The
THIS WEEK 4 • Editorials 8 • Sports 9 • History 10 • Munro
Citizen
Huron County’s most trusted independent news source Volume 40 No. 21
Friday, May 24, 2024
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Brussels Ball Day coming By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen
Under sunny skies With the arrival of the Victoria Day long weekend comes, unofficially, the arrival of summer in Ontario. It was warm and sunny over the weekend, which meant there was plenty to see and do on the streets of Huron County, including the beginning of the Sunday Artisan
Market season in Goderich. Above, Goderich’s Autumn Ducharme was among the artists making their work available. Ducharme’s offerings included the prints she created for the upcoming season of the Blyth Festival, marking its 50th anniversary. (Scott Stephenson photo)
CH again turns down Pride flag request By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen For the second straight year, Central Huron Council has opted not to fly the Pride flag at any of its municipal properties after a request for inclusivity from Huron Perth Public Health (HPPH). The request, which was discussed at Tuesday night’s meeting, was filed under correspondence for council. Councillor Jennifer Cox asked that it be extracted for discussion and she recommended that council approve the requests, which included declaring June to be Pride Month and flying a Pride flag at one of the municipality’s properties. Cox, who had supported the request when it was made last year as well, said that she felt the case that was made last year - that the municipality would be inundated with an untenable volume of flagflying requests - had not come to pass and she felt the municipality
should fly the Pride flag. She said that, as far as she knew, the municipality had not received any other flag-flying requests in that time and felt that flying the Pride flag would go a long way to showing people, specifically the very young people the municipality works so hard to attract, that the community is welcoming, open and inclusive. She then wondered where the flag could go, stating that the municipality flies a lot of flags throughout its borders and surely one pole could be made available for a Pride flag. Deputy-Mayor Marg Anderson then asked about Central Huron’s flag policy and Clerk Rachel Anstett told her that it declares that Central Huron fly the national, provincial and municipal flags, but that any changes could be made at the discretion of council. Anderson then asked which flag, if Central Huron was to fly the Pride flag, would come down for the month.
Staff jokingly said that decision was likely above their pay grade, but that the municipal flag likely made the most sense. Councillor Dan Colquhoun returned to last year’s argument, asking where council would then “draw the line” in regards to flag requests, asking if council would consider flying Palestinian, Black Lives Matter or “Jewish” flags. He rebuked Cox’s assessment of the situation, saying that people weren’t asking because council had made it very clear that it won’t do it. Central Huron flies the national, provincial and municipal flags, he said, and that’s it, so that’s why people haven’t asked. He insisted that, if council were to go ahead with flying the Pride flag, the municipality would be inundated with requests to fly other flags. Councillor Michael Russo then said his answer would be a “solid no” on flying the flag. Mayor Jim Ginn said that the municipality doesn’t make a habit
of “declaring” specific months, weeks or days when requested, but that he would support the declaration of Pride Month. Flying the flag, however, he would not support. That’s when he asked about the possibility of splitting the Continued on page 2
Brussels Minor Ball Day is returning on Saturday, June 1 with a full slate of games and plenty of other activities to keep everyone busy and entertained. At 8 a.m. that day, the Black and Red T-ball teams will play one another on the village’s main diamond, followed by a 9 a.m. contest between the U7 Black and Red teams. The U9 Black and Red teams will play one another at 10 a.m., followed by the first game with an outside opponent when the U11 Girls take on the Listowel Legends at 11:30 a.m. At 1 p.m., the U11 Boys will play Seaforth, the U13 Girls will play the Elma Express 2 team at 2:30 p.m. and the U13 Boys will play Wingham at 4 p.m. At 5:30 p.m., the U15 Girls will play the final youth game of the day against Seaforth before the Brussels Bangers take on the Walton Brewers at 7:30 p.m. in Huron County Fastball League regular season action. Also that day, which serves as a fundraiser for Brussels Minor Ball, there will be a barbecue, cotton candy and visits with Pinky the Clown. The Brussels Legion will also be hosting a fish fry for dinner at the ballpark, although tickets for that dinner must be purchased in advance. Brussels Tigers hats and visors will also be on sale throughout the day for $25 each. As for regular season Brussels Tigers youth baseball action, the U13 Girls opened play earlier on May 13 with a game on the road against the Mitchell Hornets, which the locals won the game by a score of 19-0. Also Continued on page 8
OPP lays further charges in death Two additional individuals have now been charged in relation to a drug overdose death investigation in Huron County. On Sept. 13, 2023, police were called to a residence in Central Huron where a 19-year-old male was found unresponsive and died at the scene. The investigation revealed the victim died as a result of an opioid overdose.
The continuing investigation, led by the Huron County Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Community Street Crime Unit, the Huron County OPP Major Crime Unit, West Region OPP Regional Support Team, OPP Highway Safety Division Highway Enforcement Team, under the direction of the OPP Criminal Continued on page 3