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OPINION With all the doom and gloom in the news today, you would think the world was on a fast track to Armageddon. Gas prices are at record highs, with speculation that a litre of the liquid gold will cost us a toonie in the not-too-distant future. Air pollution in Ontario is causing the prema- ture deaths of people in increasing numbers, according to a report by the Ontario Medical Association. Finally, a Statistics Canada survey released on Wednesday found that 16 per cent of us are obese and nearly one-in-three (32 per cent) are over- weight. One telling indicator of why obesity seem to plague our society is that almost 30 per cent of Canadians surveyed said they watched an average of 15 or more hours of television each week, while less than half of all respondents considered them- selves to be physically active. Which brings us to a really simple solution. If we could all adopt a mindset of taking a walk to any destination of say, less than two kilometres, and agree to avoid engine idling of any kind from drive-through to driveway we could signif- icantly reduce automobile emissions, a primary source of the smog that is killing us. By agreeing to park our vehicles and "walk the walk" at least some of the time, we could reduce our reliance on gasoline, improve our air quality and find ourselves becoming slimmer and trimmer for the effort. We all talk about wanting to be greener, but how many of us are prepared to make a real differ- ence by choosing a healthier, cleaner and more affordable method of travelling from point A to point B? Sure, walking takes a little longer, but it's an important first step to undoing some of the dam- age we've done to our world and to ourselves. Walk the walk Steve Nease LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Dear editor, On my way through Georgetown today while driving along Guelph Street to run some errands I could not help but notice a few dozen teenagers with placards in hand protesting curb side in front of our local police office. The posters read stop police bru- tality which of course sparked my interest. I do not know what particu- lar situation stimulated this type of protest to take place but a few ques- tions come to mind. The first one would be did all the protesters have all the facts? I ask this because as I drove by on two separate occasions today I could not help but notice all the laughter coming from this so-called informed crowd that were protesting what they believe to be such a serious issue. The second question that comes to mind would be how could these so- called adults to be simply make such a stupid statement regarding the so- called police brutality which would indicate that all police should be chas- tised. What is really sad here is that heaven forbid a real criminal breaks into their parents home one day and confronts the family with such vio- lence as a loaded revolver. What will you so-called adults do then? Call the local pizza delivery guy for protection or maybe do something as bizarre as call the police to save your behinds. I, for one, personally know of offi- cers through the years who have put their lives on the lines to protect the public and have not asked for any- thing in return. Your protest may be based on a particular incident but you have no right to place all the brave officers of our fine community into one convenient nut shell. Before anyone starts screaming about our rights to freedom of speech, which I believe in, let us not abuse that privilege with todays display that came across with the same display of laughter as a local charity car wash. To think that these ill-informed giggling teenagers that I saw today represent the future of our communi- ty and country is truly a nightmare within itself, which is the real crime waiting to happen. Craig Gray, Georgetown Adult unimpressed with youth protest Letters to the editor must include an address and daytime telephone number. Unsigned letters will not be published. Letters should not exceed 200 words and may be edited for content and/or length. E-mail: jmcghie@independentfreepress.com Mail or drop off: Independent & Free Press, 280 Guelph St., Unit 29, Georgetown, ON., L7G 4B1 Publisher Ken Nugent Advertising director Steve Foreman (sforeman@independentfreepress.com) Retail advertising manager Cindi Campbell (ccampbell@independentfreepress.com) Managing editor John McGhie (jmcghie@independentfreepress.com) Distribution manager Nancy Geissler (distribution@independentfreepress.com) ADVERTISING Advertising co-ordinator Jennifer Christie (jchristie@independentfreepress.com) Retail Sales: Jennifer Spencer (jspencer@independentfreepress.com) Brendan Louth (blouth@independentfreepress.com) Amy Sykes (features@independentfreepress.com) Andrea Lefebvre (alefebvre@independentfreepress.com) Brendon Stevenson (bstevenson@independentfreepress.com) Real estate: Sue Spizziri (realestate@independentfreepress.com) Classifieds: Kristie Pells (classified@independentfreepress.com) ACCOUNTING Rose Marie Gauthier, Michelle McEachern EDITORIAL Cynthia Gamble: News editor (cgamble@independentfreepress.com) Ted Brown: Photography (tbrown@independentfreepress.com) Lisa Tallyn: Staff writer (ltallyn@independentfreepress.com) Eamonn Maher: Staff writer/sports (emaher@independentfreepress.com) PRODUCTION: Mary Lou Foreman, Kevin Powell, Shelli Harrison, Dolores Black, Debbie MacDougall STAFF DIRECTORY Send us a letter! Phone: 905-873-0301 Fax: 905-873-0398www.independentfreepress.com Something bugging you? What do you think? Below are the results of our most recent online poll. For the current poll go to www.independentfreepress.com The downtown Georgetown Farmers' Market opens this Saturday. Do you visit the market on a regular basis? Yes (67%) No (33%) The Independent & Free Press is published Wednesday and Friday and is one of several Metroland Media Group Ltd. community newspapers. Editorial and advertising content of The Independent & Free Press is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. THE INDEPENDENT & FREE PRESS Noise pollution hampers good nights sleep Dear editor, So, Georgetown is going Green and summer is coming. The trouble is that, much as I would like to keep my bedroom window open at night, to save energy spent on air conditioning, the noise is too much. There are a number of cars in Georgetown which need to have loud thumping music and roaring exhausts in order to propel themselves around late at night (or any other time). I am sure many of you have been awoken in the early hours of the morn- ing by the raucous sound of these cars. Although there is a noise bylaw, the police have enough to do, without chas- ing noisy cars. So, if you know some- one with a noisy car, can you encour- age them to think of others during the night hours when the rest of us are try- ing to catch some sleep in the cool night air from our open windows. We can then help to ensure a better world for them when they grow up. Dee Cope, Georgetown Dear editor, I, like most people in town, are proud to take part in saving our envi- ronment, even in a small part. When the talk about GreenCart started I was also one of those who thought, Yea, right, more work for us. But I was wrong. Its very simple. When two weeks were up I was happy to see that by recycling my garbage had decreased by half. You will understand my surprise on garbage day recently that my bags had doubled over night. I opened these bags and found that most of the contents were Blue Box/GreenCart recyclables. There are some who feel that its a both- er I feel sorry for you. If you do not want to recycle, why do you feel the need to dump these bags in someone elses yard? Shame on you. Kirsten Simmons, Georgetown Reader: Take care of your own garbage 6 Acton/Georgetown, Friday, June 20, 2008