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THE HERALD Wednesday June 5 Page 11 Opinion Development opposition undertaken in good faith Feelings persist that attempts by three local residents to hold up plans to reconstruct Maple Avenue in the area of Kingsmill Development in Georgetown have not been done in good faith The three residents in question are John Minns Ashley Ransom and Paul Robinson Because of concerns raised by these in in April over the Town proposed reconstruction design for Maple Avenue Town Engineers have had to back track and reevaluate the design To date the Town has yet to make public what changes will be made to the design to address the individuals concerns Two of the main concerns rais by Mr Minns Mr Ransom and Mr Robinson centre on two abandoned landfill sites located in proximity to the planned road reconstruction and the water drainage system that will accompany the project Feelings that the concerns have been raised in bad faith stem from the fact none of the three individuals live close to the project site As well the feeling is he ex istence of two dormant landfills in the area is irrelevant because there is a ravine separating Maple Avenue and the abandoned landfills Finally the feeling is these in dividuals are anti development and as such will go to great lengths to stop a large scale development project Note the Kingsmill development project can t go ahead until the Maple Avenue road reconstruction issue is resolved The Kingsmill development project is compns of 162 townhouses However given the facts there is no question the residents motives have been sincere The Herald has obtained a copy of a letter sent to the Town con used for the Maple Avenue project from the pro vince s Ministry of Natural Resources indicating the original design proposal fails to adequate ly address all relevant issues The letter is dated May For instance in the let it is pointed out the Towns report on the project does not in elude a description of how the storm water outfall will be con As well the letters author MNR Cambridge District Manager Craig Selby writes the Town s report doesn adequate ly reflect the Ministry fisheries objectives Both of these issues are included as part of the con raised by Mr Minns Mr Ransom and Mr Robinson The seventy of these concerns is represented in the time it is taking the Town to make the necessary changes in the report to satisfy the s concerns When the three individuals raised their concerns in Town staff predicted it would take two to three weeks to resolve the problems The two to three weeks have now turned into more than a month and still no revised report has made public Assuming Town staff t wasting their time more work than originally anticipated has been required to address the con cerns raised by Mr Minns Mr Ransom and Mr Robinson Instead of being written off as trouble makers these three in should be com plimented for taking steps to en sure the development and road reconstruction is done in an environmentally friendly way Peoples Forum Turner responds to his critics Letter to the Editor Tins letter is filed with the Herald in to one published from several of your readers which was addressed to me Dcir Constituents I certainly welcome the portunity to debate some s big issues and thank anybody who wants to join the search for solutions whether they support me personally or not Because I take on this job to be a career politician sear ching for potential future votes is about the last thing I worry about So save the threat Local supporters of the Reform Party may want me looking over my shoulder for the next two years but it s not going to happen Thinking back now over my time as an MP I would hive done nothing differently The Town Hall meetings cable TV shows newsletters newspaper columns coupons gatherings all of it would be the same It s ironic when some people say I consult with citizens too much that others accuse me of not listening Can anybody be an MP and meet everybody s expectations Ob not To address your specific points Yes the GST money is going to reduce the deficit not to be spent on some new program No income taxes won t fall until the deficit comes down likely in two years or so I did not say pension cheques or family allowance benefits should fall Rather I suggested most people would like to see government spending frozen for a while Politicians on government planes I have never even seen a government plane Me and Michael Wilson and just about everybody else flies commercial airlines We fly when we have to and certainly not for fun Families fly at their own ex You re right most people didn want the GST But they do want Camda to get out of debt without getting social programs or taxing corporations out of the country Plush over staffed over supplied MPs offices with items never used Hey come to Ottawa and show me where they are I could use more Sure foreign aid could be cut back But don t forget we have the second highest standard of living on earth t there something moral about helping the people in say Bangladesh Besides most foreign aid money is spent in Canada buying food to send Cut the number of MPs in half But I thought Canadians wanted more represenation of people not less Could I do my job better if I also represented all of Is that what people in Georgetown want By all means trje federal government all governments should always buy Canadian first within reason MPs pensions After six MPs qualify for a pension but do not collect anv until they resign or are But the average MP lasts years and collects nothing Mv position is that MPs can have pension plan they want as long as they pay for the whole thing That was my recommendation to the government The government that spends monev on a program should be the one that taxes to support it absolutely that s a major belief of mine and one which has been in this newspaper many times I glad agree with mv attempts to get a Family Tax Return to recognize volunteers and reform institu like the Senate Let get together to talk about these things at your convenience For the last three years I been try to get people more involved in the political system because that s our best guarantee that common sense ill defeat par Looking forward lo our meeting Sincerely Garth Turner MP Peel The plus side of government Dear Editor It is easy to become negative when writing about government Different viewpoints look at the plus side 1 Think how nice it would be if you were 76 years old and were paid for an odd job for the government I refer to Jacques Must be in like eh Think how nice it would be to travel in Canada at no expense to one s self The airline industry would probably not survive without the 2 million our busy MP spent on Canadian flights Or the million on trips to other countries One thinks it may be possible for the MP s to have their own airline similar to having their own hospital restaurant etc etc Might even Town residents thanked Dear Editor I would like to take this op portunity to thank the residents of Hills for major contribution towards the Great Cinadiin Participation Chilknge held last her 11 people participikd in 1 minuites of continuous icliuty on Wednesday 2 then took the time to in their to the Hotline this represents per cent of our residents The ity of ton though they could beat us this year but they came in short with only per tent of their popula tionptrticipating 1 would also like make a thank you to two hard working students at Georgetown District High School Nitalie Andrei assisted with the Challenge this year as part of their 1 1 School Without their unending en thusiasm and dedication this div would not hue been as sue or is much fun Wo encourage everyone to con doing throughout the year or jusl to keep active Remember your body should be your most valued resource Thanks again Hilton Hills and we look to your phone calls Sincerely Miethig Supervisor of ProgramsSpctia Events Hills Recreation and Parks Department be able to spend enough to let the airlines make a profit as per theories Think how nice it would be not to be subject to police in and have someone else spend around for the advice of a lawyer This is Bill What a good idea to put yourself above the law officially Look at all those lucky people hired for the GST I would think they would wear the pins given them with pride The great screw you tax will certainly help pay the government 5 Think how lucky the people are who lend money to govern They must be laughing all thewa to the bank 6 Think how lucky you are to be able to let the governments decide how much money they will allow you to keep and think how lucky you are having paid over of your income on tax to be taxed on beer wines cigarettes at somewhere around another Robin Hood and his merry men were not in the same league as our fearless politicians I thought slavery was abolished Sincerely John Shadbolt Libertarian Party Box 75 Acton Ont Great graduation Dear Editor would like to comment as a parent on the wonderful Grad Formal held on Saturday May at Georgetown District High School I had the opportunity to have a sneak preview pnor to the dance The huge amount of effort was very evident The theme was Putting on the and they certainly did The entire place lobby and the huge cafeteria had been transformed into a different world with fountains flowers draped walls floor to ceiling backdrops and a huge chandelier Hundreds of hours had gone into this creation Responsible for this transfor was a group of dedicated teachers Mr Sherlock P Bodig K Cosgrove K Bowman D Masters Bernard W P Wren B Irvine and many students The loved it Many schools their for mals outside of the school and students pay up to a duple for this opportunity The i provides a huge room but no uni que atmosphere The students then proceed to rent hotel rooms for the drunk The dance is secondary the students stay the rooms Luckily for the Georgetown students and parents the school provides a fantastic set ting at a very nominal fee 30 a couple The students can have their dinner at pie restaurant of their choice often in Toronto by limo and then the stay at the dance There is no drinking at the dance certainly not with Mr Sherlock in charge This year some wonderful parents hosted parties after the dance was over The students handed over their keys to the hosts and were able to party through the night and camp out overnight I feel we are extremely for tunate that our kids can have a fabulous fun filled Grad formal in a safe environment Georgetown is fortunate to have a staff who care enough to put in the hard work required to pro duce such a great grad Thank you wonderful teachers Robinson Georgetown Busing concerns To the Editor The Halton Board of Education expects a four year old in kindergarten to walk up to l 6 km lone mile to school a seven year old in Grade 3 to walk up to 3 km two miles to school and a thirteen yearold Grade to walk up to 4 km three miles to school As a parent how comfortable would you feel with your child having to walk any of these long distances The Glen Abbey Committee Parents Concerned About Bus ing believe that these distances as outlined by the Board of Education transportation policy are not acceptable No matter how safe a route might appear to be to expect a child to walk these distances is seen as in appropriate and as exposing children to situations where poor decisions on their part could put theirsafetv in jeopardy The Halton Separate and the Peel Board s of Education have addressed these concerns and have put children s safety f t For example in the Halton Separate Board no child below Grade has to walk more than 6 km to school After pressure from concerned parents the Halton Board of Education has finally recognized the need for a transportation policy review This policy has not been substantially changed since A review committee has been struck to actively seek input from the general public and other through written submis sion personal presentation or both on June 12th and from 2 until at Lord Elgin High School Our committee urged concern ed parents to speak to their trustee or make submissions to this review committee headed by Mr Parry Superintendent of Policy and Planning We believe our children s safe ty is everyone s concern Yours truly Drue Marriott Mrs Chair Parents Concerned About Busing Thanks for support To the Editor The Lioness Club of Georgetown would like to thank the people of Georgetown and surrounding areas for their sup port of our annual Kilometre of Coins event Over l 500 was raised for Kidney Dialysis Camp Dorset and Children Camp We would also like to thank the many businesses where jars were placed A special mention to Miracle Food Mart manager Dave Rhodes Jake and Linda Manssen of Halton Trailers and our local newspapers for ex press coverage Thank you The Georgetown Lioness Club