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We happen to think that costâ€"cutting will have to continue at the board level but agree with the administration that JK is a program not being championed by the public (one trustee said one person called in support while others have had no feedâ€" back) and one that will be incredibly expensive to operate. Queen‘s Park can‘t have it both ways. If it‘s going to download programs on local boards, it must provide funding. But in the current atmosphere it should kill the JK program and save the taxpayers money by not funding a program no one seems to want. Yes: 41 want to talk with Education Minister Dave Cooke. It should be quite a tormy session indeed. The ministry cut $7.8â€"million in grants last year and a further $3.8â€"million this year while dictating that Halton start a Junior Kindergarten (JK) program in September of 1994. Hlton Board of Education Director Bob Williams and Chairman Dave Coons Should the town make if more difficult for people to smoke in public places? Robert Glasbey Advertising Director Norman Alexander Editor Geoff Hill Circulation Director Teri Casas Office Manager Tim Coles Production Manager Ian Oliver Publisher When it comes to the smoking habits of young women, most report they do so as a means to stabilize their weight or to take off weight. It has become the weightâ€" control method of choice for females. And one of the difficulties with this situation, as pointed out at a weekend sympâ€" sium on women‘s health issues, is that females often suffer from poor selfâ€"esteem. In trying to become what they aren‘t, girls and women find themselves with eating disorders to try and control their weight and smoking is often a part of that regiâ€" men. In one of the richest countries in the world, young women in particular, are litâ€" erally starving themselves to death. once again, that sorry is the lot of those who continue to lightâ€"up...or try to light up. In Oakville, town staff will be reviewing the town‘s smoking bylaw and the Halton Region Health Department will be asking the region‘s residents how they feel about smoking in public and how workers and employers feel about smoking in the workplace. S mokers are under attack as never before and some actions this week point out, On the national front, federal Welfare Minister Benoit Bouchard announced a $500,000 program called ‘Quit 4 Life‘ which is aimed at teenagers. It‘s a good idea and one that could pay dividends down the road in the way of decreasing medical costs for those who contract smokingâ€"related diseases such as emphysema and canâ€" cer. And since it‘s estimated that more than one third of 15 yearâ€"olds currently smoking will die before the age of 70 from smokingâ€"related diseases, that‘s no small consideration. Teens wanting quitâ€"smoking kits can call 1â€"800â€"363â€"3537. Some interesting trends have been developing over the past few years on the smoking front. More young men are either kicking the habit or not starting, while young women seem to be taking up smoking. When the various groups started pointing to smoking as a major cause of lung, stomach and oral cancers, they believed that educating the public on the risks of smoking would ultimately lead to the decline in smoking. In some segments this has been true but not among females. Both the number of women smoking and the number now dying from lung cancer and other smokingâ€"related diseases, is rising dramatically. f The announcement of both the initiatives mentioned above, comes during canâ€" cer monthâ€"how appropriate. Who needs Clearing the air RESULTS OF LAST WEEK‘S POL! 467 Speers Road, Oakville, Ont. L6K 354 Classified Advertising: 845â€"2809 Circulation: 845â€"9742 or 845â€"9743 Cast your ballot by calling 845â€"5585, box 5008 to vote yes or no. Callers have until 12 noon Thursday to register their vote. Results of the poll will be published in the next Friday edition of the Oakville Beaver. Was the Town of Oakville correct in banning the collection of grass clippings that started on April 1st? The Beaver, published every Sunday, Wednesday and Friday, at 467 rs Rd., Oakville, is one of the Métroland Printing, Publishing Distributing Ltd. group of suburban newspapers which includes: Ajaxâ€"Pickerin News Advertiser, Barie Advance, Brampton Guardian, Burlingion Post, Collingwood Connection, Etobicoke Guardian, Georgetown Independent Acion Free Press, Kingst his Week, Lindsay This Week, Markham Economist and Sun, Stouttville/Uxbridge Tribune, Milton Canadian Ch Mississauga News, Newmarketâ€"Aurora Eraâ€" Banner, North York Mirror, Oakwille Beaver, Onllia Today, Oshawa/Whitby This Week, Peterborough This Week, Richmond HillThomhil/Vaughan Liberal, Scarborough Mirror. All material published in the Oakville Beaver is protected by cupyri?‘r;. Any reproduction in whole or in part of this material is strictly forbidden without the consent of the publisher. To cap it all â€" with Oakvillians being singled out for special treatment on disposal of grass clippings â€" it is quite possible that Halton Region will become totally responsible for garbage, from curb to disposal, within the next two years. It will be interesting to see if, at that time, the rest of Halton will join the Oakville progresâ€" sives. Of course, garbage disposal is a tricky and expensive business. We learn that Toronto, having raised tipping fees to $158.00/MT and having spent a small fortune in taxpayers‘ money to build facilities (Halton tipping fees are $160.00/MT), are now suffering a lack of garbage to fully utilize the facilities; major garbage dumping comâ€" panies are finding it cheaper to truck/rail garbage, at considerably less cost, to.the United States! In Halton, we have seen much money spent on a disposal facility on the North Service Road in Oakville that has now, after only some five years of operation, been shut down. One wonders just how much thought has been given to the short and long term impact of a grass clipping ban for Oakvillians? I do hate to be taken advantage of especially when, by summary edict, I am deprived of a service that is enjoyed â€" and in part paid for with my.tax dollars.â€" by Dear Sir: As an upâ€"date on our grass clipping as garbage ban, I should inform you that I have, by telephone in in writâ€" ing, been supplied with a list of members on the Town of Oakville Waste Management Advisory Committee; an interesting list of members of which some are retired folk â€" certainly, to my mind, not representative of the ordinary folk who have to handle grass cutting when pressure of work allows. We have learned that Oakville is blessed, courtesy of our councillors, as the ONLY municipality in Halton with a ban on grass clippings as garbage. One wonders why our councillors have not made great play with this in their collective efforts to put Oakvillians in the foreâ€" front of the new ecologically correct (EC) movement and, at the same time, trumpet our purity to the Philistines of Burlington, Halton Hills, and Milton. This begs the question, of course, bearing in mind that some Oakville councillors also serve at the Region of Halton, as to why ONLY Oakville? Non collectionof grass clippings a ripâ€"off The Oakville Beaver welcomes your comments. All letters must be signed and include the writer‘s address and phone number. Letters should be typed, doubleâ€"spaced and addressed to: Letters to the Editor, The Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, Ont. L6K 3S4 P‘ all the rest of Halton Region. To my mind, this is not democracy but leans towards totalitarianism. When I see serious discussion on freezing incomes and, for the more senior higher paid people a 10% reduction in pay at all institutions supported by taxpayers‘ dollars in recognition of these tough times then, maybe, I would happily go along with a scheme that, at the moment, only impacts on the taxpayer. Hospital needs support OTMH provides a wonderful service to Oakville residents and is working towards improving the care through redevelopment and expansion with the current construction. One barrier that all hospitals in Ontario are facing is lack of sufficient funding for services. This results in a backâ€"up of chronic care patients in active treatment centres, bed closures, staffing cuts etc. Therefore, Ms. Larson should not be criticizing hospiâ€" tal policies. Dear Sir: As a health care professional, I am distressed by your recent publications in criticism of the Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital. I feel they have been unfairly treated by your paper in respect to the case of Mrs. Grove‘s mother. Particularly distressing is Mr. Groves‘ belief that obviously ‘going to the press worked very well‘ in pressuring the hospital to create a bed for his motherâ€"inâ€"law. (Hospital president). Mr. Kuntz was not bowing to pressure but simply fulfilling his promise to notify them when the next bed became available; these things are often unpredictable. For this, he was unduly criticized. Had he felt obligated to respond to this intimidation, I expect some other famiâ€" ly would be writing to your paper to complain about a relative‘s premature discharge from hospital resulting in an unsafe situation in the home. Let‘s stop criticizing the caregivers and look at the real problem; that of a lack of needed resources and funding. And let‘s try to support the OTMH in the difâ€" ficult job they have to do. It‘s not easy. Alison Thomas, RN Ivor Davies