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

Time there was a crackdown Evidence has been speedily produced which shows there are widespread abuses in the country unemployment insurance system shedding a noxious Image on those who administer the funds the government and above all the public Although the Progressive Con have been hammering away at the widespread abuses for years It only now has caught the attention of the liberal Government which must have been aware there were many receiving funds who were not entitled to them Fundamentally the unemployment Insurance is an excellent scheme which should be a blessing to those genuinely unemployed The new scale of benefits made It possible to live better than the hand tomouth existence earlier benefits paid out Unfortunately the new scale of benefits was also the catalyst which unloosed all the freeloaders In the country who found the earlier scale beneath their standard of living They cheerfully gave up jobs and settled in to a life of leisure It only needed to be Interrupted annually for another eight weeks of work which would qualify them for another kick at the cat as the old saw goes This would have gone on indefinitely cat hadn begun to shrink and borrow from its other nine lives just to stay alive Now the Government has started to crack down and finds all kinds of flagrant abuses Some who have lived on the public purse by design are finding their new life style may be difficult if there is no unemployment Insurance cheque to pick up on a regular basis Many of them may even go back to work a shocking experience no doubt if you are used to leisure at the public expense They may find jobs hard to come by We doubt very much If many employers are Interested In the type of employee who would not hesitate to dissolve working ties in favor of free- loading off his fellow employees and all others who pay into the unemployment insurance We suppose there is a bit of larceny In all of us but It does not extend to those who from our personal purse and that is what it amounts to Employers also have to divvy into the insurance fund for the benefit of looters so there Is little sympathy there either Let us not lose sight of the fact however that those who have milked the fund for all it Is worth are still a minority The genuinely unemployed are still entitled to their benefits and cannot be painted with the same brush as the freeloaders Unemployment insurance Is a benefit which has eased much anxiety and carried many people through times of adversity If the Ills of the fund are cured it is still the best buffer against unemployment ever devised in this country We are still convinced the vast bulk of the population of this country wants to earn its daily bread but they may lose their incentive if the federal government does not continue to ride shotgun on the fund Free Press Wednesday March 1973 SATURDAY S FREEZING rain and snow follow up covered This scene taken from the First Line overlooking Fairy Lake the countryside around Acton in a new white blanket and left was typical of the district d Gibbons Photo trees glittering like diamonds when the sun emerged Tuesday Small car market rising This week same random and rambling thoughts on a variety of topics A friend and colleague died yesterday and 1 miss him He was a free soul beholden to none with a mind and a tongue that paid obeisance to no man and no theory He was 111 for a long time but fought like a demon and never gave an inch to encroaching death Since I joined this teaching staff years ago six men teachers all in their forties and early fifties have died Five of them were World War veterans That a pretty high attrition rate There are only six W veterans left on the staff including one lady and one vet of the German army and we re sort of eyeing each other for signs of sudden deterioration Guess we should make a pool winner last alive take all Don t worry I haven a morbid bone In my body I ve already had about years more than a lot of my old mates so life owe me a thing Saturday morning I often grab the chance to sleep in for an extra hour Last Friday night the temperature went soaring up to about Aboutfourajn the word got around among the black squirrels in my that spring had arrived and they went stark staring raving mad All winter they d been pretty quiet with only the occasional Saturday night party complete with drunken fights screaming females bawling kids and acorns rattling around llk bowling balls oil But this week they pulled all the stops I started out of a deep sleep shouting something about the Yanks Invading Canada My wife was cowering head under the covers The males were bellowing like moose The females were chattering like well females The babies were shouting in unison Hey Ha Can we go out We don t We before What it like And all of them running and jumping and skittering and slithering and scuttling right overhead until it sounded like midnight at the Lumberjacks Ball This went on until daylight and so did my wife demands that I do something about it What would you do 1 wasnt going to go up Heart fund appreciates support Dear Sir Heart Month in Canada Is now over and on behalf of the Canadian Heart Fund Ontario Division please accept our appreciation for your cooperation and assistance during our financial campaign in February Our objective this year was and although all returns are not In we are quite hopeful that our objective will be attained surpassed Without willing cooperation in the Ca Heart Fund would not be able to express such an outlook Heart disease Is everyone problem and again our thanks for helping us bring to the attention of the public that research should be everyone s responsibility With best wishes Yours very truly Canadian Heart Fund Ontario Division Esther M Richards Director of Public Relations into the attic and take them on single- handed I was to They sounded like Genghis Khan and his boys warming up for the raping and razing of a There was nothing to do but batten down the hatches that some over zealous little black rodent did not chew through the ceiling and drop on my wife head That would have as they say torn It At dawn the wild subsided a little and I peeked out the window There they were goofing about in the back yard stupidly digging in the snow for acorns looking particularly ratty with their coats The soon realized with disgust that it was not spring at all and returned lip the big cedar flying leap to the vines scrabble up to the hole and back to the attic for a long snooze But the little ones were baffled bewildered and bellgerent They ran around in circles They sank to their ears in wet snow They Indignantly They find anything to eat Had I not heard them talking so often I not have been able to understand But I had And I did I distinctly heard one baby buck squirrel snarling What the hell goes on here We ve been sold a bill of goods THIS is SPRING Where are the luscious bulbs the green stuff the tender shoots We been had brothers Let demonstrate And demonstrate they did loudly and shrilly for the next 12 hours back in the attic berating their elders Can t blame them It must have been a traumatic experience out of the warm womb of the attic into the bleak reality of a March day Some of them I hope will be scarred for life psychologically But I can kick They ve been fairly quiet since aside from a lot of mumbling and muttering among the young ones convinced tike all kids that their parents betrayed them about life Dang it I run out of space I wanted to mention the two baseball pitchers who have swapped not only wives but families present some startling spring poetry and discuss the abysmal stupidity of the Department of Education out there no room Why do I let squirrels loom so large In my Although car watchers are probably aware the familiar Volkswagen beetle has been replaced by North American and Japanese small cars as the popular method of transportation on the nation s highways few knew the VW share of the small car market had slipped per cent The Financial Post comments that it looked like VW was on the ropes But something snapped with the introduction of models Volkswagen sales are up again In November sales leaped 72 per cent higher than those of November 1971 making it the best November in VW Canada s history Total 1973 sales are expected to be up per cent over last year Although economists will scratch their heads and makers puzzle how the bugs can command so much the market when they appear to be out of step with styling safety and schmaltz the average car buyer can give them the answer in two words They re cheaper In spite of its appearance the VW beetle is cheap reliable transportation a panacea for many peoples trip problems Small cars have become increasingly accepted by the Canadian buying with Ford Pinto leading the way Sales of Pinto Maverick Comet Cortina and Capri account for 9 per cent of the total small car market Chrysler came next with 17 1 per cent followed by with per cent Toyota has commanded 3 per cent of the market while has 1 per cent The big reason for buying small cars is economy They are cheaper to operate less costly to buy and easier on the ecology since most have four cylinder motive power And auto makers have been stylizing them to attract buyers Unfortunately some of them have become so sophisticated they are becoming as costly as intermediate and regular size cars Perhaps this is why the Volkswagen market is again on its way up Back Issues of The Free Press years ago Taken from the issue of the Free Press of Thursday March 1953 A bylaw will be prepared authorizing application of land in Esquesing township by Acton Plans call for the inclusion of the entire and Wool Combing property and south to the south spring Mrs Wilfred Coles was the winner of the grand prize of a mlxmaster at the Canada Packers food school in the public school auditorium sponsored by the Home and School Association Over ladies and also gentlemen heard hints and watched the demonstrations The demonstrator was assisted by R Parker the master of ceremonies and Wes Wolfe president of the Home and School Bennett drew the lucky tickets and there were many winners Commenting on the fifth anniversary of the Rotary club president Johnny said the work tor crippled children has gone from years ago to In the past year Former and charter members were present for the meeting secretary Bob entertained A radio program which each week day honors some lady for her kindness and last tribute to Mrs Fred Anderson The program mentioned her work In the church the baby clinic and the Women Institute She was out shopping at the time of the program She received a dozen red roses years ago Taken ram the Issue of the Free Press of Thursday March At the regular meeting of Lakeside chapter of the Junior I DJD officers were installed Hon Regent Mrs M Mc Donald regent 1st vice regent Bessie aid vice regent Lucy Edwards secretary Alice Johnstone treasurer Laura Scott standard bearer Jessie Anderson A week ago two provincial constables arrived in town after receiving complaints They visited the pool room and in making a survey of the basement came across a quart bottle of moonshine in a box near the furnace This was seized sealed and sent to the analyst for evidence as to its content of alcohol The minimum penalty of was Later with a search warrant they searched the home of name given and found quarts of moonshine They lifted up carpet removed flooring and found them between the Joists He was fined Mr Amos Mason proprietor of Mason Knitting Works has purchased the fine residence of the late Hon David Henderson Bower Ave He and Mrs Mason and Master George will shortly remove from Park Ave to their new borne Confectioners of Toronto were notified on Saturday they must discontinue selling Ice cream on the Lord Day years ago Taken from the Issue of the Free Press of Thursday March 1899 The folly of using lumber for drains and sewers the streets has been manifested very fully here the past week For several months the Mill St drain has been defective and as a result the cellars on the north tide have been Hooded The new road was torn up in four places before the obstruction was discovered The drain was found to be decayed and caved in The drain should be replaced with a substantial tile drain The young men referred to as disturbing the slumbers of Officer Graham and other citizens on the 15th repented their rash conduct and 10 of them marched up to Place where Col Allan J resides and were each for their misdemeanor They are a lot of good- hearted fellows but forgot themselves that night J M Bell dentist will visit Acton on the first Tuesday in April Office Clark s Hotel As Crewsons Corners Is still increasing in population the town fathers are trying to find another industry to keep pace with the population Mr John Camerson has purchased the old Knox church property for He will erect a couple of tenements and make a new side entrance to his planing mill Increasing use of alcohol among teens parents concern No One drug problem Although lowering of the legal drinking age from to II years of age was heralded as a progressive step when the Ontario made the change in 1971 some doubts have been expressed since by social workers and educatora now the change has had time to be analysed Parents in Acton are concerned about the use of drags and the temptations youngsters are faced with at school functions andthisaeenutofltlnwlth the pattern in other places across the country The following article from Concerns reflects the trends across the province and the degree to which it affects cities can be equated In lesser but still considerable degree in small towns and areas Our goalie playing any good today he a got a hangover these words shocked the hockey coach of of boys Fourteenyearolds are talking about their drinking eighteenyearolds were a few years ago So reports Peter Gzowskl host of CBC This Country die Morning Mr GzowsU a sensitive reporter of events taking place in Canada featured the problem of Youth and Drinking late last year in a crosscountry network hookup From Vancouver Calgary Toronto and Montreal well Informed people working with youth of a sudden upsurge of alcohol use among the younger teens Martin Wolfish Chief of Adolescent Services Hospital for Sick Children said he was genuinely alarmed at the number of Intoxicated youngsters coming in for treatment Alcohol not or Speed is the drug of choice in the new group of experimenters The testimony of Ken Lowe Director of Education in Calgary is similar it snot that street drugs are being used less but alcohol has become accepted and available to the younger age group and Us not just behind the barn experiments it is regular party use in the high school crowd These statements fit with the report on the extent of drug use In Toronto schools conducted by the Addiction Research Foundation This report the third In a series of studies conducted In 1968 and 1972 was released last month and states that the moat rotable change In the past two years involves the use of alcohol There are now per cent of students In Grades 9 11 and 13 who consume alcohol at least once a month with about 23 3 per cent drinking four or more times per month Much of the increase in the use of alcohol can be attributed to the change in of the legal drinking age In Ontario from to There has also been a steady increase In tobacco smoking in these years but neither the increase nor the total use of tobacco by students Is as great as for alcohol In 1972 per cent of the students in the Toronto school survey were smokers per cent were drinkers The total consumption of alcohol by students has increased tremendously the researchers observed in 1968 only 5 per cent of students drank four or more tunes per month This almost doubled In 1970 and doubled again In It is of some encouragement to note recent statements by National Health and Welfare Minister Mr and the new Director of the NonMedical Use of Drugs section Mr Draper that the federal government will become more concerned with alcohol abuse In setting up a task force on alcohol and alcoholism When more young people are drinking at a younger age then it Is a well known statistical fact that Canada will rapidly see an increase In the numbers of young persona whose lives will be blighted with alcoholism Governments and citizens alike share the responsibility through effective controlling legislation and enlightened educational metnods to this alarming trend by our young toward further problems with the No adult drug THE ACTON FREE PRESS PHONE 853 Business and Editorial Office