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Long waiting list faces couples adopting Moat of the 100 couples listed with the Childrens Aid Society will have to wait four or five yean to adopt an infant There just t any available right now because we place them as soon as theyre born CAS adoption supervisor Lillian says We have to present a discouraging outlook to people who want to adopt babies Certainly It a longer waiting list than five years ago The waiting list is restricted to couples who have never had a child Were it to in dude one or twochild parents who wanted a second or third child the waiting time for all couples would be doubled added She attributed the dearth births on three factors birth control abortion and mothers keeping their babies Although Robiin refused to be judgmental about abortion she noted abortion has become more common than it was a decade ago She was unable to say how much ft has risen in Hal ton since no statistics are avail able The CAS has a counselling service for pregnant unmarried women to consider alternatives to abortion It involves taking a hard realistic look at the situation before birth to determine if the mother is able to look after the baby and what resources she can use to do so It also investigates options should the mother eventually find it possible to care for her child was generally thought there would be many twoyearolds available for adoption that had been given back but it doesnt seen to have happened said Young unwed mothers and theyre using commun ity support systems now to help them do it Scarcity of newborn infants means the CAS is left with mainly older children for adoption Since many of these children have problems of one kind or another they must be matched with special parents Parents of these children have to be able to lake on she said Some twoyear olds who have gone through a lot can be very little souls For such prospective parents the CAS has a beforeadoption program to point out the problems they may face After adoption it offers its services to help overcome these problems Those adopting older children are still eligible to adopt infants said Robiin To be listed with CAS prospective parents must be residents of Ha ton married and generally over of age And of course never have had a child of their own Police officer Paul Interests second year Cobs in police work Left to right leader Brenda Mr Murray Greg Constable Dewsnap Robbie Crawford and Paul Volunteers are needed If your child brother or sister were mentally or physically handicapped would you appreciate someone spending a few hours to help or befriend them The family unit can only do so much The need Is great for volunteers to offer assistance Everyone needs help at one time or another and it is up to us to help when and where we can Our turn to need help may come to soon There are many ways to help Not every one la suited lo deal on a one to one basis wtlh a handicapped person but Ihere are many other ways of helping There are many positions on a short or long term basis to help with publicity or Before your turn comes call Carol Clark at the North Halton Volunteer Centre Steam engines exhibited at Saturdays tub seminar by Jack layman interest Cub Todd Litis Todd suffers from but is able to participate on his bike See Page B6 LAST CHANCE The Town of Hills Recreation Parks Department is still accepting applications for summer employment A variety of Aquatics and Summer Activity positions are available The deadline for applications is Friday February 11 Forms can be picked up at either Recreation Department Office IS James Street Georgetown or Mill Street East Acton newsmakers Georgetown Ontario Wednesday February REAL ESTATE SERVICES I TD REAL TOR Teachers get vote of confidence by Ales Malheson In a dynamic presentation local Cath teachers education guru Lloyd Dennis has defended educators and criticized soc iety for its expectations and values The public demands evaluation of ed ucation on its own terms he told Halton sep arate school teachers during a professional development day held at Ihe Hamilton Con vent Ion Centre Monday An exam is like pulling a dipstick in a childs head If it reads full he is educated Dennis parodied Learning is a personal experience like falling in love and it is Invisible he said Nevertheless the public wants proof of what the child has learned in school The public thinks there is a grade There is no such thing as grade there are 10 different levels of reading in the grade Dennis said in a keynote address to he group There are too many expectations and teachers are asked lo do too many things In the past the school day was full from am to 4 p m yet ministry of education has kept adding programs he said The politics of education is yielding de mands for more compulsory subjects An enlightened culture has a minimum of compulsion said the former director of education for LeedsGrenvllle and coauthor of the Hall Dennis report on education In the late 1960s Politics gets in way of education fostering an aura of mistrust example is the provincial government considering reducing professional develop ment days on a report that a few teachers misused the time Amid this criticism and demands on education society Is fostering negative values overemphasising the Importance of materialism he suggested Dennis said governments sponsor lot but dont tell people that an individual has almost no chance of winning It Is a symbol of a sick society thai you can gel something for nothing a screweoup values system he said Dennis criticized the media for drumming up anxiety and anger over inadequacies of education every fall This puts teachers in an adversarial role with the trustees People are not so Int CoatiautdonlageBG Dominion Legion president was honored at Branch town resident is a member of the Acton Legion The portrait was in Saturday night He was presented a portrait painted Dave Willis a Hamilton school teacher was himself Lord of Branch a George- elected president all Canadian Legion branches last fall Reports coauthor wants break cut by Alex The twomonth school break doesn serve the purpose for which It was intended and should be changed to favor education says one of the pundits of Canadian education Lloyd Dennis coauthor of the Hall Dennis report In the late 1960s says summer break was set up to facilitate farm har vests and has long ceased to be needed Dennis suggests schools should break for two weeks between each semester This would involve a tion from a total of about weeks off to six weeks Neither teachers nor students need as long a break as is currently given Dennis says He questions the need of the break Tor teachers to upgrade themselves They could make time during the year like people in other occupations who wish to take courses he suggests However Dennis does not believe the public would agree change away from the long summer off for students Parents like to have that block of time off to go the cottage he said I f Ihe summer break was only two weeks long there would be a lot of pressure on businesses for vacation at that time said Ihe former director of education for Leeds Grenville Although there is a move toward winter vacation Dennis believes It will be some time before the public would accept elimination of the long summer break Now a lecturer- writer a keynote Speaker at the Roman Catholic Separate school teachers professional dofelop- day held at the Hamilton Convention Centre Monday Dennis defended need for professional development days and the scheduling of them during the school week Teachers need a break from the instructional aspect of leaching and since professional development is directly related to work it should be treated as part of their paid duty he said Dennis said the current pollt attack on the number of professional development days is unwarranted In his speech he described Canadian teachers as the best dressed best paid and best educated In the world Outside of some possible exceptions in Scandinavia Canada spends more on education in comparison to Its gross national product than any country in the world Dennis defended the Living and Learning document that has influenced education in Ontario He said it has been falsely accused of being a cause of ill in education The document wasnt the problem there were misinter pretations of it and it was hodgepodge he said The report is now being used in overhauling the Australian education system Dennis added Sheriffs of Halton Norval doctor was sheriff for 20 years by Mac Sprawl Samuel Webster was born in Co Ireland came to Canada as an infant and shortly thereafter was bereft of his mother At a very young lad he worked in of the North American and later assisted the Hon Wm McDougaU with the Canadian Forever but when the firm hired a female be resigned and went an apothecary shop with Wright at the corner of John Queen Sis to Toronto Dr Wright put himself through the school of Medicine while he was prac- tisinc as a druggist and when be graduated went to New Zealand leaving shop and business bit young Sam Webster Sam also decided be could study medicine and graduated in 1864 kept the shop one more year came lo Norval and stayed years As a medical practitioner Dr Webster looked after an incredibly large area of Halton and Peel County his early records show that he had patients and Nelson His skill with typhoid was uncanny and in 1891 he coped with a epidemic before anti toxics had appeared on the scene He depended on his good horses nearly all his life although he was one of the first to pur chase a car The Doctor was a civicminded man He served our township and county councils was reeve of for five years served as warden and in an appreciative electorate presented him with a gold watch In politics be u a Conservative At one point in his career he was relieved from the office of Sheriff by the Government only to be reappointed three months later by the Ferguson Government He served Sheriff of Halloo County for nearly years Webster married Belle GoUop a granddaughter of the pioneer Robertson family who used to walk from to Little York to exchange maple syrup for while flour needles thread etc Sam built a substantial frame house hi Norval and called It Hope Cottage In It was his surgery dispensary a roost spacious drawing room parlor large kitchen pantry storeroom four large bedrooms and maids quarters not your average Collage The old house is now well known as Kirk Kraft Dr Samuel Webster died on May 1928 and was buried at Hlllcrest Cemetery with the Rev S Boyd rector at St Pauls Anglican Church and the Rev Wallace former rector of London taking the service The Rev Nell Norval United Church was an honorary assistant at the burial service The list of those attending funeral was both long and impressive and in eluded many men and women Webster had ushered Into the world One of highlights of his medical career had been safe delivery and post natal care of triplets for which achievement he was awarded three gold sovereigns and he always kept them on his watch chain Webster was a colorful local character in an age of characters a dapper little man a meticulous dresser in his handmade by Belle white shirts tail silk hat striped grey trousers and spats carrying a slim goldheaded cane the mark of surgeon Wben be died the doctor was sorely missed in all the circle he travelled from the Bench to Buttonhole Row and Mrs Webster had no children of their own but they raised two girts BeJJea niece and Prairie who came as a three year old from the West and stayed a lifetime PayTVfalls well short of target by Jane tiller The pay TV bait has been taken but not to Ihe degree anticipated by the local supplier Last Tuesday marked birth of the advertisement free programming with close to nine per cent of Cable Systems customers tuning in Although Halton Cable vicepresident and general manager Jim Magee predicted percent of his customers would buy the new service he is still happy with the initial response There are 32S customers who have had installed and are ready to tune into one or all three pay TV stations An additional customers will be viced as soon as possible We are still averaging 50 to calls a day Mr Magee said Growth expected Last month Mr Magee was hoping for 3450 of 11500 cable subscribers to purchase one or more pay TV channels Last week the figure had hit 1007 He anticipates that number will grow in the next few months Mr said the average customer is He cites the experience with pay TV in the United States saying general a subscriber is likely to buy more channels in the future once have purchased one More and more people are slaying at Mr suggests All you have to do is relate to the fact that the United States has had pay TV here for several years he added The service includes two channels broad casting mainly movies and another Channel which features performing arts childrens programs and films First Choice Canadian the only national network will feature 45 movies In Ihe first month of operation broadcast on a con tinual repeal basis In future months 22 to movies will be featured as welt as specials and sport events Super Channel exclusive to Ontario and Alberta viewers will operate with a similar format Each pay TV channel will cost In addition to the regular monthly cable fee Those subscribing to all three channels get a financial break with a discounted fee of 45 per month An additional three workers were hired by Cable Systems to cope with the demand for pay TV according to Mr Magee Despite the higher staff comple ment employees are scrambling to Install the descrambllng units necessary to receive the pay TV signals Ab Tennant on OMEA executive JohnC Rankin chairman of the Oakvllle Hydro Commission was elected president of the Ontario Municipal Electric Associations district organization for Metro Toronto and surrounding area at the associations annual meeting on January 12 The OMEA includes commissioners from municipal electric utilities who represent the Interests of more than two million residential commercial and indus trial power consumers across the province District Fours newlyelected executive for ISO also includes A V from Halton Hills Hydro Charles Thomson tit vicepresident Hilton Hydro Carl Anderson past president North York Hydro Dudley S Young 2nd vice- president Hydro William director Richmond Hill Hydro Steve North York Hydro B1U Peden director Toronto Hydro DA Murray Wilson director PkdoBrmg Hydro and Frank Johnson director East York Hydro