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THURSDAY. MARCH 23, 2000 THE NEW TANNER 15 BIG WINNERS: A trio of young bowlers from Acton's Smurf league walked away with a trophy as big as themselves after winning the Bumper Bowling Classic in Guelph recently. A total of 15 teams of youngsters aged three to six competed in the event. Shown with their trophy are from the left Jasson Lockyer, 3, Kyle Perryman, 6, and Brandon Perryman, 4, photo - Maggie Petrushevsky * At the Lanes y Youth Bowling SMURFS: High single boys - Justin Corbett - 122 ; High single girls - Ashley Daamen - 152. PEEWEES (Saturday): High single boys - Brandon Lockyer - 154; High double boys -Brandon Lockyer - 273; High single girls - Cristina Umbrello - 66; High double girls - Cristina Umbrello - 131. BANTAMS (Saturday): High single boys - Brandon Bennett - 179; High triple boys - Brandon Bennett ~408; High single girls - Tricia Joyce - 155; High triple girls - 387. JUNIORS (Saturday): High single boys - Josh Thompson - 217; High triple boys - Josh Thompson - 553: High single girls - Holly Wiscombe - 243; High triple girls - Cora Ridout - 615. JUNIORS/SENIORS (Sunday): High single boys - Nicholas Glover - 203; High triple boys - Shawn Richard - 462; High single girls - Rebecca Howe - 214: High tri- ple girls - Sara Kruk - 539. JUNIORS (Monday): High single boys Kyle Harding -275; High triple boys - Kyle Harding - 590; High wre girls - Ashley Burnett - 174; High triple girls - Ashley Burnett - 440. PEEWEE/BANTAMS (Tuesday): High single boys - Jonathon Uiterwyk - 187; High triple boys - Jonathon Uiterwyk - 483; High single girls - Samantha Popp - 194; High triple girls - Samantha Popp - 471. JUNDAY YABA: Men's high single - Paul Kavanagh - 262: Men's high triple - Adam McKenzie - 606; Ladies high single - Cathie Ahearn - 349; Ladies high tri- ple - Dar Labombard - 844. MONDAY '55 PLUS: High single men - Shorty Lowinn - 294; High triple men - Dee Deforest - 719; High sin- gle women - Ana Eikerman - 263; High triple women - Annamarie Lowin - 656. MONDAY MIXED: High single men - Tyler Currie - 268; High triple men - ler Currie - 594; High sin- le women -Judy Mitchell - 186; High triple women - Judy Mitchell -553. TUESDAY LADIES: High single - Teresa Uiterwyk - 315; High triple - Teresa Uiterwyk - 722. TUESDAY MIXED: High single men - Williw Moreland - 205; High triple men - Doug Bastell - 559; High single women - Penny irkland - 206; High triple women - Penny Kirkland - 527. WEDNESDAY MAJORS: High single men - Michael Meller - 339; High triple men - Dave Mills - 811; High single women -Lina Wall - 306; High 5 women - Dar Labombard THURSDAY OSO: High single men - Johnny Tomazic - 220 ; High double men - Alan Adey - 374; High single women Tina Marsh - 111; High double women - Tina Marsh - 217. Conserving bi Extinction is forever; once a species is gone, it will never return. Still, life on Earth is remarkably tenacious. Even- tually, another species will evolve to take the missing one's place in its former eco- logical niche. It's part of the earth's cycle of life. Of all the species that have evolved over the past four billion years, it is thought that 99.9999 per cent are now'ex- tinct. The trouble is, evolution moves very slowly. None of us will be around long enough to see new species evolve to replace those that die off to- day - certainly not us as indi- viduals. and probably not even us as a species. That's because it takes about 10 mil- lion years after an extinction event for the biodiversity (biological diversity) of an area to recover. This recovery rate comes from a new analysis of spe- cies extinction in the March 9 edition of the journal Nature. The findings are shocking because it was previously assumed that an extinction event would be immediately followed by a "pulse" of new life as species emerged to fill vacant ecological niches. Pala QL SS 853-2460 In the Glenlea Plaza for your convenience Royal Jug City Niet We now have a fax machine d by David Suzuki However, the new analysis holds that there is first a long lag period of low diversity when ecosystems are domi- nated by generalist organ- isms, like rats and cock- roaches, which are able to adapt to a wide variety of conditions. The reason for this lag is because organisms do not merely fill ecological niches, they actually are ecological niches. They act as evolu- tionary starting points from which many other species can emerge. such as predators and parasites. In this way di- versity begets diversity. Ex- tinction thus implies more than the loss of one species, but also the loss of an eco- logical catalyst and the evo- lutionary potential that goes with it. The diversity lag appears to follow both background extinctions, where a few spe- Cies disappear. as well as macs extinctions - where a great number of species die off. CORWER With Village Constable Bill Riddle Pr. OU HT! ing * Cli . Bathe ipping Styling * Flatbed Service * Lockout Service * Boosting & Gas 853-5848 24 Hour Service' Legal & Topographic Surveys 54 Mill St. E. Tel. 853-2502 Fax 853-1504 Dan C. Dolliver ONTARIO LAND SURVEYOR fi Custom Pipe Bending Lic. Safety Inspection Stn. 17 Agnes St. Acton 853-0900 there, why don't you? odi CONSTABLE RIDDLES NO FREE LUNCH QUESTIONS have come to me again about receiving mail or phone | calls about winning contests. My answer to these questions is always the same: remember there is no such thing as a free lunch. If you did not enter a contest you will not win that contest, so do not be tricked into thinking you are getting something for nothing. If you read the mail you receive telling you you have won something, always read all oft, including the fine print, and be very careful as these letters are always written to confuse you. Further, ifthe letter or phone call requests you to send money to pay the taxes or administration fees, do not do it. If you do you will never see your money again, nor any prize. If you are told to call anumber to see if you have won a prize it will most likely be a long distance call which will end up costing you more than any prize you may get. PHONE BUSTING Ihave received information that the Feder- ated Women's Institutes of Ontario are presenting "Phonebusters", where you can learn about tel- ephone scams and how to stop them. If you wish to attend it will be held on Wednesday, April 12, 2000, at 1.30pm at the Knox Presbyterian Church, 44 Main St. N., Acton. I intend to try and be versity hot spots Scientists know of five such mass extinctions found in the fossil record. The most recent led to the disappearance of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Anearlier extinction, 245 million years ago, eliminated almost 60 per cent of life on earth. Many scientists today be- lieve that we are in the middle of the sixth great extinction, as tens of thousands of spe- cies are disappearing every year, this time as a result of the activities of one species - human beings. Habitat de- struction is the primary cause of extinction, but competition from introduced species, over exploitation from hunting and fishing and pollution are also important factors. That this loss of species will not recover from 10 mil- lion years does not bode well for humanity. A diversity of species on earth is important, not just because of the tre- mendous variety of raw ma- terials they provide, but also because of the services that diverse, healthy ecosystems provide - from cleaning and replenishing our water, to Miauitasting cus sous aia prc viding oxygen. There are ways to stem the tide of extinction. According to researchers in a Feb. 24 ar- ticle in Nature. if we focus conservation efforts on biodiversity "hotspots" we have a much greater chance of preventing the extinction of the greatest number of spe- cies. These are areas of tre- mendous biodiversity that are losing habitat and species at an alarming rate. Researchers have identi- fied 25 hotspots around the world. from the Tropical An- des. to Madagascar and Micronesia. These areas to- tal just 1.4 per cent of the earth's surface. yet are home to as many as 44 per cent of all plant species and 35 per cent of all vertebrate species. According to the researchers, a focussed effort on conserv- ing these hotspots could be the most practical way to save a great number of species. Such an effort is crucial because unless we are able to put the brakes on extinction rates, it is estimated that in this century we could lose between one and two-thirds of all species - making the earth a much lonelier piace for the next 10 million years. JETLINK Door to Door AirportService Tyler Transport Ltd. 379 Queen St.E. 853-1550 PETA Gro PAINT AND 4923 7th Line, Eramosa RR 4 Rockwood Cars and Trucks of = "ty ~--SCsAI: Sizes For a Free Estimate Call: Peter Hargrave Proprietor 856-9356 Braida GS Henry BARRISTERS & Serving the Community for 40 Years 67 Mill Street East Acton 853-1160 SOLICITORS RR. #1 Acton 853-0960 ROAD BUILDING EARTH MOVING Sage Hil: | RY Ae aie + Healthy Exercise MCMC PT CLASSIC KARATE 145 Mill St. E. Mon -Fri 6:30 - 9 PM (519) 853-9967