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Town hall public meeting tonight Ruby Hansen was Just one of who were visited on Friday by town hall consultants like Andy who were conducting an survey of community centre needs in town The first of two public meetings about restoration of the Acton town hall will be held at Acton High School tonight Wed nesday at p Spokesperson for the consulting firm doing the feasibility and structural analysis Helen MacDonald said the study team from and Halton Hills councils steering committee will review with the audience how this study will be done They want to hear the public views on the town hall and suggestions of what groups in the community should bo con tacted There will be a question and an swer period The consultants won delve into the findings of their study thus far That will be brought up at the next public meeting On the consultants distributed questionnaires on the town hall to randomly selected Acton homes Miss said the survey went quite well She explained so that the survey achieves a per cent accuracy rate they needed to get back 30 to 50 per cent of the surveys at least 110 So far 120 questionnaires have been picked up completed and some residents said they would be turning their surveys in at the town office during the week The consultants arc also planning to go back to some of the homes where they t able to collect questionnaires The five page questionnaire was ac cojnpanied by a letter from Mayor Peter urging people participate Almost all of the questions required households to give their answers on a scale of one lo seven covering positive responses extremely satisfied very Important very likoly to negative responses extremely dissatisfied not at all Important or not very likely the higher the rating number the more positive ihe response The first question asked people their feelings ratings of various people offered in Acton People could answer positively or negatively or indicate they t know about the service Following is the list of services the con sultants wanted people to rate Volunteer Services Counselling Services Cultural Arts Opportunities Legal Clinic Health Programmes Chamber of Commerce Services Day Caro Services Services for the Disabled Municipal Government Information Tourist Information Library Services Adult Continuing Education Senior Citizens Services Community Meeting Places Creative Arts Opportunities Night School Program Service Clubs Rescue and Services Recycling Curb- side Service Arena Related Oppor tunities Aquatic Related Opportunities Police Services Business Community Services Playgrounds Parks and Open Space Recreation for PreSchooler Recreation for Public School Students Recreation for High School Student Recreation for Young Adults Recreation for Adults Sport Opportunities for High School Sport Opportunities for Young Adults Sport Opportunities for Adults Parent Participation Day Care Provln cial Government Information Services Fitness Services Historical Heritage Services The second question asked people to rate factors which led them to participate in recreation or leisure activities at a par ticitlar facility The factors people were asked comment on were the following Price of admission user fee or member ship travel distance between your and the activity location Scheduled time or lity of activities and facilities Availability of instruction at the facility Quality of instruction Variety of programs activities offered Availability of support services eg babysitting program Your previous experiences at community sponsored leisure or recreation activities programmes and facilities Design or physical appearance of a facility Cleanliness or quality of maintenance at a facility Amount of time you and members of your household have available to par ticipate in leisure recreation unities Next Acton households were asked how important they viewed participation In leisure or recreation opportunities organized and or facilitated by the town recreation department The fourth Question dealt with services and activities for a service centre if one was developed in Acton In the future on pi go A Community Newspaper One Hundred and Seventh Year 17 ACTON ONTARIO WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 18 Pages Twenty five Cents St Josephs project to tender January The Ontario Ministry of Education has given approval final design plans for the new St Joseph school and it is expected project will be Oates fund tops 1100 Over has been ra in Acton for the family of murder victim Colleen Oates Two friends of Kevin Oates Peter Buna and John MeEaehern collected last week for Mr Oates and his two children threeyearold Shane Sixteen deposits totalling have been made to a special fund for the Gates family account at the Bank of Nova Scolla This fund will remain open another three weeks In add the Mr and Mrs Bowling League in which Colleen played last year collected In total has been raised for the family In a a week tendered early next year Separate School Board has been anxiously waiting for approval of the final design plans since they were submitted to the province In mid August Trustee Irene McCauloy noted written approval for the plans hasn been received yet However after receiving verbal approval the board directed its architect to proceed with the working drawings Once completed working drawings will have to be approved by the board and province before pro ject can go to tender Working drawings are ex to be back for board approval by November and then for provincial approval The board hopes to go to tender for the new school by early next January Monday night the board property and planning committee reviewed the recently completed storm drainage report for the school site on Mill St West and approved it being forwarded to Halton Hills engineer Bob Austin The committee also okayed applying to Hills Tor site plan approval Director of Education Cliff Byrnes said breaking should take place in February and the school will definitely open in September The annual Remembrance Day parade and service will be held this Sunday morning In Acton Yellowbrown water g Prospect well closed down compensation for damages Security was tight at Milton Provincial Court on Monday when Eric Howard was brought to court He was brought from Hamilton Went worth Detention Centre in this police custody van and backed into a prisoner loading where he was whisked through a door and Into the court building without the press or public ever catching a glimpse or the murder suspect Kellar held in custody for psychiatric tests Eric Howard Kellar who has been charged with first degree murder in connection with the October stabbing of Acton resident Colleen has been sent to the Menial Health Centre He appeared briefly In Milton Provincial Court Monday morning and was remanded tn custody to the psychiatric facility where he will undergo tests for a period of lime not to exceed CO days The press was nol allowed Into the courtroom while Kellar was before the judge Staff Sergeant Hon Sauthgalc said police tried to have brought before the judge right at a as scheduled However his appearance was delayed because he was still being interviewed by a psych There was a court recess and when court resumed the press and some members of Ihe public weren t in the courtroom Southgatc said An officer was posted at the door and for security reasons nobody was allowed in Ihe court once it was back in session said If the press and public been late coming back Into the court they would have been present during brief hear He said It is normal procedure that people can enter a courtroom once It is in session Crown attorney Anthony Vale said as far as he was concerned the court was open to the public He for reasons of police security the press and public who t in the court when the judge re turned from the recess permitted tocnter There was no announcement to those outside the courtroom that court was going back into session Monday was Kellar first court appearance After being apprehended In a Pickering warehouse on October following a nearly hour man hunt he was held in the Halton Regional Police station In Georgetown overnight The next day he was to ap pear in Milton Provincial Court but instead was brought Justice of the Peace and remanded in custody to the Hamilton Detention Ccnlre No date has been for a preliminary hearing in the case The Prospect Park well which for a week sup plied most Acton homes with yellow brown water was closed down Wednesday and won be used again without the being notified In addition region will pay compensation for ruined clothing dead fish and other losses cous by the yellow Halton Hills politicians will fight at region to have October and sewer bills reduced for Acton re sidents About 15 residents attended special council dropIn lo hear explanations from region water engineers and a of the con suiting firm of Anderson as well as regional councillors Dave Whiting Miller and BUI Johnston and local councillors Terry Grubbe and Ross Knechtcl The audience was angry about receiving cry poor water for a week and councillors reported they had heard concerns about the water from dozens of other residents who weren able to come to the dropin the yellow brown water problem was most prevalent in Kingham the older older parti of town and the centre of Acton is newspaper heard from residents who live In Lake view and Gienlea who also had odd water coming from their taps Some residents said the was better Thursday and Friday but there were still sediments In it Municipal officials heard complaints about stain ing of clothing other whites digestive pro blems staining of bathroom fixtures dead fish high cost for poor water plumbers called in to check pipes to find nothing the matter red blotches on skin and worries about what the yellow brown water might do to people and unborn babies This isn the first problem which has crop ped up in Acton Knechtel observed He suggested inside I Halloween was quiet In Acton More on page 3 I A man lias been convicted of Income I tax evasion Details on pages Acton High School holds lis annual exercises this Friday night See story page the residents in attendance and those who have call the region and their councillors have been holding back not letting their total anger out If something like this happens again there will be a bloody explosion People feel they have been screwed Residents with damage claims from the yellow brown water which some reported was occasion ally also green should write out a list of the damag items clothes fish their approximate value and send the list along with name address and telephone number to Don Morrler or BUI Kong Bronte or drop the list off at the Hills East in Acton Region staff will contact each claimant on a one on one basis and settle the claim as quickly possible The damaged item t need to be sent to the region a meeting to pick up Ihe Item will be arranged if it must be turned In People are to call if their claims settled in two weeks Morricrsald each claim will be judged and a made if compensation will be paid for Ihe full value Morner noted staff must make sure people taking Consultant said there is a lack of good water in the Acton area so in the early 70s council had a large well dug at Prospect Park and later It was taken over by the region lhat well Acton is totally served by some small wells The Prospect well pumps about gallons a minute compared to too to gallons a minute from the small wells Bui this well s was tested by the Ministry of Environment and found to be marginally higher in iron content and the taste and color wasn right it stained clothing and plumbing A process was incorporated into the pump house which resulted in sequestering of the iron It was held in suspension but not taken out of the water When the well went into production around 1977 it worked fine for a time but after a while the taste and odor problem cropped up again Normally safe bacteria growth on the inside of water system pipes was breaking of and coming out of taps The consulting firm came up with a new method of solving the taste and odor problem Guttman ex plained and the well was turned on again on Chlorine dioxide which prevents bacteria buildup and results in better tasting was add at the well and he iron and manganese which is causing the staining was still supposed to be sequestered said they expected some off from the interior of the water mains but not much as they got They expected only some cloudy waler and even after discovering that the sequester ing process wasn working properly Tell flushing of mains would quickly solve problem For several days last week fire hydrants all over town were opened to hopefully get rid of all the yellow brown water that obviously dn work and lost Continued on page A miniature donkey v Monday More on Page snatched at Brisbane Regional Councillor Miller Bill Johnson and Dove Whiting along with consultant Hershcl and region staffers Don and BIN Kong listen to residents complaints about yellow brown water at Friday special dropin