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

THE HERALD Wednesday March 29 Page 30 years ago Members of Group three A of St John s United Church held quite a successful auction sale at their meeting on Wednesday which was held at the home of Mrs Ian Orchard Blvd Mrs J Kirkwood presided and opened the meeting with the use of Hymn and responsive reading in Psalm 724 Mrs M G McFarlane was in charge of the devotions and stated that at Easter we celebrate the triumph of love and rejoice in the abiding Presence of Christ Spry and cheerful Georgetowns oldest citizen and veteran enter tainer Joe Martin turned years old on Wednesday April 1 1959 Pupils of public school provided an evening of music for their parents on Friday when various choirs were directed by their teachers The evening was planned by music teacher Kenneth R Harrison and included vocal solos by Andrea Chaplin David Jenny May and Mary If you would have liked to try some Chinese food at the Well ington Cafe 124 Guelph St each Egg Roll was 15 cents Chinese Vegetable Soup was 30 cents and an order of Chicken Fried Rice was cents 15 years ago The winning crew of the 1974 Crazy Boat Race also won last years event The course which was complete with sandbars rapids portages and shallow water was completed by Paul Girard Wayne Bingham Steve and Richard Harris They used the same styrofoam boat m which they paddled to victory in 1973 Three men dressed in underwear and football helmets made a dash through a crowd at an Optimists Club dance at Holy Cross Church Hall in Georgetown March 30 1974 More than 600 persons crowded into the gym of Milton high school were told that it was time to change Ontarios education system The persona including teachers administrators and parents were at a meeting organiz ed by the Halton Renaissance Committee to hear special guest speaker Larry Henderson radio broadcaster and editor He told the group that it was time for parents to fight to control the future of On tarios education system Most of the innovations of the school system he claimed had failed and gave a number of examples in eluding open classes sex tion new math the slip stream education techniques and political science courses years ago With all proceeds pledged to a LETTERS Division of duties unworkable local chanty Miracle and the Beta Sigma Phi Soroty sponsored an informative and entertaining evening at St An drews United Church on Moun- talnview Road Wednesday New Miracle manager Bob Gudgeon and other company representatives hosted a m cutting demonstration showed slides of the new store offered bak ed goods fresh from the bakery and outlined the operation of a new scanner takeout system An explanatory appeal on behalf of the proprietors of Mr a takeout restaurant which is soon to open on Highway in Georgetown failed to sway the of the towns general commit tee Monday night about a pylon sign requested for the site Despite the assurance of an official of Mar port Corporation Ltd that Mr Donut s sign would be much smaller and not as flashy as the for Frank Vetera Pizzana next door in the Delrex Market Centre lot the committee voted 66 on a recommendation by Coun Mike Armstrong that would have overturned an earlier resolution rejecting the Mr tion 5 years ago John Geoletown has been appointed to the National Youth Bowling Council As a member of the Board of Governors he replaced Judge Ross H Fair The group meets an nually at the championships to review the program objectives and rules for the 70000 member organization Georgetown Optimist Club oratorical winners Richard Sowery and Lisa Carter competed In the zone finals in Orangeville Saturday March 24 1984 Con testants represented Orangeville Hillsburgh Erin and Georgetown Optimists Clubs Richard Sowery of Centennial Public School was declared the winner of the boys oratorical contest and he will pro ceed to the district final GDHS students had the chance to visit with the internationally famous saxophonist Paul Brodie Besides conducting the workshop on saxophone techniques Mr performed two numbers ac companied by band conductor Harry Hamilton and the concert band Dear Sir Recently the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Municipal Affairs have jointly passed a program called Conservation Land Tax Reduc tion Under this program the land owners of certain types of highly significant lands conservation lands significant wetlands natural Escarpment areas and Areas of Natural and Scientific In terest will receive a 100percent tax rebate The reason for a program according to the Ministries is to support those owners who are willing to commit themselves to long term stewardship of conservation and natural heritage lands To qualify owners must sign a form which includes the following condition The owner at the time it ceases to be a conservation land must repay the rebates received for that property including 10 per cent interest per annum The pro gram has generally been welcom by environmental groups as long overdue However two pro blems are worth mentioning The first is that even a good law if ap plied inconsistently can become useless The second is that the Ministry of the Environment is not involved with this program It is very easy for me to give you an example of these problems The land I own on the back of my house is on the Escarpment Natural Area south part of Lot 21 and is mostly a wetland I have been notified that if I sign the declaration of stewardship I will receive full tax rebate The problems are as follows 1 The north part of the same lot Lot 21 although exactly the same as far as geological features is designated for no good reason as Mineral extraction m the Niagara Escarpment Plan Nobody has ever looked at the land when quarrying licences were issued many years ago nor has any Assessment of the land been conducted since United Ag gregates owner of the Acton quarryproposed dump can start digging on Lot north half a deep quarry any time they want When they do so not inly will they destroy a valuable con servation land but all the surroun ding area will be adversely fected including the land I own How am I supposed to be the steward of a wetland destined for drainage because of activities out side my and even contrary to my will In the end I may even be asked to repay the rebate plus interest When I tried to point out the environmental problems which would be derived from the expan of the United Aggregates quarry I discovered that the Com mission in charge of the protection of the Escarpment the NEC is not under the responsibility of the Ministry of the Environment this Ministry has not even any knowledge of the NEC Plan In fact it is the Ministry of Natural Resources which according to the new Bill 170 is supposed to control the damage to the environment caused by This is viously a conflict of interest tion How can the same Minister be responsible for both the development of pits and quarries and the protection of the environ menf Undoubtedly he will be in clined to listen to the more power ml lobby group Similar problems are bound to arise with a new policy statement on Wetlands which has been cir culated recently for public review Again this Is issued by the same provincial Ministries Natural Resources and Municipal Affairs Why is James Bradley Minister of the Environment not even signing policy statements on matters of great environmental significance It seems to me tha the current division of responsibility between the Ministries is to say the least unworkable A clear and intuitive principle for the division of respon sibility between the two Ministries is the following The Ministry of the Environ should be in charge of plann ing for the protection of the en vironment from any adverse effect caused usually by human ac and including the damages which are often caused by the use of natural resources The Ministry of Natural Resources should be in charge of planning for the use of natural resources in accordance with the law In addition the government should issue precise directives so that the protection of the Environ would be primary If we are going to destroy our habitat we will not be given a second chance Giuseppe Gon Chairman of EAGLE Lets circle the wagon to protect rural service Dear Sir So Canada Post is in rural Canada to stay Isn t that remarkable Before we get all choked up over their benevolence lets ask them which part of rural Canada they plan to stay in I guess its not Alice Arm Coal mont Monte Lake Birch Island or Farmington They along with a dozen others In British Columbia have already been closed com pletely no private outlet either Maybe they are referring to their under review list which includes places like la Bridge Lake and 35 others The fact remains that the Cana dian postal system has been in rural Canada for over a hundred years and is now gradually sneak ing out the back door while they are telling us it isnt All their highsounding phrases wont alter the fact that a total of 59 rural post offices British Colum bia are already on their hit list and more to come So far the score is 17 Write us a letter The Herald wants to hear from you If you have an opinion you want to express or a comment to make on something you read in the Herald send us a letter or drop by the office with your sign ed letter to the editor at Gaelph Street Georgetown The mailing address Is Street Georgetown Ontario Were waiting to hear from yon closed five privatized and 37 under review Why not write a letter to the Right Honorable Brian Mulroney House of Commons Ottawa KlA 0A6 telling him you object to the erosion of our rural communities Send a copy to your local Member of Parliament same address no stamps required Once our rural amenities are gone all the ones our parents and grandparents fought so hard to get we wont get them back Once we are Into the green box thing and are a rural route number of a larger community the names of our small communities will fall in to disuse Come on folks lets circle the wagons someone is trying to steal our way of life Yours truly Aline Journeay Ten per cent of Canadians think Elvis is alive Well so much for all those reassuring promises that free trade would never lead right thinking Canadians down the garden path of adopting American attitudes Just three months the deal has been in effect and suddenly theres proof positive that Cana dlans ha e begun to embrace the quintessential American belief of the 1960s a Gallup Poll has just shown that fully 10 per cent of Canadians doubt that Elvis Presley is dead Good grief What next A widespread conviction that Donald Trump Is an authentic Canadian hero Obviously the poll raises a host of questions For starters why on earth should Gallup spend money to find out whether Canadians think Elvis is really dead Was it just a stow day at the of fice Or is someone thinking of running him for leader of the NDF In any case its all very unsettl- eirs View Thomson Newsservice Since its such a controversial issue I should come straight out and make a confession I am one of those who believe that Elvis is dead has been dead for years and is likely to remain dead for the foreseeable future On the other hand I am also one of those who believed the Toronto Maple Leafs would win their divi sion take my beliefs with a grain of salt Now its certainly possible that my views are prejudiced by the fact that I was never a great Elvis fan In the first place Its just that was a little too young to have been swept away when he burst onto the scene In the last 1950s At that point I was still listening to The Little Engine That Could My all time musical heroes are the ones who emerged a few years later To put it another way Elvis was okay but he sure wasnt Her man Hermits Granted I gained more respect for Elvis in later years I was par ticularly impressed by the story that he would sit in his mansion behind a twoway mirror while his assistants ushered adoring young female fans into his viewing room in groups of This struck me as a wonderful way to meet girls infinitely better than the usual strategy of arrang ing accidentia meetings in the frozenfood Hi Im Ian How bout that Lean Cuisine eh Its also possible that my belief in Elvis death is based oo ig norance and insufficient research since I havent to be honest been keeping a very close eye on the supermarket tabloids Apparently these diligent in vestigatlve journals have reported that Elvis has been seen working at assorted car washes and greasy spoons in small American towns One magazine ran a story about a fan who saw Elvis image in a bowl of oatmeal raising the possibility that he has gone from King of Rock n Roll to patron saint of breakfast Another claimed he had been seen in Vicksburg Mich buying a fuse at a supermarket Which raises the question whose fuse was blown here Still Im skeptical And thats why its so unnerving to read that million fimtipn believe Elvis may still be alive Its fine for Americans to have this belief Americans love to believe in all sorts of unusual things which explains their theory that the best way to keep the streets safe is to sell tots and lots of semiautomatic weapons But Canadians have always been a much more cautious people Before we believe in anything we ask two questions One is this possible Two even if its ble would we be happier if we This is why at least half of us re main unconvinced that the deficit exists It may simply be the mischievous invention of Michael Wilson who come to think of It most of us have never actually seen either And now all of a sudden were halfexpecting to meet Elvis Presley at the car wash Rats Mr Turner told us and told us that no good would come of free trade We were just too darned Cana dian to believe mm