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See our St. Patrick's Day specials in this issue! Your Hometown Newspaper Feed mill expansion upsets some neighbouring people By FRANCES NIBLOCK The New Tanner icials of the Halton Hills Flour Milling Inc, say that the current expansion and improvements at the Mill Street East mill will re- duce noise levels, but some neighbours remain uncon- vinced and continue to com- plain about the mill's intru- sion in their neighbourhood. Even mill general man- ager Bruce McIntyre admits that the mill's location in a residential area is not the best, but stressed that every- thing that could be done to alleviate the noise is being done. "We can't move -- if the Town, prior to our expan- sion, could have afforded to give us $4 million to move our concrete, steel and silos we would have ly went somewhere else use it's not the best place for us," McIntyre said in an interview on Thursday, adding that the mill couldn't stay the same size and be competitive. The expansion plan, de- scribed by Town planners as legitimate and minor, in- cludes a 1,225 square foot addition to the main indus- trial building. The roof of that building is being raised to allow for a second storey and a Church Street house, now used as mill offices, will also be expanded and some site works will be done. Three new silos and an in- ground scale are being built and additional parking is be- ing added. Two existing si- los are being enclosed and a dryer bin roof is being re- placed. On Mill Street the curbs are being replaced and there will be new landscaj ing between the curb and building. Neighbour Margaret Fisher-Brillinger said when she moved to across from the mill 24 years it was very small and quaint and artists used to come and sketch it. Heartbreak loss for MSB cagers The North Halton cham- pion McKenzie-Smith Bennett Mustang Senior Girls basketball team are out of contention for the all- Halton championship follow- ing a heartbreaking 27-26 loss to East champions New Central of Burlington on Monday. The Mustangs led for most of the game, by as many as eight points at one point, but New Central came back hard late in the fourth quar- ter. "We were up by one point and with about 0.1 seconds left to go Burlington put up a shot right at the buzzer," explained Coach Dave walker in an interview on Tuesday. "Tt's questionable whether the ball was out of her hands or not - the ref seemed to think that it was out of her hands -- I thought it was in her hands, but it went in and they won by one point." Ashley Stinson had eight points in the game while Katie Smith has seven points and Meighan Mcintyre had six. "Winning Tier one was the whole cake. The semi-fi- nal was the icing on the cake and going to the all Halton final would have been the candles on the cake. This was the most successful basket- ball season ever for McKenzie-Smith Bennett and the whole team deserves to be proud," Walker said as he praised the team for their heart and commitment. The Mustangs advanced to the North Halton champi- onship with a hard fought two-point win over W.I. Dick. That win paved they way for the girls to go on to the final with Sam Sherratt. After loosing two games to Sherratt the Mustang girls rallied and took a 31-16 win to advance to the Halton semifinals, "There's nothing left of that original mill now and the noise goes on unabatedly and that's the reality that we have to live with," Fisher- Brillinger complained in a recent interview. "We have to live 24 hours a day, seven days a week with the noise, dust and truck fumes and can't enjoy our yards and properties. We've had so many meetings with the mill and so many prom- ises have been made, but nothing changes." McIntyre insists that the mill has done all that it can to alleviate the truck and noise problems. "It's unfortunate that Margaret seems to be so hyper-sensitive to the noise," McIntyre said, adding that her home across from the mill has been exposed to more noise during construc- tion because of it's location. McIntyre admitted that there has. been.a lot more noise See MILL EXPANDS, page 3 Not too late to register Although the lottery dead- line has passed for the Town's spring and summer activities and the spring aquatics programs, its not too late to register as applications will now be dealt with on a - first come, first serve basis for programs that have open- ings. The Town's 67-page com- munity activity and service guide arrived at Acton homes last week and it's jammed packed with programs offer- ing fun and fitness. "We don't try to be all things to all people, but we try to fill in the gaps where services aren't available from other providers," explained Joy Thompson, the Town's Manager of Recreation Serv- ices in an interview on Fri- day. "We want to ensure, on a global community perspec- tive, that the residents have choices to participate in a variety of programs," Thompson said. Newstand price: 40¢ + GST Give your Mazda an early spring treatment HUGH HILL * Standard oil change oil point inspection + New wiper inserts + Anti-freeze check + Brake, power steering and washer fluids check 357 Queen Street "853-0200 Halton Hills (Acton) °° 453-8965 THINK BOWL CHAMPS: Students at McKenzie-Smith Bennett took second, third and fourth place honours at a recent North Halton Think Bow! Competi- tion, designed to teach students problem solving skills. Shown here are: Front row, left to right: Katherine Hopkins, Holly Goddard. Second row: Tina Parent, Mekaigh Roberts. pind row: Matt Daym, » Fou ri MSB problem solvers tops" When it comes to solving problems some students at McKenzie-Smith Bennett have all the answers. Three teams from the school re- cently competed in the North Halton Think Bowl compe- tition and came away with a silver, a bronze and a fourth place finish. The Think Bowl compe- tition is designed to help stu- dents face the future with confidence and to take a oor approach to prob- m solving. Students are presented with a problem -- the junior team tackled what can be done about the number of people becoming addicted to the Internet and computer games -- and given three and a half hours to try to come up with practical and work- le Wokingin es in teams of four, the students identify the problem, brainstorm solu- tions and then present their solutions in the form of a skit with props they have de- signed. "The students walk into the competition with no idea what their problem to work on might be and we've trained them how to come up with solutions," explained McKenzie-Smith Bennett special education teacher in- struction Libbie Keller in an interview on Friday. "After they've studied the problem they come up with a list of solutions and then they have to judge those so- lutions to determine if they are practical and long-term and then explain how they would carry them out." Th two junior teams, con- sisting of Liz Lewis, Laura Stevenson, Catherine Wilkinson, Beth Clayton, Heather Atkinson, Amanda Campbell, Gillian Brunelle and Synnoeve Stockinger, placed 4th and 6th out of 18 teams from North Halton at the recent competition in Milton. MSB hosted the seniors' Think Bowl competition and the problem they had to deal with was: "How to deal with the great deal of stress on today's youth that leads to depres- sion, migraines and social problems." The senior team of Rebecca Lewis, Dawn Stevenson, Hayley Green, Sarah Looenga and Sarah Lewis placed fourth out of eight teams. The senior team of Matt ae Rachel McKnight, Jessica Bailey and Ashley Holman won bronze medals for their ef- forts. The team of Holly Goddard, Kimberly Roberts, Katherine Hopkins and Tina Parent finished in second place. "Besides the problem solving skills the competition teaches group dynamics and cooperation," Keller ex- plained. "The Think Bowl compe- tition was designed to have some academic competition that allowed problem soly- ing, It involves writing, read- ing, analytical thinking, art work and presentation skills." Both the second and third place senior teams advance to the All Halton Think Bowl Competition next month. Model ACS3LMCA oe Tercel CE Only $599 down total oan) Or Get Rei) Lease for per month re 48 months, ¢ AM/FM Cassette Stereo freight at P.D.E. * 60/40 Fold Down Rear Seat included Intermittent Wipers © 5 Speed Manual Trans. 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