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THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 2004 THE NEW TANNER .- 5 pau FIT NUTS: Both Acton elementary schools received recognition from the Canadian Association for Health, Physical/Education, Recreation and Dance for their school physical education program. Fewer than one per cent of Canadian schools received the Diamond Award (the highest level) this year for providing their pupils with a minimum of 150 minutes of quality daily fitness per week. Less than three per cent earned the Platinum Award, (the second level). At the Board's June 9 meeting, Dusty Papke, right, Director of Education for the Halton Board presented the Association's Diamond Award to Robert Little school representatives left, from the left, program coordinator teacher Marie Burland, principal Don Warren, physical education teacher Leslie Chateauvert and pupils Stephanie Mullin and Tyler Gerrits. Right, Papke presented the Platinum Award to McKenzie-Smith Bennett representatives, from the left principal Elsa Stolfi, physical education teacher Megan Reid and pupil Travis Gerrits. Photos by Robert Gerrits = GRAPEVIN BRUNCH TIME The last Acton Community Brunch before the summer break is Sunday, (June 27) at the Acton community centre/arena. In exchange for helping the Kinette Club of Acton cook, serve and clean up at the brunch, mem- bers of the Acton Seniors' Centre will share in the proceeds from $5, the all-you-can-eat buffet. - 'Rinette 'spokesperson Patti Van Den Enden said a number of local groups have already signed up for brunches in the fall because it is such a good fundraiser, for every- one. "Instead of the Kinettes giving donations to some of these groups, they come and volunteer and share the proceeds." ; The brunch runs from 9:30 a.m. to | p.m. The brunches resume September 26. DON'T BANK ON IT Persistent rumours that the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) was planning to open a branch in the Acton East plaza are as phony as a $3 bill. "We are not opening a branch in Acton," RBC public affairs spokesperson Sonya D' Agostino emphatically said last week. POT-BELLIED PIGS? The political debate over whether Vietnamese Pot-Bellied pigs should be allowed in urban Halton Hills will continue next week when councillors deal with a staff report that says the Town's Responsible Pet Owner's bylaw should not be amended to permit the pigs to be a as domestic pets. Currently the pigs are deemed to be an exotic animal, and are only allowed to be kept on landzoned for agriculture purposes. Acton's Paula Shirley raised the issue last year when she asked why it wasn't legal to her to keep a Pot- Bellied Pig at her home. HABITAT HELP Officials with Habitat for Hu- manity Halton (HFHH) are "as- tounded" by the generosity of.the Acton community who have come forward so far with offers of goods and services to help build a HFHH house on Crescent Street. "We can't believe how generous and helpful Acton is," said HFHH executive director Joanne Martin. on Monday. Martin said they hope to:have se-. lected a partner family for the Acton house before the end of July -- there was a family information night last night (Wednesday) in Acton -- and Martin said they had initial contact with 10 families who thought they might be eligi- ble for the program that offers an interest-free mortgage in exchange of 500 hours of "sweat equity." STITCHERY CONTEST There will be some fine stitchery on display during the Viewer's Choice Contest at the Needle Gnome on Mill Street during July. Everyone who enters a stitched item, ready for display, before June 30, receives a 20 per cent off cou- pon for participating in the eighth . annual event. During July, visitors to the store will be asked to vote for their fa- vourite piece of work, and the top three winners will receive $50, $35 and $15 gift certificates, and their names will be added to a plaque in the store. Questions? Call 853-5245. GOLDEN CELEBRATION Happy 50th wedding anniver- sary to Acton businesswoman Jo Lister (Wetherby's) and husband Wayne, who will celebrate half-a- century of wedded bliss on July 1. The couple celebrated with a pre-anniversary trip to England and France, and will mark the day with their family. : CORRECTION Acton's Jennifer Ellis, not her sister Heather, received her Canada Cord at a recent Guiding ceremony. The New Tanner regrets the error. a While up north last weekend, I got to thinking about some of the things we have lost during our mad rush to create a faster, bigger world. I'm not sure if all this came about because of.a rush of senti- mentality or I was just maudlin. This has been a tough year In my primary business. Many small gift stores didn't make it through the SARS crisis last year. Re- cently, one of the old large gift wholesalers went under. That changes, not necessarily for the, better, in the way we do business. I don't know where my love of reading came from. I suspect it had something to do with an ex- ceptional teacher I had in high school Father Mohan was one of those gifted individuals who could make a book your friend. What- ever the cause, it resulted in a house full of books and the whole family with our noses in our lat- est tome. I miss bookstores. I'm not talk- ing about classics where you can get a book,.a coffee and possibly a grease job and oil change. These are book supermarkets. I mean the old, small, often dusty bookstores. One of my first selling jobs was with a book distributor. I had a compact little territory. I travelled from the Manitoba border to New- foundland. I met some incredible people. Toronto people will remember Britnells Bookstore downtown. . This was the class act of Canadian bookstores. You could find, or they could get, almost any title you wanted. Famous authors could often be found wandering through the stacks. I met Pierre Berton one day while he was browsing for a weekend read. My favourite stores, though, weré the smaller ones out in the provinces. I fondly remember Dicks and Company on Water St. in St. John's, Nfld. While the store was one af the oldest in Canada, it had been opened by the Bowrings in the days of sailing ships, it was the owner, George Baggs, who gave the store its char- acter. The first time I met him he threw me out of the store with the observation "Just what we need -- \ another GD. mainlander." My 'prompted me to think about the Gone but not forgotten! sin? I called in on a Monday when the store was closed. Later we be- came good friends. Dicks and -- Company had a phenomenal nau- tical section. Canada's. oldest bookstore was "Hall's" in Fredericton. The store was presided over by Marguerite Hall, the granddaughter of the founder. Miss Hall, she was ancient when I met her, had a love and an encyclopedic knowledge of the publishing industry. You could ask her about any topic or title and she would tell you if the book was in or out of print. If she had a copy. among the thousands of books in her shop (note: not store) she could tell you exactly where it was. Those books you see, weren't in- ventory. They were her friends and when you bought one she was shar- ing that friendship with you. There were so many great book- stores. I recall going into Quebec City selling English books with my limited French. I think that's prob- ably what I miss most. Booksellers across the country were knowl- edgeable, dignified and always genteel. Today, we can go on the internet and buy a book without even speaking to a real person. It's faster, I suppose, but it's not for me. If you do go into today's bookstore chances are the clerk can't tell you where the washroom is without checking with the computer. This is progress? I miss the old soda fountains that were often found in drugstores. Of- ten, they had a marble counter and high, swivel sets. I swear I can still taste my first banana split. In later years they usually had light lunches which were tasty and in- expensive. Now we get plastic trays and food but we can drive -- thru and not waste any time. If you ask to-day's druggist about banana splits, they'd probably gell you how 'have we lost more than we gained? = bad all those, calories are for you| and suggest a low-cal, sugar free, artificial taste, high fibre snack. Thanks, I'll-stick with banana splits. I miss the days when service sta- tions actually provided service. We're lucky here, Toth Motors is close to the old service station model which is why I deal there. When your car is going bang, clank, whirr, does it really make you feel better to know you can " ee al ES mem with your gas? Often, I'Il pull into a service station looking for direc- tions to a store and be met with a blank stare and the offer to.sell me a map. My Dad had a service sta- tion in Toronto and I remember what we used to do for our cus- tomers. Compare that to to-day when some places charge you for air. When my car won't start on a frigid February morning I don't want to hear that the muffins are still warm at my local gas station. As I said at the beginning: I don't know if I was maudlin or just sentimental. But in our rush to make everything more efficient Don't even get me started on voice mail. Perhaps the answer is quite simple. Maybe I' m just getting old and crochety. Naawwww! I'm sure you've heard that the fight to save the Georgetown hos- pital is still on. To-day (Thursday) a rally was held at Queen's Park. Political pressure is the only way we are going to win this fight. And fight we must. We need more doctors in Acton. Closing the obstetrics .and pediatric wards in Georgetown will make attracting doctors that much harder. Ambulances take emergency patients to Georgetown from Acton so women's and chil- dren's health is a real issue here. There's a new website which makes it easier to contact the ap- propriate ministers. Please get involved. The website is: www.savethegeorgetownhospital.ca. ~If you don't have a computer, the library has free public comput- ers and a friendly helpful staff. While you're there -- pick up a book. Marguerite Hall would approve/