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THE NEW TANNER Homecrafts needs volunteers The Acton Fall Fair may be six months away, but the planning for this.year's edi- tion of the popular event is well underway, especially in the Homecrafts Division. "People love to compete in various areas and it's a fun part of the air if you're not into the animal part. I would say that the Homecrafts are half of what the Fair is all about," an admittedly biased Homecrafts president Renata Georgeff explained in an in- terview last Thursday. "We have at least six hun- dred entrants on a regular basis and many of them sub- mit more than one item so registering, displaying and judging the entries is a huge job." The theme for this year's Homecrafts "Sunflower Days" was decided months ago so the prize book could be printed and ready to dis- tribute in early April. "Some of the entrants will be working on their submis- sions now for the crafts and the quilts, which are probably the most popular and impor- tant category," Georgeff said. The Homecrafts Division is looking for people who are willing to help with the ex- hibits for this September's Fair. "We're looking for some new blood -- for people with enthusiasm and new ideas who will help us change and grow," Georgeff said, adding they have a core group of about 10 volunteers who come to regular meetings and another 10 who set up and display the exhibitors' work. The next meeting of the Homecrafts Division is Thursday, April 2 t the Acton Legion Hall. For details call 853-5245 or 856-4183. SLIP SLIDIN': Leah McMillan, 2, of Acton tries out bob-skates while mom Shirley sticks to shoes at Acton arena on Monday. The Rotary Club of Acton picked up the tab for the daily public skating session and arena staff expected up to 1,000 kids and parents to take advantage of the free skating during March break. -- Frances Niblock photo Mes MILAN'S Taniier Hometown news that people read! ( Open 7 Days a Week ) 10am-5pm 853-0311 8" Thaw & Serve CREAM PIES Chocolate, Banana or Coconut CHOCOLATE CHUNK COOKIE DOUGH Plus one other 1 3°0 (2 X 1.5 Litre pails) 15% savings Flash Frozen Boysenberries - 2kg 155 (reg 1795) Elmira Premium BONELESS, SKINLESS CHICKEN BREASTS 3los 9 Q75 8.8 Ib box 357° SoU Se Aum (cee RU mec Prme eee Tt oce et tes Hwy. #7, 1 mile west of Acton Individual 5" SALMON OR SEAFOOD PIES 225 © Aur 5% (while supplies last) THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 1998 ~~ THE GIFT OF LIFE: Acton's Dan Poirer gave blood for the 33rd time at last Thursday's blood donor clinic at the Acton Legion. Red Cross nurse Pauline Windisch (left) provided the technical care while clinic chair Julia Roehrig offered thanks, then cookies and juice. -- Frances Niblock photo 1 Threat of lawsuit scuttles hockey tourney » By FRANCES NIBLOCK The New Tanner The threat of a potential + lawsuit has killed plans for . Grades 3, 4 and 5 Acton stu- dents to play in a school sponsored hockey tourna- ment. Risk management offi- . cials with both the public Halton District School Board and the Halton Roman Catholic Separate School ' Board disappointed students, ' parents and staff when they withdrew permission for the younger grades to play. Stu- dents from Grades 6, 7 and 8 will still play in the inter- school tournament, sched- uled for Thursday, April, and . there's talk that parents of the younger children will get their own insurance and coach the younger teams without school affiliation so they can still play. The Halton Board's Co- ordinator of Physical Health and Education, Sue Amos, said there was no precedence, no history of common prac- tice, for the Board to allow a school-sponsored hockey tournament for students be- low Grade 6. "Unfortunately in this day and age it breaks right down to liability," Amos explained in an interview last Thurs- day. "Worse case scenario would be an accident. The parents of the injured student sue the organizer, the rink, the Board and the teacher in a blanket suit. In a court case you would be asked what jus- tified involving kids in Grade 4 and 5 and the an- swer would be nothing - that there was nothing out there that gave us rationale to run it, to okay it," Amos ex- plained. Tournament organizer Scott Withers, of Acton, is perplexed by the Board's po- sition. "I heard the some parent phoned the Board and said that hockey is a violent sport and shouldn't be played in schools," Withers explained in a recent interview. "It doesn't make sense that the Grades 6, 7 and 8 students can play just be- cause there was a similar tournament a number of years ago. "What gets me is these same kids can go downhill skiing, swimming and to basketball and volleyball tournaments. Hockey is a Canadian game and all the boys should be able to play for their schools," Withers argued. Don Warren, principal of Robert Little School said his students were "devastated" when they found out that they couldn't play in the tournament. "The separate board had started to practice and and our school were ready to begin so it was really disap- pointing to have to cancel." Warren explained in an in- terview last Thursday. "We quickly put together a'ball hockey exhibition game with McKenzie -- we'd had to do something for the kids -- they were so excited about this tournament. I've never seen such enthusiasm and parent support," Warren said, adding that the tourna- ment was intended to be a "real celebration of our new arena." Seventeen Robert Little students had tried out for the school team, including two Grade 3 students whose par- ents had phoned Warren to ask that their boys be able to play for the school. In the 1980's, a time Amos described as "when people weren't being sued left, right and centre," there was a Board-sponsored North Halton elementary hockey league and that set the precedent to allow the in- termediate grades to play in the school-sponsored tourna- ment. The New Tanner now accepts