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One Hundred and Third Year No 22 ACTON ONTARIO WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER Forty Pages F flcon Cents Actonians to draft reply A letter of reply will be sent soon to Ontario treasurer by the members of the for Action committee The chairman Peter last week received Mr McKeough s decision no review on regional government here as requested by the committee and two signed petitions The full text of Mr s letter ap peared in last weeks Free Press The committee members met Sunday evening in the library to go over the letter and met again last night Tuesday to begin putting their reply together The reply will be given to the Free Press after it has been mailed to Mr and after it has had time to reach him Mr Papillon explained that since the com mittee members objected to the way the decision was released to the press before they knew of it they would try to do it properly The letter mailed in Toronto Friday November arrived here Wednesday afternoon November 23 Speaking personally Mr Papillon said he was naturally disappointed in the decision He says everywhere he goes in town people ask him to keep up the objections He thinks people in Georgetown and also object to regional government I donl take it as a defeat he says It s a setback but not a defeat Although Mr s parliamentary assistant Walter Ashe thought the committee would have a reply in three weeks it was ac tually nearer to seven weeks They met with him on Oct 3 and received the reply Nov 23 Week delivery IT S OFFICIAL The snip of the scissors means the new Acton high school is officially open Doing the honors Tuesday night was the Hon said Darcy a letter to Peter Papillon chairman of the for Acton committee took five days to in Acton And according to the post office and others that not unusual The letter was postmarked In Toonto on Friday Nov ember It dropped into the mailbox on Elmore Dr at m on Wednes day November It has been wrongly assumed in last week Free Press that the letter was at their home while the Papillons were away for a However they arrived home Wednesday morning and there was no letter It came that afternoon Tom Wells Ontario Minister of Education Assisting are past president of the Student Association Jennifer and present president Susan behind Dean Fink Don Blankhorne Gary Morton Laven der McLaren Ivan Armstrong John Bradley Tom Watson Chuck Beaton Dave Katz Over applauded More on Page 6 The Ontario treasurer office had assumed the letter could arrive in Acton on Mon day Other people have assured Mr it is quite common for letters from Tor onto to take a week At the post office acting postmaster Chris McMillan agrees We seem to have an awful time with mail between here and the city says She guessed that probably the McKeough letter would go to a postal station like Gate way in Toronto on the Friday and would remain there till Monday Then it would go to Georgetown on Tuesday and to Acton on a truck delivery Continued on Page 2 Fire hall on schedule despite wait for steel beam Warm welcome on cold day for Santa and escort Work on the fire hall is on schedule despite a three to four day delay while workers waited for a steel beam to arrive according to Russell Miller The beam replaces one which was bent during con struction Mr Miller said The beam has been up for over a week It wasn that long a wait The roofing is being put in now and Mr Miller says con suiting engineer Alan feels work is right on schedule As soon the roof Is com they II move inside to complete the bottom so fire men will have the use of It again he added The building will use the same boiler that heated the old hall and Mr Miller said The same boiler is ade quate according to Mr Zcegen I no engineer All I can do Is base my opinion on what they tell me Fire Chief Mick Holmes also anticipates no problems with the boiler I m anxious to finish off the roof and get Inside so the firemen can get In and have a place to keep their trucks clean said Mr Miller The building should be closed up within a couple of weeks so work can begin on the in terior 8track is stolen A Main St north resident reported the theft of a day eight track tape deck from his vehicle while parked at a local hotel to Regional Police Police say entry was gained by prying open a window 2574 grant A grant of is to be mode to the Acton Legion Choraliers to aid in the pur chase of uniforms Acton fourth Santa parade Saturday was the best yet and organizers are already making plans for next year Despite the bitter cold sparkling floats and smiling pa rn dors lasted the whole route from Crescent to the park Youngsters who were offered a chance to drop out refused the show must go on Although the cold effected their n strum three bands enlivened the parade with tunes the George town Girls Pipe Band Guclph Concert Band and the Salvation Army band from Cambrdgc Acton band had a previous engagement with Santa in Milton Other floats also provided music the Hillbilly CB club with broadcast music St Albon s church and some floats with singers though the Smith school choir had In tended to sing carols along the parade route before and after the parade it was too cold for them and this part of the event was cancelled Overall best entry was that or the firefighters Their show boat float was built like a paddle wheel steamer They also entered the old Studebaker fire truck the rescue unit a fire truck and seven clowns Busy firefighters also acted as parade marshals Second best overall float was the Robert Little school Hansel and Crete Topping the categories were Speyside school s Santa castle for schools the Beavers Star Wars for service clubs St for churches the only church entered and Agricultural Society Miss Acton Fair for other There were no commercial entries this year There were cash prizes for best floats The judges who rushed to the park to com plete their Judging were Jennifer Barr Duby Ted Small budget for 77 parade The Men had a very modest SI budget for the Santa parade Expenses were the bands candy canes balloons prize money and some costume rentals Chairman Jim says donations were very good coming from the chants of the Business Improvement Area Bell Telephone company Men Legion Ladies Scout and Mothers and the The merchants usually come up with half and the service clubs the other half is the third year the Men have initiated the parade Before that Mike Kinal arranged a parade that started the ball rolling BIAs gift Christmas bus businessmen have a girt for Acton again this year a free Christmas bus Service will start Wednesday December and continue to Christmas Eve The cost of the annual project about will be borne by the Business Improvement Area The routes will be shown on the back page of a merchant advertising flyer which will be going out the week of December 12 Tyler Transport will again provide the bus and driver chairman Henry points out that Tylers barely cover expenses in the project as their contribution The Christmas bus was originally a project of the Chamber of Commerce financed by individual donations This year everyone in the Business Improvement Area will automatically share In the cost as their allotment has already been collected by theboardof directors Tyler and Mansell Other of the parade majorettes from Georgetown Acton Figure Skating club float the Chamber of Commerce Merry Christmas blocks McKenzieSmith float Ospringe Scouts Seven Dwarfs float the library s I- World in Books the Hillbillies CB club Acton Junior Farmers Welcome Wagon the Men Wizard of Oz and the costumed young people of the Scout and Guide movement St John Ambulance brought up the rear Climax came with the now traditional Santa Bert Robertson driving his own pony which was bedecked with antlers and white tail His sleigh was mounted on wheels Dr was the official parade marshal heading the parade with the fire truck Chairman Jim said the parade started almost right on time on the Crescent Traffic problems slowed them up Others on the committee are treasurer George Marg Pat Larry for the fire fighters and Mark for the Scout and Guide movement At the parade end Santa headed back to the as fast as he could where children were waiting to see him arrive Despite his age and rank he found motorists unwilling to let him through the heavy traffic and he was a little late arriving at the Y Here the children were waiting in order chatting to clowns and playing with their balloons Ron Douglas took over the role of Santa at the and sat In the throne In the gym to greet all the eager kids He was assisted by clowns Chris and Dave Hunter Ron Douglas also looked after the makeup for the Men At the scout hall the Scout and Guide Mothers provided hot chocolate and a snack for the children who look part in the parade The crowd in the Y was down this year likely because of the cold Watchers on Maria St said the parade started just about 10 minutes after the set time of l 30 a good record for a parade The bands were last to arrive at the starting point keeping their Instruments warm as long as possible in Continued on Page Stung by ministers decision ICG try new tactics The Interested Cititens Group ICG will try con vincing the province to hold up expropriations for a major power corridor through Hills by arguing in favor of Ontario Hydro s first choice route via Kitchener According to ICG a four month review of Ihe Informa tion Ontario Hydro has about Kitchener will show that the public utility wanted to take power from the Bruce nuclear generating station on Lake Huron through Kitchener Minns contended In an in Monday the route via Kitchener is shorter cheaper and safer than taking elec across the province through Halton Hills The then energy minister Darcy McKeough killed the Kitchener alternate Minns said for political reasons If the government turns a deaf ear to the ICG proposal We 11 get stop work orders on Taylor energy minister James Taylor decision on the expropriations Minns said Taylor last week gave Ontario Hydro a green light to start expropriations for the southern section of the 109- mile long route A court of appeal decision Is being concerning ex propriatlons along the nor them wing from Bruce to Colbeck Citizens objections to the expropriation orders in the middle section of the line have yet to be heard by the courts Minns said Ultimately the ICG will take the issue to the Supreme Court of Canada MInnssald Hydros proposals to get power from the Bruce station date back some five years Delays in construction Is costing the province millions of dollars Ontario Hydro to the power needs of the province In a nutshell ICGs proposal is to have a four month long independent review of the information Hydro has in Its flies and computers on Kitchener Minns said Whatever the results of the review are we will accept them MInnssald The four month review comes as a toned down demand from the ICG For as long as Hydro has wanted to build the line the ICG has called for an independent study of the north south route like the one Dr O Solandt carried out on the Nanticoke to Pickering line The main alternate route proposed by the ICG would take power from the nuclear station to near Lake to tie In with an existing line We feel that hammering at the Bruce- alternate is not getting anyone anyplace Minns said A separate Independent study would take time and time is growing short he said Four years ago a study could have been done ho continued The ICG has tried meeting Premier William Davis but has been told by the premier office that he is too busy However Taylor will meet them after Christmas Minns said Minns said the meetings should take place now and with the premier He the only one with the power to make the decision he said A decision Is hoped for this week If there a compromise where Davis can save face then what we want Minns said In a parallel development the ICG has an experienced systems planner Ken Slater of Slater Energy Consultants Toronto going through reams of computer print outs given to the ICG by Hydro In August at the close of the exprlprlatlon hearings Slater a report due December IB will go the ICG and Ontario Hydro