The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

OPINION Pesticide bylaw left where it belongs A cynic might suggest that Halton Region councillors took the easy way out recently when they turned down a citizens' group's request for a region-wide pesticide use bylaw. After all, when it comes to pesticide use, it's a case of damned if you do, damned if you don't and really, who wants to juggle that hot potato in an election year when it's not necessary? In fact, regional politicians left the decision for pesticide use where it belongs-- in the hands of municipal politicians. The Halton residents who appeared before council-- aka "environmentalists"-- urged councillors to "stop peddling the poisons" and have even asked some municipalities to introduce a bylaw to restrict the use of pesticides for cosmetic purposes on private property. To this group all pesticides are evil and the sooner their use is eliminated, the better. However, others insist that limited and selective use of pesticides on municipally-owned property is the more prudent route to follow. The region's health department concurs, as it continues to support a "prudent avoidance" approach to pesticides. "Prudent avoidance means relying on natural control and preventative measures and using chemical pesticides only when all other measures fail," a health department report states . "Halton will continue to promote a policy of prudent avoidance and work with its partners in building on the success of the Naturally Green education and awareness-raising program in the months ahead." In the end, regional council approved having chair Joyce Savoline write to the federal and provincial governments urging them to take a leadership role on the issue of restricting non-essential and cosmetic pesticide use. While that symbolic gesture is all well and good, we doubt either the provincial or federal government is ready to bump pesticide use to the top of their respective to-do lists. This has been a municipal issue for years and is likely to remain so. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Reader frustrated by vandalism to vehicles Dear editor, My husband and I are hardworking Canadians with four children. We've had our hard times, when weiners and stew beef were staples in our diet just to make ends meet. I work nights and my husband works days, so the kids are only on their own for an hour and a half or so without one of us present. (A special thank you to our oldest sons for filling in when we aren't around.) We've worked really hard, gotten things paid off (almost!) and decided last year that my 15-year-old van was just costing too much to maintain and I really needed reliable transportation to get to work. We bit the bullet and got a new van last year. We were so happy-- it was the first vehicle we ever had that didn't have a scratch on it, no rust bumps and everything worked. Imagine my horror when I went out the next day and it had been scratched all the way around it. I promptly changed my parking spot and haven't had a problem since. My husband took my old spot with his old car, and again we had no problems. This winter my husband's beat-up old car started acting up and we decided that it was time to retire it, and get another vehicle. We held our breath, waiting to see if it was going to get targeted too. Day one-- okay; day two-- okay. It wasn't until we had it for just over a week that it was vandalized. Emblems were stolen, paint scratched, the rear wiper was ripped out of its socket, and the antenna was bent. I hope the person who did this reads this and comes forward. We've worked really hard to get where we are and don't deserve to be targeted like this. It always seems one step forward, three steps back. My children thank you, now that I have to put in overtime so I can pay the insurance deductible. That's time away from my family and you have no idea how precious that is to me; you can't pay enough for that. If anyone has seen the person who did this, please call the police. A description would help us immensely, as I think it's time that justice was served. The damage occurred on July 2 sometime between the hours of 9:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Sinclair Avenue. There must have been traffic going by, so if anyone saw anything, please report it. S. R. Brown, Georgetown Hemp flag not a disgrace to this Canadian Dear editor, Re: July 7 letter, `National flag' upsets patriotic Canadian. You feel this is a disgrace to all Canadians? Speak for yourself. Our first flags were made from hemp and a lot of the supplies that helped our soldiers through the world wars were also made of hemp. Hemp is a great product that could actually benefit mankind in many ways if it wasn't outlawed by closedminded individuals such as yourself. I, for one, do not drink alcoholic beverages so to me the packaging on Molson's products is a much bigger disgrace to our maple leaf. Kevin Theodoropolus, Georgetown Fire victims thank everyone for support Dear editor, We would like to thank our family, friends and neighbours for the support and love we have received since our house fire in February. We are so fortunate and blessed to have such loving and compassionate people around us. We didn't realize how much stuff we had accumulated until we didn't have any of it anymore. Everyone's generosity has been overwhelming. We feel more connected to this community than any other place we have been fortunate enough to live. We are about to rebuild our home in the next couple of months. We are all excited to be starting a new chapter in our lives and we couldn't think of a better place than here to do that. We love you all and are truly blessed with wonderful people like you around us. Thank you so much. The McKenzies, Glen Williams