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

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1998 THE NEW. TANNER GRAP Slam dunk Kudos to Acton's Jamie Birrell, 20, a first year engineering student at the University of Waterloo, whose dedication, attitude and court skills earned him a berth on the Waterloo Warriors varsity basketball team. At 6'-5" - the fifth tallest player - Birrell, a forward, said he doesn't expect to see too much court time as it will be a building season for him. "The coach told me he wasn't overly impressed (with me) after summer league play, but saw that I'd improved and got better during the tryouts," Birrell said on Saturday, adding he was "pretty shocked" to have made the team as one of four rookies. Birrell played as both a junior and senior for the Acton High school's Redmen. Business bash Acton's Halton Flour Milling was one of 18 local businesses to celebrate Small Business Week yesterday (Wednesday) at a mini-trade show hosted by the Halton Hills Chamber of Commerce and the Town at the Civic Centre. The table top trade show was de- signed to promote business among the Chamber's 455 members, one- third of which are from Acton. Road warriors The Acton Agricultural Society and Superior Glove are being hon- oured for their dedication to Halton Region's Adopt-A-Road program. The Society mows and picks litter and bottles along a 5-kilometre stretch of the former Highway 25, north of 15 Side Road. Superior Glove tends a 1-kilome- tre section of Trafalgar Road, north of the 40, and also 1-kilometre of Regional Road 25, south of 25 Side Road Halton Hills Council recently ap- VIN proved its own Adopt-A-Road pub- lic service program: Sponsors can either take care of a section of road themselves or make a donation to the Town - $300 per rural kilome- tre, $1,500 per urban -- to pay for the upkeep. Monster mash Ghouls and goblins will be do- ing the monster mash on Friday at the Acton Legion as the Kinette Club of Acton hosts a youth Hallowe'en dance. Costumes aren't necessary, but are much more fun, and there's a prize for the best costume. Organ- izers run a tight ship and offer a snack bar and DJ and have drawn up to 150 teens at previous dances. Tickets are $5 and the doors open at 7:30 p.m. Any money raised will be used for the proposed youth drop- in centre in Acton. Block Parent Week The Block Parent program is be- ing revived in Acton by a group of volunteers who celebrated National Block Parent Week with a visit to all Kindergarten to Grade 4 students this week to tell them about the safety program. The students were told to look for a Block Parent sign - an adult holding a child's hand - in the window of a home if they are in trouble, feel threatened or need help. Seniors and others in need can also approach a home with a Block Parent sign. Block Parent colouring contest winners at all three of Acton's el- ementary schools received prizes and the younger children received growth charts. The goal of the Block Parent committee is to have several Block Parents on each street in Acton, as well as in the rural area. For more information please call Yvonne at 853-1843. Editorial inspired poet Dear Editor: Hartley Coles' Editorial "Finding happiness" was well written, giving good insight into a very broad sub- ject. Point (2) about attending church is a reality for me; however, there is no Church Directory in your publi- cation to assist the community. The Yellow Pages are too limited on in- formation such as time of services. It would be very helpful to many who may not be attending now, but are interested in going; also, good for new residents moving into the area. Karen Middeljans Evangel Pentecostal Tabernacle P.S. Enclosed is a poem which I wrote on Oct. 23, after reading "A Matter of Time" How Long is Time? A moment, an hour, a day, or years? An instant of joy, or phase of tears? A season of childhood, or being a teen? Or school books period of study to glean? The past, the present, the future too; These all add up in what we do. Time tables, time-cards, time clocks & such; Busy lives don't leave us with much! Old age creeps up before we know it; The evidence looms, we hate to show it! Music has tempo of rhythmic beat; It's rate of speed for running feet. An era or age of life gone by; The hours it takes to oe or fly. Ifyou waste it, it's gone forever To prove the point that you werent clever. It cant be measured nor can you spend; All that we know is it wont end. So use yours wisely; dont you - see That Jesus said "come, follow me. Writer encourages Council's next step Dear Editor: Iwas in attendance Monday, Oct. 26, 1998 at Halton Hills Council, along with many other Acton resi- dents, to witness the final decision on the fate of Prospect Park arena. Although we did no succeed in sav- ing the building, the strong show of support and community spirit of Acton citizens will not go unnoticed by Council. The motion by Councillor Rick Bonnette to allocate funds to assist in the construction of a new facility is a step in the right direction. We must now look to the future and di- rect our energies to fundraising and meeting with Council and town staff to ensure the construction of a new building for the Acton Agricultural Society and community becomes a reality. Let's continue to show Halton Hills Council the great com- munity spirit Acton is known for. Peter Zions REMEMBER WHEN threshing time included huge steam tractors and the adjacent threshing machine? It wasn't so many years ago that they were part of every farm scene at harvest time. In this photo taken in 1927 Hiram Wilson, left, and a helper pose with one of the few threshers which a, Esquesing and Puslinch townships. The photo was loaned by Lois Lawson of Acton, a daughter of Hiram Wilson. : did custom work in Nassagawey: The town has decided to tear down the old arena. This in spite of the efforts by publisher Tyler, The Acton Heritage Society and many others. No surprise here. Town staff responsible for the building had decided months ago that the old arena was going. For some reason a decision has been made that Acton will never have two major recreational facilities. I guess, we poor cousins to the en- lightened down the hill should just be grateful for what we had and keep our mouths shut. Or is the real problem that the local volun- teers who wanted to save the arena might have made a success out of it. And wouldn't this have caused embarassment to those who said two facilities couldn't pay? Just asking. Last weekend the Federal To- ries held a national leadership election. No one noticed better yet --no one won. And these fools want us to put the federal govern- ment in their hands. Honest to God: the dorks who dreamed up this one could throw themselves at the ground and miss. Now rightly or wrongly national politi- cal conventions generate a lot of publicity but not this one. The del- egates phone in their votes. Ex- P.M. "Joe Who" got slightly over 48 per cent of votes tallied. He needed 50 per cent plus one. The next vote isn't until mid-Novem- ber. By then, the Quebec election will be in full swing. Let's sing the Federal Tories campaign song. All together now- Turn out the lights. The party's over. Benedict Bouchard is calling a fall election. Already Mr. Chretien is saying that last year's Calgary declaration regarding the "unique society" status for Quebec is not necessary. With help like that poor Jean Charest has a tough road to hoe. Isn't it time for another Team Canada junket? To Mars perhaps? Our boy Benny hasn't decided on a date but the smart money says \ tee 30 or Dec. 7. I hope it's the The Way | I See It} with : Mike O'Leary | latter. That way, if Bouchard wins, we'll have our second "Day of In- famy" on that date. = Brian Mulroney got the Order of Canada. Calm down. Chretien will get his in due course. So what's the big deal? It's not like the Order of Canada means anything anymore. Each year legions of political hacks, party bagmen, academics and "so- cial activists" get the medal. In the beginning I thought the medal would be reserved for truly outstanding Canadians. Wasn't that the intent? The sad reality is that the medal is given out indiscriminately to the politically connected. It's just an- other way for them to congratulate themselves for squandering the in- heritance of the great grandchildren of the peasant class (that would be you and I) so don't get excited about "ol Muldoon getting one. It's no big deal. And that's a shame. How about my Leafs, oh ye of lit- tle faith? Best start since I can re- member. "The Quinner" has these guys firing on all cyclinders. (Even the diminutive Steve Sullivan is coming on. Actonites will remem- ber that Sullivan signed autographs at the 1997 fall fair. Repeat after me: Stanley! Stanley! Stanley! (The third one was for Ron McKnight.) A sad- der sports story is the decline of the Argos. Last week they lost a squeaker to the Hamilton tabbies. It's bad enough to witness the mighty Argos stumble but my own priest rubs it in. Last Sunday, as he passed me before mass, | hear "Arrrggoos." Now | ask you - is that any way for a man of the cloth to act? No wonder the Argos are losing. The clergy is in- terceding with the Boss. It's just not fair. Hamilton should be penalized es e@ @ =) Potpourri views on the news every game for this "Celestial In- terference." The provincial Tories are con- sidering raising the speed limit on the 400 series highways to 120 kph. I think it's a good idea pro- vided the OPP go to a zero toler- ance on aggressive drivers. I travel the 400 highways a lot and most folks are driving at 120 k's any- way. The big problem is the jerks who come up behind you, cut over three lanes, cut back three lanes, and all to pick-up one car length and get to the traffic jam sooner. I would like to see the cops go after these maniacs as well as the ones who flash by at 150-160 kph. 120 is a good idea and I hope they go for it. President Clinton piled up the overtime last week. Around the clock sessions resulted in yet an- other mideast peace agreement between Israel and the Palestin- ians. Between their leaders that is. It remains to be seen if the citi- zens will embrace this accord and bring peace to that war torn land. After Northern Ireland however, I'm hopeful they may succeed. "The Bride" and J were in the car when Clinton came on the radio to announce the agreement. Speaking about the marathon bar- gaining session Clinton said "In the end, after all the twists and turns and ups and down ..." We looked at each other and started to giggle. "What exactly" the Bride said, "is he talking about?" More giggles. It's sad really, but the whole Monica thing has ruined this presidency. I just can't take him seriously and neither can most of my friends. If Bill Clinton really cared about America he would resign. He would let Al Gore fin- ish the term. But he won't, unless he's forced. The definition of a Shakespear- ean tragedy is one where the hero causes his own downfall. Bill Clinton is Hamlet. He'Il end up a tragic villain. » WHAT'S VOUR BEEF? . Put it in a letter to the Editor! Deadline is Tuesday at noon. TOM.