The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

THE NEW TANNERTHURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2009 7 GRAPEVINE with Mike OLeary The Way I See It Acton lost a real Damon Runyonesque character just before the new year. Clarence Harding died after a short ill- ness, he was 85 years old. You may not know Clarence by name but if youve ever spent any time at Prospect Park you would know to see him. Clar- ence was the elderly gentleman on the motorized scooter who kept an eye on the park every spring, summer and fall. I used to call him the Sheriff of Prospect Park. The Region needs to monitor the water treatment plant and pumphouse in the park. For ease of access they leave the gate open dur- ing the day. Now Clarence, a life member of the Acton Agricultural Society, was very protective of the track and grounds. Some people, seeing the open gate, would drive their cars down the track rather then parking in the lot. When Clarence spotted an of- fender hed take off like a bat out of hell and chase down the intruder. Hed start out being polite but if you gave him any grief hed get excited and start waving his cane around and speaking louder and louder. The problem was that Clar- ence had false teeth. When he got a full head of steam up his upper plate, which was loose at the best of times, would flap up and down, which made him very difficult to understand. Ive know him for 25 years and there were times I felt I needed an interpreter. You may have seen him till- ing around town on his blue scooter and might have even had an unkind thought or two when he was driving down the road. You see, Clarence was Blood Clinic At Mondays (Jan 5) blood clinic at the Acton arena, Can- adian Blood Services collected 41 units of blood, two were de- ferred and there were two first time donors, the blood agency reports. During 2008 Canadian Blood Services says they collected 305 Units of blood at clinics in the Acton Legion, which they say saved over 945 lives. There werent as many donated at the arena clinics but still enough to save 376 lives. Thank you, Acton, the agency says. Free Concert Acton musician John Hribljan of The Music Hall is staging a free concert in the Art Gallery of the Halton Hills Cultural Centre in Georgetown at 1pm on Wed- nesday, Jan. 14. John says hell be playing selections from his show, The Kola Club, as part of the concert which is open to the public. Upgrade skills Want to go to college? Up- grade your English and Math skills. Free tuition. Part time classes run Monday-Wednes- day evening between 6-9pm in Georgetown. Call 905-873-2200 for more information. Childrens programs Halton Hills Public Library offers pre-registered programs for children ages 6 months to 5 years. There are still spaces in some programs. You can regis- ter online at www.hhpl.on.ca or call 905-873-2681 x2520 or 519-853-0301 for more infor- mation. Lorne Scots subject Rev. Dr. Rick Ruggle is the speaker at the Wednesday, Jan 14 meeting of the Esquesing Agricultural Society. Author of a book on the subject, Dr. Rug- gle will speak on the history of the Lorne Scots Regiment, formerly known as the Peel/Hal- ton/Dufferin Regiment. Time is at 7:30pm in Knox Presbyterian Church, Georgetown, at the cor- ner of Main and Church Sts. Outdoor rinks Its rink time in Acton as just about every available pond or small body of water has an out- door rink on it. There are two on Fairy Lake, one on the north arm alongside Elizabeth Drive and the other near the dam on the south arm of the lake beside Mill St. W. Those who shovel the snow off and look after the rinks are often nonplussed when dozens, who didnt help, show up to use the rinks. Water presentation Are you worried about the fu- ture availability of fresh water and bottled water around the world? Then maybe Maude Barlow, chair of the Council of Canadians and CUPE President Sid Ryans presentation at Nor- folk United Church in Guelph on January 14 will answer some of your questions. Part of the Un- bottle the Water Its a Human Right tour the presentation is from 5:30 7pm. Open to all who drink water. Information meeting A high school information evening is scheduled at Acton High School on Wednesday, Jan 14 at 7pm to provide an op- portunity for parents to find out more about high school edu- cation. The meetings are for parents of students who will attend Grade 9 in September, 2009. Continued from Page 6 Im sure all he heard was blah - blah blah - blah. On New Years Eve the Dude picked me up at the airport and I was so happy to see him and be home. We caught up on the events that transpired while I was away and he was soon reviewing his accomplishments on his hon- ey-do list including keeping the house, shall we say, tidy in the same sense that my father had all those years ago. It probably isnt as tidy as you have it, but I did my best. The fact that he tried to look after everything I knew I wouldnt have to worry if I go away by myself. He asked me if I wanted to stop to get something to eat before we got home. I didnt really want to but at that point, no matter how hard husbands try, they still would rather their wives didnt go away and leave them fending. Ahhhh, well, we dont have anything at home he in- formed me. Not even milk in the fridge. He told me this one hour after stores closed for the next day and a half. Didnt you read the list... I asked him. Number seven You will need to buy fresh bread Number seven was part of the blah blah - blahs. Well, I didnt know if there was any in the freezer he in- formed me. There wasnt (after a pause I continued) Did you look in the freezer? I didnt really have to wait for the answer. I already knew it. Oh well, at least the dogs were fed and the garbage was put out and even though we didnt have any fresh bread, he still gets an A for effort. In his own way, I knew he had told me he was glad I was home too. Honey-do list... PIANO RECITAL: Music students of Jennifer Culpeper performed a variety of pieces including many Christmas favourites during their Dec. 19 recital, held at St. Albans Anglican Church. Students at the recital were: Front, left to right: Sydney Furzer, Janet Chang, Ryan Milford. Middle: Michael Chang, Lili Paradi, Genevieve Solda, Christopher Solda, Erin Hamilton. Back: Szilvia Paradi, Aby Das, Jessika Costa, Sangwon Bak, Kevin Hamilton, Jillian Mullin, Cassie Coker, Emily Loewen and Victoria Miller and Stephanie Mullin both performed but are not in the photo. Submitted photo Park needs a new Sheriff an old farmer and as far as he was concerned, his scooter was equal to his old Massey Tractor and therefore, he had the right of way. Last spring Clarence took de- livery of one of those 3-wheeled trike type scooters. I tell you, Ive never seen anyone that age as excited and proud of his new unit. Clarence would chal- lenge one and all to a drag race around the track in the park. While cars were a no-no, Clarence was sure that he and his buddies were free to use the track. How do I know? He told me so, in no uncertain terms. When he won one of his many races hed come to see me at the Agricultural Society Building to make sure I knew. Even at his age, bragging rights were im- portant. With his new scooter he had more range than the trad- itional 4-wheeled variety. That got him into trouble more than once when he ventured out into the country to work on a friends farm. The scooter would run out of juice and leave him strand- ed at the side of the road. Ever resourceful, Clarence would pull out his cell phone and call around to one of his many friends until he found one who could drag his machine back for a recharge. Why was he out in the coun- try? Always a farmer at heart he was there to help a friend with spring ploughing and planting, grass cutting and combining. I remember asking him last fall if he really climbed up on a big combine. Sure, he said. How do you manage that, I asked because he wasnt very steady on his legs. Slowly, he an- swered with a big grin and a laugh. He truly had an indomit- able spirit. I have plenty of Clarence Harding stories, but my fa- vourite happened 15 or 20 years ago. I was doing security at the front gates of the park during the Acton Fall Fair. In those days Clarence drove a good sized garden tractor. I was standing by the front gates with a rookie woman police officer, when I noticed Clarence com- ing out. As he passed he juiced the tractor and I was surprised to see his wife, who was confined to a wheelchair, tied on behind the tractor with bailing twine. As the pair accelerated up Knox Ave, she was laughing and gig- gling like a schoolgirl. She was having the ride of her life. The cop and I looked at each other and she said, Thats got to be illegal! You want to chase them and do the paperwork? I replied. She thought for a moment and said, I didnt see anything, did you? Nope was my reply. Clarence had a long life, but often a tough one. He farmed, worked at the tannery and lost his first wife when there were very young. When I would comment, he would look at me somewhat wistfully and say, Thats the way it is. The park wont be the same without him.