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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1998 THE NEW TANNER GRAPEVINI Car chance It's not too late to buy a $10 raf- fle ticket on the world's most popu- lar car--the Volkswagen Beetle. The parent council at McKenzie-Smith Bennett school purchased a baby blue Beetle -- a 1971 with a sunroof -- to raffle as a very unique fundraiser. "People have been surprised that we have the Beetle. Usually school fundraisers involve selling chocolate bars but the Beetle is unique and is getting their attention," parent coun- cil spokesman Carmen Stoehr said recently. The draw for the Beetle will be held November 7. Twenty-five hun- dred tickets were printed. Te HODGSON-MCMAHON New program manager There's a new face ina newly cre- ated job involving several programs involving children at Halton Hills Community Support and Informa- tion (formerly ASSIC). The new childrens' program manager -- Katherine Hodgson-McMahon -- administers both the parent-child centres in Acton and Georgetown, a satellite centre in Glen Williams and the teen moms education program. Hodgson, whose office is in Acton, is the first graduate of the Family Life certificate program. Most recently she worked with chil- dren's programming in Haliburton where she split her time between two centres as she will in Halton Hills. Mayor's jamboree Mayor Marilyn Serjeantson will be doing the two-step at the May- or's dinner and Country Jamboree slated for November 14 at the Acton Community Hall in the new arena. The hoe-down is in honour of the Halton Hills public library's 100" anniversary and the mayor has agreed to be the patron of the fundraising event for the library. Along with a dinner, silent auction -- all with a country theme -- there will be a concert featuring Harry Bryan and then a dance. For infor- mation call 873-2681. Golf to goals Seventy-nine golfers took part in the Acton Tanners' second annual golf tournament on Saturday at Acton Meadows. Despite the driz- zle the golfers - many of them coaches, managers and parents of players -- had a great day and helped - raise more than $5,000 for the Acton Minor Hockey Association. Closest to the pin contest winners were Floyd Foster and Terry Fitzgibbon and longest drive bragging rights go to Ron Kuiken and Sue Whitteden. All golfers had praise for the tourney organizers, the generous local busi- nesses that donated prizes and the staff at Acton Meadows. Are you in favor of the Ontario Government legislating the teachers back to work? Acton Yes. A million people would love to have their job. They get well paid for what they do and I know it's not an easy job. Right now the only people suffering are the kids. Brett Papillon Acton Yes and no. Yes, because it's high time they went back to work. No, because the Govern- ment can be heavy handed and it can be sort of suspicious. It's not black and white. Everyone - is at fault and everyone should be a little bit ashamed of themselves. Brian Anderson Erin Township Idon't think I do necessarily. The reasons they are on strike seem to be legitimate to me. Cathy Slade Acton Yes. They're holding the students ransom each year. It's becoming a trend. They're putting themselves first, not the students. Barb Kueber This week's New Tanner survey by Angela Tyler BABY BOOK: In honour of national breast feeding week -- Book House manager Susan Lindsay (middle) presented which begins today (Thursday) the Olde a book on lactation to Acton librarian Marie Vickery as Judith Kirkness, with the Breast Feeding Connection, and children Harold (being © held), Walter and Roger look on. -- Frances Niblock photo This year's fair was one of the best ever. Congratulations to presi- dent Ron White and his team for a superb effort. Now the challenge better. The work has already be- gun. A couple of things happened at the fair which T thanght yan might be interested in. Friday was Edu- cation Day at the fair. Hundreds of children participated in the fun and demonstrations. During the morning a car with four silver- haired ladies pulled up to the gate. "How may I help you?"! asked. "We're here to put on a dem- onstration," the driver replied. Being a curious fellow, I asked what they were demonstrating. "We're hookers," the driver re- plied with a straight face. Since I have never let an op- portunity like that go by I asked the ladies if they thought a dem- onstration of their trade would be appropriate for public school aged children. By now the ladies and I were all laughing together. "No, no," the driver said be- tween giggles. "We're-rug hook- ers." And off they went. ; Later that afternoon the ladies again passed me as they left the grounds. They all had big grins on their faces. "How was it?" I asked. "Was it worthwhile?" They all laughed out loud and as they pulled away one of the back seat passengers looked out the rear window, gave mea sly grin and flashed the OK sign. See you next year, ladies. Another incident was not so funny. On Saturday night a young man was observed entering the grounds with what appeared to be a pistol tucked into his belt. It later proved to be a cap gun. At the time though, it was pretty scary given the current state of society. Secu- rity and fair board members tracked the youth and directed the police to his location. He was sub- sequently detained briefly and the Ko polsiness of his actions pointed is to make next year's fair even. : | = Hookers? At our fair? The Way I See It with Mike O'Leary [33 'out. One hesitates to think of how this could have ended up had he reached for the replica pistol before the officers determined it was only a cap gun. If you have a teenager you might want to take this opportunity to point out the potential serious conse- quences that goofing around can cause. Young people often fail to think through situations like this. As usual, it is the children who leave the most lasting fair impres- sions. I enjoy talking to them as they leave the grounds. "How was the fair?" I asked one five or six-year-old. "Great," she said, and then look- ing at her parents went on, "But they get tired so quickly." Mom was push- ing a loaded carriage and Dad was carrying her younger brother. Call me in 20 years or so, I thought. So now the fair is over and you know what's next. Only 53 shopping days till Christmas. KKKKK I thought it was disgusting that the children booed Premier Harris during his appearance with President Nelson Mandela. Doesn't the phrase "There's a time and a place for eve- tything" carry any weight these days? Mr. Mandela was there to cel- ebrate freedom with those kids. I'm sure he was completely confused by the crowd's reaction. This is a man who does not hear many boos dur- ing his travels. To try and draw him into a provincial labour dispute was bad manners and an embarrassment to all Canadians. "Bush league" is a phrase that jumps to my mind. Even more mind boggling were some teachers' claims that this was a spontaneous demon- stration by the students. Sure, and I believe in the tooth fairy. The vast majority of those kids wouldn't even know who the pre- mier of this province is. Come to think about it. maybe more Cana- dian political and geo-political . knowledge would be a good thing to teach in school. But that's a topic for another day. The people supervising those kids didn't do them any favours by, allowing that inappropriate behaviour. I wonder how much booing they would allow in their classrooms if it was directed to- wards them. Not much, I'll wager. One of the big complaints di- rected towards our education sys- tem is that the schools don't in- still discipline or manners in their students. Last Friday's display re- enforces that perception. KKKKK By the time you read this we will know what the opposition parties plan to do with the Tories' back to work legislation aimed at settling the teachers' strike. All indications are that they will de- lay the passage of this bill. Mike Harris must love these guys. Several of the teachers I have spoken to are very concerned about where this dispute is head- ing. They do not want to give up their coaching or mentoring ac- tivities. They are distressed that the unions have turned the issue into a battle over who is going to control the Department of Educa- tion. This strike has nothing to do with quality of education or the welfare of students. It's all about power and money. Neither the government nor the unions will back down. But it's the teachers who will pay when hard feelings from the parents boil over. There will be no winner when this is over. Only losers. And the biggest losers will be the kids. af: WHAT'S YOUR REEF? Put it in a letter to the Editor! Deadline is Tuesday at noon.