Ontario Community Newspapers

Georgetown Herald (Georgetown, ON), April 26, 1989, p. 6

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the HERALD Natives arent governing themselves Home Newspaper of Halton Hills Established A Division of Canadian Newspapers Company Limited 45 Guelph Street Georgetown 3Z6 Ontario DAVID A BEATTIE and General Manager BRIAN Editor Phone 8772201 DAN TAYLOR Advertising Manager Second Page THE HERALD Wednesday April 19811 Bigger and better If youve driven along the Ninth Line anytime in the past few months then youve caught a glimpse of whats in store for Hills the next few years Sales pavilions have sprung up on both sides of the road effectively signalling the beginning of the end of what those who grew up in Georgetown used to call Hungry Hollow Georgetown will double in size in the next five to 15 years and Acton will grow by almost per cent While the politi cians will struggle to help retain the small town at mosphere businesses throughout the town are gearing up for the onslaught of people Its with that growth in mind that the Herald has produc ed the 20page Business and Industrial Review accompa nying this weeks edition The review is packed with business success stories ranging from manufacturing to consulting financial services and restaurants Even recreational services such as the YMCA have grown well with the town and plan expansion programs in the future The edition alsofeatures messages from the three federal and three provincial party leaders acknowledging the growth the town will soon experience and the challenges ahead In the face of all this residential growth there are some businesses whove found it difficult to outlast the pressure of developers Mushrooms in Glen Williams for example will likely be the site of subdivision developments soon But Halton Hills will remain a residential community and as residents of Halton Hills you can use the informa tion in the review to learn more about the town you live in and take full advantage of what it has to offer Theres a new kid on this block Editors Notebook Brian MacLeod Herald Editor University of Toronto and he followed that up with two years in the Humber College journalism program as a direct entry student After a week and a half in which Ben has travelled to virtually all corners of the town Ben says he likes what he s seen in Halton Hills so far Some of you might have noticed a new face tearing around town snapping pictures and doing inter views on behalf of the Herald this week That new face is Ben who takes over from Donna Kell as the education police and fire reporter here at the Herald Donna is now covering the local political scene at the town and Regional council chambers Ben began last Monday getting his feet wet Immediately by help ing out on our progress edition which accompanies this weeks Ben now lives in Toronto but Das scanning the papers to find a place to call borne in Halton Hills Ha brings a wealth of education in the Journalism field to the Herald Ben holds an honors bachelor of efts degree in political science and economics from the Were you one of the thousands of people seen roving up and down the aisles of POWERS giant garage sale at the town public works building on Trafalgar Road Satur If you were you likely brought home a bundle at a miser s price POWER the group fighting the proposed landfill site at the Ac ton quarry was offering some dan deals Record albums were go ing for five cents paperback books for one cent and hardcovers for five cents A box of old National Geographic magazines just perfect for the doctors office for just 50 cents Televisions went for ten bucks and even an old dishwasher was tagged at near the end of the day Having passed up that deal Im not sure if I want to know if the dishwasher actually works Regardless of the price POWER added another to its coffers to help in the fight against the land fill site Even POWER members were stunned at the turnout On Saturday at least those peo ple whove been struggling fighting to keep the fight against the dump alive got a great financial and moral boost from the rest of Halton Hills Queens Park Derek Nelson New StfVICI Over the past few years there has been a lot of talk about native selfgovernment This is usually defined as having Indians limit and Metis run their own affairs How far from reality that is in practice was shown during a legislative committee discussion with AttorneyGenera Ian Scott who is also responsible for native affairs The topic of justices of the peace came up and the difficulties of get ting more natives into the job Four full time and 12 part time native JPs have been appointed of which two have resigned and two are on hold Part time essentially handle paper from issuing a summons or search warrant to swearing af Full time also conduct bail hearings and try offences under provincial law such as the Highway Traffic Act Scott made the following com ments The practical difficulty is that it requires the selection of people who are prepared to play a role in the administration of justice in the community and who are highly trained may have noted for exam pie that in Manitoba my col league Roland established a system on reserves in Manitoba Now an inquiry is going around where the are saying they have been signing all these documents but do not know what have been signing That is not anybodys fault It simply illustrates that if we have a full time trial JP system or a part time signing system it is going to require careful selection of people and a very high degree of training I attended the swearing in of a justice of the peace a year or so after I had been in office and in the last few months she resigned I think frankly it was a lonely very taxing life for her It is a very dif ficult thing LIVE IN The essence of the part time signingJPs by and large is that they should live in the com munities they are going to serve The purpose of that is because you want them there precisely against the day when the court cannot get there There is also the problem for some of the applicants that the other kinds of jobs a part time can have are restrained There is some real question whether a part time can be a member of the band council for reasons What we are saying to many people is that certain ties have to be cut if you are going to perform this function are no longer en titled to work for municipalities and to perform other kinds of jobs where the danger of conflictof interest is real Particularly since the Charter of Rights was proclaimed what a JP does has become much more important than it was For exam pie when I began to practice law a JP was perceived precisely as a kind of remand machine or signer It is not easy work and it is work that requires a certain kind of isolation not isolation but sort of intellectual isolation I mean we have one who has resigned who had some very serious difficulties with the job and they were not all difficulties of her own making They were often difficulties as a result of pressures that the community placed on her The public environment has to be developed One of the classic examples I can give you does not relate to a JP but relates to a community in which we had established a native constable program and the native constable said he was delighted to be in the program but he did not want to serve in the native com He preferred to serve in the adjacent white community I do not say that to be critical of him I simply observe that there are real pressures that have to be dealt with as we move along with Scotts comments provoke a few questions Can there be genuine native self government so long as natives are compelled to obey and enforce non native laws Does assimilation of natives into the justice system the form of JPs constables or whatever real ly square with the separatist rhetoric that shrouds the whole native selfgovernment con cepf LETTERS Town should pay reader says Dear Sir This is in reply to an editorial in the Georgetown Independent of April entitled Metcalfe Decision I found the tone and content of the editorial to be biased and total ly lacking in real facts Contrary to the inference in many cases we pay much in excess of and further we are NOT greedily stan ding in line for a handout of tax dollars The town erred when it did not take advice about landfill risks in certain areas and I believe even at that time landfill regulations were in place and the town chose to ignore some of them For instance swimming pools were allowed to be added to unstable slopes where uncompacted fill had already been added I personally spoke to Mr Norm Elliott and found him to be rude and insensitive not on anyway car ing about the heavy burden he has placed on our family and others with the imposition of the payment This would be paid by us before the town pays 50 per cent of the per cent balance In many cases the town you the taxpayers will pay little or nothing As a senior citizen I resent the implication of the Independents editorial I found it incomplete in accurate bias and full of half truths For instance it could amount for us personally to have to pay or upward of that amount I must say that some councillors have been extremely sympathetic for instance Mr Al Cook Mrs Marilyn Serjeantson amongst others I found their approach car ing and intelligent and realize that they have researched the whole The excuses given for not sup porting us adequately and not giv ing us what we are fully due are very weak lam also sure the coun cil has no intention of helping peo ple in Acton who say they are hav ing difficulty in paying for their houses also the statement that one house on the ravine sold for is simply inaccurate The asking price was lower and the home was not on the ravine but across the street from it incident tally on our street The article that the Independent wrote gives the impression that the taxpayers are paying for the towns error when in fact we the residents who have had the land slippage problems have been ask ed to pay the whole shot of the per cent balance in most instances In summary the town did allow swimming pools to be placed on unstable ground ignored warnings about landfill regulations and soli was not compacted In these respects I feel that the town is responsible I may be over years old but I wasnt born yesterday Pat Ross Irwin Cms resident

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