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

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 1997 Volunteering has many rewards The North Halton Literacy Guild invites anyone interested in becom- ing a volunteer tutor to call 873- 2200 for more information. Next tutor training session be- gins in February. Children's Chorus hosts Open House The Halton Hills Children's Chorus is holding an Open House, next Tuesday and Wednesday. Anyone with any interest in join- ing or learning about the choir is invited to come and observe the rehearsals. For audition information, call choir director Sharon Dutton at 873- ELIT. New manager at bank The Georgetown branches of the Royal Bank of Canada welcome Elizabeth Crighton as the new man- ager of the Guelph Street and Main Street branches. Crighton, a Ballinafad resident, has been involved in the banking industry for 16 years. Power Squadron fish fry The Georgetown Power Sail Squad- ron is hosting a Fish Fry at St. Alban's Church Hall, 537 Main Street, Glen Williams, Jan. 25. A guest speaker from either the Coast Guard or the Marine Unit will be on hand. Admission to the barbecue fish dinner is $10 per person. A time of self discovery Supportive Housing Services, in cooperation with several other agen- cies, is hosting the program, A Time For Me, Feb. 6 to Mar. 27. The program is a unique group experience for those over 55-years of age, designed to build on the experiences of life, and strengthen the resolve of those wishing to make changes. The group is scheduled to meet Thursdays at 11 Division Police Sta- tion in Georgetown, from 1 to3 pm. Chamber hosts Head Start program The Halton Hills Chamber of Com- merce is hosting Head Start, a small business training seminar, Jan. 30 and Feb. 1. Cost for the two-day seminar, including lunch and refreshments, is $58 per person. The location is to be announced. For further information call the Chamber at 877-7119. Call to faith Several Georgetown area churches have banded together in the name of God to present an Ecumenical Serv- ice this Sunday at 7:30 pm, at St. Alban's United Church in Glen Williams. HEY! "Other than the proposal? The events that are . happening at this time of year." Bey Keane, Preston Street "Spring, Valentine's Day is coming up and Janet Mitton, London (formerly of Georgetown) What gets you thinking about weddings? (Asked at a weekend Bridal show) "TJ would have to say bridal shows and the amount of newspaper ads that start appearing in January." Sarah Gurr, . Moultrey Crescent "The fact that my sister is getting engaged and pressure from friends and family. Big- time pressure." Debbie Winterburn, Queen Street flowers." THE GEORGETOWN GEMINI fe, he writer ... | Though itis a little know fact, anyone who writes anything, be it published or not, is positively certain that within their being lurks the ability to write The Great Canadian Novel! The story that will inspire the readers of the world, win the Pulitzer Prize, and make the author very rich! Oh, they may scoff at the idea and they may deny it, but down deep the feeling is there in all of us scribblers. My novel was all planned out many years ago. It started as an idea to amuse our kids and before we were done, my vague storyline was developed into areal story by the whole family. It was to be about a family living in Norval, who operated stage and freight hauling lines before the railroad came to Georgetown. The eldest son is an officer in the Canadian Militia and he and his volun- teers flush.a band of thieves out of some caves at Speyside. Two of the freight line employees, fearing for their jobs, attempt to blow up the newly constructed railroad bridge across the Credit Valley in George- town. It's pretty wild stuff, with love and adventure and all those things a great novel just has to have! But I have never written down the words. The words to make the story come alive. I must do it. There lies the blocked out portions of the tale -- gathering dust... A major Canadian entertainment corporation as- Only In Georgetown With Bill Ellis signs a producer, a director, a publicity person, two assist- ants and four secretaries to check the feasibility of pro- ducing my story for TV. They research for 18 months, spend $2.2 million, then tell me they are having their funding cut. I wonder why. One Hollywood movie producer saw areal future for my story with all cartoon characters, set in Geor- getown, South Carolina, with a steamboat instead of a train. It seemed like a Mickey Mouse idea to me. A TV producer saw the stars of my story as fish- like beings who lived in the Credit River at Norval, who came out of the water weekly to fight various space aliens. I told his that was already being done weekly at Norval. Another TV producer pictured my story as a very sultry, blue show called L7G Country. Wow! A local amateur theatrical group turned down my story because they couldn't get a train onto their stage. .. I awake and commence writing frantically about a militiaman riding his horse across the top of Hickory Falls in pursuit of a horse thief from Ballinafad. The life of the would-be author is not an easy one. But just think of it... a Pulitzer Prize! Bill Ellis is an Associate Broker with Johnson Asso- ciates, Halton Ltd., Realtor in Georgetown x When sinking, don't grab a Er If politicians didn't exist, column- ists would have to invent them. The Liberals (God bless 'em) served up another juicy scandal to the media last week. Has the federal government sent you your letter of apology? No? Isn't it odd that they' ve apologized to everyone in the Airbus affair ex- cept the ordinary Canadian? Of course, we're not directly involved unless you count the fact that we have to pay the millions of dollars in settlement costs. With more, I'm sure, to come. Regular readers will know that I'm no fan of Brian Bullrooney. I thought it a bit much though, that after apologizing on behalf of the federal government and the Mounties, Federal (In)Justice Min- ister Rock then had to apologize for the apology. Confused? Join the crowd! Itseems that the original apology was perceived to be insincere. That comes as no surprise to me. I have always considered the term "sin- cere politician" to be an oxymoron. Towards the end of last week, the government also apologized to Karlheinz Schreiber and Frank Moores. These were the two other men mentioned in the Mulroney let- ter. No offers here, though, to pay legal costs. How much would you like to bet that, as we get closer to the election, a quiet settlement will be made to pay them off? Govern- ments will spend any amount of your money to ensure their re-elec- tion. L'affaire Airbus will probably push the election back to the fall. This story has legs and should hang around for another month or two. The Pillsbury Dough Boy With An Attitude, Monsieur Charest, was on The Way I See lt With Mike O'Leary TV the other night. He is, outwardly, full,of indignation and vilification that the feds would treat an ex-P.M. so shabbily. Or any Canadian citi- zen, he is quick to add. Inwardly, it looked to me that he's latched on to this debacle faster than a junkyard dog chomps into a robber's rump. He won't let it go until he shakes it around some. The government is claiming that they settled with Muldoon because a medium level Mountie-type sud- denly remembered he mentioned the infamous "letter" to one or more journalists. Sure! Listen carefully. Usually you hear a scream or two when a sacrificial lamb is thrown to the wolves. I find it incredulous, insulting really, that the Liberals expect us to believe a couple of mid-level bu- reaucrats would initiate a criminal investigation of an ex-P.M., with a foreign power, without clearing it with their political masters. Redundancy is the lifeblood of bureaucracy. Minor officials make a career out of never making a deci- sion. To propose that one, let alone two, bureaucrats would conspire to launch a criminal probe into the workings of the previous govern- ments on their own is laughable. Someone up there should take giant gulp of reality. Even syndicated columnists Allan Fotheringham can't swallow this stuff, and he's more Liberal than Laurier. You know you're in trouble when your cheerleaders are rooting for the other team. I said I wouldn't make any New Year's predictions, so I might as well break that resolution now. Be- cause of Mr. Chretien's disaster at the C.B.C. Town Hall Meeting, and L'affaire Airbus, the election won't be held until the fall. Unless the polls are in a free fall during the summer, the Liberals won't want to wait for '98. The longer they put it off, the less room they have to scheme and maneuver. | think the election will be called in September and that we'll go to the polls on Monday, October 20. Still, I'd feel better ifthe Liberals threw out an apology for us. They could say they're sorry about the G.S.T. lie. At the very least, they could apologize for foisting Sheila Copps on this country. Is it so much to ask? kkk The ax is falling on Metro Toronto Councils and school boards across the province. As of this writing (Sat- urday) we don't know if either Halton Board is toast. Isn't it amazing that the Metro Councils are always blaming the Harris government for funding cut- backs that doom people to freeze in the streets? Millions can be found, though, to run referendums aimed at saving their sorry butts. In the words of Mr. George Bernard Shaw: "When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty." Mike O'Leary is acolumnist for The Georgetown Gemini.