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The Acton Free Proas Wednesday 1978 Hope is restored The meaning of life the meaning of death The hope that is revived every Kaato writes spnng and every Easter will bring people of the Christian faith together in thoughts this weekend Wemeetyou 0 Christ in many a guise Your image we see in simple and wise You live m a palace exist in a shack We see you the gardener a tree on your back In millions alive away and abroad Involved in our life you live down the road Imprisoned in systems you long to be free We see you Lord Jesus still ng your tree We hear you O man in agony cry For freedom you march in riots you die Your face in the papers we read and we see The tree must be planted by human decree Your choose to be made at one with the earth The dark of the grave prepares for your birth Your death is your rising creative your word The tree springs to life and hope is restored Lessons of the Garden Tomb by Rev Chuck Beaton Trinity United Church One of the loveliest places in Jerusalem is the Garden Tomb Beautifully kept with flowers shrubs and trees it is acknowledged as one of the likely sites of the resurrection On a Sunday morning five years ago two friends and I attended a worship service there I was able to find a secluded bench near the back of the garden From this position I could see the skull shaped cuff known as Gordon s Calvary rising dramatically beyond the garden I could well envision three crosses against the sky hear the sound of the hammers the weeping of the mourners and the groans of the dying Through the trees beyond the congregation I could see a small dark opening in the limestone rock which looked like the tomb itself My mind wandered back to that first Easter morning when in the dim light two women came to this place to properly anoint Jesus body for burial There had not been timetodoitbefore As they came they were worried about how they would move the huge stone which sealed the tomb It was an obstacle they knew they must contend with and they werent looking forward to it When they arrived to their surprise and delight the stone had already been pushed aside What they had an ticipated as an obstacle turned out not to be one So often we worry about ob stacles in our lives We are frightened and paralyzed by them Easter comes to us with the assurance that the things which you see as horrendous obstacles blocking your life will be removed Go in faith Do what needs to be done and the Lord your God who moved the stone from the tomb and raised our Lord from death will go before you Obstacles will no longer be obstacles Then I could see in my mud eye the two Marys peeking timidly into the tomb They went in Then they came out saddened and confused Jesus was not there They were certain that the authorities had taken the body away and buried it elsewhere A voice spoke to them telling them not to be afraid for Jesus was risen and couldn t be found among the dead That confused them even more for they did not know what that meant Often we look for Jesus in the wrong places or we try to keep him entombed in the ancient rituals and language of the church We have discovered that he cannot be contained by death or anything else for that matter Legend has it that the centurion in charge of Jesus execution was asked a few days later where he was Let loose in the world was his reply The tomb was empty Jesus was somehow alive and loose in the world As that drama and its plications rambled through my imagination I was overwhelmed by the peace and beauty of the Gar den I felt a presence very close to me I thought Jesus had come to stand beside me I could almost feel him put his hand on my shoulder and say my name I turned with a start and there was someone beside me It was not Jesus It was my friend Bob my companion and a fellow minister In that instant I learned something else about the resurrection The living Jesus comes to me in the presence of my friends I knew that Jesus was in Bob for he is such a loving guy who gives himself to other people and cares for people deeply TherisenChnsthasbeenin a whole army of people that have touched my life over the years That s how the risen Jesus comes to you through other people people who you have known people you know now people you will know in the future He lives in us as we live in Him The lessons of the Garden Tomb are with us this Easter Let the trumpets sound He lives Groups need grants Finance committee of Hills council suggested last week budget cuts for Acton Citizens Band Acton Community Services centre Halton Helping Hands and the North Halton Contact Centre The Acton Agricultural Societys grant was also questioned Councillor Walter said its easier to cut from each of these groups that to cut a little from many groups These are the five largest grants Certainly there will be acute disappointment here if this suggestion is followed through Three of the five are Acton groups and the other two theoretically include Acton in their area of concern The band Community Services Centre and Agricultural Society all do excellent work for their com munity The organizers and workers direct themselves toward their goals and to have to raise money to survive as well would probably mean the end of the existence of some of them The must spend their time practising and playing not raising money Their annual grant is a result of a vote years ago by Acton citizens The Community Services Centre run already on a shoestring plus a series of small donations needs to be professionally operated And thats not with handouts Acton needs its Community Services Centre partly because we are the only town in Halton without Health Unit offices The Agricultural Society runs a fair that Is a community event and a very successful one Yet the costs involved are horrendous We certainly hope council finds other areas to cut from their grants budget SPIDERS WEB in steel an inside view of one of north of No highway Similar structures are due to the new hydro towers which have just been erected pass near Acton Sugar and spice It you missed a column was because my big brother died and between making arrangements phoning family and emotional exhaustion I didn t have much heart for turning out a column the flrt time I ve missed in about It that I went around and tearing my hair We don that in tin Smiley family although I vc nothing against It It just that when one of your immediate family goes it makes gap 1 your life whether you close or not And it also a reminder of your own mortality My big brother was five years older and something of for times He got all the good looks in the family six feet tall blond curly hair strong white teeth a great He was a op in high school He passed kicked and ran on the football team and set a high jump record that lasted for some years bo you can imagine that little brother often basked in refleckd glory Because of the age difference he hung around with a different crowd but he was kind to me and did for me a lot of things fathers ore supposed to do with their sons Like ploying catch showing me how to stick handle a puck letting me help gather sap and make syrup and one glorious day about this time of year allowing me to fire Iwasabout and it wos some big deal He was a young man in the latter part of the Depression and It was a bad lime to be a young man in some ways His first job was in a bank a miserable pittance He was like a young bear In a cage With some kindred spirits he left the bank they bought a Model T and with a few dollars each they headed north He went Into hardroek mining and within a year was a shift boss making big money for the limes He liked the hard rough work and play of miners I remember the first time he came home from the for Christmas huge hearty laughing with generous presents for all and to the horror of his young brother whiskey on his breath Funny that memory He was never much of a drinker Come the war and he joined early obtaining a commission in the Engineers He went overseas with the body of young Canadians who were to spend the next three or four years training and frustrated in damp old England Next time I saw him he was almost dead I had Just arrived In England a young of fl pilot and was informed that big brother had been blown up by a land mine I went to the hospital as did again more than 30 years later found him in rough shape The shrapnel from the mine had almost cut him In two and he was still picking bits of it out of his skull and body Just before he died But the medics patched him up and within months he was out squiring the by Bill Smiley nurses around the local pubs minus one eye but very much alive The three Smiley brothers got together fairly often for weekend leaves in London To the disgust of my little brother and I big brother would try to organize every thing for us treat us with paternal pride and try to keep us from sowing too many wild oats which we were only too keen to do A year after the war he and I got married within a few weeks of each other and our wives struck up a close friendship Then I was off to the dull safety of and he wa3 off on a series of bizarre and adventurous jobs First It was up to Port Radium on Great Bear Lake to mine pitchblende for radium Then he worked as a construction boss for some quasi government agency in Southern Ontario Next he bought a well driller rig and got into that First thing I know off to South America to run a gold mine that did well but was closed when the government decided to build a dam that would close the mine Back to Canada Side trips to Puerto Rico where there was a big job building houses That pan out Then a year or two in Newfoundland building highways Various jobs after that I was never quite sure where he was what he was doing or who he was working for But there was always that indomitable dream that the next job was going to hit real paydirt and set him for life Two weeks before he died he told me with great enthusiasm about a trip he d made recently to Costa Rica and felt there were great opportunities down there for him as soon as he got on his feet I m sad that the big dream was always just over the horizon and that he never quite achieved it But I m glad for his sake that he kept trying There were lots of times when he could have settled into a ninetofive Job and lived dully and safely Tor the rest his life But in this age when everyone is seeking to wrap himself in a security blanket ho remained a boy heart ready to drop everything pack up and go to the ends of the earth for a look at something new and exciting May he rest In the peace he never found on this earth Of this and that The official arrival of spring at 15 Monday was accompanied by freezing rain Tuesday brought rain eating away at the grey snowbanks Birds were singing in noisy delight Its the first good dint in winter weve had Got a comment Write a letter to the editor I The Free Press Back Issues 10 years ago Ten yean ago today Taken from bine of the Free Press of Wednesday March Mall delivery in Acton may not become a reality In the near future but the foreseeable future could see house to house delivery if present expansion of the town continues Two hundred and sixty more post office boxes were Installed in the Acton Post Office last week to handle the In creased demand making a total of 1334 boxes using all available space Future of the year school Ice carnival will hinge on a meeting Monday night arena manager Harold Townsley said this week Unless there more enthusiasm shown Mr predicts this year a and all subsequent carnivals will be written off Mr and Mrs West accompanied by Mr and Mrs Fred West spent two weeks motoring to Florida visiting Fort Lauderdale and reluming via council rushed through the essential business at their regular meeting night so they could view a threatened Boot In Glen Williams years ago Taken from the Issue of the Free Press of Thursday April IKS Rolling up a plurality of 11013 votes Charles Alexander Sandy Best of Georgetown won federal seat at Ottawa on Monday with one of the biggest majority victories witnessed in the county The per cent vote saw the Progressive Conservative candidate poll 20 937 votes compared to received by Liberal standard bearer Ken Dick of Milton Jack Henry the CCF candidate ran third 3488 Mayor W Cook of Acton was appointed chairman of the North Halton Urban Board at the year first meeting of the board in the Acton Council Chambers on Wednesday evening Also appointed was J Hurst of Acton as vice chairman and J as secretary treasurer Celebrating her birthday today Thursday is Mrs George Chapman 28 Main St is considered one of Acton grand old ladies and friend to all Many friends neighbors and relatives have been dropping in to congratulate Mrs Chapman ana this evening no doubt there will be many more visitors to sit around and enjoy a chat over a cup of tea and one of her favorite cookies with the bright eyes nonagenarian Acton fire brigade responded to four grass fires last weekend and another call on Wednesday morning of this week and one in the afternoon 50 years ago Taken from the of the Free Press March IS The annual supper entertainment and dance of the Shoe Co Acton employees will be held in the town hall tomorrow evening A good program has been prepared The Mason will provide the music for dancing The council the Public Com mission the Chamber of Commerce and business men of Acton will hold a con ference on telephone matters in the council chamber this evening at eight clock All interested in this important matter are urged to be present at this meeting to discuss telephone matters with the representatives of the Bell Telephone Co 100 years ago Taken from the issue of the Free Press Thursday March 1S78 One of our merchants wishes me to In form the party who sold him a roll of butter with a muffler in the centre he can have the muffler by applying at the store The summer session of the Ontario Agricultural College commences April 18 with vacancies for additional pupils The college Is now thoroughly equipped The Acton checker players are practising nearly every evening They are the champions of the county Last week the village was by half a dozen Insurance agents Mr Robert Galloway has been suffering from a healing thumb after being struck by a sword Last Friday two men both having per forming bears paid this village a visit and amused some of our young folks by their antics A collection was taken up at the end of the performance Mr James McGuire has purchased the hotel business of Mr for THE ACTON FREE PRESS PHONE 853 2010 Business and Editorial Office Copyright 1978