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Racism charge not justified There are many things residents of Halton Hills have accused the Town (and by extension its councillors) of over the years. Council-- and not just the current one-- has been deemed wasteful when it comes to spending taxpayers' money and greedy when it comes to tax increases. From time to time our municipal leaders have been vilified for "poor planning", not listening to residents' concerns and being nothing short of inept. All of this may be true-- or absolutely none of it-- depending on who is doing the talking. However, throwing out an accusation of racism is something that shouldn't be done willy-nilly as it appears was the case last week when Halton Pride representative Domenic Padula appeared before council. Padula was upset the Town refused to fly the Halton Pride flag promoting the gay group's annual picnic, which celebrates gay, lesbian, bisexual and other lifestyles. He claimed the Town was "hiding" behind a bylaw (policy) which states the town flies only municipal, provincial or federal flags in front of the Civic Centre. Padula added the Town in the past year has has flown flags commemorating the Terry Fox Run and the flag of Ermelo, The Netherlands, which enjoys a twin association with Halton Hills. (Mayor Rick Bonnette later offered an explanation as to why those flags were flown-- the Fox run was celebrating its 25th anniversary and the aforementioned association with Ermelo). Padula also referred to swastika graffiti on public property that he claims took months to clean up and said that, in itself, was a form of acceptance of racism. Hogwash! At worst it only indicates a tardiness on the part of the Town's works department. Slovenly cleanup efforts should not be construed as racist behaviour. (For the record, Town Director of Recreation Terry Alyman said he was unaware of any reports of racist graffiti.) Charges of racism are serious and if they are to be levelled against any person or group, they must carry substantially more weight than what Padula brought to council last week. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Slopitch player bemoans lack of fields (This letter was sent to both The Independent & Free Press and members of Halton Hills council.) Dear editor, I've lived in Georgetown for more than 10 years now and I feel fortunate to live in a community that continues to grow but still maintains that small town feel. Having said this there are issues that need to be addressed and the one that I would like to address is the lack of planning when it comes to sports and recreation in this town, in particular the lack of facilities for baseball, soccer and hockey. Being a member of the executive of the Georgetown Slopitch League I'm seeing first-hand the frustration that is building. As some of you may know we are a fair-sized league with more than 1,200 members and for the first time ever we were forced to turn away teams this year because of a lack of facilities (as other organizations I'm sure have experienced)-- a trend that is certain to continue unless our town council changes its ways and begins to look at sports and recreation as something other than a nuisance. Currently we have six diamonds (Gellert and the Fairgrounds) in town and five (Hornby, Glen Williams and Limehouse) out of town at our disposal. This is totally inadequate for a town the size of Georgetown. Other than the three diamonds at the relatively new facility at Gellert in Georgetown South the parks we have are either too small or, in the case of Limehouse, the black flies and mosquitoes make playing almost unbearable. As of now there are no plans to build any new facilities (the Trafalgar Rd. project keeps getting delayed) and the people we vote into office in this town seemingly could care less. The rates continue to rise; the service continues to drop. Even if the Trafalgar project does materialize at some point rumour has it the Fairgrounds will be shut down so we will be no further ahead. Our league has members ranging in age from 18 to some in their 60s. Slopitch is a great game that promotes fitness, community awareness, and camaraderie which can be enjoyed throughout a lifetime. I would ask that our councillors act now and that the voters in Georgetown consider this issue this fall when municipal elections take place. Clayton Browning, Georgetown Common sense, not laws, needed Dear editor, Concerning your editorial on Friday May 26, we do not need any more legislation on how to behave on the water. As tragic as the drownings are, they could have been easily prevented by exercising common sense. The people in the boat made a poor decision based on weather conditions at the time and the amount of passengers in the vessel. Yes, perhaps they all would have survived if they had on their life jackets, which were available to them, but because of poor judgment, lives were lost. If we bring in laws because of poor judgment, where does it end? Helmets to cross the street? My point is not to make light of the tragedy, but to point out our freedoms are so limited now in the wild, with the police pulling you over on the water or the snowmobile trail in the middle of nowhere for no reason that more laws are not the answer but using common sense could be. Greg Thoms, Georgetown Cartoon `congratulations' Dear editor, Congratulations to The Independent & Free Press and Steve Nease for the May 26 editorial cartoon. Why not have the following follow-up cartoon: "Kill an Indian; Make a pin to celebrate the killing; Give T-shirts to all new police grads saying, "Kill an Indian"; Start a campaign to draft Mike Harris for a new run at the Province." Wow! You guys are brilliant. Jim Ryan, Georgetown