The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

GeorgetownActon Wednesday Jan TELEPHONE and EitaMl Off Founded In by Printing Pubbtang Ltd at S3 Street Tataphona 519 Subscription 30 in than Canada gatfttonNmtoiOS15 Ken Bellamy Don Ryder Hartley Coles Director Advertising Managing Editor Tht Acton FrwPraa is group of suburban which includes The Aurora EnlarpriM Tho Brampton Tho Burtngton Pool Waakand The EtotMCoke Guardian Tho nomat Sun Mifton Champion Tho Newmarliat Era North York Weok ThJ Richmond Hill ThocnhiU The Mirror Tha EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT EdMor Cord Murray Now Man Murray SportaMarkHolmaa Darkroom Nancy ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT Advarttalna Manaaar Cook SalaKKkkOaw Sandra Advarttafao Carorvn DatgofeMacDoooal BUSINESSACCOUNTING OFFICE Off ica Manaoar Joan Show Mandatory penalties make a lot of sense Word from police forces across the nation including that the number of people nabbed for impaired driving this holiday season is down substantially should be viewed as a great hoh day season blessing Finally impaired drivers are getting the message They don belong on the road This makes the streets a little safer for everyone else This drastic decrease in the number of impaired charges might lead some to think that tough new penalties for drunk drivers from the federal govern and the insurance industry s plan to make paired driving charges cost you dearly in future premiums aren t ail that necessary But a decrease in paired drivers at a time of the year when there is over wtelming and effecitve advertising against the practise as well as beefed up enforcement which is highly visible by police everywhere doesn t mean the problem of drinking drivers is They re just being more careful when the odds of getting caught are increased Mandatory jail terms fines and licence suspen sions for drinking drivers are in place now in this pro vince and the feds seem prepared to make them even stiff er Mandatory jail terms and other compulsory penalties depending on what the im paired driver did such as killing or seriously injuring someone also make sense No doubt there are readers who wish there were more mandatory sentences on the books and less discretionary powers for the judiciary The reaction of readers to the recent day jail sentence for the person behind the wheel of a car in a dangerous driving case in which one Actonian was killed and another badly in ranged from shock to outrage to contempt for our courts This case didn t in volve excess drinking but it was still extremely serious and would seem to have been a good spot where a mandatory sentence on the books would have been helpful G M Our readers write Snow removal will always be expensive and contentious subject Dear Sir The current issue of the Free Press has an article of great in tereat to all of removal I hope that the following comments will be useful Last Thursday morning December I drove through downtown Acton and the street were only in fair condition I then decided to visit Georgetown basically Main Street Mill Street and Highway difference between the two towns was that here was substantially lesa snow on Main St Georgetown than on Milt St in Acton Obviously they had received more rain and less snow There was no evidence of preferential treatment The side walks in Georgetown on Main St were in better condition than Mill St in Acton However we cant blame that on the Town staff On Guelph St Highway in George town the road was In good shape mainly because there Is room to plow the snow off the pavement I should add that most of the side walks on Guelph St were a disaster As you know on Thursday night the Town staff trucked away all the snow from Mill St hours the storm Downtown Georgetown was done the same night after Acton was done I suppose what we all want Is instant snow removal provided someone else pays for It In Halton Hills snow removal will always be an expensive and contentious subject We have many problems that some communities dont have Let me list a few row main streets over miles of rural roads many school bus routes both urban and rural sometimes we are grading gravel roads In the south of the Town and sanding Icy roads in the north May I suggest that in ail fairness you should have a first band look at the way the Town staff make ded about when and now our roads are maintained In the winter time Perhaps you could arrange with the Town engineer to look at the problems from the Inside They do have limitations with equip ment personnel and money How about a trip with a plow talk with the crews themselves sure your readers would find it instruc live and Interesting Ross Knechtel Councillor Eldon wants debate on nuclear weapons free zone proposal Dear Sir to the Editor Desk Your column December en titled Nuke free zone ridiculous seems designed to invite response I cant bear to disappoint you first impulse was to refute your article point by point seemed logical since they were largely based on shaky positlans or having run out of rational argument c to derogatory innuendo AD can be classed as alibis for nonperfbrma nee Here a better idea Would you accept a challenge to a public debate It need not be a event Guest panelists politicians a could be Invited and audience participation invited How about It I would work with you to set it up I await your respo with baited breath Stacerely Comfort From the editor s desk Mood of animosity here I wish I had a buck for every time a politician or civil servant has told me that our readers should be going to them not to us when we call to get an opinion about a con brought ot our attention by the public The mostly unsaid impllca lion Is that who don go to the source worth listening by the paper or government that Ihey don think it our Job lo raise issues publicly We can understand this view It must be darned frustrating and annoying for oovernment to hear a beer from us and not from the com plain era themselves But llkoitornot one of the tunc lions of the loral press Is to get answers out of government questions the people won t ask themselves Also like it or not our readers consider It part of our role o stand up and fight for them and they believe the paper should mirror their concerns Because Acton so small and the staff is so visible not just the people in the news end either we get a tremendous amount or efeed back Public officials will be glad know we field complaints about our own product There no single reason why people don go to the source of their concerns the politicians and senior bureaucrats Some are intimidated by their elected rcprc and government staff some don feel comfortable cussing issues with them because of the jargon and terminology used by government and they feel their plain talk wont stand up some feel it will do no good nobody s listening some especially those working In government believe far too frequently they re right that their employer will frown upon political activism or just plain speaking out some are wearyof righting government and Tor some it Is just far easier to complain to the paper and wait for us to do something about their con cerns than to go to government themselves It the same with letters to the editor or government Lots of people want to write letters ex pressing a viewpoint but lack the confidence in their writing skills Youd be surprised how many people ask us to write the letter itself for them using their thoughts and ideas and then theyll sign it We decline One other thing people seem turned off lo the system when lansrefertherotostaff Taxpayers rarely want lo deal with they feel they have no control In the matter However ihey do perceive they have some control over their elected through the ballot box In a tot of cases you d have a tough time ever proving that perception but it Is widely held Often people reluctance to go the source to rely instead on the press to carry the Issue forward into public light Is branded dice or apathy I think Acton lacks courage or that there that much apathy At the same time I think the desire not to stick too far doesn mean pepole forfeit their right to at least see toe issues they re talking about raised Which brings me to this annual snow service and Acton versus Georgetown controversy The first and lion that there be something written about the issue to toe paper and pronto came to me while I was covering a fire on December First thing the next morning one of our office personnel me she d received a call home from a reader wishing Co Up us off that downtown George town was receiving better snow removal service lhan Acton What people shopping downtown during mas days and wading through slush or climbing over snow banks the complaints just mounted up from there I heard the com plaints Helen Hartley did even Mark who covers mostly sports did Our office and ad people heard the gripes too Many working in Metroland production departments In this building with the Free Press brought the complaints to our attention A common thread runn Ihroughoul was why t the paper jumping on this for the people of Acton I must confess for the first I while I tried to duck it Afterall we d raised complaints about snow service other winters and the widely belief lhat Acton s treated not quite as well George town before too toooavailorsolu This questions never going to be settled or proved it always going to be a case of conflicting Why rehash it all again Heck I was tell people to go to the source not to us and those annoyed about sidewalks I told to go to the properly owners I guess two things finally promp ted us to write a story People kept asking us what heir own council had say about the situation And there was a couple of new wrinkles in the tales this year A few people arc actually going to Georgetown to examine conditions before voicing an opinion to us and a few people claim they were told by municipal staffers they know that in fact there was snow removal after the first storm In downtown Georgetown and none In Acton As I expected we once again got conflicting opinions on the quality of snow service Acton receives compared or not with Georgetown All lite story accomplished was to get more people talking about subject upset some Town workers with what some people said and upset more readers with what their councillors said The feedback about snow service here has even gone the reverse direction Ross Knechtd told me he other day one merchant men to him someone from Georgetown complained that downtown Georgetown was in better shape after storms than Acton And here another view passed on to me by a reader Monday morning The back street or sub divisions of Georgetown are a mess compared to Acton while down town Acton been in worse shape than downtown Georgetown Soo it all just some odd reverse trade Were going to follow Ross gestlon see his letter on this page and ask Town staff this month for on inside look and repeat again the problems facing the staff But don hold your breath about this coverage quelling the storm of complaints Seems to me that as Hills and regional government in enters its second decade that at no lime since the for Action days has there been so much animosity that wasnt my descriptive word but my doctor here towards this marriage of Georgetown Acton and regional government the and senior administrators not by Gord Murray Free Press editor the Town staff the people running our pools or driving works trucks etc In short the whole system be surprised when I tell you this fresh suspicion and animosity towards our system of I believe sparked by the Stevens property pur or the pal pi ex Issue No I think it was Councillor Knechtel responsible and proper revelation that Acton was being royally shafted and paying per haps collectively a of a million dollars more than we should be While that didnt outrage people In Itself people here have long com plained they pay too much tax in relation to service received it did light the fuse I believe of the deep discontent that burning now so brightly in Acton and parts of Esquesing loo The Section property tax and assessment reform issue may be on the back burner for now but it wasn t long after that subject hit the front page that Actonians many who had given up the fight years ago and ore now back In the fray really started questioning a lot of things about Hills and the actions of council and senior staff In a wide variety of areas People aren mad at the people doing the work they re mad at the decisionmakers the councillors I think thoy re trying to say if there are good reasons for Acton snow service appearing poorer Georgetown for example more snow falling here because we sit on the top of the Niagara Escarp ment till us the reasons for the difference just put your spend ing priorities In the right place and give the staff whatever it needs to do an excellent Job after each and every storm They want actions not explanations And continually be monitoring the situation your selves A lot of people think that what they elected councillors Tor in first place I II reply to a letter briefly by saying lhat while I detest speak Ing In public and am extremely poor at it just ask any of the policemen I sweated all over when making a speech at a conference a couple years bock and dont really think this Is the proper role for the editor I am willing to participate in his suggested debate I think I may be able persuade Hartley to be a panelist loo And it a an excel lent idea to Involve the politicians since will be the councillors who decide one way or another If Halton Hills will be a nuclear weapons free zone not the press By the way I will admit I t do further research into the subject before writing my column I thought it was obvious I was basing my opinion on the remarks you made as a and Mayor Ruts Millers com about your proposal You may have more Information new I recall you werent able to answer all the councillors ques tions that day so HI to further arguments H for the moment I must remain on tin side of the couDdUora who were at dropin that day years ago Januarys in Halton Hills councillors will be sworn in today Thursday in the new council chambers prepared especially for the group In the for mer Esquesing township hall Everything was In readiness at the of January and the new council will hold their regular meetings every other Monday starling January There was plenty of festivity In I Acton Monday night but noise for New Year not Acton centen celebrations Two centennial committees and a bash to celebrate Actons 100th birthday were and the only planned project for the Town is the Club Pool years ago January IBM On the 12th night of Christmas the Town Christmas trees will end their brief span of beauty In a monster bonfire Mayor and Chamber of Commerce prcsi dent Paul Nielsen will light the fire on a lot between the Glenlea sub division and the dump Eight people were ten homeless New Years Day when they were forced to flee their dwelling places when fire broke out in the duplex l owned by on Mill St I West Fire Chief Mick Holmes was I not positive of the cause but he bus peeled a heat lamp In basement used to keep pipes from freezing was probably to blame An Acton man yearold Her man Kuhn Jumped clear of his car moments before a train demolished road tracks near Acton Limestone Quarries when his car began to slide on the slippery surface He began to reverse down the hill and then stalled on the tracks When he heard the train and couldn t get his car off the tracks he jumped clear of the cor 50 years ago December IB A casual survey shows that Christ mas trade of 1833 showed a slight Improvement The committee in charge of pro vldlng the annual Christmas Tree for the children of Acton have decided to cancel the event for this year The money will be donated to the Acton Welfare Board On the program of the Baptist church Christmas concert were Shirley J Mc Mull en J Darby Jessie Coles Mrs Anderson Lawson Victor Brlstow Mrs Hugh Held Bessie Merle McCutcheon Wilma and Helen West Bertha Brlstow Helen West The energetic super of the school Mr Coles presided Walker Lodge new officers were duly installed Arch McNabb L Ritchie CA Darby George Gor don V B R A Salt WM Cooper CA Conway RM McDonald CW Wilson Dan Taylor RE Cecil Crlpps John Jennings 75 years ago December Christmas was spent here with a commendable measure of Christ mas spirit Hundreds of citizens were away from home taking in happy reunions and hundreds of visitors were doing likewise Reeve Swackhamer and D Gray arc in the race for the reevefollow the nomination meeting The friends of both candidates ore con fldent of victory There ore only three to take their seats on council Messrs Bell Hunds and J Denny so another nomination meeting will be held School Trustees Messrs and were elected by acclamation Mr Cameron was elected chairman I of the public meeting In Esquesing the contest for Reeve is between Reeve McGibbon and ex Reeve Near Deputy Reeve la William Thompson by acclamation councillors T Cook Bingham Geo Wrlggleworth and James Brawn 100 years ago Januarys The constable has posted notices throughout he town notifying our citiiens bat all parties neglecting to have the now cleaned off the side walks adjacent to their p by ten clock each morning will be fined according the Bylaw Acton Building Association has several good brick residences lo rent to then terra on Bower Tha at the rink on New Years Day bad fewer costumtrs hen usual The Cornet Band dis coursed sweet music