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THURSDAY. MARCH 16.2000 THE NEW TANNER GRAP Obey, or pay Consider this fair warning. Halton cops will target the Highway 7 and Lakeview Road area -- the scene of a drunk driving death several years ago --in a crack down on aggressive driv- ers. The a} ive enforcement cam- paign is aimed at curbing rising com- plaints of speeding and reckless driv- ing -- 1.500 so far this year in Halton. All traffic infractions will be en- forced. including speeding, seatbelts infractions, and unsafe lane changes. There won't be any breaks for motor- ists nailed by conventional or laser radar crews in high complain areas. Hot hoopsters Congrats to the seven young Acton athletes who finished in the top ten at a recent Knights of Columbus basketball free throw in Georgetown. After winning at the lo- cal level, the sharp shooters com- peted against 55 other youths in the district level. The winners -- from Oakville and Burlington -- advanced to the provincial competition. The Acton participants included John Uiterwyk--6th place, Craig Kirkwood ~-- 5th, Daniel O'Driscoll, 6th, Ray Peterson -- Sth, Amy McBride -- 6th and Spencer Williams -- 5th. Painting parents Congrats to the McKenzie-Smith parents, one student and school board chair Ethel Gardener, who do- nated their time and talents to a school spruce-up project on Satur- day morning. They painted approxi- mately 80 lockers a bright blue before running out of paint, supplied by the Halton District School Board. They will complete the job during March Block parents Caring Kangaroo -- the Acton Block Parent mascot -- will be taking the Block Parents message to Acton Junior Kindergarten and Kindergar- ten students at Acton schools later this month. The 20-member ne 3 organization is recruiting new Bloc Parents and educating young chil- dren and seniors that a house with a Block parent sign in the window is a The organization would like to have two Block Parents on each street in Acton. Block Parents, who must be screened by police, put the Block Parent sign in their window when they are available to offer their home as a safe refuge in an emergency. For more information call Yvonne Johansen at 853-1843. Famine fast The Acton Baptist Church (ABC) Youth group students will fast for 30 hours this weekend as they raise funds through sponsorships in World Vision's 30 - Hour Famine. The up is confident it will raise over $2,500 to help children in developing countries, stricken by hunger and malnutrition. The Acton ABC youth group has added a hairy challenge to the fast, during which they'll drink only water and juice. If they raise $2,500, youth sponsor Matt Beach will shave his head and if they raise $3,500, youth pastor Tracy Beach will dye her hair whatever colour the youth group chooses. Pastor Tom Cullen will shave his head if they top the $5,000 mark. To sponsor a faster or make a donation call 853-9823. Cancer campaign With the firm belief that cancer can be beaten, the Acton Branch of the Canadian Cancer Society is gear- ing up for its annual April fundraising campaign. Canvassers are needed for the gooese-docr campaign and anyone with a few hours to donate is asked to call Liz Bailey at 853-3585. The campaign officially kicks off with volunteer appreciation chili dinner at Trinity United Church on March 29. Canvassers, who col- lected a record $33,362 last year, will knock on Acton doors during April. "Acton has always generously ven to the Cancer Society and we ook forward to that support again this year," Society president Cathy Gerrow said. The Society will sell daffodils on March 30 and 30 and April 1 and the annual antique and craft show and sale is on Mother's Day in May. qf PR HERS CG) Wear a maple leaf on March 19 Dear Editor, _ In the past couple of weeks you have had two interesting articles on patron saints. Canada, too, has a pa- tron saint. Ours is right out of the Bible. St. Joseph, who was entrusted with the care and raising of Jesus, has somehow taken on the care of Canada. I suspect the choice of St. Joseph for Canada had something to do with the devotion of the first settlers in New France. His feast day is March 19. So wear your tartan and thistle on St. Andrew's Day, your leak or daffo- dil on St. David's Day, your red rose on St. George's Day, your shamrock on St. Patrick's Day and maybe, just maybe, a maple leaf pin on St. Joseph's Day. Sincerely, Rev. Robert Bulbrook, Pastor, St. Joseph's Parish, Acton: Needs space to play Following is a letter to The New Tanner, the Halton District School Board, the Mayor and Minister of Education. ; Dear President of School Council: The Halton District School Board is planning on building homes on three acres of our playground. Our class at McKenzie-Smith Bennett would appreciate if they leave our school yard alone. Almost every day we play on the field. agree we havea large amount of space but we play there and it means a lot to us. We need a lot of space so we can play soccer. They are not only taking our soccer field but they are also ang ice rinks, baseball dia- monds and cutting down 13 trees. They are doing something wrong Dos RE et eee Ee awe REE ERE et otNORRN Se ME re se because cutting down trees give us less oxygen. We need your help. We need you to help us save out land. The board says they need to sell the land so they will get more money. Of course we need money for our school but we need space to play, too. We won't have all of the fun like we used to have playing soccer. We need space to play and to get exer- cise. Do you realize what they are tak- ing away from Acton children? We disagree with them taking almost half our soccer field. You can try to change the rules if you wish to. Please do ae let en take any of our playground away! Kendall Brown 4/5 BLT - Frances Niblock photo PAINT POWER: This dedicated Smith Bennett school on Saturday crew includes (left to right) Joanne Job, Halton District School Board group spruced up some of the lockers at McKenzie- with a couple of coats of much-needed paint. The work Shuttleworth, Lois Matton, chair Ethel Gardener, Bev Bailie and Heather Christie. Ben Bailie, Susan McPhail The new Georgetown Recrea- tion Centre is over budget? What a huge surprise. The fact that this project will cost 30 per cent more than originally budgeted is sup- posed to be due to higher construc- tion costs for men and material. It strikes me as odd that the financial 'pages are not full of horror stores regarding massive ies in the construction industry. How, after all, could private companies absorb a 30 per cent cost increase and still stay solvent? Unless, of course, you are government and then you just screw the taxpayer a little more. I am wondering if any of the $2.2 million increase is a result of lowballing the original estimates to ease passage through council? Sure, costs have gone up. But 30 per cent? My immediate reaction, asa tax- payer, is not to build the peers right now. What's the rush? If the prices go up 30 per cent because there's a building boom doesn't it follow that they would come down by up to 30 per cent if we waited until the construction companies were a little more hungry and mate- rial more available. Acton Councillor Clark Somervillle was the only elected official reported to have enough common sense to say it was time to chose between doing either this project or the twinning of Alcott Arena. I was disappointed that the other Acton councillors chose to support this unconscionable price escalation even though they had some reservations. I think Coun- cillors Elliott and Bonnette were wrong. I have been suspicious of this project from day one. There is no argument that the new people in en South need recrea- tional facilities. What I don't see is the need to build this type of facil- ity. If we need a pool, why do we have to have two pools? One, a 25 metre pool I assume for competi- tive swimming. The other, a leisure pool - whatever that is. Why a sauna and hot tub? Has any marketing survey been 3 ( Mayor's monument - or folly? ) done to indicate a 250 person ban- quet facility is needed and will, at the very least, break even? I haven't heard any mention of one. I hope this council isn't building this on the premise of - if we build it they will eat. Part of the extra cost is supposed to be covered from the 1999 surplus. This is a lousy idea. In my experience itis bad bey st for a The capital re- serve fund will suffer as will efforts at tax rate stabilization. In the future, we all may have to pay even more pro erty tax to make up this shortfall. So it's pay me now and pay me later. Typi- cal governmental , Another Groped io Resid the Taj M'pool is to use money from the Halton Hills Hydro restructuring to offset the deficit. If this is seriously speaks considered I think the businesses in this town should eo the legality of such an action. If hydro has a sur- plus then it should be returned to its customers. Halton Hills Hydro must not be allowed to become a cash cow dedicated to funding the grandiose schemes of empire building politi- cians. My friends, we have to say enough some time and I think that time is now. Mayor Serjeantson has been pro- moting this project from the first. She pushed for council to accept the re- vised plans and the additional 30 per cent cost. She seems convinced the community expects council to do a good job which we can be proud of. I think that sentiment is cl ip. L ex- pect the town to provide the services and facilities we need at a reasonable cost. This council seems to have missed, or is ignoring, the trend over the past five years where government tax less. Right now they are saying we'll have to pay an extra $19 oe: for 10 years, just for this project alone. I'll bet the real costs will be even higher. Remember, these estimates are done by the same folks who are now looking at a 30 per cent budget increase before shovel one is in the ground. Eight dollars of that increase is for debenture costs aod some- thing euphamisti ed "op- erating costs." Does this mean that they know now that this facility is going to lose money to the point where it needs'a special levy over and above what we already pay for Parks and Rec? If so, isn't it financially imprudent to forge ahead and build a white elephant? A final observation. The twin- ning of Alcott arena is $300,000 over budget. In other words, the overage alone would have fixed Acton's old arena. The town di to be fair, throw in $20,000 for the Agricultural Society to build re- placement structure. Draw your own conclusions. I think the Council's decision to spend $560,000 for a new lobby at Alcott but removed $520,000 to repair and expand the parking lot volumes about their priori- ties. It's all about optics, isn't it? The people using the twin arena won't mind substandard parking at fies can stand around the feelin, -- rites keer rst things first. You can't have a decent ribbon cutting in a parking lot, can you? If just wouldn't be civilized. One's Latte would get cold. took Tomorrow being St. Patrick's Day, it would be entirely out of character for me not to wish each and every one of you the happiest and nest day ever. My gift to you is this Irish blessing. "May there always be work for your hands to do. May your purse al- ways hold a coin or two. May the sun always shine on your window- pane. May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain. May the good Saints protect ye and the devil ne- glect ye. May the hand of a friends always be near you and may God Jill your heart with gladness to cheer you." of Erin go braugh! WHAT'S YOUR REEF? Put it in a letter to the Editor! Deadline is Tuesday at noon.