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OPINION Its the end of another school year and excited chil- dren and thankful teens will be looking ahead to a summer filled with fun. However, as a cautionary note to parents, make sure you know where your teen is headed when they leave the house for an end-of-year party. If necessary, give that all-important lecture to your son or daughter about the need to play safe when attending a grad or prom party. All too often, great parties are marred by great tragedy. Someone drank too much and got behind the wheel of a car. Someone got angry and a fight ensued. Someone decided it would be humorous to trash a house. Someone doesnt make it home alive. Halton Regional Police is taking part in a province- wide Safe Prom Campaign that focuses on drivers and their passengers getting home safely after celebrating. Throughout this week, Halton will have officers running RIDE spotchecks across the region. Dont think for one minute that you can dodge the police by taking backroads. Spotchecks will be located in both rural and high-traffic areas. Halton schools have been notified in advance of the campaign and the police are hoping that getting the message out will provide the greatest amount of deterrence. Parents or guardians might want to ask their teen who the designated driver is for the group and make sure their child has enough money for a cab ride home if not, get them to call you, no matter the time of night. Halton Police is also reminding everyone that impaired driving is a crime in progress. Use your cell- phone to call 911 if you know or suspect a driver is impaired. By doing so you might be saving a life. Graduation and prom parties are all about celebrat- ing the past, present and future. We hope, as mem- bers of the media, that we do not have to write about a bright teen with a promising future who never made it home. Make it a safe prom Steve Nease LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Dear editor, We are puzzled by regional coun- cils recent rejection of the Keswick Sutherland School proposal. Why is the majority of council opposing an application which has been thoroughly studied by experts and thoroughly reviewed and recom- mended by the Regions own staff, when no objective studies have been presented to justify that opposition? As Councillor John Taylor pointed out, council had not received a coherent, logical, professional planning opinion supporting the residents who are opposed. Why is council willing to put itself and its staff in an expensive and embarrassing position at the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB)? Not only will the Region need to hire planners and lawyers to fight the recommendations of their own staff, but they will also have to pay their staff salaries while that staff testifies against the Regions decision. They will need to hire their own independent experts to prepare another set of studies that refute the findings supported by their own staff. When the Region loses at the OMB, they may also have to pay the appli- cants costs. Why has council not sought solu- tions to resolve differences between the applicant and objectors? For example, if there continues to be concerns about well water, the Region could reconcile those differences by requiring the applicant to post a letter of credit to guarantee the water. Why is council turning down a pro- posal that is better than the current permitted use? We believe that a pri- vate school will enhance our commu- nity and increase municipal tax rev- enues. Regrettably, however, we will not be puzzled when the Region again increases our taxes. Kent and Lois McClure, Georgetown Councils decision on school raises questions 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 When it comes to providing overall public ser- vices, how would you rate the Town of Halton Hills' performance? Excellent (17%) Adequate (50%) Poor (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 6 Independent & Free Press, Wednesday, June 25, 2008 Dear editor, Re: Keswick Sutherland proposal. In regards to the school, I have been disappointed with councils decisions, but especially during the region meet- ing. I am in favour of the school and feel councillors have been unfair with their decisions. But aside from that, I feel that Mayor Rick Bonnette, whom I voted for, spoke out of desperation to support his previous votes. I am confused with his comment he is concerned the applicants would pos- sibly come back to the Town for expansion to add a cafeteria because where are the kids going to keep their lunches? and where are 150 kids going to eat their lunch?. Well, where do kids at public schools keep their lunches and where do they eat? I know our sons keep their lunch in their backpacks and eat lunch at their desk as I presume is the practice at most schools. Why would he think this school would be any different? Another comment raised was (to justify voting against planning staff) if thats the case, why bother having councillors, just let the staff do it all. I wish, in this case, we could, as I am not impressed with the rationale used by the councillors. The staff, however, have logically approved the proposal as ALL requirements have been met. What it appears to have come down to is personal opinion. The neighbours around us sure give enough of that; both negative and positive. Our coun- cil should not be biased. I applaud the councillors, specifical- ly John Taylor, who supported and saw the merit of this application, and although it is a private school, it will benefit the community. I would prefer my kids to have 15 in a class rather than 31. I didnt hear any of those opposed talk about that issue. But I guess thats just my opinion and yes, I am biased to my childrens education. K. Parsons, Ballinafad Dear editor, Canada Day is almost upon us again and I would like to remind everyone who flies a Canadian flag to check on its condition. Too often I see torn and faded flags on homes, businesses, and gov- ernment buildings. A flag exposed to the elements does not look good for very long and needs to be repaired or replaced frequently. It should look crisp and clean with deep vibrant colour. Philip Taylor, Acton Replace worn flags Mayor showed desperation in school vote