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GeorgetownActon Wednesday Dec Ken Bellamy Publisher Don Ryder Director erf Advertising Hartley Coles Managing Editor a arror TELEPHONE every by Metrotand Lid at Wtfow Street Acton Ontm Telephone copw IS Canada n l countnra AdvantiNiQ accepted on the i the uburbm navnpeper inductee Whitby Pickering Aurora in Tj7j 1 Banner BoHon Brampton The Pom The Burgtor Weekend The The an otter town Independent and Sun The The New Th Mssuxauoa Nam Weekend North York Minor Member of Tha Canadian Community and Ontario Beevtr Beaver Week Tha Weekend Newspaper Richmond Liberal The Scarborough The Tribune EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Editor Murray New Editor Wan Murrey Sports Dan McG Nancy ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT Cook Advertising Manager Kirk Davy Advertising Carolyn BUSINESSACCOUNTING OFFICE Manager Jean Shewed CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT Manager Maryim Goodnews The best news we have heard in weeks the old town hall might be saved Rejoice Some eloquent pleas on its be half were heard at the hearing last Wednesday and they made one thing clear the building is worthwhile saving not because it might be useful not because it is in good shape but because it is a page out of Actons past Sometimes we have to hear these words from someone else to grasp their significance That old red brick building is part of the social fabric of the community Destroy it and we become iconoclasts Save it and we let generations to come know we cherished the best things out of the past But the old town hall is not on ly history it is a typical exam ple of 19th century architect ure Fundamentally it is in fair shape Weve let some features of the building be destroyed but there are still enough left to make it a fine part of our her itage The big surprise was the the federal govern ment agreed to give as a make work grant for the save the town hall project Apparently it took only seven days for it to come through The irony is that the town has been fiddling around for seven years and then decided to demolish Council decided to lift the his toric designation they gave the building and thats what the hearing is all about Intentions were to replace the old town hall with a parking lot The Towns arguments fell flat at hearing of the Conservation Review Board because they were based on utility not on historical significance It is time for council to re tract their views and get with itthe old town hail should be saved It took the determined efforts of a small band of zealots to re mind us that there are other things more important than dollars and cents They should be the toast of the town persevering in spite of the cynicism and contrariness of the rest of us Lets get behind them and save our roots Out of step Obviously the council has in the reserve fund for a municipal complex is burning a in their collective pockets so much they want to ladle out for an over priced for the town 30 acre site in Georgetown Theres some merit in the move interest rates are not as high as they were The invested money is not making as much as it did On the other hand tax payers surely realize there is a lot more suitable land in Halton Hills at a much cheaper price It is obvious what the mayor and council are attempting They want to tie in the municipality with a Georgetown hospital complex and also make the area head quarters for Hills hydro activities They want to cen tralize everything in one place to provide the Town a showpiece or an empire whatever you want to call it If the Town really needed a new complex of course the first thing they should have done is to prove the need In view of the fact Halton Hills is made up of three distinct com munities we think the present method of decentralization makes more sense than one fancy headquarters With com munications as slick as they are today it is ridiculous to sug gest the municipality could operate much more efficiently if all offices were in one place In Actons case you can bet the suboffices which the municipality operates here would soon be closed and tax payers would have no option but to make the trip to Georgetown to pay bills or send them by mail It would be argued of course that the building is for all of Hills But Acton and area would get the crumbs again We suggest the Town should be thinking of a more modest proposal than a 30 acre site Why not a few acres situated at Silvercreek Better still how about upgrading the facilities at the present site on Trafalgar Road Why not place a modest headquarters somewhere along Highway between Georgetown and Acton where the bulk of the Towns popula tion would have access In this day of sophisticated rural waste disposal it is not necessary for a sewer hookup These are all questions that should be answered before council goes ahead with the proposal they have now en dorsed At a time when- both the federal and provincial govern ments have decided that decen tralization of government should take place by moving of fices and departments around Halton Hills is moving to do just the opposite centralizing the Town from a showpiece in Georgetown No wonder some people are annoyed Crackdown on vandals The problems encountered in downtown Acton by merchants and the public with vandalism and unruly street loungers may be at an end Mayor Peter Pomeroy in his inaugural address to council has pledged a crackdown on hoodlums and vandalism in Ac ton As a new member of the Halton Police Commission he said he Intended to make down town Acton a safe place to walk and shop 24 hours a day last week in court Judge Douglas Latimer made similar statements to a young offender who was convicted of an of fence downtown Pass the word to your friends he stated that the court is going to act on prob lems in Acton Now the problems have been officially recognized at both the police and magistrate levels it could do much to clear up the image the downtown was get ting from residents and visitors who couldnt help noting the numbers and appearance of loiterers Their presence only did more to compound the problems mer chants faced with a recession and the empty and boardedup stores Hopefully the downtown will regain the friendly look it needs and wants as an attractive shopping centre Coles slaw- Fairy Lake has provided fun Last week I rambled on about Fairy Lake and the remarkable Mrs Secord and her enterprises including the nam ing of Fairy Lake which she also spear headed The information came from Actons Early Days which Incidentally also available at the book store In The column brought several re sponses Including one from Fred Allan who wondered whether the name Fairy Lake should not have been Fair Lake He says he has a photograph of the lake and It is named Fair Lake He thinks the name would match the description Mrs Secord recorded of an expense of clear crystal spring water with wooded hills around it cultivated fields and at tractive homes Was It a typographical error or have we been calling the lake by the wrong name for almost a century Anyone know In any case If you have been following the Bock Issues column of 20 SO and too years ago you may have noticed sleighs were running and there was skating on the lake and Hendersons Pond which once was behind the Free Press building on Willow Street There were some great shinny games on that pond when I was growing up as well as on Fairy Lake It wasnt uncommon to have SO or men and boys engaged In a game of shinny which Is really hockey without boards pads and any gear except skates and stick Goal posts usually consisted of two sticks or rocks placed at a width which suited the goalie He was usually the kid who couldnt skate too well or had ambitions to replace Turk in the nets of the Toronto Maple Leafs The score was kept in the heads of the different teams It the game ever ended no one really knew what the score was but most were willing to argue about Needless to say there were few injuries on the pond Because there were few physical limitations most of the players earned to skate like the wind Beardmore filter beds were another Important nursery for future hockey players Those who ventured onto the Ice too early when It was unsafe ex perienced a dip into the red colored liquid Rather than face the wrath at home they would dry off at the side of fires which always were lit beside the beds or the ponds They served as a warming spot for cold feet and also as a place to change from shoes to skates or vice versa When the ice was smooth and safe and with little snow on It there would be hundreds of people skating on Fairy Lake on a Sunday afternoon The exer cise wasnt limited to the young Ages on the blades would range from five to and perhaps some even older than that That of course was in the days when the ice in the arena was natural was not mode until around Christmas and was usually finished by the middle of March Any ice time before or after then was a bonus The ice on Fairy Lake also used to serve another purpose filling lec boxes which were the predecessor of the modern electric refrigerator Blocks of Ice were cut and hauled by teams of horses to ice houses There they were packed in sawdust until the hot summer months Then the ice man made his rounds and sold it by blocks according to weight I think and it kept the perishable foods of the day cool I remember the grief in Acton when a team of horses owned by the late Bob Wallace went through the ice and drowned while they were hauling blocks People sent down to the lake and looked at the spot the horses went through and just shook their heads It was rumored they never recovered the bodies of the team and they were laid to rest In the deep waters of Fairy Lake The next summer If there was an out break of disease parents Invariably blamed the waters of Fairy Lake for the infection Children were forbidden to swim until the scare subsided Some times even the medical officer or health of the time posted signs forbidding us to swim at the beach during an epidemic It stopped most of the swimming but there were always a few w swam up at the Big Bridge They disregarded the dictum and swam away to their hearts content with visible effect The Big Bridge of course was the railway trestle that crossed Fairy Lake to the Breezes and carried the electric cars of the Toronto Suburban Railway from Toronto to when it was demolished they left the piles standing They made excellent diving platforms Into the hordes of snapping turtles which Inhabited that part of the lake Since most of the lads who swam there wore nothing or very little they were sometimes victims of the turtles which bit at Ihe intruders The injuries were often embarrassing Fairy Lake has always been a good fishing spot too but the verities of piscatorial splendor which inhabit the waters had changed over the years by dint of stocking programs and the or coarse fish for the warm water before the lake was in 1067 At one time there were trout In the lake along with catfish bass and of course the suckers which plugged the lakes tributaries such as the school creek In the spawning season- As the lake filled with slit and weeks chocked off the springs The trout and boss became less abundant and the suckers and catfish thrived Someone got the bright Idea at one stage that the inclusion of northern pike in the lake would reduce the numbers of coarse fish and keep the weeds down at the same time So a result the Depart ment of Gomes and Fisheries in troduced some large pike into the lake They thrived for a few years and there were some happy anglers with three and four foot long trophies to lug home But over the years the size of the lake has stunted the growth of the pike We hear less and less about mammoth catches although there have been some good size bass caught in the last few years This doesnt nearly begin to tell the of Fairy Lake or Fair Lake There have been many tragedies In the lakes waters and they have provided good times for thousands of people over the last century and a half since the of Acton the Adams brothers dammed the sparkling stream up and flooded the acres of farmland and bush The Adams dammed the creek o provide power for their flour milt and is noteworthy that a flour mill still stands on that spot run by the Zeiglers They use other motive power not to operate the mill but the dam Is still there and provides water for the Beard- more plant down the Black Creek via a pipe line From The Canadian plan What activities are considered acceptable for the attention of a religious charity A dispute over that question between Renaissance Canada and the federal Ministry of Revenue was resolved recently by the Federal Court of Appeal at least partially A issue were the efforts Rev Ken Campbells MUtonbascd organ ization devoted to ensuring the defeat of a homosexual candidate fa the 1W municipal ejec tion The candidate said be campaign was a question of politics while Rev Campbell said he was acting to defend the of faith and family in heal gover In an of tut exempt status but did Dot What others say Ken wins chance to respond to the charges against them or to present argu ments supporting their actions On that basis alone the federal judges agreed the revocation of Renaissances tax status should be overturned because there had been a denial of natural justice by a government bureaucracy Whether one favors the idea of sexual deviants seeking public office or not it seems clear thai organ izations tike Renaissance hare a legitimate rote to play in questions of modern life and government There was a when the major ity of society accepted a fairly narrow definition of what was right and wrong moral and Immoral but those clear comforting lines have become confused in a process of social change Groups who once dared not speak their names now trumpet their perversions and desires at every opportunity leaving confusion and despair In their wake Organizations such as Renaissance provide for some an anchor in this modern whirlpool clear definitions choices and alter natives Questions of morality today are unfortunately also questions of politics It seems impossible to separate the two and for that reason alone it seems questionable to say a religous organization does not have a role in the political process It is that the court procedure rather than the merits of the action taken by the government but the results were right years ago December IS72 Again this Christmas principal W McKenzie and Mrs en tertained the Robert Little staff at a dinner party Mrs MacDonald who died on the weekend was Actons oldest lifelong resident She had lived In town for the past 92 years Jim was elected president of the Acton Minor Baseball Association for the 1973 season at the groups annual meeting at Acton Centennial Library on Sunday Specials this week at Bros Meal Market are Prime rib roasts a lb small link sausage a lb lean shoulder roosts a lb and side bacon a lb A year pin was presented to Ann Mowat the Christmas meeting of the Duke of Devonshire chapter of the 10DE Veteran Erin Councillor Harold Griffin was honored Saturday evening at the reeves dinner with a presenta tion of a plaque in recognition of years of faithful service to Erin township council 20 years ago December I J This Saturday afternoon at pm there will be a ceremony of the laying of the corner stone at the new Christian Reformed Church Mr and Mrs T Newton Acton celebrated their wedding anniversary Sunday afternoon during a reception at the home of their son Sydney Newton Miss Emma Baldlc quietly celebrated her birthday on Saturday Several friends and neigh bours called to offer good wishes and congratulations Beardmore office ladies enjoyed a turkey dinner In the VMCA Tuesday catered by the Ladles Auxiliary 50 years ago Decembers 1932 Bob Kerr and son Acton won reserve champion with Sonny Boy In the hackney stallion class at the Winter Fair this week A shooting match will be held at on Saturday December for geese ducks and chickens starting at 1 pm sharp A chimney fire at the residence of Mr and Mrs Albert Young on Church Street gave the Fire Brigade a run on Wednesday of last week Playing this week at the Gregory Theatre is on Friday The Purchase Price starring Barbara Stanwyck on Saturday night The War starring Jack Holt and Ralph Graves Specials this week at Pattersons Meat Shop arc side bacon a lb fresh nam a lb lbs of homemade sausage for 20c and choice rib roots alb 75 years ago December IZ Mr He m sire auctioneer has sold his farm acres fronting on Main Street to this nephew Mr Alfred of Trafalgar for On Monday night a checker match was played between players residing on the north and south sides of Mill Street An early victory scored by the north The players were North- John Harvey Hill D Henderson Leslie Moore and A Wright South- James Matthews Lambert Mullln E A Slater and Edw Dynes Messres Storey and Son con tinue to run overtime There Is no busi ness depression there evidently Adam Cook announces a clearing auction sale of slock and implements on Saturday December at one oclock G A Black is advertising for SO men to cut at per cord 100 years ago December 1102 We understand that Reevu Smith doeii not intend to be a candidate at this election but Messrs Storey and Christie are named by their res pective friends Mr McGorvin druggist and sta tioner has our thanks for a copy of that most useful volume The Canadian Almanac for The post office will be open on ChrlstmasdayfromBlol0am and 4 to pm Wrens Georgia Minstrels visited Acton on Friday night Their show was pronounced a fraud Remember the Christmas Tree and Sabbath School entertainment in the Church this evening In the year just closing fie Acton Free Press have added to their office new machinery type and printing appliances to amount of nearly one thousand dollars