The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

OPINION A new year, like a new birth, is a fresh start and is always a good time to refl ect on where we've been, where we're at and where we'd like to head. As with any year, there will certainly be challenges to tackle, unexpected emergen- cies to contend with and moments of jubi- lation and tragedy. We now are in the Year of the Snake, according to Chinese astrology, and the snake represents wisdom, intelligence and self-control, while also possessing the ability to strike at will, quickly and power- fully. Here' a brief wish list of what we'd like to see in 2013. • A provincial government that will ac- tually focus on governing, instead of po- litical posturing. However, that may prove diffi cult as another election looms. • The Province to keep its hands off Hal- ton Hills Hydro so that it remains under Town control. • The Province to understand that it must be responsible for paying for all On- tario Municipal Board appeals to the Plac- es to Grow Act, not Halton Region/Town of Halton Hills. This was a Province-driv- en plan, and as such the Province should incur all OMB costs. • A dose of common sense about guns for our U.S. neighbours. • A compromise-- for public school teachers' unions and the Province. • The same for the NHL billionaires vs. millionaires squabble. • Better treatment, and laws, safeguard- ing women and children who are victims of violence, whether here at home or abroad in countries like India and Afghanistan. • Successful openings for the revamped Georgetown Hospital, Mold-Masters SportsPlex, Georgetown library and Cul- tural Centre and Georgetown Market Place and for the new Toronto Premium Outlets mall at Trafalgar Rd. and Steeles Avenue. • A balanced federal budget. The Independent & Free Press is published Tuesday and Thursday and is one of several Metroland Media Group Ltd. community newspapers. Edi- torial and advertising content of The Independent & Free Press is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. The Independent & Free Press A look ahead Steve Nease Letters to the editor Dear editor, To the miscreant who mistook my car as a Christmas gift on the evening of Dec. 24 into the morn- ing of Dec. 25 I must apologize. First of all, I recognize that by accidently leaving my car unlocked I was an enabler and tempted you beyond any sort of self-control you possess to follow the rules of our law-abiding society. Secondly, I am sorry for the disappointment you must have felt when you unwrapped the interior of my car and discovered there was nothing worth stealing. Maybe one day you will earn property of your own, have a job, develop a sense of community, and form a family. Perhaps then you will be at home in the early morn- ing hours, asleep with your fam- ily, and will experience the joy of unwrapping gifts you purchased, within your home on Christmas morning instead of in my driveway. Merry Christmas. You certainly didn't ruin mine. I hope I didn't ruin yours. Bill Ford, Acton Letters policy 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) Classifi eds Kristie Pells (classifi ed@theifp.ca) Accounting Rose Marie Gauthier 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) How would you personally rate 2012? • A complete disaster...looking forward to 2013 (50%) • A pretty uneventful year (32%) • One of the best years ever (18%) WEB POLL RESULTS (Go to www.theifp.ca) Apology given to would-be grinch Great team effort ABI support group now in Georgetown Letters must include an address and daytime phone number. Anonymous letters will not be published. Letters should not exceed 150 words and may be edited for content and/or length. Publication is not guaranteed. Email: jmcghie@theifp.ca Mail or drop off: Independent & Free Press, 280 Guelph St., Unit 29, Georgetown, ON., L7G 4B1. The Independent & Free Press wel- comes your letters. Letters must include an address and daytime phone number. Letters should not exceed 150 words and may be edited for content and/or length. Please email your let- ter to: jmcghie@theifp.ca Send a letter •T he I FP • H al to n H ill s •T hu rs d ay , J an ua ry 3 , 2 01 3 6 Dear editor, The recent news article in The Independent & Free Press provides results of the Halton Regional Police's "Cram a Cruiser" food drive held at the Superstore on December 15. What the article does not mention is the overwhelming generosity of the people of Halton Hills by donating the 9,000 lbs. of food as well as the amaz- ing effort put forth by the offi cers of 11 Division who, fi rstly, recognized the need to collect additional food for the Georgetown Bread Basket, organized the drive, then manned the all-day event (some of whom had just concluded a 12-hour shift and insisted they stay until the conclusion). These actions speak volumes to the generous and caring people of this town and to the dedication of those who protect us. Well done Halton Hills! Tom Money, Georgetown Dear editor, I am pleased to announce the start of an Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) sup- port group in Georgetown. ABI is the number one cause of death and disability for people under the age of 45. This support group is for caregivers and survivors of ABI, over the age of 18, including people with traumatic brain injury, concus- sion, stroke and brain disease. I am a survivor of a traumatic brain injury and during my recovery, I found that the closest support group was in Mississauga-- too far for many to attend. Starting Jan. 8/2013 at the Real Canadian Superstore on Guelph St. in the Community Room at 7:30 p.m. we will have our fi rst meeting, followed by the second Tuesday of every month. This group is a chapter of the Brain Injury Association of Peel and Halton (BIAPH). Visit biaph.com for more informa- tion about Acquired Brain Injury and its support groups. Russell Davies,Georgetown << /ASCII85EncodePages false /AllowTransparency false /AutoPositionEPSFiles true /AutoRotatePages /None /Binding /Left /CalGrayProfile (Dot Gain 20%) /CalRGBProfile (sRGB IEC61966-2.1) /CalCMYKProfile (U.S. Web Coated \050SWOP\051 v2) /sRGBProfile (sRGB IEC61966-2.1) /CannotEmbedFontPolicy /Error /CompatibilityLevel 1.3 /CompressObjects /Tags /CompressPages true /ConvertImagesToIndexed true /PassThroughJPEGImages true /CreateJobTicket false /DefaultRenderingIntent /Default /DetectBlends true /DetectCurves 0.1000 /ColorConversionStrategy /LeaveColorUnchanged /DoThumbnails false /EmbedAllFonts true /EmbedOpenType false /ParseICCProfilesInComments true /EmbedJobOptions true /DSCReportingLevel 0 /EmitDSCWarnings false /EndPage -1 /ImageMemory 1048576 /LockDistillerParams false /MaxSubsetPct 100 /Optimize true /OPM 1 /ParseDSCComments true /ParseDSCCommentsForDocInfo true /PreserveCopyPage true /PreserveDICMYKValues true /PreserveEPSInfo true /PreserveFlatness true /PreserveHalftoneInfo false /PreserveOPIComments false /PreserveOverprintSettings true /StartPage 1 /SubsetFonts true /TransferFunctionInfo /Apply /UCRandBGInfo /Preserve /UsePrologue false /ColorSettingsFile () /AlwaysEmbed [ true ] /NeverEmbed [ true ] /AntiAliasColorImages false /CropColorImages true /ColorImageMinResolution 150 /ColorImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK /DownsampleColorImages true /ColorImageDownsampleType /Bicubic /ColorImageResolution 300 /ColorImageDepth -1 /ColorImageMinDownsampleDepth 1 /ColorImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000 /EncodeColorImages true /ColorImageFilter /DCTEncode /AutoFilterColorImages true /ColorImageAutoFilterStrategy /JPEG /ColorACSImageDict << /QFactor 0.15 /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1] >> /ColorImageDict << /QFactor 0.15 /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1] >> /JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict << /TileWidth 256 /TileHeight 256 /Quality 30 >> /JPEG2000ColorImageDict << /TileWidth 256 /TileHeight 256 /Quality 30 >> /AntiAliasGrayImages false /CropGrayImages true /GrayImageMinResolution 150 /GrayImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK /DownsampleGrayImages true /GrayImageDownsampleType /Bicubic /GrayImageResolution 300 /GrayImageDepth -1 /GrayImageMinDownsampleDepth 2 /GrayImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000 /EncodeGrayImages true /GrayImageFilter /DCTEncode /AutoFilterGrayImages true /GrayImageAutoFilterStrategy /JPEG /GrayACSImageDict << /QFactor 0.15 /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1] >> /GrayImageDict << /QFactor 0.15 /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1] >> /JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict << /TileWidth 256 /TileHeight 256 /Quality 30 >> /JPEG2000GrayImageDict << /TileWidth 256 /TileHeight 256 /Quality 30 >> /AntiAliasMonoImages false /CropMonoImages true /MonoImageMinResolution 1200 /MonoImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK /DownsampleMonoImages true /MonoImageDownsampleType /Bicubic /MonoImageResolution 1200 /MonoImageDepth -1 /MonoImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000 /EncodeMonoImages true /MonoImageFilter /CCITTFaxEncode /MonoImageDict << /K -1 >> /AllowPSXObjects false /CheckCompliance [ /None ] /PDFX1aCheck false /PDFX3Check false /PDFXCompliantPDFOnly false /PDFXNoTrimBoxError true /PDFXTrimBoxToMediaBoxOffset [ 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 ] /PDFXSetBleedBoxToMediaBox true /PDFXBleedBoxToTrimBoxOffset [ 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 ] /PDFXOutputIntentProfile () /PDFXOutputConditionIdentifier () /PDFXOutputCondition () /PDFXRegistryName (http://www.color.org) /PDFXTrapped /Unknown /CreateJDFFile false /SyntheticBoldness 1.000000 /Description << /JPN <FEFF3053306e8a2d5b9a306f30019ad889e350cf5ea6753b50cf3092542b308030d730ea30d730ec30b9537052377528306e00200050004400460020658766f830924f5c62103059308b3068304d306b4f7f75283057307e305930023053306e8a2d5b9a30674f5c62103057305f00200050004400460020658766f8306f0020004100630072006f0062006100740020304a30883073002000520065006100640065007200200035002e003000204ee5964d30678868793a3067304d307e305930023053306e8a2d5b9a306b306f30d530a930f330c8306e57cb30818fbc307f304c5fc59808306730593002> /FRA <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> /DEU <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> /PTB <FEFF005500740069006c0069007a006500200065007300740061007300200063006f006e00660069006700750072006100e700f5006500730020007000610072006100200063007200690061007200200064006f00630075006d0065006e0074006f0073002000500044004600200063006f006d00200075006d00610020007200650073006f006c007500e700e3006f00200064006500200069006d006100670065006d0020007300750070006500720069006f0072002000700061007200610020006f006200740065007200200075006d00610020007100750061006c0069006400610064006500200064006500200069006d0070007200650073007300e3006f0020006d0065006c0068006f0072002e0020004f007300200064006f00630075006d0065006e0074006f0073002000500044004600200070006f00640065006d0020007300650072002000610062006500720074006f007300200063006f006d0020006f0020004100630072006f006200610074002c002000520065006100640065007200200035002e00300020006500200070006f00730074006500720069006f0072002e00200045007300740061007300200063006f006e00660069006700750072006100e700f50065007300200072006500710075006500720065006d00200069006e0063006f00720070006f0072006100e700e3006f00200064006500200066006f006e00740065002e> /DAN <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> /NLD <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> /ESP <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> /SUO <FEFF004e00e4006900640065006e002000610073006500740075007300740065006e0020006100760075006c006c006100200076006f0069006400610061006e0020006c0075006f006400610020005000440046002d0061007300690061006b00690072006a006f006a0061002c0020006a006f006900640065006e002000740075006c006f0073007400750073006c00610061007400750020006f006e0020006b006f0072006b006500610020006a00610020006b007500760061006e0020007400610072006b006b007500750073002000730075007500720069002e0020005000440046002d0061007300690061006b00690072006a0061007400200076006f0069006400610061006e0020006100760061007400610020004100630072006f006200610074002d0020006a0061002000520065006100640065007200200035002e00300020002d006f0068006a0065006c006d0061006c006c0061002000740061006900200075007500640065006d006d0061006c006c0061002000760065007200730069006f006c006c0061002e0020004e00e4006d00e4002000610073006500740075006b0073006500740020006500640065006c006c00790074007400e4007600e4007400200066006f006e0074007400690065006e002000750070006f00740075007300740061002e> /ITA <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> /NOR <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> /SVE <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> /ENU <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> >> >> setdistillerparams << /HWResolution [2400 2400] /PageSize [612.000 792.000] >> setpagedevice