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The Acton Free Press Wednesday Mar 8 Editorial Live n learn Three plaques came home with staff members who attended the annual convention of the Ontario Weekly Newspapers Association last week in Toronto The Acton Free Press won first in the editorial page category first for classified advertising and first for display advertising Overall we placed three points below the third place winner In first place was the Carleton Place Canadian with marks second the Elmira Signet with 356 marks third the Grimsby Independent with 337 marks and fourth The Acton Free Press with 334 marks In our circulation category were 23 papers including the com munity weeklies from Chesterville Fort Erie KemptviUe Fergus Port Perry Midland Prescott Little Current Kincardine Bolton Collingwood Ingersoll Tilbury Port Colbourne and Vankleek Hill The editorial staffs of newspapers attended four sessions together talking over their mutual problems Its good to talk to others who are in the same situation Many families still run weeklies Staffs range from one person operations to large staffs Our advertising salesmen and business people attended special seminars too We went together to a session of the Legislature met the Premier and had coffee with the Liberals including our own member Julian Reed We breakfasted atop the CN tower a wonderful experience on a clear morning We were the first to arrive at 8 a m Local Guides and Brownies who went to the tower later in the day waited three hours in lineups to get up in the elevator Hotel Toronto was a fine place to be and we met another Actonlan there checking the place out for another convention We ate out at Fishermans Wharf and Sherlocks and had good meals right in the hotel All of us learned things that we hope will make our paper more interesting profitable and useful to the community Snowmobile damage Snowmobiles have become popu recreational vehicles but for at least some Ontario farmers they have become a nuisance Because their tracks reduce the yield and quality of crops snowmobiles should not be operated on crop land Snowmobile tracks compact the snow thereby destroying the insulation value and allowing the frost to penetrate deeper Addi tional water content causes ice to form which in turn smothers alfal fa or fall wheat If alfalfa is smothered in the first winter after seedling the yield is decreased as long as the stand remains Think back nowl Where have you been 800 years of TV In the chaos created by heavy snowstorms in Ontario the majority of people turn to in creased television watching and an astounding amount of it Soindi cates the latest TV audience figures just released According to the recent mid winter survey conducted by Bureau of Broadcast Measurement on Thursday January when the first major snowstorm of the year virtually paralyzed central and southern Ontario viewing soared throughout our part of the province by nearly 7 million additional hours over the previous Thursday an equivalent of years of television watching That afternoon teenagers and children staying home from school watched three times more television than normal During the 6 to 7 p m traditional news hour adult audiences increased by a third over the usual level The p m national TV newscast audience was also up by some 30 per cent over normal for a Thur On the day following the storm Friday January figures reveal that teens and children again stayed home from class daytime TV viewing among the younger set was per cent higher than on the same day of the week before A slight increase in adult audience indicated that while most people struggled back to work there were a few who decided against battling the elements Adult viewing was up but only by per cent over the preceding Friday Wintertime advice The mail brings us many in things among them a lot that into file G Recently we located a lot of advice on walking in the winter This weeks mail brings more advice that is worth sharing Winter recreation equipment must be of good quality and properly maintained Equipment such as skis and skates must fit correctly Sports equipment should be ex amined carefully before each outing for damage or excess wear Watch for broken or worn skis bind cracked skis or toboggans loose runners on sleds or impro perly filed hockey equipment When preparing for ice skating on a frozen pond river or lake the thickness of the ice must be checked Ice should be a minimum of thick before it is considered completely safe Another general guideline to use is the colour of the Ice When the snow is scraped SAY CHEESE EVERYONE Second Acton Guides got together for a day of tobogganing Saturday after a winter sleep out Friday night About 30 girls par ticipated in the venture and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves Sugar and spice According to recent magazine article this Is going to be The Year of the Peacock There Is a strong movement away from the grub and slob of the past decade or so toward some style and taste In clothes and appearance 1 11 drink to that As a high school teacher I been in the front lines during the battles over clothes hair lengths exposed novel and such like Not as a participant- was never unduly exercised over excesses but rather as an observer During the reigns of a couple of pretty conservative principals In a small town I matched with some amusement occasion ally hilarity their Canutelike efforts to stem the flood of horror sweeping in from he cities I think the first wave was longer hair for boys Not the flowing tresses they sport today many of them straight from the hair stylist others with a hair brush or comb often in evidence Heavens no The first rebels merely wonted to let their hair grow down to their collars No way They were expelled letters were sent home they were offered the price of a haircut and generally harassed But that was just the tip of the ice- berg A side skirmish at the same time told teachers cut wearatl shave off their beards lady teachers some of whom had better beards than some of the men hove to shave and keep their shoes Then the more docile girls got Into the act with the emergence of the mini skirl None of the younger male teachers had the slightest objection but some of the old maids of both sexes were rather believe If I recollect aright that one benighted educator suggested all teachers carry a ruler and that skirts shorter than certain standard be forbidden Or ripped off It might have been one of the young male teachers Beleaguered administrators tried grimly to hold the line Boys were not to wear Icecream pants or Jeans Girls must wear skirts Then came the deluge County school boards made up or mothers and fathers as cowardly as all the other parents battling cut the ground from under he administrators by declaring that anything went as long as the student was neat and tidy or some such cant phrase Wham Hair sprouted In all directions from masculine adolescents The girls hiked their skirts higher or leaped into jeans Granny glasses and Mother Hub bard dresses became de with the more advanced girls Afro hair styles and Jesus beards marked the more hirsute Hiphugger jeans the bra ess look were a la mode Girls Ironed their hair Curls were out and pity the poor kid who had them She was a freak Then the young devils wanted to wear cool clothes in the hot months and June produced shorts that left nothing to the irmgm lion on both sexes bikini halters on he girls bare feet in the classroom and finally beach Every bit of it neat t dy was followed by the Grease Age or the Sleaze Era mainly marked by denim Buy a new pair or jeans and Jacket wash them shrink them scissor them so had ragged fringes tear holes In them patch them and sew some provo cative or scatological suggestion across the buttocks This particular period blew away com pletely the neat and tidy euphemism Greasy hair scruffy beards no makeup and general grubbiness were the order of the day Not a particularly pleasant age I had to fight to avoid retching on occasion And this particular movement dove- la led right into the new laws that lowered drinking age to 18 In effect it meant thit kids from 14 up began to Grade Light girls were arriving at high school dances with a mickey In their purses It also tied into a new barrack room lawyer attitude on the part of some of the tougher kids They knew well that punish ment for infringement of rules was almost a thing of the past No strap no detention and expulsion merely a welcome couple of weeks holiday Or screw school 1 get a job easy Well things have changed For the better The pendulum has swung The kids are starting to dislike Only those who are bom slobs are keeping It up Girls arc wearing makeup culottes skirts even dresses Wispy boys beards are disappearing Shorter neater hair cuts are popping up here and there With jobs a lot tougher to obtain the old cavalier attitude toward expulsion has moderated The older kids are hanging In there rather grimly knowing that however much they hate school Its better than being one of the great mass of the unemployed out there In the snow Whatever Is causing it the new look is a welcome change after the sleaze days Even my daughter a graduate of the freakout look Is beginning to shed her tattered Jeans for skirts and vests smart sweaters and anything else ladylike her mother will buy her But knowing kids I rather sanguine about the chances of the Improvement remaining stable Any day now the boys arc liable to start showing up in spats and shaven heads the girls In corsets and high laced boots like their grandmothers Now men would get rid of those ugly Gay Nineties moustaches Our readers write Change our life style RR 1 Llmehouse Dear Editor It would seem that our life style has rcachcdthcslageofaquandary All but one of my family got their public school educa at the old stone school on Highway 7 and and like all of Its kind it became outdated and was closed up for good Bigger and more modem schools took its place as progress and development called for the change to a better system Children were riding In buses to school everywhere This cost the country a lot of money and gave employment as well as the factory to a lot of women that would away the ice should be a clear blue colour Always wear correctly fitted skates Youngsters sometimes put on skates belonging to bigger child ren and often end up with unneces sary falls and maybe twisted ankles Dont skate by yourself Watch where you are going to avoid other skaters obstacles and thin ice Dont try fancy stuff stuff or speed skating unless you are an ac complished skater and the ice is not crowded and clear of debris rocks and logs Sledding and toboganning should be done in places free from stumps rocks trees and other obstructions and away from road traffic Never let children hook onto the back of a vehicle for a fast ride Keep enough distance between sleds and tobog gans to avoid collisions Above all warns the Ontario Safety League small children should be supervised by an adult when tobogganning or skating have done a better job In the home Women always worked In weaving mills and such like as long as I mind but our two world wars increased this a hundredfold causing home and family life a great setback We are reaping the harvest now About two weeks ago the Georgetown Independent carried a heading about a bad hill and parking at Holy Cross church as being a danger after 12 years without a mishap It seems not too sensible when we look at the straits of the country I would prefer to see the same at all churches in town and country to give one day a week to our good Lard With the Dutch Reform strong enough to fill In the gap between villages of and as this is what along with the rest of the world We have got too materialistic for good results Our concerns about Que bec and the twinning of our modern schools were created through our want of foresight to head it off set So my good people to redeem and save our problems we will have to make an honest effort to change our life style and put our trust in the Our time to ac complish this is also running out Our churches will be our next concern If we don act to change the picture now for Canada future hope Yours sincerely George Graham Free Press Back Issues 10 years ago Taken from the bine of the Free Press Wednesday March Fire gutted the Speyslde home of Ron Wilson when the wood frame house caught fire about yesterday Tuesday afternoon The house was saved from being levelled but considerable damage was done to the inside of the house and to the con tents A motorist passing by saw the flames from the highway and told a hired hand who In turn notified Milton firefighters Both Milton and Acton fire brigades were summoned to the blaze Formal administration of the oath of office to Deputy Clerk Treasurer Del French took place at Monday meeting of Esquesing council Mr French is taking over some of Clerk K Lindsay duties while the latter works only three days a week After being bitten by a muskrat on his way to Robert Little school young Michael McMurrny son of the Rev and Mrs is receiving rabies in just in case He was bitten by the at the corner of Elizabeth and the highway Few have been seen in this area and suspicions were raised that it may have bad rabies and Mrs A J Buchanan have returned from Honolulu Hawaii where he attended a convention Three Acton girls Susan Mills Barbara Fowler and Susan McPhall will dance on Big s program today They arc dance pupils of Carol Wharton years ago Taken from the Issue of the Free Press March IBM Excitement ran high at the home of proprietor of the Acton Home Laundry on Church St fast Sunday when Yee his 15yearold daughter arrived from Hong Kong after a separation of nine years Mun last saw her father In 1949 before he sailed for Canada and her mother and little sister Judy in 1955 A shiny new fire engine was the centre of attraction at the fire hall in Acton last Saturday afternoon as officials from Erin and townships along with Acton council members and the Acton volunteer fire department welcomed the arrival of the new unit purchased by the rural townships Mr and Mrs Don Ryder and David visited Sunday in St Catharines with Mr and Mrs Wood Mrs Clare Prosser of Levack spent the weekend with her parents Mrs and Mrs G A Dills and Acton friends and relatives Mr and Mrs David A Russell will be at home to their friends on the occasion of their wedding anniversary on Sunday March 30 at Main St 50 years ago Taken from the Free Press of Thursday March 1928 At a very representative meeting of the Chamber of Commerce and council it was agreed a covered rink should be built here Mr GT Beardmore said the company was prepared to give part of the old rink that could be used and offered per year The Women s Institute ladies who are always lending a helpful hand donated 5 to a needy family and to help provide a doctor for Tobermory 100 years ago Taken from the issue he Free Press of Thursday March Last Friday morning about two clock as Mr Geo Matthews was returning home from flooding the rink he discovered that the shoe shop of Mr Alex Grant was on fire He immediately ran to Mr Grant house got the key and put the fire out before any great damBge was done The Toronto Telegram says that out of every 100 buried persons one living person in consigned to the tomb forget Monday nights sweet Scottish singing in the temperance hail by Baroness The Methodist church held a most enjoy able social Monday night with tea at 7 clock readings recitations music etc The proceeds amounted to about which will be applied to furnishing the parsonage Mr John Hawkins has been appointed secretary of Acton School Board at a salary of for the current year Finance com mittec report John Ross salary for January Miss Miss Moore Interest on school loan for last half of year There was a balance on hand of cents at the end of The board granted to be spent in supplementing the school library Reaction Now thats class real class Elizabeth March 1 Dear Sir Regarding Bob OPINION on Pat McKemle dated March l please convey my heartfelt thanks to this gentle man for his comments I have cut the article out and presented It to my father for use in his vegetable garden and boy Just watch those spuds grow Yours sincerely Eunice Glbb THE ACTON FREE PRESS PHONE Bus end Editorial Office Copyright