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Local Grit delegates backed Peterson by Murray Acton and area two delegates to the weekend Ontario Liberal leadership convention in Toronto are confident new leader David Peterson will com pare favorably with the New Democrates recently selected leader Bob Rae and Premier William Davis or whoever carries the Tory banner in the next provincial A 36 year Liberal veteran Kay Ac ton and her daughter M Z Bennett teacher Carol backed Peterson on both of the ballots it took him to win the job Stuart Smith but rendered Kay and Carol like many of the other Burlington delegates to the convention Toronto went as undecided voters and wound up backing the eventual winner After hearing the five candidates a couple of mon ths ago Milton Mrs said she and her daughter were impressed with the two MPPs from Kitchener Jim Breilhaupt and John Sweeny but were by no means to voting for them The pair imp impressed them They went to the convention wanting to hear the candidates and meet them before deciding who to support They both agreed all Five were good candidates but after Saturday speeches they were leaning heavily to Peterson and morning question and answer session clinched their vote or the new leader Mrs noted Peterson was able to handle questions well and she liked his views and policies especially on health care Wefelthecould do a good Job and would try extremely hard We both liked his manner loo Runner up Sheila Copps also captured their ention Mrs described Copps as being very friendly and dynamic and they might have supported the freshman Hamilton this time but felt Copps needs more experience Mrs observed Copps drew a lot of support especially from younger party members Third place candidate Richard Thomas gave a great speech but Mrs was distressed with his threats to leave the party unless Peterson adopts his views She also left the convention believing the two Kitchener MPPs are Tine men and great to have in the Grit caucus but hey just t come across as good potential leaders at the convention Mrs allowed the fact that local Jul ian Reed backed Peterson helped sway her vole because he After the speeches all of Hal ton Burlington s delegates got together to discuss the candidates and while a couple had decided to vote for the rest indicated they were inclined to support Peterson Nobody suggested they d be voting for one of the other ihtee hopefuls She noted association president A Wilson a former Acton school teacher was impressed with the local delegation and their work at the convention Following on the successful convention many pundits were predicting the Liberal affair would be pretty dull But to Mrs Lawson and the rest of the over delegates it was an thing but dull It was very exciting She feels the party left Toronto all united with virtually everyone behind the new leader Thepartj is also stronger following the convention Peterson has strong organizing abilities a real plus in Mrs book since one reason the Liberals have been out of power for so long in Onl has been poor organization She expects Pel son will have the other leadership Candida well as critics like Reed out all over the province with him the next couple of years and when people hear the team support for the parly will in crease There no question in her mind Peterson In capable Her parents were though her However Mrs converted to the Liberals after she married well known and staunch Liberal Jack Lawson Carol has picked up her parents political leanings Her husbands father Liberal with her husband in the party at both the provincial and federal levels Mrs is this car the riding association s director of special events She has also held other executive positions This is ihe first time she was a leadership tion delegate at Ihe provincial leadership con won Smith over Peterson Carol was an alternate who get to vote Mrs Lawson has attended numerous policy conventions and attended other leadership gatherings where Jack has voted She doesn know who she would have supported at the last provincial leadership convention she didn get to heir Smith or Peterson very much then Besides weak organization Mrs Lawson doesn think party members have worked hard enough In previous elections and that may be why the Liberals Continued on page 2 A Metroland Community Newspaper One hundred and seventh yearIssue 33 ACTON ONTARIO WEDNESDAY 6 Pages Thirty Cents Davies Truck Equipment Ltd Is closing this day after a little over three years of operation here Managing director Angus Macpherson said the closing was due to the steadily declining market conditions in our industry From a peak of employees about two years ago the firm work force had shrunk to only four or five in the past couple of months and the last two workers will be laid off Friday Workers have been gradually laid off for many months now Located at Commerce Cres Truck Equipment moved to lown in the fall of Truck trailers were being manufactured in Acton Mac pherson would make no comment if the firm hopes to sell or lease its Acton plant had operated in for 20 years before moving to Acton and a part division inued at that facility Now truck equipment In wilt be carried out also in Rexdale but the firm is of manufacturing The firm moved here because of Acton proximi ty to main highways and the central location for south western Ontario Acton has people on unemployment insurance live claims for unemployment Insurance benefits Lillian branch supervisor for the Canada Employment Centre In Georgetown which takes care of all of Hal Ion Hills said in an interview the Acton Postal Code which covers all of town as well as the Acton rural routes was fed through the computers and it was determined there were people an Acton address sending in computer cards for claims as of February 14 She said while there Acton only figures for previous months she imagines and assumes the number of people seeking unemployment inst ance benefits is up in the last couple of months in this area The number of active unemployment Insurance claims for all of Hal ton Hi Us soared from at the end of November to at the end of January Of those 1 177 claimants 1 are recorded as people who have been laid off and are looking for work She also reported there are 094 people currently registered for work at the Canada Employment Centre The Branch supervisor says the number of job postings was way down in December but has pick up a little in January and February though the number is still far below the peak of last September The local job situation is slowly improving she says In addition she noted while some people who are out of work are finding jobs the levels of local unemployment remain fairly constant since layoffs continue to mount Ball diamond canned for end of Poplar Avenue Unless Ha lion Hills Council has a drastic change of heart at its meeting next week there will not be a baseball diamond constructed on land at the end of Poplar Ave General Committee last night Tuesday agreed with a recommendation from Recreation Director Tom Shcpard lhat the diamond not be built as planned However most councillors present pointed out they did not agree with the neighbors reasons for objecting to the ball diamond but felt there was not enough road allowance to deal with the increased traffic At last night s meeting both neighbors and ball players were on hand to give their views on mond This was meeting was held at the Library on February 11 to discuss the matter In December 1981 Shepard pointed out in a report to committee he recommended to council a ball park be constructed on land offered by Pat Pope 179 Poplar Avenue last night told com m It tee members there is only 18 feet between the end of her driveway and the driveway across the road a dead end street Poplar Ave would be the only ac cess to the park The traffic would mainly be people who live outside the immediate area Mrs Pope said she was also concerned with the parking problems She explained that a few years ago there was a problem with midnight parking and partying on the lands Beardmore erected a barrier at the end of the road to discourage this behaviour problem will return Mrs Pope suggested there was not enough in terest from those in favor of the park as not many showed up at the last meeting February ill Councillor Russ Miller wondered if having a park in the area might not be advantageous to the neigh bourhood children Mrs Pope pointed out there is Sir Donald Mann park within two blocks with sw a ball diamond and anything else that could be Continued on page B5 Christine Julie and Stull and Lisa Murray worked hard on their snowman at the Legion Winter Carnival on Sunday Group home under attack Indians Metis dragged off by Helen Murray A youth is living in stairwells of Toron to buildings knowing he will be arrested if he re turns to the only place he calls home His friend also 16 is afraid to go home fearing she will be the next person to be dragged away kick ing and screaming at a moment notice never to see her friends again For Brad General and Sheila Bell what was com close to being a normal life for the first time in their lives has been shattered like fine glass by government agencies designed to look their welfare Both have spent the past year and a half being taken care of by David and Grace Stanley either in their Milton home or in a special group home on Highway just south of Acton D Care Ltd The home was opened in June specializing in hard to manage and sometimes violent youths with special needs under the of the Ministry of Community and Social Services Until recently the operation ran smoothly with few people even knowing of the business a exist They received their licence in November and were able to accept more troubled teens Youths attended school most at E C School In Milton and went to church regularly Most have an Indian background and were taught to be proud of their heritage Now suddenly and without provocation Stanley finds himself in the midst of Ministry and man office investigations and is In danger of losing his licence to operate his youth home Allegations of child abuse have been hurled at him and he In turn is throwing back accusations of discrimination against Indians Two months ago he and his wife had three foster children in their Millon home and five at the group home just south of Now they have just iwo children at home and two at the Acton honu latest being taken away yesterday Tuesday Stanley his trouble started December when some of his staff quit saying they didn agree with certain policies and procedures of the home Continued on page OpUalUCtabkcMtbeiraanuIOnUrinlCwIest Friday The and I and row place winner Sun Lindsay lint place Maria and tint place boys Scott Back row Cynthia Doutan first place essay contest Walter Barlow of the Optimist Victoria MospraU fourth place Mantel Maddeaox up Tracy up and Dawn Hilton third place inside The sentence appeal case of a Burlington man who killed a former in a car accident bat been postponed Council appealing approval of an arcade on the at aide of town to the Details on page 3 A police ended in Naasagaweya More on of D and G Care Ltd kid arouad with wo of lie youngster In the rural Acton farmhouse Monday By Taesday the boy la be chair was taken out of the group home another victim of Brent and