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Thursday, O ctober 8, 2015 - The IFP - H alton H ills - w w w .theifp.ca Page 5 NEWS Gas leak on Mountainview Rd. There was a large police and fire- fighter presence on Mountainview Rd. in front of the Georgetown Mar- ket Place Friday afternoon after a report of a gas leak in a townhouse. The southbound lane of Moun- tainview Rd. and access to Sargent Rd. was closed for about a half an hour as Halton Regional Police offi- cers cleared the area and the Halton Hills Fire Department investigated the source of the leak. Crews from Union Gas arrived shortly thereafter and the leak was repaired, opening the road to traffic. The home is located just north of Sargent Rd. Police and fire crews responded to a call of a gas leak at Mountainview and Sargent Rds. late Friday afternoon. Mountainview Rd. southbound was closed for a short period of time before reopening. Photo by Eamonn Maher Police search for missing teen Halton Regional Police is re- questing the public's assistance in locating a missing George- town youth. Seventeen-year-old Joseph Austin Boose was last seen at his residence in Georgetown on Monday, Sept. 23 at approxi- mately 3:45 p.m. His family is concerned for his well being. He is male white, 6'3" 165 lbs., tall with a slim build, blonde wavy hair and green eyes. He was last seen wearing a black t-shirt or sweatshirt, black and red New York Giants toque, purple and grey Nike high-top running shoes, carrying a black Victorinox backpack. Police believe Boose may be in the Hamilton, Strathroy or London areas. Anyone with information on Boose's whereabouts is asked to contact 905-825-4747 ext. 2410 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222- 8477 (TIPS), or on the web at www.haltoncrimestoppers.com or by texting "Tip201" with your message to 274637 (CRIMES). JOSEPH BOOSE Life Matters event postponed Low registration numbers and the forecast of rain has forced or- ganizers of the Safe Communi- ties Halton Hills set for this Friday featuring musician Deadmau5 and TV host Brian Baeumler to postpone the 'Life Matters' youth event until the spring of 2016. There will, however, be a scaled-down event held Friday at Gary Allan High School beginning at 8 a.m. with registration. Following a "walk of hope" (weather permitting) that will head along Maple Ave. to Main St., then Mill St. and Guelph St. back to the school, activities and presentations are set to take place in the gymnasium and rear parking lot. Youths can also reg- ister online. Local support agen- cies will be present to offer information, share lived experiences and pro- vide outreach supports. Others will provide non traditional sup- ports, positive reinforcement, healing tools and coping strate- gies. Scam artists target Halton region residents Grandchildren and Canada's federal revenue agency continue to be the focal point of scams being commit- ted in this area, says Halton Regional Police. Halton police says that in the past week the service has received three complaints from people victimized by a variant of a common phone fraud known as the Grandparent Scam. All three victims are Burlington residents and all of them have adult children who were used as the sub- ject of the scam. In the latest rash of calls, the sus- pects have been asking for money to be wired to Lebanon. Combined, the victims have wired just under $20,000 overseas. Investigators with Halton police's Fraud Unit say the fraudsters call people and claim to represent the victim's son or daughter, saying they have been involved in an accident and need money in order to be re- leased following their arrest. The fraudsters then ask the parent to wire money to a third party, usually outside the country, in order to assure the release of their son or daughter. Once the suspect finds a victim who is willing to pay they will contin- ue to call and ask for more money giv- ing spurious reasons such as delays in the court process. The Halton police Fraud Unit is advising people that before doing anything, they should contact the in- volved family member and confirm if they are OK or not. "Prevention is the biggest tool at the disposal of the police in these circumstances and once the money has been wired overseas it is gone for good; following the trail to a suspect is almost never successful," said a Hal- ton police press release. "Any of the information provided during the phone call or for the pur- poses of the financial transaction is fake and subsequent investigation only takes police to a dead end," po- lice added. Also, still prevalent in the GTA, says Halton police, is the Canada Revenue Agency phone scam. Police stress that the CRA never solicits for money owing on an account via tele- phone. Anyone who receives a phone call claiming to be from the CRA as their first contact on a delinquent account should independently contact the CRA to confirm the request, say po- lice. "With today's technology, the suspects could be working from any- where in the world and are very skill- ful in hiding there true identity and location. If you are unsure, always make independent contact with the agency the suspect claims to be call- ing from and confirm the informa- tion you are provided." By Tim Whitnell Metroland Media Group