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THE NEW TANNER EDITORIAL with Hartley Coles Highs, lows of 2004 It is customary at this time of year to look back on the year just past and pick out high and low points. Each individual, family and community will have its own set of experiences from which to draw. We're concerned here only with our own community. The year 2004 certainly had to be one of the most, if not the most productive years in Acton's history. Construction of new homes and businesses reached their zenith after years of preparation, changing , the face of the community and both sparking new commercial life and revitalizing the familiar. Certainly one of the high points of 2004 business-wise had to be the construction in downtown Acton. The new paving, relocation of parking and a few deft cosmetic touches such as benches, new configurations for Mill St. as well as street parking off Willow cre- ated an attractive business climate for the downtown. The new Willow St. parking lot, which extends from Willow to Main N., has been a boon for the downtown, but especially for busi- nesses on the West Side of Main St. N in the Main/ Mill plaza. The no parking zone on the north side of Mill St. understandably provoked some merchants. However, anyone who drives down Mill to Main in heavy volume traffic will appreciate the improvements. In Acton's East End the picture has been the same. The relatively new Acton Market Plaza with its anchor Sobeys supermarket has been attracting thousands of new shoppers with its convenient parking and nearby business. The arrival of a Shoppers Drug Mart at the Young and Queen St. E corner has further established the East End of town as a commercial area which complements the downtown. Two decades ago a town planner suggested Acton's growth would be best served by having two commercial anchor areas--one in the east end, the other in the downtown with others in between. He felt at the time the olde Hide House would anchor the east end. Things have changed with the new subdivisions along Queen St. E. and the large new plaza but the concept remains the same. Commercial growth is an indication of prosperity but the engine which really drives the economy is the number of new citizens who have established Acton as their home, whether through economic or other reasons. They are having an impact on community living, bringing new vitality to business, sports, schools, churches and the social aspects of small town living. Unfortunately, Dalton McGuinty's Liberals have stunted modest future Acton growth by their imposition of greenbelt borders which follow present boundaries. Land east of the Acton arena, once prime land for modest growth, has been frozen although there is already a large community at Ban- nockburn (Fourth Line) which could easily be part of the urban area. Under the present proposal it would be another ten years before re- consideration. Obviously, the proposed greenbelt legislation needs to be fine tuned. This is one area where it would make sense to do so. If smaller communities are to be self-sustaining they must have some elbow room. Under the present greenbelt guidelines they are afforded little growth. The result is they hover in some kind of limbo -- neither vigorous or feeble -- and must travel elsewhere for services not available in their hometown, which, of course, adds to gridlock. Veselho vam Rivda Today (January 6) is Christmas Day in Canada and all over, the world for churches who follow the old Julian calendar. It is also Twelfth Night and the feast of the Epiphany commemorating the coming of the Wise Men to Bethlehem as recorded in Matthew's gospel. The Julian calendar is named after Julius Caesar who introduced itin 46 B.C. The Gregorian calendar we and most of the world uses, was introduced by Pope XIII in 1582 as an improvement on the old Julian calendar which divided the year into 365 % days. In any event Merry Christmas to all who celebrate today. Or Veseloho vam Rizdva as they say in Ukraine. SMILEY FACE: This happy tree was found i in a woodlot on the Nassagewaya Town Line last week. Obvi- ously happy the snow was melting from around its feet from the high temperatures we all enjoyed at the end of last week. --Danielle McIsaac photo. Canine version of Brady Bunch It all started with a ring and a simple one syllable word, Yes. Then before I knew it, I was caught in a 1970's sitcom...my version of the Brady Bunch. Well, sort of. The theme song has been running through my head for about a week. It's a story of a man named Brady, who was living with three boys of his own. They were four men liv- ing all together and they were all alone. It's a story of a man I-named Dude, who was living with a dog of his own. They were two, living together and all alone. Then one day the Dude met this really cool girl who had a dog of her own and soon they had to figure out how the two dogs could become part BE their family. Dude's dog Shadow....a 10 year old short-haired St. Bernard, (oh, did I mention she is completely deaf will soon have a step-brother). Meet Kodi, the 10 year old Alaskan Malamute with a slight personality disorder whose mother has taken him to two doggie psychiatrists. Here I thought our biggest obsta- cle would be decideding whose stuff we would keep and what we would put into a garage sale. Who would have guessed I would be tossed into a tailspin by making suré the dogs had proper "quality time" together and could learn to socialize at a pace they could handle, or should I say, I could handle. Kodi, after years of being the sole recipient to all of my attention, was By surprisingly well behaved when he first met the Dude. I had hovered around the two for weeks when we first started dating. I even had Kodi leashed the first few meeting times. Soon, I realized the Dude had no fear of the little psycho. He would even drop the world at his feet when he entered my home. Kodi loved him. Some days I think he loves him more than he loves me. Shadow, on the other hand, is the lovable goofball dog. She adores everyone and is incredibly gentle mannered. She loves to cuddle and play. Just don't expect her to come when she's called because ofa slight hearing problem. At first we would walk the dogs together, which received quite a few looks. The two dogs weigh close to 300.lbs together. They got along, but I still lived in fear of what would happen when were able to run in the yard together. Both are senior dogs and having one owner to themselves for years might cause a problem. When we kenneled them at Christ- mas for our vacation, the Dude requested that they be side by side. "They'll get to learn each other's smell. You can't keep avoiding it," he insisted to me. I knew he was right, but deep down inside, I knew Angela Tyler THURSDAY, JANUARY 6, 2005 the only thing that would happen when they were side by side would be that Kodi would pee on Shadow. That was his favourite trick, pee- ing on unsuspecting people or dogs along a fence line. He had done it many times in the past. I remember one Sunday morning, an adorable young girl had stopped to pet the cute dog. I knew as soon as he started to scratch himself against the fence what was about to happen. Before I knew it, the little girl head- ing to Sunday school with her white tights, springtime dress and white shoes had to go home to change after the dog peed on her. In the end, my paranoia won and we took two vehicles with a dog in each to the kennel. Picking them up, however, I lost the battle. "They could be upset from being boarded" I argued. "It's not fair to them" I tried, but in the end, I had to come to grips with my fear, not theirs. There we were. Our own little Brady Bunch. The Dude and I in the front. Shadow in the back of the jeep drooling everywhere but completely happy she was going home and Kodi in the back seat...leashed, muzzled and quite well behaved. I might have been the only one to be worried, but I had my conditions of surrender. This week we're having a family dinner. Kodi and | are inviting the Dude and Shadow over for dinner. If the Bradys can amalgamate, so can we. "The group must somehow form a family, that's the way they all became the Brady Bunch." Ss eae THEY GAVE ME 2 DAVYS Te MY PARKING TICKET. ge © LTOoK Koy. 24th <r AND Dec 25% jacy c. 2005 . THE <Ta@aner PousiisHine Lrp. 373 Queen Street East, Unit 1 Acton, Ontario L7J 2N2 email: thenewtanner@on.aibn.com (519) 853-0051 Fax: 853-0052 Publisher Ted Tyler Janis Fread Advertising and Circulation Bruce Cargill Marie Shadbolt Composing Danielle Mclsaac Laura Maitland Janine Taylor Editorial Hartley Coles Editorial Contributors Frances Niblock Mike O'Leary Angela Tyler Distributed to every home in Acton and area as ) well as adjoining communities. to legal action. Every effort will be made to see advertising copy, neatly presented, is correctly printed. The publisher assumes no financial responsibility for typographical errors or omissions in advertising, but will gladly reprint without charge that part of an advertisement in which an error may occur provided a claim is made within five days of publication. All articles, advertisements and graphic artwork appearing in The New 'Tanner is copyrighted. 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