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The Canadian Champion, Friday, May 30, 2003-7 Milton's celbration regarding Boer War was a bit premature, 9OUR R EADERS WRITE but turned out to be justified utni ? t r<nn past issues of. Th1e Champion and other publication to pro- vide a window into Milton's past. Explanatory comment is sometinhes pro- vided to place the situation in context. June 1900 Milton, like many other Canadian towns and cities, had a somewhat premature cel- ebration last Thursday over the report that Pretoria was captured by the British troops. Though it turned out that the Transvaal capital had not actually been occupied by them, it was as good as captured and the rejoicing were justified. Upon receiving the news, a petition was circulated and signed by many citizens asking Mayor Deacon to proclaim a half holiday, which he did. At 1.30 p.m. a procession was formed opposite Town Hall. It was headed by three horsemen, Messrs. Richard Hemstreet, Sr., J.B. Lawrence and Wm. Moore. The appearance of the first named gen- tlemen on horseback astonished his neigh- bors, as he is 81 years of age, but he sat as tight as the younger men and managed his mount to perfection. The horsemen were followed by the band; next came No. 7 Company Lome Rifles, commanded by Lieut. Deacon; next bicycle riders of both sexes on decorated wheels; next the chil- dren of the public school (270) carrying flags, those of each department headed by their teacher; this part of the procession being particularly creditable and last a number of vehicles, one of which con- tained the mayor, reeve and town council- lors. After marching through the principle streets, the parade retumed to Town Hall and patriotic speeches were delivered from the band stand. The speakers were vigor- ously cheered and so were Lord Roberts and other British generals. The band played a number of selections on the march and from the stand. With Milton having so loyally celebrated the fall of Pretoria in advance, there was no demonstration on Tuesday when the offi- cial news of the capture was received. The next celebration will probably be on the conclusion of the war, and it's hoped that will be soon. There's a great demand for bricks at present, so great that at the Milton Brick and Terra Cotta Co. they're taken from the kilns almost red hot. The Toronto Terra Cotta Co. is tuming out, besides brick, a r Capsules great deal of omamental terra cotta work. Four lions, life size, are now ready for shipment. Two of them are to go to Berlin. (Kitchener) Jimmie Carson arrived here from Ireland as a youngster about 15 years ago. Later he worked on the C.P.R. here as a section man and still later traveled with Cool Burgess as a minstrel. Now he has bloomed out into a doctor - at least he assumes that title - travels with a concert company and sells an alleged cure-all at $1 per boule to suckers. A short time ago he pitched his tent at Homby and did a roaring trade, taking in, it's said, about $300 in a week. Jimmie is a glib talker with plenty of nerve, and a Homby man says that he impressed some of the poorer people so that they had unlimited faith in him - one paying him $15 for treatment and another $8.50. If this is correct, Jimmie has been run- ning a good deal of risk. Anyone may seli medicine by the boule, but the unlicensed practitioner who attempts to treat patients and charges them for it is liable to run afoul with the Medical Act. On Monday of last week, Jimmie descended on Milton, but his old acquaintances took no stock in his alleged degree in medicine, were not impressed by his silk hat and long hair and refused to be charmed. After two days of a frost, Jimmie folded bis tent and trekked to Kilbride where, it's reported, he has fared still worse and has departed already after some disagreeable expeiences. Fighting Joe Martin's govemment received a crushing defeat in the election in British Columbia. Though he was elected in Vancouver, he secured only eight seats out of a total of 38. (Parties were Martinites 8, Opposition 17, Conservative 7, Provincial Party 4, Independent 1, Labor 1.) (Joseph Martin was a grandson of Jasper Martin, who built the first mill in Milton.) This material is assembled on behalf of the Milton Historical Society by Jim Dills, who can be reached by e-mail at jdills@idirect.com. Using hypnosis, there are: •No Diets •No Drugs *No Shots •No Weigh-ins •No Supplements It is an all-natural method. You use your own mind for safe, sensible permanent weight loss! Dear Editor: Overthe past week, I've watched the news and cried as I found out about the horrid situation that hap- pened to a sweet 10-year-old girl - Holly Jones - and how the case about her deathb as unfolded. As I sat there on the couch, I couldn't help but wonder what ever happened to safety on our streets? I started to remember back to my hometown, when I was a litte girl in Saskatoon, and our neighbours back there. Everyone knew everyone who lived on our street, and there was- n't a neighbour that wouldn't say hello to you as you passed their bouse to and from school. My parents always knew what every neighbour was doing, and would watch them at times through our window as they were working around their bouse. Sometimes my father would even go down the street when he spotted another neighbour cutting his lawn and have a good chat. In tum, our neighbours would watch what we were doing, and sometimes I thought about how nosey people could be. Now, though, I feel that maybe because of those nosey neighbours, the streets in my old neighbourhood were probably 10 times safer than they are in our conmunities today. Today we hardly know our next- door neighbours, let alone the ones down the street. Today most people are so wrapped up in this fast- paced world we live in - working from moming until night, or busy doing other errands - that no one seems to have the time to even say hello to their neighbours when they're driving by or cutting their lawn. Maybe it's time for us parents 1 Girl asks people not to tangle up swings at E.W. Foster Dem Editor: now. It's hard to get them down. People are tangling up the swings at our school I wonder why people do mean things like that and we're very sad about it. Jemica Cmnfd It's not fair because all the swings can't be used Grade 1 student, E. W Foster School •Weight Loss •Stress Management 'Stop Smoking •Learning Acceleration 'Sales Mastery 'Pain Management Cali Now for your FREE Consultation Positive Changes Hypnosis Centres Stress Management Stop Smoking Alcohol Free 35 Main St., South, Olde Downtown Georgetown PositivcChaiigcs- (Two doors south of the TD Bank) . L (905) 877-2077 Ho (905) 877-2077 "Wl.errRtn~LeH~ppen' I 'I Milton Hleader says we need to get to know Time ~our neighbours to make streets safer 1 THE CANADIAN CHAMPION Losing 47 Lbs Put Me Back in Control! and adults in our communities to get back to basics. Now I don't expect you to just stand by your window and watch everything going on around your street, or to bother or spy on your neighbours unnecessarily. After all, we all have lives to lead and fami- lies and jobs to take care of. But maybe getting to know our neighbours better and helping them at times is something that will make a difference in our communi- ties. I believe if we know our neigh- bours on our streets we'll be able to spot strangers that much quicker. Don't think that this horrible criminal who killed Holly Jones didn't have that neighbourhood and street scanned beforehand and knew when most people were home and when others were away. This person also picked a good time to strike - at 6:30 p.m., when most people are either making their supper or are already sitting down to eat it. He knew exactly what he wanted and, unfortunately, poor Holly turned out to be the unex- pected and innocent victim in his whole plan. But if it wasn't her, it would have probably been another child, and now this horrible person is proba- bly in another neighbourhood plan- ning out their next move. He could be anywhere - maybe Toronto, maybe Mississauga or maybe even Cobourg, where already another young child was almost taken. Fortunately, she got away and ran to the nearest house for help. So how can we as adults and par- ents help? The best thing is for children to be taught at home and in schools about being street smart. But let's face it - we simply shouldn't leave our children to fend for them- selves. This person who killed Holly could be six feet tall and muscular and could overtake a small cild easily. Maybe it's time for us adults to take seminars on how to be more aware and alert of our surround- ings. Maybe we should ali help and get to know our neighbours and their children better so they wili be safer. You may say you're already doing that. If so, I thank you and congratulate you. We need more people like you in this world. Our Neighbourhood Watch pro- gram is one of the best things that was started, so let's keep it going in every neighbourhood and look out the window more often just to scan the street and make sure everything is in check. If everyone that lived on their street looked out at least once a day to see what was going on, that would be that many less chances for those creeps out there to make their move on the next innocent child, and it would certainly help the police as well. The police work their butts off to try to keep our streets safe, but they aren't supermen or superwomen. So by keeping an eye out ourselves in each community, we'll be help- ing them as well as our own chil- dren have safer streets to walk down and play on. You may ask who am 1 to be such an expert on this? I'm no expert - just an everyday concemed parent, citizen and neighbour that's look- ing out the window trying to help keep the streets safer. Barb Opszansk Miton