THE INDEPENDENT & FREE PRESS 50 cents (+GST) Friday, April 11, 2008 56 Pages www.independentfreepress.com Sideroads wins provincial honour Page 3 You and Your Pet Would you like a Buddy? Page 12 Police tangle with students ...on the ice Page S/L 1 Recipe of the week: Thai chicken stir fry Page 22 Editorial 6 Ted Brown 8 Classifieds 25-28 Calendar 29, 30 Sports S/L 1-7 INSIDE A tsunami wave of baby boomers will impact the future of the local seniors centres say Town officials. See details Wednesday. WEDNESDAY... To the cheers of firefighters sitting in the public gallery, Halton Hills council, on Monday night, unanimously awarded the fire station tender to Rand General Contractors, paving the way to the long- awaited groundbreak- ing on the two new Georgetown fire sta- tions this month. Total cost of the tender is $8.6 million, part of the overall $9.4 million cost to build a new George- town fire station headquarters on Eighth Line at 10 Sideroad and a joint fire/emergency med- ical services (EMS) station to replace the current, aging Maple Ave. building. Both stations will be built to LEED envi- ronmental certification silver standards including geothermal HVAC systems. I cant wait for these projects to be final- ly realized and we start working out of the new stations, Marshall said. The entire team is tremendously excited because it has been a long time coming, par- ticularly for the Maple Ave. station, said Fire Chief Brent Marshall, Director of Fire Protection and Prevention Services, appre- ciative of the support given by the entire community. That station is in a very dilapidated con- dition so the working conditions arent the best. But whats most important is that were really going to be able to improve on the ser- vice to the community with the expansion (905) 873-1655 354 Guelph Street, Georgetown APPLE Auto Glass Truck Accessories Upholstery Heavy Equipment Glass Window Tinting GEORGETOWN CHRYSLER We handle all insurance work. GEORGETOWN VOTED #1 FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE 2008 KIA SEDONA FINANCE0% CALL THE GEORGETOWN HEADQUARTERS 1-866-364-0697 or 905-877-7818 Up to 60 mos with0.9% APR Financing Available o.a.c. New prices start now. Autobahn for all. Georgetown Volkswagen 203 Guelph Street 9 0 5 . 8 7 7 . 5 2 8 5 georgetownvw.com 2008 GTI from $27,975 Nowitseasier tomakefriends withyourfast. now For breaking news go to: www.independentfreepress.com Halton Hills award-winning newspaper Public speaking winner left speechless An excited Skylar Riebel, a Grade 8 student at St. Catherine of Alexandria School, was shocked when her name was announced as the winner of the Halton Catholic District School Boards North Halton Public Speaking Competition at St Joseph's in Acton last week. Her win- ning speech focused on cyber bullying. Photo by Ted Brown Long wait is over for new fire stations CYNTHIA GAMBLE Staff Writer See CONSTRUCTION, pg. 5 BRENT MARSHALL