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THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 2007 THE NEW TANNER 9 THREE GOOD REASONS WHY you SHOULD start the NEW YEAR reading THE BIBLE daily & systematically NOTICE ANNUAL MEETING ACTON AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY Annual Meeting to be held on Saturday, January 20th, 2007 at Knox Presbyterian Church Hall, Acton commencing at 10:00 a.m. for the purpose of receiving the Financial Statements for 2006 and for the election of Officers and Directors. LEGION NEWS By James Hayes P.R.O. BRANCH NO. 197 Comrades, I was unable to attend last Mondays general meeting, I was sick. I guess I was not alone judging by the reported attendance. Last week in my report on Levee day, I omitted to mention the work being done behind the scene in the kitch- en by 1st Vice President John Wagg, my apologies, John. Membership Chair Kath- leen Bevan has submitted a mini-report for those who are still without their 2007 membership cards. Dominion Command has sorted out most of their com- puter problems and cards have begun to arrive at the Branch. There is still a prob- lem with the integrity of their database. In many cases, their records show a card was is- sued when in fact it was not. If you paid your dues before Dec 31, 2006 and you have not received your card, and it is not behind the bar, please leave a note for me and I will order a replacement card. Calling all euchre play- ers! There is a Progressive Euchre Tournament sched- uled for Sunday, Jan. 21 at the Legion. The admittance fee of $5 includes your entry, refreshments at half time, and of course, prizes. Games start at 1p.m. Please sign up at the bar. Your early reg- istration is important to the caterers; do it today. SPORTS. The fun day curling takes place this Saturday at the Acton Curling Club. You should have registered be- fore now if you wished to take part. Bowling, the Branch had seven teams entered last Sat- urday in the Zone playdowns, and we have two teams going on to District. Seniors: Wayne Briggs, Al Gardener, Jim Cooney, Carl Fisker, and Shorty & An- namarie Lowin. Regular: John Wagg, Bob Turkosz, John Ahearne, Wayne Deforest, Jerry Wis- comb, and Dave Thompson. We wish them well. Yours in comradeship, Jim Hayes, Branch PRO. By Frances Niblock While the number of drunk drivers charged in Halton police R.I.D.E. spot checks is down dramati- cally from last year two offenders compared with seven in 2005 the number of people who received 12- hour licence suspensions jumped just as dramatically to 54, compared with 34 in 2005. People still need to be more responsible. People still need to be more aware of drinking and driving because car accidents are the number one non-natu- ral cause of death in young people, and the public needs to smarten themselves and be more aware, Acting Sergeant Nick McConnell, head of the R.I.D.E program at the Regional Traffic Unit, said on Friday, noting they stopped 13,790 fewer cars this year than two years ago, yet found almost the same number of licence suspen- sions. (The fewer stops is a result of tighter police budgets.) The fact that we got fewer impaireds is a hope- ful sign, but the fact that we got 54 people who qualified for a 12-hour suspension indicates to me that there are still people out there that dont get the message. At R.I.D.E. (Reduce Im- paired Driving Everywhere) spot checks since December 1, Halton police stopped 27,359 vehicles, 764 less than the previous year. Along with the two impaired drivers and 54 licence suspensions, police issued 211 Highway Traffic Act tickets, and nine other charges, which include drug and liquor offences. Non-drinking motorists passed through spot checks in seconds, but a driver who showed obvious signs of impairment would be arrest- ed, and a driver who admits to drinking or denies it, but shows a sign of impairment glassy eyes or the odour of alcohol would be asked to blow into a roadside screen- ing device that is calibrated to give three results. A legal pass under the Canadian Criminal Code is between 0 and 50-milligrams of alcohol in 100-millilitres of blood, although the legal limit is 80-milligrams. Anyone with a graduated G1 or G2 licence must test at 0 or face a charge under the Provincial Offences Act, and be issued with a 12-hour licence suspension under the Highway Traffic Act. The machine gives a nu- merical result from 0 to 50mg., and blows a warn- ing from 50mg. to 80mg. which results in a 12-hour suspension. A fail leads to an arrest and a charge of operating a motor vehicle with over 80mg. of alcohol in 100-ml. of blood, and possibly with impaired driving. A second breath test is done with an Intoxilizer at the nearest police station to provide an exact numerical reading. The penalty if convicted of refusing to provide a breath sample is the same as a conviction for impaired driving an immediate 90-day licence suspen- sion, fines and possible jail time. Its estimated an impaired conviction could cost a driver more than $10,000 in lawyer fees, fines and insur- ance costs. Insurance rates could jump 300 per cent over six years following an impaired conviction. McConnell could not say where in Halton the spot checks that nabbed the two drivers charged were located and it could take a week to break the R.I.D.E. statistics down by district to determine what happened in the Acton area. At press time, details of alcohol-related offences, if any, laid by officers on regular patrol in District One (including Acton) dur- ing the holidays were not available. Fewer drunk drivers but more12-hour suspensions