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Acton Free Press Wednesday Feb Published by inland Publtsh Co at Wllow Stroet Acton Tolephono plans cop ra all count hoi than Canada The Fioo ess is Inland Publish Co Lm tod cup of suburban news which The Ing News Brampton Tho Burlngton Post Gaiatlo Indopondont II Econom stand Sun Tho Hon Canadian Champion Tho News Tho a Era Tha Weak This and leTt Founded in 1 Don McDonald Publisher s accepted on the cond on that In the of of ng ad by the for gnatu w I no be for but balance of tho toman cable In event of a typographical error goods may not bo sold Advertising an offer 1 1 Rearai at on 0515 EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Editor Hartley Coles News Editor Ho Ion Murray ReporterPhotographer ErcEtetone Sport Editor Robin Inscoo ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT BUSINESSACCOUNTING OFFICE Office Manager FranGbson Thornh I Sh IcyJocquo Caolyn Duval CIRCULATION PHONE 2010 Business and Editorial Office Two good suggestions The picturesque bridge leading to Acton library spans Hen s Creek alias School Creek and lends distinction to one of Acton s beauty spots but as Hills Library Board heard last week it can present a hazard for the elderly and the unsure footed during winter months Because the structure is made of wood library people cannot spread ice melting chemicals on the bridge or use the regular methods for keeping it clean Ice and snow pack down on it and make it an obstacle sometimes to library access One trustee at last week meeting suggested the board Should investigate the possibility installing a sidewalk from the Main St side of the library to the doors to compensate for the condition of the bridge There are undoubtedly many who would prefer using a sidewalk instead of scaling the bridge Its an excellent suggestion and library patrons would have their choice of two ways of getting to the library doors Trustee Norman Elliott also suggested the board should think of doing something now about the weeds and litter which choke up the creek in front of the library during the summer months When the water in the creek is high and flowing strong the tarnish on the landscape is not so noticeable As soon as water levels get low all the rubbish and weeds appear and spoil what could easily be one of the community s idyllic locations It is doubly important to keep the area tidy and the creek bed clean because it is on a main highway where travellers receive first impressions of Acton It is also the site of the historic plaque which commemorates the founding of Acton by the Adams brothers saddleback preachers of the Methodist persuasion At one time Brendan Aherne of the now defunct Parks and Recreation Board of the former Town of Acton unveiled plans to construct a walkway beside the creek starting near the music centre on Wallace St and winding up at Fairy Lake The proposal was ahead of its time and exceeded Actons financial limits but if the library board could start the ball rolling by keeping the creek clean in co operation with the town of Halton Hills it could be the start of the ambitious project It would certainly enhance that corner of the town and make the entrance to the library more attractive than ever Mall better than plaza Halton Hills Planning Board heard the overwhelming majority of the estimated people who attended last Wednesday s public meeting come out squarely for a plaza in Acton It may not be indicative of the feelings of the entire community but public sympathy was squarely in the developers camp from those who cared enough to attend There s no doubt downtown businessmen in Acton were disappointed with the results of the straw vote taken at the meeting There was much criticism of businessmen and sharp reaction to their suggestion that there was room for more business the downtown Now the ball is in the planning board court They must decide whether public opinion takes precedence over planning done by the town staff and the official plan of the community which tries to keep business in one area instead of spreading it over town There s some doubt downtown business will be hurt by the presence of a plaza in the east end of Acton but there are other questions we should also be asking if we really have the best interests of the community at heart Will the downtown decay if development is allowed or en couraged in the east end Will it be an eyesore of neglected stores and povenshed businessmen and women Will a plaza of the type proposed add any more variety and com petition to Acton business or merely move existing business to a new location Will it kill the ambitious plans the Business Improvement Association has for the down town These are just a few questions citizens should ask before they throw their support 100 per cent behind any plaza development There no doubt Acton needs more commercial establishments to capture some of the shopping dollars which go out of town but it is not a problem peculiar to Acton Georgetown people shop in Brampton and other nearby malls Milton people shop in Oakville and Burlington Guelph people shop in Kitchener all complaining they can t get what they want in their own com munities It s an endless cycle where shopping is an excursion as well a necessity Competition is the of any shopping area and it makes sense to keep stores in as compact an area as the town can afford Shopping plaza layouts bear this out If Acton must have commercial development in the east end then let a covered mall also be proposed not just a plaza Let go whole hog not by half measure Back issues View from the Crescent bridge Photo by Robm Shakespeares Shylock set the tone Recently I ve been teaching that perennial favorite The Merchant of Venice by one Will Shakespeare It a light romantic comedy but through the speeches and comic complications runs an iron and on irony that almost steals iho play every lime it is read or performed the story of Shylock money lender and his insistence on his pound of flesh That word and that phrase have become part of jour language You may have heard bay lies a regular Shylock or He always wants his pound of flesh They art synonyms of a ciless greed haired and desire for revenue or those who have forgotten the plot or haven t read or seen the play I II give a pocket synopsis A rich merchant is approached by his best friend a young man who has squandered all his money including a goodly sum merchant has lent him The young fellow wants his friend lo lend him another sum about 35 so that he can get himself all duded up and marry a wealthy upon which he will return all the money he owes For friendship sake the rich merchant says No problem All my cash is tied up in ships at sea with rich cargoes my credit is excellent Go borrow the money and I back your note Or words to that effect I am Will Smiley not Will Shakespeare So the young blade goes lo a notorious money lender Shylock who agrees to lend him the money for three months Usually he charges more interest than Household Finance but this time he won t charge any The plot thickens In a few sneering asides we learn that Shylock hates the rich merchant He has reasons The merchant has spat upon him spurned him called him dog and hurt him badly in the pocket book by lending money interest free Shylock can stand the and Hie names but he turns purple when he thinks someone is lending money with no interest when he could be copping per cent He sees his chance Sure he lend young spender money interest free provided the merchant will sign a bond that if the money is not repaid by a certain date Shylock may take a pound of flesh from any part of the merchant body Body Poltic decision disturbing It is with the deepest sense of regret I feci compelled to write this letter I extremely disturbed by the decision handed down by Judge Sydney Horns acquitting the Pink Triangle Press in From the Fourth Estate Shop and compare plazas by Eric There is one point of agreement between shopping plaza developer Jerry Sprack man and Actons downtown merchants Both sides welcome competition At least they said they did during last week public meeting in the high school The downtown merchants however want the competition on better terms than offered by plaza developer Jerry man They would rather have the food store and parking downtown rather than off on the eastern edge of town where it may well draw away enough core dollars to sink some of the downtown into red Ink Sprackman on the other hand has competition the way he wants It That little competition at all There is little doubt we Acton shoppers arc going to get another food store with parking Sprackman studies convince him there is enough dollars in town to go ahead with the project No matter how attractive proposal Is and that store looks good we should not sell ourselves short Apply to the proposed plaza oil criteria we bring to bear on our everyday shopping Does the proposal fill all our needs Sprackman offers a quick and easy solu tion to many of our shopping woes A big new store with plenty of parking plus the chance of more stores later So what Do you buy the first car you see because it has four wheels a chassis and seats Of course not You have a clear idea of what you Trouble Is we don often shop for a plain But because we are not used to examining an item size of a shopping centre docs not mean do not owe it to ourselves to do so That building is going to be here for a long time and If it is a goof you can trade in the lemon Like the sophisticated consumers we ore let get some consumer information and compare Where For a start local councillors can act and see what other plaza ideas there are for Acton It only suits Sprackmon to build on the edge of town because he has an option to buy the land That option is very likely running out soon That is already zoned rural Al though one report directs Acton growth to the east there had better be a good rca son to urbanize the countryside In other words rather than accept what Is given determine exactly where we want it and what we want Because other com munities take second best Is no measure for Acton to follow The Body Politic trial Claire Hoy in his column appearing in The Toronto Sun Thursday February IS sums It up best by quoting a statement made by Edmund Burke January The only thing necessary for the of evil is for good men to do nothing This quote inspired me to make my stand known Quoting again from Mr Hoys column Yet the final paragraph of the article referring to the men who had experienced various forms of sexual activity with children one aged seven concludes that these men ore leaders in boys work community workers who deserve our praise our admiration and our support The Pink Triangle Press the pub lishers of this article have stated that they Intend to reprint it as well as ar tides or a similar nature Hopefully enough decent people who will express their strong opposition to this disgusting and sickening material Ills a sick society that condones or even appears to condone the exploitation of its children For the good of our society now is the time to make your views known and to publicly make your stand Very sincerely Jack Johnson WellinglonDufferin Peel all a joke of course As Shylock points out a pound of human flesh is not worth as much as a pound of veal or even a pound of hamburger This was before inflation I bet on it nowadays The rich merchant agrees airily After all his ships will be in with their rich cargoes a whole month before the bond is due And nobody would take a pound of flesh Minn We in audience know that will take a pound of flesh from the heart area and that the laws of the city will back him up if the bond Is signed in quadruplicate Well well It is rumored on the stock ex change that the rich merchant ships have all been lost sea and he Is bankrupt Big trial scene The law upholds claim Old Shy is whetting a big carving knife on his boot The rich chant stands breast bored Its as good as the old melodrama with the heroine tied to the railway tracks by the villain and the train fast approaching Smart young lawyer to the rescue Shylock may take his pound of flesh but not one drop of blood not one ninth of an ounce more or less hat pound his own life and all his property is forfeit Try that one on next pig you kill Now was stumped An old cricket term chaps And that Will Shakespeare knew his law He was con tinually Involved in litigation like many a playwright A great to me tine in one of his plays goes Lets hang all the lawyers Anywiy The whole thing got me thinking of usury This was once an honest term meaning interest on money loaned It has since come to mean charging ex Interest on money loaned A dirty business In Elizabethan England usury was a crime and heavily punished Right up to the death penalty depending on whom you knew in the right circles And I began thinking about in it prejorative that means namecalling sense in our society today Is it shameful to be a usurer Is usury something to be hidden under the rug Are there any penalties for usury Answer no Our modern usurers are not even ashamed of what they do They advertise it In all the media They run all the way from our banks among our most respected institutions down our finance companies so called among our less respected institutions all the way to the hood in Montreal who will lend you money at 100 per cent interest and break your knees with a baseball bat if you don pay up Try borrowing from Ann Murray who touts for Canadian bank with no interest Try borrowing from a finance company without pledging your grand mother bones for fertilizer in case you con t meet the deadline We are surrounded by usurers Maybe Shakespeare was right Line up all the usurers in Canada shoot them quietly and burn some at the stake I d enjoy that 10 years ago Taken from the Issue or the Acton Free Press or Thursday February 1060 Councillors from Acton Georgetown and township attacked the unknowns of regional government at the first meeting of Its kind in Esquesing hall Wednesday afternoon Acton Mayor Duby said he felt there were other areas in Ontario where administration had not been nearly as progressive and efficient as in He felt the spreading out of industrial representation was all that would be required of regional government He said Acton opposes a Peel arrangement Another meeting is planned Council will ask Whiting for assistance in preparing a brief asking for the retaining of Acton CNR station The spirit of and vicinity was evident when dozens of men con verged on the Sixth Line home of Mr and Mrs Bonus and family to start their home which was damaged by fire Mrs George Fryer was again president of he Golden Age Club John was elected President of the Chamber of Commerce Other executive members are Don Lindsay Gordon Chapman Chris Schuts John Conigho Carl Watzeck Don Jollymore 20 years ago Taken from the Issue of the Free Press February IS Acton Pentecostal church was host for the first time for the World Day of Prayer service About attended The wire of the pastor Mrs Kenneth was speaker Water superintendent J Lambert has his hands full thawing out water services these days A special committee to investigate the possibility of artificial ice in Acton was authorized to apply for council a approval of a bylaw to set up a Community Centre Board This action followed approval of a campaign to raise KM during a public meeting in the Monday Bert Wood was chairman Ted Tyler and Ted Tyler Jr showed sketches for renovations Ross Shortill is president of the Junior t armors Hunter vicepresident Ian Nornsh secretary treasurer Close to 1 people donned winter tog gory to brave the cold of Acton arena to at tend Booster Night sponsored by the Legion Minor Sports committee Weston Skating Club presented a fine show 50 years ago Taken from the issue of he Acton Press The announcement is being made this week of the opening of a new Ford agency and service station in Acton for this town and the district including Georgetown Rockwood and The new garage is being opened by A Norton of Toronto After operating for about nine years the Acton Cooperative store decided last week to close its store here The store was operated by Messrs to give their and patrons the benefit of cooperative buying in large quantities The entire contents of the store have been purchased by J Jones of the Red and White store lost another of Its in person of Amaziah Kingsbury He had an attack of the flu which was followed by pneumonia County Jail Is presently over crowded with prisoners there being confined there A landmark the Lindsay hotel property at Hornby was destroyed by fire 100 years ago Taken from the issue of the Free Press Thursday rebruary27 ltflB A Big Smoke And A Little Flame On Saturday evening the people of Aton were suddenly startled by cry of Fire fire which was immediately followed by the fire bell ringing its loud alarm that effectually bringing the majority of the inhabitants of the village to the streets All immediately proceeded to Nlcklins residence and for some time the position of the fire could not be placed It wos impossible to get upstairs and at last a ladder was procured and John Warden thus mode his way into the bedroom where it was found the fire The fire it self caused little damage but the water which was thrown around large quan lilies ruined carpets and furniture while considerable damage was by the hasty removal and rough handling to which the furniture was subjected The whole loss will amount to about the building was insured in the Waterloo Mutual for John Warden cut his hand on a piece of window glass The insurance com has given him for his services Acton has at present Its full complement of men out of work If some of them would go out sawing wood it would be more creditable than their present mode of existence Remember the Grand Organ recital at Rome Organ Factory to night