2 • Volunteers 4 • Editorials 8 • Sports 22 • Entertainment
The
THIS WEEK
Citizen
Huron County’s most trusted independent news source Volume 40 No. 46
Friday, November 15, 2024
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Four Blyth teams make finals at broomball tourney By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen
Putting it all on the line Blyth Junior Broomball had a big weekend, hosting its annual tournament at both the Blyth and District and Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centres with games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And while four local teams made it to the finals, unfortunately none of
them were able to capture gold on home ice. Above, on Saturday morning at the Blyth arena, the U12 Blyth Bullets beat the Mildmay Moose by a score of 2-1, doing their part to establish Blyth dominance in tournament play. (John Stephenson photo)
It was another successful Blyth Junior Broomball Tournament over the weekend, played in both Blyth and Brussels. And while none of the Blyth teams were able to bring home the gold, four of them did make it to the championship game. Over three days, 54 broomball games were played at the Blyth and District and Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centres, making for another landmark weekend for local broomball. In the U9 bracket, it was the Mildmay Farmers who claimed victory, defeating the Blyth Bullets in the finals by a score of 3-1. The Bullets also made it to the finals in the U16 Girls division, but they fell to Palmerston in the finals by a score of 2-1. In U12 competition, Keady beat the Blyth Silver team in the finals by a score of 2-0, while the U14 Girls Blyth Bullets fell in the finals to Mildmay by a score of 1-0. The U14 Boys from Mildmay beat the Seaforth Hurricanes in the finals by a score of 3-1, while the U20 Girls division was won by the Palmerston Terminators over the Kilsyth Young Guns by a score of 1-0, while the Kilsyth Flyers lost to the Mildmay Moose in the U20 Boys finals, also by a score of 1-0. The tournament began in Blyth on Friday night. The U12 Blyth Silver team beat Palmerston by a Continued on page 12
ACW considers new parks, renos to existing ones By Scott Stephenson The Citizen On Nov 5, Ashfield-ColborneWawanosh (ACW) Council received conceptual design work for three potential new parks in the municipality, as well as proposals for improvements and updates for five of ACW’s existing parks. Council commissioned the design work last year, in alignment with the goals and objectives set out in the township’s 10-year Parks and Recreation Strategic Plan. The five existing parks under consideration for a glow-up are Ashfield Park, Benmiller Community Hall and Baseball Diamonds, Dungannon
Park, St. Helens Hall and Playground, and Petrie Park. The three proposed parks are Century Heights Park and Maitland View Estates Park in Saltford, and the Dungannon Well Reservoir Site. Although the design concepts contained many ideas for park improvements across the township, a number of ACW citizens attended the meeting to express support for one particular element of the park plan - a proposed playground upgrade adjacent to the dual baseball diamonds of Benmiller. During the public comment portion of the meeting, Mackenzie Deuschle of the Benmiller Community Hall Committee
(BCHC) spoke in favour of the potential playground update. “We feel that we can enhance the enjoyment of all who use the Benmiller Hall and Baseball Diamonds with the addition of a playground. Currently, there is nothing more than a small, dated swing set and a newly-added memorial sandbox. This is just not enough to fill the needs for the number of children using our grounds. According to the Parks and Recreation Plan from 2023, Benmiller was deemed a high-needs priority area for recreational playground equipment, and there are a number of local children who would greatly
benefit from a playground.” Deuschle reminded council that the next nearest parks are at least 10 kilometres away, and that multiple baseball leagues and teams have been using the Benmiller diamond, from tee-ball to softball. “The TriCounty Youth League consisted of eight centres, with travelling U7, U9, U11, and U13 teams... each team had approximately 14 kids per team - that totals about 462 kids travelling to Benmiller for multiple games throughout the season,” she pointed out. “This number does not include any siblings coming to the games. As you can see, our grounds are literally full of kids. Adding a playground in Benmiller would
offer a much needed, safe and fun space for our kids to play.” Deuschle hadn’t come to the meeting empty-handed - she’d brought along the collection of playground designs and quotes that the BCHC had assembled as part of its own independent efforts to create a plan to improve the playground. She also wanted council to know that the project could be more affordable than perhaps councillors might think. “All quotes are considerably lower than the $150,000 quote that is within the conceptual plans for the park being presented today,” she said. “We believe it could be much Continued on page 21
A Warm Welcome to Vikas Gupta new owner of Blyth Food Market
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