Deal is final Hellers move to Disston this fall by Gord Murray Seven long months of negotiations have resulted in the sale of the closed Disston plant to Frank Heller and Co Ltd Heller general manager Fred Dawkins confirmed Monday an agreement of purchase and sale for the large factory on Wallace Street has been reached between Hellers and Sandvlk Canada noted the deal won close until this September Government aid is still pending but the deal will proceed he said Because of the uncertainty of govern assistance and the sluggish economy Dawkins noted the firm won expand as rapidly as first hoped once it has consolidated its three plant operation in the facility but the move is a commitment to growth The move will take three months September October and November That way Heller s can continue production while moving All of the equipment now used in the firm three plants two in Acton and one in Georgetown will be moved lo Itwillbeaveryblgjob In addition there will be new equipment Installed in their new facility prior to their present equipment being moved This new equipment isn t meant for expansion but improvement of present operations Heller have bought acres from in eluding the approximately five acres taken up by Ihe ill square foot factory and fenced lot The have acquired tl additional acres to insulate the firm from other plants which may purchase the re malnder of the large holdings and to allow for possible plant expansion future years While there won be a negligible increase in jobs right off the bat there will be expansion Heller plans lo diversify its product line adding some speciality types of leather which are now imported Into this country They will also set up a factory outlet at their new home Dawkin3 is enthusiastic about opening the factory outlet feeling with Acton leather heritage it can be a boost for the entire town They will purchase shoes and other leather goods from their customers for sale at the factory outlet and hi expects It will draw customers not just from Acton but from many parts of Ontario In setting up In the new facility Heller s which in Its three plants now occupies square feet will leave areas vacant in each department for further expansion All three of existing plants are up for sale having gone on the market in June so there has been interest shown in oil three with several Inquiries about the two factories in Acton They will sell them individually or as a package Talks began in December and by January a Unto live purchase agreement was reached However in the ensuing weeks the economy cooled out interest rates soared and there appeared to be no chance of government By the end of March Heller it would be moving In April Mayor Peter a id Hilton Development Off William Marshall arranged a meeting involving and his partner Hon Heller as well as two government industry development oh With lalks with government officials resumed and interest rates slowly dropping jot backonthcralls Dawkins says drop in borrowing costs has been the major factor in allowing the to deal might not have been settled as soon had Sandvlk not received an offer to put a warehousing operation employing only a handful of people into its plant In May was very interested in the community and had always sought a manufacturing operation for its closed factory so they came back to Heller one more me and the deal was completed Another hurdle in completing the deal was cleared last week when Halton Land Division ILDC approved the severance of the property being purchased by Heller The remainder of the land stays with Sandvik and is zoned for industry is trying to sell that property lawyer Gord CI apman told we re only concerned about getting a business going ay An Inland Community Newspaper One Hundred and Sixth ACTON ONTARIO WEDNESDAY JULY 1980 gl Twenty Cents No funding new school Acton has been shafted and political consider a are preventing a new separate school from being built here according to the dent of the St Joseph Parents Association Vince said in an interview s week he recommend parents don send their iron back to St Joseph this the building safe It another example of Acton be ng shafted said In a press release Halton Separ no Board chairman Robert 0 Bncn said that the Ministry Education has reviewed Ontario boards 1900 capital forecasts and allocated mill on for new separate school in northeast Oakvtllc Director Education Cliff Byrnes a new separate school in Acton has been and rem a ns high priority with the board explained the board sent in applications for cap fund ng for two projects the school nOakvillcand both having equal priority This surprises Whelan He he and other parents have long been assured wis the number one priority of the board there could be wo number one priorities We were given assurances both vet bally and in writing that Acton was the number one priority That obviously wasn t true You cant have two number one priorities Then again maybe you can in politics Byrnes said the board wants to arrange a meeting possibly as early as this week with provincial officials to discuss the pressing need for a new separate school in Acton He said there has been an indication from Queen Park that priority capital funding will be reviewed this Septembe so there a chance the new Acton school will be approved then Whelan said he knew of the decision not to fund the new school here a week ago and was contacting politicians like Minister of Transport and Com munlcalion3 and Oakville MPP Jim Snow for help He recalled when the school opened in the of 1977 it was on a two year trial period and if enrol ment went upa new school would be built The separate school board rented the old Slonc School from Halton Board of Education expecting about pupils The first year there were US students and that figure swelled to last year and is expected to hit this September Whelan ob served that obviously the time period for building a He complained Ihree years after Acton first separate school was opened all the board has done Is purchase property for a new school and suspects that was only done because of pressure from parents In late May the board bought five acre Nell Is property west of the Acton Legion at a cost of on acre for the new school The purchase came after over a year search for a site Whelan observed while Oakville will have a new separate school taking pupils from two other over crowded schools Acton must continue to get by w th a subpar facility one which has been condemned in two reports one from fire department and another from the health department noted the parents association has cop or letters detailing the fire and health reports at the board sent to the province We get a new school because we the provincial riding of Burlington is Liberal and likely will remain so and Is Conscr votive and likely remain so Whelan declared This statement is cant considering s one of two directors from Acton for t Burlington Progressive Cons He added Snow sap that the case that the wasn 1 aware of the J ecu on to build sinew school in his riding The parents association delegation lo the board later this and then hopes lo get Continued on 2 Memorial remembers township By Roy Downs Governments may come and go but will always be there and people will stilt refer to the township by its original name whether It be part of Milton or of the opinion of Lillian Thomas of Guelph Line who has done and will continue to do her part In preserving the township name long after the current politicians arc gone she says Mrs Thomas a widow has commemorated township name for posterity wllh a three foot round rock she had planted calm like In her backyard There a flower bed in front a flag polo with a six foot Canadian flag behind and on the rock Is a bronze memorial plaque which bears a special port In her life Mrs Thomas agrees wllh the current protest by Nassagaweyans who arc stilt miffed over the town ship being forced to join with Milton and portions of Township Burlington and when regional government was forced on Halton in 1974 ImsUllNassagawcya neighbors Mrs Thomas told this newspaper A retired nurse who spent most of her life on private duty nursing she was a great fan of the late Dr R McDonald of Kilbride He used to say is all sticks and stones and so a few years ago Mrs Thomas decided the township with her memorial rock She asked her neighbor Nassagaweyn famous blind carpenter John Henry to let her have one of the rocks beside his workshop It took a great effort three men and a truck to pick it up and move It Then her brother In law Peter Thomas Mtlion drilled for three hours to set a bronze plaque into the face of the hard head rock It says Donated by blind neighbor John Henry to Lillian Thomas I put it in there a year after the region came In Mrs Thomas said 1 not Milton 1 Now Mrs Thomas has decided she cannot live alone In the country much longer It is too hard to keep her house going and keep the large yard looking neat She has listed the house for sale and plans to in Milton I going to miss Nassogaweya I have a lot of friends here and I miss the birds that live in the sanctuary behind my home 1 feed them all winter The stone she describes as a memorial to John Henry and myself and Nassagoweya Township She hopes whoever buys her home will preserve the memorial in its present state Mrs Thomas was born in Nelson Township and moved to her present home In 1936 alter her marriage to George Thomas He was a trucker for Township and County and Tor many years plowed the township roads Georgo died 12 years ago She she nursed In nearly every home In who live near Is proud of her Township and just a proud of a memorialtonebeplacednherDackya ffl house K earned as a commemorating the township name that disappeared when swallowed up Into six Wer at Centennial Manor Milton Terry Fox will run through Hills next week The yearold student who lost his leg to Done cancer Ihree years ago Is determined to run the miles across Canada to raise money for cancer research Turn page for more on Terry planned visit here and 117 for stories and a photo about his arrival in Photo by STUART Former resident killed on bike A former Acton and rural Georgetown resident was one of three young women killed in a In Burlington earlier this month Lorraine Robertson age 2d died July after slipping coma when she and three other lists were struck down by a car one morning on Plains Road Mrs Robertson nee Lavlgne lived first with her family at Ihe Cedar Springs Motel I George town and alter her marriage on Church Street in Acton She moved to the area in about and then moved to Hamilton around 197077 She graduated from and Acton High Schools The mother of three one child Tanya was born in Aclon was buried following a funeral in Hamilton July8 Two other women Elizabeth Sorrazin and Marilyn Jessop 17 were also killed in the accident white Joanne Jessop suffered minor Injuries The Burlington driver who struck the bicyclists down has been charged with dangerous driving careless driving and an unsafe vehicle Mrs Robertson is survived by her husband John Robertson children Tanya Kelly and Corn her mother Alice of Georgetown her father Charles of Ashgrovc brothers Richard and Dennis of Hamll ton and Michael of Georgetown and her grand mother Mrs C Her family operated the motel near Silver Creek e ght and a half years inside- The new Hills Centre on Highway is a Police have a number of tips to help tioners avoid a ruined holiday by returning a burglarized house I You find Profiles on page 2 News Digest is on page 3 page four baa On the and Bill Smiley and cod Digest Is on page Lorraine Robertson a former area resident in an accident recently in Burlington Two other women who were cycling Mrs also died Mrs Robertson Is pictured here with one of tier three children