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Look back on 1977 with us page 4 One Hundred and Th Year No ACTON ONTARIO WEDNESDAY DECEMBER Thirty Two Pages Fifteen Cants Fund started Four homeless at Eden Mills As a result of a bad fire four people left home less Last Thursday night a fire broke out in the home of Mrs Marie Mitchell of Eden Mills Her three children managed to get out safely and no injuries were incurred Estimated damage to the home was JIB Fire Chief Carl Meadows of the Rock wood Fire Dept said that the bedrooms were gutted the living room and kitchen were badly smoke and water dam aged Right away many started a fund raising drive help the family through Christmas Within a couple of hours after the blaze apartments and money Special insert todays paper were donated The family spent I he night at the home of Mrs Belly Marshall before making any decision where to go for Christmas Volunteers walking door to door collected quite a bit of money and clothing for the family The Eden Mills Community Hall was opened all day for the money donations of cloth bedding and furniture The response was well noted as donations poured in from Eden Mills and surrounding areas Donations of money are still being accepted Donations of clothing bed ding etc are at a standstill as the family has to see how much they have attained and what is needed Two Christ mas hampers were donated by the Salvation Army and the Rockwood The family will be staying in until a new home Is built This proves that our com spirit has not died in such a crisis this one Many of the supporters and donors felt Just a tiny bit better as Christmas came The support came from everyone heart and It Is good to know that moat people still can put forth a helping hand to a friend in need Mrs Marshall said Don I si he insert in today ree Press It one to be kept and referred to throughout I he coming winter and spring season The 12 page special section lists all the courses and sports groups available at Acton Y arena schools parks and pool Organizations cooperating in listings arc the recreation department Board of C A Health Unit Contact Centre Red Cross Credit Valley Artisans The classes are in both Acton and Georgetown easily listed together for Special events announced are the ladies activity work shops at Acton Y skating on natural ice rinks the region winter carnival the town of llalton lis recognition night and a community recreat conference The folder informs young people about jobs available with the recreation department copy of the Free Press and the George town Independent will con tain a copy of the insert this week In Acton and immediate area extra copies will also be available at the town office In and Out store Royal Milk Store Beckers Store Village Variety CK Browne and Galls Gulf service station on High way 25 There will also be spare copies at the Free Press There Is no charge for them Every home should have Night school courses begin week of Jan No town pickups garbage still goes When merchants ercd too late there was no garbage pickup on Friday they were able to solve the problem easily this year With bags and cartons all set out for the regular Friday pickup on the main streets the shopkeepers realized the town staff had a holiday day and there would be no garbage pickup until Tuesday five days away Business Improvement Area chairman Henry took the bull by the horns and called private con tractor Don Mclntyrc to come and do the job instead of the town men We II figure it out later Mr said Meanwhile the garbage was not sitting out on the streets all over Christmas weekend High school night school will resume in the new year after an absence of several months according to organ Boris Because of the construction of the new school and various other problems there were no courses offered in the fall At that time It was promised the programs would return in January Classes start the week of January with registration being held January at the school Monday evenings sees Ian teaching book keeping for small business microwave cooking with Marlon Matthews and Blair once again in charge of the First Aid for St John Ambulance Basic sewing is also Monday evenings with Kay Hannah Sally Hamilton with off loom weaving and Murray Swanston with wood working Tuesday night features Brush Up Office and Typing Skills taught by Joan Krol and crocheting with Mrs Clarence Rognvaldson will head the Electricity for the Home Ownerclass and Ruth Wilson teaches the interior design course A very popular course from last year landscaping has relumed with Rudy Schubert as the instructor Members of the high school staff will be teaching metrl cation Palmistry will be headed by Pom and June Levy will be teaching pottery Joan Williamson will be instructing woollen toy making charge of fitness and recrea tion Sally Hamilton will head the macrame class and Jim Goring will be teaching oil and water painting Kay Hannah is heading the sewing with knit fabrics class and the theatre arts for the com Is under the direction of Geoff Sansom Joan Kroll Is teaching the typing for beginners Melanja Bray teaches beginners yoga Wednesdays and continuing yoga on Thursday Both are held at Robert Little school All courses are eight weeks In length except microwave cooking which Is five weeks and metrication which Is a three week course ICG pins hopes on Supreme Court action Citizens groups opposed to the Ontario Government s efforts to push through the BruceMilton hydro corridor hope to use the Supreme Court of Canada as a barri cade The groups In the north central and south sections of the line will work closer together to get a case to the preme Court Interested Citizens Group ICG member John Schneider said Monday The groups are trying to get clarification of an Ontario Supreme Court defcision which stated information concerning alternate routes should be heard during expropriation hearings The ICG to get an appeal before the high court comes in the woke of the Ontario Government refusal of an In dependent review of alternate routes to the one chosen by Ontario Hydro The public utility wants to build a corridor from the Bruce nuclear generating station on Lake Huron to Milton The ICG wanted a review of the Bruce- Milton line plus a line going to Kitchener one of the original choices of Ontario Hydro Energy Minister James Taylor said he consulted Ontario Hydro and checked the facts before deciding to back the govern choice of route In the cabinet He said It would take from two to four years for an environmental study of a line to Kitchener ICG spokesman wondered why the line to Kitchener needed study when they not accorded the same rights Citizens the north section of the line will make an appeal to the Supreme FOR THE SECOND YEAR in a row Nancy Wong earned the Halton Board of Education award of ment for being the provincial champion in the Knights of Columbus basketball free throw last year Coach Sharon Preston was on hand when school board trustee Bert presented Nancy with her certificate Nancy Wong does it again For the second year In a row Nancy Wong has received an award of merit from the Halton Board of Education Nancy now an Acton high school student received the Little School last year Nancy had placed first in the Knights of Columbus free throw basketball for girls years of age and under For the second theme Nancy walked off with the provincial championship Her coach was teacher Miss Sharon Preston School board trustee Bert presented Nancy with a certificate last Thursday during an Informal gathering at Robert Little She was too old to participate In the event this year Christmas bus has 1134 riders plaining that In the people would use the free transportation to get from one end of town to another The most popular day was December with the week ends also being busy days were alow Mr Tyler said but Fridays were busy He attributes this to the fact that most people are paid on Thursdays Poor weather only made the going rough for one day according to Mr Tyler Tuesday December 20 the bus had one wheel slide off the road where it was stuck on the ice Not even a tow truck could speedily pull It out of Its mesa throwing off its entire schedule The bus could be flagged down anywhere along Its routes which it minute intervals Riders were free of charge com of the Acton Bus iness Improvement area Court of Canada and the south and central parts of the line will give the north financial support Schneider said The high court will decide early in January whether or not to hear the appeal Schneider said Regardless of the January decision by the federal court the Ontario divisional court appeals for the south and central portions of the line will be In place Schneider said If we lose the case of the north before the federal court then we will take the other two sections to the divisional court If the cases are in Hydro favor in the south and central parts then we will again appeal to the higher court Schneider said The cabinet confirmation of the route follows closely the release of a report by a private consultant which shed doubt on the appropriateness of that line For about four years the ICG has op posed the idea of a BruceMilton line mainly because the citizens group wanted an independent study of it and alternates They pointed out that the line to which the BruceMilton line is planned to link up at Milton had such an independent study by Dr Solandt The ICG often argued that a better path for taking power from the nuclear station would follow a line roughly from the generator to near Lake The consultant s report prepared by Slater Energy Consultants of Toronto states the tine has better overall prospects than the BruceMilton line The Christmas shopping bus saw 1134 passengers between December and December according to Ted Tyler owner of the bus lines The town was divided Into three routes consisting bf route one route two Crescent area and sub division and route three and Mr Tyler explained An accurate dally tally was kept by driven Ken who said route one saw shoppers In the mornings and 323 riders in the after noon Route two had morning riders and after noon passengers and route three had 114 riders in the morning and In the after noon Mr Tyler said their statistics showed more users went directly to the main shopping area In the morning than in the afternoon ex calls for fire plan Acton Councillor Pat has called for a plan that will assure that Acton has the best possible fire protection in times of emergency Mr McKenzie made his plea during a public works meeting after becoming con cerned about a situation that occurred Dec in Acton when a major water main broke Mr McKenzie told the com mi t tee that certain parts of the town were without water from4 30oncaftemoonto7 the next afternoon He noted there were no major fires during the night but expressed fear about what would happen if one had started and the town was without a proper water supply He praised the regional workB crew for working through the night to restore proper water pressure and to repair the main It Is not just Acton I m concerned about It could happen anywhere In the region The committee agreed that the fire department should be alerted so firefighters could stand by ready for a quick re sponse It was also suggested that neighboring fire departments be alerted to the possibility of an emergency so that tankers could be ready to respond Mr McKenzie noted the Hills tanker truck is in Georgetown but ore is being for Acton and will stationed at the Acton Fire Hall once renovations are completed there Director of Public Works Bob Moore said the region Is still waiting on final ap provals before hooking up the pumphouse at Prospect Park In Acton Had that pump- house been In operation at the time of the break It t have been nearly as threaten ing ho said in a staff report to the committee That station Is expected to be operative in the near future Collision on Mill St W A couple of vehicles back ing out of driveways collided on Mill Street West Christmas Eve afternoon One vehicle was driven by Donald Seal of North Bay Police estimate damage to his vehicle at A van driven by Margaret O Hara of Cres was the other vehicle In volved in the mishap Police say no damage was sustained by the van Acton new home for newspaper calling for Croatian independence BASIC leads a busy life as editor of the Croatian Voice A call for Croatian in dependence heard In countries around the world goes out from Acton every week as the newspaper the Croatian Voice has found a home In this town Basic pronounced boaitch edits the paper from cramped offices on Mill Street where the operation moved October 15 of this year The office Is decorated with a bullet and a few dried flowers from the graves of Croatlans murdered by Russian communists in 1945 and Mr Basic speaks with feeling of the movement for In dependence and democracy of Croatia The Croatian Voice he says is the official organ of the Croatian Peasant Party The party was founded years ago by Stjepan Radio pronounced Rod Itch with his brother Ante Radio Shot When Croatia was made part of Yugoslavia after World War I by the Versailles Treaty Stepjan fought for Croatian Independence When the Serbians saw Radic was going to gain freedom they shot him in Parliament said Basic Two MP s were killed instantly In the raid which occurred In June 1928 himself died in August of the same year The party has since been banned many times in Yugoslavia but Its leaders have fought even from Jail for Independence according to Mr Basic During World War II they were underground and their leader spent four years in a concentration camp After the war their army was tricked they laid down their arms and were massacred by the Russians at Mr Basic came out of Yugoslavia then after having been wounded in the massacre and went to England where he edited another Croatian paper He lived there until this year Great Weapon The newspaper Is the greatest weapon the Croatlans have said Mr Basic Our main fight is the press Were a peaceful party He added the do not believe In riots and demonstrations saying That would give the communists a rope to call us fascists Basic says the papers are being published in places like Canada and England on the who believed that a free people can fight where the Croatfans could not in their home country There are 8 to political prisoners out of a total Croatian population of In Yugoslavia This compares with an equal number of political prisoners out of the 000 population of Russia ac cording to Mr BqbIc He said that are not allowed to speak anything against the government or they will be put In jail Because of the oppression in Yugoslavia generally thought of as one of the progressive states In the communist sphere Croatlans have out throughout the world to work or freedom democratic fight for the in dependence of Croatia still lives on in Croatlans all over the world said Mr Basic Many Groups There are organizations in many Canadian towns in eluding many around here continued Mr Basic He mentioned Toronto Hamilton Windsor and Rock wood as places which housed Croatian groups They have all been active In Canada and when a banquet was held recently in Toronto communists protested the appearance of the speaker of the house James Jerome at the ceremonies They were commemorating SO years of the Croatian Peasant Party in Canada at the dinner The Croatian Voice had been printing for years before it reached its present home Six People The paper Is produced by a staff of six people led by Mr Basic who collect all the advertising do the editing and type setting General manager of the paper is Vltomlr Mance of Rockwood Ena Petty who works for the Free Press helps out with the typesetting duties for the Croatian Voice although she cannot speak or read Croatian Mr Basic has started an English page on the paper and hopes to have a Becond one after Christmas A lot of younger people like to read both Croatian and English he says In The Job of editing newspaper Is hard enough In normal circumstances but Mr Basic has some ad problems to face While visiting Germany 1 have to go In disguise he said As editors we are the biggest target He is afraid of being found by the Yugoslavian secret police Here I can breathe Mr Basic sighs I am not afraid here not really Acton Is a warm and friendly town Just the place for us Although he left his homeland years ago he still keeps his drive for her In dependence strong He knows that the peaceful methods the Croatlans are using will take a long time to work but also that they are more likely to succeed than riots and demonstrations I may never see a free Croatia he concluded We want to keep fighting so our grandchildren can see the same democracy as you have In Canada