVILLE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH BRUSSELS

Sunday August 7 - 28 Join us for worship at Brussels United Church Melville is closed for August Worship at 9:30 am starting September 4th

Sat. Aug. 20,10-3 SUMMER CARNIVAL!

519-357-5273

All are welcome to join with us in joyful worship to the Lord!

Blyth United Church In House services resume Sunday at 9:30 a.m. (note time change) Outreach project collection of school supplies Sunday School & Nursery during worship

Live and online! live.huronchapel.com 119 John’s Ave., Auburn 519-526-1131

an illustration for us today. In our time, the pursuit of freedom has become an obsession. Both those on the right and those on the left cry out when they perceive their freedoms are being limited. Some decry the interference of the government while others protest laws which restrict them from doing whatever they want. Freedom for us today is defined as life without restrictions.

The story found in the book of Exodus shows us something different. True freedom is not found Continued on page 18

Brussels Mennonite Fellowship SUMMER MESSAGE SERIES

Come Worship With Us Sundays at 10:00 am All Are Welcome (Masks are optional)

250 Princess St., Brussels • 519­887­6388 • Pastor Ken Gazley

The Regional Ministry of Hope

Welcome Melville Presbyterian friends Evangelical Missionary Church

walks of life would be protected in the new realm. (To properly understand the laws of the Bible, of course, we do need to know something of how the legal systems of that time worked. Many have made the mistake of reading those laws outside of their historical context leading them to draw negative conclusions about their justice.) God, as the king of the Israelites, promised to provide for his people, and they, in grateful response, promised to obey his laws.

The story of the Exodus serves as

"When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground. May the glory of the LORD endure forever..."

(Psalm 104:30-31) Contact Alex at: minister.brusselsandblythuc@gmail.com

Facebook: Blyth and Brussels United Churches blythunited@tcc.on.ca ~ 519-523-4224

Sunday, August 14 at 10 a.m.

BMG Community Centre (upstairs room) 800 Sports Drive, Brussels **Please note our new location** Childcare provided for children aged 0 to 4 during the sermon

Worship and Prayer Time Loving Fellowship Expository Preaching

For additional details please visit: brusselscommunitybiblechapel.com

Join us for our 10:00 am services Services are live-streamed and can be found by searching “Blyth Christian Reformed Church”

BLYTH CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH Minister: Pastor Gary van Leeuwen Hwy. 4, Blyth 519-523-4743 www.blythcrc.ca

THE CATHOLIC PARISHES OF NORTH HURON AND NORTH PERTH

OUR CHURCHES HAVE RE-OPENED. WELCOME BACK. Brussels: St. Ambrose Saturday ~ 6:00 p.m.

17 Flora Street Wingham: Sacred Heart Sunday ~ 9:00 a.m.

220 Carling Terrace Listowel: St. Joseph’s Sunday ~ 11:00 a.m.

1025 Wallace Avenue N. Facebook: Search for St. Joseph/Sacred Heart/St. Ambrose Live Sunday Mass, Sundays at 10:00 a.m.

PAGE 18. THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022.

Letters TO THE

Editor

Stiles descendants host reunion at Homecoming THE EDITOR, Wow, what a weekend! The Brussels 150th Homecoming brought so much excitement with all of the activities and what better time than to have the Stiles family reunion. The 14 Stiles children, born to Bill and Sarah Stiles, were all born in Brussels, except for the oldest two children. All of the children have passed

on. There are three daughters-in-law living including, Jean Stiles (Gordon) of Stratford, Muriel Stiles (Mac) of Winnipeg, Manitoba and Shirley Stiles (Ted) of Waterloo.

When Bill returned from World War I, he married Sarah and they moved to Brussels to settle in the home that Sharon Freeman resides in today. Over the weekend, Sharon graciously opened her home to the Stiles family for a tour and good reminiscing of many memories. The Stileses put a float in the homecoming parade and what fun we had putting it together. On the Friday night we gathered at Madelene and Steven Steiss’ farm to put it all together. Good pizza was enjoyed by all.

On the Saturday afternoon, we all gathered at the Walton Hall for a family photo, barbecue and lots of meeting, greeting, chatting and camaraderie.

Sunday morning, the Brussels Lions Club put on a great breakfast for 19 Stiles family members. Over the weekend, lots of pictures were taken and lots of memories shared. Some catch-up occurred with Brussels folk that we knew from years past.

The Stiles family arrived in Brussels from Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Ontario. Now that they have all returned to their respective homes, it is for sure that Brussels will always be called home.

Brussels 150th Homecoming Committee: thank you for all of your teamwork to put on such an amazing weekend. Your commitment to your town is appreciated.

Sincerely, Donelda Stiles Schwartzentruber (granddaughter of Bill and Sarah) on behalf of the Stiles family.

Understand freedom in the Bible

Getting creative The Academy of Clinton (and all of its talented dancers) was the main attraction at Maple and Moose’s 15th anniversary celebration over the weekend in Blyth. (Denny Scott photo)

Continued from page 17 in having the ability to do whatever we like without restriction. Rather, true freedom is seen as knowing that we have someone bigger than ourselves who cares for us.

When we don’t have to worry about our lives, what we will eat or where we will live or what we will wear – when we know someone is taking care of us – then we know true freedom. It is the freedom to live with peace of mind because we don’t have to worry about ourselves. This freedom is not the ability to do whatever we want, for when we live under God’s care, we also voluntarily submit ourselves to his authority. If God has promised to provide for us, we must also accept that his ways are best, for he has shown that he has our best interests in mind.

The story of Exodus serves as a model

for a later story found in the Bible. In the New Testament, the apostle Paul adopts the language of slavery and freedom to talk about what Jesus Christ has done for us.

He says that Jesus has come to free us from slavery, and he has given us new life. But our freedom in Christ is not freedom without restriction. When we gain that new life by trusting that Jesus has set us free from the powers of sin and darkness, we voluntarily put ourselves in a position where, out of gratitude for what he has done for us, we live in his way. As a Christian, as one who believes that Jesus has given me new life and security, I am confident that he will remain committed to me. As a result, I have committed myself to living for him and shaping my priorities after his will. I don’t do this perfectly, but I understand that true freedom is not a life

without restrictions but, rather, true freedom is found in a life where I know that someone bigger than me who loves me is looking out for me.

As I reflect on the teachings of the Bible, it seems that it is providing us with an understanding of freedom that is a little different from how we often define it today. It warns us away from freedom without God, for that would be to live in an inhospitable wilderness where the resources available to us do not seem sufficient to provide for our needs. Life without God is life in the Sahara Desert.

The Bible teaches us that life with God, as it is experienced through Jesus Christ, is the abundant life where we can live in the freedom of knowing that God provides, and we gratefully respond with a willingness to serve him as our king.

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THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022. PAGE 19.

100th IPM loses day to rain, but still impresses

A late start While the 2017 International Plowing Match may have lost its first two days as a result of torrential downpour, it rebounded tremendously for the final three days of the week after a Herculian effort to dry the grounds and make them suitable for thousands of visitors. Then-Premier Kathleen Wynne and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau were among the dignitaries that attended the match, the 100th in Ontario history. (File photo) Continued from page 11 on the 1999 IPM logo. It took two years of planning and a team of 20 volunteers working over a threeday period to put the display together but it became the talk of the IPM. The 100th IPM The Huron County Plowmen’s Association expressed interest in hosting the 2017 IPM in March, 2012, five and a half years before the match would actually take place.

Huron County representatives knew at the time that it would be the 100th IPM. This was one year before the 100th anniversary IPM in 2013 – the match a century after the first match, which was held in York County in 1913 – but, due to the loss of four years of IPMs between 1942 and 1945, the 2017 match would be the 100th actual IPM. At the time, three potential sites in Huron County were still up for discussion, including one in East Wawanosh.

In early March, 2013, Huron County won the right to host the 2017 IPM. While it had been rumoured that other counties were planning to bid on the match, in the end Huron was the only county in the running.

It was former Huron and Ontario Queen of the Furrow Melissa Sparling (now Veldman) who made the bid on behalf of the county, suggesting that perhaps other counties were “scared off” by the strength of the Huron County bid.

On June 23, 2013, the Huron County Plowmen’s Association held a special event in Seaforth called “A Celebration of Rural Plowing” that served as the stage for several important announcements.

There, the association announced that Bluevale’s Jacquie Bishop would be chair of the 2017 IPM – the first woman to ever serve in that capacity. In addition, it was on that day that Walton was announced as the match site by way of an ice sculpture bearing the community’s name being revealed to those in attendance.

In the spring of 2014, the IPM’s logo and slogan were revealed in Goderich at a meeting of Huron County Council. The winning logo was designed by Heather Logan of Brussels, based on a concept by Kevin and Alicia Deitner, while the slogan, “Huron Hosts on Ontario’s West Coast” was crafted by Charlene O’Reilly and her mother Ruth Townsend.

In early 2015, IPM organizers began to pursue a potential partnership with the Brussels Agricultural Society that would see the 2017 Brussels Fall Fair hosted on the IPM grounds in Walton.

A month later, IPM organizers appointed a number of honorary senators – men who had a long history in the world of competitive plowing and whose expertise in the

Sudoku Solution

event was second to none. Neil McGavin, Don Dodds, Don Pullen, George Townsend and Graeme Craig (who passed away earlier this year), who was the chair of the 1999 IPM, the last to be held in Huron County, were all “appointed” to the senator positions.

In May, 2015, four months after the concept was first floated, the Brussels Agricultural Society voted to officially partner with the IPM and host the 2017 Brussels Fall Fair at the match in Walton.

The one-year countdown to the IPM began in September, 2016 with another one-of-a-kind event, which served as a fundraiser for the Brussels Agricultural Society. There was a ceremonial passing of the torch from the closing ceremonies of the 2016 IPM in Wellington County and a procession to Brussels.

IPM Secretary Lynne Godkin, a veteran marathon runner, travelled on foot from the Wellington County site to Brussels and transferred dirt from that site to a tree-planting ceremony in Brussels.

The first day of the match was marred by a torrential downpour that would eventually force the closure of the site. Many politicians, including then-Premier Kathleen Wynne, attended the opening ceremonies.

Just after opening, the match was closed to the public, with the rain turning the site into a mud pit.

Hundreds of volunteers, farmers and community members banded together, donated time and materials over the course of the day, as well as the next day, during which the site was also closed to members of the public, to rehabilitate the site after the damage done by the rain.

Straw and any number of other materials were used on the ground in

tents all over the site, while machines were hard at work smoothing out the thoroughfares, readying them for members of the public again.

The site reopened on the Thursday of the week and the rain made way for scorching heat for the last three days of the match, which were very successful. Even Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family made a visit to the site, spending time with some students and popping in at the Queen of the Furrow competition.

Justin also tried his hand at competitive plowing under the coaching of Brian McGavin.

In the end, the IPM in Walton realized a healthy profit, even when considering that the site was only open for three of the scheduled five days. That money was handed out to local charities, with some set aside for the creation of the IPM Legacy Fund, a scholarship fund that aims to provide students with assistance for years to come.

After a number of delays, the Blyth Community Market returned to the village’s downtown last week, including a booth for the Bayfield Berry Farm, shown above.

(Denny Scott photo)

on August 18, 2022

Happy Birthday Ross And many more

Love, Bunny, Dave, Debra, Paul, Vince and Amelia

Robert and Doreen Raymond

70th Wedding Anniversary The family of Robert and Doreen (Menzies) Raymond of Stratford, (formerly Brussels, ON) wish their parents, grandparents, great-grandparents a very happy 70th wedding anniversary on August 9th, 2022.

They were married in Brussels, ON in 1952. Their family includes three sons and three daughters, the late Murray Raymond (Margaret), the late Bruce Raymond (Maureen), Keith (Loree) Raymond, Colleen (Doug) Smith, Carol Raymond (Kevin Carter), the late Marg Roy (Art); along with 19 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren.

You are an inspiration to us all! Love always from your family.

Happy 40th Anniversary Keith & Gloria Wilbee August 14, 1982 - August 14, 2022

Back at it

Wow, look who’s 80

PAGE 20. THE CITIZEN, FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022.

Nelemans resigns seat

By Denny Scott The Citizen

Twenty-two years after first winning a municipal seat, MorrisTurnberry Councillor Jim Nelemans has officially attended his last council meeting in the community, resigning his position as of Sept. 1.

Nelemans, who has held a municipal seat for approximately 19 years over five non-consecutive terms, told council he would be moving out of the area, relocating to Grand Bend by the time council held its next regular meeting in early September.

Nelemans was first elected in the 2000 election for Morris-Turnberry, serving until he lost his seat in 2010. He then returned in 2014 and served until Tuesday evening.

Nelemans said he wouldn’t be far and already had plans to visit the area with his motorhome, planning on visiting neighbours and friends so he wouldn’t miss any of the activities in the community he had called home for so many years.

Mayor Jamie Heffer said it wasn’t good news for the municipality, especially since Nelemans represented a wealth of experience in not just municipal council, but Morris-Turnberry specifically, pointing to the fact that Nelemans could be seen in most of

the pictures of past councils in the council chambers. He said he appreciated Nelemans’ work and wished him well in his move to another municipality.

As a result of the resignation, council had three options available to it, according to Chief Administrative Officer Trevor Hallam. Normally, when a seat is vacated, council can either appoint a replacement councillor until the next election, often interviewing candidates or looking to the last election to determine a successor, or hold a by-election. However, as Nelemans’ resignation is within 90 days of the next municipal election, council also had the option of leaving his seat vacant until then.

Councillor Jamie McCallum asked if that might have a negative impact on council’s quorum, or the minimum number of council members needed for a meeting. As a five-member council, its quorum is set at three seats.

Hallam said that council’s would still have five seats, so quorum would require three members, meaning if more than one councillor was unable to attend a meeting, it couldn’t officially be held.

At staff’s recommendation, council decided to leave the seat vacant until the Oct. 24 election.

Weaving The Dungannon Little Country Fair was held over the weekend at the Dungannon Agricultural Society Park in the community. Aside from tractor pulls, meals and several 4-H shows, there was also a horse show featuring a number of exciting activities including the pole bending event shown above. (Denny Scott photo)

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Big lineup Joe Crookston, a true renaissance artist with dozens of skills, was one of the many performers at the Goderich Celtic Festival over the weekend. (Denny Scott photo)

Bridge costs a concern Continued from page 1 future services and facilities.

The municipality’s reserves sit at just over $8 million, having climbed nearly $3 million since 2017.

Miltenburg, however, wondered if council is saving too much in reserves.

Bridge said that depends on on what kind of projects the municipality is saving for.

“ACW is in a comfortable position, with working capital and accumulated general surpluses in good shape,” she said. “Special project reserves are also in good condition.”

Bridge also said that some of the reserves were earmarked for 2021 projects that weren’t finished, but will be completed this year.

Miltenburg said her concern wasn’t that ACW wasn’t in a “good position”, but that the municipality may be stockpiling too much funds.

Bridge said that, for every 10 people asked about how to fund projects, there will be 10 different answers, though most will either involve accumulating funds as ACW has done or borrowing to fund for infrastructure. She said

both made sense, with the latter meaning that people paying for the services are benefitting from it and the former meaning that savings are being used to enhance the municipality.

Council made no changes as a result of the discussion.

Later on in the presentation, while looking at the municipality's assets, Miltenburg noted that the municipality’s bridges were depreciating quickly and that the municipality needed to prepare for replacing them.

“We have way too many bridges,” she said, asking if the municipality should be putting more in reserves to keep up with the replacement of the structures.

Bridge said that was part of the municipality’s asset management plan, and that staff should know when structures will need to be replaced.

Council received the report after discussing it further, including Bridge’s assessment that, like other rural municipalities, ACW has benefited from federal and provincial funding to help weather the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns.

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