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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1999 THE NEW TANNER GRAP Ambulance goes 24-7 With no fanfare but great relief, 24-hour-a-day land ambulance serv- ice began in Acton last Monday. Until then, Acton's ambulance depot was manned only from 6 p.m. to6a.m., and ambulances were dispatched from Georgetown to answer daytime calls. Halton's land ambulance director Jim King didn't know how many day- time ambulance calls there have been, but said the crews "had been busy." The next step is to find a new loca- tion for the cramped depot, currently housed at the rear of the Becker's store. Bridge reopened There were great cheers in Limehouse last Thursday when CN. Rail reopened its bridge -- two days late -- on 22 Side Road, which had been closed for major repairs for most of the summer. The new bridge has a new steel span and beams, new timber deck, handrails and braces. The original 10- tonne maximum load limit, which was reduced to six-tonnes following defi- ciencies found in a 1996 inspection, will be reinstated. That's good news for school bus drivers and some farm- ers who were forced to detour around Limehouse for the last three years while Halton Region pressed CN to repair the bridge, builtin 1912. While CN initially refused, Halton appealed to the Canadian Transportation een) and it ordered CN to do the wo! Indoor kick Looking for a fast-paced indoor sport with fewer rules than the out- door version of the game? Maybe indoor soccer is for you: The Acton Indoor Soccer Club is in the midst of registrations for the new season that HV LIN kicks off November 6 an gyms of McKenzie-Smith Bennett and Acton High school. Last year 140 lo- cal kids and adults played on 20 teams and club officials hope to draw as many players this year. For more information call 853-4917. Future park The public will be asked what kind of. neighbourhood park it would like to see developed on the west side of | Wallace Street from McDonald Boul- evard to Commerce Crescent. Town staff installed a sign announcing the future park location on the 7.5-acre site and next year's capital budget will include. money to develop the land. The Town purchased the site from the developers of the West Mead- ows Village for $130,0230 in 1997, to eliminate what staff called a "signifi- cant deficiency" of local parkland in Acton, particularly in the neighbour- hoods north of Queen and Mill Streets between Highway 25 and Churchill Road, Town staff hopes they can get public input on several alternative plans this fall. Rural leadership Kudos to Kevin Thompson of R.R. 3 Acton, one of 30 applicants from across Ontario to be accepted into the Advanced Agricultural Leader- ship Program (AALP) at the Uniiver- sity of Guelph. The executive devel- opment program is designed to ex- pand and strengthen the pool of ef- fective leaders in agriculture and ru- ral Ontario. Over the next two years the AALP participants will attend nine three-day seminars in Ontario, take a North American study tour and go on a two-week international travel experience. Thompson is a part-time farmer, with cows and crops, who also works for the Chicken Farmers of Ontario. WHAT'S VOUR BEEF? - Putit in a letter to the Editor! Deadline is Tuesday at noon. Surprise in my yard Continued from Page 4 sippi Valley where it has considerable commercial value as a source of car- bohydrate for making starch, sugar and alcohol. Would you like to sug- gest a name for the liqueur it might produce? In the U.S. and France, par- ticularly, it had former importance as a basic food. It is now enjoying in- creasing importance as a salad and cooking vegetable. "J have a haunting feeling, Hartley, that you planted Jerusalem artichoke in your backyard as an elaborate hoax. (J didnt -- it just grew!) 1am sure I detected a glint in your eye when you asked me to identify it. After all, it is only spread by cultiva- tion. No doubt you are looking for- ward to my response with interest. "By the way, we sampled it, and suffered no ill effect. What does it taste like? I lack both taste buds and a vocabulary to explain flavour. For want of words, I would say a blend of sunflower seeds and Yukon gold po- tatoes." So there it is. You never know what's growing in your backyard. If you see a guy named Jack going up your bean plants, better investigate. Yl bet it hasn't got the pedigree of Jerusalem artichoke. Develop a home escape plan and practice it on October 6 FX, pM ", UNC. dy oe o asians tal L JUST PA SSING THROUGH: A group of bikers on a Poker Run recently used Toth Motors as a stop-over on their route, filling the lot with their precisely aligned bikes. -- Ted Tyler photo f With fall upon us, niy summer hiatus comes grudgingly to an end. Grudgingly-- because I am not look- ing forward to winter and The Bride and I hada great summer. Perhaps the best in our 31 years of wedded bliss. We had big changes in our fam- ily. Daughters Colleen and Christine both graduated from uni- versity/college. Both are now searching for full-time careers and getting on with their lives. Over the Labour Day weekend, we moved our youngest daughter Erin to Waterloo as she begins her univer- sity experience. The house seems suddenly empty. I guess this is called the "empty nest syndrome." For those of you with a gaggle ofankle-biters still at home who long for the day when they grow up, words of advice: Be careful what you wish for. Person- ally I dislike the feeling. Iknow the kids have to grow up and make their own way in the world, We all did after all, but I must confess to never considering how my folks felt about it all. I'm proud of our girls' accomplishments but T'mnotat all sure I'm ready to have the house empty out. The facts are though, ready or not, there they go. The time seems to have gone by so fast. Perhaps major changes like this forces us to acknowledge the march of time and therefore con- front our own mortality. Perhaps the frustration of a parent's natural protective instinct causes addi- tional stress. It's tough to be pro- tective when the children are miles away. We could probably psycho- analyze it 'till the cows come home. T'msure that, like others before me, T'll grow out of the feeling. One huge concern does loom above me. With the girls gone -- who will pro- tect me from The Bride? Weer Congratulations to the Agricul- So, did ya miss me? The Way | See It Mike O'Leary tural Society on this year's fair. You have already heard that we had record crowds. The last fair of the 1900s set a high standard for next year's first fair of the new millenium. The plan- ning is already under way for that event so mark Sept. 15, 16, 17 in your new calendar now. One thing did concern me at the fair, I have worked the main gate for 14 or so years now. Over the years we've seen some weird and wonder- ful things but I've never seen so many drunk or stoned adolescents in the 13 to 17 years age group. They weren't sneaking in the beer tent, they were arriving under the influence of whatever. I asked other volunteers and they agreed with my observa- tions. I don't know what the answer is but I mention it only to alert other parents. As a favourite teacher, Fred Springer, used to say, "Parents have to stick together because the children are meeting in the schoolyard every day and are plotting against us." I saw MP Julian Reed at the fair. Didn't get the chance to thank him for nothing. During the summer our Governor General, Romeo Le Dull, qe I figured I would at least be ort-listed, but Mr. Reed let me down again. Again! That's it for him. He's toast in my book. But then, what can you expect from someone who was pictured kissing a cow at the Georgetown Fair? Maybe a whole- some young man like me is just as well to steer (no pun intended) clear of the Ottawa scene. I know politi- cians have to cosy up to an assort- ment of horses behinds but when your head starts to turn at the sight 1 of big lips, long languid eyelashes and big udders, enough is enough. A guy has to have his principles, you know. j Weer There was a big hue and cry over the demise of Eaton's. Unfor- tunately, many of those who mourned this Canadian retail insti- tution had obviously not shopped there in years. In a way it's sad to see Eaton's go as it's a bridge to our past. The cruel reality is that bad retail decisions and corporate pomposity pushed Eaton's over the abyss they had been teetering on for close to 30 years. No one in the industry is especially sur- prised at this turn of events. I feel sorry for the thousands of long term employees. Bit by bit we're turning into a U.S.A. North. Wrens An incident last week where a child with Down Syndrome tum- bled from a bridge in B.C. has brought the euthanasia debate to the fore again. | have never left any doubt as to where I stand on this issue. Iam pro-life against eutha- nasia. Period. Jam concerned that those push- ing for euthanasia are shrouding their intent under the guise of com- passion. Next week, in this space, you will see the words of Judith Snow on this issue. Judith has a perspective few of us have on the question of euthanasia. Her words will not make you comfortable if you think the kindest thing you can do for someone in pain or in- firmis to kill them. We are so intent on the con- cept of "quality of life". But who am I to say that the quality of your life is so diminished that you have no right to live? If this were just we would have nuked Calcutta years ago. I warn you, Judith tells it like it is. She has to. She's fighting for her life. Sy, Trains block tracks -- riles Town By FRANCES NIBLOCK The New Tanner The Town will file a formal com- plaint with Transport Canada after two CNR trains blocked two level rail crossings at Trafalgar Road and 17 Side Road last month. Recently Councillor Rick Bonnette said it was "unbelievable and unac- ceptable" that trains could block level rail crossings for up to 40 minutes. He added it was also "inexcusable" and asked Council to authorize the clerk to lodge the complaint. Ward 2 Councillor Kathy Gasile taised the issue after complaints about the trains blocking the cross- ings, causing massive traffic jams, on Aug. 26 from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. She persuaded councillors to ask staff to come back with the cost of an under- pass at budget time and supported Bonnette's request for more action. Staff reported the trains weren't stopped, but were moving slowly in opposite directions and under federal legislation each train could block the © tracks for 40 minutes, resulting in stopped traffic for up to one hour and 20 minutes. In the case of an emer- gency the Town calls the OPP who contact the rail company to separate the cars so emergency vehicles can cross the tracks. Bonnette said in the event of an emergency that's too long. "For emergencies and essential services, fire and ambulances. ..it's not the type of way to do business and it puts the Town at risk," Bonnette said.