Milton Walk of Fame

Way back in 2005 we started planning the 150th anniversary celebrations for Milton. Hours and hours and hours of planning went into making this year one to remember. Lots of ideas were thrown around…thrown out…and made into a reality.

Milly the Millstone was one of those concepts that turned into reality. Through many of our discussions and meetings, an idea was put out there to honour and acknowledge the best of the best in Milton and create a Milton Walk of Fame.

The Town Hall is getting a new addition and what better place to put this Walk of Fame is at Town Hall. Plans are being made to build in a Walk of Fame section of the new addition, scheduled to be completed sometime in 2008.

How do we come up with our first list of inductees? We can go back to the hours and hours (and did I mention hours?) of planning again. Lots of help came from John Challinor and Jim Dills who came up with a preliminary list of candidates for the WOF.

Long story short the names are ready to be announced. We hope that there will be a lot of interest generated by Milton residents, new and long time, and I have a feeling there will be a lot of “AH HAAAA’s” from many people when they realize “THEY lived in Milton?”

The 150th group made their presentation last night to council and we’ll be announcing the list very soon. We were quite impressed with those who made the inaugural list and those that didnt make it THIS time, will get in the future.

Speaking of the council meeting there was quite a bit of discussion about the Trans Canada Power Plant, whos representatives made a information presentation to council. The power plant is located in Halton Hills, and Milton is what is called a “commenting” municipality.

Basically, we have a right to say things, they just dont have to listen to us really.

Rick started off the night with an emotional accounting of what happened to his family home recently and he publicly wanted to thank all members of the Milton Fire Department for their quick response and hard work and doing their best to try to save his father.

They talked about the Thompson Road reconstruction and lane widening (north of Derry to south of Main Street) and its apparent time frames. The underpass at the train line should be ready to go by the time James Snow Parkway is ready to go. Ya, me too. Im not holding my breath on that one ;).

So the list of inductees will be up soon. We at the 150th anniversary master committee will be contacting the winners and their family representatives to invite them to our more formal announcement on Canada Day at the Milton Fairgrounds.

We have a great day we are planning as well, so if you were ever to go to a Canada Day celebrations in Milton… its this year.

Ward One Councillor Rick Day’s Father Killed In Fire

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Day family.

Man dies in fire days after wife’s death

By Sharon Boase
The Hamilton Spectator(Mar 5, 2007)

A prominent Milton businessman died in a devastating house fire early Saturday that reduced the home he and his late wife had lovingly built to a few walls, rubble and ash.

Bertram (Bert) Day, 88, was discovered dead in the hallway of his home on Steeles Avenue near Tremaine Road after fire crews managed to beat back flames that destroyed the antique-filled home.

Day, the father of longtime Milton Councillor Rick Day, had just attended a function last week honouring his wife, Marguerite, who died Feb. 18 from pneumonia and complications from Alzheimer’s disease.

Day said that because his father suffered from short-term memory loss, he kept asking after his wife’s death, “Where’s Marguerite?”

“Nature played a cruel trick on my father,” Day said. “He went through the shock of hearing about mom’s death over and over.

“We think he may have stayed in the house looking for my mother.”

Because of his mother’s condition, the home had been “Alzheimer’s proofed” as well as child proofed given that one of the caregivers looking after the couple has two small children, Rick Day said.

“It’s just a mystery how the fire could have started,” he said in an interview yesterday. “The fire marshal is working on it but, so far, it’s a mystery to them too. … There wasn’t a match in the house.”

Day, who represents Ward 1, said there were 16 working smoke detectors. There were no smokers anywhere near the house, no working fireplaces, no natural gas or propane, no jerry cans of gasoline, no car in the garage, no fuses, no oil lamps or space heaters.
Firefighters, who were alerted just after 4 a.m. Saturday, risked their lives to search for Day, said Milton Fire Chief Larry Brassard.

But after entering the home, they were pushed back by a wall of flames.
Some 40 firefighters worked in extreme cold and strong winds, bringing the fire under control in about two hours, Brassard said.

Day was thankful that the regular caregiver with two young children was away. The woman looking after his father tried to save him, but was beaten back by flames.

When she discovered that the phone lines were down from the fire, she ran barefoot to the closest neighbour.

Although the Ontario Fire Marshal’s office is investigating, Halton regional police Staff Sergeant Jeff Siemon said there was nothing to indicate the fire was suspicious.

Bert and Marguerite both became interested in antiques after building the Mohawk Inn in Campbellville, which they operated for many years. They designed and built the home themselves, with loving attention to detail. They filled it with items they found at auctions, all of which Bert refinished himself.

“That house was like the story of their lives,” said Day’s wife, Karen. “They built beautiful collections of Canadiana, glass and pine furniture. That house was like a friend to us because it was so full of all these lovely, magical things.”

Bert worked for army intelligence during the Second World War, tracking solar-powered, airborne bombs launched from Tokyo and carried to Western Canada and the U.S. via jet stream, Day said. He studied forestry engineering at the University of Toronto, working as a professor, forester and in mining and timber.

Marguerite, who died a month before her 87th birthday, studied household science and maths at U of T before marrying Bert in 1941.

The Days are survived by three children and several grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at a later date.

By Election in Milton

This past Monday, Milton Town Council decided that it would be better to have a by election for the vacant position in Ward 2. This means that some Milton residents will be going back to the polls, probably in June. The decision has to be ratified by council in March and the nomination date will follow shortly after that.

In case you haven’t heard, one of the council positions for Ward 2 was deemed vacant when Father Mark Curtis was appointed to the Justice of the Peace recently, which effectively ended his political career as town councillor. He was appointed by provincial Attorney General Michael Bryant and his position started immediately. Good luck Father Mark!

As I mentioned before in my last entry and to a number of people who emailed me, I wont be running for that position. I honestly feel that a person who represents a ward should understand that area and its concerns. While many of the issues we face on daily basis are similar, downtown Milton is very unique and it will take an experience hand, one who had or has lived there for many years, to do the job. While I am very flattered at being considered, I am not going to seek any elected office for Ward 2.

I am however very excited to see there are a number of others who will be vying for the council seat. And the names continue to pop up.

The front runner position HAS to go to former Ward 4 town councillor John Challinor, who grew up in that area and represented ward 2 for the years of 1991 and 1997. He has already thrown his hat into the race to fill the vacancy and you can find out more about him www.johnchallinor.ca

Other names being bandied about are Ron Furik, who lost to Colin Best for Regional Councillor Wards 2 & 4 by close to 20% of the vote back in November. Apparently hes announced already but if you go to his website the home page just says Announcement Coming and it hasn’t been updated since Feb 20th, so there is a bit of confusion to say the least.

Peter Haight, who came in third place by close to 600 votes is also another possibility but nothing official as his campaign site hasn’t been updated since the November election.

And after the council meeting on Monday, former ward one candidate (you might remember his name) Greg Nelson has decided again to run for council. He had lived in Ward 2 for sometime but in the last election ran in ward one against yours truly, Brian Penman and Rick Day. While he lived in ward 2 he ran in our ward because he “ran here in 2003 and had gotten to know a lot of the residents.” He ran in 2003 and 2006 running in third and fourth place respectively.

In that same Champion article, he said “its not about geography…its going to be an election of who can come up with ideas.”

I certainly hope that the candidates have already come up with these ideas, before deciding to run for council.

As it stands right now, it looks to be that John Challinor is definitely the front runner to replace Father Mark. Close behind him would be Ron Furik and Peter Haight.

This will make the summer a lot more interesting.