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The Acton Free Press Wedncday Feb 28 1979 Published by Inland Publishing Co Urn tod at Wllow Street Acton Tefephono on cop each Canada CO a I count than Canada Acton Press a ho Inland Publoh Co L tod group news Advert lor Tho Brampton Guardian Post Elob coke GaiottO Tho Georgetown Independent lEconomsiandSun The lion Canadian Chomp on The NewmarketAurora Eta Osbawa Th Week This Weekend and leTrbuno Founded In Don McDonald Publisher Advertising on that port on space by the ottonot jus tern together tea allowance to gnatuto II not bo charged for but paid oi at coble rato In a sonices at wrong pr CO goods or cos may not bo sola Advorl to sell and may bo vv at any I me EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Editor Hart toy Editor Murray Eric Sports Editor Rob Inscoo ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT BUSINESSACCOUNTING OFFICE CIRCULATION n PHONE Business and Editorial Office Out in the cold If ever there is a month when Canadians need a holiday it is in February when the snow lies deep and wind whistles through the country with deep freeze on its breath But the mandarins and the cabinet ministers who run the country from Ottawa have decided Canadians who stay and face the freeze can afford another holiday They should have been told we cant afford not to have one A week ago Monday was Hen Day Except for a few trade unions who have it written into contracts and venturesome firms who set the trends life went on as usual in Canada There is no month in the year in which Canadians feel so low as in February Just thoughts of a day at midwinter could make the difference between dreading the final six weeks of winter and hav the courage to face them with a smile and a song Heritage Day is perfect for such a break We could put out the Christmas lights and have a gala winter carnival a la Quebec City Alas MPs who tell us to shiver in Shawimgan as they flee south for the cold days have no mercy Let them freeze in the dark they say Its time we told them we want Heritage Day a national holiday even if it means not having Groundhog Day off Write your MP and tell him He likes downtowns Members of Acton Business Improve ment area are shaking their heads as they brandish a paper written by Henry Joseph on Canadian Downtown rediscovered Mr Joseph is Ihe same man who Is plumping for a plaza in the cast end of Acton for Shopping Centres Downtown businessmen wonder how Mr Joseph can square what he wrote with he has been touting for Acton In his paper entitled The Downtown Rediscovered Mr Joseph deplores the decline in importance of the downtowns He notes the Provinces with some help from the federal government have strongly encouraged respective municipalities to place particular em on the revitalliation and rejuvenation of existing downtown properties He says actual land use planning for the downtown area must take into account the specific vitality and economies of the respective blocks and Individual properties noting also that results of negotiations between the municipality and redevelopment groups will have a significant effect on the tax bast for both existing land owners and the principals in redevelopment He says The largest Canadian cities have had the benefit of the introduction of substantial mixed use developments In their downtown cores concurrent with major suburban growth and are generally m a much better position with respect to the quality of their downtowns The challenge and the opportunity remains tccordingly with the medium size and smaller communities Every indication suggests that we will be faced slow economic growth in the Canadian market over the next five years and that the major demand factors for residential expansion will diminish sub stantially Municipalities faced with escalating municipal costs and reduced papulation and employment growth must utilize this remaining opportunity to upgrade their existing downtown real estate assets and to process approvals of new real estate projects with a com prehensivo understanding of their impact on municipal financing Strong words from Mr Joseph but he has a loophole He also soys Municipalities must accept however in many cases a changing role for their downtowns Significant shifts in population growth and the evolution of suburban com mere ml facilities in many cases make it impractical if not impossible to return the existing Central Business District to the dominant role it originally had In many situations municipalities must carefully evolve a changing role for Ihe downtown with considerably ess reliance on major retail activities and more reliance on Increased residential density together with strong office growth and the integration of community service facillles If not we can expect to see major retailers locate in adjacent urban areas drawing the retail shopping dollars to another community Considerable thought and attention must be given the unique fabric of each community and the ap propriate type of redevelopment Different strokes for different folks but his argument in favor of revitalizing the downtown is convincing We leave it to him to explain why he favors moving eommercc to the east end of Acton NEWS ITEMREST MOVIES TO BE SEEN IN A GEORGETOWN IN WHEN CINEMAS OPENS IN I SEEN A MOVIE WHEN WILL BE SHOWING FILMS CHARLIE CHASE GRETA MILTON SILLS TUBPIM CHAPLIN SUM JONES GLORIA SWANSON GILBERT fZINTINTIN LAUREL amp lJiiilUJIJfJlV0MN PLEASE COME TO THE TICKET A TURKS From frying pan to fire So others may be helped The Canadian Red Cross Society is a vital part of the community and the nation Through association with the League of Red Cross Societies and the International Com of the Red Cross it has obligations to help people throughout the world The love of man is best exemplified in his willingness to help others in time of crisis Innocent victims of conflict and disaster in its many forms look to the Red Cross for help and hope When death destruction and misery take their toll you are there through your Red Cross You are not alone when you voluntarily support the Red Cross and its many programs and services in your com munity Everybody helps and everybody benefits When 1 leaped from the swamp of editing a weekly newspaper into the quagmire of in a secondary school I realize it was frying pan to fire Like most people I had a stereotyped idea of a school teacher Someone who had quit work while I had still two hours plus overtime or night work to go Someone who was fairly bright rather shabby not well paid but never really poor looking forward lo a steady pension after a mere 35 years of work Someone who always had a modest home and a second hand car the required two or three children a dowdy and modest wife and a simple rather sedentary profession that would enable him to live and collect his pension until he was But most of all someone who had a week holiday at Christmas another in March and two whole months off in the summer I am forced to admit as well that I rather looked to having a touch of authority I had none over my kids because I loved them too much I had none over my wife because well any of you married men know True I had been an officer in the RCAF which suggested authority But fighter pilots had no authority An army lieuten ant could scream and curse at his men and degrade them And himself If we tried that with some groundcrew chap he merely give us the finger We were merely Smiley the curious young chaps who flew the things They were the people who he things fly Only once did I have a chance lo lie a leader of men and thus throw my weight around It was after I been si down and captured I wound up with about Canadian soldiers afterwards their only two officers who cursed and screamed and treated them like peasants escaped I wis the only officer left I was pretty keen to show I wis officer material and leadership talked about morale and trying to escape The only comment was made by a grizzled sergeant who said flatly Screw that The others merely luaghed So I found out that my authority ton of cutting loaves of black German bread into portions of six with a dull knife under the guillotine eyes of of the rude and licentious soldiery And thi reason I had the job was that they didn trust each other So much for authority But I it would be different as a school teacher 1 would be firm but just a wise and bene volent father figure but one who would brook no challenge to his decisions regular Mr Chips accepting confidences doling out gentle but profound having tea with my students my wife hovering in the background enjoying the way I twitted the youngsters What a pipe dream I went into education as it is nefariously known Just about the time of Ihe big baby boom at the end of the 50s New were being built and looked like a chain of new shoe factories of any sex and I mean any that was warm and breathing and had anything approaching a university degree was being dragged off the streets and stood up in front of or kids who were just getting into drugs and pcrmls- Every third student was a barrack room lawyer Hair became the thing for males Jeans so tight a touch would have blown them up and shirts with messages so explicit marine would have blushed became the thing for females Language that would curl sailor hair became the thing for both And not only among the students leathers ranged from fitness freaks to alcoholics anonymous from pedants to pederasts They started appearing in long hair and desert boots in gaspreveaUng Continued on Page Isabel Anderson remembers the old Crewsons Corners Church Dear sir The photograph in Ihe ree Press of the little old church at Crewson s Corners although looking nothing like the original recalled a few nostalgic and affectionate memories V hen I was a small child lived with my Mr and Mrs William Anderson and my sisters Emma who became Mrs Carl Hansen and my sister Mary Ellen Nellie who became a missionary to the Korean s in Japan and also served in Guyana Our farm was about a mile up the road from the little church at the Corners and although my parents were staunch Presbyterians and always attended Knox Church Acton they used to drop us off at the little Methodist church as they passed This was because of excel lent Sunday School conducted by Mr and Mrs Robert for the children of the community before the church service It was a lucky day for oil of us who happened to be on the road sometimes we Wansbrough gathered all In and by the time the vehicle reached the church it was over flowing with children It was a large high democrat and was drawn by two large horses Because I was small I was always lifted into the front seat and here I sat both thrilled with delight and cringing with fear The horses were so big and I was so all Upon rare occasions we were allowed to go on to church In Acton Then we would sail grandly put the little church feeling very sorry for and superior to the band of children gathered outside and walling to begin Sunday School Once when Mother could not go to church we told our father that she had said we might go to Acton So he took us but we did not feel very grand as we nenred home Mr and Mrs Wansbrough worked very hard in the interest of the Sunday School and 1 hope that in their lifetime they received the praise they deserved Mrs played the organ and led the singing while Mr taught an adult Bible class The little church was filled with children and adults They came from miles around and many fine lessons in Christian living honor truth were taught there The children I remember vividly but I was young were the Wansbrough girls Leila who became Mrs Day Nettie who became Mrs MacKay and Anna who became Mrs Smith is now living at Hal ton Centcn nlal Manor my sisters Emma and Mary Ellen Nellie who had just started to SundaySchool if she went at all being too young when we left the form Taylor my cousins Emerson Irene Willie and Flora Cripps Daisy Bennett who became Mrs Charles Lambert Grace Brown a sister of Herbert Brown Lamb Katie and Wesley Gray and and Morley whose father had the blacksmith shop The children were divided Into classes according to age My earliest recollection of the SundaySchool was of my teacher Mrs W Gray I loved Mrs Gray She was pretty and according to my childish fancy very stylish So when the classes were reorganized and Mrs William Bennett became my teacher I was heart broken Mrs Bennett wore a blue sateen dress of which I did not approve She was a good teacher however and est Wished herself in my good graces by presenting all the class with a little red New Testament which I treasured and read for many years My sister Emma introduced Stanley to the Sunday School or vice versa and when he returned home after his first visit he told his people that there was a woman there who know the Golden Text and had to ask him The only minister I can remember was Rev Mr One Sunday during the church service Nellie took my hand held it firmly and tickled it with a copper which she had for the offering and I laughted out loud My grown up halfsister Alice Coleman who was with us was terribly humiliated and I was in disgrace The highlight of my connection with the church at the Comers was a Christmas concert wish I could recapture and transfer to print the magic of that night The church was decorated with a tree and other festive symbols and sheet fastened up at the front for the changing of costumes I had a recitation to say It began There a queer little house And it stands In the sun When the good Mother calls The children all run It was about a hen and her little chickens I felt very important At least I did until assuming that I was too shy someone came coaxing me lo say my piece Up to then it had never entered my head to refuse but the more I wis coaxed the more reluctant I became However 1 wis finally prevailed upon to perform M sister Emma recited In St lit by John Still sits the school house the rout A ragged beggar sunning Around it still the grow And blackberry vines ire running It is long poem but I ill remember every word from hearing her il It was a good concert There were choruses solos recitations a I think a play 1 believe there was an or chestrn composed of Allan Walter Lamb James Moore and others 1 remember a solo by Maggie Dennis pretty girl who had a lovely voiee I remember her song due partly suppose lo the fact since her number was called before she had a o change from a costume but it was a great success in spile of the fact lint she had keep clutching her skirt it fall down In one number put on by the older girls each represented a star and recited a verse about Us position in the ens its influence on the earth My sister Emma was one of them I can hear the words calm quiel and as the starlight itself Star of the evening I Low in the western sky Shlnelh my steadfast glow On the calm earth below I bring the balm of song After ihe day so long bring the balm of sleep To bathe tired and keep Watch while the weary rest Star of the evening I Clear in western sky The belle of Crewsons Corners at that lime was my cousin Belle Cripps She was pretty little girl with long golden hair a very resonant voice She did not go to the church at the Corners hut always went with my Uncle Alex to the Church or the Disciples of Christ at However when she heard about the concert being she came and asked if she might take part So was given the star part in he I the star of Bethlehem The fairest alar of all To me it did befall To the riie last number on the program was a monologue by Mrs Leavens I presume it was funny but it scared Ihe living daylights out of me She had disguised herself is an old crone and a voice began Widow Green I s going to die I thought it was real and trembled with fear However distribution of bags of from the Christmas tree did much to soothe my shattered nerves just the recollections of a little girlofsixorsevcn but my heart goes back in affectionate memory to the little church at Comers and in gratitude for Ihe lessons in Christian living taught there by people whose only remuneration was the joy derived from a worth while task well done Isabel Anderson Back issues 10 years ago Taken from the a sue of the Free of Thursday March 5 1969 Patricia Jordan is the winner in the contest with the name Sir Donald Mann Park Some Esquesing township ratepayers object to a proposed airstrip and Hying school on at Resort Owner Joe Ross reluctantly decided to abandon his plans The architect hopes the M Z Bennett school addition will be completed St Patrick Day Big guns of the Acton Lions In the final game of the playoff series were Pete and John Mason Winner of the Ben trophy in afternoon Ladies curling league were Tyler skip Mark Marks Norma Robinson and Donna Aitkcn The Acton came home with ihe first basketball CWOSSA championship in the history of Acton high school On the team are Henry Bill Land Dave Jim Lee George Mike Steve Robb Lloyd Smnllwood Phil Bob Turkosz Fred Brian Skerrett is coach They enter the finals at Peter borough The last minule rush for license plates at Watson Music Store wasn too bad Newly inducted members of the Y are Shirley Lynne Robertson Carol Kate Elliott Donna and Louise Clark 20 years ago Taken from the Issue of the Free Press of Thursday February Circling the Robert LitUe auditorium during the night school display Saturday evening spectators commented on the increasing attractiveness of the display each year Highlighting the evening was the fashion show Mrs Lillian Brown one of the teachers acted as commentator Under the direction of Major H J Newman and Frank Black students dertook sketching as well as oil painting this year Shop work instructor was Phil Caddlck Two students Miss Betty Lemon and Miss Lorraine Spiece demonstrated their typing ability High school teacher Mrs Jessie Galloway taught two typing classes Old furniture got a new outlook in the upholstery class under it Brlggs There were IB In the metalcraft group taught by Mrs E Enrolment at night school this year was On the committee with chairman Mrs Leyland were Roy Mrs Bill Toth Mrs Jack Creighton Miss Florence Wilkin Mrs David Dills George Bowman Mrs John Chapman Miss Bella Mrs Bill Coon Mrs Helwig and Mrs J Inglts Local industries have been swamped with inquiries from workers seeking Jobs as a result of the general closedown last Friday of A self help em bureau is being planned and a special meeting is called for the Legion hall Monday at a m according to Dennis Lawler Some of the unemployed have driven to the United States looking for work 50 years ago Taken from the Free Press February 1SZ9 and Co tendered a com banquet to the members of their tugofwar team who are the in dustrial and Dominion champions this year Mr G and tendents Mr H Garden and Mr J M McDonald and the heads of various departments were present Each member of the team was presented with a silver cup and group photograph Members of the team are S Trainer and Manager A Molozzle Frank Gibbons John Lambert Thompson John Scriven George Lazcnby Garfield McFadden reserves J Lawson and R Irwin Herbert Ritchie coach The transient guests of municipality have this year been more numerous than ever Rarely a night passes but Chief has some of the variety commonly known as Tramps to give shelter to at the Town Hall 100 years ago Taken from Issue of the Free Press March We have a new heading for the Acton Free Press just arrived from Chicago wider columns and type Now all these changes have added considerably to our expenses and therefore we request all our patrons who owe us money to pay up as soon as possible Professor Smith gave a Scloptlcon Entertainment embracing upward of views in Waterloo school in Inst The British people seem determined to Christianize Africa It has been found that the most satisfactory means of extending trade is to send the Gospel In advance Mr of Matthews and livery stable trotted a horse from to Acton distance of five miles In 17 sec