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Happy Birthday Acton Three cheers for Actons birthday Michael and Cindy Brouillard Nancy Patterson Michael Galbraith Betty Ann Bill SMILEY J Both teachers and students look forward tagerly to the end of the school year for reasons For the students especially the younger limes its like a rebirth to get out into that June out of that hot classroom A few of the more sensitive ones especially the girls will trill See you next year or Hove a good summer Mr Smiley The boys lcavein a slapdash jostling mob with never a look behind And who can them Its been a ten months They want to Ret out and do some real liv to break the routines even in these permissive days make a drag and for some unfortunately simple bore When was in high school I took off in or early June for a job on he lake Stoats with a tremendous sense of Didnt care whether they passed me or failed me After the first summer I knew it going to be four months of drudgery at Coolies wages but I didnt care I was Hiving seeing new places and new people delighting in it Yet strangely by September I had a nostalgia for school school friends Moot ball and track and field and could icareclv wait to start the long hitchhike ihome Each fall was a Football every day new girl or the old faithful one to hold hands with on crisp fall evenings Some in the pocket after the Elliot Danny Tremblay Steven and Steven McDonald It usually meant expulsion from the poolroom which was like being thrown out of the Garden of Eden Then there was the drowsing through long spring days waiting for school to end iTemembcrapoormoncolledDr saying to me one June day head wagging sadly Bill you will nev pass or chemistry should you stay here until you arc a grandfather So Im going to recommend you Ive never forgotten this wise remark and since as a teacher always tempered justice with mercy But I drift School was then is now and ever shall be a place to get out of come June Yet there is a little sadness amongthe older students who arc graduating They are finally mature enough to realize these were possibly the best years of their lives They sign each others yearbooks Some weep They promise to keep in touch but knowing they probably will not after the first year They are scattering Halcyon days are over They arc stepping off sometimes fearfully into a world of work and responsibility and striving for success and raising families which alone in these times is enough to make one want to stay In school forever I deplore sentimentality But sure enough last class last day of school I turned around and there was a beautiful cake inscribed Wishes Mr Smiley from Even the punctuation right I was touched And astonished I expressed my ad miration and appreciation and said Wait til my wife sees this The response was more or less Your wife our foot Look in the paper bag Sure enough it contained paper napkins and plastic forks There was a knife in the cake box So we had our coke and ate it communally and quietly listened to a funny record Then we left happily And sadly This euphoria lasted until about the end of November By the middle of January llfeandschoolweredeadlydul The money was pretty well gone It was too cold for outdoor smooching and In those days no girl was allowed to have a boy Into her unless her mother was sitting there look tag suspicious and her father sitting there with a gun We couldnt afford to smoke or drink or tear around so on the whole we a fairly moral lot Believe it or not I was president of a Young Bible Class for three years My high school principal was the leader and he forced me into It I figured I had to stay on the good side of him or Id be in high school until I was fifty There was only one thing I really teamed in those long winters at school With no money to do anything else my gang tended to spend most of our time in the pool room despite constant abjurations and threats from out mothers Thcre are quite a few things you con pick up in a poolroom psychology a colorful vocabulary spittoons I Sot all of these but I also became a pretty am good pool player and Ive never regretted It You to become good when you are playing on your nerve This quaint old expression means you havent the money to pay the proprietor for your table time if you lose Winner plays free So you either won or you sweet talked the boss of the poolroom into adding what you owed to your bill This was about as easy as President Nixon standing before Congress hand on heart saying f cannot tell a lie It sure aint all rocks It is almost time to light the candies on the 100th birthday cake Merchants have organized into a scheme which will offer days of celebrations to mark this com munitys 100th birthday Businesses people and clerks are dressing up in old fashioned clothes the firefighters are going to throw a wingding at the park Monday July in conjunction with the Rotary club that includes a fish derby rock concert chicken band concert water ball contest appearances by the Choraliers It is all going to wind up with a ripsnortin fireworks display at dusk The occasion has generated so much excitement they are even going to turn on the Christmas lights owned by the Chamber of Commerce and juiced by the town to mark the occasion The Press lias published a special supplement Actons first settlers the Adams brothers would never recognize the community they founded back when Fairy Lake was a sparkling stream through a Milton town planner Bob should know better now to throw rocks at I Speaking to the Milton Chamber commerce last week Zsadanyi preferred to the towns official plan providing for some rural estate development in a natural out there its only and rock he commented J He didnt know former Andy Frank was audience or he might have that remark The Franks have been in for some time There rumors that there were Franks there to greet the first settlers In any event what they dont know about isnt worth knowing Andy took the bait frankly hope he has a greater knowledge of planning than he has of Nassagaweya the former sheriff replied I grew 10000 quarts of strawberries a year in rocky There are farms in second to none in the province For your information Andy told the 29- yearold planner theres some of the best land in as lays outofdoors And some of the prettiest too if Andy will allow this editorial some expression meadow which offered a source of water power Of course this birthday is not to celebrate the anniversary of the first settlement but to mark the occasion when the community felt selfsufficient enough to separate from township and stride out on its own as an In corporated village with its own council Prior to Acton was home to about people first named Danville after a clever young man who worked in the hamlets first drygoods store The communitys next name was after the first settlers Rufus and Ezra Adams It wasnt 1844 when the name was changed to Acton so theres been an Acton Ontario for 130 years Hie name Acton was chosen on the suggestion of Robert Swan a native of Northumberland and it was chosen that year because it was the occasion of the opening of the first post office The first council of the Village of Acton was beaded by Reeve W H Storey well known glovemaker whose Storey Glove Co once oc cupied the land where the present post office sits at the corner of Bower Alice Sts Messrs John Speight Asa Hall C T Hill and comprised the first councillors The men on that first council would probably have been astonished to learn that 100 years after they launched the new community it had been in corporated into the new town of Hills Changes occur and the latest has yet to prove itself but certainly the steps they took 100 years ago to run their own affairs have proven to be beneficial The town has never experienced meteoric growth or blossomed into a city but there has been steady progress over the years despite occasional setbacks And despite the knocks people are still proud to say they live or once lived in Acton So happy birthday Acton ana 100 more years of success But theres no doubt there are plenty of rocks between those choice farms in Back in the days when baseball was enjoying palmy days in the township farmers sons used to practice their arms by heaving rocks from the fields to the fence rows No wonder they had such strong arms and such good teams But in spite of the scrub and rocks there have been plenty of successful farmers and there are some good looking farms out that way yet and fanners too It sure aint all rocks The Acton Free Press Wed June Why not ward names Councillor Les came up with what we consider an excellent suggestion for the perpetuity of old traditions in Hills last week He suggested the four wards be renamed after the community instead of being designated by impersonal numbers one two three four In other words instead of calling the two Georgetown wards three and four they could be Georgetown West Ward and Georgetown East Ward respectively Acton would be Acton Ward instead of Ward One and would be Ward instead of Ward Two By retaining the old names the people of Hills have something to identify with instead of a number which has never been known to stimulate much enthusiasm By the same token the geographical location of the ward would be explained without having to resort to further explanations as to where the area is located It is a suggestion which should be fully explored and discussed Housing proposals complicated The housing proposals put forward by the Liberals are so detailed and complicated that its going to be tough for voters to decide whether they want them or not between now and election day says Beatrice in The Financial Post Much of the program is aimed at providing financing for moderatelypriced houses Highlights detailed by are Maximum loan amounts for mortgages insured under the National Housing Act have been raised for many Canadian centres and vary from place to place In all locations a 95 per cent NHA loan is available on a house priced up to Then 75 per cent of the excess over is available in many locations up to maximum house values which vary from place to place Few argue that the loan limits should be raised in certain areas although its not clear why this wasnt done before now The idea is to concentrate highratio lending in the lower and mediumpriced range A highratio loan is one in which the total loan is more than 75 per cent of the house value Changes in the Assisted Home Ownership Program have been announced The program is designed to assist a lower or middleincome family in the purchase of a house without spending more than 22 per cent of gross family income on the carrying costs The plan provides a participant whose income must be within certain limits with a 95 per cent mortgage and other measures to keep the cost within the per cent limit a preferred interest rate currently 9 per cent extended loan terms interest rate assistance grants This plan has been expanded to put higher ceilings on house prices and in come levels and the interest rate assistance grant has been in creased to a maximum of a year from the former 300 A taxfree grant of 500 would be given to anyone buying a newly built house for the first time providing the house is within the price ranges established for highratio loans under the National Housing Act This measure is designed as a partial rebate for the per cent federal sales tax on building materials which the present government has refused to remove or reduce While some would prefer to see the sales tax eliminated altogether this proposal has one important ad vantage the benefit would go directly to the housebuyer and not the builder Changes are announced for the land lease option for nonprofit and cooperative housing The current program provides per cent financing a preferred interest rate8percentatpresentanda per cent forgiveness grant Now in lieu of the per cent capital grant inadequate where land costs are particularly high will buy the land and lease it to non profit groups for a 50year term at a preferred rate and with renewal options It will provide 100 per cent financing of the building im provement Federal home warranties to provide warranty protection for purchasers of new housing are planned There would be purchaser warranty on all homes financed by loans under federal lending legislation including both and privately insured highratio loans 20 years ago Token from the Issue free of June 1951 Grade eight pupils began writing their examinations lat Thursday and finish today Power failure resulted in one section of tow Sunday morning when a fuse blew on a transformer Damage estimated at was caused to a car driven by Douglas early Sunday morning when the vehicle skidded on the el of Sixth Line south of No highway struck a pole snapped it off A surprise general fire alarm throughout the county sent eight fire engines speeding to Georgetown last Friday evening where a mutual fire aid practice was held Traffic was rerouted as water from a creek was relayed through the pumpers and forced through several hoses onto the street A Born Guthrie Mr and Mrs Doug Guthrie are happy to announce the birth of their son Bruce Douglas at General hospital on the 17th June A brother for Margaret Miss Esther Taylor has been engaged as assistant librarian for Acton Public Library She is replacing Mrs S Norton who resigned reccnUy years ago Taken from the Issue of the Free Press of June IB Saturday afternoon Mr Vtm Kelly Has coming along Elgin Street when a car driven Leo of Toronto was proceeding down Mill Street Mr Kelly did not see the car on Mill Street in lime to stop and ran head on into the side of OMalleys car The impact punctured two tires on the Toronto mans car but other than that little damage was done and both cars were able lo proceed on their journey On Monday June 30 daylight saving time will go into effect in the tanneries of Co and the Acton Tanning Co here This has been made necessary since Toronto Is on this daylight ing time and the Toronto office of the company operates on daylight saving time Business between the two offices was practically suspended for three hours each day owing to the two sets of What attitude the remainder of the town will take lo the matter hat not been decided upon It was not discussed at the last meeting of the Council but will probably come up on Monday evening next The Co will only operate this system during the months of July and August so that it will not interfere with the schools as the holidays are now on 75 years ago Taken from the issue of Ihe Free of June 1KM It was a very general satisfaction to see the G trackman return to work on Monday morning and to understand that the big strike ended The intervention of of the Government with the General Manager had good effect and while Ihc demands of the men have not been ac ceded to in all respects assurance have been given that their position will be materially bettered in the near future The semiannual examinations of the pupils of Acton Public School will be held next Tuesday inst in the afternoon The f Iv e departments will be open to Isltors and it will be of Interest to the parents and guardians to be present to observe the standing of the scholars as they enter upon the long summer vacation Monday was a perfect moonlight June nightone of which poets might have sung A large concourse of citizens and v spent the ev entng delightfully at the Epworth League Garden Party on the lawn of the Misses La Agnes Street The pretty flower girls the the tempting viands and toothsome refresh ments contributed to the evenings en joy