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HERALD Wednesday January 31 Page Opinion Page GMHA doing its best says VP -LETTERS- EDITORS NOTE The following letter to Mrs Adams waB filed with the Herald for publication Dear Mrs Adams First of all let me thank you for your letter of concern and for your purported 12 years support However your comments pertain ing to your sons midgetjuvenile house league game on Jan 21 Herald page Jan 24 obviously need to be redressed Your keen observation that it is not easy to be a ref is most benevolent but grossly understated No matter the call a referee is always 50 per cent right and 50 per cent wrong depending on opposing viewpoints basically a nowin situation While Ill agree that the refereeing in any one game can be frustrating as you point out pie fact still remains that he controls the game to the best of hisher ability Pure and simple No amount of abuse verbal or otherwise from players or fans will change things Surprising as it may be to you if it wasnt for the leniency of most referees par ticularly in the midgetjuvenile league parents would witness an endless parade of player suspen sions for abusive or profane language which calls for a gross penalty an automatic twogame suspension Amazing as it may seem the vast number of players at one time or another could and should be assessed such penalties Regarding a referees pay suf fice to say that payment is not commensurate with the abuse received especially when they could be industrial hockey at sometimes two and three times what they receive for minor hockey This is exactly why we lose some of the senior more qualified referees and discourage younger potential prospects Having supported 30 years ago Rev Pinkerton has been appointed as extension minister by the Extension Board of the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec He has just recently completed an extension period of work in the Oliver Baptist Church in Sarnia He will be starting his ministry with St Pauls Baptist congrega tion Feb 7 in the George Kennedy School Andy Crichton of Edith Street is the courteous driver of the month Mr Crichton is the first to be named with this honor by the Radical Car Club The club is a group of young car enthusiasts who sponsor the contest with the ac companying prize of 10 gallons of gas A courteous driver will be chosen each month by local police 20 years ago The Law Society of Upper Canada which administers the Legal Aid Plan for the province has appointed Paul Armstrong of Georgetowns Main Street as a member of the Legal Aid Area Committee for the county of Halton The area committee and the legal area director are respon sible for the operation and ad ministration of the Legal Aid Plan within the of Haiton A former Georgetown minister Lloyd Whan will return to conduct the morning service at First Bap tist Church Jan Mr Whan left First Baptist Church three and a half years ago after serving several years to become a chaplain with the Ontario Department of Correctional Services The First Baptist services have been taken by guest ministers since Rev Leslie Wilton moved to Tiverton at lheendofl969 10 years ago The first Winterfest in what the Jaycees hope will become an an- Georgetown Hockey for 12 years you must be aware of the fact that the GMHA does not con trol the referees They are assign ed by their own association We can only report or make recom mendations Perhaps as an avid supporter your suggestions for change will be given due con sideration by the Georgetown Referees Association Your remarks regarding sweaters are not totally unfound ed Yes we have had problems with sweaters this year we admit that but it certainly has not prevented any player from par ticipating At the end of last season despite telling coaches and players that sweaters must be returned to the association more than half the players in the midgetjuvenile house league decided to disregard this request As a result more of your hard earned money had to be spent needlessly to replenish the missing association property To further compqund the pro blem some players in utter de fiance still insist on taking their sweaters home even after being asked repeatedly to return them after each game This has impeded our ability to have new sponsor patches sewn on some of this years sweaters Regarding ice time Let me point out that not once this year has the midgetjuvenile house league had to start late due to other teams run ning overtime perhaps with the exception of the recent Midget Tournament If anything coaches and players arriving late have on many occasions caused delays starting games On this particular Sunday the second game started right on time and was only delayed by numerous stoppages in play and the senseless activities of some Continued on Page Halton History from our files affair was held Feb at the Fairgrounds Although Mother Nature did not provide enough snow for some scheduled events things proceeded without her help Events like the childrens doughnut eating contest carried on much to the delight of the youngsters The winner of the grand prize a trip to the Quebec Winter Carnival was Al Members of Georgetowns British Club were entertained at their recent Bums Supper in the Lions Hall by highland dancer Katrina Patterson George piped in the haggis and John Pat addressed the haggis with his dirk 5 years ago Barry Whitworth has won the Business Award for picked by the Georgetown Chamber of Com merce The former football and hockey player believes in building a solid core staff that work together like a team The Lions Club of Georgetown made a surprise phone call to Wheldon Steamer Emmerson last week to inform the 59yearold of his Citizen of the Year status Steamer said he was flabbergasted by the news Watt called him with the good news Steamer originally nicknamed steamboat which was shortened later said he had been given the name well over 50 years ago Steamer said the name came from an old radio serial he and his family would listen to 1 Reader angry over proposal I o rebuild the Fourth Line Dear Sir Now Im angry and so should the other taxpayers of Halton be For years citizens have been subsidizing the aggregate industry as they bulldozed trees blasted rock drained our water destroyed our natural and sensitive areas and created havoc to our roads For every truck leaving the quar ries it cost us money In Halton produced 157 million ton nes of aggregate million from Hills But the bleeding process has just begun as the town of Halton Hills will soon be passing a motion to rebuild the Fourth Line from United Aggregates gateway to Sideroad The price tag is 15 million with half the cost being assumed by local residents The construction is not for the benefit of the residents in fact one home owner will lose a significant portion of his front yeard to the road widening but to make it easier and supposedly safer for the trucks to travel at higher speeds Quarry owners have com plained since the speed limit was dropped to 50 kilometres per hour Not one local that Ive spoken with wants this super highway in the country beside a beautiful section of the Niagara Escarp ment As for safer truck traffic a resident wrote in a letter to the editor last year that Road due to trucks had turned from a pleasant road to a series of memorial stones to its vic tims Its noteworthy to mention that in his five years of driving that road he had seen lots of cars pulled over by the police but never a truck Thats strange weve had the same experience around here Truck drivers can be good or bad A wider smoother road can not guarantee a truck travelling kph can stop if brakes fail or if the driver is not properly licensed to drive the vehicle he is operating last year there was an accident on the Fourth Line a school bus and a truck collided During a roadside check the last year found that per cent of trucks needed mechanical repairs mostly involving brake systems and more than one in four trucks were overloaded Poor brake adjustments according to the vice president of maintenance at Kingsway Transport Ltd may mean an extra 30 to feet to come to a full stop at top speed What about wet roads or other factors I must also mention that the minister of transportation BUI Wryes farsightedness in allowing longer truck lengths will only com pound the problem I guess our politicians are paving the way for potential garbage or at least more quarrying in the area Too bad well all bleed finan cially as a result What I fear most however is that due to more trucks and higher speeds someone will pay with their life School shouldnt lease for 1 Dear Sir The Halton Board of Educations slogan Teaching is Hot in Halton should include that Hot school property is available fop Is a landscaped 15 acre site located off in Old Oakville with a modern 1200 stu dent capacity high school building on it worth only to the board of education Apparently so as the trustees voted Thursday Jan instead of waiting days for the expected ministry of educations announcement as to what capital funding will be available to requests Last June 1989 GE Perdue high school was closed because of declining enrolment in southeast Oakville By October the majority of trustees from the towns of Burl ington Milton and Georgetown voted over the objections of two- thirds of Oakvilles trustees to build another million high school in southeast just a few kilometres east of the recently closed high school Perhaps it is old fashion to consider utilizing the presently owned and valued 20 million high school property instead of commit ting the taxpayers to provide perhaps million The ministry of education has only allocated for 1992 about miUui for lieu con tribution In November the board had requested an additional million from the ministry to build the new 1500 student capacity high school in the same declining enrol ment area of southeast Oakville Isnt it time for Haltons trustees to cool it for the next days and just await the ministry an nouncement Then and only then can there be valued prcntcJ of the trusites for or against selling or leasing GE Perdue high school for Recalling the old adage A Bird in the hand is worth two in the bush George Pickios Oakville Thanks from Open Door Dear Sir The Open Door Youth Centre in Georgetown wishes to thank the many organizations that have donated most generously this year Your contributions have enabled us to operate a threeday program providing young people with a place to meet with their friends a counselling service and many ac tivities leading to personal growth and problem solving A very appreciative thank you to The Region of Halton the United Way the Kinettes the Arts and Crafts Group the Kiwanis the Chamber of Commerce St Johns United Church St Johns Holy Cross Parish St St Georges Con trols and DRG Stationery Your generosity has given us the opportunity to play a very impor tant role in the lives of many teens in our area and we are deeply grateful Appreciatively Vanessa BellSmith Executive Director The Open Door Youth Centre Men are covering up In a world in which there are so many important things to despair about Im not quite sure why I was so distressed by a little news item reporting booming sales of male cosmetics Its possible my psyche had been weakened by an earlier news item reporting another fashion trend which seems almost as dismaying According to this earlier report the depletion of the ozone layer is having consequences more hideous than hitherto imagined Apparent ly the resultant increase in ultraviolet radiation is causing a surge in the number of people suf fering from sunblindness promp ting some scientists to speculate that we may eventually have to wear sunglasses yearround This of course is an absolutely gruesome prospect You know perfectly well what happens when large numbers of people get together wearing sunglasses They start calling each other babe and setting dates to do the lunchthing If these scientists are correct then the greenhouse effect is not going to result in an entire world that resembles a tropical jungle Its going to result in an entire world that resembles Los Angeles But I digress We were discuss ing wince male cosmetics According to this dire news item aging male babyboomers have turned to cosmetics to help them look better and feel better about themselves As such the industry now racks up annual sales of million in North America Well In this enlightened and liberal age one naturally hesitates to object to men wearing makeup Still the nagging thought remains Taint natural Your Daddy didnt never wear mascara cause your Grandpappy Admitting to such a sentiment of course leaves you open to the ob vious countercharge which is that a man who gets the heebie- jeebies at the thought of male makeup is clearly a man who is uncertain about his own masculini ty This is probably true It comes with the territory Most of us spend our first 14 or 15 years hoping forlornly that someone will nickname us Spike When this doesnt happen we just cope as best we can This explains why so many men hate going shopping with women Its not that we begrudge the time its the ghastly prospect of being asked to hold her purse while she nips off to try something on Most men have experienced the horror of standing in a shopping mall with a purse Passersby avert their eyes and stifle their snickers but you know perfectly well what theyre thinking and theres only one thing you can do in a desperate attempt to salvage the last shreds of your tattered machismo Slink villainously behind the nearest pillar and try to look like a I suppose it could also be argued that an aversion to male nkpup is a sure sign of rampagirg male chauvinist piggery After all women have worn makeup millennia And if women we makeup to beautify themselves then surely men should be willing to return the favor But Im not sure about this For starters I dont believe women put on makeup to please men in the first place I sometimes suspect its just a wickedly clever plot to tie up the bathroom every morn ing In any case Id just like to issue a plea to all those aging male baby- boomers who are spending million a year in order to look and feel young again Please follows just stop and think what that money could buy instead With 75 million you- could buy seven million cases of beer Or3o million golf balls Or even several hundred thousand color television sets just in time for the Super Bowl And above all else remember the principle of the thing It isnt how young you look that counts its how young you act So forget the makeup guys Be men instead