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50 cents (+GST) Vol. 131 No. 5 Wednesday, April 16, 2008 52 Pages Circulation 21,220 www.independentfreepress.com Stewarttown to vie for hoops title Page 17 Saving the environment Earth Week section inside GLT opening night tomorrow Page 14 End of an era in Hornby Page 3 INSIDE Editorial 6 Letters 10 Heritage 11 Entertainment14,15 Calendar 19 Classifieds 25-27 Check out how much the mayor and councillors earned in 2007 in Fridays edi- tion. FRIDAY... Realty Specialists Inc. Brokerage Top Producer since 1985 www.mariabritto.com MARIA BRITTO Local: 905-873-9255 (905) 873-1655 354 Guelph Street, Georgetown APPLE Auto Glass Truck Accessories Upholstery Heavy Equipment Glass Window Tinting GEORGETOWN CHRYSLER We handle all insurance work. Jason 2 LocationsGeorgetown Kia 905-877-7818 314 Guelph St. (Hwy. 7) Superstore Open Sundays 199 Guelph St. 905-877-8375 The Power to SurpriseTM 3FREELEASEPAYMENTSON ALL 2008 MODELS* FINANCING0%UP TO72 MOS. For breaking news go to: www.independentfreepress.com Halton Hills award-winning newspaper At the 20th annual Halton Skills Competition for high school students at M.M. Robinson High School in Burl ington, Chris Hassell from Georgetown District High School took part in the hairstyle competition on Thursday. Photo by Ron Kuzyk, special to I/FP Hairy Challenge Expect a tsunami of baby boomers to impact the local seniors centres in the near future, Halton Hills council was told last week. The first wave of the baby boomer generation has now hit 60 years old, said Town seniors co- ordinator Wendy Krever. These are the people born between 1947 and 1966 and the impact this gen- eration will have on society will be like nothing weve ever seen. Krever was updating council on the impact these boomers will have on the future of seniors cen- tres, and the planning that has already begun to prepare for them. This is the wave that has been entitled the tsunami and there will be an increase in our seniors population for the next 30 to 40 years, she said. Right now, only 10.2 per cent (5,500) of the towns population is over the age of 65. By 2020 that figure is expected to grow to 25 per cent (14,000). Centres will become multi-gen- erational, said Krever. Were going to have mom, grandma and great grandma all under one roof. There is one clear fact, that this will influence society over the next 30 years and will impact our seniors centres anything the baby boomers touch is changed for good. And weve seen this through each decade since they were born. The research is saying these boomers are reluctant to join the traditional seniors centres and par- ticipate in their traditional activi- ties such as cards and games, said Krever, noting that the boomers even object to the term senior. Hence the centres are considering a name change. These baby boomers are being described as the food court gen- eration, meaning that they want to sample different things, and are not loyal to one facility or pro- gram. Theyre less reluctant to vol- unteer unless theres a whats in it for me payback. The boomers will be different with leisure, said Krever. They will want experiential activities. They want activities of conve- nience. Theyre into holistic health. Theyre willing to pay for quality and there is much more emphasis on fitness. Consequently the future role of seniors centres will shift towards See SENIORS, pg. 9 Wave of boomers to flood seniors centres CYNTHIA GAMBLE Staff Writer