The Citizen - Sept. 3, 2020

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Thursday, September 3, 2020

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Safety concerns persist

By Denny Scott The Citizen

Touching up the belfry Even though the annual reunion of the Huron Pioneer Thresher and Hobby Association won’t be going ahead this year due to COVID-19, that doesn’t mean that the association is sitting idle. Among the jobs being tackled are the reconstruction of the cider press in the Memorial Building and, earlier this week, the restoration of the bell

tower on top of Shed 3 at the Blyth Campground. Association member Herman Mooy tackled the job with the help of Harv Bernard, who operated the bucket truck, and Joe Hallahan and Barry Young tackling clean-up. The job began and concluded all before lunch on Monday morning, showing a tremendous level of efficiency from the volunteers. (Denny Scott photo)

COVID-19 remains active in Huron, Perth

By Denny Scott The Citizen Four new cases of COVID-19 have been identified in Huron and Perth Counties over the past week, and all four are asymptomatic cases in healthcare workers discovered through surveillance testing.

Huron Perth Public Health (HPPH) provided an update via email on Monday detailing the cases, saying that isolation measures had already taken place.

“Further public health investigation revealed low likelihood of active infection,” the press release said. “Repeat testing was initiated and our investigation is still pending.”

While there is an increase in the number of cases, there are currently only eight active cases, a significant drop from the 29 active cases reported last Monday.

Prior to the Monday update, HPPH announced that the Zehr’s Country Market locations in Dashwood and Bayfield were allowed to open as of Aug. 28.

The sites had been closed since Aug. 14 as a result of a COVID-19 outbreak later connected to numerous cases in southern Huron County, many through household infections, according to the HPPH. After successfully switching over to a new provincial reporting program, the HPPH can now provide demographic information for cases, including lower-tier locations, which are provided below.

In Huron County there have been a total of 43 confirmed cases, the majority of which are in Central Huron, Bluewater and South Huron.

Bluewater and Central Huron have had 12 confirmed cases each, South Huron has had 10, Huron East has had three confirmed cases, Ashfield-

Coblorne-Wawanosh and Goderich have had two cases each while Morris-Turnberry and North Huron have each had one confirmed case.

Howick Township has had no confirmed cases of COVID-19.

In Perth County, there have been 77 confirmed cases, the majority of which have been in Stratford, which has 29 confirmed cases. North Perth has had 16 cases, while Perth East has had 15. West Perth has had six cases and Perth South, outside of St. Marys, has had five cases. St. Marys, where the region’s first case was identified, has had six cases.

Prior to switching to the new program, most cases were individuals over the age of 50 in Huron and Perth Counties, however that’s changed. The most recent information indicates that 26 confirmed cases, the highest in the demographic, have been in patients aged 20 to 29 years old. There have

been 12 patients in the 0-19 year bracket, 15 in the 30-39 bracket, 10 in the 40-49 bracket, 21 in the 50-59 bracket, 22 in the 60-69 bracket, six in the 70-79 bracket and eight cases in patients over 80 years old.

For more information visit hpph.ca.

While several sections of sidewalk have been installed by North Huron, as requested by the Blyth Business Improvement Area (BIA), some of the other safety requests just can’t be met, according to BIA Chair David Sparling.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the BIA had presented an extensive list of recommended changes to foster safer transport and parking throughout the community. The changes included sidewalks, as well as addressing ongoing concern at the intersection of Blyth and London Roads at the south end of the community.

During the BIA’s first in-person meeting since the COVID-19 pandemic started, Sparling explained that several sections of sidewalk had been completed, helping to link the community together.

New sidewalks had been installed on Gypsy Lane from King Street south to Wellington Street, with other sections to follow. The request for those sidewalks aimed to connect the Blyth and District Community Centre and the Blyth Lions Park to the main street, the former to provide parking for the downtown core and the latter to allow families to make their way to the park safely.

However, a request had been made for sidewalks to go further south on Gypsy Lane, Sparling explained, and that couldn’t happen.

“Municipal drains for Gypsy Lane are on the boulevard, not under the street,” he said. “The sidewalk would cross right across the drains.

For safety, and practicality, the sidewalk on Gypsy north to King Street [from County Road 25] cannot go in.”

Sparling said it was disappointing, but added that North Huron staff, including retired Director of Public Continued on page 2

Blyth signs replaced

By Denny Scott The Citizen The Blyth Business Improvement Area (BIA) has achieved two of its major goals this year in replacing the changeable letter signs at the north and south ends of the village and replacing the blue wayfinding totems located throughout Blyth.

During the BIA’s Aug. 27 meeting, Chair David Sparling said the wayfinding totems would be

replaced shortly, while the changeable letter signs were able to be refurbished. He added that letters were being crafted for the signs by Blyth Printing. The entire system should be operational soon, he said.

Aside from the letters, Sparling also said that images were also being produced for use with the changeable letter signs including the Blyth BIA logo and the Blyth Lions Club’s logo for use when Continued on page 16

PAGE 2. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2020.

Blyth’s Pizzati earns McCall scholarship

By Denny Scott The Citizen

A repeat site The intersection of Blyth and London Roads (County Roads 4 and 25) continues to be a concern for the Blyth Business Improvement Area (BIA) due to the number of collisions that occur there and the danger posed to pedestrians in the area. While other requests the BIA has made, including new sidewalks in the community, have been heard by North Huron, the continued requests for changes at the intersection go without answer from Huron County according to North Huron Councillor Kevin Falconer. Above, a minor collision occurred at the intersection last week resulting in no reported injuries. (Denny Scott photo)

Blyth-area Central Huron Secondary School graduate Joy Pizzati won the McCall Huron County Scholarship, entitling her to up to $24,000 over four years to help fund her post-secondary school career.

Pizzati, in an interview with The Citizen, said it was very humbling to receive the scholarship, adding she was very happy, excited and honoured to be chosen.

She thanked her high school teachers for encouraging her to look into the program, and said that winning the scholarships will make a huge difference for her.

“It will definitely mean much less debt and take a lot of stress off my shoulders on the financial level,” she said.

The scholarship is renewable annually, which means she will have to work hard in her new community at school, Pizzati said. “[It will] push me to continue excelling with my involvement,” she said.

Pizzati is pursuing an education in nursing through McMaster University in Hamilton.

The scholarship recognizes positive attributes like honesty, integrity and hard work by looking at community involvement, athletics and extracurricular activities and leadership potential.

The scholarship was created by Huron County native Marcy McCall MacBain. Students in Central Huron Secondary School, F.E. Madill Secondary School, Goderich District Collegiate Institute, South Huron District High School and St. Anne’s Catholic Secondary School can apply.

To be eligible, students must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, have a minimum high school average of 80 per cent, be entering an undergraduate program at a public Canadian University in 2020 and be in good academic and non-academic standing with the school. Up to five recipients are chosen per year.

For more information, visit mccallmacbain.org.

London Road, Blyth Road intersection still a concern Continued from page 1 Works and Facilities Sean McGhee, had done great things in trying to make the sidewalks happen.

Sparling also said that McGhee’s replacement, Director of Public Works Jamie McCarthy, had been invited to the BIA’s November meeting to continue to discuss the project.

Later, as part of his report to the BIA from North Huron Council, Councillor Kevin Falconer said that a sidewalk extension on London Road to the southern extremes of the village was also on hold, as it could be a waste of tax dollars. The sidewalk was one of many requested by the BIA. Falconer said that any work done could be futile as it may need to be ripped up if Huron County Council approves any actions at the collisionprone intersection of Blyth and London Roads. Unfortunately, he said any changes there were unlikely.

“Huron County has not moved an inch on what they’re going to do with that corner,” he said. “They have no plans for the next couple of years.”

He said, in his opinion, it’s just a matter of time before Huron County Council is forced to act as the result of a significant collision at the corner.

Having a sidewalk go to the south end of the village is part of North Huron’s plan, he said, however

without Huron County moving on the intersection, any work North Huron does could be undone.

COLLISIONS CONTINUE As part of the discussion about the sidewalk, the dangers of the intersection at Blyth and London Roads were also discussed by the BIA at length.

Irene Kellins of Stitches with a Twist, commenting on a “Letter to the Editor” in The Citizen from Brenda Burkholder, said she wondered what was needed at the intersection. In the letter, Burkholder claimed that no changes were needed at the intersection and, instead, control measures needed to be implemented to slow down speeding vehicles approaching the corner.

Sparling said that, in reviewing many of the collisions, he didn’t believe that it was just a matter of speed, but of visibility. He said there are consistent issues with sightlines when looking at the collisions.

He also said that watching

pedestrians try to navigate the intersection is distressing, and that the viability of the employees and businesses in that part of the village are tied to making the intersection safer for not just traffic, but pedestrians as well.

“You can have cars slow down all you want, it’s still a miserable, unsafe intersection,” he said.

Sparling went on to say that the intersection is a detriment to employers at the south end of the community trying to recruit people and attract customers as it makes walking to the businesses a dangerous proposition.

Rev. JoAnn Todd, who represents the local clergy on the BIA, said something needs to be done.

“The bottom line is, what is the right thing to do?” she asked.

“There’s fighting over jurisdiction or money and it just seems wrong. The right thing to do is to make that corner safe, whether you’re a pedestrian from Central Huron, North Huron or Morris-Turnberry.”

She said the politicians seem to have lost track of that primary underpinning of doing what’s right throughout all these debates.

Falconer said collisions at the corner have been going on for decades and the reality is that the intersection isn’t high on Huron County’s list.

“They have no ambition,” he said.

“It’s been asked and asked and asked and they’ve studied it to death.”

Vice-Chair Shane Yerema of Hotel Lux said that the county should be made aware of the legal situation it may find itself in if there is a fatality at the corner. He told a story about a dangerous intersection in his home community in which the government responsible for the site was told that every person involved in an accident there would be told that the government was aware of the danger and to let the court system figure it

out. He said the result was that traffic control methods were installed rather quickly.

Sparling said that it’s only a matter of time before there’s a fatality at the intersection or there’s another patient on an ORNGE air ambulance if nothing is done. He said the BIA would keep raising the pedestrian concern, but admitted he feels it’s ridiculous that the BIA needs to continue to do so.

The BIA took no action as a result of the discussions.

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THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2020. PAGE 3.

Van Dorp, van Leeuwen earn international scholarships

Winning words By penning scholarships about the single word that Tim Hortons means to them, Ryan Van Dorp, left, and Emily van Leeuwen each earned one of 220 Tim Hortons Scholarships that are awarded across Canada and the United States. (Denny Scott photo)

By Denny Scott The Citizen Emily van Leeuwen and Ryan Van Dorp, both of Blyth, claimed two of the 220 Tim Hortons Scholarships across Canada and the United States thanks to short essays they penned about what the iconic business means to them.

The scholarship program is open to employees of the restaurant chain like van Leeuwen, and, this year, challenged applicants to, in one word, describe Tim Hortons and how that word represents the business’ brand.

For van Leeuwen, that one word was “home”.

“I wrote about how it’s home for me, especially during the pandemic,” she said in an interview with The Citizen. “It became a second home. It got me out of my house and my coworkers are my best friends right now. I don’t really see anyone else.”

She said that, from a corporate standpoint, having people feel like Tim Hortons is comfortable enough to feel like home is a good thing and that idea likely scored her some extra points in the competition.

Since the announcement of the scholarships, van Leeuwen has stopped working at the Blyth Tim Hortons to focus on her education.

She is a student of the University of Waterloo where she is studying psychology, however for the time being all her classes are online, so she will remain in Blyth.

When she does eventually get to Waterloo to study, van Leeuwen said she would consider working at a Tim Hortons there, saying she enjoys both the atmosphere and environment.

Van Dorp chose the word “control” for his essay, saying that, like in a science experiment, Tim Hortons is a controlled atmosphere, a constant, that helps people feel comfortable and safe.

“I wanted to do a word that could capture the general sense of [Tim Hortons] but also be more creative,”

he said. “In a scientific experiment there is a control, which always stays the same while everything else changes around it, and that’s the word I chose.”

Van Dorp explained that he didn’t initially pick a word, but started writing about what Tim Hortons meant to him.

“I was just writing what I wanted to write about: [Tim Hortons] is a place you can always go to and feel comfortable. I found that “control” was a more creative way to explain that.”

Van Dorp said his essay’s message may be similar to others, but because he chose to illustrate what Tim Hortons is the way he did, it won’t be exactly the same, which may have played into why he was chosen.

“I think the idea set itself apart from others,” he said, adding he hoped it was a well-written and creative essay, leading to the win.

Van Dorp is attending Brock University in St. Catharines this year and studying business administration. He said he would consider returning to Tim Hortons after taking a break from working there for school in the coming week.

The scholarship-winning essays van Leeuwen and Van Dorp penned are below: Emily van Leeuwen - Home There are many words that one could use to describe Tim Hortons and its brand. Some people may use the words “fresh” or “coffee” or “friendly”, but those words, as good as they are, don’t quite cut it.

For me, Tim Hortons is “home”.

It’s a place where I can go to feel loved and respected, not only as an employee, but as a customer as well.

At Tim Hortons, it’s not the drivethru times or the up-selling that we emphasize, it’s the customer. We treat every customer as family and do our best to help them out. Behind the counter, there’s even more going on.

Each employee has the backs of their coworkers. You can often hear us telling jokes to each other, having

conversations, and working together as one unified team. If you look even closer, you can see the bond that has formed between the employees. You can find them sticking up for each other and helping each other out.

What I’ve learned through my time at Tim Hortons is that a team doesn’t necessarily need to work like cogs in a machine. As long as each person respects the other people, recognizes a gap that needs to be filled, and fills it, the team can work just as smoothly, nay, more smoothly than cogs in a machine.

These qualities are ones that describe a family, and for me, wherever my family is, my home is as well. Tim Hortons is where I go to relax and have a coffee when I’m not working. When I am working, Tim Hortons becomes my home away from home. It’s where people show love and respect to each other in simple ways – through a smile or an encouraging word, or even just joking around. This simplicity speaks volumes.

The chosen family is where home is. And Tim Hortons is the family I choose. It’s the pinnacle of the community; the piece of the puzzle

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that brings them all together.

Without Tim Hortons, the pull of home wouldn’t feel as strong and I would still be scouring the earth for a place to call my home. If home is where the heart is, my heart belongs to the community, and in turn belongs to Tim Hortons.

Ryan Van Dorp - Control One word to describe Tim Hortons would be the control. In science, the control variable is the one thing that does not change in the experiment. It creates a sense of balance and purpose in a constantly changing experiment. Tim Hortons does the same thing in life.

People’s lives are filled with ups and downs. There is joy, fun, and happiness. But also heartache, grief, and pain. But through it all, there is always Tims. When people are happy they celebrate at Tim Hortons.

It becomes a place to share their joy with others. A place to get together and be happy together. Major life achievements warrant celebration.

Tim Hortons becomes the perfect place to go and be happy.

When catching up with an old friend there can be uncertainty about how things will play out. But when they grab a coffee here they are in a place they know and feel comfortable in. This familiarity can take the edge off and cut through the nerves for that best of conversations to unfold. And when life takes a sour turn and people are down on themselves it is a place of comfort.

Because no matter who they are or

how they feel they are welcomed and accepted.

When mourning a loved one it is a place to reminisce and be comforted.

With that familiar and friendly atmosphere, one can always be assured to find memories of the one they lost here. And they hope to make new ones with the people they still have left in the world. It is a place for unlikely friendships.

Being a neutral ground where everyone is equal, friendships are inevitable. It is there in everyday life as well. When going to work it is a morning coffee and a friendly smile.

It starts off the day the right way. No matter how someone is feeling when they wake up it will help to put them into a good mood. When going to watch a local sporting event grabbing a coffee to watch with will never fail to bring about the right mood.

In life it is essential that people find things that are unchangingly positive. These cause stability and support to keep life headed in the right direction. Tim Hortons is that for many people. No matter race, sex, or religion it is constant. People need a communal place that, no matter their mood, they can go to and be treated fairly.

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Everything on this side Hell is mercy! (“The Mute Christian Under the Smarting Rod” or “The Silent Soul with Sovereign Antidotes” by Thomas Brooks, 1659) “I was silent; I would not open my mouth, for You are the one who has done this!”

Psalm 39:9 Oh! labour every day to be more humble and more low and little in your own eyes.

“Who am I,” says the humble soul — “to complain of trials I am not worthy of the least mercy I deserve not a crumb of mercy, I have forfeited every mercy!”

It is only pride that puts men upon complaining and contending with God. A humble soul will lie quiet at the foot of God; it will be contented with bare necessities.

A dinner of green herbs is relished to the humble man’s palate; whereas a stalled ox is but a coarse dish to a proud man’s stomach.

A humble heart looks upon... small mercies as great mercies; and great afflictions as small afflictions; and small afflictions as no afflictions; and therefore sits mute and quiet under all.

Do but keep humble, and you will keep silent before the Lord.

Pride kicks, and grumbles, and frets — but a humble man has still his hand upon his mouth. Everything on this side Hell is mercy — much mercy, rich mercy to a humble soul; and therefore he remains mute under God’s smarting rod.

A Grace Gem Submitted by: Immanuel United Reformed Church, Listowel, ON 519-492-1359

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PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2020.

Editorials & Opinions

President: Keith Roulston • Publisher: Deb Sholdice Editor: Shawn Loughlin • Reporter: Denny Scott Advertising Sales: Brenda Nyveld

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Shop local, market local Hundreds of Canadian radio and television stations could close as a result of reduced advertising revenue due to COVID-19. A report last week by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) predicts a cumulative revenue shortfall of over $1 billion by 2022.

Independents, A.M. radio and small markets are facing the biggest risk, which means that local, community media in rural areas stand to lose the most with little-to-no coverage on the networks or online news sites to compensate for the loss of their community reporters.

The CAB is advocating for both emergency funding and for the CRTC to establish a “more fair and sustainable future” for local media.

The study suggests that advertisers are pulling back on spending during the pandemic, hastening a decline the industry was already experiencing, but it seems they aren’t pulling back on all advertising.

While traditional media and local retailers struggle to make money, internet giants like Amazon and Facebook are reporting record profits.

We can still choose where we shop and how we receive our news.

With strong “shop local” campaigns across the country to bolster retail revenue in the post-pandemic economy, perhaps a corollary campaign of “advertise local” will be needed to boost our local media. – DS

Truth in the crosshairs Federal Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole is now the man taking aim at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He’s also the man who wants to make Canada great again, or, rather, “Take Canada Back”.

There are numerous reasons not to vote for Trudeau, but O’Toole instead seems to be appealing to right-wing populism, adopting President Donald Trump’s whipping boy, the media, as his own.

O’Toole has pledged to essentially defund the CBC, though he says he will “modernize” the corporation. He plans to end funding to CBC Digital, cut the television division’s funding in half on the way to privatization, but maintain funding for CBC Radio and Radio-Canada.

He has also pledged to end the Liberal government’s $600 million “media bailout”, which he says has “undermined” media independence.

In fact, O’Toole has been happy to talk about his beliefs about the CBC, even on the CBC. When he spoke about defunding the CBC on the network, it was cut for time (a poor decision by producers) and O’Toole pounced, resorting to Tweeting links “exposing” the CBC’s “bias” from The Toronto Sun and far-right-leaning alternative news sources like True North, perhaps just a step left from Rebel News, often described as Canada’s Breitbart. (Rebel and True North were both denied accreditation to the 2019 national leaders’ debate in Gatineau, citing their roles in “advocacy”, though they later won a legal challenge to attend.)

This comes after former party leader Andrew Scheer Tweeted, saying media bias against Conservatives has never been more clear, chastising the CBC for ignoring right-wing politics. He offered alternative news sources to Conservatives who no longer want to be “the silent majority”.

With O’Toole already sowing the seeds of distrust between voters and the media, the next federal election could easily mimic what has happened in the United States, with a major party leader pushing partisan half-truths masquerading as unbiased news coverage. – SL

How did it come to this?

We all love those feel-good stories in which someone takes up the mantle of saviour for another person or group of people because the world seems to have forgotten them. Maybe it’s a little girl raising money to fight cancer with a lemonade stand or a little boy donating his birthday presents to less fortunate young people. Those stories move people because they show that, even with small actions, we can be better.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a lemonade stand that can stamp out racism or a birthday present that can promote Black Lives Matter, so instead of those feel-good stories, we are watching professional athletes take a knee or not play the games they love to play. Why? Because change isn’t coming fast enough. Racism is rampant and people of colour are being discriminated against daily despite the efforts of those protesting.

While it’s great that these athletes across the major televised sports (basketball, baseball, hockey and football) have taken up the mantle of Black Lives Matter and shared their support, it’s unfortunate it has had to come to this. Those feel good news stories and these protests show us, as a community, how we’re failing. We’re not supporting each other, be it in fighting racism or cancer or ensuring we all have enough.

While these stories may make us feel good that so many are pulling for change, we shouldn’t be looking to athletes to show us what’s right.

We should be looking inwards or to our leaders to make these changes.

So while it’s great that the athletes in the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA are supporting Black Lives Matter, the question is why they should have to. We should all be doing better and not leaving it to the rich and famous to lead the charge. – JDS

Looking Back Through the Years September 5, 1963 The “blitz” conducted in Brussels, Morris and Grey to raise funds for artificial ice in the Brussels arena was met with a positive response, marking an excellent start to a campaign to raise the necessary funds.

A Belgrave youth baseball team won a best-of-five playoff series against their neighbours from Lucknow, sweeping the series in three straight games.

After winning the first game of the series, Belgrave took control with a win in game two, taking 14 innings to secure a 5-4 win before finishing the series with a 11-3 win.

The Belgrave team would then face the winner of a series between Teeswater and Formosa.

September 1, 1971 Blyth was proud of the athletic prowess of two of its young residents as Joan Watson and Elizabeth Battye took part in the Lake Huron Zone Region Athletic Meet in St. Marys. The pair returned home with the trophy as overall winners of the competition with a total of 198 points.

In addition, Lori Ann Hesselwood and Bruce Hunking were both local winners. Hesselwood claimed the Girls’ 12 and Under Trophy, while Hunking won the Boys’ Seven and Under Trophy.

The Blyth Trotting Pony Club held its eighth annual race meet of the year with a very good turnout. It was not the club’s final race of the season, however, with another scheduled for Sept. 12 at 7 p.m.

The Huron Pioneer Threshers were in the midst of preparing for the “biggest and best” reunion in history on Sept. 10-11. George Searson reported that 11 large steam engines were registered to take part

in the reunion, while Don Snell said this year’s reunion would also include a higher number of model steam engines than in previous years.

September 8, 1999 While most municipalities in Huron County met the Sept. 1 deadline to submit a restructuring proposal, the timeline remained tight if the newly-amalgamated municipalities were to be in place by the fall of 2000.

Huron County councillors also approved a threshold of 4,000 electors for representation on council. That defeated a previouslypassed threshold of 3,000 electors.

Using the 3,000-elector limit would result in a Huron County Council of between 23-27 councillors, while the 4,000-elector mark would result in a council of between 18-21 members.

The Blyth Festival was set to host its first-ever golf tournament. The “Four Play Fore Blyth” tournament was scheduled to take place on Sept.

17 at the Seaforth Golf and Country Club.

Four young women put their names forward in the hopes of becoming the next Brussels Fall Fair Ambassador. Judy Bondi, Ashley Gropp, Katie Harrison and Sarah McLellan all hoped to wear the crown when the ceremony took place that weekend.

Over 200 people attended a special celebration for the 50th wedding anniversary of Edna and Tom Pletch, which was held at their home in Brussels.

September 2, 2010 The Avon Maitland District School Board rescinded a deadline it had imposed on the construction of a new “super school” in Wingham.

A press release from the school

board stated that progress was being made towards receiving the funding necessary to continue building at the board’s preferred site at the end of John Street in Wingham, adjacent to F.E. Madill Secondary School.

The decision didn’t guarantee the construction of the school, but it did send a clear message that the board wouldn’t be changing its site immediately.

A Special Investigation Unit (SIU) report into the murder of OPP Const. Vu Pham just south of Walton, an incident that also resulted in the death of Pham’s killer, Fred Preston, cleared Pham’s partner, Const. Del Mercey, of any wrongdoing in the incident.

The report concluded that Mercey was forced to shoot Preston lest he risk being killed himself.

It further stated that Preston was travelling to the home of his sisterin-law motivated by revenge. He called his daughter on the way and she promptly called 911 and alerted police to the situation.

A 59-year-old Brussels-area man died after falling into a grain silo just north of Brussels.

The Grey Township Fire Department and Huron County Emergency Medical Services were both on scene and attempted to resuscitate the man, but those attempts proved unsuccessful.

Lindsay Willits from RR1, Wingham was crowned Queen of the Furrow at the Huron County Plowing Match, which was held at the home farm of Central Huron Reeve Bert Dykstra.

The Blyth Festival Singers were in the midst of preparing to release a special album celebrating the group’s 30th anniversary. The album took five months of rehearsals and two recording sessions to capture.

THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2020. PAGE 5.

Other Views Does truth mean anything in U.S.?

S

tudents studying journalism, in Canada at least, are made to understand that they are an important part of the democratic system – that the best way to have good government is to have informed voters, and it’s the job of reporters to provide truthful information. And then they see what’s happening these days south of our border!

Politicians have always emphasized things that make them look best, but as he has with most things, Donald Trump has broken new boundaries in distortion of the truth during his presidency. As a panelist on a U.S. political talk show said recently, we should have seen it coming right from the day after his inauguration.

That was when Sean Spicer, the first of many White House press secretaries, claimed that more people attended Trump’s inauguration than any previous swearing-in.

He accused the media of deliberately underestimating the size of the crowd.

But aerial photographs as well as numbers of people using Washington’s public transit showed the crowd was considerably smaller than in 2009, when Barack Obama was first sworn in.

On the U.S. program, Meet the Press, Kellyanne Conway, U.S. Counselor to the President, was asked why Spicer would make such a claim when it could easily be proven wrong. She came up with the now-famous phrase that there are “alternative facts”. We’ve gotten used to alternative facts in the years since.

Another early example of things being turned on its head during the Trump era came with his co-opting of the phrase “fake news”.

Research by the BBC shows that the beginnings of “fake news” can be traced to a small town in Macedonia and a group of young

Keith Roulston From the cluttered desk people just trying to make money. Realizing that they could earn money from Facebook for creating content that drew large numbers of readers, these young people decided their best opportunity to do so was through comments on the ongoing 2016 presidential election. The clever young people created catchy, but false, headlines such as “Pope Francis shocks world.

Endorses Donald Trump for President.”

These, along with posts that Trump was “the very definition of the American success story”, were the kind of thing that ultra-loyal Trump fans were happy to recommend to all their friends. The young people made their money. Donald Trump benefited with support.

It was his defeated opponent Hilary Clinton who first used the “fake news” term to describe the social media phenomenon. Social media “fake news” reached its silliest/sickest with the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory that a Washington pizzeria was being used as headquarters for a child-trafficking ring run by Clinton.

But in the early days of his presidency, Trump did what he has done so often – totally changed the meaning of a phrase. When a reporter asked him a question he didn’t like, Trump called him “fake news”. From then on, “fake news” has come to mean, not news that actually is fake, but news that’s true that Trump and his fans want to redefine as part of a conspiracy against him by the media.

Along the way, Trump associates who were convicted of crimes became not perpetrators, but victims who he must pardon in the name of justice. Although U.S. intelligence agencies say there was Russian interference in the 2016 election, Trump says it’s all a hoax and claims that it was really Ukrainian interference on behalf of Clinton.

Traditional allies of the U.S. such as Canada, France and Germany are suddenly blamed for taking advantage of the U.S. while Russia becomes a good friend.

By last week’s Republican National Convention, truth was turned on its head so often, it was unclear if speakers even recognized the truth anymore. Various agencies found at least 20 instances of lies or distortions in Trump’s acceptance speech alone. Vice-President Mike Pence, in advancing his party’s law and order agenda, talked about the killing of a Homeland Security officer in Oakland as if he were killed by protesters opposing police violence against blacks, when the man actually charged is a white supremacist whose goal was to stir up racial tension.

But with the Washington Post’s running tally of Trump’s lies and distortions having topped 20,000 in mid-July, it’s arguable that truth doesn’t matter anymore. While 100 former top Republican officials last week announced they’d be voting for Democratic Party Candidate Joe Biden, he leads polls by only about 10 points. Given Trump’s record of lying, cheating and mismanagement that has cost thousands of lives in the COVID-19 emergency, the lead should be 30-40 per cent at least.

And nobody trusts that Trump won’t make a comeback – or that he will leave office peacefully if he doesn’t.

Good memories will get us through

W

hile both my editor Shawn and I have shared some of the bad experiences we have had as journalists over the past few weeks in our editorial spaces, I hope that everyone realizes that the good outweighs the bad by a significant amount, otherwise, we wouldn’t both still be doing this after more than a decade.

All it takes is one of the special sections that we’ve been doing to be reminded of the incredible responsibility and the incredible joy of being a journalist in rural Ontario.

As a means of keeping local events in the back of your minds, readers, we’ve started creating celebratory special sections for big events in the area that have been cancelled or heavily modified due to COVID-19.

You have already seen the Huron County Plowing Match special section, no doubt framed and hung on your wall to tell your grandchildren about someday, and we’re currently working away on the section for the cancelled reunion of the Huron County Pioneer Thresher and Hobby Association.

In doing these special sections, Shawn and I have been poring over past stories we’ve done to see what we can update to show just how special and important these events are and remind people that, come next year, we can hopefully all look forward to them again.

Not every story makes the cut, but that doesn’t mean those stories aren’t important or memorable to us.

Take, for example, the story about the featured cars of the reunion you will be able to read very soon.

We limited it to the five most recent past feature cars because Shawn and I figured that would be all we could fit if we wanted to run a couple photos, but there are memorable stories outside of that five-year period.

Denny Scott Denny’s Den Take, for example, one of the first Threshers stories I did about a car that was rescued from an island where a tree had grown up through it.

After extricating the car from the tree, the new owners then had to move it across a frozen body of water in the winter to get it off the island safely. There aren’t too many stories like that around.

Heck, stories from the Threshers are probably some of the most memorable (in a good way) I’ve written. Whether it’s talking to the organizers, both new and seasoned, or the people who won best-in-show for their steam engines, tractors or cars, there’s always a unique story to tell when it comes to how those antique wonders came to be in Blyth.

Then there are the annual stories where, even if things haven’t changed much, there’s always something new to be added, like the Courtney family corn roast, an annual tradition known to locals and well-versed reunion attendees.

Aside from the stories, there’s also covering the event and, while not every story is a good news story the weekend of the Threshers (there’s been a fire or two, for example), almost all the memories I have are good ones.

Of course I’ve enjoyed taking my daughter to the event and getting pictures of her enjoying things (only one of which has ever made it in the paper I think), but then there are other experiences that, over 10 reunions, have become favourite hallmarks that I would’ve

missed had I been working anywhere else.

Between the straw hats, the corn, the rest of the great food and the parades, there are plenty of great memories at the Threshers. In fact, I could write more than an entire column based on those good memories. I could probably write an entire section about them.

That should show you how fortunate I feel to be able to continue to work for The Citizen and cover events like that.

Next, Shawn and I will turn our attention to the annual Brussels Fall Fair which can’t take place as it normally does due to COVID-19, though there is a parade planned.

There are a lot of good memories for me at that event as well, and only a few of them were tied to the carnival fare that was offered at the midway (candied apples are hard to replace).

Between watching the annual 4-H programs, catching a photo of the Ambassador (and now the Junior and Little Ambassadors) on a pedal tractor every year, enjoying a hot dog meal that reminds me of public school and, of course, taking in the parade, there’s another ton of memories I look forward to every year.

So avail yourselves of the great memories that both Shawn and I are sharing when we delve into the previous stories and photos that will make up these special sections and know that, while there are a few bumps in the road, we’re still here because we love what we’re doing.

Final Thought The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.

– Winston Churchill

Shawn Loughlin Shawn’s Sense

Really, it’s up to you

T

hough I didn’t necessarily plan it out this way, here is the third installment in somewhat of a series on media literacy and a bit of a peek behind the curtain detailing what it’s like to be a reporter these days.

Despite the idea of fake news being weaponized and tokenized, it is a real problem.

The whole idea of fake news – at least by that new name – came about because of U.S. President Donald Trump and far-right websites actively spreading misinformation to influence the 2016 election. But, like everything else, Trump has turned accusations made against him back on his enemies, calling awardwinning news outlets “fake news” when their reporting inconveniences him.

Fake news is annoying, frustrating and harmful, but the real problem is media literacy.

If everyone had a decent level of intelligence, critical thinking and media literacy, fake news would sink like a stone, waved away like the baseless junk it is. Unfortunately they don’t and people the world over, especially in North America, fall prey to fake news every day.

Because people don’t check their sources, conduct their own research or question the veracity of what they’re reading, fake news is in the ideal environment to flourish. In the world of digital media and social networks like Facebook and Twitter, people don’t think, they just share, doing what used to be a news outlet’s work and distributing their product far and wide. And with attention spans dropping all the time, often it’s hard to get a reader past a headline on Facebook before they begin repeating what they’d read as a fact.

Just over the weekend, Trump Tweeted a baseless conspiracy theory connected to deaths from COVID-19 in the U.S. The “story” said that due to pre-existing conditions and other illnesses, the country’s COVID-19 death count was actually a miniscule six per cent of what was being reported. It was later flagged as misinformation by Twitter, but how many people read that and believed it because Trump Tweeted it before Twitter stepped in?

When I read a headline like that, something so shocking and against the commonly known narrative, my critical thinking muscle kicks in and I wonder who is saying this, who the source is and whether or not it can be believed.

However, too few people do that these days.

Consider this story from the Toronto Star on the weekend about Erin O’Toole. Thousands of people followed her on Twitter and began sending messages of both support and hate aimed at the new federal Conservative leader.

But wait, I said her. That’s right, a female, 25-year radio veteran from Colorado was engaged in this discourse with thousands of people who thought she was the new candidate for Prime Minister, despite that Erin O’Toole being a middle-aged white man from Bowmanville. These people messaging her cared enough to delve into politics, but weren’t smart enough to look at her profile, picture or any information about her and figure out that she wasn’t the O’Toole they were looking for.

A story like that says way too much about society these days. At The Citizen, we are always fighting to get our stories in front of the right eyeballs. We work tirelessly to be right about what we report, so for one misleading Facebook post or biased “news” story to catch fire and undercut the work of professionals can make your blood boil in this business.

We can work as hard as we want, but if people aren’t going to do their part; asking questions, applying common sense and only trusting the trustworthy, truth could easily be eschewed in favour of convenience.

PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2020.

Jebson begins work with online sermons A NOTE FROM BETTY

By Betty Graber Watson Call 887-9231

Order up!

The Huron County Beef Producers held their annual late summer barbecue at the Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre on Sunday, firing up steaks for the drive-through crowd.

Those who bought tickets were in good hands as Matt Shortreed, left, and Bob Bennett, both past presidents of the organization, were among those handling the grilling. (Mark Nonkes photo)

At the Branch

Catch the Ace draw to return

By Jo-Ann McDonald The Brussels Legion Branch held its August executive meeting and decisions were made about opening the Branch. It was decided the Branch would open on Sept. 10. It will only be open on Thursday and Friday nights from 4-7 p.m. as we ease into full reopening as time goes on.

The second major decision discussed was the resumption of the Catch the Ace draw. The first draw will be on Sept. 25. Tickets will be available at McDonald Home Hardware, Brussels Variety,

Brussels Pharmacy and the Brussels Legion beginning Sept. 10. Watch for more information next week as details are clarified.

The fish fry crew was busy on the weekend with two events to keep them working. The first fry was in Mitchell for the Lions Club. They fed 395 folks a drive thru-fish dinner. The crew consisted of JoAnn McDonald, Judy Lee, Kathy Burkholder, Sandra Brown, Catrina Josling, Rick McDonald, Jamie Mitchell, Julena Pipe, Daisy Wong Schmidt, Bob and Monica Richardson and Nancy Clarke.

They were lucky when the fry was over and the clean-up was almost finished before a drizzly bit of rain hit. They made it home to Brussels and the clean-up was finished before any more rain hit. It was a big crew for a big fry!

The crew was at it again on Sunday for the Goderich Legion. They fed 190 folks.

The crew consisted of Branch members Deb Ross, Lisa Glanville, Joan Smith, Chris Brown, Judy Lee, Tim Nylot, Linda Bird and Zoellyn Onn. Good job by all.

Autumn is in the air. The changing of the seasons is one of the great things about living where we do. It hits all our senses as the changes, four times a year, take place.

For me the big one is smell, it just smells like fall. Not a very scientific guide, but I smell it coming. The sight of the turning leaves and the changes seen in the beans also make it clear that things are happening. September has arrived.

Enjoy.

Moving is the word of the week.

New schools, new cities, new courses, new bedrooms – all part of life when it’s time to leave home.

North Bay was the destination for the Listowel Graber family, as Robyn took her big step into life of further education at Nipissing University. So lots of change for everyone. Jordan is entering a fourth year at McMaster and Jill is entering the secondary school life. Talk about a time for memories.

Alex Jebson, our new United Church Minister, moved to our community on the weekend. His parents were in on the move, so took a little time to view the area where their son will reside. Being farmers, they appreciated our land and well-kept buildings and thought this was a fine place to live. We agreed.

In COVID-19 times, being part of a church is difficult. We miss the familiar, and to welcome a new

minister in these times is trying.

Being new to the area and a new minister to boot, Alex will be making his way cautiously to meet everyone. As of Sunday and thereafter, Alex will be prerecording weekly worship. You can use the YouTube site of “Brussels and Blyth United Churches” to get to know him. He will be offering times to meet in small groups until it is safe to gather as a congregation.

Masked and safe, Alex will be in both Blyth and Brussels starting this week. To set the tone for his welcome, breakfast at JR’s on Monday with Bob Richmond, Clarence McCutcheon and Ralph gave him a view of our community like no other. He survived the stories well.

As we continue to live with this virus, keep sensible, socialize a little, wear your mask, wash your hands, be respectful, be kind and stay safe.

Bye now, Betty G.W.

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Some shopping The Brussels Farmers’ Market continues to provide a chance for people to get out and buy fresh produce and unique, locally-sourced or locally-crafted goods, as well as an opportunity for community groups to reach out. The Brussels Lions Club, for example, is selling raffle tickets through its Kickstart 2020 campaign with the draw set for this Friday. (Denny Scott photo)

On-line subscriptions available too at www.northhuron.on.ca

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THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2020. PAGE 7.

Culture Shock aims to fill gap in local athletics way to go is a permanent concrete space. Currently, the group has raised $1,000 for the initiative, and Brooks hopes that, within two years, the project can be started.

“A concrete park, designed by the kids and users of the existing facility, is what we need,” he said.

“That’s the most important thing, that the kids and users are asked before the project goes forward.”

He also said that a concrete park may prevent more destructive users from taking advantage of the park, like the dirt bikers that have been accessing the existing park and causing damage.

“Concrete parks are harder for people like that to use,” he said.

Currently, he estimates there are about 50 users of the park, which he thinks is impressive given the condition of the ramps.

Church set to help Indigenous students From Marilyn’s Desk

By Marilyn Craig Call 523-9318

donation of supplies or a monetary donation, please call Emily Phillips at 519-523-9517 and she will arrange for pick-up. Stay safe for the coming week.

Extreme stuff While Culture Shock, a local extreme sports apparel and equipment company, began working late last year, the entrepreneurs behind it, Connor Brooks, left, and Joe Pizzati, have got a lot of exposure through the Blyth Outdoor Market where they both sell apparel and have demonstrations of extreme sports. (Denny Scott photo)

By Denny Scott The Citizen

Blyth’s Culture Shock, an extreme sports apparel and equipment company in Blyth created by Connor Brooks and Joe Pizzati, is more than just a business to the two young entrepreneurs behind it, it’s a means to an end.

Brooks, in an interview with The Citizen, said that when the company was created late last year, he was just looking for a job and wanted something to do with extreme sports, specifically skateboarding. From there, it’s grown into not just a business, but a way for local extreme athletes to connect and work towards the betterment of their sports.

“My brother and friends enjoy extreme sports, and it’s extremely lacking in the area,” he said.

He said extreme sports like skateboarding or scootering are gaining popularity locally, which is a good thing because they are sports for individuals, which only rewards participants based on the effort put forward.

“That’s a good general life goal

and experience,” he said. “It’s a good thing for people to learn.”

The business gave him motivation to get out and do something on a daily basis, he said, that aligned with his own personal beliefs about the sport.

Culture Shock started as a line of clothes and accessories, but it’s growing, Brooks said, adding new lines and a new logo.

“Our next step is that we have 110 pounds of skateboard wood coming in soon,” he said. “We’re going to build decks and give local artists real estate to practise their art.”

The company is also working on an educational YouTube channel, Brooks said, that will show not only how to participate in extreme sports but also how Culture Shock is growing as a business.

Brooks said the best way to connect with Culture Shock is through Instagram (@cultureshockskate) or at its booth at the Blyth Outdoor Market on Thursdays, which is winding down over the next two weeks.

Alternatively, Brooks said he, Pizzati and others involved can often

be found at the Blyth skatepark.

“That’s kind of our unofficial office,” he said. “It’s a good place to find us.”

SKATE PARK Brooks, Pizzati and others under the Culture Shock banner are also working towards the construction of a new skatepark in Blyth.

The crew is raising money and has organized a petition which Brooks plans on presenting to North Huron Council later this month when he also outlines what the new skatepark should include.

He said the group is finding that the community is supportive of the project.

“The park we have is unsafe,” he said. “[The ramps] are left out in the winter, which is rough on them. We don’t even have a garbage can there to keep it clean.”

He said the current park is a lackluster experience at best, and, at worst, could result in injuries to users, which is a problem for CultureShock as a business.

Replacing the park could cost between $50,000 and $75,000, Brooks said, as he thinks the best

Something new every Thursday The Blyth Outdoor Market was originally slated to close last week, however it will run for another two weeks under a new organizer. Above, Jennifer Triemstra-Johnston of Pick-APosey shows Heather Dietz some dyeing techniques during the market. (Denny Scott photo)

Happy birthday to Kelden Pawitch who celebrates Sept. 6.

Happy anniversary to Lavern and Joan Clark who celebrate Sept. 7.

Members of Blyth and Brussels United Churches will welcome their new minister, Alex Jebson, on Sunday, Sept. 6. Due to COVID-19 the service will be posted online.

For the month of September, the Spiritual Growth Committee of Blyth United Church is collecting school supplies to assist the True North Aid, which is a non-profit organization assisting the Indigenous children with school supplies. They are in need of everything necessary for school: pencils, paper, erasers, etc. If you wish to participate you can leave your donation at the church garden on Wednesday morning at the coffee break between 10 a.m. and noon. If you need someone to pick up your

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PAGE 8. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2020.

Procter raises money for SickKids Foundation

By Denny Scott The Citizen Ninety-six-year-old Charlie Procter of Morris-Turnberry has put 500.2 kilometres on his stationary bike in the last month and has raised $1,301.18 to fight childhood cancer through the Great Cycle Challenge.

The event, which ran for the month of August, raises money to fight cancer in children, hoping to curtail the number of children who face cancer every year, which Procter said is an important. goal.

The program is run by the SickKids Foundation, which is part

of Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children.

“It’s a great program to be a part of,” Procter said. “It’s an important goal.”

Procter said his nieces, Kate Procter and Jennifer Cooper, encouraged his involvement, since he spends time on his stationary bike every day anyway. He’s put over 6,000 kilometres on the exercise machine since it was new a couple years ago.

Procter started out with daily 10kilometre rides earlier in the month but, by Aug. 21, he was up to 20 kilometres or more a day, eventually hitting his month-long high of 22.7 kilometres on Aug. 28.

He’s part of the Procter’s Rockets team, which includes his nieces and four other members: Arnie Spivey, George Procter, Anne Procter and Helen Otterman.

“They started organizing the group and asked me to be a part of it,” he said.

The team has ridden 2,163.3 kilometres together and raised $10,264.42, placing the team 37th in the national standings and eighth in the family team category.

Kate told The Citizen that Procter is a huge part of the team, serving as a great inspiration.

For more information, visit greatcyclechallenge.ca.

AMDSB unveils plan

Pedalling with a purpose Charlie Procter, who lives on Brandon Road, recently finished a month of cycling on his stationary bike to raise money for the Great Cycle Challenge which benefits the SickKids Foundation. (Photo submitted)

Since the Ministry of Education’s announcement on July 31 outlining a high-level plan for the return, school boards in Ontario have received almost daily updates that impact the start of the school year.

The Avon Maitland District School Board (AMDSB) staff has been working tirelessly to finalize details about the return to school in Huron and Perth counties.

Earlier in August, parents/guardians completed a preregistration form to indicate if students would be returning in person or online, and if they would be riding the bus. That process is now closed so that classrooms and timetables can be organized in time for the start of school.

Approximately nine per cent of AMDSB students are opting for the remote learning option and those

families will hear from the online learning team directly.

If families have questions, they are asked to e-mail covidpreregistration@ed.amdsb.ca As plans are finalized, including staff assignments and schedules, bus routes and safety plans, time pressures have resulted in the decision to stagger the start date for students. This decision was not made lightly and was made with student safety as a priority. This will allow more time to: • Transition vulnerable students into school • Ensure we have the most up-todate health and safety guidelines in place for students and staff • Teach new school health and safety routines to small groups of students Continued on page 16

Walton diamond hosting weekly tournament PEOPLE AROUND WALTON

By Jo-Ann McDonald Call 887-6570

Another good week has passed as we get closer to the start of school and the fall harvest. Bus meetings will happen this week as we pick up our route sheets and take the buses out for a practice run to check the timing and to make sure we know where all students live.

New protocols are in place.

Sanitizing procedures to learn, seating plans to be made and the happy faces of children eagerly waiting to see their friends are ahead. A staggered start has been announced, so it will be another week before we will see the students back to school.

The great weather is making the crops come along nicely and while out for a drive we could see fields of white beans not far off from harvest.

We saw only one field that has been sprayed and has dried down and looking close and many more fields that have been or will be sprayed this week. Another couple of weeks and the white bean harvest will be well underway. Wheat fields have been worked down and manure is being spread. There is always lots to do.

The Glanville men of Walton were away on their annual fishing trip.

They went to Iron Lake, which is north of Sudbury, and spent a week.

Lorne, Ken and Roy Glanville along with two others had a great week

and caught lots of fish. They fished for pike and bass and had great weather while away. Meals are not hard to plan: fish, fish or fish. Then there is more fish to bring home for later. They spent many hours remembering the many good times they have had in the past, when all the brothers were there. Stories and laughter, memories and more, shared by the men. Welcome home to all.

It was party time for Marni Knight this past week as she officially retired after 35 years at CoOperators Insurance in Guelph. She was wined and dined by her close working family, then by her managers, then by her friends and then by us. We went to Bayfield for dinner on Saturday evening and had a nice meal. There was a bit of excitement for us during the meal though. It seems Bayfield has a meandering skunk that wanders from patio to patio sometimes. It so happens, it chose our patio to wander through on Saturday evening. It was late in our meal when it appeared, so we moved to another table, finished our meal and then were on our way. Our little friend just wandered under the tables looking for her “meal” without any incident. Our visitor made Marni’s retirement meal something to remember!

The Walton Ball Park has been rented for tournament use on Saturdays for the next month. A varying number of games are being played and the group is also using parks in Seaforth, Winthrop and Blyth. When I was checking the park I spoke to the umpire, who was from Kincardine, and the two teams playing were from Niagara Falls area and Grand Bend. Teams really want to play ball according to the umpire and all Health Unit protocols

are being observed and are posted.

Returning from a week away to visit a bride-to-be were Jackie Glanville and her sister Karen Smith. They went to Black Falls, Alberta to visit and go shopping for a wedding dress with Joelle Glanville. She said “yes to the dress” from a shop in Lacombe, not far from Black Falls. They travelled around to see the venue in Canmore, a beautiful golf course venue. They also had time to make a trip to Banff and to Lake Louise and to the West Edmonton Mall. They had a great visit, saw some country and enjoyed their time away with Joelle. The wedding is planned for May of 2021.

Welcome back ladies!

A happy birthday goes out to Nora Stephenson, who is now 91! I am sure there were plenty of gettogethers with her family and the coffee ladies. The group is still meeting for coffee at the Conservation Park, bringing their own coffee and cookies and enjoying a physically-distanced visit with one another. Good thinking ladies and happy birthday to our special girl Nora!

Just a reminder that it is only four months until Christmas. Maybe we should start with six weeks until Thanksgiving. I have already heard of families cancelling extended family Christmas gatherings, so I will expect many will cancel Thanksgiving as well. Difficult times for those families who are very close, but the safety of everyone is more important, so make the right choice for gatherings.

Celebrating birthdays this past week includes Emmitt Shortreed, Stephen Ryan, Steve Eckert, Bryce Kruse, Sharon Pryce, Brenda Raven, Jocelyn Tipple, Tim Wharton, Brian Huether, Albrecht Ringgenberg,

Rhonda Ryan, Kim Strome and Nora Stephenson. September starts with May Lou Driscoll, Vicki Carter, Jaedon O’Neill, Brent Pryce, Shirley Skinner, Gabriella Sanchez Warwick, Joelle Glanville and Kim Humphries Kruse. Happy birthday to all.

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THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2020. PAGE 9.

BIA strikes recovery committee

By Denny Scott The Citizen

The Blyth Business Improvement Area (BIA) is hitting the ground running as far as planning recovery efforts in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to North Huron Council.

BIA Chair David Sparling thanked North Huron Council for its forward-thinking support of the group during the BIA’s Aug. 27 meeting, saying without the efforts of council, the BIA wouldn’t be where it is now, preparing to strike a marketing recovery committee.

Sparling, during the BIA’s first inperson meeting since the COVID-19 pandemic state of emergency was declared, said that North Huron Council, in allowing both the Blyth and Wingham BIAs to meet via Zoom, had done something that many other centres hadn’t, which supported the business advocacy groups.

“I assumed all other BIAs were doing Zoom meetings,” he said. “I met with a representative from a larger BIA, however, and their council didn’t grant them that permission. Their last meeting was in February.”

He said he appreciates the support North Huron provided the BIA, saying the process of setting up meeting opportunities for a committee of council like the BIA didn’t have to be a high priority, but council made it so.

Because of that, Sparling said the group was able to discuss and prepare to strike a committee dedicated to helping local businesses recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sparling said the BIA was in a good position to help with recovery, going on to announce that the BIA would be establishing a marketing committee with a goal of helping to pursue recovery opportunities in Blyth.

Aside from listing the members of

the committee, he said the committee’s goal will be to find opportunities, including funding and partnerships, to help Blyth recover.

Annie Sparling, who represents the Blyth Community Betterment Group, is the chair of the new committee and she said that, despite the adversity of the pandemic, there are opportunities.

Councillor Kevin Falconer, who represents North Huron Council on the Blyth BIA, agreed, and suggested the group pursue a Rural Economic Development (RED) grant after a new intake had recently been announced. He said the grant, which could provide up to $10,000 per applicant, is to help attract new visitors to the community.

He said that while many applicants may focus on bringing people from larger city centres, the BIA could focus on bringing people from medium-sized communities or other small communities like Blyth.

Deep Purple The Fashion Arts and Creative Textile Studio (FACTS) Indigo Dye Day was held on Saturday and saw participants working with the very striking colour. While the dye was definitely a daker hue, the end results came out with a skyblue finish according to some participants like Marie Bolen, shown above working on her creation. (Mark Nonkes photo)

And they’re off Before COVID-19, the fence at the Clinton Raceway would be standing room on Sunday, but due to the pandemic, regulations limit the number of participants allowed at the site. (Mark Nonkes photo)

Blyth daycare still in the works

By Denny Scott The Citizen

North Huron staff members are still aiming to create a daycare in Blyth, according to North Huron Councillor Kevin Falconer, however COVID-19 has pushed back the plans.

During the Blyth Business Improvement Area’s (BIA) Aug. 27 meeting, Falconer said staff members are scrambling on a weekly basis to meet changing requirements due to the pandemic, so the plan to put a daycare in Blyth has been delayed.

“The only problem right now is finding a suitable location as to where, when and how the daycare could happen,” he said. “That is on their agenda. [North Huron Staff] are highly willing to bring daycare [services] to Blyth.”

Chair David Sparling said that was good news as BIA members have told him that it would be a

great asset to the community when trying to recruit staff.

Falconer said the existing daycare centre in Wingham has lost half of its spaces due to new regulations, making it difficult for staff to look beyond the immediate future.

Despite that, he said staff still hopes to expand the daycare.

“The daycare staff would like nothing better than to expand,” he said. “They are passionate about children; that’s their heart and soul.”

Colleen Jordan of the Hotel Lux asked how many spaces the Blyth centre could have, and Falconer said there are currently 25 to 30 people on a waitlist for the Wingham centre, so it would have to be more than that.

Sparling agreed, saying that once it exists, families would be more apt to move to Blyth, further solidifying the need for the centre. He then said that Falconer could continue to pass on the BIA’s support for the project.

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PAGE 10. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2020.

Technology driving precision dairy management

A new day Dairy producers now have plenty of data available to them according to experts at the University of Guelph. As a result, more data is staying on the farm, rather than into public evaluation systems. The challenge for dairy farmers, and the industry as a whole, is the adjustment of shifting towards accessing, standardizing and utilizing data from robotic systems. (Linaya Pot photo)

By Linaya Pot The Rural Voice Research from the University of Guelph shows how technology and data can be used to advance dairy management practices, and how these advancements can be used to support a movement towards precision dairy management.

Technology is changing rapidly and although the dairy industry might not be an industrial hotspot for technological advancements, it is moving forward at its own pace. The adoption of new technology on farms is becoming more and more common, with a greater number of farmers implementing new products like robotic systems, automatic feed

pushers and body condition cameras.

Armed with information generated by these systems, producers are moving towards management practices that favour precision dairy farming. As technology-adoption rates are increasing, and with the development of new and innovative systems, many people have begun to wonder what the dairy industry will

A celebration Blyth’s Frank Hallahan was surprised last week for his 80th birthday when his neighbours and friends helped him mark the milestone birthday. He woke up to a sign and a decorated bed from his days as a member of the Baga Bunch, the group that won the bed race at the 2019 Rutabaga Festival in Blyth and then celebrated its win in the village’s Santa Claus parade that winter. (Photo submitted)

look like in a few years’ time.

“I think what I am really interested in,” said Aidan Connolly to attendees of the 2020 American Dairy Science Association’s (ADSA) annual meeting, “is how COVID-19 will impact and influence the interest in adopting new technology in the dairy industry.”

Ironically, the format in which he asked the crowd partially answers the question. This year’s ADSA conference was hosted online. Due to COVID-19, the in-person conference, which was slated to be held in West Palm Beach, Florida, had been cancelled. Instead, the scheduled presenters were asked to pre-record their presentations. The new, online program consisted of more than 800 pre-recorded abstract presentations including 14 live roundtable discussions, and three late-night live informal chat sessions.

Connolly is no newbie to the idea of new technology in dairy. He is the CEO of Cainthus, which develops computer vision and artificial intelligence for dairy farms.

Connolly was part of one of several live roundtable discussions that happened each afternoon of the fourday virtual conference. The topic of this roundtable was “Precision Agriculture in the Dairy Industry”, where Connolly and several other dairy-tech experts discussed what the future of the dairy industry might look like.

It felt weird to be sitting behind a computer and scrolling through the list of virtual attendees to find familiar names, instead of scanning the room for familiar faces. What was the same were the innovative discussions and thought-provoking ideas that are always present at global conferences like this.

“What happens if the nutritionist can’t regularly visit on-farm anymore? If vets can’t do on-farm calls? If a new sales rep can’t go from farm to farm to build and develop new contacts?” Connolly

questions.

He thinks COVID-19 will help drive precision agriculture forward thanks to the implementation of new technology that will help overcome the roadblocks COVID-19 has put in place.

“Increasingly I think we will be using technology to manage things remotely in a way we never have before. There are the obvious ones like cameras, robots and feeding technology,” he said. But he also wanted to focus on implementing new technology that is less commonly seen on commercial farms. “Things like 3-D printers – so if I don’t want to be shipping parts and having delivery services coming onto my property – these printers would instead allow me to print the parts I need to fix my own devices.”

Dr. Trevor DeVries, a dairy professor at the University of Guelph, whose research often focuses on the implications that onfarm technology has on both cows and producers, agrees that we are likely to see more adoption of technology in the future. “We already are seeing a lot of adoption in the last five to 10 years,” he says.

DeVries estimates about 15 per cent of farms in Ontario use robotic milkers.

COVID-19 aside, Dr. DeVries thinks that the main driver for the implementation of new technology will be the desire for lifestyle changes.

“When we look at the reasons for adoption, first and foremost, it’s all about lifestyle,” he said. “It’s about making more time available for producers and allowing them more flexibility in their lifestyles. Of course, technology is also implemented to increase production, improve welfare, and all those things, but those come secondary to the desire for a lifestyle change.”

David Jones, a producer-turnedrobotic sales specialist for DeLaval, also agreed with DeVries’ theory that a decreased workload is the Continued on page 11

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THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2020. PAGE 11.

Adoption rates on the rise Continued from page 10 main reason for technological adoption.

“From a producer’s perspective, sensor technology is great and the information we get back is incredible, but what we are really focusing on is a workload reduction – so what we look for in technology is something that allows us to do more with less” said Jones. He cautions that sometimes the addition of new technology could be more harmful than beneficial, since it creates yet another system that a producer must learn, maintain and monitor.

“I don’t want sensors that add more work to my workday and more data I have to dig through,” he said.

Dr. Victor Cabrera, a dairy professor from University of Wisconsin-Madison, had a different perspective on data to discuss with the roundtable. “Data will become a commodity – a very important value commodity” he predicted.

However, to properly use the data, systems and programs need to be linked together. “Dairy farms are inundated by data from multiple different streams – from the sensors, from the milk parlour, from genetics, and so forth – and there is a lot of value missing from not connecting all this data together,” he said.

Outside of the roundtable, it was easy to see how the interest in using new technology and data sources influenced many of the research projects presented at the conference.

For example, Ivan Campos, a PhD student from the University of Guelph, presented his research, which involved using public weather station data to investigate effects of heat stress on milk production on Ontario dairies.

Data was in no short supply for his study – he used a total of 2.1 million test-day records from 167,620 Ontario cows, as well as temperature and humidity data from nearby weather stations. He identified two temperature humidity index (THI) thresholds that affected milk yields.

First, a THI threshold between 64 and 72 that can cause a slow decline in milk yields, and a second, a critical THI threshold of 79, that if exceeded causes a sharp decline in milk yields. This expected reduction in milk yields after a THI of 79 was estimated to be about – 0.40 kilograms per day. Since Ontario summers have an average THI of 69, it is important to be aware of these thresholds when it comes to proactively managing milk production and heat stress within a herd.

Data like the weather may be easy to quantify and measure, but it’s not the only data we should be integrating.

Since precision agriculture focuses on individual animals, it’s also important to study data that differentiates cows from one another – such as personality data. This data could help identify which animals are more adaptable to new technologies, such as automatic milking systems (AMS). This is what Anna Schwanke looked at for her Master’s project.

First, she assessed the behaviour of holstein cows after they were exposed to a novel space, human and object. She then used this behaviour to identify five different personality traits in the cattle, and then looked at how these traits impacted how the cows interacted with the AMS. “Despite there being a lot of knowledge on how to apply precision feeding practices to meet the nutritional requirements of dairy cattle, there is still a lot that we don’t know regarding how personalities of

individual cows affect their behavioural requirements,” said Anna Schwanke when explaining the motivation behind her study.

“It’s important to know how these behavioural requirements of cows can be managed to ensure their nutritional requirements are being met.”

For example, cows that were identified as having a behavioural characteristic of being fearful of humans had greater meal sizes and needed more AMS fetches, which led to lesser concentrate intake at the AMS and lower milk yield.

“Because of behavioural factors like this, some cows may require more motivation than others to voluntarily visit the AMS,” said Schwanke, “So there is a potential to optimize AMS technology by designing precision feeding strategies to meet both the individual behavioural and physiological requirements of the cows.”

Although robot milking is one of the more popular dairy technologies, there are other tools becoming more common on dairy farms, such as activity monitors.

However, research still needs to be done to ensure the data generated by these sensors is being properly utilized.

“The use of precision technology such as activity monitors to detect estrus is increasing in the industry, so it would be useful to know how the health disorders impact the activity of cows” said of Tony Bruinjé of the research he is completing for his PhD in Epidemiology at the University of Guelph.

He found that cows with health disorders had a reduced probability of estrus detection in a breeding system that utilizes activity monitors. He identified three health risk factors in dairy cattle and found that activity monitors only detected estrus in 56 per cent of cows with these risk factors, as opposed to 72 per cent in cows without.

“Such findings can be useful at identifying cows that are less likely to be detected at estrus, so we can refine reproductive management in herds that use activity monitors in their breeding systems,” Bruinjé said.

Steven Larmer, the senior manager of the Genomics Program at Semex, commented during his ADSA presentation that while technology like activity sensors provides us with more data, it is also changing how we share data.

“Producers now have a lot of data available at their fingertips, while previously they had to rely on public recording centres for data and benchmarking,” he said. He believes that because of this, we will see more data staying on-farm and less data flowing into public evaluation systems. “The future will need to adapt to this growing reality, including a shift towards accessing,

standardizing and utilizing data from these robotic systems.”

This will be an especially important challenge for the future, as both Larmer and Dr. DeVries believe that adoption rates in Ontario are only beginning to climb.

DeVries also predicted these systems may become more affordable in the future, making them even more attractive to producers.

“Obviously the price of implementing new tech on farms is one of the biggest roadblocks for adoption. But as we see adoption rates go up, hopefully we will also see a movement on the pricing side to make some of these technologies more affordable.” He thinks the implementation of technology and data into our systems will really help dairy producers start to manage cows individually.

“Cows aren’t all the same, yet we tend to manage them all as a herd.

So we have such great opportunities with automation to manage cows more individually – allowing us to not only meet their nutritional requirements, but also their behavioural needs as well.”

Market days Ella Sawchuk was at her post at the Pick-A-Posie booth at the Blyth Outdoor Market last Thursday. While organizers thought last week’s market would be the last of the season, it has since been extended two more weeks. (Denny Scott photo)

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PAGE 12. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2020.

Huron Honey project looks towards fall/winter brought the emptied honey frames to the hives. It was dusk and the bees were bearding (clustering) outside the boxes. The girls suited up and managed to get some frames back into the honey supers but the bees were not pleased at being bothered.

One girl got stung and soon the bees were circling and bumping, with another girl receiving multiple stings. It was a painful situation the group took in stride. Toothpaste was applied to the burning bites and the task of returning the remainder of the frames was left for the next day, when sunny skies meant the bees would be out foraging and less likely to focus on protecting the hives.

It’s all part of the process for the group. Smith says they’ve learned to distinguish queens from worker and drone bees and have even requeened a hive.

A new experience Emma Lidkea was one of the lucky Huron Honey members who lifted the cover off of one of the group’s beehives earlier this month during the group’s first-ever honey harvest. The project is the braindchild of Angela Smith, Central Huron’s Community Improvement Co-ordinator, who saw it as a way to engage the youth of the community and honour the municipality’s rural roots during the COVID-19 pandemic when everyone was looking to learn something new.

(Lisa B. Pot photo)

By Lisa B. Pot The Rural Voice It was an exciting night for members of the Huron Honey club on Aug. 10 as group members extracted their first batch of honey from the seven healthy hives established on Central Huron Mayor and Huron County Warden Jim Ginn’s farm outside of Clinton.

The brainchild of Angela Smith, Central Huron’s Community Improvement Co-ordinator, the club has become a successful venture for the students who joined to learn about beekeeping.

“Before I started I knew nothing about bees,” says Sheridan Van Altena. “I figured the hives would do their thing and we would get the honey. But it’s been so much more,

with hive checks and expanding the hives.”

The hives arrived from Hive ‘N Hoe in Kincardine in the spring and were set up on the Ginn farm, chosen for its accessibility. Ginn also has a prairie meadow of native species rich in nectar for the bees to harvest.

Originally, the plan was for Smith to establish the club with a professional apiarist to come and teach the students how to raise bees.

Then COVID-19 hit and suddenly Smith and the kids were learning as they went.

“We watched a lot of videos from the University of Guelph’s bee program and we have learned together,” says Smith.

For instance, discovering that honey flavour depends on the pollen

the bees collect was something Van Altena found fascinating.

Lindsay Stoecker belongs to the University of Guelph’s Apiculture Club and has been able to share her experience with the group. During extraction night she helped lead the charge on the sticky honey frames, teaching how to slice off the wax caps before inserting the frames into the manual extractor for a good twominute spin on each side to release the honey.

Later, four members of the group

One of the members, Neil Haas, has his own beehives and has been happy to share his experience with the group as well. He cut a section of wood out of a hive and replaced it with plexiglass so club members could see the internal workings of the hive.

Every member brings a different skill and interest to the club. One member has taken on the marketing and social media. Another has designed labels for future Huron Honey products. Emma Lidkea is approaching beekeeping from a cooking perspective.

“At culinary school, honey is used as an ingredient but in this club, I am learning just what all goes into what I used to see as just an ingredient,” says Lidkea about her work with the group.

She’s also keen on the community engagement aspect of the club Continued on page 15

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The Blyth Repository of History is holding a

Used Book Sale The beginning Kristen Smith, left, and Emma Brace, right, are two of a handful of Huron Honey members – local students who have taken an interest in cultivating honey through a special program rolled out by Central Huron Community Improvement Co-ordinator Angela Smith. The group will be doing everything itself, from harvesting the honey to designing the logo to selling the product. (Lisa B. Pot photo)

September 10, 11 & 12th in front of 405 Queen Street, Byth (outside the Citizen office)

THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2020. PAGE 13.

519-523-4311

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Agriculture

BLYTH 519-523-4244

www.hurontractor.com

Brussels Livestock report

Veal sells steadily with good buyer demand Total receipts for Brussels Livestock for the week ending Aug. 28 were 1,855 cattle and 639 lambs and goats.

On Tuesday, fed steers and heifers sold steady. Choice steers and heifers sold $150 to $166. Second cut steers and heifers sold $145 to $150. Cows sold on a strong active trade at steady prices.

On Thursday, veal sold steady with good buyer demand. Lambs sold higher, sheep sold higher and goats sold on a higher market. On Friday, calves and yearlings sold steady.

John Richardson of Harriston, consigned 10 head. One black heifer

weighed 1,240 lbs. and sold for a price of $158. One blue steer weighed 1,335 lbs. and sold for a price of $166.

There were 150 cows on offer.

Beef sold $85 to $100 with sales to $102; D1 and D2, $80 to $95 with sales to $101; D3, $69 to $80 and D4, $60 to $68.

There were 12 bulls selling $96 to $128.

Ger Miedema of Brucefield, consigned three head. One blonde bull weighed 1,900 lbs. and sold for a price of $128.

There were 110 head of veal on offer. Beef veal sold $165 to $195; good holsteins, $122 to $129 with

sales to $134; SL heavy holsteins, $117 to $124; heavy holsteins, $110 to $125; medium holsteins, $108 to $120 and plain holsteins, $95 to $100.

Albrecht and Annelies Ringgenberg of Walton, consigned five head. One holstein steer weighed 680 lbs. and sold for $129.

Lambs under 50 lbs. sold $257.50 to $271; 50 - 64 lbs., $278.50 to $293; 65 - 79 lbs., $279.75 to $293; 80 - 94 lbs., $278 to $285; 95 - 109 lbs., $278 to $280; 110 lbs. and over, $276 to $278.

Sheep sold $150 to $240.

Goats: billies sold $150 to $400;

nannies, $100 to $200; kids: meat, $315 to $375; dairy, $250 to $350.

Andreas and Petra Aberhardj of Neustadt, consigned 24 head.

Twelve lambs averaged 70 lbs. and sold for an average price of $293.

Kevin Turner and Robin Ross of Palmerston, consigned seven head. Three kids averaged 68 lbs. and sold for an average price of $365.

Top quality stocker steers under 400 lbs. sold $260.75 to $270; 400 499 lbs., $229.75 to $268; 500 - 599 lbs., $236.75 to $258; 600 - 699 lbs., $215.50 to $232.25; 700 - 799 lbs., $200.50 to $218; 800 - 899 lbs.,

$191 to $205.75; 900 - 999 lbs., $171.75 to $193; 1,000 lbs. and over, $171.50 to $179.

Top quality stocker heifers, 400 499 lbs. sold $130 to $233; 500 599 lbs., $174 to $219; 600 - 699 lbs., $194.50 to $207; 700 - 799 lbs., $176.50 to $188; 800 - 899 lbs., $174 to $182.50; 900 lbs. and over, $163 to $195.75.

John Bos of Auburn, consigned 26 head. Seven gold heifers averaged 778 lbs. and sold for an average price of $186.25. David Allison of Riverbank, New Brunswick, consigned 53 head. Twelve charolais steers averaged 881 lbs. and sold for an average price of $197.

Provincial abattoirs in need of funding

Tidying up Last month, members of the Huron Perth Junior Farmers congregated in Stratford for the group’s annual roadside clean-up. The operation always takes place on a stretch of road from the Split Rail Country Store to the airport, a portion of road the Perth Junior Farmers adopted in 2015, before they amalgamated with the Huron County Junior Farmers. Vice-President Jolande Oudshoorn, left, Lauren Bos, centre, and Amanda Bos, right, were among those who pitched in that day. (Photo submitted)

Protection is essential: Spoelstra

By Drew Spoelstra, Executive Member, Ontario Federation of Agriculture Ontario farms are places of business, where animals are raised, safe and sustainable food is produced, and where a living is made. But they are also homes, where families are raised and children play.

Ontario’s agriculture industry is experiencing increased incidents of trespass, with activists illegally entering property, barns and buildings, breaching biosecurity protocols, and causing significant disruptions to the entire agri-food sector. Once lawful protests have escalated to barn break-ins, theft of animals, harassment and threats, and large-scale demonstrations go beyond peaceful protests, these actions put the entire food system at risk. Without a healthy and

sustainable value chain from farm to table, Ontario’s livestock and poultry sector cannot survive, thrive, prosper or profit.

Individuals are entitled to their beliefs and have the right to protest.

However, protests should never break the law, interfere with legal businesses, or endanger the safety of people or animals. In recent months, animal activism has escalated beyond peaceful protest. The rise in less-than-peaceful protests are cause for concern, as they not only threaten the personal safety and mental well-being of farmers, their families, employees and the animals, it threatens the integrity of Ontario’s entire agri-food system.

Animal rights activism in the agriculture industry poses significant challenges down the entire value chain, including processing facilities, their workers

and livestock transporters. There is a real concern around processing plants, where animal rights activists stop livestock trucks, and create safety issues for all parties involved.

Transport trailers are unable to quickly stop if someone suddenly blocks the roadway, and creates major safety concerns to the drivers, the animals and the protestors.

Activists enter the vehicle’s blind spots when they come up to the trailer and interfere with the animals, creating another safety issue as the driver cannot always see the protestors when they start driving again. Drivers face ongoing abuse, including harassment, threats and items being thrown at the vehicle and trailer. Not only do they affect the mental health of the transport driver, these actions can cause significant stress and harm to Continued on page 18

By Jackie Kelly-Pemberton, Director, Ontario Federation of Agriculture Abattoirs and processing plants are essential for livestock and poultry farmers to market locallygrown and processed food to consumers. The COVID-19 crisis has revealed vulnerabilities in the current meat processing supply chain, but has created an opportunity for a more regional approach to food production.

Last week, the Ontario and Canadian governments announced they will be investing more than $5.4 million through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership to help improve food safety, productivity and market access. The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) acknowledges and appreciates this collaborative investment to support more than 75 projects across the province.

In the list of projects released today, we are pleased that funding has been dedicated to meat and poultry processing plants to address needs related to expanding capacity and improving efficiency. This will assist the innovation of food processors to ensure the food supply chain remains strong and competitive.

The OFA understands that the announcement will help address some of the issues impacting the meat processing sector, but it remains crucial that financial aid and support is provided to small-scale abattoirs. Funding is critical to assess vulnerabilities affecting local abattoirs, to create a competitive and healthy meat processing supply chain.

Processing capacity shortages, difficulties in maintaining high food standards, and market volatility have been among some of the major concerns for Ontario’s livestock and poultry farmers. Factor in temporary plant closures due to the spread of COVID-19 and it’s been a tumultuous year for the agriculture and meat processing sector. Despite the high demand for services, opportunity for growth within the processing industry is significantly restricted. Many small, local abattoirs across the province continue to experience significant

financial strains as a result of complying with government regulations. The decline in small processors across the province has resulted in too few processors to place bids on livestock to ensure a competitive, healthy marketplace.

Current challenges in adequate processing capacity, decreased market prices and regulatory burden and red tape have created significant hardships in the livestock and poultry industry. Building local capacity for processing meat is a critical issue being discussed by agri-food representatives on economic recovery task forces. In order to be viable in a competitive market, local abattoirs and processing plants are in need of financial assistance to comply with government regulations, maintain high worker and food safety standards and animal welfare, and meet the local food demands of Ontarians.

In our pre-budget submission in January 2020, the OFA requested financial assistance for abattoirs for upgrades to assist with overcapacity and food safety. Previously, the OFA has requested that the Ontario government work with the livestock and poultry sector to develop a strategic action plan to address the processing capacity issues to ensure the financial sustainability of this group of Ontario farmers. The livestock and poultry industry is a Continued on page 15

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PAGE 14. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2020.

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Free FREE FIREWOOD - WE HAVE 5 mid-sized ash trees, (4 dead and dry) to be had for the cutting. Phone 519523-9636 35-3

Citizen-ToCitizen

Articles for sale GERBERS FIREWOOD SERVING you for over 10 years. Your number one source of quality slabwood and bodywood. Delivery available. No Sunday calls. 519-656-2057, 519441-2085.

01-50p -------------------------------------------REPRINTS OF PHOTOS taken by Citizen photographers are available to purchase. All are in colour. 4x6 – $5.00, 5x7 – $6.00, 8x10 – $10.00. Phone to order 519523-4792 or 519-887-9114. tfn -------------------------------------------THE CITIZEN IS AVAILABLE TO purchase at these locations – Auburn Co-op, Belgrave Variety, Blyth Variety, Blyth Food Market, Blyth Ultramar, Brussels Bulk & Bargains, Brussels Foodland, Brussels Variety, JR’s, Clinton Convenience, Clinton Foodland, Walton Inn, Dean’s ValuMart in Wingham, Wingham Mini Mart, Brown’s Pharmasave, Wingham. Seaforth Foodland, GT Mini Mart in Seaforth, Fincher’s in Goderich and The Citizen Blyth.

Card of thanks EGLI. My family and I would like to thank the North Huron and Huron East Fire Departments for the prompt, skilled and successful help with our barn fire. We are so grateful that the piglets were unharmed and damage to the barn was minimal thanks to their fast response and expertise. The service was excellent and crew members were willing to help in any way. Thank you to all emergency responders for their services. We also want to thank family, friends and neighbours for their concerns and offers for help. – Sincerely, Dan and Gillian Egli and family.

36-1

Coming events BRUSSELS LIONS CLUB presents a new fundraising raffle: “Kickstart 2020!” More than 40 prizes to be won worth $5,700.

Tickets are $25 each and can be purchased from a Brussels Lion, at a few businesses in Brussels or online at: http://www.brusselslions.ca/ KickStart/ Visit their Facebook page for a complete list of prizes and details.

33&36 -------------------------------------------KATHY GIBSON - CHEERS TO 80 years. Come-and-go birthday party from 1 to 6 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 12.

Lions Park Pavilion, 135 Patrick St. W., Wingham.

BYO chair, refreshments provided. Donation to local food bank in lieu of gifts appreciated.

35-2p

Help wanted

Help wanted

HELP WANTED Part-time caretaker position available at Belle Haven Apartments in Belmore Approximately 10-15 hours per week Duties include but are not limited to: - General cleaning - Small maintenance tasks - Monthly fire checks/alarm tests - Garbage and recycling duties - Grounds maintenance (flowerbeds, grass cutting and trimming) - Snow blowing and shoveling A detailed job description is available upon request

“SWAP SHOP” ad “One person’s junk is another’s treasure”

Please submit cover letter and résumé with expected rate per hour to: bellehaven@wightman.ca Attention: Linda Walker Closing date: September 16, 2020

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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.

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RADAR AUTO PARTS INC. Radar Auto Parts has a full-time position open in our Brussels location. Currently looking for someone to work on our inside sales counter. Automotive and/or agricultural knowledge an asset. Must be a team player with good phone and computer skills. We offer competitive wages, company pension plan as well as a benefit package.

Please send résumé to:

FOR SALE – genuine schoolhouse slate chalkboard, 50x43 inches with wooden frame, chalk ledge and two support legs.

Some minor pitting. Phone 519357-4935.

36-3 ---------------------------------------FOR SALE – lumber of all sizes for sale, stored inside, priced to sell, 519-887-9083.

36-3 ---------------------------------------FREE – to a good home, Yamaha electric organ with two keyboards. 519-887-9083. 36-3 ---------------------------------------WANTED – children’s swing set with glider. Call 519-357-1883.

36-3 ---------------------------------------FOR SALE – oval table and four chairs, $300. Table has two extra leaves, one arm chair, good conditon. 519-522-1196 35-3 ---------------------------------------FOR SALE – 10" compound mitre saw and a dehumidifier.

Call 519-529-3307.

35-3 ---------------------------------------FOR SALE – round table with 2 boards, 4 wooden chairs, asking $100 or best offer. Call 519-6064255 (Clinton).

35-3 ---------------------------------------FOR SALE – China cabinet 48"Wx57"Hx19"D, 3 bottom drawers, 2 glass door top. Dark stain, stands on 7" legs. Asking $100 or best offer. Call 519-6064255 (Clinton).

35-3 ---------------------------------------FOR SALE – 1935 Evinrude boat motor, no missing parts. $300. Front bumper to fit a 198897 GMC pickup. $75. 200 wheel discs and hub caps from 1940s to 1980s. $200 for the lot. 519-3574304. Belgrave.

35-3

SPRING CREEK RIDING Facility at RR 5, Wingham has an opening for short- or long-term boarding. We offer an indoor arena and outdoor ring with riding trails on and near the farm. For more information please call Donna at 226-222-2044.

36-4

Personals ARE YOU PREGNANT AND unsure about your future? Contact Ramoth House. We can help you discover your parenting potential.

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Radar Auto Parts P.O. Box 759 Clinton, Ontario N0M 1L0 Fax: 519-482-1508 Email: radarautoparts@bellnet.ca

Tenders

Tenders County of Huron Homes for the Aged

Request for Quotation: HA-2020-01 Snow Removal at Huronlea Home for the Aged in Brussels The County of Huron invites sealed quotes for snow removal at Huronlea Home for the Aged in Brussels.

The RFQ document can be obtained by emailing: Becky Jervis, Business Manager at bjervis@huroncounty.ca Sealed responses will be accepted until 10:00 am, local time on September 14, 2020 at Huronview Home for the Aged R.R. #5 Clinton, ON N0M 1L0 Attention: Becky Jervis, Business Manager A mandatory site visit is required.

Please contact bmclaughlin@huroncounty.ca to arrange a suitable date and time prior to the deadline for submission.

The County of Huron reserves the right not to accept the lowest or any proposal.

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THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2020. PAGE 15.

Engagement the key to having students return home Continued from page 12 and its position in the artisanal bracket. Personally, she’s developed a healthy respect for the bees. “The first day out, I was so nervous.

Definitely intimidated. But once you get up close and personal with the bees, you realize they are quite calm and it is just such a neat experience.”

The bees are excellent producers, as evidenced by the heavy frames, laden with honey. While scraping the frames and spinning the extractor, the high school, college and university students were planning how to jar and sell the honey and make candles and tube lip balm. It was cool to witness the collective energy and creativity buzzing through the group.

That energy and commitment is

exactly what Smith was hoping for.

Her job is to engage youth in the community to promote youth retention in Central Huron.

“If students are engaged in their community before they leave for post-secondary school, then retention is higher,” says Smith.

“This beekeeping club ticked all the boxes.”

As the club progresses, there are hopes that if any of the members want to establish their own beehives, Central Huron might be able to supply a beehive and bee suit for the potential entrepreneurs.

Until that happens, the members still have a lot more honey to extract, bottle and sell. The learning will continue as they manage the beehives into fall and winter.

The first class With their first honey harvested, members of the Huron Honey group in Central Huron hope to have their product in front of shoppers at local shops and farmers’ markets very soon. From left: Kristen Smith, Emma Brace, Emma Lidkea, Lexi Merner, Sheridan Van Altena, Lindsay Stoecker and Sophia Ridder. (Lisa B. Pot photo)

OFA calls for abattoir changes Continued from page 13 significant contributor to Ontario’s rural economy, and provides economic contributions which are vital to the growth and sustainability of the entire agri-food sector into the future.

The OFA believes that with sound strategic planning and financial assistance, processing capacity shortages can be addressed to ensure a more sustainable work

environment for local abattoirs.

OFA members are concerned how various industries will be affected if abattoirs continue to remain over capacity and underfinanced. Without assistance, continued processing capacity shortages may cause industries to face lost income that can threaten the viability of Ontario’s livestock farmers and farms, livestock truckers, auction barns, processors and other

associated industries that make this billion-dollar sector thrive.

Together, we can address processing capacity shortages, a serious competitiveness crisis, maintain high food and workplace safety standards, and ensure the sustainability of our meat processing supply chain. The strength of the agri-food value chain is dependent on the viability of the meat processing sector.

School year start marks fall PEOPLE AROUND LONDESBORO

By BRENDA RADFORD Call 523-4296

Here we are in September already.

I would like to hit the reset button for June 1, please. It always seems that the day the kids go back to school, fall arrives. But even the regular starting date is late this year.

And I have learned that it has been set back about a week, so that may delay fall’s arrival somewhat.

The weather forecast for

September is for warmer temperatures than usual, so another delay for fall. This must be so, for my sedums, which usually show colour by now, have only the barest touch of red. And the mums in the garden have tiny buds but no flowers and some years they are out by now.

Perhaps we will have a few more sunny days and swims yet before we are shut in again.

Marie Bergsma, president of Londesborough’s UCW, called last week to say it has been decided to cancel meetings of that group until at least January. Perhaps the new year will find everyone feeling comfortable about returning to meetings.

The Apostle Paul’s letter to the early church in Rome was the centre of the message delivered online by

Susan McIlveen, minister at Londesborough United Church, on Aug. 30. The message was titled, “This Is What Love Looks Like”.

In Paul’s letter, he stated that love is humble, forgiving, not vengeful, seeks peace and shares with those in need. These are the qualities that bind families, friendships and communities. In spite of the isolation of COVID-19, Christ’s people have found ways to respect, care for, encourage and stay in touch with others. This is God’s work in our lives; to show His love through our words and actions. Our selfless love can ease the burdens carried by others.

Susan asks, “How will you add to the sum total of love in the world?

Does love look like you?”

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Clematis The Maitland Valley Camera Club’s Liz Allan captured this shot of a Clematis flower recently. (Photo courtesy of Liz Allan of the Maitland Valley Camera Club)

NEWS FROM LONDESBORO

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PAGE 16. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2020.

New signs, structures erected on Wingham trail

By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen

Finding your way Members of the Wingham Trail Committee, Wingham BIA and North Huron staff were on hand to help install the new kiosk and maps along the trail on Monday morning. From left: Kevin Dunn of North Huron Public Works, Lisa Hearnden of the BIA, Terry Deyell of the trail committee, Char Breitmaier of the trail committee, Wayne Elston of the Wingham Horticultural Society, Sharon Weber of the trail committee and Phil Beard of the trail committee. Absent were trail committee members Mike Martin, Murray Ritsema and Inge Wraith. (Shawn Loughlin photo)

New signs have been installed along the Wingham Community Trail at several trailheads throughout the town.

After the Wingham Trail Committee identified the need for a new kiosk along the trail behind Maitland River Elementary School, the committee worked with nowretired North Huron Public Works Director Sean McGhee to increase the signage along the trail as well.

The committee has since installed six new signs along the trail, included photography depicting views along the trail, a map of the trail and points of interest along its path.

Alicia Riley, formerly of Wingham, designed the signs, which feature photography courtesy of Kaitlin Beard and Alex Strong.

The new kiosk behind Maitland River Elementary School was designed and built by Thomas Beard with help from Terry Deyell, Phil Beard and Wayne Elston, who is president of the Wingham and District Horticultural Society. For the new roof of the structure, Diamond

AMDSB students to be in class by Sept. 17 Continued from page 8 • Reallocate staff and allow them time to prepare for new assignments • Finalize plans for our two remote (online) learning schools (elementary and secondary) • Allow bus operators to adjust routes to accommodate students who have selected face-to-face learning.

During the week of Sept. 8, invitations for an early orientation for students with special needs, vulnerable students or those who may require a more supported entry, will be made by individual schools.

During the week of Sept. 14, all other students will be part of a staggered entry plan to enable a slow introduction to the new health and safety protocols.

“It is very important that students understand the new routines that are being implemented. We anticipate that they will feel more comfortable if they can learn about these details in smaller groups,” said Dr. Lisa Walsh, Director of Education.

The schedule will include: • Monday, Sept. 14: Only students with last names beginning with A-G will attend • Tuesday, Sept. 15: Only students with last names beginning with H-N will attend • Wednesday, Sept. 16: Only students with last names beginning with O-Z will attend • Thursday, Sept. 17: All students begin daily attendance.

Students enrolled in remote

(online) learning will begin Thursday, Sept. 17.

Kindergarten students will begin their staggered start on Sept. 14 as well. Details include: • Monday, Sept. 14: Junior Kindergarten interviews • Tuesday, Sept. 15: Senior Kindergarten students attend • Wednesday, Sept. 16: Senior Kindergarten and half of the Junior Kindergarten attend • Thursday, Sept. 17: All students begin daily attendance.

The Board is also releasing its AMDSB Back to School Plan that includes the majority of the details for the students returning in person or online to the remote learning option. This plan contains up-to-date

details and will be updated when new information becomes available.

In order to read the most up-to-date version, please visit the Back to School Planning page on the Board’s website.

Families will receive full details about their child’s first day (start/end times, entry/exit doors, etc.) directly from their school.

Steel Roofing donated the materials.

The new signage along the trail was partially funded by North Huron in partnership with the Wingham Business Improvement Area (BIA), as well as some additional private donors.

According to Phil Beard, a member of the committee, the group’s next project will be to rejuvenate the entrance gates at the Wingham Ecological Park with shrubs and wildflowers. The project, which will be funded by the Wingham and District Horticultural Society, is slated to begin after Labour Day.

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BIA to set out new sign policies Continued from page 1 announcing upcoming events.

With the signs replaced, Sparling said the BIA needed a policy and to name someone to be in charge of changing the signs.

Deputy-Chair Shane Yerema of Hotel Lux suggested looking to the community groups in Blyth, saying if a club was able to maintain the boards, the club could use them.

Others said it was a good idea, however a charge for use of the signs needs to be implemented to develop a fund to maintain and/or replace the signs.

Sparling said a policy needs to be struck that includes a fee for the rental, when the rental period runs and, after some discussion, what kind of messages can be rented out.

The latter came as a result of a suggestion from Rachael King, General Manager of the Blyth Festival, who said that a purpose statement should outline why the sign exists.

“You don’t want to limit yourself, but we need to outline what kind of language is allowed,” she said. “It needs to be clear-cut as to what’s appropriate and what can’t go up there. I don’t see it as a problem, but people could see it as a cheap way of getting a message out.”

Sparling agreed, saying that should be part of the policy as well.

The BIA executive advised

members to think on the issue and return with ideas for the policy at the BIA’s next meeting in September.

Citizen-To-Citizen “SWAP SHOP” ad “One person’s junk is another’s treasure”

Let us help you turn that junk into $$ ➨ Free ad up to 25 words, person to person only (no businesses), items valued at $1,000 or less. 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.

Facing the sun Liz Allan of the Maitland Valley Camera Club recently caught this sunflower fully in bloom. (Photo courtesy of Liz Allan of the Maitland Valley Camera Club)

Call 519-523-4792 or email: info@northhuron.on.ca

THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2020. PAGE 17.

From the Minister’s Study

God makes Himself known: van Leeuwen

By Pastor Gary van Leeuwen Blyth Christian Reformed Church Eureka! Years ago, when in high school, in one of my science classes we watched a series of short films in which the scientist exclaimed “Eureka!” after he had made some sort of important discovery. If you have ever said, “Eureka,” you are speaking Greek.

“Eureka,” translated, literally means, “I have found (it).” It would be appropriate to use the word if you have found a friend’s house or the half-inch wrench that fell behind the toolbox. It is equally valid to say “Eureka!” if you have found the elusive piece of the jigsaw puzzle you thought was missing.

When we say, “Eureka!”, we are making an assumption, and that assumption is that what we are looking for can be discovered.

For some years, scientists had been looking for a tiny particle they theorized existed (all their calculations said it had to exist), and in March, 2013, the existence of the Higgs boson particle was confirmed through experimentation in a particle accelerator. Scientists “knew” the particle existed, and when they proved it, they could say, “Eureka,” we have found it. Finding something assumes that what we are looking for can be discovered.

A few decades ago I attended a U2 concert, and they played the song, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”. As they introduced this song, as I recall it, they said that they considered this song to be the one that marked their spiritual journey. Clearly, if this is a record of their spiritual journey, they cannot say “Eureka”. They haven’t found it.

The experience of U2 is one to which many can relate. Many people say they are on a spiritual journey, seeking to find something in which they can believe. Yet, in spite of the searching, their journeys do not lead them to a definitive end, and they still haven’t found what they’re looking for. They know it exists, but they don’t know how to find it or even what it might look like.

Sixteen hundred years ago, an Egyptian named Augustine, in his contemplation of his life, remembered his spiritual longings.

His heart was restless, and he was searching for something that would complete him, make him whole. He found it. He found it in God. He concluded that the human heart will continue to be restless until it finds its rest in God. We will always be searching until we discover God, Augustine proposed, and until we

Evangelical Missionary Church

Watch Livestream OR Pre-register to Attend Sundays 10:30 a.m.

Sept. 6 Tim Whatley, Global Ministry with Ethnos Canada Call 519-526-1131 to pre-register for Sunday attendance (max.60) Check out our midweek virtual LifeGroups!

** Let us know how we can be praying for you / practical needs ** huronchapel.com huronchapelkids.com huronchapelyouth.com 119 John’s Ave., Auburn 519-526-1131

find God, we will always have to say, “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.”

How do we find God? To find Him might seem impossible. How can we discover one who is invisible, who is spirit, who lives in the realm of the divine? We are well aware that we are limited in our capacities, for we are physical beings bound to this earth. To make matters worse, we are what we would label as sinful people, while God is holy. God’s holiness, His perfection, His otherness, in the light of our sin, is the biggest thing that keeps us from finding God. Our sin hides God from us. To find God might seem impossible.

But it is not. It is not impossible to find God because God has made Himself known. He reveals Himself to us. According to one ancient document, the Belgic Confession, a theological statement written in the 16th century, God makes Himself known in the world around us in two ways. First, when we look at nature we see God’s power and His beauty.

But that revelation is not sufficient for us to know how to respond to him in a way that is appropriate to who He is.

To make Himself more fully known, God also has revealed Himself in the writings we have come to know as Holy Scripture, or the Bible. God revealed who He is through His words and actions which have been recorded for us.

Because God reveals Himself to us, we can find what we are looking for.

We can find God because He has made Himself known.

However, God’s revelation of Himself does not end with the

natural world or even with scripture, writings given to us in a book. His revelation of Himself is completed in a person who lived 2,000 years ago, in Jesus Christ. By looking to Jesus, we see God, for Jesus is God who came to live among us. We know God because God made Himself known through a person who literally walked on this earth.

As we look at the life of Jesus, we learn something incredible about God: God is tenderly gracious to us, and we know so because Jesus gave His life for us. He died on the cross so that we could be forgiven for the sin that separates us from God. God made Himself known to us, and we can find Him because He did.

Our faith journey, then, is not about finding God. God reveals Himself to us. In something that has been experienced by millions who have put their faith in Jesus Christ, there is a quiet restfulness that replaces the ceaseless searching of those who are searching for God. Our faith journey is not about finding someone or something to believe in. God has made Himself known to us. It is not us who finds God but God who makes Himself known to us. It may seem that we discover God, but what really happens is that God plants Himself right in our path and He opens our eyes to see Him. He makes Himself discoverable so that it is easy for us to find Him. That does not mean, of course, that we don’t still have a faith journey.

While we may have discovered God because He revealed Himself to us, there is still much that we need to learn. We can never fully comprehend God, for He is so more

Brussels Mennonite Fellowship HOPE that has its foundation in GOD will not crumble under the pressures of life. (Hebrews 10: 23) BMF Mission = our church exists to GROW in the teachings of Jesus to LIVE by His example, and to CONNECT people to Him

HOPE

Closed Until Further Notice

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

MELVILLE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH BRUSSELS Join us for outdoor worship at 11am on Sunday. Bring your own lawn chairs, and any drink or snack you want for fellowship time.

Weather dependent. Please continue to follow Public Health recommendations - stay home if you are at risk or showing symptoms. Search "St. Andrew's and Melville Sermon" on Youtube for the virtual worship.

Brussels Soup and More 2 is cancelled until further notice.

519-357-5273

Blyth United Church This Sunday we look forward to worship with Alex Jebson via YouTube “Brussels and Blyth United Churches” Come and join Alex Wednesday mornings at 10 am for our “Visit in the Garden” Bring your lawn chair and enjoy a social distance visit.

Contact Alex at minister.brusselsandblythuc@gmail.com

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

vast than us. As we learn about God through nature, through scripture, and through Jesus Christ, we will constantly be impressed by who God is. Our faith journeys should often be filled with the explanation of “Eureka!” as we discover more and more about our God. Like with science, about which we know a lot but really don’t know all that much, so with God we know a lot already but there is so much more to discover.

It is only because God has made Himself known to us that we can find Him. So, we don’t need to search for God, but we can seek to know Him better. Let’s look at the world around us and see who God is by enjoying its beauty and power.

Let’s spend time studying and understanding scripture so that we can know God more. And let’s focus our attention on Jesus Christ that we can know God the best. God has made Himself known already, and as we discover Him, may we always be able to say, “Eureka!” I have found something new!

Getting Married?

Announce your upcoming wedding in

The Citizen Call or email to book your ad today 519-523-4792 info@northhuron.on.ca

BRUSSELS

United Church This Sunday we look forward to worship with Alex Jebson via YouTube “Brussels and Blyth United Churches” Contact Alex at minister.brusselsandblythuc@gmail.com Keep Safe. Be Kind.

The Regional Ministry of Hope St. Paul’s Trinity, Wingham and Trinity, Blyth will be re-opening on September 13 See our Facebook page 10:30 a.m. on Sundays for a live broadcast of our service.

Rev. JoAnn Todd, Rector 519-357-7781 email: revjoann@hurontel.on.ca The­Regional­Ministry­of­ Hope

Trinity

St. John’s

BLYTH

BRUSSELS

9:00 am

Not open

St. Paul’s Trinity

WINGHAM

COME WORSHIP WITH US!

10:30 am

Our 10 a.m. services have resumed with a limited capacity.

Services are live streamed and can be watched by searching “Blyth Christian Reformed Church”

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

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, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2020.

New act protects farms: OFA

From a distance The Huron County Beef Producers held their annual late summer barbecue at the Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre on Sunday, but this year’s meal was a drive-through affair due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

(Mark Nonkes photo)

Continued from page 13 the animals on the trailer.

Lack of convictions and current fines within the judicial system aren’t acting as a deterrent. The new Security from Trespass and Protecting Food Safety Act, 2020 aims to do just that. The new legislation offers farmers, livestock transporters and processing plants new protections and gives the judicial system new tools to address the extreme actions by activists aiming to end animal agriculture.

The act creates “animal protection zones”, which includes barns, livestock vehicles and processing facilities, and makes it illegal to enter barns or interfere with livestock transport without consent.

The inclusion of designated animal protection zones will help to eliminate and reduce the risk of distress for farm animals, the exposure of livestock to disease and stress and the introduction of contaminates to the food supply.

Trespass protection is enhanced,

with significant penalties for violations up to $15,000 for a first offence, and up to $25,000 for subsequent offences. Trespassers are also financially liable for damages as a result of their actions.

Comments and statements from those opposing the new act claim that it stifles free speech, impedes one’s right to protest and prevents exposing the abuse of farm animals.

Concerns around the issue of animal abuse, and the ability and obligation to report such actions are entrenched within the Provincial Animal Welfare Services (PAWS) Act, 2019, which came into effect Jan. 1, 2020.

Ontario farmers firmly believe in and advocate for the humane treatment of all animals, including livestock and poultry, and do not stand for animal abuse or neglect.

The Security from Trespass and Protecting Food Safety Act, 2020 acts as a complement to the PAWS Act, and together, these pieces of legislation ensure the highest standards of animal care, protect

people, animals, and the province’s food supply, while respecting lawful and peaceful protests.

The new legislation does a commendable job at accomplishing the needs of the agri-food sector to keep the farm and food supply safe across the province, and provides the necessary protection of Ontario farms, families, employees, their animals and the safety of the entire food system.

Farmers are an integral part of the food value chain. We stand firmly with our partners in the transportation and processing industries to maintain a safe and sustainable food system for all Ontarians.

Get information on Huron County attractions on the Stops Along The Way website at stopsalongtheway.ca

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THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2020. PAGE 19.

Market extended to Sept. 10

By Denny Scott The Citizen

While last week’s Blyth Outdoor Market was billed as the last of the season, the host organization, the Blyth Business Improvement Area (BIA), has made moves to keep it going for two more weeks.

The market will continue until Sept. 10 under the leadership of Victoria Logan-White, who aims to create a vendors’ association to help run the market and focus on an online aspect to sustain the market and vendors throughout the off-season.

Logan-White was brought on late last week to organize the association and continue the market and, hopefully by Oct. 1, set up an online market with pick-ups in Blyth on Thursday afternoons.

A relative newcomer to the area, Logan-White said she was drawn to the Blyth area by familial connections and an opportunity for her children to grow up in a more rural community, as well as the chance to spend more time with her in-laws.

She has a background as an executive assistant in both law and software development, but said she was excited for the new challenge the market will offer, as well as the chance to help support the community.

The announcement came after Blyth Community Betterment Group (BCBG) representative Annie Sparling told the BIA that the market had been successful this year during the BIA’s Aug. 27 meeting.

The BCBG was brought on after the market co-ordinator dropped out earlier this year and, through some changes made to allow the market to run during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sparling said some new opportunities had become apparent.

Sparling reported that the market has traditionally been focused on tourists and theatre-goers, however with the pandemic, those visitors were no longer coming to the community, leading to a local focus on the event.

The biggest change was shifting the time. While the market was previously held Thursday in the late

afternoon and early-evening, to catch theatre-goers after matinee performances and before the evening performances, Sparling said the market had been shifted to 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., which has caught more of the local audience. Vendors appreciated catching that audience as well as the fact that they could go to other markets later in the day.

She said, in her report to the BIA, that the market had involved local churches and community groups, as well as incorporating a focus on a family-friendly aspect, with events organized for children by vendors.

The market was also spread throughout the community, Sparling said, which brought positive comments from visitors who felt safer and from merchants who saw more foot traffic.

BIA Chair David Sparling highlighted the increase in produce coming in now, later in the growing season, so it would be unfortunate for the market to end in August.

For more information, on the online market, look to future issues of The Citizen.

McKenna calls for art on masks are definitive responses to masks ranging from people feeling forced to wear them and others welcoming the change to feel safe.

“I want to explore those responses,” she said.

McKenna said she has struggled with masks, saying that they represent life and protecting the world for her, as she understands their importance, however it can feel stifling to wear them.

“There’s a different reaction every day,” she said. “I want to know how masks make people feel, or what happens to them when they put one on.”

She has had people talk about how difficult it can be to always wear a mask, while others have said that they feel better when they have a mask on because it imparts a sense of safety.

The competition challenges people to start with a disposable mask and practise their own expression on it, whether that’s writing on it, painting or drawing on it or making some kind of collage on it.

An exhibition of the masks will be displayed from Oct. 3-31 at the studio at 432 Queen Street in Blyth.

Cindy McKenna of Blyth’s Wild Goose Studio wants artists to share their experience with masks by designing and decorating a disposable mask. She said the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in many changes and art is a great way to work through the emotions caused. (Denny Scott photo) The Citizen

Cindy McKenna of Wild Goose Studio wants to help people express what wearing masks due to COVID19 feels like to them and has started a competition to encourage people to participate.

Called “Emotional Response (to wearing a mask)”, the competition is open until Sept. 30 and calls on people to personalize a disposable mask.

After someone told McKenna she was fortunate to express her feelings

Huron Hospice held its fourth annual butterfly release, though this year’s event was slightly different. Those who bought butterflies picked them up earlier in the day and released them at their homes, while others were at the hospice’s memorial forest where a small gathering was livestreamed on the weekend. Above is Laura Shrubsole, a volunteer at the hospice. (Mark Nonkes photo)

Congratulations Mom & Dad

Brenda and Bryan Finlayson are celebrating 50 years of marriage on September 5, 2020 Love from Bonnie, Barb, Brad, Ben and families

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Express yourself

By Denny Scott

A way to remember

through her art like she had done through a piece in the front window of the studio showing an interpretation of masks, McKenna thought that asking others to create based on their experiences with masks would help them deal with this unique time.

“Masks really affect us all,” she said in an interview with The Citizen. “Everyone needs to work through their emotions.”

She said it’s good for people to wear masks, protecting not only themselves and their loved ones, but everyone else as well, however there

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PAGE 20. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2020.

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