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

The Acton Froe Press Wednesday November OUR READERS WRITE School fosters knowledge of God Dear sir In reply to the letter in last week Free Press in the column Our Readers Write I mean the one Signed concerned ratepayer First let me get If off my chest that he seems concerned not only with therateshehastopay but also he seems concerned about his good name Why else did he not sign his name to such a letter Secondly he sees the beginning of another separatist movement in Acton as well as all over Ontario The Christian School is not meant as such Not only for the DutchCanadian as the concerned ratepayer thinks but open to every child whose parents wish to send them there Then why are there only a few Canadian children found in these schools For the simple reason that it is very expensive to send your children to these Christian schools Most people either cannot or will not sacrifice to the tune of approximately a year We all know that in very few public schools is there any actual Christian education given We are not trying to bring up our children separately from other Canadians We are simply trying to bring up our children to have knowledge of God and make them realize that God Is not meant to be hist no matter whether we go to school or to work in a factory or do the dishes and the vacuuming in the house Sure we want help from the government The money we pay out for education is money which could be well used otherwise Canada is a democratic country and yet it Is one of the few democratic countries that has only one schooling system Eighty five countries and three Canadian provinces have a public and a Christian school system so parents can send their children to the school of their choice The concerned ratepayer thinks the taxes for schools will go up if we should receive govern mental support Most likely taxes would go up some but he might do well to remember that had these children been going to public schools all along his taxes would in all probability have been higher all along and longer ago The government counts on a certain amount of money to educate each child All we wish for Is to channel that amount to the school of the parents choice public or Christian Yes we are happy we have come to this country but we like anyone else are not getting anything for nothing We work for every penny we get In that I consider ourselves to be good Canadians and not separatists A Christian school Is not our way of preserving our cultural or religious heritage but it Is our way of trying to raise children who will love and know about God so that when they grow up they will not be separatists but Christian Canadians Yours sincerely An also concerned ratepayer Mrs John Does anyone really care i I have lived around here for 15 years So feel entitled to speak as I see It I have two teenagers myself claim to no other distinction than trying to show right from wrong which gets harder every day when they see what the majority of people are really like What has happened to us as human beings The young people seem to take second place with most parents who are so busy grubbing and paying and trying to get ahead of the next one they don have tune to even care what their children are doing as long as they don bother them What Is in our town for the young ones who are our future generation It has been an uphill fight for me all my adult life but what I was taught by my parents has stood by me I was a rebel too but could always talk everything over with them and have tried to do the same tor my children But how can they come to you if you push them away What do we have in our town to keep them in and off the streets What else Is there for them except riding around in cars some their parents and looking to see what they can do next to show off to the other fellow their disregard for right find wrong The community as a whole has fallen short somewhere Even our Churches have changed or have they Just given up Why are the parents today not getting any respect or love Their fault You have to earn it to receive It and live it to teach it Like a lot of small communities a few people seem to take over here and the rest sit back and do nothing but complain and find fault Why Are you too busy lazy or indifferent to care Why don t you do something before it Is too late Granted it is much easier to drift with the tide then fight but the tide goes out sometime then what We as parents were given a trust When you are asked by the One who gave it to us what did you accomplish with the life given to your care what will your answer be Sorry I really don t know I was too busy with other things Wake up we are almost at the end of the slide and no one is there to catch us The mast precious thing life we were given we didn t have to buy it What have you done with your gift Or does anyone really care Mother of Four Catholics ask equal opportunity Dear Sir In a letter appearing In the Free Press on Wednesday October a concerned ratepayer very strongly opposes tax support for Dutch schools However In doing so he very unjustly attacked the efforts of Roman Catholic parents and their children throughout Ontario who are seeking financial assistance for our schools to the end of Grade This writer remarked that our Separate Schools are hoping to achieve through persistence and harassment what reasons and logic would deny them This could not be farther from the truth What the Catholic people of Ontario are asking for Is Equal educational opportunity which Premier Roberts himself declared to be one of the aims of his government In this province The right of the Roman Catholic Separate School System to be in existence Is guaranteed by the British North America Act because Catholic schools were part of the common school system in existence at the time of Confederation This right is not questioned by our government However financial support tor our Catholic high schools Is limited to elementary grants for students in Grades and 10 nothing for students in Grades and Also no municipal tax dollars are available to Catholic high schools All secondary school taxes support only the public high schools The financial burden on our Catholic people increases year after year We are asking the government to recognize our rights as found In law In the Province of Ontario We are not asking the unreasonable or the Illogical We have today students In our separate school system In Ontario more than onethird of the Ontario student body Is It not reasonable that the education of these students be completed in the same system in which it began By harassment of the government I wonder if the author of this statement refers to something like the Rally held on October 25 at Maple Leaf Gardens Toronto in which over 20 Catholic young people united In showing their concern for the future of Catholic education in this province They demonstrate with physical violence or property damage They were young adults con of the Importance of their cause enthused by the experience they had shared through their years spent In our Catholic schools We are persistent yes because we feel our separate school system is forming young men and women concerned with their responsibilities as of Canada and also as committed Christians Andlsthlsgoingtohaveadlvlsiveeffect our society Will it separate our Catholic people from other peoples I think not It will prepare them we hope to make the greatest contribution possible to church and country The Ontario Catholic School Trustees at the request of the government have devised a workable solution to this problem without adding extra burdens to the taxpayer We await the government response to this solution I sympathize with the concern of the Dutch people and with many other parents who feel that religion should not be excluded from the school However our situation is different in that minority groups which had no rights and privileges in would require special legislation We have those rights by law We ask that they be respected Yours sincerely Rev Mike Bennett Walkerton Ont Actononly folks the same The Editor The Acton Free Press Dear Sir a recent visit to Acton my old home town I was quite taken back for a little while to find the old post office gone Although we get the Fret Press every week we have lived In Gait for years and knew from the paper that the old building was to come down It was a bit of a shock to act what a change It has made to the main street from every angle We all look forward to progress no matter where we live but somehow when we live some other place for a while and comeback to visit we naturally look for the old landmarks we knew and loved so well for many years With this In mind the following lines describe those feelings ONLY THE FOLKS ARE JUST THE SAME The old town clock is gone for good No one every thought It would looked and looked I turned my head There s Just a bank now there instead A new new school to learn the Rule Still Golden altho they changed the school Reading riting and rithmetic have changed a bit Its mathematics now with all the The old home church to quite a few Where we gathered the sheaves and sang for you Has long since gone but In its place We have a brand new home of Grace There was a factory on the Bower It gave a living hour by hour Mitts and gloves to warm our hands Now we mail our letters at a brand new stand It boasts traffic lights to direct your way The cars drive fast too fast for me But watch your step youll stub your toe sidewalks are in a h of a hole Only the folks are Just the same Old friends always pleased to call your The old town spirit and happy smiles Still greet you no matter how far you travel the miles Yours very truly Kitty Mrs AN HONOR GUARD from the Lome Scots Regiment stands reverently before the Mill S t cenotaph during Sunday ceremonies to honor those who paid the supreme sacrifice in two wars Sundays brilliant sunshine made perfect weather for the annual ob Staff Photo Sugar and Spice by bill smiley I have just got home from something as rare and delightful as a personally con ducted tour of Buckingham Palace a teachers staff meeting that lasted only half an hour This is equivalent to building the Pyramids in three weeks Meetings as such are a particular annex In hell for anyone who has been in the newspaper business and attended at least one and sometimes two every working day of the year Ninety five per cent of meetings are unnecessary uncnlightenlng and productive They arc the refuge of bores of both sexes who take out their personal frustrations by frustrating everyone else These people have their little Raising points of order moving amend merits to the motion and haggling for in terminable times over items that could be solved in eight seconds by a thrceycarold with two heads Occasionally a meeting produces sparks a clash a conflict of personalities or ideas that 1il1U the Stygian gloom I well remember one town council meeting One of the councillors somewhat the worse for something or other called one of the other councillors a gibbering old baboon A race thrust Hcwasn ttoofaroffthe mark but was In no condition himself to hurl such charges party promptly started peeling off his jacket and offered to thrash the other within an inch of your life The other councillors and even the mayor quailed Chiefly because both councillors were well Into the seventies I might add that the only blood shed was verbal But that was a meeting Staff meetings are not quite that bad but they inevitably produce in me a headache so fierce that only a great dollop of some sedative beverage can allay it I ve seen adults for half an hour over the chewing of gum Where it could be chewed when it should be chewed and how it should be chewed open mouth or closed The only result was that the kids went on blithely chewing gum wherever whenever and however they could get away with it Deep moral social and psychological issues are Involved In a problem of this magnitude Is gum bad for the teeth What do you do If you send a kid to the office he removes his gum on the way and swears angelically that It was the teacher imagination that he was really chewing his cud sheer nervousness Is It better for the student to chew gum than to chew his fingernails down to the blood 20 Years Ago Taken from the issue of the Free Press Thursday November The annual memorial ddy service was held Saturday morning at the cenotaph of Acton soldiers who gave their lives was read by Legionnaire A Mills Three members of the Legion Comrades Thos Mason Earle Davidson Kenneth Mackenzie have also passed on nee the last Remembrance Day Charge was given by Lieut M More and wreaths were placed by Mrs ribbons Reeve Tyler Ben Bavliss Mrs J Wolfe Mrs A Mrs J Wilds Mrs I Davidson and Shepherd Norman sounded the Last Post and Reveille The Bojs and Girls bond and Rev G pronounced the benediction Ihe parade moved on to the Presbyterian church where the service was continued with Rev Armstrong Capt Rev Currey and Rev G Luxton taking part The Legion choir under the direction of Legionnaire George Musselle led the singing Mr J M who was a president of Acton Legion for nine years was in town especially for the Remem brance service He is also an ex Warden and a former Reeve Blow s Foundry has two dew sections each 2Q feet feet Alter due consideration the Public Utilities Commission accepted the ap plication of Mr D Mason as Hydro Superintendent Mr Bennett president and general manager has announced the appointment of Mr Wesley J Beatty as assistant general manager of and Co Mr has been with Beardmore years 50 Years Ago Taken from the issue of the Free Press Thursday November Armistice Day last Thursday dawned with the first bright sunshine November has for a week and for the ceremony the was dry and pleasant The unveiling ceremonies in connection with the hand some and substantial monument com menced at The or pupils were paraded from the school grounds by Acton Citizens Band Before delivering the chairman address Capt read letters of regret from Premier Drury and Judge Elliott On the committee of five wnich made the irranements were Gray who was absent and recovering from illness Mrs Hdvill Mrs Murray MacDonald Councillor Arnold and himself A large union choir sang Kipling Recessional Hymn The important ceremony of unveiling was performed by Col Boak chief of staff of the Military District The monument was enshrouded In an immense Union Jack Representatives of the Masonic Oddfellows and Sons of England Lodges the VA Daughters of the Empire Junior Daughters John Brown and family Messrs Beardmore and Co and the Acton Tanning Co silently deposited wreaths of flowers Major Rev Burch chaplain Soldiers Civic Re Establishment made the dedicatory address The relatives of the fallen heroes were scaled on the terrace before the monument and a large company of citizens and visitors assembled in the rear The Last Post and Reveille were sounded and Rev I M Meyer offered prayer Jesus wore longhair and a beard dldnt he How do you counter this one a favorite by the way among male student s Do you say well uh Jesus THROW THAT GUM IN THE BASKET Or would you say OK Buster turn that blackboard into an board This particular staff meeting was about wearing slacks Human experience has showed that girls will wear whatever other girls are wearing And girls these days are wearing slacks They are comfortable they tan look smart they are warm in our frigid winters they prevent boys from peeking up the stairs as the girls ascend In mini skirts and they have probably contributed more to containing the population explosion than the old fashioned nightdress Anyway I expected a marathon About three hours They can wear slacks but only once a week They tan wear slocks but they blue leans Nobody In my class is going to wear slacks If it s all right for the boys to wear blue jeans why can t the girls And so on It was fantastic but the openly and bluntly expressed feeling of the majority was that eirls be allowed to wear whatever was In style And that was that One commercial teaeher who could have been expected to come down heavily on the side of no slacks said she didn care if they wore fig leaves as long as they were neat and tidy I like to hear what you think about long hair fcirls wearing slacks and all the other things that were unacceptable in our day Drop a line 75 Years Ago Taken from the Issue of the Free Press Thursday October 1895 A couple of lawsuits of a private nature ore disturbing the residents of Rockwood They have not been settled as yet King the professional bridge jumper leaped from the bridge into the Hudson river i distance of 212 feet He is probably fatally injured The usual silly Hallowe ens pranks were played by youths who are usually very chary about over exerting themselves at any useful employment Burglars visited Milton last week The night watchman t catch them A wolf skin robe was token from a buggy in the Methodist church shed last Sunday presumably mistake THE ACTON FREE PRESS found ml mi IH MCW ul IT