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

'HURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2003 THE NEW TANNER GRAPEVIN BUCKS FOR CANDY Hey, kids. Eaten enough {allowe'en candy? If you're over your sugar juota, but still have a stash, you an exchange the trick or treat oot for cold, hard cash at the \cton and Rockwood dentist ffices of Dr. Peter Lemiski. Dr. Lemiski will pay $1 per ound -- maximum $2 per child - for any unwanted Hallowe'en 'andy, which he will donate to ocal charities. "Tt (the exchange) is a good way to get it (candy) out of their nouths," Dr Lemiski said add- ng sugar is one of the main sauses of tooth decay. He said parents should super- vise their kid's candy >onsumption and not let them eat it "just willy nilly," and kids shouldn't take Hallowe' en candy '0 school because they can't brush their teeth after eating it. NO SALE Rumours that Acton restaura- teur Amy Yateman_ had purchased the Mill street build- ing housing her Starlight Café are false. In the past, Yateman indicated she'd like to buy the building, but said last week that she had no plans "at the moment." The building has been on the market for the past month. CRAFT SALE The handiwork of over 100 artisans will be on sale on Satur- day, (November 6) at the eighth annual Acton High School craft sale. The work of each of the ven- dors has been juried to ensure top quality and workmanship, Along with the crafts, there will be raf- fles, a bake sale, refreshments and a BBQ lunch. All proceeds will be used to buy equipment for students and the school's athletic teams. Admission is $2 for adults and children under-12 are free. The sale runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. HOUSE TOUR Want to see how the other half lives and celebrates the holidays? Check out the Holiday House Tour being run as a fundraiser for the United Way of Halton Hills on November 22. In the Acton area, stops on the house tour include the Moorecroft home on Church Street, and a residence on 25 Side Road. Along with a number of other homes in Halton Hills, both of those homes will be profession- ally decorated for the tour. Details and tickets are avail- able by calling 905-877-3066. RAD RALLY Reps from the Teen Challenge Farm will be the guest speakers at the next RAD (Radically Ac- ton Different) rally in Acton on Sunday, November 16. The rallies are aimed at teens * to 20-year-olds, but all ages are welcome to come and worship in a relevant way. The rally is at the Salvation Army on Mill Street, beginning at 7 p.m. THANKS TO ROCKWOOD Bethel Christian Reformed Youth Group of Acton want to say a big thank you to the peo- ple of Rockwood whom they canvassed Friday night for food for Acton FoodShare. The youth group is composed of young people from 14 -- 16 year of age and they were followed the next day (Saturday) by the Calvinist Cadet Corps who assisted the Acton Scouts and Guides col- lecting food in Acton. LETTER FOR SANTA Santa Claus parade chairman Bill Spielvogel notes that postal - carriers from Acton Post Office will again be in Santa's parade collecting letters to Santa, all along the parade route. Seven bands will escort Santa into Ac- ton on parade day, Saturday, November 15. Theme for this year's parade is "Christmas Around the World." Children are- reminded to have their letters ready. BAZAARS GALORE The Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire familiarly known by the acronym IODE is hold- ing its Christmas bazaar and tea this Saturday, Nov. 8 from 11:30 -- 2:30 at Knox Presbyterian Church hall just in time to do some of your Christmas shop- ping. There be a bake table, 50/ 50 draw, crafts, a penny draw and more. No wisdom in wisdom... continued from page 8 and my sister visiting dressed as the tooth fairy, complete with gold bridesmaid gown, a wand, a crown and a frozen bag of mashed pota- toes for my eating pleasure. The short-term memory stuff made me a dough-head for almost a week. I couldn't remember things fully and my brain couldn't make sentences properly. Half the time I couldn't remember what I started talking about and the other half it hurt too much to talk. One week later, I returned to the dentist. Still with some discomfort and living on mushy food, he helped my agony by 'packing' my one side with fiberglass that had a built in pain medicine. I told him it looked like mouldy soil. Once. again his bedside manner appeared and he told me it didn't ever look any bet- ter than that. I worried for weeks, but I sur- vived. I was put out, cut up, L-V'd, stitched, fiberglassed and I am no less intelligent for being sans wis- dom teeth. The great news is I never have to do it again. SOUNDS OF WORSHIP: Members of both the Knox Presbyterian children's and seniors choirs performed at the 115th anniversary of the Knox Ladies' Aid on Sunday , November 2.-Ellen Piehl photo. - At the last municipal election only 38.5 per cent of the people in Acton voted for their town councillors and mayor. That's a pretty dismal turn- out. So I got to wondering what it would take to create some real ex- citement around next Monday's municipal vote. I'll bet that if the returning officer gave each voter a $100 bill after you voted, the line-up would start to form early Sunday morning long before the polls opened. The fact is friends, that the proposed tax increase for next year is worth far more than $100 to you. In my case, if the tax increase goes through as proposed, it will cost me an additional $250. That kind of money gets my attention. Premier McGuinty has told us our hydro is going to be more expensive. We already know natural gas is go- ing to cost us more this winter. Does anyone doubt that the price of gaso- line is going to increase once the snow starts to fly? Other than to use less of these necessities there's little we can do to influence our costs. That's not true with municipal taxes. Last week your Acton Tanner printed a precis of the platforms the various candidates for mayor, re- gional councillor and town councillor are running on. (Last week wasn't a blue box collection so that issue should still be around the house.) It will only take about 15 -- 20 minutes to read all the profiles; perhaps a bit longer. The physical act of going out to the polls shouldn't take anyone more than a half-hour, and that in- cludes 'some time to chat with neighbours at the polling station. So, for an hour or less of your time, you have the opportunity to influence the selection of the people who will be running our town for the next three years. That's a reasonable time invest- ment. If you look at what a 10 per mean, it's a decent return for an hour of your time. I've heard all the excuses, mostly oldies but goodies, as to why people don't vote. My favourite has to be "My votes won't change anything." Well duh! If you stay home it sure as Hell won't. Talk about a self-fulfill- ing prophesy. And that assumption is so wrong. For example, we elect two town councillors. In our last election the margin of victory between the \gecond and third place for councillor cent increase in your taxes would Would cash do it? The Way I See It with Mike O'Leary was 100 votes. If only a fraction of the 3,437 voters who stayed home had turned-out, the results may have been very different. % Another favourite excuse for not voting is "why bothier-- politicians are all the same." This year's municipal race shows you just how silly that sen- timent is. Four people are running for mayor. They have different plans, pri- orities and management styles. Eight candidates are in the race for two lo- cal councillor seats. Two are contesting the regional. councillor's seat. In other words, 14 very different people are running for four seats at the council table. "All the same?" Don't be foolish. s ? Another reason I hear for not vot- ing is "I'm busy/I'm working/I get home late." Provincial law requires that you be given four uninterrupted hours to exercise your franchise. I'm not suggesting, especially in this economy, that you demand to get off work early. Still, most employers are aware of their obligations and should be reasonable when approached with 'a request to get you home in time to vote. Polls are open Monday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. I don't know why Canadians have such a casual attitude to voting. It is, you know, one of our most valuable freedoms. I still recall one civil im- age from the first free election in South Africa, after the fall of apart- heid. One old woman had stood in line all day in temperatures approaching 100 degrees F. The dust was swirling around so she was caked in dirt. There was no shade anywhere. The line slowly inched forward. As the cam- era closed in on her face you saw she was soaked with a mixture of sweat and tears. When she spoke she was obviously as excited as a child on Christmas morning. She explained she had left the day before, at noon, to walk to the polling place. She had travelled most of the night, only stop- ping for a few hours rest. The interviewer asked if she shouldn't go indoors and rest. "Oh, no." She said. _ about the rights we treat so casually. Suddenly growing serious, "I've never even dared to hope that one day I would be free to vote for my presi- dent. Nothing will stop me." With that, she turned away cutting off any further discussion. That image is forever burned in my mind and in my heart. We who live in freedom take those very freedoms so much for granted. Every so often it's good for us to be reminded that much of the world can only dream In Canada, we stay home from the polls if it rains. We do get the gov- ernment we deserve. A Canadians have a deserved repu- tation for complaining about our various levels of government. That's understandable, we all work well over six months every year just to pay our various levels of taxation. It's hard not to be bitter and disillusioned. The Bible says we must render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's. I just think we should all have our say so to who the renderer is. : See you at the polls. The Acton Remembrance Day Pa- rade is this Saturday, November 8. Plan to be at the cenotaph by 10:45 to witness the ceremony. If you are in the parade, be at the Post Office by 10:20 a.m. at the latest. While wondering what I would write about in this year's parade I had the TV on in the background. The newsman was going on about how terrible it is that more than 100 U.S. soldiers had been killed in Iraq since the war was declared "officially over". (It's nice they proclaimed that date -- it sure still looks like war to me.) As a nation, we mourn each in- dividual casualty suffered by our troops in Action overseas. What a difference from the days of World Wars | and 2. For one thing, our casualty rates and soldiers cap- tured by the enemy was so much higher. Communications were, of course, so much slower. But the anguish the families of serving soldiers feel today is the same as it was then. The sacrifice made is the same. The bravery of our troops is as honourable. ; Please take a half hour to come downtown and honour the memory of those who paid for our freedoms. Instalment payments on that debt are still being made today. The least we can do is say think you once a year. f