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A handful of people In Acton are fighting desperately to keep the Red Cross alive in town By this fall their battle hopefully will be rewarded when they become an official branch of the Canadian Red Cross Society Henry Krocs of Arthur St has been made unof ficial chairman of the Acton and District Red Cross group He explains that now group works in conjunction with the Georgetown branch tic hopes to change that by fall However much work remains to be done Although it is not an of final branch the local group of volunteers has set up a well organized well run system to come to the aid of individuals or several victims of a disaster within ten minutes Anna Arnold and Jean Acton volunteers keep Red Cross healthy Jackson have set up minor disaster routine In which they are able to come to the aid of fire victims or other disasters not involving a great deal of people So far the minor disaster group has only been needed once for a burned out family last winter At that time the family members were taken to In Georgetown where the Red Cross has an account to pick a complete set of clothing from inside out However donated clothing for the one case last winter disaster opera are currently being set up This would be implemented in the case of hurricane flood etc Bruce Hay ward and Mary have been busy locating and arranging use large buildings to be opened to victims In the case of emergencies They have arranged for such build as the the curling club churches and the library to be available Also notified of the plan are local grocery stores who have volunteered food in such disasters the local radio club and heavy equipment Clothing stores have also volunteered to come to the rescue if needed The loan cupboard to date is perhaps the most used of the local Red Cross group Many Items useful to the temporarily handicap ped through Illness or operation etc are avail able free of charge Items Included are com modes bedpans canes crutches wheelchairs walkers hospital beds mattresses etc Anne in charge of the cupboard says that In there were loans out to local people The most com borrowed Item was the wheelchair taken times Hospital beds were used twice Mrs says she deliver any piece of equipment needed Three months Is the maximum time allotted to each item Although it is mainly individuals- who call sometimes she says the Halton Hills Home Care Unit or the Health Clinic will call upon their services Individual emergency aid is also quite useful to local residents Mrs B heads this vice which provides transportation to Toronto or other centres where specialists are located There are three to four volunteer drivers ac cording to Mr Kroes who give their time t sick people to doc tors Blood donor clinics are a vital service offered by the Canadian Red Cross Society In Acton here are usually three to four clinics a year with the blood received going immediately to Toronto for operations or acci dent victims Much work goes into the clinics by both local volunteers and Red Cross staff The next clinic Is March at the Acton Legion Not every one Is eligible to give blood either due to past diseases drugs in the system or weight or age restrictions However everyone is eligible to receive blood Those who are able to give the gift of life are encouraged to do BO Whether it be the minor or major disaster vices or the loan cup board or the blood clinics all the services need money to exist Some donations are made when someone makes use of the service but mainly financing Is through the annual fund- raising drive which kicks off tomorrow Thursday No one can say they will never need the vices of the Red Cross The society is only called upon In an emergency or when someone is sick unplanned events which can happen to anyone Donations no matter how large or small are appreciated Organization is the key to any volunteer group The Acton Red Cross group have then- act together and want to serve the town More volunteers are welcome Acton Red Cross Volunteer workers arc striving to ma lit heir group an In dependent branch of the Ontario Red Cross rather than an arm of as they now are Some of the volunteers gathered at the ho of Henry Kroes recently to discuss their direction Front Anne and Mice and back row Anna Arnold Mr Krocs and Helen McLean Judge hands out rare maximum sentence One Hundred and Fourth Year No 38 ACTON ONTARIO WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 1979 Eighteen PagesFifteen Cents Green green and more green remedy for the winter is the color of the new Regional Headquarters In Oak vllle The building Peters people need all the bright col rs they can gel to ihcer then our long winter months Phot b Hurl gin Post Developer will appeal Planning Board turns down plaza Plaza deveioptr Jerry Ontario Municipal Board Sprackman he will to force Halton launch an appeal to the Hills hand in favor of a 90th birthday celebrated Sun More than people attended an open house to honor I tin day Sunday Mrs born Bristol Li gland February 1B89 and tame to Canada when she was her early For many years she lived in Toronto until her husband death when she went to live with her daughter Edna Gordon In 19j8 the Gordon moved to Acton and Mrs began making her local friends She enjoys sewing and euchre and is an active member of the Golden Age Club The open house was held at granddaughter Lynn Fountain McDonald Ave home where family and fr ends came to the girl well Mrs has two daughters Edna Mrs Art Gordon Acton and Mrs Art Des jar dine Port Perry and one son George of Islington She also has seven grandchildren and six great grandchildren shopping centre along Acton eastern border Halton Hills planning board last night Tues day voted in favor of keeping the rural land plaza proof The decision comes in the wake of a public meeting in which most of about people voted in favor of Mr proposal We re gonna go to the and we re gonna win Mr told the press after the meeting The result was what he expected but not what he wanted The public meeting at Acton High School earlier this month was called a farce by Mr Sprackman be cause councillors did not pay attention to the people who Indicated favor with his plan Absolutely unbeltev able was Mr Sprack man description of planning board fl de cision I don under stand how the planning department and council lore can face the people of Acton Tuesday night a decision was the third denial by town planning authorities A consultant who spoke In favor of the Sprack man development Henry Joseph said the decision was a railroad job Mr Sprackman pro posal called for the re- zoning of about six acres In the southeast corner of Highway 7 and Churchill Road South He would like to build a food store plus eight other stores on the land now zoned rural Town planner Mario Vendittl recommended denial of the proposal because the of ficial plan docs not In elude such a proposal and the bid Is therefore deemed premature The proposal Is premature also due to the lack of a planned population base to support the application and due to a possible pact on the Acton urban area commercial The size of the first proposal was some acres It was re duced by nearly three acres with the re mainder to be held for later development Acton councillor Ross was the only elected representative to speak and he was in favor of the planners Even with the reduced amount of land for development Councillor said he still thought man would have a licence to exploit 7 acres While ho Is not fussy with the grocery shop ping in Acton Council lor Knechtel said he like the price that would have to be paid in terms of land for a Zchrs food store Councillor Ed Wood a downtown merchant de clared a conflict of inter est while Actons third representative Duby remained silent The ten people who addressed planning board were split on the subject Lloyd Sankey RR Acton was one of the few speakers not at the ear Her public meeting at the school An architect who performed much of the of Colling wood Mr briefly outlined what he saw as the possibilities of oping Acton s core Mr said the town needs about 100 square feet all of which can be downtown One place would be in the IGA Store Dominion Hotel area including the farm at the rear A second spot Corridor not needed Announcement of cut backs In Ontario Hydros building program may mean there is no need for a high transmission corridor through Halton Hills according to Julian Reed Halton- ling ton Ontario Hydro has announced that because of over forecasting the growth rate of electric power demand some plants may by moth- balled or even cancelled and among them would be Bruce Nuclear Gener ating Station B which is planned to provide power for shipping through a line through Halton Hills If Bruce Is cut out Reed said in an interview Monday there 11 be no demand for more corridors there hi already getting out And even if Bruce was to go ahead Reed added there still four There all kinds of time Reed said He said that an official announcement on Bruce B and Darlington Nuclear generating station is expected March would include the rail way Food and and Force Electric properties The Business Improve ment Area has so far carried out cosmetic work Mr Sankey said What needed is gery BIA spokesman Paul Nielsen revealed with no names there are plans for an of two of the grocery stores downtown Mr Joseph speaking In favor of the plaza said that in Bolton where Mr has a plaza the downtown IGA store upgraded its facilities and the Red and White is doing fine June Rourke also spoke in favor of the Sprackman proposal by indicating there is much evidence of townspeople shopping elsewhere Be cause the people are in favor of the plaza a reference to the public meeting Mrs O Rourke said she felt council would be in favor too We all know there Is no room for large stores downtown she said Other speakers were Jack Carpenter Bill John Coniglio Mrs Finley and Walter Fosbury If you councillors can just sit down and turn those people down 1 11 never understand it Mr Sprackman said An unusual maximum jail sentence was levied by provincial court Monday on an Acton man convicted of dangerous driving Provincial Court Judge Douglas Latimer said it is on rare occasion when the maximum time jail is used sentenced Leslie Winter at Milton to six months in jail plus two years on probation Also Mr Winters licence to drive is suspended for months Society cannot accept someone consuming alcohol and drugs and then that same person getting behind the wheel of a vehicle Judge Latimer said Mr Winter was con victed earlier his month and was held in custody until a presentence report was written Judge Latimer took into consideration Mr Winter spent almost a month in jail before sentence During evidence given February 8 Mr Winter told the court he blacked out after he started his car on Main Street Oct Immediately before he had been drink ing beer and earlier in the day he smoked two marijuana cigarettes There was also evidence of other drugs in Mr Winter s body The car mounted the curb in front of In Out struck a pedestrian Karen Cooper and dragged her The vehicle also turned left on Church Street threw the 19year woman clear then pinned a man against a parked truik The woman suffered a broken ankle scrapes and bruises and a cut to the back or the head The man was only bruised The court does not that you blacked out he judge told Mr Winter Judge Latimer continued by saying he thought deterrence is essential Defence counsel Robert Leschied the court the matter was not one of wilful d regard Leslie W father John told Judge lit was able to get a threeweak leave of absence for his son from Building Products of Canada Ltd The com piny he said is will to take his son back to work Mr Winter worked at the Acton company for 17 months a term which ft nee counsel said is some for a Mr Winter disputed he finding in the pre sentence report which he showed no remorse regarding the incident Lawyer Lcs said his client Is concerned for what hap pened Mr Winter senior told the court he is willing to keep his son and put him through school if He learned his lesson while being at the detention centre I don think he wants to go back Mr Winter said Mr said there I ad been efforts to resolve the difficulties at tome The client he said also has indicated a re return to work Mr Leshied indicated he wanted intermittent incarceration and so Mr Winter could keep his job Crown Prosecutor Larry Owen called upon he court to levy the max mum sentence possible He called the facts of the case nothing less than atrocious BacktoActon Days passes to Chamber The more things change the more they stay the same almost Downtown merchants for example who nearly two years ago split from the Chamber of Com merce of C to form theActon Business Asso ciation ABA are re turning to the fold With them they bring the Back to- Ac ton Days promotion and its call thumpian parade C of C president Jake Kuikcn said Saturday the parade which drew nun of residents down town will definitely be headed up again Efforts are being made to form an organizing com mittee He also said there will be as before a public meeting to draw support Mr Kuikcn also said the return of the ABA merchants will then the Chamber The ABA started the Back to- Acton Days and drew upon the unity service clubs residents the Chamber and the Business Improvement Area BIA for support The last ABA chair man Ed Wood said he is happy to sec the group return to the Chamber It seems a better idea to put it under one roof He resigned in July after the second Back Days Two years ago March 22 merchants broke ranks with the Chum be r because they ought the C of C s retail section was not doing Its job Also there were complaints of a lack of communication The chamber urged the retailers to remain but they soon set up an executive and struck committees of their own The ABA wis to be on information source and forum on business Also it was to coordinate and plan regularly pro motion and advertising programs The recent weakness to make regu lar promotions accord ing to some members contributed to the return to the chamber The ABA however was Regional councillors vote selves 5 increase 90 years young Frances celebrated her birthday Sunday with friends and family visiting Milton opposed the raise regional councillors voted themselves Wednes day Feb Mayor Don Gordon said he and Coun cillors Bill Johnson and Goutouski voted against the proposal because It wasn t consistent with the town own policy Milton Council last week voted itself an increase effective Dec 1 1979 The region five per cent increase is retroactive to Jan 1079 The five per cent Increase is based on a formula devised by Burlington It Is based on a percentage equal to the lowest percentage Increase of three indexes the national consumer price index the industrial composite of aver- age weekly wages and salaries index and an index based on the pay of 12 typical regional job classifications Mr Gordon said the formula Is excel lent because it removes the politics He said he would suggest It to Milton council Regional councillors were scheduled to receive a nine per cent increase based on a motion they approved last year which tied regional councillors salaries to the consumer price Index The Increase which was approved gives regional councillors an in crease of over Regional chairman Jack salary Is Increased to an in crease of 10 per cent It Is the first in crease for the regional chairman Id two years It had been per year Mr Johnson said in debate he was against the increase because he knew what a regional councillor salary was when he ran for the position and expect to get any extra Oakville Councillor Laurie Mannell opposed the increase but only because the new formula was a rejection of the old one Burlington Councillor Walter Mulke- wlch replied voters arc concerned about restraint The new motion re duced the increase by four per cent He said councillors are simply amending a policy which is in effect Hills Councillor Ed Wood also opposed the five per cent increase I personally can t justify an In crease he said Although the region had embraced his city formula for raises Burlington Mayor Holy Bird said he would like to have seen the proposal referred to the administration and finance committee Mr said Because of re straint we decided to keep It the in crease under six per cent Hesaid it was not valid to allow clllors salaries to get too far back be cause the increase would be large in future years He justified the increase saying the buying power of a dollar had weakened The new amounts approved chair man and councillors are twothirds salary and one- third expenses ever too distant from the of or the BIA There was joint committee on pro motion and advertising Also one of the t in an early ABA meeting was that the association become a member of the chamber so that ABA members could also belong to the chamber The approximately in ABA funds will go into a special retail ac count for promotions according to Mr Wood The lock of com cations which according to the ABA marked the Chamber two years ago has Improved according to Chamber president Ku ken The lack of communication within the ABA is seen by members as its main failure One of the features of a of is that it Is char lered and will therefore continue even if interest lapses Also a chamber has affiliation with a federal C of C Another factor In the decline of the ABA is the failure to replace lost key members Founding chairman Marilyn Otto- way left town to go out west finance chairman John Bum stead is no ongcr manager at the local TorontoDominion Bank while Art Cooper and Wayne Ruse are no longer in business Yes there are new people In town but there does not seem to be much interest Mr Wood said The return is denied to be an attempt to present by downtown business men a more unified front to plaza development Paul Nielsen chair man of the C of C retail section when the ABA formed will probably resume those duties