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Free Press Wednesday September Editorial roots are heard PERFECT SETTING for wildfowl is the 500 acre reservoir point before the annual flight south This Hungarian Pointer is lake at the Game Hundreds of ducks aware thedeepunderthese logs already are using the sit foot deep reservoir is stoppingoff Staff Photo Sugar and Spice by bill smiley Don worry Not me I hope to live for at least two or even three years more But I sometimes wonder what I would do if 1 were told that I had one year to live dlikeyoutothinkaboutwhit you would do Tins is not a new theme but it always an interesting one when it comes up in fiction or philosophy or just a plain Bubtest lt suppose Suppose have been to the doctor and have learned that you have a fatal illness make tip our own and will die in approximately one year You won t be sick or in pain until the last hour and you II go out quickly How would you spend that year What you would do would reveal very what sort of person reall are behind that fa that most of us wear daily would be the initial shock of course Humans have some weird idea it they are Immortal until they f are stricken by some deadly illness But after the shock wore off Then we see a separation of the men from the the sheep from the goats Some people would becom constant Why does God have to do this to me I contributed to charity And so on Some of these would become so bitter they urn against God their friends and relatives A pretty sour way to go Some would be so depressed they would crack up mentally and become vegetables Others would adopt a fatalistic Their would be If I m gonna go I eonna enjoy it They would escape into alcohol sex not necessarily in that order Some people would become instant Christiansorfthatever They would be filled with a terrible fear of the after life and would spend their 12 months on their knees in church and desperately doing good works in an effort to make up for all the bad works they had done in the rest of lives Now not one of us gentle reader would ill into any of those classifications is where would we fall first decision I would make would be not to waste one second of that year If every second in the vear were used fully the one it could be more rewarding than all the previous ones put together Next I would make a superb to love my neighbour as myself This is a tough one In the first place it extremely dlf ficult to love oneself Most of us seem to but many of us secretly despise ourselves In the second place some of us have appalling neighbors we don t But I have a good whack at it not as a hedge to make sure of getting through those pearly gates but because I believe in it Good old love My first action would be to divest myself of all material possessions except a tooth brush and a few clothes Would even git rid of my razor Die proceeds I t give them to the poor The hell with them they can go on welfare and it would be only a drop in the bucket anyway And I wouldn leave them to my family either They could go to work for a change at a tune to the screams of anguish from on lookers That would be cutting the umbilical cord of the system and I be free for the first time in many years Then don the knapsack pick up the begging bowl a wooden salad bowl and take off I see every inch of Canada I could see And I would savor every sight sound taste touch and smell even whiskey breath and onions I could come in contact with in this most wonderful of worlds Might die in a ditch but what the difference How about you Put down carefully and briefly what you think you would do with a year to live Send it to your local editor I d like to reprint some of your ideas Hey I might even get a divorce remarry and make some other woman life miserable for a year Just an terthought Musings from the Editors desk connected with the reception and retirement of Father J Margin in the last few weeks ilwasnotonlj revealing but gratifying to set the response of people of vanousfaiths to iman who has been closely connected with the town and district for over JO There was genuine fondness and respect for a man of the cloth who believes that the first and greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as Contrast this with the and in tolerance hatred and fighting which marks the present struggle in Northern Ireland and it makes one that these ancient quarrels and misunderstand ngs ire a thin of the past here father Morgan has left his mark on his parish where herald Mass twice each Sunday and most weekdays when possible and on the people of this community as well He of ten remarked that two parishes he ministered to during most of his active and Acton bore a phonetic resemblance as he applied the lessons of the seminary training with leal During his tenure here the many changes in the Catholic Church started at Vatican and then given to to bishops and pnests of dioceses around the world to implement Unlike some parishes when alterations were immediately introduced Father Morgan made the necessary changes They t all have been easy the liturgy and ceremony of the pre- Vatican church were beautiful and meaningful to the priest and parishioners and carried with them the weight of tradition which reached back in instances to the times of the apostles Father Morgan is essentially a man who believes in reducing complicated issues and problems of the tunes to simple terms so ordinary people can understand them His sermons reflected this view A local lady of another faith attending the reception given by his parishioners looked over the throngs anxious to wish this priest many more good years in retirement and remarked It is easy to see who is liked and respected in this town It is also easy to see why the purchaser of a fairly new car rcccntl we were more than interested in an article which Jack Holmes brought In for us to peruse advocating a change in the law to drive out dishonest dealers and make the buy in of a car no more unpleasant than the purchase of a refrigerator CI pped from the Toronto Star the irticle contends the present of buying cars makes it virtually impossible for a consumer to get a clear idea of what he will on a trade and often he cannot even cover the proper price for a new car with the options he wants Our experience bears out much of what the article says although after a few trips further afield to compare prices and selling methods it was obvious that dealers In town and district were much more obliging and honest in their dealings than the larger more impersonal firms Dealers here gave us a price without too much quibbling and appraised the possible tradein realistically without promising returns which would later be rescinded when it came to the cold hard bargaining about money In one outside dealership encountered however we went through two salesmen and the assistant sales manager and came away feeling very unsatisfied and suspicious of the system It seemed the aim of the salesmen was to get your name on an offer to purchase at any price and then to work from there Our reluctance to sign anything until we knew how much we could expect to get for a tradein and how far down the car dealer would go for his product was a source of annojance to the salesmen As they exerted more pressure we became more stubborn and despaired of ever working out any kind of a deal on that system This article by Robert Brow says a few simple changes in the law could make the buying picture more appetizing to the public He suggests it would be necessary to separate by law the two transactions involved in the trade Any contract that included both the sale and purchase of a car or an exchange price would be Illegal This would cut out a large amount of the horse trading and hidden pricing that confuses and upsets the car buyer And the prospective buyer could sell his old car wherever he could get the best price Second he suggests every place of business licensed to sell new cars should be required to post a list for that business day including various options Dealers should be allowed to raise and lower prices from day to day advertise special sales and so on but any deals made during the day should be according to the price list of the Third suggestion was that every used car for sale should have a price tag attached which a customer can see with a list of all the equipment on the car And if the buyer could get credit for the sales tax on the used car which he has sold These changes in law would rapidly drive the dishonest dealers out of business insists Mr Brow and the best car dealers would be able to do business in the honest way they prefer Salesmen could give a straight answer instead of evading direct questions with phrases such as Make me an offer The suggestions do sound feasible and if they could do anything to take the sting out of buying a car would be worthwhile both from the viewpoint of the customer and the many dealers who would prefer to play it straight How closely do Government of in Queens Park and Ottawa watch editorial comment and reports in weekly newspapers Aurora mayor Dick Ellingworth told members of the Ontario Weekly Newspapers Association that various department hcids in both governments give weekly newspapers careful And he his proof Addressing OWNA members at their annual golf tournament at Aurora last week Mayor told of a phone call he received from the Department of Environment in Toronto shortly after he and his council visited Acton to inspect the town water pollution control plant Did you really mean all those things you said as they appeared in Acton Free Press the enquiring voice wanted to know Having been mailed a copy of the Free Press himself the mayor was in a good position to reply Of course I meant them he told the caller and I wis quoted correctly During the plant tour the Aurora mayor told the I ree Press that Aurora had four more years to go before a contract with a leather company was terminated which made it mandatory for the town to accept all the plant Odors he said are not a problem exclusive to Acton Aurora also had two other phnts which contributed to the problem there Government officials were apparently very much interested in what he had to say on the town problems proving of course that comment from the weeklies can reach the nght ears and often does Too often perhaps residents of the smaller towns and rural areas feel they are hamstrung when it comes to making their opinions known figuring government circles listened only to the large centres and the high circulation daily newspapers This helps to dispel that impression and we know for a fact that the various members of Parlia both provincial and federal keep a close eye on the weekly news- pipers in their ridings Government realies larger centres and newspapers hive no prerogative on ideas or informed opinion 130 jobs are lost It seems a now that the Mason Knitting Co has closed its doors after years of operation in Acton building is for sale and although a few employees were called back for inventory disposal the town has lost about jobs is a result of the firm bankruptcy Financial difficulties of the company came to a head in May of this year when the Bank of Nova Scotia enforced Section 88 of the Banking Act which allows a bank to make claims igainst inventory when accounts receivable ire used as collateral for loins Inventory of the comiany wis seized and sold by the firm of Donald and Co acting for S Whitehead an igcnt employed by the Bank of Nova Scotia Bankruptcy was declared in the latter part of June and so a company which grew with the town and provided steidy employment for over years will close its doors Unfortunately the plight of the company followed by a few months with the firm of and Sons Limited of Dundas plant was closed which makes the score now It is impossible to list the economic other effects of the shutdown and subsequent bankruptcy Jobs lost ire mainly positions held by women creating an even worse dearth of job situations in a town which has few enough is it is money from the piyroll most of which went back into the economy of Acton is lost although certain percentage of employees have found positions elsewhere Many others have not yet found jobs to replace steady work at the Acton company They must rely on un employment benefits which dry up after a yeir According to information supplied this newspaper the company s demise was hastened by a lack of working capital If it had been available it is quite possible this long established well known firm could have kept going One concerned citien suggested to the Press that if the money which the unemployment insurance people must hand out to employees of Mason Knit had been used for an infusion of capital instead of benefits the company could have kept working it is quite likely they would have the money returned from profits and they would have 130 fewer unemployed to worry about That certainly makes sense providing of course the firm has careful management Mason Knit has a long history of solid capable management in a very competitive industry when it was under the ownership of the Mason family It naturally makes one suspicious of large conglomerates and consolidations including the quality of management when a firm folds up a few years after they have acquired control New helmet standards overdue The recent revelation by the Canadian Standards Association about the shock absorbing qualities of hockey helmets will send chills down the spines of parents with sons who love to play hockey CSA- say that many materials used now to make helmets look protective really have no shock absorbing qualities at all Good news however has come from examination of the various sports helmets Now expects to produce the first draft standard for helmet manufacturers time for the next hockev season need for a standard was brought home forcefully again when a lb yearold Toronto schoolboy was killed when struck by a puck on the left side of the head below the temple This tragedy prompted CSA technicians to reexamine methods of testing head protection The old method of dropping a weight form various heights on the top of a dummy is inadequate It cannot measure force on other parts of the head This is why engineers are investigabng more sophisticated test equipment The financial Post says the upgrading of materials to absorb shock will be the first step towards greater safety on the hockey rink The next should be to insist that all players pros and amateur either wear the helmets or stay on the bench years ago Taken rem the Issue of the Free Press Thursday September Oh how it rained The fall fair will go down in history as the wettest event in the of its history The attendance Saturday was not quite half the usual crowd but certainly a loyal group of supporters for such weather The jumping classes took the major part of the program in the arena Friday night The vaudeville features were entertaining Winners in the pie eating contest were Bob Coxe Tom Oakley and Jim Wallman rhcre were over entrants Frecklefaced winners were Bob THE ACTON FREE PRESS PHONE 853 Business and Editorial Office Pat Stern tt Don Dawson and Ricky Ironsides Oldest man present was J Smith formerly of a former president and one of the original directors now of Gait Prize winning babies pictured were Mrs Fred Dunn with John Brian Mrs Roy Wheeler with son Ivan Mr C Land with William James Mrs Lily Higgins with Frances Mary Mrs Wallace Gordon with I inda Diane and Mrs Florence Dunn with Gail Ann Hooshley Donkey baseball made its first appear in Acton and was a huge success due to the sportsmanship of the two captains of the teams McKenne and Mac Sprowl A display by the Arts and Crafts club created a deal of interest There was leather and metal working sewing and tailoring oil painting and weaving Commercial displays were entered by Hassard Radio Manning Electric Earl Van Norman Talbot Hardware T Monument Home Furnishings and the free Press 50 years ago Takrn from the Issue the Free Press Thursday September The showers and cloudy morning yester day did not hinder the merry tune of the turnstile yesterday afternoon at the park when visitors to Acton Fall Fair crowded in As the Free Press went to press before noon to permit the staff to spend the afternoon enjoying the exhibition with the rest of the folks our report of the proceedings of yesterday is deferred to the next issue Rarely has the hall display offered so attractive an appearance and there was a surprisingly large showing of entries The classes fine and decorative arts were fuller than usual It was a matter of much local pride that the entries of Miss Mary K Gibbons young daughter of our townsman Mr Thomas E Gibbons won a large number of prizes in these classes An attractive exhibit was the display of bathroom and kitchen fixtures shown by Mooncy One piece commanded much attention This was the new drinking fountain donated to the town by Acton Women Institute It is a dainty fixture and will be installed jt the Government Building pavement in a few days Among the winners Woodhali Leslie Ann Pearen D West Mrs Kersey Miss Mrs Lowe Mrs Mrs lawson Mrs Bessie Striven Mrs J Myrtle Cook S J Swackhamer W Talbot A O T Beardmore R Allan 75 years ago Taken from the Issue of the Free Thursday September There is much dissatisfaction along the lint of the T with the withdrawal of the midnight train Councils and Boards of Trade at Stratford Berlin and art taking action seeking from the railway authorities the restoration of the train council Monday passed a resolution urging the necessity of increased railway accommodation between Toronto and and requesting that a train leave Toronto not earlier than 10 30 m each evening except Sunday years Mr Frank Worden has been suffering from weak lungs He taught school but the confinement aggravated the trouble and latterly he has been farming with his brother However the insidious disease consumption had securely fastened itself upon his system and the result was in The funeral will take place this afternoon Officer Graham now gets a bout town on a wheel The ex treasurer of Guelph was committed on a charge of embezzling city funds and has been hi Jail ever since Miss of Brampton who returned the other day from a visit to England unfortunate in regard to her luggage By some mischance her belongings were put on an Australian steamer and are now on a three months voyage It may be next spring before she recovers her property fair today and tomorrow at Georgetown