The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

OPINION Wouldn't life be great if we could just do whatever we want, didn't have to answer to anyone, consider opposing views or even back up our decisions? Well, life must be pretty great for the board mem- bers of the Halton Secondary School Athletic Associ- ation (HSSAA). In addition to having all of the above perks, it gets to do it all anonymously. The HSSAA released a ruling Jan. 11 that effective next season, female rep hockey players will no longer be able to play for high school teams. The same rule has been in place for more than 30 years for the boys' high school league. The motivation appears to be to avoid discipline af- ter a human rights complaint was fi led suggesting the different rules for boys and girls was discriminatory. However, we don't know for sure the reason be- hind the ruling because requests for interviews with a member of the HSSAA were referred to a senior administrator with the Halton District School Board, who was not a part of the decision-making process. Names of the board members were also not provided despite repeated requests. The HSSAA ruling says its boys' league is thriv- ing under the current no-rep rule while girls' par- ticipation is declining. Except, the HSSAA didn't do its homework. Girls' participation is declining be- cause even with rep players many schools don't have enough players for a team. The presidents of Halton's three girls' minor hockey programs say the numbers are not there to support a high school program at most schools with- out rep players. But the HSSAA didn't contact any of them to inquire about their registration numbers and several high school coaches and phys ed depart- ment heads said they were also not asked about the possible ramifi cations of the decision. The HSSAA said its ruling was to maximize par- ticipation and limit the impact of the decision. What it did was cut the pool of available players for girls in half, even though many schools are al- ready struggling to ice teams. The HDSB spokesman said the rule is in place for hockey because the rep and high school seasons run concurrently. However, so do soccer, swimming and girls' volleyball, with no restrictions on rep or club players. The HSSAA has decided, to borrow a phrase NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly used to describe con- tract lengths during the lockout, this issue "is the hill we will die on." Instead, it may be where girls' high school hockey dies. The Independent & Free Press is published Tuesday and Thursday and is one of several Metroland Media Group Ltd. community newspapers. Edi- torial and advertising content of The Independent & Free Press is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. The Independent & Free Press Ice follies Steve Nease Letters to the editor Dear editor, As you most likely know, there will be some new items that will be picked up in our Blue Box as of April 1. I asked the department in charge a while back why some of those items which have the recycling codes 1 and 2 were not acceptable, and was told that it was because they contained other material in the fabrication which made them non-recyclable. So, I am glad that they have included those, as well as other items, that will now be acceptable. Then I started to think, why not start now? So, for any of those new items, I clean them thoroughly and put them in a blue bag in my garage. Then when April 1 comes along, I will put them by the curb with my other recyclable items. If everyone did the same, it may help prolong the lifetime of our landfi ll, even if it is only for two or three months. One other thing I have been doing for a couple of years is to return, to the grocery stores, all plastic bags I purchase. Since I use reusable bags, I have hardly used any of theirs. So what I now do is keep all plastic bags from them that contain items like milk, bread, hot dog buns, etc. I noticed that I wasn't the only one doing that. Hopefully these bags are being recycled and not just included with the stores' regular garbage. Unfortunately, a couple of items were still left out of the recycling material: Styrofoam and empty aerosol cans. Perhaps next time they will be included also. However, this is a very positive addition to our recycling program and we should be thankful for this progress. Bob Desjardins, Georgetown Letters policy 905-873-0301 Publisher: Dana Robbins General manager: Steve Foreman (sforeman@theifp.ca) Retail advertising manager: Cindi Campbell (ccampbell@theifp.ca) Managing editor: John McGhie (jmcghie@theifp.ca) Distribution manager: Nancy Geissler (ngeissler@theifp.ca) Classifi eds Kristie Pells (classifi ed@theifp.ca) Accounting Rose Marie Gauthier Editorial Cynthia Gamble: News editor (cgamble@theifp.ca) Ted Brown: Photography (tbrown@theifp.ca) Lisa Tallyn: Staff writer (ltallyn@theifp.ca) Eamonn Maher: Staff writer/sports (emaher@theifp.ca) Will you be more inclined to use the George- town library now that it has undergone a multi- million dollar renovation? • Yes. The new library offers more for me (60%) • No. Libraries are outdated institutions (40%) WEB POLL RESULTS (Go to www.theifp.ca) Positive additions to recycling plan Thanks for support Efforts appreciated Letters must include an address and daytime phone number. Anonymous letters will not be published. Letters should not exceed 150 words and may be edited for content and/or length. Publication is not guaranteed. Email: jmcghie@theifp.ca Mail or drop off: Independent & Free Press, 280 Guelph St., Unit 29, Georgetown, ON., L7G 4B1. Dear editor, As Georgetown Hospital sup- porters, we applaud your effort at trying to educate the public regard- ing preventative health and reduc- ing emergency visits. Perhaps other hospitals could be encouraged to do this in their local papers. Don and Gloria Sargent, Caledon Dear editor, Re: InSpirit Centre's recent grand opening. This has been a longtime dream of mine and it's so exciting to see it fi nally come true. I want to thank the local businesses and the residents of Georgetown for their warm welcome. It's nice to see so many faces light up when they come in and say that they are happy we opened, and that this is exactly what George- town needed. I also want to thank all of the wonderful people who helped us get off the ground. It would have been impossible without the shared knowledge and efforts of so many locals. In particular I want to thank Training Services, a longtime busi- ness of Georgetown which helped us with some of the administrative aspects of opening a new business, and for their staff's donation of time to actually help us open boxes and fi ll the shelves. I also want to thank Glazed Expressions, for all their assistance with opening a business on Main Street. Thanks everyone for all your help, we deeply appreciate it. Barbara Ford-Pimento, InSpirit Centre, Georgetown •T he I FP • H al to n H ill s •T hu rs d ay , J an ua ry 2 4, 2 01 3 6 << /ASCII85EncodePages false /AllowTransparency false /AutoPositionEPSFiles true /AutoRotatePages /None /Binding /Left /CalGrayProfile (Dot Gain 20%) /CalRGBProfile (sRGB IEC61966-2.1) /CalCMYKProfile (U.S. Web Coated \050SWOP\051 v2) /sRGBProfile (sRGB IEC61966-2.1) /CannotEmbedFontPolicy /Error /CompatibilityLevel 1.3 /CompressObjects /Tags /CompressPages true /ConvertImagesToIndexed true /PassThroughJPEGImages true /CreateJobTicket false /DefaultRenderingIntent /Default /DetectBlends true /DetectCurves 0.1000 /ColorConversionStrategy /LeaveColorUnchanged /DoThumbnails false /EmbedAllFonts true /EmbedOpenType false /ParseICCProfilesInComments true /EmbedJobOptions true /DSCReportingLevel 0 /EmitDSCWarnings false /EndPage -1 /ImageMemory 1048576 /LockDistillerParams false /MaxSubsetPct 100 /Optimize true /OPM 1 /ParseDSCComments true /ParseDSCCommentsForDocInfo true /PreserveCopyPage true /PreserveDICMYKValues true /PreserveEPSInfo true /PreserveFlatness true /PreserveHalftoneInfo false /PreserveOPIComments false /PreserveOverprintSettings true /StartPage 1 /SubsetFonts true /TransferFunctionInfo /Apply /UCRandBGInfo /Preserve /UsePrologue false /ColorSettingsFile () /AlwaysEmbed [ true ] /NeverEmbed [ true ] /AntiAliasColorImages false /CropColorImages true /ColorImageMinResolution 150 /ColorImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK /DownsampleColorImages true /ColorImageDownsampleType /Bicubic /ColorImageResolution 300 /ColorImageDepth -1 /ColorImageMinDownsampleDepth 1 /ColorImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000 /EncodeColorImages true /ColorImageFilter /DCTEncode /AutoFilterColorImages true /ColorImageAutoFilterStrategy /JPEG /ColorACSImageDict << /QFactor 0.15 /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1] >> /ColorImageDict << /QFactor 0.15 /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1] >> /JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict << /TileWidth 256 /TileHeight 256 /Quality 30 >> /JPEG2000ColorImageDict << /TileWidth 256 /TileHeight 256 /Quality 30 >> /AntiAliasGrayImages false /CropGrayImages true /GrayImageMinResolution 150 /GrayImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK /DownsampleGrayImages true /GrayImageDownsampleType /Bicubic /GrayImageResolution 300 /GrayImageDepth -1 /GrayImageMinDownsampleDepth 2 /GrayImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000 /EncodeGrayImages true /GrayImageFilter /DCTEncode /AutoFilterGrayImages true /GrayImageAutoFilterStrategy /JPEG /GrayACSImageDict << /QFactor 0.15 /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1] >> /GrayImageDict << /QFactor 0.15 /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1] >> /JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict << /TileWidth 256 /TileHeight 256 /Quality 30 >> /JPEG2000GrayImageDict << /TileWidth 256 /TileHeight 256 /Quality 30 >> /AntiAliasMonoImages false /CropMonoImages true /MonoImageMinResolution 1200 /MonoImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK /DownsampleMonoImages true /MonoImageDownsampleType /Bicubic /MonoImageResolution 1200 /MonoImageDepth -1 /MonoImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000 /EncodeMonoImages true /MonoImageFilter /CCITTFaxEncode /MonoImageDict << /K -1 >> /AllowPSXObjects false /CheckCompliance [ /None ] /PDFX1aCheck false /PDFX3Check false /PDFXCompliantPDFOnly false /PDFXNoTrimBoxError true /PDFXTrimBoxToMediaBoxOffset [ 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 ] /PDFXSetBleedBoxToMediaBox true /PDFXBleedBoxToTrimBoxOffset [ 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 ] /PDFXOutputIntentProfile () /PDFXOutputConditionIdentifier () /PDFXOutputCondition () /PDFXRegistryName (http://www.color.org) /PDFXTrapped /Unknown /CreateJDFFile false /SyntheticBoldness 1.000000 /Description << /JPN <FEFF3053306e8a2d5b9a306f30019ad889e350cf5ea6753b50cf3092542b308030d730ea30d730ec30b9537052377528306e00200050004400460020658766f830924f5c62103059308b3068304d306b4f7f75283057307e305930023053306e8a2d5b9a30674f5c62103057305f00200050004400460020658766f8306f0020004100630072006f0062006100740020304a30883073002000520065006100640065007200200035002e003000204ee5964d30678868793a3067304d307e305930023053306e8a2d5b9a306b306f30d530a930f330c8306e57cb30818fbc307f304c5fc59808306730593002> /FRA <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> /DEU <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> /PTB <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> /DAN <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> /NLD <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> /ESP <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> /SUO <FEFF004e00e4006900640065006e002000610073006500740075007300740065006e0020006100760075006c006c006100200076006f0069006400610061006e0020006c0075006f006400610020005000440046002d0061007300690061006b00690072006a006f006a0061002c0020006a006f006900640065006e002000740075006c006f0073007400750073006c00610061007400750020006f006e0020006b006f0072006b006500610020006a00610020006b007500760061006e0020007400610072006b006b007500750073002000730075007500720069002e0020005000440046002d0061007300690061006b00690072006a0061007400200076006f0069006400610061006e0020006100760061007400610020004100630072006f006200610074002d0020006a0061002000520065006100640065007200200035002e00300020002d006f0068006a0065006c006d0061006c006c0061002000740061006900200075007500640065006d006d0061006c006c0061002000760065007200730069006f006c006c0061002e0020004e00e4006d00e4002000610073006500740075006b0073006500740020006500640065006c006c00790074007400e4007600e4007400200066006f006e0074007400690065006e002000750070006f00740075007300740061002e> /ITA <FEFF00550073006100720065002000710075006500730074006500200069006d0070006f007300740061007a0069006f006e00690020007000650072002000630072006500610072006500200064006f00630075006d0065006e00740069002000500044004600200063006f006e00200075006e00610020007200690073006f006c0075007a0069006f006e00650020006d0061006700670069006f00720065002000700065007200200075006e00610020007100750061006c0069007400e00020006400690020007000720065007300740061006d007000610020006d00690067006c0069006f00720065002e0020004900200064006f00630075006d0065006e00740069002000500044004600200070006f00730073006f006e006f0020006500730073006500720065002000610070006500720074006900200063006f006e0020004100630072006f00620061007400200065002000520065006100640065007200200035002e003000200065002000760065007200730069006f006e006900200073007500630063006500730073006900760065002e002000510075006500730074006500200069006d0070006f007300740061007a0069006f006e006900200072006900630068006900650064006f006e006f0020006c002700750073006f00200064006900200066006f006e007400200069006e0063006f00720070006f0072006100740069002e> /NOR <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> /SVE <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> /ENU <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> >> >> setdistillerparams << /HWResolution [2400 2400] /PageSize [612.000 792.000] >> setpagedevice