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Georgetown's Dave Spencer finds out if he's Canada's know-it-all Monday SMART GUY GOLDEN GIRL PAGE 5 GDHS wrestler Kerri Malcolm strikes gold at OFSAA PAGE 22 www.theIFP.ca Thursday, March 15, 2012 Halton Hills' award-winning newspaper serving Acton & Georgetown 48 Pages 50 Cents (+HST) Drunk driver gets 7 years for fatal crash in Acton A Mississauga man was handed a seven-year penitentiary sentence in Milton court Monday after being convicted in an April 2010 crash in Acton that killed a Campbellville man and injured four others. Todd McGowan, 23, was charged with impaired operation causing death, four counts of impaired operation causing bodily harm, dangerous driving causing death, four counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm and failing to stop at the scene of an accident in the April 3, 2010 collision. McGowan was convicted in late December of all charges after a three-week jury trial in Milton Superior Court. McGowan was driving a Hyundai Sonata on Queen St. in Acton about 2:50 a.m. when it veered off the road and into a tree. Jeff Sandles, 23, of Campbellville, who was in the front passenger seat, was pronounced dead at the scene. An 18-year-old Erin woman was airlifted to a Torontoarea hospital in critical condition and two 20-year-old Georgetown women and a 20-year-old Mississauga man suffered non-life threatening injuries. Sgt. Paul Davies of the Halton Regional Police Reconstruction Unit said some of the injured passengers will never fully recover. McGowan fled the scene but was apprehended by police five hours later while trying to leave Acton in a taxi. Davies said the case was very complex and four investigators from the Collision Reconstruction Unit worked full time on it. He said a team effort by biologists from the Centre of Forensic Sciences and an independent expert in Occupant Kinematics from London, Ontario was able to establish through DNA and physics that McGowan was behind the wheel at the time of impact. In imposing the sentence, Madam Justice Gisele Miller gave McGowan, who has been in custody since the collision, two years credit. He still has five years to serve and is also prohibited from driving for 10 years. McGowan was also ordered to submit a DNA sample to the RCMP National DNA Data Bank where it will be kept indefinitely. "The community, the police and the justice system in Halton Region have spoken loud and clear," said Davies. "This case has underscored the fact that drinking and driving offences in Halton Region will not be tolerated and will be vigorously prosecuted." Finger-lickin' good Ellie Rutledge, 5, found out that the sap running from a maple tree was really sweet, as she took part in Maple Syrup Day at Willow Park Ecology Centre in Norval Wednesday. The event let the kids see the production of maple syrup from collecting the sap from the trees, right to boiling it down to make maple syrup. Photo by Ted Brown REFINANCING? PURCHASING? Todd McGowan, of Mississauga was given a seven-year jail term for causing this crash which killed one and injured four others in April 2010 in Acton. Photo by David Ritchie 4 YR. FIXED CALL FOR DETAILS. 2.99% FSCO #10259 Division of 1490845 Ont. Ltd. BOB WOODS, Broker (905) 877-1490 360 Guelph St., Georgetown · PA I N T · WA L L PA P E R · L I G H T I N G · W I N D O W C O V E R I N G S · H O M E D E C O R GEORGETOWN MARKETPLACE MALL 905-877-4193 w w w. b e r g s m a s . c a