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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2006 THE NEW TANNER 7 GRAPEVINE with Mike OLeary The Way I See It FANTASTIC FLOATS Congrats to Limehouse Public School whose float earned the best over-all prize of $100 from judges at the Acton Santa Claus parade. Its a repeat win for the school that also grabbed top float honours last year. Judges, who had a tough time selecting the winners because of the high level of competition this year, were impressed with the detail that went into the win- ning float. The $50 float winners include Busy Kids Day Care, Giant Tiger, Acton Aqua Ducks Swim Club and the Acton Seniors Centre. Initially concerned that they didnt have enough floats in the parade, organizers were pleased with the turnout that included 32 floats and six bands. There were complaints some floats were not clearly identified, so next year, organizers will ask entrants to make sure their name is prominently displayed in sev- eral places on the float. TREE TIME Christmas trees of every shape, size and type will be on sale at the Acton Kinsmen tree lot begin- ning December 5. Its the 10th year in a row for the Kinsmen to sell trees from the olde Hide House parking lot. The lot will be open from 6 to 9 p.m. daily, and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends until all the trees are sold. JOB SKILLS Tools and techniques to find unadvertised jobs experts say 80 per cent of job vacancies are not advertised will be offered at two upcoming workshops at the Acton Employment Resource Centre on Mill Street. The December 5 workshop deals with tapping the hidden job market how to find out about unadvertised jobs through networking. The second workshop on De- cember 7 deals with developing a personal networking card a business card listing hard skills and contact information. Both one-hour workshops are free. To register call 519-853- 5014. TECH@MSB Theres tons of technology at McKenzie-Smith Bennett School these days thanks to the acquisition of 70 new computers including 20 laptops. The Halton District School Board purchased 30 of the com- puters for the newly refurbished computer lab, and the laptops came through an Industry Can- ada Computers for Schools program that gives tax receipts to companies that donate used computers. As well, the school was able to get 100 new office chairs through a program that takes used office furniture from large corporations that are redecorating and donates it to charity. MSB also received $5,000 from the Halton Learning Foun- dation and used the money to buy Literacy resources and new volleyball standards for the south gym, along with new volleyballs and nets. POWER & POISE Good luck to Actons Maja Vermeulen and ice dance partner Andrew Doleman who compete today (Thursday) at the Skate Canada Western Challenge in Moncton. Vermeulen, 16, and Doleman are on a high heading into the competition which is a qualifier for Februarys Junior Nation- als in Brampton they set a new Novice dance record at the Western Ontario Sectionals in Waterloo earlier this month. SANTA RIDES Santa will offer free rides through downtown Acton in a horse drawn carriage/wagon as part of the Acton BIAs Christ- mas Extravaganza on Saturday. Along with special sales from downtown merchants, the festiv- ities include a community carol sing with the Acton Citizens Band, at noon at the Mill/Main Street parkette. *** Ken and George, the mam- moth Percherons that pulled Saint Nicks sleigh in the Acton Santa Claus parade, will have their antlers on again for the BIA Extravaganza, pulling the wagonette with Santa along two downtown routes, departing from the MacKinnon Family Funeral Home from 1 to 4 p.m. *** The horses belong to Tara Oaks Horse Dawn Carriages, owned by Actons Steve and Leah McLean and McLeans father Keith Frost of Caledon; they are popular in parades and summer weddings. Another McLean horse Miday Special was recently named Reserve Canadian Champion in the Roadsters class at the Royal Agricultural Fair in Toronto. The retired 19-year-old Stan- dardbred placed second in the bike pull Stakes class at the Canadian championship, his 15th consecutive showing at the Royal. FREE SKATE The Acton Fire Fighters As- sociation will collect food for FoodShare on December 10 when it sponsors a public skating session at the Acton arena. In lieu of regular admission fees, the Fire Fighters hope skaters will donate items of non-perishable food for the food bank. Yes - friends, its that time of year again. Time to battle the forces of the dark side and appeal to you to join in the fight to stomp out festive. For my new readers I should explain, that for several years this column has been part of a growing army dedicated to call- ing Christmas what it is. Of all the politically correct names that businesses have tried to force on us over the years, festive is the straw that broke the three wise mens camels back. This year we celebrate a great victory in our fight, Wal-Mart, the worlds largest retailer, has announced they will feature the word Christmas in their stores. There will be a Christmas shop in their store selling Christmas trees and other Christmas gifts and goodies. Wal-Mart even went the next step and will use Christmas in their advertising. Of course, they will also use holiday and seasons in ads too but this is truly a break- through. Friend, when I heard the news I swear visions of sugar- plums danced in my head. I am not conceited enough to claim this column was first or influential enough to cause a retail giant like Wal-Mart to refocus its Christmas marketing. We are all but small cogs in an irresist- ible force that is sweeping North America. People are just fed-up with the effort to be considerate of everyones tender psyches. In the process of trying to please everyone, they end up pleasing no-one. In fact, they are making a great proportion of the popula- tion angry. A word of caution. Christmas people are never rude or confron- tational. If however, you are faced with a festive greetings sign you should not the let the incident pass without comment. I normally say to the clerk or attendant Thank you for the greetings. Tell me, when is festive this year? Invariably the response from store staff is that Its Christmas. When I probe further as to why this store doesnt call it Christmas their reply is We dont want to offend anyone. I tell them nicely that renaming Christmas as festive offends me. Then I leave the prem- ises noting that their advertising offends me and I wont be leav- ing any of my hard earned money with them. Remember be pleasant, never huffy. Christmas people are always pleasant. You must remember that retail staff are seldom part of the deci- sion-making group. Christmas is a busy time of year and it does no good to add to the retail staffs stress levels. But you should ask for your comments be passed up to senior levels and be prepared to leave your name and tele- phone number for an expected call back. It may cost you a few more min- utes and a few dollars more to take your business to a more Christmas oriented store. It is important that you vote with your wallet as well as your verbal objections. Why do you think a huge organization like Wal-Mart changed their marketing focus? Retailers, restaurants and enter- tainment establishments exist to give their customs what they want. Wal-Mart didnt have a conversion like Paul on the road to Damascus. I think rather it was on the road to the night deposit. We must keep the pressure up. If more merchants like Wal-Mart see the star over the check-outs you can bet theyll fall in line also. It is not my intention to insult or offend people of other faiths who do not celebrate Christmas. In fact, senior clerics of Jewish, Muslim and other non-Chris- tian faiths have all commented that they dont understand why anyone would imagine that the word Christmas would offend anyone. Remember the big flap about bureaucrats calling the citys official Christmas tree a Holiday Tree. Then-Mayor Mel Lastman intervened saying of course its a Christmas tree. His facial expression said it all. What kind of triple-fool brought this nonsense down on me. I seldom pick out a specific merchant but I notice the Swiss Chalet/Harveys chain is up to the same old, same old. Swiss Chalet is promoting their Festive Special again. I will not patronize them until the New Year, which is a real shame. I love their chicken. They are, I believe, a Canadian corpo- ration, which surprises me even more. Youd think they would be supportive of Canadas traditions and heritage. There is a religious component to Christmas. For many of us its a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. For those who dont cel- ebrate in a religious manner you should care about the insidious ongoing attempt to change the name of Christmas This holiday has been celebrat- ed, under this name, since Canada was first settled. Its nothing less than a direct attack on our tradi- tion and heritage to even attempt to re-name Christmas. To pick something as bland and meaning- less as Festive as a substitute proves the forces of the dark side have little imagination and no sense of history. I wish you all a Merry Christ- mas and Happy New Year. I sincerely hope you will pass this greeting on to family, friends and merchants. I hope you will enlist in the growing movement to pre- serve Christmas. Christmas spirit lives in our hearts, that feeling of peace and love we all enjoy this time of years. And please remember: Never, ever, use the F-word. My annual rant - part 8 FIRST PRIZE OVERALL: Limehouse public schools delightful float was first prize overall in the annual Acton Santa Claus parade. The float draws admiring looks as it passes through downtown Acton . The parade, one of the longest if not the longest in years is sponsored by Acton Firefighters Association with Bill Spielvogel the parade chairman, a post hes held for over 20 years with assistance from wife Diane.