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At Crime Stoppers conference Independent, sister newspapers capture international honours
Wednesday August 20 2008
 
The Independent & Free Press was honoured with two media awards at the 29th annual Crime Stoppers International conference in Des Moines, Iowa for coverage provided to the Halton Crime Stoppers program.
Halton Hills’ local newspaper was informed Friday it had been recognized with the awards at the Crime Stoppers’ worldwide conference, competing against more than 1,000  papers from more than 30 countries.
“This is a big deal to take top honours in this competition,” said Tom Suddaby, chair of Halt-on’s Crime Stoppers program. “It’s truly world-class recognition.”
The Independent  & Free Press, took the award for “Best Newspaper Crime of the Week” for highlighting the theft of a bronze memorial marker. It had been installed at Rotary Park in Acton in memory of former Acton Citizen of the Year Max MacSween, who died after a brief battle with leukemia.
An August 15, 2007 story by editor Cynthia Gamble provided details of the theft and the subsequent donation of $500 by Halton Hills council to find the culprits who vandalized the Max MacSween Memorial Garden.
Mayor Rick Bonnette at the time said, “It’s unforturnate these morons with an IQ of less than road kill would do such a thing, not realizing the significance of the garden.”
A Crime Stoppers of Halton column in the following edition, detailed the police search for suspects.
The marker was recovered a few days later.
The Independent & Free Press along with its sister papers in Halton— The Milton Canadian Champion, Burlington Post and Oakville Beaver— also won the award for “Best Newspaper Special Report or Feature” for a story written by Milton reporter Stephanie Hounsell in Feb-ruary, 2007.
Hounsell’s story announced the appointment of Sgt. Gary Gold as the new co-ordinator of Crime Stoppers of Halton and detailed his desire for the organization to have a stronger rapport with high school students.
The winning submissions were judged in the category for communities with populations of between 400,001 and 750,000; Halton’s population is about 440,000.
Suddaby said he’s grateful for the strong media support Crime Stoppers of Halton has received.
“We would not be as effective without their (the media’s) support,” he said.
Plaques will be presented later this month to representatives of The Independent & Free Press and Milton Champion at Halton Regional Police headquarters in Oakville.