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

Assurance of better service Frosty freeze tops the trees Wnndy Thomson Photo Bill SMILEY you call me Gram pa The kid armed three days loo late to be any use as a tax deduction But we can tall be perfect from thai he is Perfect to the ladies He s a dandy little felloe with cheeks his mothers auburn hair his fathers eyes and his sweet little rosebud mouth peaceful and sleeps a lot so he seem to have anything of his maternal grandmother in him There are certain occasions in our that are peaks even though most of the we seem to be down in the alleys These are the times when something special happens The have to be like graduations and weddings In fact these are often so formalized can be excruciating dull don remember a thing about my birth for example that as supposed to be something important But I remember the day in public school when was sick proud or too to ask to leave and on the classroom floor and all the to the lavatory with my best girl watching the whole sordid thing was nine and that was first affair It the bud I remember baseball game In my teens I was at bat Bases loaded two men out two The next pitch was obviously low I dropped my bat and started to jog to first base forcing In the winning run Stecnke three bellowed the umpire Game over Instant ignominy 111 never forget my first real Job Arrived at the docks about midnight lied reason I sailor Found bunk Couldn sleep with the excitement of it nil My resembled a drumming partridge Had a big and prepared to enter manhood I was boss took me in tow gave me some and a rag led me into a men urinal pointed at the brass foot plate and said Clean it Another big day was the one on which I passed mv wings lest I had flunked one two davs before because the intercom was almost useless The instructor would tell me to do a steep bank to port and I do a slow roll or a loop He took dim view II looked like washout and back to manning pool to wash dishes for the duration Rut I a second chance flew like Jonathan Seagull and walked on air for weeks Another time that is etched in mind is my first visit to London As the train the great city I wis trembling so violently I t light a It was probably the thought thai I a small town time boy was Actually about to enter the of thousand stories the homes of the fertile of vasttmpirc I I slop slinking until in two pints of think chips first operational flight he enemy would be a high light Mini I was too busy or narnnl to be even All those red and things past cockpit might is will have been Christmas tree lights of tracer bullets Hut I don suppose 1 11 ever forget Ihe day I was shot down One minute there was the snarl of engines the whack of cannon shells the fink the dirty black spots in tht sky as shells burst Mates nil around me Next there v is lotil silence No No mates Noflak Just the blue sky the dun earth below up swiftlv but me thinking Will then that with Tita in Ant werp Then are lotsof decided I was in love with a girl once and for all and took the plunge after deciding that I wnuldn mirry until I was ana had explored every means of escape And the day my son was born Hugging the knowledge that I was a father and had son en though I was in hospital 150 miles when he was birthed And he day my daughter was born slipping into the world as easily as she has slipped in out of equally ridiculous situations jincc the birth of my grandson was one of the peaks I con tell You can fool an old peak man like me Back Issues of The Free Press 20 years ago Taken from the of the I- lrs or Thursday January iS4 A member of count council and Acton council for the past four years John Joseph Stewart was unanimously chosen warden of Ho It on county for 19M No other can name was proposed after clerk Deans called for nominations readers who haven visited Acton in many years arc having difficulty in finding the location of the new high school Perhaps if we say is the old farm just further east on Mill lit past where the Ryder family used to live it may clarify ihe site January meeting of the Home and School Association was held tn the public school auditorium Monday with 115 members present to hear A chaplain V A Young J Wolfe presided Executive for Acton Citizens Band for 1954 is president vice president Charles Mason treasurer Tyler secretary Elmer Smith committee T Ware J Bandmaster is Alfred and assistant Splelvogel Two new members Bob and Herman were introduced to the Y Men a club Acton Minor Sports has 10 teams operating in the town league this year three div isions Ice time is donated through the town fathers Vic Masters is president Mike Bennett vicepresident sec ureas Bob Cunningham executive Bob Marks Cord Cunningham Bill Hollo ay Jack Denny Scotty Jim Fleming and George Hollingfr Churchill United church is in the process of extensive renovations Including the addition of a cellar and construction of on extension at the rear of the church auditorium The whole building was raised Winches Thcdmingsnedwasdismantled Its history dates back to 1638 50 years ago Taken from Ihe Issue of I- ree Press of Thursday January 1921 The annual meeting of Acton Fall was held in the Council Chamber A McLean president in the chair Wallace Ijisby was elected president 1st vicepresident and Clinton president In view of his increased duties as secretnrj treasurer teorgeHjnds salary was incnased to Entrance fee to the fair was fixed at rtn has already increased to Messrs J and Son Main St have disposed of their hardware business to William Talbot who takes possession March 1 Mr Talbot has been with the firm the past year or so and should do well There is no anxiety concerning the ice The icemen are busy storing It Is sincerely hoped someone will have the enterprise to store ice in large quantities for delivery during the summer Acton has most of the accommodations by city residents and will gladly welcome the Iceman There is very profit in such an enterprise There was a stormy time at the annual meeting of Agricultural Society One member was told he would be wound up in court There has been considerable dissatisfaction with the way the finances have been handled and this resulted in two directors resigning Sleighs and cutters arc using the new threemile section of the highway from Acton to Corners fine moonlight nights We arc assured by the interview with former Acton works super intendent In last week Free Press that services in Acton will improve as the resulting ton fusion from the amalgamation of three work forces is smoothed out in the new town of Hills Things will work themselves out Mr It Is an assurance moat of us been waiting for We have been for lunate in the past in having ex garbage collection service rapid snow plowing most of took for granted If the now town of Hills can provide the same hi r vice there will be few com plain hi Some residents of Acton were upset to discover the roads were not plowed in the first big snow storm as soon as they would been under the old set up It turned out to be a mix up In com iminications that caused the delay We ate assured it will not happen again There also have been changes in the collection of gar which have broken the habits of years We will Just have to just The changes necessary to operate a larger community will not necessarily mean we will enjoy the convenience and service which were part of the Acton set up Perhaps we will be more dative than ever of the fine service of local men In the past Meanwhile we must al be patient until many of the problems wort themselves out Let s give the in charge every opportunity to a scheme which will deal out equal benefits to all parts of Hills Editorial Pager The Acton Proas Jon Lloyd Lang fine choice selection of township reeve Lloyd Lang as the 1U74 Warden of Wellington County was a decision that will work in the best interests of Wellington County Council rhe red headed Mr Lang Is an unassuming person with some strong ideas about planning with which he lias more than a passing interest during the nine years he has served on the township council who have mistaken his friendliness for lack of deter mtnation have soon discovered he a man who knows what he wants and the best way to get it It is not surprising I loyd ang should have an interest in politics lite family he from were pioneers in Erin township and Wellington County wiUi a long of community service He Is the third warden from his family the first Robert Lang was elected in and he was related to John who served as warden in lit If It is not surprising Mr Lang received most of his formal education at a rural public school where some of the country best men were educated He never had the opportunity to attend high Rename Victoria Day The Toronto Star makes a case for renaming the Victoria Day holiday on May 24th as Dollard Day in honor of Adam who died in May 1600 In on heroic stand against the marauding Iroquois Indians probably saving the infant set of Montreal and perhaps all of New France The Star notes that May is a national holiday observed across Canada but bears different names in Quebec than the rest of the country In the English speaking provinces Victoria Day com Queen Victoria birth day In Quebec it is already Dollard Day Probably few Canadians now know much about Queen Victoria and the suggestion to Canadianize the holiday has some merit but the Star is certainly grinding an axe when it suggests Victoria was a foreign queen in Canada s colonial school but his never when he passed from the school house Through the years he gained the respect and ad miration of his peers both at the township and county levels with a reasoned attitude towards problems which have plagued people at the municipal council level over the past decade We congratulate the county councillors of Wellington in the of their choice and wish Mr Lang every success m 1974 and any subsequent political ventures on which he embarks period Victoria was also Queen of during her reign no matter how the Star interprets it Why antagonize those people who arc both staunch royalists and suspicious of French influence in Canada If the name must be changed why not call it something like Maple Leaf Day and com memorate Canadians of all nationalities who laid the ground work for the country including Adam Dollard OUR READERS WRITE Elizabeth Dr sidewalk disgrace The Mayor of Hills Mam St Glen Williams Dear Sir We would like to brine to your attention the matter of Ihe sidewalk along Elizabeth Drive Although we do not pay taxes other people do our parents The condition of this sidewalk is an utter disgrace to the Town of Acton it is packed down with snow and with the mild the snow has melted When the weather got cold naturally it froze We that this sidewalk on Elizabeth Drive is of great Importance because it is mam road that goes Into subdivision Parents complain about children run all over the road but that is only really safe place to walk unless of course they like to slip slide fall and half kill themselves We feel that the sidewalk could be sanded shovelled or cleaned by a small or If something could be done about this ridiculous situation we re sure that this would be very much appreciated by Yours sincerely Grade students of Robert Little School Copies The Acton I- ree Press Councillor fir7 Hyde defends council decision 75 years ago from the isme Press The entire tost of filling and furnishing new room for the fifth department was very reasonable expenditure for so room During the past two months there hate been cases of illness and one death p there is now no doubt these casts are of dipthcrin were given in the town hall and evenings by comb tomponies the chief attraction of which was the of moving pictures by the and Verescopc The con certs consisted of animated picture ixhbitons selections songs mui combinations etc The concerts presented a degree of sameness The pictures however were very good The Pillow right ly Trouble and ihe war scenes the meeting of Fire John was elected Chief for As the business of Ihe late Chief took him out of town so much during the day he felt it was desirable lo the office filled by a citizen who would be within call The question When will the electric light plant slarf is a timely one Nearly ill the business places in town are wired and private residences arc gradually coming into line The plant will start with a much larger number of lights than was deemed at all likely a month ago In all probability the plant will be in operation in two or three days Inspections or homes have rcmov any doubt whatccr as lo the absolute safety of electric wiring method to pressure views I feel I must defend myself and Holmes si the future when Kic loses his stand on an issue that he does not retaliate at leiun io tne ra tor I feel and a majority of that he does not retaliate a council feel that our fire the of but not when they come from disgruntled PHONE Business and Editorial Office Morrow protection in the past has been second to none I also fwl is lllls WQS fcd lhal than democratic manner Council a volunteer brigade or lias always considered the brigades will cost at the very privacy of individuals when least a m on dollars more discussing personnel and in each year keeping with this policy meetings were held in camera and their were carefully con No one can say thai both of the persons mentioned THE ACTON FREE PRESS Weighing qualifications decision to hire Mr Holmes was by a majority of Council Fleet Ric has since seen fit to act childishly because he the press ore anything but was not one of the majority very highly qualified and and in his defeat no ones When these feelings have been spared IwopersonswercintcrMewcd many persons have been there was one very important needlessly hurt question asked Do you feel During the year hundreds vou can carry on the fire of motions are passed and arc protection in this new town what wehopeisan with volunleer fire fighters honest and democratic manner We can only hope the involved Council is no place for juveniles and is ng himself to be Just and I suppose I feel sorry for him in a Because of his maturity he is trouble adapting his thinking and coping this new larger municipal government set up regret have had to resort to Ihis measure I do not in tend to become involved In name tailing and mud slinging the press This is my letter to the editor and as as I sen you on council I nope it is the last I also regret that our fire departments have been the pawns fcrn Hyde Constructing creative playground Gentlemen Attached to many of our schools in County are vast wastelands called playgrounds that are ex valuable in terms of real estate but do almost nothing to help the growth of a child They fail to reflect the excitement and concern for children that exists within the classrooms and are useless to the rest or the community With this rationale In mind the school com is planning to build a grounds have been Toronto at phenomenal cost planned by architects and built by contractors At the children parents and teachers are planning collecting the materials and constructing our own playground The cost will be minimal and the benefit to the community I measures Although Channel 19 it planning to give a latton on our school project we would like the surrounding community be aware of the project Additional parent reaction can be obtained from the following people Bill Gage Whaling Mrs Gcraldine Kunfca Affleck and alto committee chairman Herb School