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THE NEW TANNER THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2010 6 Distributed to every home in Acton and area, as well as adjoining communities. 373 Queen Street East, Unit 1 Acton, Ontario L7J 2N2 email: thenewtanner@on.aibn.com By Angela Tyler Editorial with Frances Niblock (519) 853-0051 Fax: (519) 853-0052 Every effort will be made to see advertising copy, neatly presented, is correctly printed. The publisher assumes no financial responsibility for typographical errors or omissions in advertising, but will gladly reprint without charge that part of an advertisement in which an error may occur provided a claim is made within five days of publication. All articles, advertisements and graphic artwork appearing in The New Tanner is copyrighted. Any usage, reproduction or publication of these items, in whole or in part, without the express written consent of the publisher of The New Tanner is a copyright infringement and subject to legal action. Publisher Ted Tyler Editor Emeritus Hartley Coles Editor Frances Niblock Editorial Contributors Mike OLeary Angela Tyler Advertising and Circulation Marie Shadbolt Composing Ken Baker Paul would be proud Before his death from pancreatic cancer in 1988, Actons Paul Murr learned that the annual Canadian Cancer Society golf tournament he helped run was being renamed in his honour. For the past 25 years, the late Paul Murrs friends have dedicated their time and talents to staging hugely successful fundraising golf tournaments, raising over $750,000 to help fight cancer. The tournament runs so smoothly and is consistently so successful that the organizers have been asked to show others how they do it year after year. The Murr committee members kick off the planning for the next tournament with a cheque presentation ceremony to the Canadian Cancer Society $50,000 from last years event was gratefully accepted by officials with the Acton branch of the Canadian Cancer Society last week. Cancer president Cathy Gerrow said it is phenomenal for the group to continue to raise such large amounts of money for cancer research. Another branch official said the tourna- ments are unique in Ontario because of its longevity and successfulness. The Paul Murr Memorial tourney organizers are a bashful group they quietly go about the business of raising money in the name of their late friend, and say that the work is a labour of love that began when Marg Hoare, then secretary of the Acton Cancer Society, was looking for a fundraising event idea and suggested that her husband John get involved. Over the years the event has grown, and like a well-oiled machine, the committee members do what needs to be done with a minimum amount of fuss. They also know that if Paul Murr were alive today, hed be proud of what has been accomplished in his name by a group most who have been touched by cancer that firmly believe the disease can and will be beaten. *** When you read the cancer statistics, the importance of re- search money is underlined. An estimated 27,900 people will die of cancer in Ontario this year, and 65,100 new cases will be diagnosed, with prostate cancer being the most frequently diagnosed cancer. Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death in Ontario with an estimated 7,000 people (3,600 men; 3,400 women) expected to die of lung cancer in 2009. For the first time, the 2009 Canadian Cancer Statistics report estimates there will be fewer cases of lung cancer diagnosed in Ontario women, compared to previous years reflecting the continuing decline in smoking among women that started in the mid- 1980s. This pattern has already been observed in men, as their rate of tobacco use began to decline earlier than it did for women. While the stats are staggering, there is hope in research research funded through events like the Paul Murr Memorial Golf Tournament. Sometimes things you see make you take a second glance or wonder. This has happened to me a few times in the last little while. Before Christmas when I was off to Mississauga to get Little Js passport. We were travelling on Highway 401 when just as I was about to turn onto the off ramp I had to take a big second look. I had never seen this in my life. There on the side of the road was a vehicle that appeared to be broken down. Of course you may see this on any road on any day however; the vehicle I saw this time was a hearse. I just had never seen that before or thought about it. I started think- ing that they are like any other vehicle, and of course they can break down just like any other however, I started wondering whether it had a passenger, was it on the way to get a passen- ger, was it taking its passenger somewhere? Maybe the passen- ger was one of those people who are always late that people joke around how they will be late for their own funeral and maybe they were going to be. In Florida at Christmas time, every morning Little J and I would wake before the rest of the family and head out for a morning wander. We headed out on our normal route, up the lane by the condo where the locals live then along the beach, her in her stroller, I pushing behind. At first she sort of looked around and more enjoyed the fresh air while trying to figure out if she wanted a nap and I did my usual nosey thing checking out what cars were in driveways and who had what Christmas decorations up. One day I noticed a hammock swinging higher between two trees than what I thought would be normal. I wondered how one would climb up into the ham- mock that hovered above a small garden. Each day as I passed the ham- mock I looked at it againand again. Then on almost the last day I saw it. I saw the thing that kept making me look at the highly perched hammock that I didnt know what kept me attracted to looking at it. The hammock that was perched above the garden wasnt just any garden even though I thought it odd as well that it was above a garden, not just a patch of grass. The hammock hung above a garden of cacti. Who on earth would want to lie in a hammock that was above a bunch of cac- tus plants? Didnt they wonder what happened if you had a real- ly good sleep going and fell out of the hammock? Its funny how we all lead such busy lives and we see things every day and never look twice. I had a Great Aunt who always told me and my dad to stop and smell the roses meaning to slow down and enjoy all the things in life. Now, the things I saw might not be under the category of enjoying things in life, yet in slowing down, I no- ticed a few things that I never would have and it was kind of nice thinking about something so silly and minor with all the stuff that goes on in the world every day. The things you see that make you wonder PIZZA PANIC: Two teams of Acton High School students competed to see who could eat pizza the fastest on Tuesday, part of the new Dominos Pizza grand opening week celebrations. - Denise Paulsen photo