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160 Mennonites here to tear down old tannery By: ANGELA TYLER The New Tanner Acton's long history in leather is closing another chapter. Demolition of the buildings on the former Beardmore and Company land is in full swing. The 180 acres, now owned by Maple Leaf Foods, is becoming a flat line of land. Priestly Door to Door Demolition of Aurora has been contracted by a consulting firm, on behalf of Maple Leaf Foods to clear the land of all the buildings. Ryan Priestly of Priestly Demolition con- firmed with The New Tanner that all the build- ings would be gone by the end of 1999. Demo- lition this year will continue until the end of November and resume again in the spring once the snow has cleared. The project is scheduled to end late fall next year. The demo- lition company has approximately 20 crew members on site. This week, Acton has been home to more than 160 Mennonites from the Conestoga and Mount Forest area. The group traveled by bus to help with the demolition and recycling of building materials. Unfortunately, a barn in the Conestoga area burned last week and now some of the Beardmore building structures, including lumber and steel beams, will help build another barn. Maple Leaf Foods has also been marking some of the land with surveyor type stakes. Jeffrey Miller of Maple Leaf Foods said that there are no current plans for development of the land, "it is part of our on going in- See TANNERY, Page 2 Newstand price: 40¢ + GST ACHILLES Tyler Transport Ltd. 379 Queen St. E. Acton What's Inside Dog days of amie | Cody, a 1% year old pet owned by Mike and Jen Meyer of Acton enjoyed the Leathertown Festival along with lots of other canines. See Page 7. Three of the 160 Mennonite farmers who are razing the Beard- more tannery enjoy a lunch break. More pho- tos on Page 3. The Under 13 Girls Select soccer club did well at the Kincardine tournament on the week- end. See Page 9. Jennifer Aitken takes a look at the Crawford Lake Indian Village in her column on Page 11. mmer Your Hometown Newspaper in Acton REMAINS OF THE RECENT FIRE and years of leather history cover the and where the old pasting and boiler rooms were at Beardmore. The demolition is now in full swing. -- Angela Tyler photo Noisy party under Town investigation The owner of a Fifth Line Acton farm and the organizer of a rave party that drew ap- proximately 3,000 partygoers and scores of noise com- plaints two weeks ago face steep fines if charged and convicted under Town noise and public performance by- laws. The maximum fine under the Provincial Of- fences Act for a conviction under the bylaws is $5,000 for each count for each per- son charged. Town staff has requested the police report on the party and begun interviewing peo- ple who complained about the noise to try to substanti- ate allegations that the party contravened the Town's sub- jective noise bylaw. Bylaw enforcement officer Henry Tse said from what's he's heard so far, the com- plaints would result in charges, but the complain- ants would have to be will- ing to go to court and testify. "If a whole bunch of resi- dents will say (in court) that they could not sleep until 3 or 5 a.m. and police testify -that they had to shout to be heard at the scene then it's DEBRIS: Party goers left a few heaps of garbage ben:_1 following a party on the Fifth Line. likely that the noise will be judged to be too loud by a Justice of the Peace," Tse ex- plained in an interview on Friday. Tse said if they can prove that tickets were sold for the event then there would likely be sufficient grounds to say the August 8 party was a pub- lic performance, which re- quires a Town permit. Tse said that while staff will conduct a standard in- vestigation, they do have an "ulterior motive." "If anybody wants to hold something like this they bet- ter follow the rules and if they don't want to follow the tules, don't do it." 2 PAUL SIMMONS, SERVICE MANAGER AIR CONDITIONING $995 357 Queen Street *°) 853-0200 Halton Hills (Acton) ©) 453-8965 By FRANCES NIBLOCK The New Tanner The Acton Agricultural Society will use a 23-year old agreenient with the Town to block the planned demolition of the Prospect Park arena if the Town doesn't promise, in writing, that it will act with good faith in finding alterna- tives for the Society which uses the arena each year dur- ing the fall fair. The 1975 agreement, and an earlier one with the Town of Acton, ae the Society unrestricte of Prospect Park and buildings during. the fair for as long as the Soc- iety exists. On Sept. 21, af- ter the 85th edition of the fair ends, the Town, no longer able to get liability insurance for the structurally unsound building, will close it. Council recently asked staff to prepare demolition tender documents, but reiter- ated its willingness to work with the Society and a sub- committee of Heritage Acton, which wants to save the building. In a letter to council So- ciety treasurer Daniel Varan- elli said they are concerned if they abandon renovation of the former arena all chances of obtaining a alternate facil- ity would be gone. The So- ciety and Town have dis- cussed both building a smaller facility in Prospect Park and buying additional land at the new Acton arena site and moving some or all fair activities to that location. Society president Ron White said they took the tough stance as a bargaining chip. "We don't want to leave the park if it's at all possible because it's a nice setting for the fair," he said recently. BC53LM-B per month for 48 months FREIGHT & PDE INCLUDED Only $888 Down Nicely equipped for $13,785 Or Get eb) Prem ly ue tit | for up to Cry GEORGETOWN TOYOTA SALES 15 MOUNTAINVIEW RD. 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