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•Th e IF P• H al to n H ill s • Th ur sd ay , M ay 2 9, 2 01 4 6 OPINION They stood huddled together on a grassy hill, eyes wide open as firefight-ers used the Jaws of Life to cut away at a mangled vehicle to free the trapped passenger inside. A girl laid on the asphalt, thrown from a ve- hicle, blood pooling around her head. Another young girl yelled she couldn't feel her legs as she sat confined to the backseat of an SUV, police and ambulance sirens whaled in the background. The head-on collision caused extensive dam- age to the vehicles involved. It left one person dead. One of the drivers was impaired. The dramatic accident was just that, a dra- matized scene acted out to illustrate to teenag- ers just how deadly drinking and driving can be. It couldn't have come at a more opportune time to capture its young audience. Prom season is just around the corner -- a time when thousands of students will head out into the night to celebrate what will be one of the most memorable milestones of their young lives. What police forces across Ontario and MADD Canada are hoping is that kids celebrat- ing realize the very real consequences of drink- ing and driving, not to mention distracted driv- ing. The very real dramatization took place in Bracebridge. Sometimes it takes seeing some- thing that actually happened to someone else for it to really sink in. There were 57 people killed in impaired collisions in 2013, according to the Ontario Provincial Police. They were someone's sons, daughters, sisters and brothers, husbands and wives. How many families and friends are affected by just one tragedy? The consequences are far reaching. Schools in communities across the province have held awareness campaigns to show students the im- pacts of dangerous and impaired driving. It's just not worth it. 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 is a member of the Ontario Press Council, which is an independent ethical organization established to deal with editorial concerns. For additional information or to file a complaint, contact info@ontpress.com or call 416-340-1981. The Independent & Free Press Make the right prom call Letters to the editor If you are like me and are en- tirely fed up with the lousy choices we have been presented with in this upcoming provincial election, here's how to send these political incompetents a strong message -- refuse your ballot. This is the choice you have that the election officials and the politi- cians do not want you to know about. Simply show up to vote the way you always do, and when you are handed your ballot, hand it right back to them and tell them you are refusing your ballot. Refused ballots are recorded sep- arately from all other ballots, and send a direct message to the gov- ernment that you're not apathetic or uninformed, you are entirely unhappy with the choices that have been presented, and reject them all. So if you're tired of politicians flushing your hard earned tax dol- lars down the drain by the billions, tired of robot-like talking heads telling you how their party's doc- trine is the only one that will work, or others who seem to have no idea or realistic plan for how to manage an economy at all - tell them all "thanks, but no thanks"…. here's what you can do with my vote. C. Wilson, Georgetown Refusing your ballot sends a strong message Thanks for the bowling support The winners of our fundraising raffle were drawn on Sunday, May 25 and congratulations go to the following lucky people: • ticket No. 0305 Lynda Spiteri of Georgetown was first prize win- ner; • ticket No. 0633 Rita Doern- bach of Georgetown was the sec- ond prize winner; • ticket No. 0338 Liz Ples of Wi- arton, Ontario was the third prize winner. Our thanks goes to all those who donated to the prizes, sold and bought tickets making this such a successful fundraiser for us. Frank Anthony, president, Georgetown Lawn Bowling Club The Georgetown Lawn Bowling Club wishes to express our appre- ciation for your promotion of our club's open house via the Indepen- dent's Community Calendar and in the Sideroads Coming Events. This last weekend the weather was co-operative and we had 36 brave souls come out and try their hand at our sport. There was a broad range of ages in this group, which supports the claim that this is indeed an inter- generational sport. A lot of fun was had by all. Letters must include the author's name, address and daytime phone number. Anony- mous letters will not be published. Letters should not exceed 150 words and may be edited for content and/or length. Publica- tion is not guaranteed. Email: cvernon@metroland.com Mail or drop off: Independent & Free Press, 280 Guelph St., Unit 77, Georgetown, ON., L7G 4B1. 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: Chris Vernon (cvernon@metroland.com) Distribution manager: Nancy Geissler (ngeissler@theifp.ca) Classifieds/Real Estate Kristie Pells (classified@theifp.ca or realestate@theifp.ca) Classified Call Centre 1-855-415-8237 haltonhillsclassads@metroland.com Accounting 1-866-773-6575 Editorial Cynthia Gamble: News editor (cgamble@theifp.ca) Lisa Tallyn: Staff writer (ltallyn@theifp.ca) Eamonn Maher: Staff writer/sports (emaher@theifp.ca) Get the latest headlines delivered to your inbox by signing up for our twice weekly electronic newsletter. Go to www.theifp.ca and click on 'Newsletter sign-up' at the bottom of the homepage.