GeorgetownActon Wednesday May 23 1984 TELEPHONE 8532219 Founded In 1075 Don Ryder Director of Advertising Ken Bellamy Hartley Coles Managing Editor every by at Street Acton Tekphone519l8S32I10 Subcnpuom Smgto cop each 00 per year Canada other than Canada Corn Second ma Number Tha Acton Free Praia It one of jroup of suburban newapeperi Aurora Banner AfuPiduring New Tha Brampton Guardian Tha Poet Tha Weekend Poet Tha Etobcoka Guardian Tha Georgetown Independent Economnt Sun tho Milton Champion Tha Nawi Newmarket Era The North York Mnor Beaver Friday Tho Wee Oahewe Weekend Richmond Thomhat The Scarborough Tha Stouftvfle Tribune and Woodbndge Liberal Metroland Printing dwawnol Harlequin Enterprisee United EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Editor Murray Editor Murray Sparta Mark Hotnaa Darkroom Nancy Tad Brown ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT Ratal AdvartJalng Manager Bfl Cook Sale Kirk Sandra Wiaon Claaalfied Debt Ctrcueetlon BUSINESS OFFICE Office Manager Jean r Pat A worthy recipient The selection of Dr David van Bent as Actons Citizen of the Year is a pop ular one AJong with his associates in the Acton Medical Group he has created a solid profile in the community which for many years lacked sufficient medical practitioners It is always difficult for those charged with i citizens of the year to t separate the duties of fessional men from their community activities because they so often over- lap In Dr van Bents case it was not difficult He has taken an active interest in many facets of com munity life and although sometimes professional duties are involved such as the Sabres club doctor his interests went above and beyond the call of duty He has been the chairman of the Salvation Armys Red Shield campaign for the last four years supported the North Halton Association for the Mentally Retarded both financially and moral ly donated swans for Fairy Lake and as an avid breeds or- pheasants at his home He has always shown an avid interest in the com munity in the time avail- able for a physician who is constantly on call from pa- Doctors we are told should try not to be too emo- involved with their patients for the sake of their Dr David van Bent own health but somehow Dr van Bent manages to combine both including making house calls and still retain his zest for liv ing- Father Ralph Diodati of St Josephs commenting on the selection of Dr van der Bent as Citizen of the Year commented that he thought the honor would have already been accorded the popular physician Everywhere I go his name is mentioned he said This newspaper along with countless others joins in congratulating Dr van der Bent on his selection as Citizen of the Year We hope he always retains his in terests both professional in this community and its peo ple No need for study Halton Region is con- sidering spending on Ja tourism study but little support is forthcoming from the hotel and restaurant people who would benefit the most It hardly seems war ranted Another study and another consultant fee is the thing we need right The province is already spending a bundle on promotion paid for the same taxpayer who pay for a Halton Surely the more sensible and certainly the cheaper way would be to make sure Halton is included in that fancy Ontariariario brochure the province is paying for If all else failed it would be better to take the and have Halton advertise its attractions directly since by paying a consul tant the Region would still have to pay for the advertis ing Surely regional staff with help from the munici palities know what could be featured in their own areas Clergy comment Our limitations hinder flight by Rev Jean Stair Acton Baptist Church Quite a few years ago I met a young roan by the name of Jacin to while attending an International Students Con ference Although we struggled with the language barrier he was able to share with me a poem that held meaning for him you and I art limited are your wings and my dreams You who have wings have nol dreams I who have dreams haM not wings I remembered this poem last week when was aware of my own limitations and a feeling that my wings I bad them at all were broken Most of the time I want to soar with wings and put flesh on my dreams But occasionally my human limita- tions of and fatigue stall their fulfilment Promises made can be disregarded Connections that are Important to maintain with people can go unattended At times like this caught between spring and summer my soul feds by a season of impatience and frustration with my seeming to make dreams come true In the meantime we would do well to remrSDbw the words of EphcsiajttSlt Mat ike tear despite difficulties Who were the United Empire L oyalists Ontario is marking its bicentennial this year basins the anniversary on the year the United Empire Loyalists landed and established the beginning vine But were these people the who were disparagingly referred to as Tories by their S compatriots The story of the Loyalists has been widely misunderstood partly because their own Canadian descen dants retroactively endowed with a social prominence and political beliefs which most of them did not possess in the first place The Canadian habit of subscribing to the popular American version of history In imported books movies and television programs has done nothing to clarify the picture of what these people were really like The myth of the Loyalists as seen through Canadian eyes is that they were a lot of upperclass snobs who thought they owned the country and larded it over later immigrants as some of their offspring indeed at tempted to do Through American eyes they are generally perceived as a small faction of aristocratic Tories who refused to grasp the torch of liberty because they were too busy trying to hold on to the privileges and power they en joyed Neither perception accords with the facts First of all the Loyalists could hardly be described as a small faction One of the fathers of the American revolution John Adams wrote that as much as onethird of the population of the Colonies was opposed to Independence when it was declared In 1776 The Loyalists were certainly not all privileged landowners or officers of the Crown there were probably as many of these on the revolutionary side including George Washington The usual Impression of the American War of Independence is that it was fought out between the English redcoats and the Hessian mercenaries of King George III on one side and tough American fron tiersmen wielding squirrel rifles on the other In fact It was largely a civil war between Americans who wanted to break away from the British Empire and Americans who did not Like all civil wars it was an especially bitter conflict Loyalist soldiers captured by their were hanged as traitors to the revolutionary cause and civilians in Revolutionist territory who expressed loyal sentiments were cruelly abused At best their property was confiscated and they were prohibited from practising their trades or professions At worst they were hounded by mobs who burned their houses threw them in jail tarred and feathered them and subjected them to other painful in dignities After the decisive defeat of the British forces at in 1781 scores of thousands of Loyalists clustered in Britishheld areas to await the results of the peace negotiations that would determine their future When the terms of the Treaty of Paris became known two years later they were shocked and hurt It seemed to them that the Mother Country had sold out their interests Although the S government pro mised to facilitate their return to their homes many who tried to reclaim confiscated property were as roughly handled as ever by vin dictive former neighbours So with the Crowns assurance that they would be assisted in resettling on new land at least of them estimates range to 100000 left their homes behind for good Loyalists with the means to do so went to England Bermuda and the settled parts of the West Indies The poorer ones some of them took up offers of land grants in the British colonies the North They either sailed in convoys from Britains last outpost the port of New York or trekked overland to the rivers and lakes that formed the new International boundary The ships from New York landed in Halifax and Montreal The land- bound refugees crossed into what was then Western Quebec later to be Joined by several thousand who moved up the St Lawrence River from Montreal The people caught up in this ex odus formed a microcosm of the pre sent English Canadian Besides English- Americans they were mainly of Scottish Irish French German and Dutch descent Among them were several hundred black exsoldiers who had been released from slavery by the war and about 1000 Iroquois Indians who had fought as allies of the British This last group headed by Chief Joseph Brant took up land In and around named after the Chief and Cornwall Ont which also became the home of many white refugees Both these cities are observing their bicentennials this year In terms of social class the ma jority was not much different from the majority of Canadians today tradesmen farmers labourers shopkeepers and discharged soldiers with a sprinkling of doc tors lawyers teachers and clergymen Their ranks encompass ed Anglicans Roman Catholics Methodists Baptists Congregation a lists Quakers and pagans They spoke a variety of languages not the least French since a community of Cana- farmers crossed the Detroit River to resettle near Windsor Ont Along with their babies and belongings the Loyalists brought with them the traditional gradualist Canadian approach to They abhorred revolutionary ex tremes Some indeed were the elitist hidebound Tories of the Loyalist myth but most were by persuasion according to the historian Morton This means that they were not averse to political reform but they believed that It could be accomplished without violence or the severing of historical connections So great was the part the Loyalists played in the founding of Ontario that the province has decided to base its official bicentennial on their ar rival in 1784 despite the fact that It did not become a separate jurisdic tion until seven years later The ra tionale for this Is that the Loyalists really founded the Ontario society Royal Bank Letter Back issues Pre Cart Jack ted raw McArllwr EOm Braes Blw Lank ml raw Marjory Near Margaret Carrie CaaiateQ Margwerlle Peg Jean Margaret Etta Swacttcr raw left to right HawanI Norton Harry WfDJaa WHOut ml Teal Charles Hot 10 years ago May Manfred Boron of RR Acton has been charged with noncapital murder in connection with the disap pearance of Isaac SI of Toronto Police searched the Baron property for nearly five hours Satur- day morning before leaving with evidence which Is now being anal yzed at the Centre of Sciences in Toronto Dug from a shallow hole yards behind the Boron farm were possibly two pieces of flesh Bruce Andrews head of the Acton High physical education department and coach of the North Halton Harriers Track Club and Free Press sports editor Denis Gibbons have been accepted in a Loyola University sponsored course which will study the advanced system of sports and physical education In the Soviet Union years ago Direct Distance Dialing will come to Acton this fall Nor thern Electric Co technicians are busy Installing the crossbar switch ing machines which will bring in In June Dr Craig Hutchison will begin practicing medicine In Acton with Brian Moore Moores office at the MillMain corner Is be ing altered to accommodate the doctors who graduated from the University of Toronto the same year James Edward Aitken of RR 3 Acton son of Mr and Mrs Calvin Aitken was presented with the dip loma of the Hamilton Institute of Technology at the Institutes Con vocation exercises He has accepted a position with National Research Council Ottawa and will work in the Control Systems Laboratory 50 years ago May 13 1934 The old bark shed on Agnes Street belonging to the Leathers Ltd has been torn down Another brick building erected for a drying loft and which has not been used for some time Is also being demolished While playing on Saturday little June Talbot daughter of Mr and Mrs WD Talbot fell from a tree and fractured her left arm just below the elbow Mrs E Collier Brock Avenue Is suffering from painful bruises and injuries she received when the rail ing on the verandah at her home broke and she fell several feet to the ground At the meeting last Thursday evening of the Ladies Bowling Com mittee held at the home of Mrs J M McDonald officers for the year were elected They are President Mrs JM McDonald First Vice President Mrs A J Buchanan Second Vice President Mrs Lindsay SecretaryTreasurer Miss Glendcnning 75 years ago May At a meeting at the park on Tues day evening the Junior baseball club organized with the following of ficers Hon ER G J Wallace Vice Prei Patterson Sec Treasurer C Clark Captain A Plant Manager C Perry Watson one of our High School boys shot fl chicken hawk on his fathers farm on the Fourth Line the other day which measured three feet nine inches from Up to tip of the wings Rev R J HA D the former pastor preached an eloquent sermon to the congregation at Churchill last Sunday afternoon years ago MayS ISM Now that the Street and Sidewalk Committee have had the streets thoroughly cleaned let every take an Interest is maintaining the present neat and satisfactory ap pearance Some of our merchants deposit their sweepings on the side walk This should be The high wind or last Thursday afternoon did considerable damage throughout the country A violent hurricane struck a bush of Mr Joel Leslie a couple of miles from here and went clear through It down every tree fat and tear ing a scene of general The foundation to dog for a new double residence to be erected by Mr John and A Brown on Street op posite St