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THE NEW TANNERTHURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2009 7 GRAPEVINE with Mike OLeary The Way I See It lthough the dishonest people are out there in the best of times, these days, in this economy, it seems the increase in people who want to cheat, lie and steal from you is increasing exponentially. Computers, while useful, have only exacerbated the problem. But before we talk about all that I want to encourage all our readers to attend a rally to appeal the decision of the Halton School Board to sell off a portion of the MSB playground. The rally is scheduled for 2pm on Monday, Feb. 16 (Family Day) near the ice rink adjacent to the corner of Churchill Rd. N and Tanners Drive. It is import- ant that the community support this citizens initiative to ask the board to reverse this decision. If your attitude is someone else will be there the organizers may well be alone. This confrontation with the school board concerns each and every citizen in Acton and sur- rounding areas. Our schoolyards are part of our parkland system. Once gone it cant be replaced cause God aint making any- more land, especially here in town where were surrounded by Greenbelt, which is NOT a park. IF the MSB playground is sold, where will your childrens chil- dren play? Now back to our main topic, that being thieves. There are more and more con men (persons?) in our world and the computer age has made them more professional looking and more inventive. Sadly seniors and the less for- tunate often fall victim to these scams. Todays computers can duplicate any form, any logos so the communication appears to be realistic. Just looking at the return banks where I do business and carry their credit cards. These bogus security alerts have my credit card number but are look- ing for the 3 digit number on the back of the card. If they get that they can counterfit your credit card and cause all kinds of may- hem. A simple rule to follow is never give out personal infor- mation on the phone or on the computer. If your financial in- stitution wants information you should only give it face to face at your local branch. I received one email recently that I forwarded to my local bank. It was so new and realistic that the manager had to send it off to head office to verify it was a scam. Thieves are inventive these days. Sometimes I long for the old days when I would see ads claiming to send me tips guar- anteed to make me a millionaire, if I would simply send them $39.99. I never did but assumed the formula would be; take out a full page ad enticing thousands of suckers to send you $39.99. Repeat as necessary. Computers have been a won- derful advance for our society. By all means use them for re- search and communications, but absolutely refuse to send person- al information of any kind out on the internet. We all work too long and hard for our money. Dont fall prey to these vultures. Dont be a sucker to technol- ogy. When in doubt Check it out! Call your bank, a trusted friend, one of your children or the police. Report any suspicious tele- marketing or computer scams to info@phonebusters.com or call 1-888-495-8501. Dont be a victim. address of the sender is little or no protection. They often corrupt the return address enough to divert the e-mail back to them. One new one purports to be from the Canada Revenue Agency. It tells you that you are eligible for a tax refund of $386. Eureka, I thought for a millisecond, cash back from the government. Then I read a little further and saw that this phoney government form claimed they would send the re- fund in 3-9 days. I laughed out loud. Revenue Canada cant get a refund on taxes to us in 3 weeks let alone 3 days. There was an attachment to the e-mail. As a matter of course, I never open attachments from people I dont know, let alone one that I was certain was a scam. I did have my friend Harold Postma at the Credit Union open it when I was in there. I was amazed at how real it looked. But the first line was asking for my SIN number. I never give out my SIN number except to banks or other legitimate agencies such as my accountant. Even then I only do that in their office, never, never on any com- puter. With a pirated SIN number the thief can steal your identity, obtain a birth certificate, credit card, passport and any number of other official documents. In the past few months I have re- ceived a number of inquiries from banks I dont do business with. Those I easily ignore. I have had a few security alerts, however, from Dont be a victim of a scam Community Recognition There will be an evening of rec- ognition and thanks in honour of Dr. David Vanderbent, who prac- ticed here in Acton for many years and is much missed by his patients. The evening includes a meet and greet at 6pm with dinner served at 7pm on Friday, April 3, 2009 at the Gord McCutcheon auditorium of the Legion in Acton. Donations will be accepted to- wards a bursary in Dr. Vanderbents name to be awarded to an Acton High School student who continues on in pursuit of a medical related profession and can be made at Prosperity One, Acton. Tickets are available at Halton Hills Furniture and Links2Care. For more information call Jon Hurst at 519-853-2015. Petition and Rally Here are two ways to show your support in the fight to save MSB land slated for sale by the school board. First is a petition, started by Al- lison Jones. It can be signed at one of the following locations: Royal Jug City, Acton Home Hardware, Movie Gallery, Dufferin Centre (Indoor soccer arena), Giant Tiger, Acton Auto Tech, Petes Barber Shop and Profile Hair Salon. Second is to attend the rally be- ing held Monday, Feb. 16 (Family Day) at 2pm near the ice rink on the MSB school property. Come out and demonstrate your support for the preservation of the playground and fields at MSB. Mayor Rick Bonnette and local councillors will be in attendance. Music at One Music at One continues on February 11 when popular Jazz musician George Grossman stops by the Gallery at the Halton Hills Cultural Centre located in the Georgetown Library located at 9 Church St. Georgetown. The Music at One concert series recently kicked off with local music educator, performer, and composer John Hribljan playing selections from the Kola Club, a musical play he wrote and arranged. For more information call 905-873-2681. Literacy Matters Literacy North Halton is seeking volunteer tutors for their upcom- ing Spring training session. If you can spare 3 hrs per week, and enjoy giving back to the community you could make a huge difference in somebodys life. No experience necessary. Train- ing provided. Call Literacy North Halton at 905-873-2200 or visit www.literacynh.org Free family skate RBC Royal Bank will be cele- brating Family Day on Monday, Feb. 16 with a free community skate at the Acton Arena and Com- munity Centre. The skate is open to all members of the public be- tween 2pm and 3:30pm. Olympic sprinter, Fattah Stanley will be in attendance to sign autographs and skate with fans. Georgetown Citizen of Year The Georgetown Lions Club is again asking the public for nomin- ations to Citizen of the Year. This year marks the 37th year for the award. The award can be given to any individual, couple, group or organization that has served the community as an outstanding bo- lunteer, in sports, culture, health or social services. Nominations can be sent, by Feb. 22, 2009, to Lions Club Citizen of the Year, PO Box 73, Georgetown L7G 4T1, faxed to 905-873-4487 or email to dpen- rice@sympatico.ca Dr. David Vanderbent Girls in Erin home charged with assault Wellington OPP officers re- sponded to a reported assault and disturbance at a home lo- cated in Erin twp on Tuesday, Feb. 3 at about 6:22pm. Police said that officers spoke with staff at the home, who ad- vised that two girls at the home had been play fighting and began getting quite aggressive. Staff intervened and one of the girls, a 14-year-old, punched a staff worker. The other youth, a 15-year-old girl was also quite agitated and assaulted three workers at the home. Police were summoned and when officers arrived the youth also grabbed for the officers firearm, officers said. Wellington OPP have charged a 14-year-old with Assault under the Criminal Code of Canada, and she is scheduled to appear in Guelph Youth court on April 1 to answer to the charge. The other teen faces charges of Fail to Comply with Disposition, Attempting to Disarm a Police Officer and three counts of As- sault under the Criminal Code of Canada. ITS MELTING, MELTONG, MELTING: Soon scenes like tis one the Dublin Line, north of Hwy 7 wont be visible as a record snow pack gives away to the power of the sun and wet weather. Since were smack in the middle of February on Saturday, that means Spring on the calender is a scant five weeks and change away. Snow will gradually give way to brown fields struggling with shafts of green which will dominate again as Spring spreads its mantle