4 EDITORIAL with Frances Niblock THE NEW TANNER THURSDAY, JANUARY 12 2012 Not just a slogan Thanks to the almost three decades of fundraising by organizers of the Acton Paul Murr Memorial Golf Tournament, for the first time, survivors of cancer are in the majority. 64 per cent of people diagnosed with cancer will live because of cutting-edge research paid for, in part, with the $883,000 raised by the tournament since its inception 27 years ago. This year, tournament organizers handed over a $52,000 cheque to the Acton (Wellington) Branch of the Canadian Cancer Society, and $4,250 to CAShh Cancer Assistance Services of Halton Hills. Cancer Society officials could not be more grateful for the considerable, on-going cash raised by the Acton tournament, and were so impressed by the well-run event that they asked organizers to share their expertise with others staging cancer fundraising events. As one original committee member said, Paul Murr who helped start the tournament and knew the event was being renamed in his honour before he passed away from pancreatic cancer, would be "pleased, but not surprised," by the on-going success of the event truly a labour of love by organizers, many touched by cancer, who know that "cancer can be beaten" is not just a marketing slogan, but a reality, in part due to their on-going hard work. All the news that fits One of the things I like to do when we are away from home is to read the local papers. One of my favourite papers is, or should I say, was the St. Petersburg Times. I say was because as of January 1 this year, it became the Tampa Bay Times. On the last day of 2011, it was the last day of a newspaper that survived over 12 decades. The next day was a new start with a new name, even though the trend is to read "newspapers" electronically. Normally, the end of the year paper is filled with unique ways to review the year, such as, going through the obscure headlines with dumb criminals or political goof ups, etc. This issue had that, however, it also had a couple other things. It was hard not to notice the story about the brother who hid his brother's body in a garbage bag, wrapped it with packing tape and took it to a different mobile home park to dump it, because he didn't want to get blamed for killing his brother. By LUCKY WINNER: Acton's Victor Bissonnette was the lucky winner of a print, donated to local artist Marie Sallay to the Acton Seniors centre. He received his prize on Monday from Centre fundraising chair Sylvia Mitchell. Julie Conroy photo Angela Tyler Another one that caught my eye was the story about the man who had been beaten up by four others. Instead of trying to get medical help by calling 9-1-1, he instead stole an ambulance on another call nearby. He then drove himself to the hospital. He also used the ambulance's lights and sirens during his run. Just when I was starting to think I was reading "news papers" like the National Examiner, I remembered why I liked this particular newspaper so much. I liked it because it had all aspects of human interest stories from the ambulance stealing injured man to Margaret McAlister. Margaret is 88 years young. For 65 years she was the organist at First Presbyterian Church. She still passes her driving tests and prefers to drive "stick shift." Looking Back · Years of frugality caught up with the Halton Hills library, where the antiquated computers were reportedly on the verge of "total system failure." · The number of drunk drivers arrested in One District Acton, Georgetown and Milton was "dramatically reduced" from the previous year with just two impaired driving charges laid. · Halton continued to search for the source of discoloured and bad tasting water in the Lakeview subdivision; two weeks after water lines were swabbed in routine maintenance. · The Town processed a revised plan for 23 adult condominium townhouses on Dr. Moore Court. The original plan called for a 63-unit condo apartment building. · Town staff and Acton politicians investigate extending school crossing guard hours and installing additional signs to alleviate on-going traffic safety concerns on Churchill Road North. · The Town's proposed operating budget includes a $22.3-million tax levy, resulting ion a 5.3 per cent tax increase for a Town tax bill of $979 on a house assessed at $300,000. 10 Years Ago Five years Ago She plays organ at one of the few churches in the area and can play Handel's Messiah in full. She is retiring from playing because "the whole attitude about church has changed," and her children insist on driving her everywhere. This is just part of her story and she seems amazing. A few pages later were the story of John and Beatrice Baker. They can't agree on the year. It was either 1955 or 1954. One night they danced at the Manhattan Casino. It was the night that set forward their life together. It was an era where couples went to dance halls and danced. Recently, the Baker's danced again at the Manhattan Casino during its grand re-opening. It is easy to get caught up with the "headlines" of the front page of a newspaper like the political nonsense or the endless goings on with a certain Toronto paper and Mayor Ford. However, if you dig a bit into the back pages, every paper has stories like Margaret's and the Bakers' that make you feel good. Publisher Ted Tyler Editor Frances Niblock Angela Tyler Distributed to every home in Acton and area, as well as adjoining communities. Every effort will be made to see advertising copy, neatly presented, is correctly printed. The publisher assumes no financial responsibility for typographical errors or omissions in advertising, but will gladly reprint without charge that part of an advertisement in which an error may occur provided a claim is made within five days of publication. All articles, advertisements and graphic artwork appearing in The New Tanner is copyrighted. Any usage, reproduction or publication of these items, in whole or in part, without the express written consent of the publisher of The New Tanner is a copyright infringement and subject to legal action. Editorial Contributors email: thenewtanner@on.aibn.com 373 Queen Street East, Unit 1 Acton, Ontario L7J 2N2 Advertising and Circulation Marie Shadbolt (519) 853-0051 Fax: (519) 853-0052 Composing Traci Gardner, Iain Brennan Typesetting Melissa Paul