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B2 The Acton Free Press Wed January Editorial Page Restraint extends far Mayor Tom Hill predicted Hills is going to have to tighten its collective belt in because of recent announcements from Queens Park and he has a moot point when he suggested the policy of restraint advocated at both federal and provincial levels wont work unless it is also applied to boards of education If the province doesnt clamp down on school boards when they are clamping down on mumci it cant work he says with some justification One may or may not agree with the views held by members of Renaissance who feel the Halton Board of Education is spending half a million dollars for a new headquarters foolishly but cer tainly under the new guidelines the spending is suspect especially if it means postponing projects such as a much needed new high school for Acton while the board builds a lease for an empire Restraint as we interpret it is spending only what is necessary without being parsimonious or mean It doesnt mean postponing necessities at the expense of frills However all the restraint is not the responsibility of boards of education Municipal politicians must think along the same lines postponing frills and projects which can wait For instance Halton Hills could quite easily get along with the present head quarters set up until such time as finances and circumstances dictate new centralized quarters The pre sent set up may be inconvenient but it is working well enough for the present Someday centralized head quarters may well be necessary but with the suspicion and fear citi zens have generated about big government and huge expenditures now is certainly not the time to move Restraint could also be beneficial in the form of reduced taxes a feature taxpayers have not enjoyed for some time although tax increases in Halton Hills have been modest and a tribute to the acumen of the town s financial stability It should never mean a drop in quality of service although the number of services supplied by a municipality might have to be reduced Restraint is not a freezeit is prudence walking with wisdom Strong Chamber needed The Chamber of Commerce should be one of the most necessary and vital organizations in town since the onset of regional govern The nominating committee states the case well in a Letter to the Editor today Chamber is a group that is open to anyone in Acton and district and its aims are important It can speak for the town when there is no council Yet as usual there is a reluctance to serve sometimes How else can Acton s feelings be expressed than through the Chamber or through the pages of the Free Press How safe is the ice Every year there is concern over the ice safety at Fairy Lake The sparkling purity of a fresh blanket of snow covering an icy river stream or lake can be deceptively inviting We all become eager to try out new skates or the latest model snowmobile But our haste can lead to tragic mishaps The Canadian Red Cross Water hour And never skate or snow mobile alone If you should fall in don panic Extend your hands and arms onto the ice surface before you Gently kick your legs out behind you to a level position and slide or squirm forward to safety DO NOT STAND Your concentrated weight can cause the ice to break A fall through the ice is not always fatal How Sals Is The Ice Inch day oil I 2 Inches one may 3 group I inchet O Safety Service urges you to think twice before you try the ice Remember to check both ice thickness and weather conditions You can measure the thickness by cutting a hole in the ice Make sure the ice is at least four inches thick for group skating and hockey Ice seven to eight inches thick is required for ice boating snow and similar activities because of the extra weight Ice over large bodies of water or rivers with currents or on salt water is likely to be unsafe Currents can erode and melt from below Extra caution is necessary around moving currents because it is here that it is easiest to become trapped if you fall through and fail to surface in the same spot In Fairy Lake the bubblers keep the water open all winter Watch for dark spots which gen indicate weakened ice And stay close to shore Ice in the centre tends to be thinner Always check weather condi Be extra careful during early late winter when ice thaws and refreezes Remember that ice weakens under midday sun Make sure the ice you played hockey on last evening is just as sturdy today when you skate during your lunch but it can be an extremely shocking experience A plunge into icy water causes muscles to contract Blood circulations slows down and body temperature falls rapidly When your core body temperature drops from its normal degrees C 98 6 degrees to around 30 degrees C 85 degrees F your life is in danger New faces of 1976 People seemed to enjoy seeing all the faces in the big on the front page last week Did anybody spot Prince Philip He was there too Irwin had his picture taken at the Legion standing in front of Prince Philips portrait so the both of them were included in the year end picture bash God bless thy year Thy coming in thy going out Thy rest thy travelling about The rough the smooth The bright the drear God bless thy year Lest we forget BEDRAGGLED WREATHS PLACED at the cenotaph on Remembrance Day he at awkward angles beneath drifts of snow The ribbons are sodden the poppies tattered Some stands bear no wreaths at all now Sugar and Spice by bill smiley We are well into another season of hat passes these days for that oncethrilling Canadian sport of hockey tar more interesting than being a spectator games will be watching from Ihe sidelines some renewed and deter mined attempts to decrease the potential mayhem in the former sport As any intelligent eight year knows hockey is no longer a sport It is an loinment superior to professional wrestling in this department only because it is faster bloodier and most of the participants though not all arc not fat and middle aged Some are fat and young Some are also middleaged Some are old enough to be grandfathers And 80 per cent of the athletes in this new form of Grand vaudeville are grossly over paid A few discerning sports writers and a good many former fans of the game are sick heart over what has happened to what was once the fastest and most thrilling gome on earth The great majority of the socalled fans however along with most and nearly all of management deride attempt to restore the skills and thrills of what used to be the most skillful and sport of them all professional hockey Perhaps that is because Ihe current crop of fans consists of yahoos looking for blood the sports writers are sycophants looking for an angle and t ic owners arc stupid as they have always been looking only for a buck At any rate Ontario has i new ney General Roy a former or some ability and he is deter mined to stamp out the viclousncssi that has turned pro hockey into a Roman He had he appalling audacity to declare publicly lhat assault and battery on the ice would be treated Ihe same as it is on streets with a criminal charge lie took the unparalleled step of putting cops in the arenas and laying charges against the goons who try to decapitate an opponent with a stick or emerge from a spearing duel with Ihe enemy guts wrapped around the point of their sticks la making political hay out of it but I and a host of others don care and say Go to It boy As expected his edicts have been greeted with of scorn by the yahoos Ihe sycophants and the manipulators Or as Variety the showbiz magazine might put it In one of its succinct head lines HOCK JOCKS MOCK SOCKS Translated that would mean that hockey people make fun of any attempt to stop the fighting and violence In he gome Solidly behind however Is a majority of the people remotely interested In the game the better sports who have seen It go steadily downhill kids who want to ploy hockey for fun without being terrorized parents of kids who play hockey real fans of the game who hove seen their favorite sport turned Into a carnage of clowns Surely even the robber barons of hockey the owners with their 16th century mentality can see the handwriting on the wall large and clear The game is going down the drain Let me give some When I was youth our town had a Junior A team They it fast and tough and clean The referees jumped on slashing spearing boarding kneeing Fights were infrequent In a town of 4 there were 1 WOatcvcrygamc A hundred cars would the fans to play off games miles iway Today I live in a town or 11 which boasts a pretty fair Junior team The crowds at gomes run around two or three hundred Night In Canada used to bind this whole nation together from radio days well into television Its ratings have dropped disastrously What happened A lot of things First the quality has down and the price his gone up That a nono in any business Sixty per cent of the pros today have made a fair to middling senior amateur team years ago Arena owners egged on by greedy and those parasites their agents have hoisted the cost of tickets to the point whore ticket scalpers are committing But most important of all the sheer viciousness of today gome with its Nazi storm trooper techniques its open support of intimidation Its appalling message for young players that violence beats skill and speed has made a great segment of real fans turn their backs on it in disgust When the players are all millionaires and the arenas arc half empty maybe morons who control sport will get he message Chamber important mouthpiece I Dear Editor The of Commerce an general meeting will take place Monday January and officers for the I new year will be elected The Acton Chamber has a history of civic par of great significance Several of Its presidents became mayors of the town I others councillors members of boards and The Chamber has advised the town in many matters often in form of missions or petitions Creative and positive membcrsand as well as town staff often take place from to day Since has become part of the town I of Hills this role Is more important than ever before We are well represented by three ex men I am sure that our j and our mayor have all the good will in the world toward the Aclon com munily but they are loaded with work Their concern must be for all of Hills people and in order that they may bo enabled lo make the best decisions they should have ill Ihe help that citizens and organizations can provide The Acton Chamber of could very well become that most important mouthpiece for all the people of Acton Therefore anyone who wishes to contribute their community should like an interest and offer their help to the Acton of j Commerce The Nominating Committee JakcKuikcn Paul Nielsen British Guiana and her work there when she was guest speaker at the weekly Rotary club meeting Tuesday She also showed slides of the country The neighbors dropped in for a surprise tea when Mrs Peter observed her birthday on Saturday Quite active for her years Mrs Sayers now joins the list of Acton several nonagenarians In 1955 there were births and deaths registered in Acton These figures do not resent a birth and death record for the municipality Children born in other localities of Acton parents are registered at the place of birth Burial taken out here include deceased persons from nearby munlci Mr and Mrs Dean Leslie are among those who will be spending some of the winter months in Florida They left this week aged five was hospitalized after he slid under the wheels of a truck at his home at the Lime Kilns Friday of last week Police staled lhat bread truck driven by William Coulter of Campbellville is bicking out Ihe lone and Levio slipped on some ice falling under Ihe front wheels of the truck 50 years ago Taken from the Issue of Ihe Free Press of Thursday January7 1B26 hour pages in this Issue Citizens generally will appreciate and endorse the action of council Monday evening in purchasing the combination molar hose truck and chemical fire engine Council is determined meet the cost of this new equipment 1 100 from current revenues and without increase in the rate of taxation The truck will be purchased from the lown of Mount Dennis Nearly years after the death of her husband the late Robert Little his widow passed away Her death occurred in Los Angeles Old Ladies Hospital She had much but in the last few days was in a comatose condition The funeral took place Dec 2H There were no relatives of Mrs Little at her death bed nor at her funeral Her sister died several years ago her niece and nephew who reside at Pasadena California failed to attend the funeral though notice was sent to them The family settled in Aclon between ago and lived on Bower Ave w hen she was married to Robert Little who was principal of Acton school from to 1H72 He was inspector of Halton county school from 1872 to 1885 Mr I ittle was buried in He died in his palatial residence v stood on the property now included in the Acton Athletic Association grounds The local hockey season opened on New evening with Milton providing the opposition Acton was defeated 3 in minutes overtime The Aeton team has real natty new sweaters With indomitable pluck Miss Craig the principal of Aeton high school came back for the opening of school Monday Her in jurcd inkle has made remarkable progress but she is still going about on crutches years ago from the Issue of the Free Press 1875 is customary for country papers to suspend pubhcition entirely during the Chnstmis week in order to give the printers i rest from their arduous labors We trust our readers will accept this half sheet two piges as a sort of compromise between whole one and none at all C for election for Reeve D Henderson and For Coun Speight Secord Smith Christie and Hamilton Both Messrs Henderson and McGarvin were prime movers the incorporation of the village three years ago McGarvin having been two years on council a financial statement showing balance on hand of Taxes col municipal loan fund licenses interest on loan labor clergy reserve fund 29 government grant fines 75 Cash paid out for school purposes 1G7G23 streets sidewalks etc 555 officers salaries 127 charities contingencies 130 He said the amount paid for school purposes appeared to be high but the Trustees came to council and said they must have so much and the council had no altermtive Our school was large and we hid three teachers and every department was full The 1- ree Press carrier boys wish to say to their patrons that their annual addresses will be delivered tomorrow A ill douceur will be thankfully received Help with resolutions Need help making a New Years resolution Quit smoking sure thats an old one Here are a few suggestions not original but clipped out of Murray Scoynes Dominion seek out a forgotten mend a quarrel dismiss suspicion replace it with trust write a letter share your treasures encourage youth give soft answers manifest your loyalty in word and deed find the time forego a grudge forgive an enemy listen apologize if you are wrong examine your demands try to understand think first of others be kind be gentle laugh a little laugh again take up arms against malice decry complacency express gratitude welcome a stranger gladden the heart of a child take pleasure in beauty respect the wonder of the earth speak your love speak it again THE ACTON FREE PRESS PHONE Business and Editorial Office