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GeortovmActon Wednesday Mar What TELEPHONE 519 8532010 and EAorbl Founded in 1875 Wednesday by Publehmg at Street Ontsno S19 Subecnptions Single copes each t par Canada 30 In countnes men Canada Sacond mal N umber Don Ryder Director of Advertising Ken Bellamy Hartley Coles Managing Editor Acton Free Praam one of tho group suburban which includes Aurora Banner Brampton Guardian Tha Burlington The Burlington Woefcend Pott The Emokcoke Georgetown Independent Markham Economol Sun Tha Champion Mteitxsuoa News Tha Newmarket n North York Friday Beaver Tha Week Tha Weekend Richmond HID Liberal Thomhtt The Scarborough Mirror Tha Stoutfvile Tribune end Wood bridge Lfteral Printing PuWohing a division of Harlequin Enlsrpnses EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Editor Cord Murray News Editor Helen Murray Sporta Maik Darkroom Tad Brown ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT Manager Cook Saka Kirk Davy Susan Sandra When Carolyn Debbie BUSINESSACCOUNTING OFFICE Office Manager Jean SheweB We support Section 63 Last week a letter ap peared on this page from a Newcastle ratepayer warn ing of dangers of Halton Hills adopting market value or equalized assessment through Section Councillor Ross Knechtel who has spent countless hours probing the present assessment system as well as the implications of Sec tion 63 and has long cham pioned its adoption took strong exception to the tetter Monday night he presented the letter publish ed at the bottom of this page to his colleagues on council He said the writer of last weeks letter had a shock ing lack of knowledge about the Section 63 issue called the letter a masterpiece of misin formation He noted Mr was offering to help local residents and Hills deal with this issue and stated dont want to have anything to do with him Knechtel indicated hes looked into the issue in Newcastle as well as Mr Slyfield and found the let ter writers complaints arent justified He wants the universe changed just because his taxes went up I In conversation with a Free Press staffer at Fri days council dropin Knechtel indicated he felt the positioning of the letter on the editorial page and the prominence we gave it as well as other Halton Hills newspapers indicated the paper was now taking a position oppos ed to Section This is not the case This letter or any letter doesnt necessarily reflect our opi nion Publication of a letter or other material doesnt mean agreement In the case of Section 63 we remain supportive of its adoption here We realize that for some residents it will mean staggering tax increase decreases for others and no change for some Weve heard the horror stories from Newcastle Milton Erin Township and else where We naturally never hear from the large block of taxpayers in areas where its been adopted whose taxes went down We dont think Section 63 provides the perfect solu tion by any means However we recognize that it is the only vehicle available to Halton Hills to end the inequity which has developed over the past decade resulting in Actons mill rate being so far out of kilter compared to the rest of the Town The only way to stop Acton from collec tively paying roughly a quarter of a million dollars more in taxes than we fairly should is through Section As long as it remains the only way out of this mess Section must be adopted for Actons sake regardless of the new problems it will create and the fact that some taxpayers will wind up paying more Acton as a whole must be treated fairly We will of course con tinue to publish opposing points of view and urge all taxpayers to become better informed and involved in this crucial issue GM Our readers write Constituent blasts Otto Dear Sir When Finance Minister Marc announced that on February is be was going to present the federal budget Tory Leader Brian Mulroney cried foul because he was supposed to be away at that time He subsequently cancelled or postponed his trip so that he could be present when the budget was brought down A few days after the budget was tabled I was expert Mr to present his views I disappointed when I did not hear much from him It seemed to me that he was preoccupied with outer things or perhaps he was absent from the House of Com mons most of the lime If he had nothing to contribute why did he have to postpone his trip I was thinking of calling our Member of Parliament Otto to ask why only to find out that he was not doing his duty in the House of Commons either because he was moonlighting in of ell places a communist country TV commentator at the Olym pics How disgusting I think It Is Immoral for a representative of the taxpayers to be collecting his salary if he is not working for them especially when an import ant piece of legislation was being debated in Ottawa If he cannot his con stituents properly why does the Progressive Conservative Party offer Otto Jellnek as their cand idate for MP for Halton Richard 3058 Viewmount OokviHcOnlL6L5M7 THAT life MNP OF APRIL lr REARS AFTER From the editors des Silliness under the dome I dont know about you but Ive been more than a little amused by all this carrying on the last few months over the possibility of a domed or is it spelled doomed stadium for the Metro area By my recollection I first heard about a dome when D mentioned it would be nice while the rain dripped off his Tory blues at the 1932 and probably last too Grey Cup in Toronto You didnt hear much about it again until last summer What with the Jays and sparkling on the field and lowly little Vancouver getting North Americas newest dome it was inevitable that Ontario would start chasing the dream too Since then weve had a blue ribbon Tory panel of flacks study the Idea and come up with a location on land Ottawa says its keeping and right in an airport flight path Along the way weve heard about retractable and inflatable roofs snow domes in the wilds of rural Oakville a dome in put up by private enterprise not the government but tied to a hous ing development a dome at the wiping out a chunk of the midway a dome right by Wood bine one stop shopping for bookies and gamblers as well as the air port dome too bad the planes the visiting teams fly In on dont land there It might make the location a litUe more sensible In the wake of the study there have been surveys freshened up proposals even big ads in daily newspapers urging voters push for the nontax dollar costing project in Mississauga Im an avid sports fan at least of two sports which would be under the dome baseball and Canadian football Im not a purist either I dont think these sports have to be played outside to be worth wat ching Enough is enough Dear Sir Enough Is Enoujrft The above battle cry written by a lady outraged by an unjustified Increase in her property taxes under the Market Value Assess ment program was the catalyst which brought together about a thousand people in the Town of Newcastle Until her letter ap peared in the local paper each one of us thought we were alone and would suffer the Inequities of this government sponsored tax program alone Talk to your neighbors talk to your friends and If you wish to make your heard and ex press your concern you can help us by writing Margaret 1st airman No EnniskUIen Out Canada LOB 1H0 I dont even core where its located though obviously rural would be nice because of local economic benefits and the closer drive But the thing I do care about is all this talk of financing It with tax dollars A private dome would produce as many Jobs probably as a publicly funded dome Job creation should be the only reason why Ottawa Queens Pork and Metro should pay for the dome Anyway since I suspect before all the lobbying and fighting Is over it will have taken as long to settle where and what goes where as it will to build the blessed thing Ive- been watching the proceedings with amusement I told Helen the other day I figure our son daught er who will arrive soon should be In elementary school before we lake him her to their first game under the dome If youre in my corner and think this whole thing has become a little ridiculous consider yourself fortunate that youre not living on Floridas sun coast The hot issue in Hillsborough Tampa and Pinellas St Petersburg counties these days is dome fever Thats like trying to put one dome in and another in Burlington The papers and TV are full of it and local residents are having lots to say Both cities would like a major league ball franchise its rumored Minnesota Twins arc heading to Florida next year but clearly only one franchise will go to the bay area No matter there are groups in both counties planning domes Tampa already has a big Sum used for NFL and games as well as pro soccer No matter lets put a dome beside it I couldnt find anyone who knew if theyd even looked at using that facility for baseball too The answer I got time and again was that the area needs a dome for baseball only because now are you ready for this people wont go to games in summer if the facility Isnt air conditioned The story across the bay Is even more ridiculous because of the two cities Tampa is the one like ly to get a franchise unless St Petersburg gets their dome finished sooner The St Petersburg facility is to seat roughly people with parking for there will be awfully crowded buses Theyve picked out a site even held a sod turning and big celebration the day the baseball owners were in Tampa to pick a new com missioner This domes being pushed ahead by the county commission council and seems a few steps ahead of the Tampa effort There seems to be no desire to cooperate between the two groups in fact theyre gathering evidence to show each others proposals will flop as will the ball team hat goes there Actually whats going on sounds a lot like the arguing were hearing up here only a lot sillier Its especially silly since both dome groups are headed by exp erienced baseball people In St Petersburg its Peter Bavassi who set up the Jays and Is called Peter the Great down there and theyve been warned by their extensive contacts that the majors will turn their back on this market no mat ter how promising it looks If the fool is ess doesnt stop Baseball doesnt want to chose one dome and leave the other area with an empty facility and look like the bad guy Another wrinkle Just developing as I headed back north was a possible court challenge to force the St Petersburg dome onto the next election ballot Its common that big ticket government proj ects must be approved by the tax payers who will pay for it in the States an idea wed all welcome here even if we just got to vote on Hills version of a dome a municipal complex Anyway with cold weather hanging on here and the Blue Jays Exhibition Stadium opener loom ing In a few weeks I thought you might get a laugh out of learning that people in Peter sburg just have to have a dome because they cant watch baseball in the heat Wonder how they man age at warm weather football and soccer games maybe they all bring portable fans Whats happened there I rate nine for silliness Torontos carry ing on gets a seven from me Who gets a ten Why Nashville which has plans to build a ball park shaped like a guitar If seen from the air Dear sir Last week a letter was In the local press written by a Mr Slyfldd from the Town of New castle This letter is a long list of about toe inequity of using a Section a reassessment Unfortunately most of bis com plaints have nothing to do with Section Let me list a few 1 The Assessment Act assigns punitive values to small holdings He seems to be objecting to the fact that a building lot rural or urban has a much higher assess ment than farm land This Is of course true with or without Sec tion St Complaints nothing to do with Sec 63 Some taxpayers receive refunds of their taxes from the Province Yes this is true Senior citizens are granted up to as a refund of taxes Also farmers whose gross income exceeds cer tain standards receive a refund of per cent of their taxes It would appear that Mr wants this practice stopped It must be noted that these refunds have nothing to do with Section SI Mr Slyfield objects to the fact that bameowners pay their Property Tax with after tax In come All business men and many fanners pay with before tax income Ho is correct in his state ment If this is to be changed it requires some changes in Federal and Provincial Tax Laws It has nothing to do with Section or any other section of The Assessment Act The system of property tax Ontario provides general terms that the tax is related to property value in varying degrees The tax Is not related to services received except for such things as garbage collection and sewers This system has been used In Ontario for many years and I am not aware of any move to change this Mr Slyfield seems to want his taxes directly related to services received He Is entitled to his opinion and It may have merit However what it has to do with Section Is a mystery to me and Im sure it Is a mystery to also Mr makes no mention of the problems we have with our present assessment system He seems unaware that in Acton we pay an extra mills with no ap parent justification and this Is just one of the present anomalies that only Section can correct Lets face facts Mr says be is concerned about our problems yet there is much evidence that be does not even know what our problems are Obviously Slyfield has received a sharply increased assessment probably on the value of his land We arc not given any facts just a long list of complaints that for the most part have nothing to do with Section Because of this I suggest we are entitled to assume that nls previous assessment was a long standing error In his favour My thanks to Mr Slyfield for his offer of advice However now can be solve a problem that be does not seem to understand Yours truly Knechtel Councillor Ward I years ago March 27 lffT4 Mr Justice Donnelly of the Supreme Court or Ontario declared a mistrial In the case of the Crown versus Thomas Bourke accused of killing his wife Colleen In a Churchill Acton apartment last May Defense did not call Bourke to the stand to speak for himself but called two eminent psychiatrists who stated their opinions of Insanity However Judge Donnelly declared the doctors based their opinions on statements made I them by the accused which did not appear in the official statement Therefore these statements were evidence that was not properly presented to the jury Acton may have tennis courts this year as long as there Is no private club according to a recommendation from administrative committee Monday night 20 years ago March 26 IBM By an overwhelming majority of over 80 per cent members of the curling club agreed to Investigate further the matter of separate facilities The meeting In the community centre last Thursday was attended by a very satisfactory there were proxy votes on hand as well A new roomy library for Actons Centennial project Thats the hope of the library board which will be the first group to bring a definite proposal for a centennial project to council Married years yesterday Mr and Mrs Fred Cleave have received congratulations this week from a host of relatives friends and neigh bors There was a dinner for on Saturday and open house yester day They have lived in their homo on Mill St for the past years and are very well known In the nlty 50 years ago March 22 114 The past week provided some of the best hockey at some of the best prices two for a quarter and free l groceries The Crescents won the Midget championship Woods G Footitt Bayllss Cross Mario Jones Tyler B Buchanan Frank Gibbons was referee Dyed in the wool fans went back to j the arena for a game between married men and single men with a ten cent admission Winners were the single men Byrne Walters Marzo Mooncy Morton Norm Morton Marshall Woods Huffman Dawklns Married men were Fred Kentner Gibbons Joe Kentner Anderson Jack Terry Cheu and Arbic Harry Holmes was referee Some action must be taken on the Murray bequest for Acton The Holy Name Society of St Josephs Church provided a splendid social evening for the members of the Acton Hockey Teams presided over by Father McBride 75 years ago March 25 It is reported that counterfeit five cent silver is in circulation William Murray of Toronto waa committed to gaol for trial by Magistrates Barley and Kennedy last week for breaking into a car at Georgetown and stealing a caddy of tobacco Trespassers have been notified to keep put of the GTR yards at the station A gang of GT R workmen is engaged in putting additional hoops on the 100000 gallon tank at the GTR depot to strengthen the structure which will be painted as well J There were two attempted burglaries In Town Friday night evidently by local novices 100 years ago March ISM A large quantity of stone Is being shipped from for the harbor improvements hi Toronto Mr ana Mrs Anson Smith celebrated the anniversary of their wedding at the home of their soninlaw Mr Storey They were married In the county of Went- IBM A five minute skating race at Milton for the championship of be county was woo by Billy Speight years of age of Acton Now ne has been challenged by Mills of The winner will receive CO Speight won In the last couple of days eight tramps were accommodated In the A cells In the town bail Messrs Bennett and Walter Lamb sawed one and a half cords of maple wood minutes with a taw Pretty