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GeorgetDMrnActon Wednesday Feb 1 1984 TELEPHONE end EiStorul Office Founded in 1B75 PuMehad every Wednesday by Pubkahmg I IB WiBow Ontario 2M2 Telephone Subscription copies Second dais rod Number Don Ryder Director of Advertising Ken Bellamy pubfah Hartley Coles Managing Editor The Acton free one of the group which include The Aurora Banner Pickering The Bolton Enterprise The Brampton The Pent The Burlington Weekend Plat The ElotMCOke Advertiser The Georgetown Independent Economist Sun The Mitt on Champion The News The Newmarket Era The North York Mirror Beaver FiKtoy Tho Week Weekend Richmond HOI Libera Thomhll The Scarborough Mirror The StouftvKle Tribune and Wood- bridge Pruning Distributing a Harlequin Enterprises Limited EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Editor Murray Editor Helen Murray Mark Holme Darkroom Nancy ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT Beta Athwrotlrrf Manager EliH Cook Susan Sandra Classified Carolyn BUSINESSACCOUNTING OFFICE Office Manager Petty politics Its a pity they can be so petty at the Region Regional Chairman Peter his feet just wet in the chairmans chair got a real run around by members of regional coun cil when he tried to lease a car Councillors decided he could lease an LTD but Pete thought he would personally throw the extra money re quired into the pot and choose the larger more comfortable car to use on region business But that didnt pass coun cil Councillor Mike Arm strong thougnt all car dealers should have been given the opportunity to bid on a lease Council had earlier decided they would purchase a Ford product because they are made in Halton Some waffled when they saw the chairman had leased a Grand Marquis in stead of the smaller LTD Envy The desire to make the chairman uncomfortable Who knows the motivation But we do know they have succeeded in embarrassing their new chairman and put him in an untenable position At last weeks meeting they finally decided to allow the chairman a car allowance and he can make the best deal possible with it This is a council that thinks nothing of spending over a million dollars on fin ding a dump site and countless dollars on other studies yet quibbles over a few hundred dollars Pennywise pound foolish Maybe But surely they can establish a fair car policy and stick with it with out embarrassment Pomeroy told council he would just as soon be treated the same as other councillors and receive a straight mileage allowance rather than a leased car However chief ad ministrative officer Dennis maintained it was cheaper for the region to lease a car for the chairman because of the amount of driving the chairman must do Council after hours of debate decided to give the chairman a car allowance and let him look after the details Some deal Some fun Some decision Along with the chairman we think the debate was pretty petty and wonder along with mayor Harry Barrett about the rest of the year when the chairmans car takes this much time IS ITMflLL INTO Our readers write Sheldon should be region councillor Dear Sir I was very interested to read the from Mary Water field in the January 1934 Free Press Particularly the second paragraph where she states that a person with expertise and a willingness to work was overlooked in favor of a rookie Her question perhaps she Is not In a commercial business ledme to believe she was referring to Pam Sheldon Councillor for being overlooked by 1 council in appointing Jake as Regional Councillor I too was disappointed that did not get that position She has been on council for over three years and because of other positions she holds Is certainly very experienced Some highlights of her ex periences are chairperson Hills Council on Aggregate and chairperson of the Official Plan Task Force She is on a number of other committees appointed by council as well I feel that experience and proven capabilities should be promoted The other members of council must remember that women are people first I pray that the credibility of this council will Improve vastly over the remainder of their term in office School bus didnt stop at two stop signs reader Dear Sir This is to all concerned parents and all school bus drivers and owners On January at approx imately fljn I drove my teenage son to Acton High School While driving east on Region Road 12 as I approached the inter section of and First line a small school bus crossed the road In front of me The bus did not even slow down for the stop sign never mind stop I continued north of the First line and proceeded east of 12 After dropping my son at the high school I drove back out Churchill toward Highway That same bus came up through the subdivision Ignored the stop sign at Norman Ave and Churchill and then proceeded south on Churchill to Highway where it stopped at the stop sign and then made a left hand turn onto the high way As I read in the paper a few weeks ago that we should keep our children home on any day that we are concerned about their safety on the bus I have to wander what day are they safe on a bus As the parent of a boy who rides the bus to school most days I am trulv concerned about this episode I really think that the people who own the buses and the drivers should show more responsibility Editors Note Acton Board of Education trustee Bruce notified this newspaper Tuesday morning that this situation has been handled by authorities and will not be repeat ed Cenotaph appropriate place to witness for world peace Dear Sir The item in the last AFP January 25 Branch IS Wants No Peace Demonstrations at the local Cenotaph caught my atten tion The headline turned out to be more alarming than the body of the message I got the impression that Branch 197 of the Canadian Legion would be more tolerant and under standing than their national executive I hope that is so because in the sense that WWII was to be the war to end all wars the soldiers were also peace ac tivists As weapons become deadlier they also become less discriminatory putting civilians in the front line As a veteran of last war 2nd I assume that my fellow survivors share my horror of what a nuclear exchange or even a global war with modem conventional weapons would do to our beloved country and peoples HAND Halton Hills Action for Nuclear Disarmament Is dedicated to waging peace by non violent and lawful means We believe that deterrence through strength has lost ils relevance when each super power already has the capability of destroying the other many times over We think that fear and mistrust are fuelling the arms race and arc the evils to be addressed We are not a group of fanatics or professional protestors but a growing band that loves this planet and Its global citizens I have not checked with fellow members of HAND but for myself feel that a cenotaph would be a most appropriate place to witness for peace A quiet prayer vigil to honor the dead and to dedicate ourselves to lowering the risk of our childrens children meeting the same fale could complement the more traditional events associated with war memorials Would Branch sit down with HAND and talk about objectives Cemetery lively issue a century ago Continued from last week by Waller Lewis Unlike the first two this was being promoted by men opposed to the use of the Steele site Gabriel Wells Allan and Joseph They approached the owners of several alternative sites including A Mann Donald Cameron James Matthews and E Nickiin But like Council they had trouble getting on enthusiastic crowd out to a meet ing Indeed only one of the pro moters showed up With the failure of yet another privately financed scheme ac tion reverted to the political arena in time for- nominations to 1885 municipal honors Although there would not be wholesale acclama tions this year considerable fence mending was done Consequently despite the presence two op ponents of the Steele site on Coun cil the basis had been laid for a corn promise At another public meeting that winter it was resolved to limit the expenditure for buying and beauti fying to Sum and to have the voters vote on one of at least three alternative sites This was the essence of a public petition subse quently presented to Council by Wells and formed the basis of a new bylaw third on the issue presented to Actons qualified taxpayers And so for the third time In six years were given toe opportunity to decide that they wanted to buy a new cemetery For a change they also to register an opinion on an ap propriate so long as it was either the Steele property or belonged to Matthews or The vote brought out 77 rata- a of their opposition to the cemetery scheme Of those in favour a slight majority preferred the Steele site and the issue finally seemed to be settled Or was it Suddenly those opposed to the Steele site woke up to the fact that they had been skillfully out manoeuvred their strength dis sipated between the various altern atives they thought they had forced Council to consider Consequently they retreated to their next line of defence Use of the property as a cemetery Bums and D McDonald charged would con taminate the drinking water of the vicinity This contention they then threatened to take to the courts But before the legal proceedings got a chance to start Council precipitated almost as much con troversy by yet another move The bylaw authorized them to buy six acres of the 19 acre Steele site Within a couple of months some of the details of the ownership of the property emerged in a slick back handed move that netted the village the balance of the property As it turned out toe Steele had not owned the site for the last year and a half Instead it had been acquired by exreeve Dr Nelson McGorvin and the current reeve H Storey Storey had disposed of his share in time be hoped to avoid charges of conflict of interest but the revelation cer tainly did much to explain Coun cils persistent interest in the site Both men claimed that no profit wu made on toe sale their sole in tention being to keep the land available brute as a graveyard These facts ire borne out try the land records Meanwhile the six acrettnuTalMmfapoiedMcoBPcU was neatly evaded by the gift of the balance of acres to the village a gift that is conditional on the development of that part of the site and the payment to Dr McGarvin of from the sale of the first lots This dodge avoided the necessity of a further vote on a by law which would have undoubted ly seen Council overruled Meanwhile a Berlin Kitchener newspaper could not resist poin ting out the incongruity of a doctor giving land for a cemetery The sites opponents on council in censed at being outmanoeuvred again on the 13 acre humbug started dragging their feet The balance constituting a majority of Council then threw up their hands in disgust and left the issue in the hands of the municipal electors again Thereby was precipitated one of the most long winded municipal elections in Actons ear ly history Whereas previous local electioneering had been a genteel two week process starting after Christmas this year the campaign opened nearly two mon ths early One of the highlights was a lengthy series of sharp ex changes between the anonymous Pro Bono Publico and J B Pear son one of the disaffected coun cillors in pages of the Free Press While Pearson would sug gest that more honesty with less ability would better suit council on the whole the exchange would not descend to the level of which had character bred the battle the year before But so verbose would the two men become that the newspaper started charging regular tag rates for tetters over a column When the smoke cleared Pearson ra secon In be polls but the remaining four members of Council had a clear mandate to develop the cemetery This mandate was quickly exer cised as in defiance of the still threatened lawsuit a few days later Rev of St Anglican Church dedicated the site and the body of George Steele Sr was laid to rest Council then pro ceeded to set up the rules for the management of the Cemetery and to close the old pioneer burying ground There matters rested until April Fools Day when the writs for the cemetery lawsuit were finally served With Reeve Storey in Europe the majority of Council called an emergency meeting attended only by them selves and voted themselves a committee to pursue the defence and with which to do It Not surprisingly opponents of the cemetery launched out in person alities at a public meeting called after Storeys return This meeting failed to resolve the issue and Council decided to defend themselves in court Unfortunately the serving of a writ was no guarantee of a speedy resolution of die matter While the While the cemetery issue would influence three members of coun cil to withdraw from municipal politics at New Years the situa tion was not resolved until the spr ing Finally the now celebrated Acton cemetery suit as a paper described it was entered on the court calendar The plaintiffs claimed the establishment of a cemetery on its present site was il legal for reasons connected with Storeys sometime ownership of the property and for reasons of health Despite all the buildup the case never saw its day In court Instead on April Fools Day IB87 Council was approached about with drawing it for reasons which were never publicly spelled out The village fathers quickly agreed and the threats to Cemetery ceased And what was the outcome of all this turmoil After eight years of discussion and debate the village had a cemetery which almost 100 years later still has plenty of room for internments and still in spots reflects early criticisms of Its wild and swampy condition For political reasons the Issue was accused of causing delays in plaintiffs delayed applying for a the expansion of public school court date the cemetery com- facilities and improvements to the postponed the general sale streets and sidewalks It added of plots in the new cemetery With considerable life to municipal burials forbidden In the pioneer politics for better or worse Most graveyard this was bound sooner importantly It made of a wild and or later to spark another crisis undeveloped corner of the Early that fall two unpleasant wbatwtmsomesraaDreservatioris cases arose where the dead were il legally buried in the old burying ground beside their families In both cases Reeve Storey as the local magistrate prepared to waive the fines on certain condi tions Nevertheless con troversy did force tte sate of plots still is a place of beauty and an excellent cemetery Indeed It would quickly become in Is century Acton a favourite Sunday afternoon Water at a Hollo Ac- years ago January 1174 The almost hurricane force winds which buffeted this area tore down a cement block interior wall at the new Limehouse public school ad dition The severe storm conditions also caused problems for the Actoniy and district hydro as the west end of town was without constant power for a period of two and one half hours until the problem righted Itself When his bulldozer fell feet Ernie Medlond had a fortunate escape but lost part of three fingers in the accident Sparkplug Chamber of Commerce secretary Betty Eastwood was unanimously elected president at the annual meeting of the group With the final plans soon to be completed Acton Lions are con fidently approaching the February starting date for the town wide campaign to get their Indoor swimming pool off the drawing board years ago- January 1964 The boundaries of the Acton Mil ton and Georgetown high school dis tricts were amended by county cou ncil in a special bylaw approved Tuesday but will be subject to the approval of the Ministry of Educ ation Now that county council members have given their approval to the bylaw District High School board members are awaiting the green light from the Ministry of Education to proceed with a planned addition Once approval has been received tenders can be called for the proposed room addition to be completed for the fall of this year An attempt to launch a payment program whereby the Hydro com mission chairman would receive per meeting and commissioners apiece never quite got off the launching pad last Thursday 50 years ago January 1934 A Brown was elected chairman of Acton Free Library board for a third term with HF Farmer secretarytreasurer Named to the book buying committee are Chairman Brown Nell Gibbons Rev Poole Mrs Geo and Mrs Watson librarian The old rivals Acton and George town met in the hockey playoffs and Acton was eliminated Jack Kentner was the boy to get Frank Gibbons three penalties were unusual for him Lieut Woodhall showed the Girl Guides signalling Lieut Marjory Near showed them knots and Dot Mc Arthur showed a new drill A Bible story was presented by the young of the United Church Sunday evening JJ Stewart El wood Johnston Jack Held Earl Vincent Arthur McKeown Roy Johnston Locker and Nor man Gibson taking part Mrs Matthews was director A quartet also sang D Taylor Clifford G Simpson and G with Miss Ruth Gibson at the organ 75 years ago January Some farmers among them W J of and William Snyder of have the distinction of plowing In January Sunday afternoon Councillor Bell noticed the smoke house at J Chapmans tannery Main St was on fire The neighbors formed a bucket brigade and succeeded in quenching the fire without calling on the brigade Mr M Jr moved to the new oil fields about four miles south of Milton He will commence drilling operations at once 100 years ago January Several trains were delayed this week and huge piles or snow adorn every street The council asked for tenders for the offices of caretaker of the town hall and lamplighter It is said that the peculiar sunsets arc caused by the sun trying to set by the new standard time Mr AW Green is about to remove his knitting factory to the shop recently purchased on Main St Mr John Taylor of had a yield of new variety of blue peas of bushel to the acre last year On Tuesday night the driving shed erected by the temperature people and business men in connection- with Temperance House faj Georgetown was set on fire but the prompt action of the local fir brigade and cltiicns arrested the progress of the flames before any damage occurred