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Hornby blaze causes $50,000 damage Independent & Free Press named top newspaper The Independent & Free Press captured its second major newspaper award of the year Saturday night when it placed first place in the Ontario Community Newspapers Association general excellence category. The Independent & Free Press, which has a circulation of 21,200, won Class 5 for newspapers with a circulation between 12,500 and 24,999. A total of 18 newspapers were entered in the class. The Northumberland News placed second and Clarington This Week was third at the OCNA's 2005 awards ceremony held at the Toronto Airport Renaissance Hotel. According to the judges, The Independent & Free Press offered "well thought-out presentation, good newshole and consistently good layout throughout. Excellent use of colour by both editorial and advertising". The class was judged by an editor of a community paper in Calgary, a journalism professor at Miramichi College in New Brunswick and a community newspaper editor in southwestern Ontario. Earlier this year The Independent & Free Press won a Suburban Newspapers of America award for best special section for its Spring 2005 edition of Sideroads of Halton Hills. "This is a great achievement for the entire staff from advertising to editorial to composing," said Independent & Free Press publisher Ken Nugent. "It's always an honour to be recognized by our peers in the newspaper industry. "Our readers and advertisers in Georgetown and Acton deserve the best community newspaper possible," added Nugent. "It would have been easy to rest on our laurels knowing we had been nominated for this award but we chose to redesign the paper last month because we knew we could make a great paper even better." Former Independent & Free Press staff member Herb Garbutt placed second in the OCNA competition for best sports photo. A Milton firefighter carries a charred mattress out of a blazing home at Steeles Ave. and Hornby Rd. Monday morning. The home, which sustained $50,000 in damage, housed six employees from the Town and Country Abattoir meat processing plant on adjoining land. No one was injured in the blaze. Milton firefighters, who are designated first response to that area of Halton Hills, got the call just before 10 a.m. The fire started in a mattress in an upstairs bedroom and spread to other rooms and the roof. Cause of the fire remains under investigation. Photo by Graham Paine x