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•T he I FP • H al to n H ill s •T hu rs da y, J ul y 25 , 2 01 3 6 OPINION Twice this past month we have been given first-hand reminders of the unfor- giving fury Mother Nature can yield. Toronto and Mississauga were deluged with heavy rains early in July, while this past Friday much of Ontario-- including several parts of Halton-- were clobbered by a series of powerful thunderstorms. These two events saw a GO train strand- ed on flooded tracks, more rain dropped on the GTA in just two hours than it took Hurricane Hazel to deliver in 24 hours in 1954, thousands of hydro customers left without power, hundreds of trees downed by powerful winds and millions of dollars in property damage. These storms should be a reminder to us to remind our children to stay far away from swollen riverbanks, to have an emer- gency kit in the car or a plan of what to do if our vehicle is caught in floodwaters. Did we seal the basement where earlier rainwater had seeped in? Are the eaves- troughs filled with debris? Do we have enough supplies in the event electricity is out for more than a few hours? We've come a long way in the almost 60 years since the carnage of Hurricane Hazel. Thankfully, better infrastructure, drainage and resources are in place to deal with storms that cause extreme flooding. However, with this fickle climate, Hal- ton residents should remember they are not immune to powerful storms. It is called active weather. Maybe it is about time all of us got a little more 'active' in planning our defence against Mother Nature. The Independent & Free Press is published Thursday and is one of sev- eral Metroland Media Group Ltd. community newspapers. Editorial and advertising content of The Independent & Free Press is protected by copy- right. Unauthorized use is prohibited. The Independent & Free Press Nature's fury Steve Nease Letters to the editor Dear editor, I just wanted to share our recent experience with our town of Halton Hills workers. Recently I had contacted the town Infrastructure Department regard- ing a tree they planted a few years ago, (about 10 or so we think) on our boulevard. We were thinking of planting one in our back yard and really loved the way this tree flowered in the spring and the size and shape of it. We had no idea of what species it was and googling tree pictures didn't help much either. So I thought why not call and see if maybe they might have a record of the trees that they planted, as you never know? I spoke to a very nice lady, (I'm sorry for not taking time to get your name) who said she would look into it and get back to us. Imagine our surprise and de- light when we had a knock on the door and two Town of Halton Hills employees were there to tell us the name of this lovely tree. Again we are sorry we didn't get your names. We said we weren't expecting them to come by, but they said they had to take a look at it anyway so that they could identify it correctly. Its called a Chanticleer pear, which we will be planting in our back yard. We are sure these people have busy days and to take the time to come out and do this for us was extremely appreciated. Again thank you very much for this great customer service, we really do live in a great town. Debra Hayes, Georgetown Letters policy 905-873-0301 Publisher: Dana Robbins General manager: Steve Foreman (sforeman@theifp.ca) Retail advertising manager: Cindi Campbell (ccampbell@theifp.ca) Managing editor: John McGhie (jmcghie@theifp.ca) Distribution manager: Nancy Geissler (ngeissler@theifp.ca) Classifieds/Real Estate Kristie Pells (classified@theifp.ca or realestate@theifp.ca) Accounting 1-866-773-6575 Editorial Cynthia Gamble: News editor (cgamble@theifp.ca) Ted Brown: Photography (tbrown@theifp.ca) Lisa Tallyn: Staff writer (ltallyn@theifp.ca) Eamonn Maher: Staff writer/sports (emaher@theifp.ca) Should medical marijuana be prescribed to children who suffer from seizures if all other medical solutions fail? • Yes (75%) • No (25%) WEB POLL RESULTS (Go to www.theifp.ca) A tree by any other name... Keep cats inside Letters must include an address and daytime phone number. Anonymous letters will not be published. Letters should not exceed 150 words and may be edited for content and/or length. Publication is not guaranteed. Email: jmcghie@theifp.ca Mail or drop off: Independent & Free Press, 280 Guelph St., Unit 29, Georgetown, ON., L7G 4B1. upper respiratory infection. She had not been eating, and the vet was sure there were other underlying problems that we were not aware of, not the least of which was being abandoned. I have a very difficult time under- standing why people think cats NEED to go outside. They do not need to go outside, especially on their own. The dangers are just too great. I'm very disturbed by the way people seem to think cats can fend for themselves and even go so far as to treat them like "second class". If you want to own a pet, and do not adopt from a humane society or shel- ter, please look after them properly: deworm, vaccinate, and please-- spay or neuter. Humane societies, shelters and rescues are not dumping grounds for your unwanted pets. They do serve a purpose, but they do not exist for irresponsible pet owners who can't be bothered looking after their pets properly. Linda Beck, Upper Credit Humane Society Dear editor, I spent about an hour at the vet's office recently. A beautiful, little old cat that ended up at our shelter was euthanized. We had this cat only about a month and now she's gone. She was extremely thin and she was being treated for • Additional letter page 7