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the HERALD Wednesday December Community Old Stone School to face wreckers ball By LISA The Herald A monument to early education in Acton the Old Stone School on School Lane in front of Robert Lit tie Public School is to be demolished Board of Education just purchased the school and ap proximately one acre of land around it for and have plans to tear it down to possibly create a natural parkland and improve Robert Little Schools parking area We have no definite plans for the site but the intent is to maintain the trees and park area said Gord Dickson Assistant Superintendent of Business for the Board In a report presented to trustees Thursday night it was stated the acquisition of the site would provide for an improved parking area potential for 1m proving bus access improve vehicular and access protect area from future develop ment improve sighting of school and a removal of a safety Despite specific references to parking made in the report Mr Dickson stated there is no intention to transform the land into a parking lot Were not going to ravage the lot The trees there are beautiful and we want to keep them there said Mr Dickson His main concern was that the old school building had become a safety hazard The Town of Hills purchased the site in 1984 The Town never made use of the site and in the meantime the building deteriorated he said Its an object of vandalism and its crumbling inside Bev vicepnncipal at Robert Little School agreed the school building had detenorated to the point of being considered dous Its been left so long it become a safety hazard she said There s all kinds of critters in it and it been vandalized inside and out She said shes sorry the building will be torn down but is happy the site is back in possession of the Board of Education In keeping it as part of the school grounds that will prevent other buildings from being built there she said That fear was shared by many residents who were opposed to a Town proposal to build public housing on the site Board officials stated in their report the site was originally purchased by the Town so they could convert it into a museum But Tom Shepard the Towns Director of Recreation and Parks said that was never confirmed When council agreed to pur chase the land there was nothing preconcieved for the site he said A number of things were con sidered for the site such as creating a museum a day care facility a community meeting room or in eluding it in a possible library ex But it was not purchased with the specific intent to something with it He stated lack of finances resulted in the abandonment of the lnifci VHbnlBHi Puppets and puppeteers Members of the Acton Puppeteers community groups leader Tom and at bottom Matthew group met Sunday at Acton Baptist Church to Bunt The group was femed a year and a half ago for their upcoming puppet show Where and this is the second feature performance theyve Christmas The show features puppeteers in win given Wheres Christmas will be presented Dec dow Brooke behind screen left to right f and 8 at the Acton Baptist Church at p Jamie Shannon Birrell Nick Sarah Tickets are for adults and for children and are Austin Derek Lambert the available at the door Herald Photo Onsite billing put on hold By BEN The Herald Halton Hills Hydro will have to wait a long time before it may be able to process its customers bills at the time of taking the meter reading During a recent interview local Hydro Commissioner Murt Allison a staunch supporter of the on site billing program confirmed the commission was recently informed it has an insufficient number of customers to cover the program start up costs The utility needs 26 customers double the current total said Mr Allison program would permit officials to process hand over tin hydro bill each im mediately afttr taking the melcr reading However the significant start up call for the purchasing of a van equipped with the computer processing equipment he explained Under the current billing system utility employees go out and con duct a monthly meter reading of each customer then return to the commission office where the bills are processed and then mailed to the customers Mr Allison said he is hopeful the program will be able to be plemented at a future date Mr Allison said the program on implemented will save the utility a significant amount of money by reducing postage costs and increasing interest earnings a result of customer payments arriving at the commission Acton office up to lOdavs faster Mr Allison said company ind Meter Reading Services which did the feasibilly sludv concerning on site billing for Hills mission is now looking at the possibility of setting up an on site billing program to be split between Hills and another municipality Milton is one municipals currently being considered for this kind of arrangement said Mr Allison He concedes he other four com are perhaps not as anxious to see the program go ahead as he is None of the other commissioners could be reached for comment at press time Mr Allison said another reason the program is being held back is because it requires all meters be located on the of a building or house in Acton said Mr Allison most meters are the buildings and houses Asked the commission sup ports t and D Meter Reading Ser vice continued investigation into the matter given the Acton situation Mr Allison would only because the wants to doit school It came down to financial priority over project priority and council was never able to fire up the extra finances to do anything with the budding Then when council was reviewing its financial situation a couple of months ago it was agreed that the school and accompanying site was a surplus At one point it was decided it would require a tremendous amount of money to make the building structurally sound let alone making it usable for some purpose he said It became cost prohibitive The Town decided to sell the school and offered it to the Board which purchased the site for or more than what they sold it for in the first place Ms said Robert Little is hoping to make use of parts of Old Stone School in the renovation the school is currently undergoing She said a lot of who teach at Robert Little were themselves once students at Old Stone School FETCHING COMFORT FOR OVER I- Ihi maile The kriOMii litnriir ml Mi erf i and li mm and could lirlni the at a mi in MENS SQUIRE Sizes 14 SERVICE REGISTERED ON STAFF MOMS MUD FLETCHERS 8771664 FAMILY SHOES MAIN ST DOWNTOWN GEORGETOWN