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to so TELEPHONE 8532219 BiMkiMt and Office Founded in id every Wednesday by Printing Street Aclon Crrtano Telephone iSlfll Subscriptions each 1 per year Canada at countnes than Canada The Ontario Com Don Ryder Director of Advertising Ken Bellamy Hartley Cotes Managing Editor Second dan matt regatration Number Acton Press a one of droop of newspapers which includes- Tha Aurora Bonner The Brampton The Post The Burling ton Weekend Post The Etobtcole Adverier Guardian The Georgetown Independent Meridiem Economni Sun The Champion The Mmnsauga News The New market Eta Beaver Fnday Beaver Week Tha Weekend Othews Whitby Tha Week OihawaWnrtby Weekend Richmond Hill Liberal Liberal The Scarborough Mirror The Stouffville Tribune The Willowdak Mirror and Woodbndge Liberal Printing Publishing a division of Harlequin Enterprises Limited EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT New Editor Paul New Editor Murray Sports Mart Darkroom Nancy Ted Brown ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT Rota Cook Sale Susan Sandra Wison Jam Frank Classifled Advertising Jan Carol HaH BUSINESS OFFICE Office Manager Jean Shewel Accounting- Centner Loitering law Two letters to tbe editor this week complain about police action in curbing loitering in the downtown which had been a sore spot for some mer chants One mother com plains she was told to keep moving when she stopped to show her newborn baby to a friend A youth complains he was accosted in the park and charged with loitering Residents are wondering what constitutes loitering and where the police draw the line The dictionary Gage defines loitering as to linger idly stop and play along the way spend time idly We would define loiterers as those who stop or restrict pedestrian traffic or bus iness or interfere with the right of others for free and unhampered access to facilities Casual street con versations between friends and acquaintances has always been a feature of small town life People ex change pleasantries and in formation We would not like to see that change be cause a few youths dont behave themselves The criminal code defines loitering as anyone who loiters in a public place and in any way obstructs per sons who are there for ex ample standing on the side walk and refusing to leave after being asked making people walk around them Halton Hills bylaw 105 section 1 states no per son shall lounge loaf loiter or stand as an idler in a public sidewalk street or highway or in a public place as defined by the criminal code so to obstruct the do and proper use thereof So if anyone is loitering as defined by either the criminal code or the local bylaw then they can expect action from officers but much depends on the dis cretion of the officer exact ly how he interprets what is happening on the streets An officer can strictly enforce the in tent of the code or bylaw while an indolent policeman or woman could let loiterers get away with many infrac tions QMyqk Is i fewwwgy ffl I Our readers write Illegal to sit in the park Booze and polls Halton MP Otto Jelinek introduced a Private Members Bill in the House of Commons which if pass ed would permit the sale of alcoholic beverages while polls are open during federal elections and by- elections He is getting support of course from the Ontario Restaurant and Food Ser vices Association which maintains the ex isting law is outdated and discriminates against businesses licensed to sell alcoholic beverages Accor ding to the president of OR the prohibition on federal election days anta gonizes customers and causes loss of sales in thousands of licensed On tario restaurants as well as loss of earnings by employees who serve and Prepare alcoholic averages The ORFA president rightfully points out that Ontario abolished similar legislation some years ago without any problems The prohibition on the sale of alcoholic beverages goes back to times when parties of all stripes didnt hesitate to bribe voters to mark their X for their candidate with free drinks To the thirsty who looked ahead for election days it was a bonanza But it led to many abuses at the polls Public opinion forced reluc tant legislators to pass a law forbidding the sale of alcohol during voting days Those who had the fore sight to stock up ahead of time never suffered much on election day But those who forgot to bring in their booze often found it intoler able Bootleggers bene fitted while legal licensed premises were deprived of business If the political parties behave themselves and elections treats are for bidden there really is no reason to keep the prohibi tion To the Editor On Wednesday July at 15 p I was sitting down at the park with three friends We werent doing anything just talking away a summer afternoon We were ap proached by a member of the police force Me then began to ask us our names addresses and birth dates The first person replied hesitantly and I was asked next I asked the officer why he needed this Information and he told us he had some sort of complaint but he would not tell us what I then asked him if I was under arrest and If so I would fully Identify my self but if not that I did not wish to Which is as a matter of fact my right guaranteed under the new constitution of Canada He then moved on to the other two and they told him their names because they just didnt want to get hassled for sticking up for their rights After he got their names he asked again politely mind you if I would tell hfm what he wanted to know Again I refused Up until this time we were both being polite to each other but at that point when I refused again he became quite rude He told just me out of the four to get moving and If I didnt he was going to charge me for loitering In a public place which he did when I didnt move All four of us were doing the exact same thing yet I was the only one to be told to move and then charged because I would not be pushed around by a police of ficer who got rude when someone began expressing his legal rights Am I to understand that It Is illegal to sit down at the park on a Wednesday afternoon and chat with friends There are no signs at the park telling me this I thought the merchants wanted to keep people from hanging around the street And why build down town if we cant sit at the one we hove now 1 would llko to mention that the park was well occupied that day and no one else was asked to identify themselves or charged for loitering Am I living in a free country with a charter of rights or a communist state Randy Unlawful to stopchat To the Editor Monday morning I was on my way home from the doctors I was pushing the buggy with my four month old baby girl I spotted a friend of mine Waiting for the bus In front of the former Buy Rite store on Mill St I Stopped to chat and show off my newborn I was immediately approached by a Halton Regional officer who shouted from a cruiser If you want to talk you have to walk and talk My friend was told to move on even though she told him she was waiting for the bus I realize the need for loitering laws but since when Is It against the law to stop and chat While continuing home I was held up by two senior citizens conversing in the middle of the sidewalk Where was our dutiful officer then And what of our parish priest who stops and con verses with his fellow man And how about the off duty officers chatting with friends or the of ficers in uniform standing on the corner watching the traffic go by Now just how tine is this line I am not a young hooligan but the mother of wo 32 years old who owns her own home and pays her taxes Am I also considered a of 11 merchants on Mill St My regret is that in my indigna tion I forgot to ask his name and badge number or else It would have been added to this letter Boettgcr Acton When it comes to sum mer tans whites are the minority Coles slaw No wonder they devised a curfew for kids Police have served notice they ore going to damp down on curfew established last fan for those under 16 years of age I can already bear the cries of from the kids and sighs of re lief from parents who can tell their kid to stay home or the police will get them As I have mentioned in these column before curfews are not something new to Acton Back In the days when this scribbler at tended school they rang the darn thing Iron the old town ball at nine not We bad to be off the streets or accompanied by an adult or The Acton police then consisted of one chief and a night constable The chief was Fortunately Mr car had squeaky brakes not unlike my model and we could hear him coming after curfew rang We usually lit out for home when we beard the brakes not bell If we were accosted It was not un common to lie outright and tell the chief we hadnt heard the bell He of course knew we were tying or eourrocaUng If you want a tetter word He would to get off the street or he would report us who probably elderly lady across the street anyway Butitwasenoughtoscareuslnto evacuating our street games such as Oyster Sails Kick the Can and Spin the Bottle And other har mless pursuits Spin the Bottle meant that you were playing with girls Parents always thought that if you were with them you would never get into any trouble I think it must have been girls who devised the game because they spun the botUe any old bottle you could find The one who spun had to kiss the one at whom the neck pointed providing it was someone of the opposite sex Well there was always someone in the group who was choosy about whom they would kiss If the bottle didnl point In the right direction theyd say It was pointing in theyd er another spin Basing a girl was the last thing most of us boys would do under ordinary circumstances But once Spin the Bottle started yon were licked No one would taunt you the next day because they knew even if yon fid take an extra moment kissing someone you liked it was all under the protective umbrella of The Game That Is ail except sisters If they participated the games and all was quiet at the dinner table the next day as sure as one follows two they would blurt out I saw Jim kissing Joan yesterday and he hadnt even washed his face Naturally under the gaze of the whole family who fixed their gaze on you with obvious delight in the torture you turned a brilliant red notifying everyone you were guilty Usually parents would just pass Ihe whole Incident off but your pipsqueak brother who always tag ged along would add some post- such as Yeah and he kissed Jessie too By then not only your face was burning red with embarrassment Yon could fed your whole body burning too The escape brother was paramount It called for a good choking act on your spinach then a hurried retreat to the bath room which consisted of a privy at back yard There you could plan revenge on your brother and sister The remembrance of the acute embarrassment you suffered had passed by the next day and you could happily trudge out wild strawberry or raspberry picking the next day Usually every kid on the block went to pick wild berries which used to grow on every Bunny hillside in profusion and along rail way routes especially We took cans and six quart baskets and brought the sweet berries home to eat That is those we hadnt al ready consumed on tbe way home Wild strawberries took a lot of picking Placed beside the pick- your own produce people pick now they were pygmies It look an awful lot of them to fill a can and almost a days picking to fill a six quart basket At least it seemed like a day It was probably only a few hours Then there were raspberries where you could stand up to pick and the ladies and girls were al ways on the lookout for snakes imagined and real If any snake saw them dressed In their s overalls and a bandana l their head it would probably have slithered back to Its hole mighty quick They were almost as afraid of snakes as they were of mice Every so often there would be rumors of bears roaming the countryside and eating berries which were scoffed at but had everyone convinced there probably was some truth in it and the bears were ready to gobble kids up as main course with the berries One day as we picked rasp berries near Speyside in a secluded patch we saw something black and hairy beating a hasty retreat as we approached Palls and baskets were hastily discarded and the distance we put between us and the Unidentified Animal in seconds would have qualified most of us for the Olympics Except for the one kid who was always on these ex peditions Hed trip over the first rock cut his knee and bawl his eyes out all the way home The next day the kids tn that family were barred from playing with ruffians who would wave a little ragamuffin like Joey he clut ches of a bear No wonder they devised a curfew to keep us kids home It must have given our parents satisfaction to know some body betide themselves wanted us off ibe streets years ago July IT 19T4 The Ontario Government has approved tho route of a hydro transmission corridor from Middle- port to Pickering cutting through the centre of Hills Funeral service was held Tuesday afternoon for John Norman Price who was tragically killed in a sudden collision on Highway three miles west of Halton Rd on Saturday John Price was riding his brothers motorcycle when the col lision occurred He would have been today Wednesday Leslie and Mamie 114 Mill St won in the fifth draw for in the Olympic lottery Tues day Charles of Acton was the lucky winner of In the Olympic lottery last night 20 years ago July ISM Actons population doubled within two hours Saturday afternoon when members of lodges with bands drew a huge crowd of spectators for the first fivecounty Orange Walk here in years Over people were In the parade Recommendations of the cen tennial committee presented by Bob that council accept a new public library as a centennial project for the town of Acton was passed Tuesday evening Covering thousands of miles on his first trip to this continent Man Alan of the club at Christ- church New Zealand was pleased this to meet Acton Club mem bers and particularly Harry Arbic who showed them around the town 50 years ago The finding of a mans body in the rumble seat of a car that had been abandoned in Town ship was the gruesome discovery made by James Henderson when he examined the machine on Saturday morning The auto had been seen the day previously but nothing was thought of the incident When the machine was still there the following morning examination was made The Henderson farm is about six miles south west of Acton The victim was later Identified as Frank of Hamilton He was an ex- convict and petty crook To police who know him Slglfono was a rat unloved by those with whom he ass ociated or by police Messrs Elliot J McGeachle and A Buchanan look part in the bowling tournament at Waterloo yesterday 75 years ago July 15 IMS The garden party given in the park last Thursday evening by the Ladies Aid and Epworth League of the Methodist Church was attended by about one thousand persons The following candidates who wrote High School entrance examinations in Acton were suc cessful Victor Coleman Roy Bauer M Henderson Bertha Dia mond Rcta Cole Bessie Gardiner Austin Lehman Isabel Gllbertson Dorothy Nelson Luella Reed Hubert Mann Gertrude Harrison Leonard Atkinson Perry Watson Margaret Brown Nora Kenney Kathleen Gibbons Mcpher son James Kurd Eva A damson Wilson Pearl McDonald and John Nelson years ago We are informed that a new project Is mooted for erection of a roller mill In Acton The projectors are strangers It any reasonable Inducement can be offered to secure a roller mill in Acton by all means let council do their duty to the municipality for that matter On Saturday night a couple of burglaries were com mil led in Acton but happily the contemptible house breakers secured very little swag They entered the residence of Mr Green at the comer of M1U and Wilbur Streets and the post office We are informed hat more drunkenness was to be seen on streets of Saturday than has been in Acton during the past two years Of course this was not Rockwoods fault but the fault of the r licence system which prevails in that county We understood that Mrs Adams intends continuing bus ineu in stand now by Mr King