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THE GEORGETOWN GEMINI WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1996 OPINION Scrap school boards Got a problem with the school system? Where do you go for answers when principal and staff don't have them? To your local school trustee, of course, whether it is Dick Howitt, Ethel Gardiner or Irene McCauley. If they haven't got the answers then they will make sure they get them for you. But where will you go if the Ontario government insists on pursuing the plan to scrap all the school boards in Ontario and replace them by as few as five regional school councils with restricted mandates? Good question. Some wag has suggested it will be to Hades, otherwise known by a name not suitable for family journals. Anyone familiar with large government bureaucracies knows the problems even getting through, let alone answers, from these massive boards. For instance, try getting through to the Revenue department at tax time -- and then getting someone to answer your questions, correctly that is. But, says Queen's Park, eliminating school boards would allow the government to reduce non-classroom administrative education spending by $1 billion out of a total budget of over $13 billion spent on education in Ontario. That $3 billion would be part of $3 billion in cuts to be announced in November. Thinkers at Queen's Park believe school boards would be a barricade to cutting administrative, rather than classroom costs, as well as too quick to raise local property taxes when provincial funding is cut. And going by some boards' past performances they are probably right. However, there are other problems besides that of money, which eliminating school boards would exacerbate rather than solve. First and foremost is the right people have to their input into decisions in the schools. This is a democracy and having local trustees and relatively small boards enables people with concerns to voice them effectively with the aid of local trustees. Creating large superboards would eliminate any opportunity to have single or community voices heard except in circumstances where clout is synonymous with political or fiscal influence. In this part of Ontario, anyway, school trustees are accessible and generally work hard at their jobs. We can imagine the futility of having your voice heard when boards are reduced to numbers that smack of oligarchy, where a few people at the top make all the important decisions. We had rule in old Upper Canada like that at one time in our history. It was called The Family Compact. Autumn splendor When a band of warmer weather blew in to Halton Hills Sunday it created one of those idyllic autumn days to crown the Thanksgiving weekend. Few areas of Ontario are more colorful than this little Eden when the trees and shrubs discard their formal greens for the riotous colors of fall. If you haven't already, take a walk or a drive through leafy town streets or delightful country roads to absorb another of these annual performances before the grey fall and winter sets in. It will not only uplift your spirits on a sunny day but give you a glimpse of how beautiful this neck of the woods can be. Some call it a Kodak moment, certainly a time which recorded on film, will supply succor when the leaves are gone and a soft blanket of snow creates a more sombre world. There are so many places where one can glimpse the beauty of autumn in Halton Hills, the Niagara Escarpment dominating the scene with forest and sumacs turning from green to red. The poet, Wilfred Campbell, certainly caught some of our sentiment with these words: Along the line of smokey hills, The crimson forest stands, And all the day the blue jay calls Throughout the autumn lands. "TETTERS Authorities add insult to injury To the Editor, Iam the husband of the 48-year-old woman who was attacked by the 19- year-old man at 11:30 am (noon -- broad daylight) in the shopping cen- tre right here in Georgetown, On- tario, on Oct. 1. It is quite wrong to say she was not injured. She has been seen by her doctor and will require addi- tional and costly medical attention to deal with an already debilitating health problem. My wife feared her life was com- ing to an end for the look in her attacker's eyes, and had it not been for the physical intervention of a male friend who happened to be at the scene at the time and two out-of- town off-duty policemen, she might be dead today. Our local police had been dili- gently looking for this madman that morning and arrived on the scene (four police cars -- Acton and Geor- getown police) to assist my friend and the two other policemen. Yes, because this man had over nine po- lice reports over the last few years, he was well known to the police and is regarded by the police as very dangerous when he is in an "aggres- sive, agitated mood." Local police told me that it was told to them by their sergeant that morning that due to this attacker's super human strength, he should be arrested by seven officers -- and no less than three. The Crown Atiorney referred to it in court as a "psychotic rampage." Yes, my wife is injured physi- cally but she is also in bad shape emotionally because of this attacker. Other than initial contact with local police right after the assault, any progress to address her understand- able wish to close off this criminal -- act both legally and more impor- tantly, emotionally -- virtually every issue to find out from "the system" was initiated by my wife and my- self. It became clear that the victim is a very unimportant part of crime. See INJURIES, Page 8. Optimist Charity Golf Day thanks To the Editor, We would like to extend our thanks to the following companies, indi- viduals and associations for their generous support in helping make this event such a success. We hope you enjoyed a day of sport, fun and fellowship and we would like youto know that the money made at the event will further continue the Opti- mist Club of Georgetown's strong support of the youth of the commu- nity. We would like to acknowledge these individuals: Floyd Nelson (Prize Chairman), Russ Miller (Prize Committee), Rick Chambers (Com- mittee), Shell Lawr (Prize Co-chair- man), and Steve Gemesi (Registra- tions). Also garnering thanks: Gerry Getty (Spotter), Dan Martin (Spot- ter), Russ Miller (Putting Contest), Steve Gemesi (Putting Contest). Businesses which were hole sup- porters include: Mark's Work Wearhouse, Dufferin Aggregates, Union Gas, Walker, Nott, Dragicevic Associates, County Glen Homes, Georgetown Terminal Warehouse, Don's Auto Electric, Rainbarrel Antiques, J.S. Jones and Son Funeral Home (Georgetown), Quali-Fab (Mississauga), Discount Car and Truck Rental, N&N Group Autobody (Georgetown), Neilson Dairy (Georgetown), Fendley Flo- rists (Georgetown), TWG Travel Inc., (Georgetown), Mannor Devel- opments Ltd., (Rexdale), Glen Schnarr & Associates Inc., Region of Halton, Hillside Sand and Gravel, Dunlop Insurance Ltd., Pignatell Insurance and Investments (Geor- getown), Thomson/Rogers Barris- ters (Toronto), C&S Printing (Geor- Soot), See GOLF, Page 8 EIN Publisher & Editor Paul Nolan Advertising Manager Rick Butler Office Manager Linda Hayes Editorial Staff Kyle Goodlet Jamie Harrison Frances Niblock Joanne Stevenson Advertising Staff Lynne Buscher Trish Henry Production Staff Kim Konarzycki Distribution Manager Marie Shadbolt Regular Contributors Eve Martin Steve Martin Mike O'Leary THE GEORGETOWN GEMINI is published weekly on Wednesdays by Wicklow Hills Publishing Co. Inc. Mailing address: P.O. Box 145, Geor- getown, Ont., L7G 4T1. Phone: (905) 877-1113. Fax: (519) 853-5040. Geor- getown administrative office: Per- sonal Secretarial Services, Unit 47, 360 Guelph St., L7G 4B5. Reproduc- tion without permission is prohibited. Ideas expressed herein are those of the author only. AD SALES: Publisher is responsi- ble for errors in advertisements to extent of cost of that portion of the space occupied by erroneous item. PHONE THE GEM: (905)877-1113 FAX THE GEM: (519)853-5040