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THE HERALD Wednesday December 20 1989 Page Opinion Page 30 years ago Members of the Esquesing coun cil held their- final meeting of 1959 to pay tribute to retiring reeve George Currie and asked him to vacate the chair so the 1960 reeve Campbell Sinclair could take the chair Mr Currie was thanked for the impartial and courteous way he presided over council meetings The staff of the Georgetown post office enjoyed only their second an nual Christmas party at the Paradise Gardens in Guelph The members who attended included Mr and Mrs Harold Marshall Mr and Mrs Andy Critchon Mr and Mrs Gord Hallitt Mr and Mrs George Macauley Mr and Mrs French Mr and Mrs Frank Nicholson Blake Inglis Donna Benett Jean Hancock Roy and Fannie Weaver Jack Armstrong was elected the principal of the Chapter Royal Arch Mason in Halton heading a list of new officers who will be in stalled in the new year 15 years ago Because of a computer error an 80yearold man was told he no longer owns his house Many discussions and legal complica tions later Tom Nelle managed to prove he did in fact own his home When he did not receive his tax bill on his property earlier this year Mr Nelle approached the municipalitys taxation depart ment in Georgetown and was in formed according to records there that he was not listed as the owner of the property About 70 temporary post office staff worked on staggered hours day and night to get the mail through on time for Christmas Charlotte Corcoran operated the cancelling machine which stamped Georgetowns outgoing mail almost one million times in the past month The peak day was on Dec 12 when letters went through their hands The Terra Cotta Villagers held their annual Christmas dance and like the past few years it was a complete sellout Winners of the draw were David Anderson Larry and Ron Hill 10 years ago About senior citizens sang Christmas carols along with the St Andrews Choir following a tour of Christmas lights organized by the Kinsmen Club Five buses were f History from our files provided by the Kinsmen Club to lake the seniors on a tour of Christmas lights in Georgetown A number of local businesses sup plied coffee tea ice cream doughnuts cakes and door prizes for the reception in the St An drews Church The staff at Park School held a retirement party for janitor Fritz Connie Mr Connie has worked at the school for years and said he has no plans for the future although his wife said he has a number of things to work on in cluding his garden Sixteenmonth old Cheryl Ann Janknegt was quite happy with the prize her mother won for her in the Beta Sigma Phi Christmas Lottery in Georgetown Marlene Steckly presented Cheryl Ann with a Man- Doll a canopy bed a wardrobe and handmade doll outfits The presentation was made at the shop in Georgetown with the proceeds going to the Georgetown Cancer and Cerebral Palsy funds 5 years ago Kazoo the clown entertained at Ihe Coop Nursery School In Horn by at their annual Christmas par ty Kevin Moller and Erin Guard were only two of the children keeping close to the clown as he gave away balloon animals during the parade The new 198485 Optimrs ex ecutive celebrated their upcoming year of community projects at a local restaurant Leaders in the organization are president Sheila Ward vice president Sharon treasurer Grace Martin and secretary Mavis Nicholson The Acton Firefighter Bantams and Eds In and Out Variety midgets took off from Toronto on a trip to Oslo Norway The two hockey teams are in Norway to play in a number of exhibition games The bantam team is scheduled to play five games and the midgets are scheduled to play six Both teams will be playing out door games depending on the weather Garth Turner fights to cut feds spending Okay Garth youve convinced me youre not that bad Climbing out of a natural mistrust of politicians and a nor mal cynical approach required by Journalists I have to admit that if nothing else MP Garth Turner is making a vigorous effort to clean up government spending on Parliament Hill And he is doing it at the request of bis constituents and to the detri ment of the relationship with some of his Tory colleagues I hate the GST like many Cana dians I despise having to pay an eight per cent sales tax when buy ing large items And now to see two taxes on each item you purchase even a restaurant dinner will cer tainly be an outrage -LETTERS- needs recreation group grows by leaps and bounds Dear Sir In June of a small group of disabled and able bodied adults got together and decided they wanted a recreational drop in program In September 1988 with the help of the Town of Halton Hills Recrea tion and Parks Department and the Department of Leisure Ser vices for the Town of Milton this small group began a monthly drop in at the Acton Legion Since that time this group has grown leaps and bounds and now operates weekly and has over members and Many many groups have donated supplies equipment money and their time to help this program and it would be impossi ble to thank them all However there are several key people that we feel should be recognized Ted Tyler and his helpful drivers and the fine staff of Village Manor Jim Phillip and the Legion crew Jeff Bitton and the Halton Hills Recreation and Parks Department bunch and of course Barb and Bonnie Ward from Milton Other key people from our pro gram include our Chairperson and Leader Shirley Raszewski Miss Everything the crafty Eve Dex ter Christine Czuhnicki and Dave Markham photo genie Irene Pegg cheerful Mary and Jean Kirkwood and the cool and effi cient Jane Adshead Last but cer tainly least is the glue who holds us together Heather Thomp son To these and all the other wonderful helpers we thank you for making our 1989 wish come true Our dream for 1990 is to see our family grow and prosper We have over 50 members yet we know that hundreds of you out there would enjoy and benefit from our weekly activities and camaraderie Give Shirley a call or better yet drop by the Acton Legion some WRITE US A LETTER The Herald wants to hear from you If you have an opinion you want to express or a comment to make send us a letter or drop by the office Our address is Guelph St Georgetown All letters must be signed Please include jour address and telephone number for verification The Herald reserves the right to edit letters due to space limitations or libel Optimist club members were great Santas Dear Sir I would like to take this op portunity to make a special thank you to the members of the Optimist Club of Georgetown They assisted Santa in making calls to over households in Halton Hills in just two evenings This represents 61 per cent of all the children in Kindergarten and Grade The program was organized through our department All Halton Hills schools in the Halton public school board and separate school board par ticipated All children in Kindergarten and Grade who returned an information sheet received a personal call from San ta Many Optimists provided Santa with the necessary enthusiasm and dedication to make every call a success This group was a definite pleasure to work with and I look forward to next Christmas when we can once again work together on this worthwhile and enjoyable project Thank you Optimists Ho Ho Ho Yours truly Debbie Miethig Supervisor of Youth Services Hills Recreation and Parks Department Wednesday afternoon and share in a cup of coffee and a game of bingo with us From of us at the Recreation DropIn For Special Needs we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and hope to see you at the Legion on Wednesdays Shirley Raszewski Chairperson Recreation Committee for Special Needs 16 per cent of waste diverted from landfills Dear Sir On behalf of the Hills Public Works I would like to con gratulate all residents for their en thusiastic and very beneficial response to the Blue Box Recycling Program The Blue Boxes were introduced in January In that time we have collected over 1400 tonnes of glass metal and newsprint Com bined with our corrugated card board collection we have diverted almost per cent of waste from landfill Environment Minister Jim Bradley has set out goals for Ontario residents which he feels are attainable One such goal is per cent reduction of waste by 1995 His ultimate end goal is 50 per cent by the year 2000 As you can see Halton Hills is well on its way to achieving this lofty position With increased awareness and education and with the introduction of apartments and townhouses and increased com mercial participation in recycling in the near future the prospects of our recycling program are bright In order to ensure a healthy con tinuation of our Divide and Con quer Program we need everyones support So if you recycle thank you If you dont please start Remember mandatory recycling is coming Isnt It easier to start now than be forced to later Yours truly Paul Sargent Recycling CoOrdinator Town of Halton Hills For the love of vegetables But I have to respect someone who says I will go to Ottawa and bring your message to Michael Wilson and then actually does it This reaction could be because there is a lot of pressure on Mr Turner His high profile as a business columnist with the Toron to Sun his harsh criticisms of the federal tax system as a writer mean many eyes turned upon the Tory backbencher He had a lot to prove And still has a lot to prove Michael Wilson said back in June that he feared the former Sun columnist coming to Ottawa last year What had once been a critic from the outside then became a critic from the inside albeit a more cautious and dare I say a more conservative one Mr Turner makes every effort to please all of the people all of the time Of course you cant actually do this but his surveys on the GST his public meetings show that he at least invites the input of local con stituents I would never say trust a politi cian And Im not saying it now But I guess with all the swings Ive taken at our MP maybe I could use the same arm to give him a seeminglydeserved pat on the back There comes a time in many a mans life when he must face up to a hidden truth about himself the sort of truth that he is terrified of revealing to others and spends years denying even to himself But I have a confession to make Ive come to suspect that I am a la tent vegetarian This selfknowledge might not be so devastating to someone who had not spent his adult life such as its been professing scorn for vegetarianism Let me hasten to add that this is not a condemnation of vegetarians themselves Heavens no Weve all met vegetarians and most of them are good fine people Undernourished people perhaps Pale rather sicklylooking people But fine ones No the scorn is directed strictly at their diet This may seem a sub tle distinction but theres Biblical precedent for it The Bible enjoins us to love the individual even though we may dislike what he does something about despising the sin while lov ing the shiner In this instance its a clear case of loving the diner while hating the dinner Now its undeniable that my reaction against vegetarianism is extreme and largely illogical It comes of having grown up in Kamloops BC where there are four basic food groups baked potatoes mashed potatoes french- potatoes and beef And just imagine growing up in such an atmosphere and then star ting to suspect that deep down in side youre actually a vegetarian yourself Naturally you struggle desperately against this knowledge and advance all sorts of arguments in an attempt to justify your carnivorous behavior It is for instance undeniable that ancient man in his natural state was a carnivore The world is full of cavepaintings depicting Neanderthal man clubbing woolly mammoths Not a single one depicts him clubbing a soybean Our ancestors spent millennia roasting meat on spits over open fires Stirfried vegetables did not appear until the wok was invented thousands of years later And yet Im left with this nagg ing problem The fact is there are few kinds of meat that I actually enjoy eating Fish is out for starters This isnt a question of principle 1 just hate fish This is why Im such a jolly companion at seafood restaurants Veal is certainly out No one with the slightest tendency toward can eat veal Lamb is almost as problematic if you happen to be the sort of per son who cant look at a lambchop without envisioning a fluffy white wideeyed thing hiphopping over the hillsides I can stand the fluffy whiteness The wide eyes are bearable But the hiphopping gets me every time Im developing a similar pro blem with chicken owing to the fact that chickens are packaged whole A beefsteak by contrast bears absolutely no resemblance to a cow When you buy a steak you can cling to- the comforting illusion that it was born and bred on the supermarket meatrack But the drumsticks of that chicken were clearly perambulating across a barnyard in the fairly recent past Then theres pork Or rather then there isnt pork My taste for pork was ruined forever by a childhood spent reading Freddy the Pig books I cant look at a porkchop without hearing a tragic sigh from my boyhood chum It would be like biting a BobbseyTwin cutlet All of which leaves me with beef Beef can be justified In the first place as weve agreed the modern beefsteak was raised by supermarket employees In the second place Im from Kamloops I have met cows I never liked any of them And yet oh lord Freddy the Pig had a cow for a friend Her name was Mrs Wiggins She was wise and kind and she had a wonderful sense of humor Help