THE NEW TANNER THURSDAY, MAY 6, 2010 20 "Your Hometown REALTOR®" Call me for a Complimentary Home Valuation KATE BANKS Sales Representative, B.A. www.BANKonBANKS.ca Bus: 519-853-8467 Dir: 416-997-4161 Fax: 905-877-07021 Halton Hills Drive, Halton Hills, ON L7G 5G2 Earth Week Success On Saturday April 17th, and Thursday April 22nd, residents, schools, and businesses took to the streets, schoolyards, parks, rural areas, open spaces, ditches, ravines and any place they could find to pick up litter. Thank you to the thousands of volunteers who pitched in to make our clean up such a success. Everyone's hard work reflects the commitment of our community in keeping the Town of Halton Hills clean, and we had 100% participation from our schools. We collected over 7 tonnes of garbage, 2 tandem loads of tires, 1 tandem load of metal, and 1 tandem load of wood and various other objects. On Saturday April 24, the Town of Halton Hills held its 10th Annual Earth Day event at the Robert C. Austin Operations Centre, and what a success it was! We sold over 1000 trees, 200 cubic yards of compost was available and collected 690 lbs in food donations and $1110.92 in monetary funds, which we will split equally, between the Acton and Georgetown food banks. In addition, residents who visited the Environmental Displays also donated to our local food banks, providing a grand total of 970 lbs in food and $1200 in donations. The Town of Halton Hills also wishes to thank the community groups who volunteered their time at the Environmental Displays in the Georgetown Marketplace and Devereaux House and made these events so successful. The success of this event would not have been possible without the generous support from our many community sponsors, including, Tim Horton's, Superior Glove, McDonalds, Metro Supermarket, Great Canadian Superstore, Union Gas and the Region of Halton. Are you prepared for an emergency? This week, May 2-10, 2010, is Emergency Pre- paredness (EP) Week, a Canada-wide, joint fed- eral-provincial-territorial, initiative to raise aware- ness of individual and family preparedness. Dur- ing EP Week, residents are encouraged to identify and learn about risks in their communities and how they can protect themselves. "Preparing for an emer- gency is a responsibility we all share," said Hal- ton Regional Chair Gary Carr. "You can't predict an emergency, but you can prepare for one. We are pleased to announce today the participation of Halton Region in the Emergency Preparedness Challenge. By taking a few simple steps, you can be better prepared." The Challenge is a short five question quiz on emergency prepared- ness. Halton residents are encouraged to take the Emergency Pre- paredness Challenge to increase their aware- ness and understanding of emergency prepared- ness. Those taking the Challenge will go to www.ontario.ca/bepre- pared where they will take a short emergency preparedness quiz. Indi- viduals who successfully complete the quiz will be eligible to win prizes. The Challenge closes May 31, 2010 at 11:59 EDT. "As first-responders, police are trained and equipped to come to the public's aid during any emergency," said Gary Crowell, Chief of Police, Halton Regional Po- lice Service. "However, people also need to do their part by ensuring they have sufficient water, food, medicine and other supplies on hand to sur- vive the first 72 hours of a large-scale crisis or natural disaster. The best way to do this is to have a family emergency plan, and three-day emergency kit prepared." Representatives from Halton Region, the Hal- ton Regiona l Po l ice Service and the City of Burlington, the Town of Halton Hills, the Town of Milton and the Town of Oakville meet regularly to plan for emergencies and ensure a coordinated response. For more in- formation about Halton's Emergency Management Program and to download or order Halton's Personal Emergency Preparedness Guide, visit www.halton. ca/beprepared, dial 311 or 905-825-6000, Toll free 1-866-442-5866 or TTY 905-827-9833. Check your local mu- nicipali t ies for more information and Emer- gency Preparedness Week events. The Regional Municipal- ity of Halton serves more than 450,000 residents in the City of Burlington, the Town of Halton Hills, the Town of Milton, and the Town of Oakville. Hal- ton Region is committed to meeting the needs of its residents through the delivery of cost-effect- ive, quality programs and services, including water and wastewater; Region- al roads and planning; emergency medical servi- ces; waste management; public health; Ontario Works (formerly social as- sistance); children's and seniors' services; social/ non-profit housing; herit- age programs; emergency management and econom- ic development. For more information, dial 311 or visit Halton Region's web- site at www.halton.ca. Seatbelt compliance The annual province-wide Spring Seat Belt Campaign, which ran from April 14 to 24, showed police there are still a few who feel the law does not apply to them. This year to date, the Hal- ton Regional Police Service can attribute one death to the lack of seat belt use. In 2009, the lack of a seat belt was a contributing factor in five fatalities on local roadways. "Wearing a seat belt in Ontario has been mandatory since 1976," said Chief Gary Crowell. "Given their effect- iveness in helping prevent injury and death, it is incon- ceivable that some people are still not wearing them." To drive the point home, police remind area drivers that a young girl survived a serious collision in March, because she was buckled in a properly installed child car seat. Prior to the start of the seat belt campaign, vol- unteers from the Service's Communities on Phone Pa- trol (COPP) in Burlington were employed to gauge the compliance rate of wearing seatbelts in the city. They found that 97.5 per cent of the drivers and passengers observed were wearing their seat belts. They also noted the rate for people not using a cellular telephone while driving was as high as 99 per cent. Distr ict One (Mil ton Georgetown, Halton Hills, Acton) Seat belt safety cam- paign results: 101 Seatbelt warnings 370 Provincial Offence No- tices issued 75 Child Seat Warnings 14 Child Seat Provincial Offence Notices Issued The Halton Regional Police Service reminds members of the public to be diligent in wearing their seat belts, as time after time they have been proven to save lives. With this in mind, par- ents should be aware that a properly installed child re- straint device reduces a child's risk of injury in a collision by as much as 75 per cent. In Ontario, seat belt non- compliance carries a fine of $235 and two demerit points. Before you se t your vehicle in motion - hang up and buckle up. Scouts plant trees On Saturday, Halton Re- gion in partnership with Conservation Halton and local Halton Scouts, raised environmental awareness and enhanced the land- scaping of the Halton Waste Management Site (HWMS) by participating in an annual tree planting event. Approximately 40 Scouts planted 100 trees at the landfill site located in Milton. "When i t comes to making a difference for the environment, change is often a result of the small steps we take," said Halton Regional Chair, Gary Carr. "I thank Con- servat ion Hal ton for providing trees and edu- cational assistance and all of the Halton Scouts for taking small but important steps towards protecting and preserving the en- vironment." Chair Carr, Conserva- tion Halton Chair, Brian Penman and Conservation Halton CAO, Ken Phil- lips, took part in a brief opening ceremony at the event. Halton area Scouts and many of their leaders and parents also partici- pated in the tree planting event with trees provided by Conservation Halton. "Conservation Hal- ton is delighted to once again partner with Halton Region and the Halton Scouts in this important initiative to restore the region's landfill site," said Conservation Hal- ton Chair Brian Penman. "These programs are very important, as the trees planted help our environ- ment by improving air and water quality, as well as increasing the forest cover in our watershed." The Scout tree planting event is part of Halton Re- gion's ongoing tree planting and maintenance program at the Halton Waste Manage- ment Site. Over 1,500 trees have been planted on the Site since it opened in 1992, which is an example of the sound environmental prac- tices applied at the HWMS operations. Other practices include collecting rainwater from building roofs for re- use on site for tasks such as garden watering and wash- ing equipment and utilizing over 35,000 passenger car tires in the asphalt used to pave the site roads. For more information please contact Halton Re- gion by dialing 311 or 905-825-6000. ANOTHER LEAF ON THE WALL Pauline Barlow placed another leaf on the Look- ing to the Future Wall at the Acton Seniors Cen- tre. The leaf is on the Barlow Branch, and is in memory of Pauline's sister-in-law Midge, who lived in Australia. Pau- line's daughter Pat is holding the ladder. - Julie Conroy photo