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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1996 THE GEORGETOWN GEMINI 7 OLAV? VINES Spotlight on Children's Chorus Thirty members of the Georgetown Children's Chorus spent Friday ina Toronto recording studio, singing a Bob Dylan song for a new Bank of Montreal national radio and televi- sion commercial. Earlier in the week 14 members of the Chorus spent two days in Collingwood shooting three ver- sions of the commercial with hun- dreds of other singing children walk- ing up and down a hill. The professionalism of the 30 singers impressed the recording stu- dio staff who had booked two hours for the Chorus which managed to lay down the tracks of Dylan's The Times They Are a Changin' - in just 45 minutes. The commercials should begin airing next week. Palette and Pencil Club celebrates 30 years Congratulations to the Palette and Pencil Club which is celebrating its 30th anniversary. The Club,* formed by the late Frank Black whose work can be see at the Civic Centre, has approxi- mately 25 members and is affiliated with the Credit Valley Artisans who use the Cedarvale Cottage as a work- shop. The Palette and Pencil club is currently registering new members. For more information call Laura Hanley at 877-9927. Vegetarian cooking class The Halton Vegetarian Association is hosting a non-dairy vegetarian cooking class Oct. 3. The HVA also has potluck dinnersthe first Thurs- day of every month. For details on these events call Karen at 877-0496. Drive for Literacy The North Halton Literacy Guild's Head For The Hills Drive will be making it's way around Georget- own Oct. 6, promoting literacy skills of adults in North Halton. The tour starts and finishes at the Georgetown Marketplace, from 10 am to 3 pm, with participants routed through some of the most attractive and intriguing rural landscapes of the Niagara Escarpment. The entry fee is $30 per vehicle. Entries are limited to 100 vehi- cles and may be reserved by pre- registering at the North Halton Lit- eracy Guild office on Guelph Street or at any branch of the Halton Hills Public Library, or from the Guild's web page at www.hhpl.on.ca/ hen.htp. --click on events and Head For The Hills. Country Roads art tour The Country Roads Artisans are kicking off their fall showing at various locations around Georget- own, starting Oct. 5. The artisans will display artwork at homes and studios throughout rural Halton, with different media employed by a variety of artists. Some of the artists featured in- clude: Carrie L. Perkin, Jeanette Dodson, Susan Fyfe, Jacquie Cameron, Beth Cameron, Brandi Gillett, Mary Maxwell and Shirley Deaville. For further information, viewing times and brochures, call the hotline at 877-5496. Now, I don't want to give any- one the wrong idea--I'm not one of those guys who cannot sleep unless his lawn has that certain golf course look to it. You will not find me out there for hours, plotting, surveying, trimming, sweeping, raking, or Whipper- Snipper-ing my way to a per- fectly manicured lawn. Kind of like my hair, the sod gets a basic trim without the bells and whis- tles. Having said that, anyone who has ever had the task of cutting the grass can relate to the vari- ous debris that seems to sprout on fertile lawns: twigs, branches, canine gifts, chestnuts, and rocks. Nothing quite like hitting one of those little suckers with the blade of the mower, huh? That'll get you jumping. The point of all this is our seemingly contradictory rela- tionship with rocks. On the one hand, we hate them. Ask anyone who has ever been hit 'with one, on the windshield or on the head (Goliath comes to mind). Or ask anyone who has had the pleas- ure of picking out rocks embed- ded in the flesh following a bicy- cling accident. These people will, no doubt, come out against rocks. So you'd think the case against rocks is pretty clear, wouldn't you? Think again ... While we curse rocks, we seem intent on celebrating them. A few years ago, I went to the unveiling of a rock (!) by the ae of our fair Hills. This XX 7 Rocky road to remembrance The View From Here With Jamie Harrison wasn'tjustany rock. No, itwas such aspecial rock that it was being dedi- cated to somebody or something, which I have since forgotten. At the time I didn't think much of it, but I got me to wondering just what the attraction is. John Lennon and Yoko Ono married at the Rock of Gibraltar. The early Pilgrims landed at Ply- mouth Rock. Four American presi- dents are depicted in rock. The Irish are fond of kissing the Blarney Stone; another big rock. And a few years ago, the City of Toronto paid nearly $300,000 for a rock to put in a downtown park. Yes, that's right, farmer Kermit White was delighted the day he got a phone call saying that The Big Smoke was in desperate need of the nuisance sitting on Kermit's farm- land. Kermit may have been sad- dled with a silly name, but being one the sharper pencils in the box, he jumpedatthe deal. Ofcourse, Kermit didn't get all $300,000, most of that went to shipping costs, but the point is Kermit ended up in a win-win situation. For its part, the city spent mil- lions of dollars to develop the park ona back street in Yorkville.It must be an exclusive rock. My alma mater has a thing for .) rocks. Smack dab in the middle of the Ryerson campus, you' Il find about 20 rocks of differing sizes surrounding Lake Devonian, or Lake Devo if you've survived Rye High. Back when Ryerson Polytech- nic University was still Ryerson Polytechnical Institute, with the attendant inferiority complex, the Devonian Foundation of Calgary made a presentation to RPI in the form of the lake and the accompanying rocks. For those who haven't taken the time to see this low ranking wonder ofthe world, Lake Devo is all of about 10" deep, a fa- vourite swimming hole for wa- terfowl, and boasts a magnifi- cent collection of cigarette butts. It's in the winter the real fun begins. In the middle of Lake Devo, two rather large rocks jut out, separated from one another by only about 30" -- enough room for one to skate through at a high rate of speed. Now, Iknow what you're thinking -- any sane, sober person could do that. Sadly, we'll never know as all of the sane sober people refuse to skate on Lake Devo for fear of becoming embedded in the rock face by insane, drunk skat- ers. For those who like to get their entertainment watching replays of the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion, or FOX television, then watching the assortment of injuries incurred at Lake Devo istime well spent. SY Liberal's Casper Milquetoast, our so-called "Justice Minister," is trumpeting his proposed changes to the sentencing provisions for violent criminals. Closer scrutiny reveals them to be mostly smoke and mirrors. I con- clude that as long as this guy, and this government, is in power, we will never get the kind of legislation necessary to keep violent offenders off our streets. There has been a hue and cry across the country for the repeal of Section 745 of the Criminal Codeof Canada. This section allows for the early release of convicted murder- ers. The Liberal plan is to tighten up sentencing, but only in the case of serial killers. In other words, ifsome slime kills your child and not a sec- ond or third, they will still be eligi- ble for early parole. That's not good enough for most of us. I think the people of the country want murderers to serve the full 25 years of their sentence. If truth be known, a majority of Canadians would prefer to see murderers hung, but that's a topic for another day. Because of Allan Rock and the Liberal M.P.s who support him, the families of the children Clifford law reforms wear like cheap jewellery The Way I See lt With Mike O'Leary Olson slaughtered are going to have to re-live their time in hell on Earth. Olson has applied for early parole under Section 745. We're supposed to be mollified by the assurance he will not be successful. Ihave only one question for those who makethis argument. Why aren't you rich? After all, if you're so damn good at telling the future, you should have no problem picking the correct numbers for next Saturday's Lotto 6/49. The likelihood that Olson will win his freédom is, admittedly, re- mote. So what? Why should the people of this country have to pay millions of dol- lars so this filth Olson can conduct his theatre of the macabre? It strikes me as odd that the Liberals are so short of funds that they have to lay- off 40,000 people but there's al- ways money for this type of judicial crap. Whenever Olson is moved he has to go by private plane for security reasons. Extra guards, special ac- commodation, legal aid lawyers and the costs of judges, police and court- rooms will drive the cost of this charade sky high. For what? If Allan Rock and his supporters need to appease their col- lective conscience, let them pay for it. There are big bucks in the M.P.'s pension plan. If they're such big believers in this program let them pay up or shut up. Neil Burroughs, whose son was killed during arobbery, claims Rock went back on his word. Quel surprise! Burroughs said that Rock promised him that the government intended to take 745 out of the Criminal Code altogether. Instead, we're supposed to accept some tinkering with the Act. It's not good enough for me, and like Howard in the movie Network, "I'm madder than hell and I'm not going to take it anymore." Hope you join me. Last week, Rock unveiled his lat- est legislation. Anything this guy proposes should begin with the words "Once upon a time in a land far, far away" because if you think he's getting tough on criminals, you're living a fairy tale. Now he's suggesting that individuals who have been acquitted, and even those who have never been charged, will be forced to wear an electronic:brace- let. Oh, sure they will. I can hear the leftist lawyers starting to pull up their fighting briefs now. This legis- lation will never survive a Charter challenge. Perhaps the feds didn't catch the news out of Manitoba where the courts declared a woman couldn't be forced to take treatments for her addiction to sniffing solvents. The woman is pregnantand her two ther children are already in the care of Children's Aid. Ifwe can't force someone to treat an admitted addiction, how can Rock expect the courts to force someone who's never been charged to wear a bracelet? I don't believe there is any inten- tion that a proposal this outrageous is ever expected to become law. It will take months, or even years, for the Charter challenge to conclude. By that time the election will have been held. Liberal candidates across the land will try to convince us that they are toughening up on crimi- nals. Caveat Emptor! The bottom line is that the Liber- als intend to keep high risk offend- ers on our streets. But don't worry -- the courts will be issuing really tough restraining orders. I'm positive that a woman or child being attacked will take comfort in the fact that the pervert is in big trouble for breaking a court order. Don't be misled by the promise to label these criminals as "danger- ous offenders." The code specifi- cally requires that these creeps geta parole review three years after they are taken into custody. With the time it takes to get to trial, they could be up for parole in a year or so after conviction. If that application is unsuccessful, they get another shot every two years. A designation as "dangerous offender" does not mean the criminal is sent away for good. My last observation is the judge who brought down the decision on that woman in Manitoba, is named Twaddle. This seems fitting; so was his decision. a | STS WIE at the same time cima a TeCrOTISTUPS With Ais