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6 Editorial with Frances Niblock THE NEW TANNER THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2011 Voter apathy? Not at advance polls The importance of the right to vote was underscored recently by the excitement of a newly eligible voter who received his first voter identification card in the mail. There was none of the teenage apathy that is often a default position of the younger generation, and sometimes, others. This new voter said "people fight and die for the right to vote in some countries," and asked about the local candidates. Without a single candidate coming to the new voter's door, or even leaving election information in the mail box, making a choice is not easy ­ other than reading stories of the all-candidates meetings, which only featured three of the candidates. The NDP candidate and the Christian Heritage Party candidates in Wellington-Halton Hills declined to attend any of the meetings or introduce themselves to The New Tanner ­ so who knows what they think. Joe Kuglan, the Returning Officer for Wellington-Halton Hills, is anticipating a good turnout for Monday's vote, based on the Easter weekend's advance polls when 8,640 voters cast early ballots at 15 locations in the riding. Kuglan said the advance poll numbers are "usually a good indicator" of Election Day voter turnout, and that there "seems to be a lot of interest" this time out. One recent poll found 33 per cent of respondents were "engaged and hopeful" about the election, 32 per cent were "disengaged and alienated" and the balance of 34 per cent were "mistrustful." Hopefully, discouraged voters won't stay home on Monday, because if you don't vote, you get the government you deserve. WALK THE CROSS: Members of Acton's churches joined in the Procession of the Cross that began at Churchill Community church on Good Friday and made its way to churches along the route to Trinity United church for a service. ­ Ted Tyler photo Signs, Signs.....Everywhere Signs Our town is being vandalized. It's happening on every road, every street and sometimes on a lot of sidewalks, and I am getting tired of it. What is this vandalism, you ask. Take a good look when you drive about town or when you are out walking. The vandalism that is occurring is glutting our existence with the every growing amount of signs, most unauthorized as far as I am concerned, in our fair town. This increasing problem was recently brought to my attention and as a result I've been looking. We have laws about driving distractions such as requiring cellular phone users to have a hands-free device, yet for some reason, it is okay for us to be distracted with an unbelievable amount of information coming at us as we are driving, and we are supposed to be able to read, process, remember ­ sometimes even a telephone number ­ while at the same time we are to be driving safely. The other day on my way into town to get groceries (Economic Development officer please note the reference to shopping LOCAL) I started to watch and read the signs in this five kilometre By Angela Tyler stretch. First, I couldn't even process all of them and I lost track at 50 different signs including Ministry of Transportation type signs such as speed limits, and then, I almost rear-ended a car, and on top of it all, I was impeding traffic by driving too slowly. Why do we need all these signs? I wonder why we even need some of the Town of Halton Hills directional signs. Couldn't we have a communal directional board locating the arena, pool, library and other things? What about all the service group signs at the east end of town. Can't they all be put on one board? The Kinettes have discontinued their brunch, yet their weather beaten sign is still on display with an old date on it. It's garage sale season now. If you hold a garage sale, do you take down all the signs you put up to advertise it? I've always wanted to collect the old signs and take them back to their owners when they forget to take them down. Looking Back Ten Years Ago · With two of three Acton doctors reaching retirement age, a physician recruitment committee is attempting to lure more family doctors to Acton, which is designated as under-serviced by the province. · Cogeco Cable had some apologies to make after leavenothing-to-the-imagination, pay-for-view porn was mistakenly beamed into local homes. · The solemn contemplation of Good Friday gave way to joyous song on Resurrection Sunday as Acton churches celebrated Easter. Five Years Ago · Electricity bills will jump by 11 per cent as of May 1, under new rates released by the Ontario Energy Board. The increase means an extra $143 per year for the average customer. · Acton's Joseph Querques, a student at Christ the King, was a top senior winner at the Bay Area Science and Engineering Fair and was invited to compete in the Microsoft Imagine Cup. · The College of Veterin arians of Ontario opened an investigation into the death of an Acton dog at the Rockwood Veterinary Clinic. What about all the "sandwich boards" with real estate open houses that clutter the four corners on the weekend? Don't even get me going about election signs ­ I could go on for weeks about those ones. Then, there are all the businesses that have "small" signs made up and affix them to telephone poles in town. There is actually a section of the Town's by-law that addresses this, stating "no person or sign owner shall erect any sign on any utility pole..." So tell me, why is there dozens of them advertising snow removal in the winter and landscaping in the summer for the past two years, at least? As I said, the Town has a by-law, actually a 42-page bylaw, that goes into great detail on what signs are permitted and where. I think it's time we cleaned the town up a bit, and if nothing else, organized some of the signage throughout the town that is necessary. We can all do our part though. This summer, if you are having a garage sale, remember to take down all your signs after your sale or, you never know, one day someone might just show up at your door with the signs and it might be the by-law officer, not me. Publisher Ted Tyler Editor Frances Niblock Distributed to every home in Acton and area, as well as adjoining communities. Every effort will be made to see advertising copy, neatly presented, is correctly printed. The publisher assumes no financial responsibility for typographical errors or omissions in advertising, but will gladly reprint without charge that part of an advertisement in which an error may occur provided a claim is made within five days of publication. All articles, advertisements and graphic artwork appearing in The New Tanner is copyrighted. Any usage, reproduction or publication of these items, in whole or in part, without the express written consent of the publisher of The New Tanner is a copyright infringement and subject to legal action. Editorial Contributors Mike O'Leary Angela Tyler Kelly Kennedy email: thenewtanner@on.aibn.com 373 Queen Street East, Unit 1 Acton, Ontario L7J 2N2 Advertising and Circulation Marie Shadbolt (519) 853-0051 Fax: (519) 853-0052 Composing Ken Baker