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No decoration day There will be no Decoration Day program this year The committee under Jessie Coles found interest dwindling and attendance lower the last few years The preparation of the parade service platform sound system and purchase of geraniums all took a good deal of tune and effort If the people of the town do not come out to participate there is not much use continuing to prepare for them The tradition of having Decora tion Day on the first Sunday in June began over years ago at the instigation of Lakeside chapter of The members had been decora ting the graves of former associates on Remembrance Day when the weather was invariably foul Their suggestion of a spring tune event drew ready support then from the Legion primarily and from many other There was never a rainy Decora tion Day in all the years since but in the last few years fewer people attended Tunes change Many are away on weekends now There are no fewer memories of the family members and friends who were laid to rest in Fairview and St Josephs cemetery and no fewer thoughts of the old citizens in Pioneer cemetery They just wont be expressed the same unity way this year mm Corrections assumptions Assumptions department some people got the idea the town hall is unsafe Its not Some people have inferred the town hall is not used In fact it is regularly used every day with the police office and the senior citizens drop in centre there The upstairs is used for needed storage As well a washroom which can be used by the public is located off the main hall Corrections department in no way did the Free Press last week mean to infer the reason the firefighters need space is because the old fire truck is housed in the meeting room Much more garage space is needed for another pumper and a van The old truck is kept in the meeting room so firefighters can work on its restoration in their spare time It s Of this and that at one end of their meeting hall Chairs are set up around it When and if a second storey is added to the fire hall the meeting room will be up there Then more equipment can be parked below one truck behind the other There are three trucks there already one each of the three bays A couple of firefighters men to the Free Press they thought readers unfamiliar with the fire hall would get the wrong impression We apologize We agree fully that the firefighters need more space Aerial view shows present high school above left and new high school centre under construction on Churchill The impressive new building will be ready for occupancy in the fall Outdoor track is com plete and students will also use the nearby bush and swamp for studies Future addition could extend east Acton Free Press Wednesday May 1977 Sugar and Spice by bill smiley Straighten it out department the town hall is not the town office The town office is in the building The town hall on Willow St is what some newcomers call the police office Got if A strange jubilee observance the federal government has for the first time removed the portrait of the Queen from the current first class letter stamp The parliament buildings are now making the postal rounds In Acton a jubilee tea is being held this afternoon Wednesday Sugar and Spice was missing from the Free Press last Week We had one comment about it from a fan Watching hockey lately and discussing the brutality the modern gome with other former aficionados I began to ponder on that which is of such recent concern our society violence It is certainly nothing new is long and often sickening record of violence In the great Greek epics treachery and murder and war killing jrc celebrated The Bible loaded with people smiting each other The reveled in cruel and bloody spectacles The Crusades of the Middle Ages under the blessing of the Church sagas of loot and raping and fire nd killing Wares and vicious colonization occupied Renaissance man under the guise of exploration and spreading the faith Torture and burning the stake were the treats in store for anyone accused of treason or heresy as State and Church struggled for supremacy in the western world And speaking of the West that great American state to the south under the various cloaks of freedom peace and the spread of law and order but spurred by greed and hunger for fund practised a type of genocide on the original natives World War when slaughter and mud and blood became a way or life for years for millions of men in a holocaust that mode a mockery of the notion that man was becoming civilized Letters to the editor People power Look were Acton No power like people power Dear Editor just don understand how anyone can even think tearing drwn our town hall can remember when the old post office was torn down and how empty that street corner looked for a long time And the little thought that was given to the demolition of the railway station Maybe someone thought it was an eyesore But now to think of tearing down our last historic building to put up a parking lot By demolishing the town hall Acton will lose its Identity That hall says look we re Acton Why the great urgency to tear it down look around what are other com munltles using ihelr old town halls for Haven we any pride left for our town t it worth the money to fix it up To make it a centre once again for community life Instead of demolishing it we should be restoring It giving it back some of the dignity time has taken away Years from now we be sorry but it will be too late that beautiful old building will be gone Yours truly One of many citizens whodoesn want to see our last piece destroyed Vaya con dios town hall Dear Editor A local storm has developed as a con sequence of a proposal to bury the former town hall That it was a seat of local government is a fact that it no longer serves In that or any related capacity Is also a fact No one can deny that even at its finest hour It was not a pretentious build In terms of architecture It lost its only claim to fame when the bell tower was mercifully removed That event was an Indicator of things to come the relentless ravages of time and elements on all things Time because all things have their season and cease to be and for any to dare to stay the inevitable is the same as prolonging the agony of the suffering til Elements because sooner or later every brick In those walls must yield to the wind and the frost and the sun in like it Everest and others Beyond those remarks I am prompted to question the substance of such abstracts as heritage tradition and culture Somehow they have a tendency to devolve into a sort of pudding Invariably one hears the challenge have you no feelings of nos talgia for the old place And In the defence that one raises to parry the thrust of the question It too often becomes the prime point while those other values sort of drift off Into the fog So let It be with the town haltnostalgia Is the main theme but for a very small number of people Some and I include myself have served the town from a seat In the counsel chamber It was not com fo liable Itwasnotrewardingasltnowisln pay for meetings It was not a thrill to open the door and walk over the creaking boards to enter an chamber from whense in to administer the affairs of the town Culturally speaking I know of no events that ever left any impact on the folk of Acton which can be truly attributed to that building True we had a nationwide dance one New Year s Eve but it con cerned only a small segment of Acton then and Is forgotten by most now The returning veterans congregated on Its stage and re ceived the thanks of the people but that is not heritage nor culture No dear editor I think the present sentimental storm is just that A case of a love of old stones 1 1 say let the building die Let the old stones return into the dust It will not be long until some pressing emergency will dictate that its life be ended So be It The old stories have served a purpose not one which will ever gain mention In a national history but sufficient for the area in which It was intended to be the seat of government and sentinel In times of threat Vaya con dios old town hall Thanks for having been a part of our lives Another citizen of Acton This is to confirm my telephoned congratulation on your first class coverage of the situation concerning our Town Hall and the need for a concerted effort on the part of all Interested citizens to save it from demolition for ANY reason I am only sorry that 1 will not be able to attend the open meeting on Thursday to discus the situation However I have happy memories of the Town Hall which began fifty years ago when six years of age I attended Kindergarten or Primer class in the room which later served as council chambers for the Town of Acton Our teacher was Miss Minnie Moore who also earned for herself no small measure of acclaim as a first class music teacher over many years I know there arc other citizens still living in Acton who began their school years in the school room in the Town Hall As Mrs Oral Norton recalled in her letter to the editor in this edition the upstairs auditorium of the Hall was the setting for any celebration of Importance during all our school years Most churches and scr vice clubs used the Town Hall at least once each year as the location for major fund raising events I personally recall the many full houses the former Players the Players the Presbyterian Drama BAA gives support Club and many other groups performed for Acton people were wonderfully supportive and warm in their appreciation of the forts of budding performers Those who were lucky enough to obtain help of Mrs Bertha Buchanan in coaching their presentations will never forget the extra effort she always put into getting a really polished performance out of the most inexperienced in a group was particularly pleased to read the written by a comparative newcomer who not having the sentimental attachment to the building which some of us have recognizes the historical worth of the Town Hall and spoke out In support or it fcven if no practical use can be found for the building it has earned the right to be restored and maintained Please count on me for full support In any action you lake to convince council that our Town NOT BE TORN DOWN Again my congratulations on this week issue of the Free Press Keep up the work and the support will grow Remember there is no power like Respectfully yours Alice A The Board of Management of the Acton B I A support the movement to SAVE the Town Hall The old Town Hull may not be the best representative or architecture of the time but it is the last public building In the Town that Is of any Many people old and young old timers and new comers have expressed the desire to keep the building All of these people have a great admiration for the firemen and ore not saying save the building to spite the firemen The location of the Town Hall Is within the designated I A and could ultimately become a focal point Tor a revitalized downtown It is too early for us the first Board of Management or the I A to pro ject any plans for the properly For many years the merchants in down town Acton have been striving for more off street parking Also or many years the volunteer firemen have been asking for parking Possibly these two needs could be combined Perhaps the owners of the two adjacent properties would give the Town an option to buy when they ore ready to sell or perhaps the Town could offer them a price Ihcy would not refuse One or both of these properties would provide access to the backyards of properties behind the stores on Mill This could open up a fair number of parking spaces which could be used by both shoppers and firemen If necessary part of the parking area could be deslgnotcd Firemen Parking Henry B Chairman Board of Management Acton I A Woke up in time Dear Mrs Dills Our town hall is saved I Thank you and the Free Press for waking us up in time A happy citizen and paled all previous violence by com pa risen Next feature was Son of World War I While not as devastating in the score of human life it reached new pinnacles of and horror culminating In the unspeakable death camps of Germany and the terror bombings of the Allies Things haven t Improved Cold war with the building of vast stores of deadly and dreadful weapons Arabs and Jews The Congo Ireland Lebanon You name it and modem man is capable of It Hijacking kidnapping torture bombings are com on place What are our favorite movies At least that make money Disaster films the bigger the better Air crashes ear towering Or vicious portrayals of mad killers as in Taxi Driver Or seeing two humans punch each other into bloody ribbons as in Rocky Or watching violence physical and verbal carried to the point of parody as in Slap Shot And that brings us neatly and Inevitably back to professional hockey And after thinking over a few thousand years of violence It a Sunday School picnic that spectacle on the ice In my mind Why should become exercised over it The owners arc interested chiefly in either a big buck or a tax writeoff Fighting and high sticking and blood fill the arenas So it a free country and capitalism is the economic system Why should I worry about the managers and coaches encouraging blood and brutality Those people arc mere stooges for the owners They have to fill rinks and win games or it Charlie Why should I feel contempt for the referees when they fail to honor their oath and turn a blind eye on some guy trying to tear out another guy guts with the modern equivalent of a spear They don encourage mayhem but they tolerate it by Ignoring the rule book If they don turn a blind eye they re fired Simple Do the media people and the sports writers attack the in hockey Not on your next year contract with Hockey Night In Canada buster They mention it chuckling Should I feel some sympathy for the players forced into fraudulent ferocity by owners coaches fans No way I pity them for the punishment they take but at the same time pity them for being patsies for everybody else for being dumb in other words They re well paid If they want to be actors let them act If they want to be thesplans let them thesp through their missing front teeth If they want to be goons let them goon away as longastheygoonon each other and not on And should I feel contempt for the fans whoscreamforblood who curse colorfully the opposition when It Is winning who blaspheme bitterly their own team when It is losing Nope I feel no more contempt for them than I do for the Roman mob by the Caesars into going to the Games instead of asking who is looking after the e these day Continued on Page The Free Press Back Issues 10 years ago Taken from the issue of he Free Press May 10 Replacing Const Nick Farion who is seriously injured from an automobile and is in hospital Is Const Dennis Cerntus who comes to Acton after four years with the Oakville detachment Const is single and a of Hamilton At convocation on May Acton United Church a interim minister John A May received the degree of Bachelor of Divinity from Victoria College University of Toronto His wife and mother Mrs John A May Sr of Capreol were guests at the ceremony in Convocation Hall The Department of Highways has made a start on the preparatory work for the reconstruction of Highway from Acton to Ospnnge Two buildings at Ospringe a store and a house presently are being demolished to make way for an improved Intersection Recreation director Howard will leave Acton on June to take a new position as assistant director of recreation In the city of Kingston Mrs Lois Mackenzie and Miss Margie Mackenzie are spending a few days at Expo and visiting with her brother Rev Ailken and family in Westmount Margie has finished her year at Acadia University and will be working In this summer 20 years ago Taken from the Issue of the Free Press of Thursday May IS 1957 Harold Reid 15yearold high school student son of Rev and Mrs K J Cook St Acton received a fractured jaw in a fall from his bicycle yesterday at noon While riding his bicycle down Queen Street hill the front tire struck a stone causing the bicycle to swerve resulting in a foil to the ground causing painful Injuries to his face Many residents of the town and district were in attendance at the two rallies In for John Dlefenbaker Monday night and Prime Minister Louis St Laurent on Tuesday Walter treasurer of the Acton Rotary Club Easter Seal Campaign this week reported a net total of collected with a few more donations yet to come in Police this week noted that an town man who was observed driving at miles an hour on Highway recently this week paid a fine and lost his license for six months an a charge of careless driving which resulted Mr and Mrs Jack Crawford motored to Miami this week on a holiday business trip Mr Crawford will be attending the Canadian Leaders Conference for the Prudential Insurance Company of America They are staying at the Americana Hotel In Miami beach Florida years ago Taken from the issue of the Free Press May Some local gate hinges will need repairing if this Sunday evening swinging on the gate is continued Acton is again clad In its verdant bloom and stands out preeminently as one of the handsomest villages the province We are pleased to be able to announce to our readers that the managing committee of Acton Social Club and the Knights of Pythias have been able to secure the ser vices of several ladles and gentlemen of well known dramatic talents to undertake the representations of the persons in the drama Uncle Tom Cabin We are at liberty to mention the names of Mr and Mrs Allan Halford and their little daughter Toronto the latter of whom renders the beautiful and saintly character of Eva Plank culverts will be put in on both sides of the road on Church St to prevent the earth from being washed away by freshets Mill St will be gravelled from Main to the station and continue as far as the means will allow this year On the eve of Mr Hall depar lure to a number of his friends assembled at the Dominion Hotel to honor him with a complimentary supper as a token of the universal esteem in which he is held in his native place The party com prised a large number of our most prominent citizens The Acton Division Sons of Temperance are arranging to have a public en tertainment on the 1st of July THE ACTON FREE PRESS PHONE Business and Editorial Office a Ona Subtcriptoni Mr lw OB PubtaM Mr DM en Cook Cans Copyright 1977