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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2006 THE NEW TANNER 7 GRAPEVINE with Mike OLeary The Way I See It Drivers needed The Red Cross needs drivers with reliable vehicles who are able to volunteer for at least six months to transport clients. Drivers must be 21, have two years experience behind the wheel, a clean record and proof of $1-million insurance. Training is provided and drivers who use their own vehicle receive 32-cents per kilometre, drivers who want to use the Red Cross minivan receive free First Aid training which is provided. For details, call 905-875-1459, ext. 23. Superior party Staff at Actons Superior Glove Works were treated to pizza, sandwiches, pop and a celebratory cake on Friday in thanks for their hard work. That dedication helped Superior recently win the Business of the Year award from the Halton Hills Chamber of Commerce. Of the 60 employees at the Acton plant, seven have more than 20 years service and 18 have more than 10 years, showing that Superior staff are loyal. Superior president Tony Geng said they try to treat their staff like family, because often they spend more time with them, than they do their own families. Drumming ace Congrats to Actons Devon Lambert, 24, who had second and third place finishes at a North American drumming competi- tion last month in Kansas City, Missouri. The Acton High grad, who has drummed competitively since 1998, was second in the TyFry- Midwest Highland Arts Fund Gold Medal and Amateur Tenor Drumming Championships, and finished third in the Grade three Snare competition. Lambert said drumming is part of her Scottish heritage and is more than a hobby. Tanners fundraiser The building fund for the Acton Agricultural Society/soccer facil- ity in Prospect Park is $1,300 richer thanks to a donation from Tanners Pub & Grill Super Bowl celebration. Proceeds from several raffles and a per dinner donation will help hit the $750,000 fundrais- ing target the campaign has cash and pledges for two-thirds of the goal. The party at Tanners continued on Friday for the 45th birthday of one of the eaterys new adminis- trative team, Regional and Acton Councillor Clark Somerville, who raffled donated prizes to all diners. As well, anyone born in Feb- ruary will receive a half-price dessert if they show their ID, and if they dine at Tanners on their birthday dessert is free. Community open house Members of HH-DOG the Halton Hills Dog Owners Group will present a cheque for $2,000 to Councillor Bob Ingles on Sat- urday at the Towns Community Open House at the Georgetown Marketplace. The money is the final instal- ment from the dog lovers group for the new Cedarvale leash-free zone which is as popular as the Towns first site in Prospect Park, where users can expect a new mailbox to hold member- ship forms and a new poo bag holder. MS walk Acton aesthetician Yvette Simp- son will again help raise money for Multiple Sclerosis by taking part in the annual five-kilometre Super Cities Walk for MS. Last year, the event raised a re- cord $12-million across Canada, and Simpsons efforts in the Milton walk, and the generous do- nations of people who supported Simpson helped in the success. Simpson, who has MS, owns Silvercreek Spa on Mill Street and can be reached at 519-853-0811. CORRECTION: Riders of the Towns expanded ActiVan transit service must be 65 years of age, or be disabled. An incorrect age appeared in a story last week. The New Tanner regrets the error. Notes and quotes Call me an optimist, and Ive been called worse, but I think weve got this winter licked. Although the last few weeks have been bitterly cold, and there hasnt been a brass monkey sight- ing all month, the signs of spring are all around us. The days are getting longer and we can feel some real heat in the sun. Despite the recent cold snap we really cant complain about this winter. Ive only had to fire- up the snowblower once this year and that was only because the plow dumped a pile of wet snow at the bottom of our driveway. At my age I dont shovel heavy snow. What snow we have had has not been deep plus its been fluffy and light. A couple of times Ive been tempted to use my blower but didnt want the neighbours to think I was a girly-man so I did it by hand. (Three chorus of macho, macho man would be appropriate here.) I realize we may still get a snow dump or two this year but trust me friends, spring is just around the corner. Heck, were halfway through February already. By the time this is published most of the Christmas bills will have been paid and you only have 314 more shopping days to save up for next Christmas. Already Im itching to get back up north. The Bride thinks Im nuts. She rightly points out the lake is frozen, the water turned off, the electricity shut down and the only toilet facility is an outhouse. Im wondering how bad the road is into the lake from the highway. Even when I pointed out there are no bugs this time of year she refuses to even consider a quick trip to see how our place wintered. The woman simply has no pioneering spirit. Speaking of pioneering spirit, newly minted Liberal M.P. Garth Turner is certainly venturing into uncharted waters. Turner was, you will remember, our federal M.P. when Bian Bulroney was P.M. and a minister in Kim Campbells short- lived career as our only female prime minister. Turner was turfed in the backlash sweep that left the federal Tories with just two seats. It seems their Garth, those down south thank God, got fed up with sitting as an independent. He wasnt getting any attention, his blog was being largely ignored and worst of all, no one in the Ottawa Press Gallery wondered or cared what he thought or said. Garth said he found the party system, with its accompanying sys- tem of discipline, too confining. He certainly wasnt whistling that tune when he was a government minis- ter. During those years he dutifully sang from the government hymn book like a television evangelist on steroids. I suppose getting his butt bounced from politics caused him to morph into the peoples representative he claimed to be this time around. I have heard his former con- stituency association reluctantly supported him when he resigned. Had he run as an independent in the next election he may well have been re-elected. You have to give the man his due, his antics, if not his loyalty, were entertaining and popular with the masses. Im not as sure the local Liberals will welcome their new member. I could imagine a scenario where someone high profile could contest his nomination. Unless, of course, Mr. Dion promised to guarantee Garths nomination as part of the deal made for Turner to become yet another turncoat. In the picture in the Toronto Star on Feb. 8, Turner didnt look all that comfortable with his two new friends (Dion and Liberal caucus chair Raymond Bonin) holding his arms high in triumph. Actually, Mr. Dion didnt look all that comfortable either. Dion and Bonin will have their hands full with M.P. Turner. If, as he says he will, he continues to ignore caucus confidentiality and is as critical of Mr. Dion as he was P.M. Harper his career as a Liberal will be short-lived. Theres an old saying that poli- tics makes for strange bedfellows. In the case of Dion and Turner this is certainly true. If Mr. Dion is as smart as he appears to be, he will eschew the marital bed in favour of twin beds. At least then Dion might get some warning if his new recruit attempts to tip-toe across the room with consummation on his mind. Just analogically speak- ing of course. But Mr. Dion might want to check with Mr. Harper. Most everyone has seen the new Conservative commercials slamming Mr. Dion. While I must say they are effective I have my doubts that they will sway many Liberal voters. I think most people will see them for what they are. The Tories appear to be running scared at a time when environ- mental issues are polling to be the countrys hot button. Canadians dont want another federal election anytime soon. The P.M. has to put forward his plan for reducing emissions and combating global warming. I get no sense that those policies are clear to Canadians. When they are, thats when the commercials would make more sense. Now, its just negative adver- tising that Canadians have never been comfortable with. TOP MARKS: Georgetown District Christian School, with a large percentage of its students from Acton and area, received top marks in Canadian Standardized Testing. Grade 3-8 students achieving an average of 80 in the Canadian Tests of Basic Skills. All students participate in the Accelerated Reading Program, one reason the schools percentile standing increased by over 5 points in the last few years. The students in this photo represent the strongest readers in each grade at GDCS. Students are (top left to right) Aaron deBoerSap, Christian Vetro, Amanda Van- Helden, Carole Allison, Katie Sharp, Sarah Scheepstra, Lauren Druif, Michael Veenstra, Josiah Schaafsma, Zoe Germain, Luke Otten, Rachel Kuruvilla and Jordan Murray. Submitted photo call Alymers and ask them? I suggested. About 10 minutes later he called back. Apparently, Alymers, which is owned by Kraft Canada, doesnt put best-before dates on their cans. Instead you can call the bar code in and they will tell you when it was manufactured and how long it is good for. The problem is grocery store ware- houses can keep the product for a long time before it is shipped to a store where consumers buy. Luckily for my dad, he still had a few weeks of good time for the canned goods. In the end, we all learned some- thing. Everything has an expiry date from people to products. Items you dont even think about have a best-before date. For ex- ample, camera film or batteries. Even bottled water has a best-be- fore date. And, if youre donating to a food bank, remember to check the best-before date. If the product is expired or doesnt have a best before date, they will put it in the trash rather than take a risk like my dads expired cans of soda. Theres expiry dates... Continued from page 6