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

The Acton Free Press Wednesday Feb 1978 Editorial Page More to come The public meeting last week on the regions draft official plan drew a good crowd of local people many of them from the rural areas This was the third public meeting so far as the planners and council take then proposals to the people Most of the questions dealt with generalities More comments will be submitted by mail Its expected this plan when completed will go to region council in June and could be before the Ministry of Housing in the middle of the summer Also upcoming are similar meetings to debate Halton Hills official plan Planner Mario Venditti explains that this plan will have far more detail which will probably provoke even more in terest and comment Copies of the region draft official plan are available at the town office for those who would still like to peruse the region guidelines Its quite likely that Halton and Halton Hills plans will conflict in some ways Planning was the one main area where regional government was to benefit the people of Halton Goes without saying the and the public meetings concerning them are of great importance to our future Transportation lacking A major point of objection to the regions plan as it affects Acton is its lack of transportation planning Although a new bus service is pro posed to run up north to Milton and to Georgetown Acton will remain isolated There is a bus service and Toronto and many people have used it happily over the years It has been good and dependable But people are now realizing that the tram service of years back was excellent and it is sorely needed again Congestion will become worse and worse It is useless for region staff members to say that they do not wish to encourage people in the Acton area to go to work in the densely populated areas of Toronto It is going to happen Our people must get there And there must be alternatives to the private car and intermittent buses Travellers to Britain always comment on the frequent speedy trains that zip people in and out of London so efficiently can happen here Why was improved transport not allowed for Even without Acton and district growing densely populated the people who are here are on the move and will keep adding to the terrible congestion of highways There is also no recognition of the fact that people here have long hoped for an improved rail service between Guelph and Toronto Apparently the region planners are content to leave At ton the way it is The GO train will still end its run at Georgetown Transportation to the south will still be nonexistent People going to court in Milton for instance have no way of going but by private car or taxi The same problem ex eludes people without cars from region offices region council meet ings and of course those all important jobs that could be available in the south Of this and that The swans on the lake who are unable to fly have a worrisome time escaping from dogs these winter days They have a very small area of water to escape in Although theyre mute they spot dogs many yards away and signal the warning to each other They do their best to keep as much water between themselves and the dogs as they can The other wildfowl of course can fly away from the pesky pets Bill Vaughan Some idea of in flation comes from seeing a youngster get his first job at a salary you dreamed of as the culmination of your career A witty answer in an argument is like swatting a fly by the time you thought of it the opportunity has flown Opinion Important decision today Today s meeting on regional council can be very important for Acton Regional chairman Ric Morrow will ask council to do away ihc chargeback system of paying for water and sewers thereporlerwhoeovers region council for the Acton Free Press com ments in the Milton Champion Regional Chairman morrow will be playing with dynamite when he asks regional council to do away with the chargeback system Morrow will propose that the region move towards a standard water rate and imple ment sewer surcharges across ihe region Until now water rales have varied cording to the cost to implement systems in various urban communities and sewer charges have been levied against the general taxes The other major change would sec many roads in urban Burlington and join the regional road system and be paid from the regional taxes The greater number of regional roads has always been in the north Some northern councillors see that as the north sole ad vantage of belonging lo the region In Ihe past the simple mention of equal assessment has been enough to send some councillors Into a rage The chargeback system has become near and dear to opponents of sharing costs Proponents of the chargeback system claim all areas get what they pay for under that system Morrow quick to point that what is being presented Is not equalized assess ment right Some fine distinctions have to be made First under equalized assessment a householder for sewage is based on the assessed value of his home Under Morrow proposal the bill Is lied in with the demand the homeowner makes on the sew age system In other words under equalized assess ment a single man who happens to be very wealthy and lives In a home pays a greater share for sewers than a man who lives with his wife twocats a dog and a pair of budgies In a bungalow With or without the two cats a dog and a budgie Morrow point Is well laken The man living alone Is paying for more than he using and that clearly Is inequitable But the shift being proposed will have an effect that Is for more profound than Ihe in equity that now exists It will concentrate power in the hands of Ihe region and more particularly in the hands of the regional staff or all intents and purposes now the de cision to go or not to go with a project depends on the wish of the local council as expressed by their regional tlves Once Ihe chargeback system has gone the regional council will want to accept responsibility for those decisions because the region not the areaIs paying the shot ThLs is in complete harmony with Ihe spirit of regionalism But it is thing council has fought and resisted since beginning For the north it would be a matter of convincing councillors from the south that a project is necessary or relying totally on a strong recommendation from the staff Whether or not the proposals arc by a majority Morrow can be assured of a hot day in the chair I just hope I don t slip with that damned phrase equalize assessment he says That would draw fire from many council for certain In terms of proper administration and logic you just can argue wilh Morrow But question hat remains to be an is whether or not councillors are prepared to understand and recognize the needs outside of their own area With the amount of mutual mistrust and it Is hard to working satisfaction The alternative surely Is to throw whole bailiwick of water and sewers bock to the area councils and leave them to wrestle with the problem the best way they can That would reduce the duplicity In decision making and make approvals a one- slop affair for developers or homeowners wanting to hook Into Ihe water and sewer lines Morrow is farcing the council to choose a course The outcome will bear a lot more significance than a minor adjustment In sewer and water bills Cold weather could not freeze this creek Sugar and spice by bh smiiey After the last couple of columns you probably think I a mean shrivelled shrunken toothless old man who hales winter because he so mean shrivelled etc etc You re right But not entirely right It not winter itself that I hate How can you hale an abstract thing like winter You can punch It on the nose or spit in its face unless you arc rich and can go No No After all 1 was an ardent curler for a dozen or so years working my way up through the tortuous passages of the curling hierarchy until was a ViceSkip la Skip in mixed doubles already until my disintegrating discs suggested that were better ways of achieving comfort than hoisting a 0pound rock around and beating ice with a broom bent double And for few years there I was known as the Terror of the Trails Ski trails that is When people heard behind them a whooping they got off the trail pretty quickly I can tell you They were well aware that Smiley had just roared down a threefeet slop and was about to run right over them Mainly because he didn know how to stop In fact for about three years I was forced to undergo the torture of the trails trying to keep up with an agile young wife who does yoga exercises until 1 smartened up About last year 1 discovered that with judicious planning pleading the flu my arthritic foot my bad back and my could stall the skiing until about March Then with any luck there d be some freezing rain a thaw a blizzard and another thaw so that skiing was possible And 1 d go around smacking my right fist Into my left palm outwardly chortling And people would sympathize with me and d res pound Yeah Dom it to heck anyway No No Winter is really a wonderland to me I wonder how anybody in the land in his right mind t go out of It Again it not winter I hate It putting on my rubber boots It roof Us driving In snow Its my fuel bill Its moving mountains of snow from here to there and having some zealous civic employee whose wages are paid out of my taxes move It back to here Aside from these minor and constant Irritations winter can be a joy anesthetic treat of the first magnitude I discovered this on a recent bus trip to the city We took off just as day was breaking And we rolled through winter landscape mbs stunning in its stark beauty It was like a trip to another planet in the warn safe cocoon of our space ship the That the only way lo travel in winter- by bus Its a little bit like low Dying except that you don have to handle the controls and keep an eye on altimeter Once you adjusted lo the hum of the bus there you arc morning paper on your knee flask of hot coffee on your lap safe while the terrifying and magmfl tent and blue and green and black peels by like a film on a screen After diys and nights of snow and wind the land was not exactly pastoral unless you were breeding a herd of polar cutting point where All this loveliness was overpowering and I began to drift off Into a day dream in which I was a Russian count flying across the snowy steppes in my toward try manor in which the countess was waiting with steaming vodka and hot shepherd pic made of couple of ground up peasants who had got out of line Hey you re Mr Smiley the teacher It was some young turkey who was on his way to Halifax having just accepted the Queen s shilling and for the next hour he held me spellbound with a garbled account of how he had got his Grade after only four years in high school the teachers he liked and like the tremendous future he had in the armed forces all of it interspersed with bad grammar and monotonous profanity the time I got to the city my mood was sufficiently depressed for it the filthy slush the bleak biting wind the total of any of winter beauty the hunched watery eyed pedes Ira ins It wasbacktotheuglinessof winter But for one brief hour there I lived in an en chanted world frightening but cent where the salt rusted fenders the leaking rubbers the escalating oil bill and the bloody snow shovel could be temper banished to the bottom of my bile sac And the city was so windy dirty f was glad to get home walk into my own backyard cast a judicious a lost fond glance at the picnic table under four feet of white stuff and the array of sparkling fivefoot icicles hanging directly over my buck door but the Old Lady was there and she was glad to see me home so I had a steaming vodka and believe it or not she had prepared a hot shepherd pie What more could a man want even if he t a count on a winters eve in Canada Church parade Sunday 19 marks the beginning of Scout Week here in Acton tor the past four years we have started the week with a church vice which seems very appropriate to me It has been rather discouraging over the years to see how poorly attended this vice is All citizens of Acton especially parents of these children are invited to join this Since we to fill the Legion Tuesday night wilh over parents and children our banquet surely make an effort to come Sunday and fill some of the empty pews we ve hod in the past The children march from Ihe scout hall m to attend the service in Trinity United church at m Mary McVeigh Ten Days continue The Acton Free Press Please accept the thanks of those in In Ten Days for World Development in Acton for the generous publicity given by the Acton Free Press Your editorial and Jennifer column were especially helpful The number of people who came last rldoy to hear the excellent panel was dls small Though one cannot pose his priorities upon others willy the degree lo which adult Canadians arc be coming more and more preoccupied wilh themselves Is a bit frightening At McKenzleSmilh school on Monday a captured audience of students reacted with genuine Interest and concern to a filmed allegory of the rich poor dilemma The future posture of Canadians In this shrinking planet belongs to the young and that is reason for optimism One more Days event is to be held at Trinity United Ihis Friday at p m This illustrated chat about a Nigerian experience by Gwen Jim Johnson should appeal to young and old alike Refreshments will be served Thank you for the cooperation of the Acton tree Press for Ten Days for World Development Yours sincerely Eldon Comfort The Free Press Back Issues 10 years ago Taken from the Issue of the Free Press February 14 IKS Acton pioneer past and burgeoning present are depleted in an mural which was installed In the library lobby on Sunday afternoon The talented painter Mrs Joe Bray has been working on her unique centennial project since the fall Acton s public school board asked for and received approval for the addition to the Z Bennett school at last night Tuesday meeting of council They 11 apply to the Ontario Municipal Board for approval Tentative also given for a proposed library on the Robert Little school at an estimated cost of SO This was a surprise presentation and left some councillors gasping until trustees at the meeting in a body explained the reason for the request About 130 enjoyed the Guide and Brownie Mother and Daughter banquet Tuesday evening In the Legion auditorium A column from the library Is expected to become a new feature of the Free Press Mrs Isabel Watson the chief librarian has written a column about some of the newest books for this week and hopes to find time to continue 20 years ago Taken from the Issue of the Free Press of Thursday February Dlsston saws and blades will be manufactured by 150 employees in an square foot building presently being built In Acton when the plant opens in mid Two of the men implicated in the January armed robbery of the bank were sentenced to respective eight and ten year sentences with hard labor in Kingston Penitentiary when they appeared Magistrate K M Langdon Tuesday mor ning A third man asked for and received a week remand in the case and a girl held as a material witness in the case was ordered released G A Dills editor of this paper was named Ontario Weekly newspaperman of 1958 at the annual convention of the Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association in Toronto on Friday evening Two Brownies groups face extinction If it was revealed this week Mrs president of the Scout and Guide Mothers Association voiced concern over Ihe possibility of stopping the two Brownie groups if volunteer assistance in leadership is not forthcoming Miss Cheryl Price daughter of Mr and Mrs Herb Price passed her grade three Conservatory Music exam 50 years ago Taken from Ihcissueof the Free Press orThursday February 16 1928 A canvass of Eden Mills and vicinity for the installation of HydroElectric has been very successful and prospects are bright for the completion of arrangements and the building of the line in the early summer Messrs S V ling have arranged for a demonstration of the Pontiac and cars In Acton February Moving pictures and a lecture will be part of the programme and the affair will be held in the dining room of Jocque cafe One of the prominent guests the Acton Chamber of Commerce 20th annual dinner at Acton England was Miss Clark of Acton Ontario the Canadian teachers who are exchanging with English teachers this year Pancake socials are now quite apropos 100 years ago Taken from the Issue of the Free Press of Thursday 1878 Considerable excitement was created in lawn last night by the report being that a ghost has made its ap pearance in this One young man says he saw it about clock near the residence of Mr John A number of young men reported seeing it walking around the Held His is described as having the appearance of a shadow Mrs Kent Mason lectured to a crowded house on Saturday night last She spoke such feeling and pathos as to draw tears to the yes of her audience At the conclusion of the lecture over persons went forward and signed the pledge Letters to the editors appear in the past three Issues on the subject of the skating rink Rev Mr of the Methodist Church had preached a sermon in which he described the rink as Satan Protracted Meeting denied the necessity of amusement and condemned It for keeping late hours I TAKE More Utters to the Editor appear on page this week THE ACTON FREE PRESS PHONE Business and Editorial Office Copyright