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THURSDAY, JULY 22, 2004 THE NEW TANNER PEV GRAPI BUCKETS OF BALLS Even bad weather didn't stop golfers who braved drizzle and rain to hit buckets of balls when Acton's new driving range -- Acton Golf Centre -- opened on Thursday at the corner of High- way 7 and Fourth Line. Acton's Shawn Richard was the first customer -- and he then filled out an application for em- ployment at the range that has permission for temporary use for three years. Manager Jason Molinaro, a relative of the owner, says he warns customers that the range is a "work in progress" and pre- dicts in two or three years it will "look like a park." "We plan to build a mini-putt, putting greens and sand traps and make it more of a practice facil- ity, not just a driving range," Molinaro said on Friday, adding they would have been open months ago if it weren't for the wet spring. HAND/FOOT/MOUTH Anecdotally, it seemed like there was an epidemic of hand, foot and mouth disease in Acton recently, but neither of the two Acton doctors seeing patients report an increase of cases of the disease, caused by the coxsackie virus group A, that causes le- sions/open sores on the cheeks, mouth, gums, tongue, palms, fin- gers, and soles of feet. It usually hits kids under 10, and can be tough on adults -- one Acton man was off work for over a week. One doctor at the Georgetown Medical Centre reported an in- crease in cases of the virus, most commonly spread by sneezing. People are contagious for three- to-five days until the sores are healed. Hand, foot and mouth disease is not a reportable disease, so Halton's Health Department had no information on numbers of cases, and has not had an in- crease in calls about the virus. There is no treatment, but pre- cautions include handwashing, proper disposal of contaminated tissue and disinfection of all ar- ticles contaminated with stool, nose and throat secretions. _DRAGOON PICNIC Pepper, the borrowed horse, got quite the workout at the Royal Canadian Dragoons Asso- ciation annual picnic at the Legion on Saturday -- standing still for photos of Dragoons in historical uniforms, walking qui- etly with guests aboard and gallopping wildly along the lakefront with his owner, a former Mountie from Brantford. The Dragoons love the Fairy Lake setting at the Legion and come every year for an afternoon of fun, food and music -- this year supplied by the Acton Citizens' Band with some guest musicians from a York high school band that was having its reunion in Acton. = ACTON CONNECTION There is an unfortunate Acton connection to the house fire death of Linda Amos of George- town last week. : Former Acton, and now Geor- getown resident Shirley McKeown, wife of the last post- master Gordon McKeown -- is the deceased woman's aunt. CAR CRAZY The sixth annual Show'N' Shine -- a fundraiser for the Acton Agricultural Society -- will draw vehicles of all makes, models, years and types to Pros- pect Park on Saturday. The event, which includes viewer's choice awards, sound competition, prizes, trophies and displays by fire and police offi- cials, runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. FOR SALE The real estate agent with the listing for 16-18 Mill Street -- now home to the Acton BIA, a nail salon and two storey apart- ment -- has had several inquiries since the building was put on the market in May. For sale signs went up on the building, listed at $249,000, last week. It is currently owned by two investors who intended to keep it when they purchased it last summer from Acton's John Wong, but they now want to sell it to take advantage of another local investment opportunity. Prospect Park... continued from page 6 dated band shell and unsafe beaches; the only ones who seemed to be using the park were the dogs. The word "Prospect" means hope, future, anticipation and vision. In its current state, our park doesn't seem to fit its name... Prospect park. It's un- fortunate as it is one of our greatest featutes; something unique to Acton. I think the time has come that we start investing in our park. We can all invest. It can be as simple as having your own lit- tle field trip. Why not catch a ball game or have a Sunday af- .ternoon picnic in the park, or just escape all the world's trou- bles and take a stroll through it even recapture your youth and try out one of the swings. You might even be able to reach the clouds. | REMEMBER WHEN: It's Memory Gardens now and looked after by Marg and John Creasey of the Acton Horticultural Society but when this historical plaque was unveiled in front of Acton Public Library back in the 1970s the old stone Acton High School could still be seen in the background. At the unveiling, left, are former MPP George Kerr,Councillor GW. (Pat) Mckenzie, Rev. Andrew McKenzie, Laura Dietrich and first Halton Hills Mayor Tom Hill. On the right are Dr. Frank Oakes, former Acton Reeve, Councillor Joe Hurst, Acton's last Mayor and Councillor Les Duby and a rep. from the Ontario Government. See page 16 for the scene now.- Photo loaned by Max MacSween of the Horticultural Society. Z We've all heard the old adage, "The law is an ass." Lately, our cockeyed justice system seems hell bent on proving that's an under- statement. Consider the following: Martin Ferrier has spent the last 15 of 17 years in jail for more than 63 convictions ranging from rape to forcible confinement and as- sault. He has expressed his serious goals of being like Paul Bernardo and aspiring to be Canada's most prolific killer. His mother is afraid of him and hoped he would re-offend so he can be put "back where he belongs" because "that's the only way peo- ple will be safe." Prison doctors have labelled him an incurable psychopath. During his years in prison he refused all treatment. This psycho was recently re- leased in Brampton. "How so?" you may ask. Why hasn't he been classified as a dangerous offender? Given his history? Why can't we lock him up and throw away the key? Well, friends, this is where our lack of justice system comes in. Ferrier, you see, has never been sentenced to a 10 year term for any one offence. Therefore, he can't be -considered for a dangerous of- fender designation and be sentenced to an indefinite term. The kind-hearted or soft-headed, your choice, might try to point out his crimes couldn't have been that serious. His sentences were short. Not so-oh muddle headed ones. Many of his crimes could have re- sulted in sentences ranging from 10 years to life. In addition, on two occasions, this monster asked for longer sen- tences. In one case he asked the judge to sentence him to 15 years. But no, he always got less than 10. So he ended up on the streets of Bramptorr, an easy half-hour drive from where you are reading this. The good folks in Brampton were not impressed. After being thrown out of a cou- ple of motels, he threatened a reporter in front of police. This, he eee violated his parole. Martin The evil is among us! The Way 1 See It with, Mile OLeawy Ferrier knew he belonged in prison and was immediately sent back there. I'm sure Ferrier's victims ap- preciate that Judge Minoo Khoorshed was upset at sending this poor misunderstood individual back to jail. By the way, the compassion- ate judge sent him back for two years. So the dangerous offender application is still off the table. Methinks it's time we started electing judges or, at least, holding those we do elect responsible for appointing cementheads to the bench. In another recent example of stuff-for-brains on the bench, a cou- ple who beat, starved, caged and degraded their two adopted boys for 13 years were sentenced to nine months. I'm sure you heard the sick- ening details of this case. Even the dope-er-judge said the abuse "bor- dered on torture." The judge must have accepted the parents' defence that the boys were "difficult" ; they both suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome. Granted the two adults were such a mess per- sonally I am shocked they could have been even considered as adop- tive parents. But that's another story. The two parents will be eligible for day parole by October and full parole by next January. That's the penalty for 13 years of the vilest child abuse we' ve heard of in many years. ' These two cases happened in one week. There are similar miscar- riages of justice committed every week across this province and coun- try. Why do we allow it? Need more proof? Next July 6" that pond scum who killed Kristen French, Leslie Mahaffy and her own sister will be released from jail. This cold blooded murderer has been refused early release three a, s times by the National Parole Board. The Board's most recent review concludes that she could still com- mit a crime involving the death or serious harm to another person. She still refuses to accept full respon- sibility for her actions. But, the time specified in her deal with the devil is up so out she will come. Pictures released over the years show she's had a pretty good time at Club Fed: parties, Christmas cel- ebrations, nice dresses and lingerie; tough punishment, eh? In a final insult, Corrections Canada has arranged for her to be released on July 5, 2005. Remem- ber that date, because it should be Leslie Mahaffy's 29" birthday. That's right, our justice system has scheduled this killer's release for what should have been her victim's birthday. Makes you proud to be Canadian, doesn't it? Perhaps this is a project our new MPP Mike Chong might take on. Somehow, that date has to be changed even if it means letting thatb___ out early. The problem with our (in)justice system, as I see it, is that our entire focus is on rehabilitation. Some- where, someone has to have the courage to fight those who have contaminated our justice depart- ment with the attitude that people are not responsible for their actions. There's always some Freudian ex- cuse. While I agree that rehabilitation has a role in the jus- tice system it should not over-ride the penalty for actions considera- tion or the public safety component. : Some people are just evil. We must have sentencing provisions that can take this into cansidera- tion. Things like Leslie Mahaffy's murderer should never be free- Winston Churchill is quoted ob- serving "there is always evil in this. world and it is only a matter of rec- ognizing it. Evil is-one of the absolutes of our existence, yet, the twentieth century has convinced itself that it does not exist. What fools" Have we learned nothing in 60 years? Evidently, not. os,