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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1996 THE GEORGETOWN GEMINI GIR VINES Rec. Dept. turns up heat It may be getting colder, but things are heating up at the Recreation and Parks Department! There are still spaces left in some Winter 97 aquatic and community programs. Registrations are proc- essed on a first come, first served basis and are being accepted at the Civic Centre by fax at (905) 873- 2347 (VISA only) or mail. For your convenience, 24-hour drop off boxes are available at the Civic Centre. For further information, call 873- 2601, Ext. 275. Police release RIDE stats Halton Regional Police have re- leased the Christmas season RIDE program statistics from Nov. 28 to Dec. 16, inclusive. Inthattime, 16,975 vehicles were stopped, 80 roadside test were ad- ministered, 13 12-hour suspensions were issued and three drivers face impaired driving charges. Giving the gift of sight Lions International and Lens Crafters are again collecting old, used eyeglasses. Glasses collected will be refur- bished by Lens Crafters and taken by a special team to countries in need. The eyeglasses will be do- nated to people who need them to see. Last year over 1,000 pairs of glasses were collected at police sta- tions in Halton. Please drop off your used eyeglasses to any Halton Re- gional Police station before Jan. 15, and help give the gift of sight. Holiday help for families of alcoholics Holidays are supposed to be joyous, festive occasions -- times that bring good food, good friends, laughter and happy memories. But for families and friends of problem drinkers, the holidays take their toll. Celebrations are marred by worry, anger, resentment, and fear. Ifyou are concerned about some- one else's drinking, Al-Anon Fam- ily Groups can help you. Give yourself the giftof Al-Anon. It is a special gift during the holi- days, when family and friends are most vulnerable. For help, call Al-Anon Family Groups at 1-800-443-4525. Anaphylaxis meeting The Georgetown Anaphylaxis Sup- port Group's first meeting is sched- uled for Jan. 14, from 7 to 9 pm, at the Community Room at the Geor- getown Police Station on Guelph Street. Meet to share and discuss your concerns about anaphylaxis. A donation of $2 per family is requested. Please lug yourown mug. For more information call 877- 1179 or 853-0354. HEY! "J don't have any New Year's resolutions." * Brandon Gabet, Daniela Court "Learn how to stop when skating." Jason Pshyt, Trafalgar Road Made any New Year's resolutions? If so, what are they? "Hockey, baseball, and score more goals." Jesse Bellinger, Daniela Court "To stop spending so much money." Patrick Hole, Park Avenue fo of all the good and bad things of the fading year. It's a time when we all pause -- some to look forward and some to look back. Most likely we all do some of each. It was the famous baseball pitcher, Satchel Paige, who said, "Don't look back -- somebody may be catching up!" Looking back is a double edged sword. The good things that happened to us glow like pure gold and the bad things that happened to us may still burn like fire. The human mind and time manage to turn most memories into gold. The bad times are gradually obliterated from the mind---or at least most of the fire is extinguished. I guess that is the reason people refer to "the good old days." The bad has been worn away by the passage of time. People really do have to look back and relive the mistakes they made, lest they make them again in the future. Guess what? Many people look back, review the mistakes -- then go right out and make 'the same mistakes again! That's human! We are mostly born optimists -- thank God! We want to look forward to good things and good times. Looking ahead helps people get through the bad times. You know, the light at the end of the tunnel. But watch out for the cynic who says the light at the end of the tunnel is the light on the engine of the fast approaching train! People look forward to good things in any time span and some people, due to their T his is the week that the media does a review Only In Georgetown: With Bill Ellis circumstances, live their life one day at a time. So, what about New Year's resolutions? People will re- solve to do or not to do almost anything in the new year. Some resolutions sound wild enough to have been formulated while the bubbly was flowing too freely on New Year's Eve. An ancestor's saying comes to mind. "He smelled of strong drink and the truth was not in him!" I am told by people who keep track of this type of thing that the highest proportion of New Year's resolutions have to do with losing weight. And after a quick check of the waist line, a weight loss resolution sounds like a good idea for your faithful reporter. So, as the days and the hours run down to zero in 1996, it is only right that I express some New Year's wishes. May you look back with fond memories with little room for remorse or hate. May yourtragedies quickly fade in scope. May you look forward to good times, laced with love and friendship. May there only be pleasant surprises on your horizons. Thank you for reading this weekly epistle. Happy New Year and God bless! Bill Ellis is an Associate Broker with Johnson Asso- ciates, Halton Ltd., Realtor in Georgetown Predictions? Not from this guy At this time of year columnists are expected to either re-cap the current year or issue predictions for the year to come. If that's what you' re look- ing for here, you're out of luck. I don't do that stuff. If 1 could accu- rately predict the future, I'd pick the next winning lottery number and retire. I don't know about you but I have no desire to re-live any part of 1996. So, did you have a nice Christ- mas? Good! The O' Learys did also, thank you. The Ancient Kid came home for a week and the girls got along surprisingly well. Actually, since the six of us spent almost a week indoors together and no one was killed, the Bride and I consider the holidays were an outstanding success. Ireally don't have atopic in mind (surprise!) as I'm writing this. Origi- nally I thought I'd carry on with the bare boobs debate, which is still in the public eye. But I'm getting a strong message from my ladies that they're pretty well fed up with this topic. So I've now decided not to proceed. I don't want anyone to accuse me of trying to milk this subject to death. My death, that is. I love the Christmas lights on the houses. The rain and dreary weather this year makes them seem even more merry. I noticed an article just before Christmas about a guy in St. John's, Nfld., who added a different twist to decking the old halls. He was standing in the front hall buck naked and flicking the porch light on and off. Now, I've travelled extensively in the Maritimes. I love "The Rock" and especially the sense of humour of her people. So I tried to imagine how my Newfie friends would see this story. ~ The men, of course, would say The Way I See It With Mike O'Leary that he was flicking the light off and on while waving to the passersby with both hands. The women would say his wife had to be atthe switch. They'd claim that the man who could turn the lights off and on more than twice has yet to be born. With the kids getting older, we don't get into the toy stores anymore. In all the weeks before Christmas, I kept hearing about "Tickle Me Elmo." I thought it was a stuffed toy. This Christmas story out of St. John's brought me back to reality. With all the time I spent "down home" Ishould have known-- Tickle Me Elmo isn't a toy! It's just the way they talk down there. kkk Santa was good to us this year and I got to thinking about what our poli- ticians received for Christmas. At least, this is what I hope they found. For P.M. Chretien: A dictionary - with only two pages. On page | would be the definition of lie and liar. On page 2, the definition of truth. Why only two pages? Well, we wouldn't want to confuse the P.M. would we? For Jean Charest: The name of a good barber. There is no way the people of this country are going to vote for a guy who looks like the Pillsbury Dough Boy having a bad hair day. For Preston Manning: A life -- A preferably out of politics. Mr. Man- ning is a nice, decent, high princi- pled man who cannot win the next election. Some day we should all think about that. For the Bloc Party: A pre-paid, decent funeral. For Lucien Bouchard: A 50 gal- lon enemaanda one-way planeticket out of the country. For whomever is in charge of the federal and provincial N.D.P. par- ties: A lottery ticket. I'm-not vi- cious. I think everyone should have one chance in a million. For Mike Harris: A sharper pen- cil and a hearing aid. The pencil because he's cut down to the muscle in many programs and he'd better be sharp when detailing further cuts. The hearing aid because I think he's tuned out the shrill cacophony com- ing from the Left. That's not a bad idea for someone in his position. At the same time however, he has to listen to the majority of folks who support him. You don't have all the answers sir, no matter what the polls say. kkk As I said earlier, I won't make pre- dictions but I have made a major decision that I want to share with you. Regular readers will know that I've been 39 (metric) for several years now. It's time to 'fess up that age is catching up to me. So, on Jan. 14, I will officially turn 40 (metric). Just don't expect this every year. It's hard to admit that the years are creeping up. But as my sainted mother used to say (and this part is best done with an Irish accent): "I'm farty and the Bride is farty-two!" Happy new year to all! Mike O'Leary is acolumnist for The Georgetown Gemini. °