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•T he I FP • H al to n H ill s •T hu rs da y, S ep te m be r 2 6, 2 01 3 6 OPINION This September-October is proving to be a significant period in the history of Halton Hills. A community open house of the new George- town Hospital's Emergency Department will be held Sunday, Sept. 29 before department staff begin seeing patients on October 9. Sunday the doors will open following the annual Walk for Georgetown Hospital which occurs that morning. Also on Sunday residents are invited to get a new look (and skate) at the revamped and ex- panded Mold-Masters SportsPlex with its two new NHL regulation-sized ice surfaces. Last week the first of at least eight public meetings was held to ultimately determine how the newest urban area of Halton Hills will one day look. Approximately 100 residents (a good turn- out considering the number of people these meetings often draw) attended the first Vision- Georgetown meeting which was held to pro- vide the public a chance to comment on the development of the block of land bordered by 15 Sideroad, Eighth Line, 10 Sideroad and Trafalgar Road. The new hospital emergency department and arenas as well as planning for the develop- ment of the 1,000 acres in Georgetown South are all incumbent on one thing-- community involvement. Whether it is through the sharing of ideas, financial support or volunteerism a commu- nity can only grow and improve if its populace is engaged and involved. This is an exciting period in the Town's his- tory and it shouldn't be forgotten it is the re- sult of much hard work from many. The Independent & Free Press is published Thursday and is one of sev- eral Metroland Media Group Ltd. community newspapers. Editorial and advertising content of The Independent & Free Press is protected by copy- right. Unauthorized use is prohibited. The Independent & Free Press Exciting time Letters to the editor Dear editor, Cancer Assistance Services- Hal- ton Hills (CAShh) is a wonderful organization and we are so proud to have them in Halton Hills. My son Jerry was never sick, but he started feeling tired after sleeping all night. The doctor sent him for a CT scan and found a brain tumor. On March 17, 2006, he had sur- gery-- it was cancer. After surgery he had to go to hospital every day for seven weeks for radiation and one and a half years for chemotherapy. We learned of CAShh and they offered their services and have taken excellent care driving us to all ap- pointments. We were so grateful. It has been seven years of many caring people at CAShh and Jerry is doing well. We could never have trav- eled this long road alone and now he goes every four months. Please donate to CAShh or vol- unteer if you can because we never know when we will need their help, but they will be there with open arms if you do. Ann and Jerry Battcock, Georgetown 905-873-0301 Publisher: Dana Robbins General manager: Steve Foreman (sforeman@theifp.ca) Retail advertising manager: Cindi Campbell (ccampbell@theifp.ca) Managing editor: John McGhie (jmcghie@theifp.ca) Distribution manager: Nancy Geissler (ngeissler@theifp.ca) Classifieds/Real Estate Kristie Pells (classified@theifp.ca or realestate@theifp.ca) Accounting 1-866-773-6575 Editorial Cynthia Gamble: News editor (cgamble@theifp.ca) Ted Brown: Photography (tbrown@theifp.ca) Lisa Tallyn: Staff writer (ltallyn@theifp.ca) Eamonn Maher: Staff writer/sports (emaher@theifp.ca) The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is concerned about the 250 collisions be- tween passenger trains and vehicles in the last decade. Do you think the Harper government should make this a priority? • No (55%) • Yes (45%) WEB POLL RESULTS (Go to www.theifp.ca) Family grateful CAShh is around Girls had a ball Be aware of buses with the start of a new school year, to please be aware of the many school buses on the road. They often stop, as you may know, with flashing lights, and a stop sign that swings out. But many people do not stop. It is hard to believe that they take the safety of other people's children for granted! So I ask: (1) Be aware and stop for the bus. (2) If you see someone go through these safety warnings, please take a picture, if it is safe to do so, or write down a licence plate and file a report. We need to work together to pro- vide children safe roads to travel on when they go to school. Valerie Bahen Hornby Get the latest headlines delivered to your inbox by signing up for our twice weekly electronic newsletter. Go to www.theifp.ca and click on 'Newsletter sign-up' at the bottom of the homepage. Dear editor, Another season of Learn To Play, run by Georgetown Ladies Powderpuff (baseball) League, has come to an end. We thank both the executives and the coaches for doing such a fantastic job again this year. They are so ac- commodating, encouraging and most of all fair! The girls thoroughly enjoyed themselves and it was great to see both their skills and confidence build. Special thanks to DeeDee Haynes- Ridley, Sue Subject, Janelle Pasma and the rest of the GLPL executive team and coaches, who all volunteer their time and energy. Georgetown, just remember there is more than just soccer to play during the summer! Shannon Annett, Georgetown Letters must include the author's name, address and daytime phone number. Anony- mous letters will not be published. Letters should not exceed 150 words and may be edited for content and/or length. Publica- tion is not guaranteed. Email: jmcghie@theifp.ca Mail or drop off: Independent & Free Press, 280 Guelph St., Unit 77, Georgetown, ON., L7G 4B1. Letters policy Dear editor, I would like to ask the public,