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THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 2004 THE NEW TANNER GRAPE THREADWORKS WINNER Congrats to Acton's Renata Georgeff -- owner of The Needle Gnome -- who received one of 17 prizes at a Canada-wide juried fi- bre art show, on display at the Wellington County Museum and Archives until June 20. Georgeff's entry, Reflections, isa 10"x12" watercolour pencil on silk with straight stitches, inspired by a photo of reeds reflected in a New Zealand lake at sunset. It won Threadwork's $100 award for best use of colour as a symbolic or emo- tional feature. = The Threadworks entries will be displayed in shows scheduled in the province for the next three years. Reflections, by Renata Georgeff HEAVY MEDAL Kudos to Acton High School's Kasimir KoSakowski who earned a Silver medal in mechanical CADD (computer-aided drafting and de- sign) at the national skills competition in Winnipeg two weeks ago. Kosakowski earned Gold medals in mechanical CADD at both the provincial and Halton levels, before advancing to the national competi- tion. The Grade 12 student was hon- oured at an Acton Achievers Breakfast at the school on Friday, and received a special award from _his teacher, Norbert Axtmann. "Kasimir, you battled hard, so I got you a commemorative | 0th an- niversary Skills Canada dog tag," Axtmann said adding it to the other medals that clanked as the teen walked back to his seat. Kasimir Kosakowski RK Congrats to Acton High School student Mark Boycott whose archi- tectural CADD (computer-aided drafting and design) skills were honoured last night (Wednesday) by the Hamilton Homebuilders Asso- ciation following a_ design competition. MAGIC TIME " Owen Anderson brings his Magi- cal Dragon Quest Show to the Acton library on July 3 at 2 p.m., featur- ing kings and queens, the world's skinniest dragon and 'magical fun... Space is limited, and $2 tickets are now on sale at the branch. DIVINITY DEGREE Congrats to the Reverend Bob Matton on receiving his Doctor of Divinity degree recently from McMaster Divinity College. The degree for the former Trinity United minister followed five-a- and-half. years of work that produced a thesis on the presence of the Spirit in congregational dy- namics and the practice of stewardship. "We can't pursue stewardship without looking at congregational health, and how does a congrega- tion function ... if we're going to ask people to give of themselves then we have to work at helping them to identify with the church and all those people that are their part- ners," Dr. Matton said, adding his future plans may include church consulting on stewardship and con- gregational development. Reverend Bob Matton SOLD OUT SALE More than 75 vendors -- a sold- out number -- lined up in the very early morning hours for Saturday's Acton Trunk Sale , the second one of the season. Although it's not unusual for ea- ger vendors to line up by 6:15 a.m. to claim a prime spot, this past Sat- urday some were in line as early:as 5:30 a.m. Vendors and customers appear happy with a return to the old loca- tion on Town land adjacent to the old Hide House. BEEF ON A BUN Is there anything more scrump- tious and Canadian than beef on a bun? It's available at Limehouse Presbyterian Church on Saturday, June 12 from 5 to 7 pm. Tickets can be purchased at the door or by call- ing Judy at 905-877-2032 What's Your Beef? Put it in a letter to the Editor! wrath out on. We still have the lead- are telling Ontarians that we will be sence. guar ers debate to come and issues are sure receiving improved health care. In- _____ Yours Truly, Deadline is Tuesday | | toheatup. ifthe Liberalssticktotheir ead the residents of Halton fille Michael O'Leary. at noon current strategy I think they'Il lose. faced with receiving less. ides ca 1 saa It will be an interesting two weeks. The Wm. Osler Board'¥s attempt- Town of Halton Hills. -- i Bs J CAMPAIGN ACTON: Mike Chong (centre his Acton campaign office on Saturda' Dean 5, and office manager Diane Harley. -- Frances Niblock photo ) the Conservative candidate in Wellington-Halton Hills, opened 'y with the help of Waterloo-Wellington MPP Ted Arnott, his son eo New polls, released last weekend, indicate the Conservatives have drawn even with the Liberals in popu- lar support. In the all-important battleground of Ontario the Tories may even be slightly ahead, depend- ing on which poll you believe. Before everyone gets too excited may I re- mind you of the immortal words of John Diefenbaker: "Polls are for dogs." Still, it's hard to believe that a short year ago, we were anxiously await- ing Chretien's exit and anticipating Mr. Martin's coronation. Back then I would have bet the ranch that Paul Martin's first campaign as P.M. would be a cakewalk. I would probably have found it difficult to find someone to take the bet. It seems the Liberals have under- estimated the residual anger from the Sponsorgate scandal. Add to that the billion dollar plus gun registration boondoggle (one of my favourites), the waste in H.R.D.C., the army heli- copter mess, etc. etc., etc. and the Liberals have dug their own grave. Whether they'Il be buried is another question. When election signs began to spring up I noticed the "Team Mar- tin" header complete with P.M. photo. Whoops, I thought, that might be a mistake. Even back then P.M. the P.M.'s star appeared to be waning. This, | thought, could be a train wreck. I resent the "Leader as Star" cam- paign strategies. All parties use it but it's not our system of government. We can't vote for Paul Martin or Stephen Harper unless we move to their ridings. We should be paying more attention to local candidates. These are the people we count on to repre- sent us to government. While party platforms are important we need to pay attention to local candidates lest we send someone to Ottawa who will just be a trained seal and vote as told. I've had enough of that and it's an issue I'Il be asking candidates about. Mr. Martin said last weekend that he thought his support is dropping because Canadians don't even know there's'an election on yet. Actually, | think the opposite is true. I think Ca- nadians are damned angry and looking for someone to take their Things are heating up! The Way 1 See It Mike O'Leary On the local scene, things are heat- ing up in the fight to save the obstetrics and pediatric units at the Georgetown hospital. Last night there was a rally at Georgetown High School and a fur- ther rally to Queen's Park is planned for next week. This is a critical issue to those of us in Acton. We all know we are in des- perate need of more doctors in town. Having a full service hospital nearby helps attract new physicians. Lack of those facilities makes recruitment that much harder. If you have an Ob/Gyn or pediatric emergency, the ambulance will take you to the closest hospital which is Georgetown. If they have to transfer your loved one from there who knows where they might end up. Following is a letter I sent to the Minister of Health. I urge you to add your voice, The hospital board appears to be in- transigent so only political pressure will stop this travesty. To send an e- mail go to www.health.gov.on.ca. Then go to the link "contact us" and under that you will see another link to the minister. You can also fax Minis- ter Smitherman at 416-326-1571. Many of us are angry about the re- cent Ontario budget. We feel the government isn't listening. Well friends, they won't listen if we don't speak out. This is important. Write the minister today. The Honourable -- George Smitherman Minister of Health and Long Term Care Dear Minister Smitherman: Re: William Osler Health Centre- Georgetown Campus By now I am confdent you are well aware of the outrage being expressed by the council and residents of the Town of Halton Hills over the closure of the Obstetrics and Pediatric Units at the Georgetown Campus of the Osler Health Centre. This is an espe- cially bitter pill to swallow when both Federal and Provincial governments forced to keep their doctors from their 2 ing to justify closing these units be- cause not enough babies were born at this facility. This is a specious ar- gument. The Town of Halton Hills has had a severe shortage of doctors for several years. Women of child- bearing age who move here often are old neighbourhoods rather than face the uncertainty of finding appropri- ate medical care locally. Those babies are then delivered in whichever hos- pital those doctors are.a¢credited to. In fact, the failure of the Wm. Osler board to successfully attract more Ob/ Gyn and Pediatric doctors to our com- munity has substantially contributed to the low birth rate at our hospital. Why should the women and children of Halton Hills be placed in danger because of this short sightedness? The cumulative effect of this trav- esty, should you allow it-to happen, could be devastating to our commu- nity. Further hospital departments may well close if any of our current doctors are forced to move in order to practice as they were promised when they came here. The challenge in attracting additional badly needed Physicians will be exacerbated by this myopic decision. Minister, our Mayor, Rick Bonnette, has met with the hospital administrators, the Board and offi- cials from your office to voice our community's opposition to the clo- sure of these facilities. To my mind, the Hospital Administration and Board appear to be disinterested in the will of the people of Halton Hills. We are therefore appealing to you to intervene in this matter, We request that you direct the Board of the Wm. Osler Health Centre to cease and de- sist any action which result in the closure of the Obstetrics and Pediatric wards at the Georgetown Hospital. This is a woman's health issue in our community that cannot be ignored. |_ Jacqueline Kennedy is quoted say- ing: "Unless we do a good job of|* raising our children then nothing else we do really matters." Prompt and proper obstetrical and pediatric care is the first step in this process. Healthy mothers and babies are not an ex- pense; they are the _ greatest investment our society can make. Please help us. Time is of the es-