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THE NEW TANNERTHURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2009 7 GRAPEVINE with Mike OLeary The Way I See It Many of you might ex- pect the column to be filled with reasons why the MSB school lands should not be sold. Well, its not going to be. As one of your members of local council I have made my opinions clear to the other councilors, Town senior staff and the appropriate members of the school board including our local trustee. The Mayor, the head of the Parent Council at MSB, Ian Watson (President of Acton Soccer) and former Council- lor Norm Elliot all spoke at a hastily called Press Confer- ence last Monday. This Press Conference which was cov- ered by all local newspapers and Cogeco is reported on elsewhere in this edition. I would like to acknow- ledge the large number of MSB students and parents who attended the Mayors Press Conference. I believe its only the tip of the ice burg of outrage that will spread through this community when others hear about this short- sighted decision regarding the MSB playground. Its far past the time that the Halton District School Board wakes up and realizes that the schools and the property sur- rounding them are not their personal fiefdoms. Those assets are held by them in trust for the taxpayers of Hal- ton Hills. That trust has been stretched to near the breaking point. What I would really like to comment on is the long awaited decision to final- ly sell the Speyside School property on Highway 25 South. I say finally because as regular readers will know, I have been crusading for more then ten years to have this property declared surplus Diabetes support Once again, the LCBO will be supporting the Canadian Diabetes Association by pla- cing donation boxes at checkout counters throughout Ontario, from Feb. 1 thru Feb. 28. Last year the boxes collected $9,100 province wide to help fund diabetes research, educa- tion, services, and advocacy. Nominations called Halton Hills Chamber of Commerce is cal l ing for nominations for the Business Achievement Awards in the following categories; Entrepre- neur of the Year; Civic Pride; Employee of the Year; and Business of the Year. Nominations must include the name, address, tel/fax num- bers of both the nominee and the nominator, and a summary of achievements for which the company/individual is being nominated. For more information or to submit a nomination contact the Halton Hills Chamber of Com- merce, 328 Guelph St. Halton Hills, Ontario, L7G 4B5; Fax: 905-877-5117, email sue@hal- tonhillschamber.on.ca. Employment help During the month of Feb- ruary the Acton Employment Resource Centre will be ex- ploring alternative routes to employment. A representative from Georgetowns Express Employment Professionals will be at the centre on Feb. 10 at 10am. Discover the advan- tages of working with staffing/ recruiting service. Are you interested in learn- ing how to get your resume into the hands of multiple employ- ers? Join us on Feb. 19 at 2pm to learn how to register your resume on various internet job search sites. On Feb. 26 at 11am let our employment spe- cialists show you how to create and post an e-resume. Please call Deirdre at 519- 853-5014 for further details, drop in at 45 Mill Street East, Acton or visit our website at www.links2care.ca. Pathways information Designed to help parents and students explore opportunities available in high school the Halton District School Board will be presenting a session to educate students how to ex- plore, or try out, a career path in high school before heading to apprenticeship, college, uni- versity, or the workplace. The sessions include infor- mation on various programs relavent to the presentations and will take place at Acton District High School, 21 Cedar Road on Feb. 12 starting at 6:30pm. Community Brunch The Kinette club of Acton will once again produce a com- munity brunch (its all you can eat!) on Sun., Feb. 22 in the Ac- ton Community Centre/Arena at 9:30am to 1:00pm. Cost is $6 preschoolers are free. Funds raised are sent to lo- cal service groups, schools and clubs. Come on out and share the community spirit! Business Consultant on Site On Thursday, Feb. 19 a Pro- fessional Business Consultant from the Halton Region Busi- ness Development Centre will be available at Halton Hills Public Librarys George- town Branch to help you start a small business or expand your existing small business. Register for a free one-hour consultation at 1-866-4HAL- TON or busdev@halton.ca. Calling all Cadets Past members of Actons Royal Canadian Air Cadets 197 Typhoon Squadron are invited to help celebrate the squadrons 25th anniversary in May. The Cadet program, which has no fees, dues or uniform costs, builds leaders, teaches teamwork, citizenship, self- confidence and physical fitness in a federally funded program for 12 to 19 year olds. Officials would like as many former Ca- dets as possible, and the public, to attend the annual inspection and parade on Sunday, May 3. Past members are invited to contact Lt. MacKenzie at 905-838-2021 or macken- ziemackie2@aol.com with their current mailing address so a formal invitation can be issued. Parenting help Nassagaweya Presbyterian church is offering a parent- ing seminar Feb. 6 at 6:30pm named Understanding Why They Do The Things They Do presented by youth culture spe- cialist Paul Robertson. The seminar focuses on teens and pre-teens bu parents of young children wont want to miss it. The church is located at 11264 Guelph Line, Brook- ville. For tickets or info call 905-854-1055 or email info@ nassagaweya.com or go to www.nassagaweya.com. Cooking for one Links2Care will be hosting a presentation by Joan Bor- chuck on Cooking for one in, on Acton Monday, Feb. 9 at 12:30pm. The presentation is open to all seniors, and will show great ideas for making nutritional meals for one. For more info please contact Lynn Gibson at Links2Care 519- 853-3310. Hallelujah finally some action and sold. I was never able to get an an- swer from the HDSB as to why they were holding onto that property. I did get some lame excuses second hand about a 90 day process that had to be completed before the Board could declare it surplus. I know that there were at least two firm offers sent to the Board years ago. When I final- ly did get an answer as to why no-one responded it was in my opinion, totally unsatisfactory. I was told the Board does not reply to unsolicited offers or real estate agents. That seems like a pretty high handed attitude for a suppos- edly public agency to have. I cant imagine that the HDSB is inundated with offers for school properties. Even if they are, how much time and effort would it to have an assistant, if necessary, return a call to ex- plain the Board policy? In a previous life I was the national sales manager mar- ket development for Hallmark Cards. As such I was respon- sible for negotiating with developers across the country for retail space, building and managing the corporate stores, developing national chain stores and other duties. In more than ten years in that job I al- ways returned my phone calls and that was in the days before cell phones and PCs. I did that to maintain the companys image in the marketplace, to promote our business relationships and be- cause my mother taught me it was ignorant to be rude. If the HDSB finds they dont have time to look after the busi- ness affairs of only 90 some odd schools, perhaps a time in motion study of how they spend their days would be in order. So after ten years it appears that Speyside will finally go on the block. That would be at least ten years after the school was basically aban- doned and left to deteriorate, ten years of no heat and little, if any maintenance. Anyone who knows anything about flat roofed buildings knows the deterioration factor in- creases exponentially year after year. An engineer friend who has looked at the build- ing recently is of the opinion it is probably a tear-down. The cost of renovation or rehabilitation would be more then the cost of erecting a new energy efficient building. The basic rule of business is buy low, sell high. The HDSB has dithered during the real es- tate boom years and only now are they considering selling into a depressed market. In private business gross man- agement of an asset like the abandoned Speyside School would cause heads to roll. I wouldnt hold my breath waiting for anything to hap- pen at the HDSB. This whole mess reminds me of 2 sayings from my youth. The first being the folk song This land is my land so keep your cotton pickin paws off it. (I added that last part). And secondly, from a movie about the 60s Free- dom Fighters in the States; If You See a Good Fight Get Into It. This is a fight for good. I hope to see you join us at the barricades. FREE SKATE: Many people enjoyed the free skating provided by Wellington-Halton Hills MPP Ted Arnot at the Gordon Alcott Arena in Georgetown recently. - submitted photo