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Tho Acton Fiee Press Wednesday June 25 Don McDonald Publisher Founded in c of a 1 oven of lul it a union Poll E I h It Geo IE a IS Tl J Chirn no Tl u a E OjVv T i si llv EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Editor El on SpoitsWomon una j Ho Darkroom Ken in ClnsaHod Advottltlng BUSINESSACCOUNTING OFFICE OKica Tl I I SI loyjD Cloy A I CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT Ma TELEPHONE and Editorial Ofiice Council meeting worthwhile Last week s Halton Hills councilpublic meeting was very worthwhile and an exercise worth repeating in the future Residents had the opportunity to air their views about market value assessment police protection drugs in schools and other issues of interest here Had there been more time and speeding on residential streets would likely have also been discussed Councillors and staff were afforded the chance to hear the views of Acton residents and also learned the depth of concern about high assessment and soaring taxes in the Bovis area The regular council meeting prior to the public meeting was valuable to residents who gained insight into the workings of the municipality This will prove valuable to them the next time they have to approach council Presentations by town staff were informative though a little complicated possibly for some people Valuable information was also gleaned from the presents tions by Halton Board of Education Halton Region and Halton Regional Police While nothing was settled at the meeting it was significant because it gave ratepayers a chance to voice their concerns and it brought local government to the people of Acton Council should seriously con sider coming back and repeating the councilpublic meeting for mat at least every six months in future years Heed Teplitskys warning Mediator arbitrator Martin Tephtsky has painted a grim future for Halton if both high school teachers and trustees don sharpen up their contract negot Tephtsky recently closed the books on over a year of lagging bargaining by ruling on a new two year pact This year s negotiations took Halton the est it has been ever to a teachers strike In the wake of his binding rul ing which means teachers and trustees won have to return to the bargaining table until next winter to start work on a deal Tephtsky has predicted the public will be the victim of a long and difficult strike in if the board fails to heed the responsible and able professional advice which is available to it and if the teachers fail to develop greater sensitivity for the impact of their tactical choices on the relation ship Both sides must not forget the past months of conflict and thoughtfully examine their own positions during talks or else Tep s disturbing prediction will come true our schools will some day be closed by a strike They have lots of time now to sit back and let wounds heal and come up with ways to bargain more amicably Trustees may have taken an important step towards proving relations with their tea They have set up a steering committee to find a better way to reach negotiated settlements with teachers If the committee looks for ways to improve relations be the two sides and make bar gaming easier then it might be one of the most worthwhile com mittees ever established by the board However if the committee just maps out new negotiating tactics or examines ways to get a better deal with the teachers next time around then it will only succeed in taking Halton steps closer to a strike Sensible plan for hydro Halton Hills council has man aged to come up with the best of both worlds for forming future Halton Hills Hydro Commissions Council has decided to make appointments one more time for a two year term and then for 1982 and beyond the members of the commission will be elected Fortunately the province ap proved this most sensible plan The commission is new and a lot of bugs must still be worked out The people best equipped to iron the wrinkles out of the new mun power utility are the men running it now However once the new com mission is operating smoothly the electors should be deciding who runs the utility Council t continue making appointments because the appointees aren responsible to council or the pub lie The commission has a hefty budget and council doesnt even approve it Bovis should pay more Dear Sir I would like to take his opportunity to express some views and opinions with res pect to the remarks made by residents of Subdivision at the Council Public Meeting held at Acton High School on day June 16 With regard to the statement that lings are pegged at a substantially higher assessment value than houses In older areas of town I for one I am not alone agree wholeheartedly that this the way it should be Upon checking with the Assessment Department as to what determines the assessment value of a house It is easy to see why the Sub division units are higher When you take into consideration such items as 1 total square footage including gar ages 2 basements full and or finished 3 heating and air conditioning systems fireplaces number of bathrooms additional structures wooden decking swimming pools etc It is only logical to conclude that the having these assessment variable factors are going to have the higher assessment and In turn higher taxes The same holds true for their market value No matter what form of assessment the Council for the Town of Halton Hills adopts X number of dollars have to be collected and those people living and in and enjoying the biggest and best houses are going to have to pay for that privilege The older areas of town have been paying taxes for a good number of years or better and are the backbone of Acton Many of the residences house people who have helped make Acton what It is today physically as well as fin Citizens who no longer have a need for the recreational and educational that heir tax dollar Is collected for Why should these people be forced to have their taxes increased on their homes in order to pay for the additional services required by the new developments such as subdivision with respect to in creasing sewage sewage disposal and water works systems erection of new schools and arenas maintenance of jonal roads parkland etc With respect market value assess being the end to all evils lake a look at the problems our neighbours in Milton are having since Implementing Section 86 They are no further ahead as a matter of fact they are plagued with so many pro blems they probably wish hey had never heard of market value assessment Mrs Lambert Smileys fantasies on the last days of school I like to be able to say that the end of year for a teacher is fraught with sadness as the delicate flowers you have nurtured during he year most or whom have lurnedtoweeds leaveyou Not so Rather is It a lifting of several stones from a man who is being pressed to con ess The pressing was an old fash loned method in which ever heavier stones were placed on a man s chest until he said uncle or Yeah I said God I or I know where the jewels are Not so On Ihe last day of school a teacher walks out of the shoe factory which most schools resemble and is beholden to no man Except his wife kids dog car boat bank manager garden Butllsbetterthan being beholden to a lot of gobbling young turkeys whose chief aim in life Is to de stroy your emotional equilibrium and a gaggle of administrators whose chief alms in life ore discipline attendance dress drugs and the entire mid Victorian world that is crumbling around them Things have changed quite a bit in the 20 years been teaching In my first year my home form gave me a present at Christmas and another at the end of the year This went on for some lime They may have thought I was a dull old tool but we parted with mutual respect and good wishes for a happy summer There was always a gift one year a bottle of wine and three golf balls another year a table lighter that work another year a pen and pencil set with thermometer that still works By golly In those first years there was a little sadness Joe had turned from a ilia into a decent lad hiding his better in nets behind a mop of hair Bridget had turned from a foureyed eager beaver into A club house sandwich for cents or how about a cheeseburger for cents if you really want splurge how about a bone steak for or fish and chips for 35 cents After your cent banana split how about coffee for 10 cents Sound like another world Well It moat is It was prices at Watson Restaurant in Former owner of the restaurant now Family Restaurant Tom Watson dlscov an old menu recently and Is proud to claim it the first menu ever In Acton Until that time all other eating establish menls put the days fare and prices up on a blackboard according to Tom Some more samples from Acton first menu malted milk cents sundaes cents soup cents pork chops 35 cents bacon and eggs SO cents a bra less sex symbol I wished them well unreservedly Nowadays if my home form gave me present on the last day the first thing 1 would do would be to send it to the local bomb squad If they cleared It would open it with tweezers and a mask They might put an icepick in my tires set a thumb tack on my chair when I wasn looking write the odd obscenity in their textbooks two words with my last name Ihe second one but they I really do anything obnoxious Just because 1 thumped Barney Ihree times his year with my arthritic right fist t mean that we both believe in oral punisshment We re buddies and I m going to keep eye on my cat this sum in case it strangled And little Michelle really hate my guts even though she deliberately stabbed herself in the wrist with a pen on the last day of school came up to my desk looked me straight in the eye sprinkled blood all over my desk and pants and asked Are you sure I have to write the final exam I kidding of course Those kids in my home form look on me as a father Not ex as a father confessor mind you or a kindly old father More the type of father whom you put the boats to when he comes home drunk and falls at your eager feet In fact I wouldn be surprised if they give me a present on our last day Perhaps a cane possibly a hearing aid Presented by Robin an angelic looking little blonde who kicks Steve just ahead of her right behind the kneecaps in the middle of the national anthem and makes him fall for ward kicking backward The more I think of the more I get for year spent together At least I am spent They re not hot dog 20 cents hamburger 15 cents Cheapest morsel on the menu was toast at 10 cents with the 15 1 bone at the other end of the scale Tom points out he prices had just gone up when he had the menu printed and did people complain He had half of Acton crabbing They would never hove dreamed that in just years Ihe price of a cheeseburger would be five or six times the cost or a hamburger would zoom to six times its 1MB price Not only is the price of food a sign of the timc3 but Tom says he was renting a wartime house for a month at the lime Wouldn t they be almost brand new then Considering how difficult it Is to get a house to rent for under a month the cost of renting a wartime now has gone up 12 to 10 limes the 1MB costs Now Hints Inflation It Ihe Acton celebration of con federation IhlB weekend An entire year of planning culminates when the parade meets downtown for Back to Acton Days Of course there are plenty of things going on Friday night and all day Saturday and Sunday so make sure you drop by It was terrific in the pouring rain last year and it will be even better this year rain or shine They haven I invested anything so there nothing tospend On second thought I m not a father fig urc to them m a grandfather figure In the last few weeks of school before it was decided who would be recommended and who would have to write the final I noticed a definite increase in solicitude and kind ness If I dropped my book from senile hands they would pick it up and instead of throwing it out the window would hand it to me gravely they became nicer lo each other probably out of consideration for my in creasing sensibility Instead of tripping the girls as they went to their seats the huge boys would pick them up and carry them Instead of throwing a pen like a dart when someone wanted to borrow one they would take off their boot put the pen in it and throw the boot so the pen wouldn be lostinthescuffl And speaking of scuffles there have been very few of late Oh Ihe other day there was a little one when five feet minus grabbed Todd six feet plus and shoved him out the window second storey No harm done He was able to grasp the sill and when she stomped on his fingers managed to land on his feet some distance below in the middle of a spruce tree Maybe its all been worth it They haven learned much but education Is all about Three years from now I II meet Ihem somewhere on the street In a pub In jail The boys will have Isotlost their 14 year old ebullience and he girls will be preg and wo smile and love each other The firefighters don know It yet but they re up against some stiff competition this Sunday at the Back Acton Days contest at Prospect Park at p m Here at the Free Press we boast an excellent team winning almost all our games in the past three years we even have Inkspot t shirts We branched out to hockey once and beat the Milton councillors by goal it a long story Now this Sunday tackle waterball Herb a well known firefighter is our main man I don know which side he going to play on but I hope It ours tho only one with experience Wo 11 sec you In the park Sunday For all those ball learns we ve beaten the past few years may be a chance to sec the Inks pots go down to defeat on the other hand we may Bee where our real talents He Member of Provincial Parliament Jul Reed has once again shown up on a new commercial This time it for Bumper to- Bumper Stores There a set of three or four commercials each pushing a product Rumour has It he has the most television exposure of all MPPs even more then the Premier and cabinet ministers Back issues 10 years ago June 1 This year Ontario scholars are Mane Timbers Mark Hurst Cheryl Lee and Nancy Morris Rotating strikes called by the postal ion have hit Acton again 48hour strike caused a huge backlog of mail Decision on whether to allow O C housing on Road was reserved by the The council chamber was packed for the hearing Nearby ratepayers opposed the The town defended the choice of site saying it was the only one available The newly formed First scout troop did well in competitions at the Camp- Scouters are Ed Ryan and Mark Hay ward Ram coach Howard was jubilant after the team first win a 13 thriller over Elora Gory Kelly netted the game winner At the Robert Little grade banquet Bert Vcnema and Donna Drew made present to Doug Cope land who is leaving for Caledonia Top Award winners were Roger Warboys and Janet Allen Susan Shoe maker was chairman and Bous field reviewed the students years together Mayor Les led a singsong Due to expansion of Acton Pharmacy Simpsons Sears is moving to the former quarters next door to Dills Stat 20 years ago June Wolfe Robert Parker and Andrew Knox received special awards at St And rew College graduation The Rev James has accepted the call to Acton Baptist Church Chimplonsof the Acton Open golf tourna mentareRev AH Andy Nolan Tuck Cochrane and Gord Eramosa property owners rejected the establishment of a central Five Counties Art Association members converged on Acton pah ting at the Robert Little school grounds mill and an old frame home on Queen St George Bowman wis in charge Piano pupils of Mrs Scull and Helen held their recital in the Bap tist Church Special awards went to Kath Sinclair Marlec Carol Patterson Jean Hart Cochrane About 1j0 attended St congre gational picnic at Waterloo park About 15 ham operators sent and received messagesovera24 hour period from a field Bnen is an Acton club member Graduates of Lakeshore Teachers Col lege arc Mary Jane Force Varey Gary Shirley Mason Nancy Skippcn Margaret Morrison and Diana Newton 50 years ago June 1930 The tax rote will be the same as last year mills Council also discussed the regul ations concerning outhouses and the removal of these when a public nuisance The choir and friends of St Alban church held their annual picnic at Hi Pot park Mr William Middleton who has been agent at the station since the retire ment of the Mr IIS Holmes has been transferred to the station at During the few years residence of Mr Middleton here he made many friendships and best wishes of all will follow him An unually large class are writing examinations this year pupils from Acton and from the district Mr Lawrence and Miss Bennett are pre siding Some indlvlduols have a poor idea of common decency when they remove flow from the plots in cemetery Work commenced this week on an addit ion to public school to cost SIS An important change of firm name has been made in connection with Acton lar Industry Acton Tanning Co dealing In light leathers and Beardmore and Co manufacturing solo leathers almost ively will be now known as Beardmore Leathers Ltd 100 years ago JuneZ4 Our village constable is earnestly requested to do his duty by prohibiting the congregating of unruly boys on Mrs Sc- corner nightly to the annoyance of pedestrians The new engine house at the Grand Trunk station is now almost completed The business men of Milton by private subscription have Main St suitably dally Would it not be wise for our chants to follow their example It would soon pay for itself as a less quantity of goods would be destroyed by dust than is the case at present It would moke thlng3 much more comfortable as well Mr Thomas Bell of raised a new barn and stable which Is said to be second to none In that township It Is con on the new plan running the pur loin posts from floor up to the plates thus doing away with the beams At the raising everything went together with out any trouble and no accident occurred