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TELEPHONE 519 8532010 Buunett Editorial Founded In 1875 every Wednesday by at Dow Street Acton Ontario Telephone 15191 Subscrplion Single 30ch 1700peryearinCanada OOIncounlmoUier Second iJannui Number Don Ryder Director of Advertising Ken Bellamy Hartley Coles Managing Editor The Acton Free one the Mel suburban newspapers which The Banner Pickering New The Bolton The Guardian The Burlington Post The Burl Weekend Tie Advertiser Guardian The Georgelown Independent Ma it Sun The Milton Champion The News The Newmarket Era The North York Mirror savor Friday Th Week This Weekend Richmond Liberal Liberal The Scarborough nor The Stouftvilki T Bod Wood bridge be Mel Publishing but rig sad vision He EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Editor Gord Murray New Editor Helen Murrey Sport Mark Holmes Darkroom Pundsacfc Ted Brown ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT Ratal Manager Cook Sales Davy Susan SwidraWlson Classified Carolyn Artem MscDouoaB OFFICE Office Manager Jaan Shevran Council judges merits of each noise problem Some people are puzzled by councils decision last week to permit a music festival at Prospect Park one day this August put on by the Acton Minor Hockey Association to raise funds for a tour of Norway for two teams this fall On the surface the deci sion may seem odd in light of the way council reacted to plans for a rock festival outside of town last fall or how it has dealt with the Yugoslav Centre this However each case must be judged on its own merit That s one of councils tions and there are differences between the AMHA project and either Farmhouse Produc tions who brought the rock festival and the Yugoslavs Certainly both the music festival at Prospect and the Yugoslav picnics involve the use of loud speakers for music and admission is charged and beer is for sale But that s where the similarities end First of all the concert will be held in a public park and public arena both of which the Town will receive rent for and thus there s a benefit to taxpayers not on private property Secondly this is the first request of this kind from the If they decided to do repeats in the future and there were noise problems and complaints from Fairy Lake neighbors then we re confident council would act to solve the problem The Yugoslavs might have an if they hadnt been granted numerous h permits in the past Lastly this just one Sun day for the AMHA While the Yugoslavs most recent ly requested just two picnic dates in the past neighbors have been expected to put up with the noise almost every summer weekend There are big differences between the concert AMHA is planning and the music festival council got a court injunction to try and stop last September only to see it moved to another rural location at the last minute In that case it local people with any respon stbihty as community members putting on the show It was in aid of only pnvate interests not a com project And the biggest dif the organizers of the concert in Prospect Park have been totally up front with local government and agencies about it plans The other music festival was shrouded in secrecy and deception of the author was the obvious motive Lastly the AMHA effort will produce positive economic benefits for the Town treasury as well as the local business com The Yugoslavs picnics produce only marginal economic benefits for local business some tanks of gas and just regular tax revenue from the property It has also been a drain on the Town treasury with legal action and staff time consumed The rock festival last fall only pro duced marginal economic benefit to the local economy too no more Town revenue and in fact was another ex pense to local taxpayers for police and Town staff time We believe after assess the merits of eacKnoise producing event council has made the fair wise and correct decisions Bid for ambulance worth the effort Actons drive to get an ambulance service of its own seems to have met with an early demise Let hope the same fate t await efforts to VIA here would seem to be hard to argue with the Province when their figures dont make a good case for Acton having its own ambulance There just isnt the demand And while it would be nice to still have our own am maybe it isnt as necessary as it would have been before all this happen Councillor Dave Whiting said hes heard very favor able reports from people us ing the ambulance in recent months People are being taken to the hospital of their choice He thinks because of all the discussion by council lors and citizens and reports in the press that the province and ambulance workers have become more aware of Acton feelings and are being more accom modating In other words by spotlighting the issue and local concerns much of the problem may already have been solved Also Whiting sees service improvements looming on the horizon with the new central dispatch out of Mississauga If this all turns out to be true that by raising the concerns they at least partially been solved then the effort has all been wor for Acton and the early rebuff doesn seem as painful Thanks to rescuers Dear Sir 1 would like you to print the following letter of thanks Thank you Yesterday May I was working in our garden when I had an with the I was pinned under it and I needed help called to m woman on the side walk and she called to another women and they came to my rescue I think they al stopped a car and believe another woman must have called a fireman came very quickly with another man Allot were very helpful One of the women phoned for help one brought me a knife from the kitchen so I could cut my pants and free myself and the fire man drove me to the medical centre I dont know any of their names butlwanttolhankthema 1 have a very bruised leg but no broken bones or even deep cuts It Is reassuring to know that Acton has these kind of people From the editors desk Oates family pays and pays by Gord Murray Free Press editor It seems to me that the Oates family keeps paying paying pay ing I speaking of course of Kevin widower of Colleen Oates and their two children Amy and Shane To a lesser degree Kevin parents have been paying and paying since that fateful October 1961 morning too Before that evening and morning nearly three years ago Kevin and Colleen and their kids were a typ young family They were working towards a dream a home of their own Kevin and Colleen knew it would mean some tough years and sacrifice but they were prepared to wait and work for their dream Some neighbors came by one late fall evening including a really new neighbor Eric Howard Ke II Most everyone was drinking especially the newest Bower Ave neighbor Eventually Kevin had to go to work in Bramalea and while he like the idea Kevin left his wife and family in the company of near strangers Later when the other guests left the quite drunk Kellar apparently lingered behind tie was to that when he stayed behind he butchered Mrs Oates The rest of the story his flight eventual capture trial conviction etc are history Mrs murder wns a heinous crime It struck at the heart of not just this young family but this entire community Two weeks ago when Kevin and his lawyer went before the Crun inal Injuries Compensation Board of Ontario they looking for the goose that laid the golden egg they were looking for justice and fairness They found neither Just because his partner in the dream is gone doesn mean the dream of a home of his own for his children is gone Kevin clearly wants to continue on and provide the type of home for Amy and Shane he and Colleen were dream ing about when she died But how can he Will he ever get behind the economic eight ball After Colleen was killed Kevin and the kids moved in with his par in Erin Ills mother had to give up her Job so she could stay home and care for her grandchildren Kevin has been paying her a week Kevin and his mother went to the compensation board looking for something quite reasonable help in paying for the child care Not forever just until Shane now 3 reaches age when he can come home from school and not require help and supervision They wanted a week for weeks a year for eight or nine years as well as some funds to cover his mother a loss of pay for giving up her higher paying Job with a union Manpower told Kevin it would cost him pay and room and board nearly a month for a live in nanny or for fulltime at home child care service The board rejected their request for child care funding claiming it was Kevins mother obligation to care for tier grandchildren and also claiming Kevin would have bad to pay to support his wife while she cared for the children had she not been killed Well first off I doubt it would have cost Kevin anywhere near a month to Teed cloth and house his young wife or in this case live in child care worker And what about loss of her potential of income for their dream in the years after both Amy and Shane were in school all day And does it really seem fair thai Kevin mother and father be penalized economically for having stepped into the breach after this tragedy No Even the award they did receive fund for Amy for witnessing her mother death or at least some aspects of the crime and a little over 3 to cover the funeral and other in expenses derived from Mrs Oates untimely demise seems inadequate Heck the slightly over MOW award barely covers the actual cost of the funeral let alone the incidentals It does seem obvious that Kevin correct when he says IT his wife had lived after the vicious attack if shed been an invalid and vegetable for life Kevin and the kids would be belter oft Then he get some help with the child care costs No she left like that she mercifully wasn t put through further pain But her family has been If all this sounds a little or cold hearted thenlsug gest you look at it in the following light As a new first time father I shudder at the thought of what my life including financial would be like if the same thing suddenly happened to us that heaven forbid touch wood and all that Helen were suddenly killed I shudder at the thought and after Just a month what do I know about child rearing or costs anyway The purpose of this board as I see it is to compensate citizens for the injuries inflicted upon them by one of society bad apples Now it seems to me that the degree of society responsibility for the incident should be a factor to be considered The Province of Ontario it would seem to me Is extremely res ponsible in this case At the trial it was made clear that Kellar was quite deranged He had been looking for help for some time The government should have known this kind of result was eventually coming from his track record of sexual violence That night in October in 1981 he wasn a complete stranger he had been seen around he neighborhood visiting his sister several times In the previous months on weekends When he was released that fall from the Brampton Correctional Centre he had served about half of his sentence for an almost as heinous though not fatal sex crime For my money the sentence was too light for the crime as it was let alone his only serving half of it It may be oversimplification but it seems to me that the Province of Ontario and probably the federal government too dm not sure where the Jurisdictions begin and end in this case itwouldllkely take a month to find out and besides who cares which level Is at fault and to what degree put a time bomb on Bower Ave just as surely as if they d picked out the town street house and victim for him The man had given enough warnings that he dldnt belong out with society yet the powers that be In our penal system had just kept foisting him back up on as So there he was sitting there on Bower Ave ticking away knowing alcohol did strange things to him I can possibly see such unfair from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board they have to be careful with the taxpayers money if this had been the result or action by someone out of the blue But since it was virtually inevitable that such a tragedy should happen because Kellar needed help but was out among us andhe had Just been released from jail it society owes Kevin Amy and Shane more Society was asking far this to happen and society agents the government permitted it so the financial penalty should be steeper There no compensation for the family for pain and suffering which Just never ends What price a human life anyway Pam makes good points I had a lengthy and Interesting chat with Councillor Pam Sheldon after the Tuitman grand opening Friday afternoon We were talking about our editorial of last week and while she didn succeed in changing my view entirely and I certainly t succeed in changing her view either her comments deserve public airing In the editorial we mildly chastized the council for rapping the Committee of Adjustment for meeting incamera or behind closed doors They meet to discuss minor variance plications before going public to render decisions However all of council working committees public We mentioned Councillors Sheldon and Mike Armstrong In particular since they ve been the most vocal on the issue though council by resolution voiced its dls pleasure with the Committee of Adjustment practise We suggested this was a bit of the pot calling the kettle black that council house completely in order on the very point on which It wants another house cleaned up It would have been nicer if the observation had been completely our own we acknowledged that this inconsistency was discovered by a small group of councillors who have been talking off the record in recent weeks about lobbying to open up council committees par ticularily the budget and property committees to the public We wish luck in forts and we are well aware the idea was planted on us by the councillors so we could Host the trial balloon for hem something we were happy to do With region and school board budget committee meetings open to the press and public we long wondered why they here and quietly urged the policy be Caotiiutedaapaget Back issues years ago May IS 1111 The SO outside workers of Hal on Hills voted per cent in favor of a strike at Tuesday meeting of Local 73 Canadian Union of Public Service Employees The union and the town were five cents apart and neither budged from their position The town offered an hour for laborers while the union demanded an hour Gino Civlero and Paul of Acton hope to build a mixture of single family homes semidetached and on 12 acres of land bounded by Wallace St Main St and the CNR tracks in Acton Taking a short cut against orders did not pay off for two Acton Scouts John and Dave who were losl In the Bel fountain area and had to spend Saturday night camped out in the pouring rain while Peel Regional Police and scout leaders looked for years ago I HI As as Canada national flag is concerned Acton councillors are still doubtful Tuesday evening a resolution to support the Red Ensign went down to defeat with three voting in favor of the motion four voting against and one member undecided Donald Claude Cook will receive his bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering from Queen University Kingston on Saturday New teachers for September In Acton are Robert Utile Ross Mary Golem and Robert M Z Bennett Donna Stewart Cowan and Edgar Mrs Ena Gibson teach two full days a week at Robert Little and Bruce for days at Z Bennett Glen While John St will soon be sporting a brand new vehicle a Honda Motor scooter which he won in a Pepsi Colo contest 50 years ago May 10 1934 Residents of Park and Lake Ave possibly wondered what was transpiring last evening when Acton Citizens Bond paraded from he band hall In the park to the home of Mr and Mrs Charles W Land borough Even bandsman Land borough wondered what it was all about when the boys surrounded him at the home playing Hall Hall The gang All Here But the ex pi an at ion was forthcoming It was a surprise party to pay tribute o Mr and Mrs on their recent marriage A very good crowd attended the euchre and dance last Friday evening sponsored by the Acton Citizens Bond Prizes for cards were won by Mrs and Mrs and Mr Robert Marshall and Mr JM Harris Rev and Mrs Brill moved on Tuesday to Acton from Wainfleot and ore now getting settled in St s rectory years ago May 13 The Acton Amusement Co which is composed of Morris Saxc Acton and Able Maldaver of Brant ford are arranging to open a permanent five cent moving picture show In the building west of Johnstone hardware store about the of May Capt Gamble reports that recruits are enlisting in Company more freely than for years and the prospects are that he will have a full company of picked men at camp fn June Mr John Barr has sold his property at the foot of Church Street to Nell Patterson and has purchased the house and tot of William Ritchie on Church Street near the Beard more stream Lome S Erwfn has purchased from I the Acton Laundry Mr Clavel is o remain with him for a month years ago May IS IBM The funeral of Mrs Donald Mann on Monday and Miss Julia Moore yesterday afternoon were two of the most largely attended that hive ever taken place in Acton On Monday morning 14- yearold son of Mr Edward met with an by which his collarbone was dislocated The work on the new factory of the Canada Glove Works is progressing The brick work on the first wo stories is almost complete Guefph Street between Mill street and Bower Avenue has Wen properly mid graded Three tramps lodged In the cor porstfon on Tuesday night