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THE NEW TANNERTHURSDAY, APRIL 1, 2010 15 Catholic calendar Students at Haltons Catholic schools will have 188 instructional days and six professional activ- ity days in the 2010-2011 school year. Halton Cath- olic District School Board trustees approved the cal- endar last Tuesday - it still needs approval by the Min- istry of Education. The first day of school for all students will be Tuesday, September 7, 2010 and the last day of instruction for elementary students will be Thursday, June 30, 2011 and for sec- ondary students, the last day of instruction will be Wednesday, June 29, 2011. Water Festival Acton schools interest- ed in the annual Halton Childrens Water Festival should sign up quickly - three months before last falls event there was a waiting list of 400 students who didnt get to go. Last year, 266 George- town students were among 4,000 Halton students who were immersed in the Festivals four curriculum- linked themes of water science and technology, conservation and protec- tion, health and safety and waters significance from a cultural and historical per- spective. The events 60 water- re la ted ac t iv i t ies are organized by Conservation Halton and Halton Region with help from many part- ners, including Halton Hills and over 700 volunteers, including 75 from Acton High School and Christ the King in Georgetown. At Town Council last Monday, Hassan Basit of Conservation Halton thanked councillors for supporting the event with staff time and money, al- lowing the Festival to grow and continue to educate kids about our most pre- cious resource, which is water. This years Festival is September 28 to October 1. For details visit www. conservationhalton.on.ca *** Noting that Conservation Halton - a community based environmental agency that protects, restores and man- ages the natural resources in its watershed - is not well known, Ward Two Councillor Bryan Lewis asked Basit for a Coles Notes version of the or- ganization and its impact on Halton Hills, which, through Halton Region contributes property tax dollars to fund conserva- tion, but not recreation, programs. It (Halton Hills) is a small part of our water- shed, but nonetheless, it is still over 13,000-hectares that the Town of Halton Hills occupies in terms of the watershed, Phillips said, adding the number of people from Halton Hills buying annual passes to Conservation Halton areas - 100 last year - is grow- ing. Along with students at the Water Festival, Phillips said they welcome classes of over 750 students to the Mountsberg and Crawford Lake Conservation Areas each year to learn about conservation. Cedarvale heritage designation Just in time to help mark the 95th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide on April 24, Town coun- cillors voted to indicate their intention to desig- nate Cedarvale Park in Georgetown as an Associ- ative Cultural Landscape, including the Freeman- Bradley House, Cedarvale Community Centre and Cedarvale Cottage, under the Ontario Heritage Act. Some of the Armenians who fled persecution and state-sanctioned massacres by Turkeys Muslim major- ity immigrated to Canada, including the George- town boys, a group of 109 orphan boys and 39 girls brought to Georgetown in the 1920s by the Armen- ian Relief Association of Canada to live on a farm where Cedarvale Park is now located. When the United Church of Canada took over the farm in 1928, the boys were dispersed among Ontario farmers either as foster children or as contracted farm labour- ers and the buildings were renamed the Cedarvale School for Girls. At Council last Monday, George Shirinian, execu- tive director of the Zoryan Institute in Toronto and the son of a Georgetown boy and a Georgetown girl, said the Georgetown orphans story is one of the success stories of Canadian im- migration and a heritage designation would draw even more students. He said that an important part of teaching an abstract concept such as human rights and their gross vio- lations genocide - is to make it concrete to events students could relate to. Having the focal point the apartments (where) the boys lived, played, learn- ed and grew would be an international resource to help students understand the Canadian aspect of this story, Shirinian said, congratulating councillors for supporting the Heritage designation and promising help and resources for fu- ture work on the site. Development charge exemptions In order to try to per- suade local businesses to expand in Halton Hills and not move away to grow, the Town will double the amount of a development charge exemption to cover 100 per cent of any charges for proposed expansions. Currently, the exemption covers 50 per cent of the development charges owed for an expansion project, but Regional/Ward Two Councillor Jane Fogal said the development char- ges are so high that some businesses look at leaving town instead of expanding here. Retaining employment in town is very import- antand this is a means of doing it. Its a bit of an investment, but we would get it all back in taxes in a relatively short period of time, Fogal said. *** On a related issue, Fogal said the Towns reputation for having an onerous development process with lots of complaints has im- proved. Fol lowing a survey indicating problems, staff changed the process and a second survey found that the changes improved the development process. The general public and users of the system are much happier with the sys- tem - thats not to say that were just zooming people along, but whats happened is that people used to have to go from department to department and person to person through this maze and back again and now it is more co-ordinated and its a more helping atmos- phere here, Fogal said, offering thanks to staff for making improvements. Holy Week and Easter Morning Services The congregations of Actons churches will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus this Easter week- end On Good Friday at 10 a.m., Bethel Christian Re- formed Church presents Beneath the Cross...It is finished, a dramatic pres- entation based on stories of those beneath the cross. The church invites every- one to see how the stories affect our lives today. On Easter Sunday, Bethel will celebrate Jesus coming back to life and the eter- nal impact for all. A t Tr i n i t y U n i t e d Church, the Maundy Thursday service is tonight at 7 p.m. Trinitys Easter Sunday Service with Com- munion is at 10 am. On Good Friday, the Procession of the Cross, sponsored by the Acton Ministerial Association, begins at 5:30 p.m. at Churchill Community Church. The procession will stop at all Acton churches for a prayer and to sing a hymn verse before head- ing to St. Josephs for a service at approximately 7:15 p.m. At St. Josephs, there will be a Holy Thurs- day service with mass at 8 p.m. On Good Friday there is a Stations of the Cross service at 9 a.m., and a solemn Liturgy at 3 p.m. On Easter Sunday at St. Josephs there will be masses at 9 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. There will be an Easter Sunday SonRise Service at 7 a.m., again sponsored by the Acton Ministerial Association, at Churchill Community Church. At St. Albans Angli- can Church, there will be a re-enactment of the Last Supper with a Sedar Supper service at 6 p.m. on Maundy Thursday, followed by a 7:30 p.m. service, including sym- bolic feet washing. On Good Friday, St. Al- bans will hold a Stations of the Cross service at 10:30 a.m., followed by a 5:30 p.m. service. On Easter Sunday there will be a Spoken Eucha- rist service at 9 a.m. and a Choral Eucharist service at 10:30 a.m. At the Acton Salvation Army Corps, there will be a Good Friday service at 11 a.m., and an Easter Sunday service at 11 a.m. C h e c k w i t h A c t o n churches for additional services. Acton churches celebrate Easter Town Digest BANTAM BB FINALISTS Members of the Acton Firefighters Association Bantam BB Tanners proudly displayed the Al Richardson Trophy awarded to the team for their achievement as the 2010 OMHA Bantam BB Finalists. The team includes, front from left: Evan Oulton, Bradley Bollert, Owen Coulighan, Jasson Lockyer and Adam McCoy. Middle: Zach Vanderlee, Christian Coleman, Carter Ebbinge, Kendra van der Eyken, Logan Mc- Nabb and Todd Ratchford. Back: T.J. Baker and Matt Fritz. Absent: Mason Overland and Dylan Schouten. Submitted photo