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to build the new highway 407 extension is a good idea that could have gone farther. As it is, the project is good news for two Oakvilleâ€"based companies. ; Monenco Agra is responsible for the engineering side while Dufferin ~.Construction will be looking after the major physical component of the proâ€" "ject. They are two of the major players in a consortium that bid on the scheme. QThe provincial government‘s decision to enlist the aid of private business The idea behind the plan was to have the entire project financed and operatâ€" _ ed by the private sector. Unfortunately, that didn‘t materialize when the :, province discovered it could raise the money at a lower rate than the private ,, groups bidding on the project. Apparently neither of the two main bidders on ; the project could get or were willing to take the financial risk on the plan . despite the fact that they could charge tolls on the road, likely for more than 30 years. Horses and bikes don‘t mix on country roads Dear Sirs: Last summer a friend and I were riding our horses on the side of a winding, scenic country road on a lovely warm afternoon. Suddenly a pack of about seven or eight bicyclists came around the bend behind us moving too quickly for the limited visibility of those curves. One of the front bicyclists swerved around us, and probably because of the speed at which he was travelling and the suddenâ€" ness of his swerving, his front tire came off the rim. He crashed in front of my horse. The rest of the bicyclists proceeded to fall or do emergency stops all over the road. As you can imagine, our horses became upset and wanted to do what comes naturally to an upset horse â€" run â€" but there are bodies in the way. Because our horses are well trained for riding on roads, we were able to control them. This was a very dangerous situation, and fortunately only the first bicyclist was injured. I was able to get my car quickly and drive him to the hospital where he was treated for abrasions and checked for a suspected broken collarâ€"bone. So what was to have been a great coup for the provincial government, has turned out to be little more than another massive taxpayerâ€"funded highway project. The only difference here is that the construction firms will get more back from their investment through tolls than on other projects that are based on a straicht cashâ€"forâ€"services basis. It is urged that all area residents (including Third Line residents) voice their opinions NOW as future expansion will leas to increased traffic flow and MORE! Be informed and be counted! Meetings are being held every Wednesday evening at The Church of the Nazarene, Bronte Road, at 8 p.m. Please attend. § And aIthough the contract has been awarded, details concerning the toll aspect of the deal have still to be finalized. So just how lucrative the toll deal will be for the consortium likely won‘t be known until later this month or later. Tolls are nothing new in Ontario. Anyone who has lived in the area through the 1960‘s knows all about the Burlington Skyway along with the Garden City Skyway in St. Catharines and their toll booths. They were only eliminated after provincial government officials determined collecting the money slowed down traffic too much. Dear Sir: I take note of the pg. 8 9 color advertisement in the Sun., April 3rd edition of The Beaver. As a person of faith I have the highest respect for those who take religion seriousâ€" ly and celebrate their holy days Dear Sir: Rebecca Street residents are beginning to stir in the wake of the proposed bridge to be built, thus creating the Southerly Crossing. Some critics of the revised scheme, believe that the province itself should set up more toll roads as in the U.S. Some people have suggested that the province increase the number of toll roads and in so doing follow a British model. But this ‘solution‘ to financing highways and reducing their use can‘t be fully implemented here for numerous reasons. Please let your readers know that horses have survival instincts. (A motorcycleâ€"riding friend once said that he wouldn‘t ride anything that has a survival instinct. As a former motorcyclist, this caused me to doubt his own survival instinct.) The British have a history of excellent rail service that crissâ€"crosses the country with thousands of stops. Not only don‘t we have such an infrastructure here but we‘ve also torn up thousands of miles of Ontario railway tracks makâ€" ing a return to rail, for instance, impossible. Add to this the commuting disâ€" tances which seem to be increasing and the problems are obvious. The Americans have had tolls on their turnpikes and interstate networks for decades but mostly, these are in areas of moderate traffic flow where back-ups are more unlikely than on major southern Ontario arteries. What this exercise in ‘creative road construction has taught Bob Rae and his government, is that financial people won‘t take a risk on solid companies but don t think twice about lending even more money to debtâ€"ridden governments. So the consortium now takes on no risk, which was the keystone of the entire plan, and the taxpayers are again on the hook. ‘The only positive aspect of the scheme is that we‘ll now have more people guaranteed jobs for the next five years. Just what that‘s going to cost us remains to be seen. Ad served to perpetuate antiâ€"semitic sterotypes Rebecca Street residents need to stay informed Myra D. Sonius enthusiastically. I must take issue, however, with two of the three pictures and their captions in the ad, which, however well intentioned, caused considerâ€" able discomfort to the Jewish comâ€" munity. At a time when the hostile referâ€" ences to Jews and Judaism are offiâ€" cially discouraged by the Roman Catholic Church, and at a time when the Pope publicly and delibâ€" erately speaks of Jews as "elder brothers in the faith", the depiction of negative stereotypes is, to say the least, unfortunate. |845â€"5585 To prevent problems, ALWAYS announce your presence by voice as soon as you are within hearing distance of the horse and rider. Say, "Hello, I‘m just another gorgeous human being," or anything else just to let the horse hear a human voice. This lets the horse know that you are a person (not dangerâ€" ous), noises such as bells, horns, or screams fall into the dangerous category. Imagine that you are walking through the jungle (or a city park at dusk) when suddenly out of the corâ€" ner of your eye, you notice something catching up to you â€" silently and very quickly. What do your instincts tell you to do? When you are approaching a horse from behind and you are on a bicycle, assume that the horse and rider will not hear or see you, especially if it is a somewhat windy day. If you suddenly appear behind a horse, it will probably be startled and instinctively move very suddenly in ANY direcâ€" tion, including towards you. Another possibility is that it may kick. Do not underestimate how far those ironâ€"shod hooves can reach. Another key avoidance technique is to move out of the lane that the horse and rider are in well before you reach them. Even if they are on the shoulder of the road, do not occupy their lane. If vehicular traffic makes this difficult, slow down to allow the cars to pass and then move into the other: SPEAK YOUR MIND Got a gripe? Give us a call. Readers are invited to express their opinion on a topic of their choice by calling 845â€"5585, box 5250. All callers are allowed 45 secâ€" onds to express their opinion and must provide their name, address and phone number for verification. A cross section of the responses will be published in next Wednesday‘s Oakville Beaver. Also published last weekend was a story in the Toronto Star which described the attempt by contemporary scholars to rehabiliâ€" tate the contemporary scholars to rehabilitate the image of Judas. Sadly this will not be easy, for as the article reveals, while a majority of Americans believe that the aposâ€" tles of Jesus were not Jewish (which, of course, they were, as Jesus himself was), they also believe that Judas was Jewish, although he was one of them. Unfortunately the invidious use of negative imagery detracts from THE OAKVILLE BEAVER 467 Speers Road, Oakville, Ont. L6K 384 845â€"3824 Fax: 845â€"3085 Classified Advertising: 845â€"2809 Circulation: 845â€"9742 or 845â€"9743 Ian Oliver Publisher Robert Glasbey Advertising Director Norman Alexander Editor Geoff Hill Circulation Director Teri Casas Office Manager Tim Coles Production Manager 'A]dvemsnglsaeoepledonmemnmhet in the event of a typographical eror, that portion of the advertising space rate. The Oakville Beaver, published every Sunday, Wednesday and Friday, at 467 S Oakville, is one of the Metroland Printing, Publishing Distributing Ltd. group 0 subl. newspapers which includes: Ajaxâ€"Pickering News Advertiser, Barrie Advance, Bram Guardian, Burlington Post, Colingwood Connection, Etobicoke Guardian, George Independent/ Acton Free Press, Kingston This Week, Lindsay This Week, Mar Economist and Sun, Stouflv:lleIUxbfldge Tribune, Milton Canadian Champion, Mississ News, Newmarketâ€"Aurora Eraâ€"Banner, North York Mirror, Oakville Beaver, Orillia T Oshawa/Whitby This Week, Peterborough This Week, Richmond Hil/ThomhilWau Liberal, Scarborough Mirror. All material published in the Beaver is protected by copyright. Any reproducti whole or in part of this materia! is strictly forbidden without the consent of the publisher. occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be pai plulsmrresevvesmengmlumlegonzeandlqemadvemam hheevemoltypographmlemr advemsmggoodsorservmsulmewwpme goods or services may not be sold. Advertising is merely an offer to sell and may be withdrawn at any 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 354 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER lane to pass the horse. Those few extra seconds may prevent a serious accident. This is also the courtesy I show to bicyclists when I pass them in my car (I ride a bicycle, too). Please: do the same for equestrians. Car drivers, please take note of this, also. Yet another suggestion is to slow down whenevâ€" er you are approaching a horse from either direcâ€" tion. Motorized vehicle drivers should do this also. If a problem arises, you will have more time to react. Also, to a horse‘s way of thinking, the faster the "attacker" is coming up behind it, the more seriâ€" ous the attacker is about having it for supper. Horses‘ eyes and brains require more time to understand what unidentified moving objects are. If the group of bicyclists have been travelling at a more reasonable speed and in single file, there probably would have been no accident as our horsâ€" es are taking up less than the space of one lane. So, please slow down, announce your presence, and move to the other lane. Many bicyclists do that now, and that‘s great! Please pass the word to othâ€" ers who don‘t. If you would like to know moreâ€"about horses, please just stop to speak with a rider. Most of us are happy to talk about our horses and let you pet them. Hoofin‘ around, your message and perpetuates antiâ€" semitic stereotypes. Rabbi Edward Goldfarb Shaareiâ€"Beth El Congregation The corner at Ford Drive and Cornwall is a very scary example of just what is going to happen to our neighborhoods. It is also an examâ€" ple of companies who, while they would like you to use their services, do not care what they do to the appearance of the neighborhood in order to achieve that aim. Now they are starting to actually place those signs on the bouleâ€" vards in clear view of residential properties. I say enough is enough. These signs are eyesores and, while I pay taxes to this town, many of these companies do not. Dear Sir: The decision made by the Supreme Court allowing anybody to paste, tack, place or post their notices anywhere they choose on town or public property is just another example of the ‘rights of expression‘ going too far. It didn‘t even have the decency to say these signs must ever be removed, maintained or placed safely. Frankly, I~will never deal with any company that shows such blaâ€" tant disregard for turning a residential neighborhood into a commerâ€" cial advertising strip and I suggest to you that, if enough residents take the same attitude, maybe these companies will do some serious thinkine about whose richts are beine infrinced on. Proliferation of signs offensive Eeva I. Leivo Dear Sir: Every once in a while I am provoked to "stand up and be counted", and this happens to be one of those times. I am referring to the mandate being imposed on the Halton Public Board of Education, by Mr. David Cooke, Minister of Education, to implement J.K. in our schools by Fall of 1995. The Halton Public Board, as well as our Trustees, recommended that this Program be put on hold for now as there are simply no funds availâ€" able. Mr. Cooke, in all his wisdom, completely ignored our educators and trustees who are responsible for educating our children, and essenâ€" tially J.K. is a "fait accompli" at a Capital Cost alone of $4.9 million with projected implementation costs of $7,876,359 by 1977. JK plan is madness How any individual in clear conscience can condone this kind of spending spree by our obviously illâ€"informed and misguided Government is beyond me. How can anyone justify spending almost $8â€"million on implementing what is in reality an inexpensive or free to the user form of Day Care where the teacher/ child ratio will be some 18 to 1, while‘our existing students, who are learning things other than lacing laces an zipping zippers are in overcrowded classrooms, sharing textbooks, and experiencing program cuts, which are all due to lack of space and to budget restraints. I guess the justification for any anger comes from seeing my three children, not unlike many others, who are in the Public school system, trying to get an education under the above conditions. I would like to suggest to anyone who is under the false impression that J.K. is a good and relatively cheap way to have their four year olds looked after, that their children will grow with the system, and what will the feeling be then when their children‘s textbooks have to be bought, and they are in classes of 30 to 35 students because there are simply no more funds for education. I urge any taxpayer who wants an explanation for this expenditure, and who doesn‘t want to see their hard earned tax dollar squandered on what amounts to yet one more Social Welfare program, to write to Mr. Cooke and ask for "the methods to his madness". Such autocratic hanâ€" dling of irresponsible fiscal restraint would well, and should prove to be political suicide, a point which may however be academic with a provincial election imminent. iorsssssseesssosocessiotooncene (Mrs.) Pat Melhuish Source: Sierra Magazine Treeâ€"free paper Our shrinking.timber forests and the demand for environmentally friendly paper have made once exoticâ€"sounding alternaives / look attractive: / e Kenaf, a relative of'w%% ‘k\” Af was a main ingredient of paper until about a centu ago. It can be grown i anywhere without pesticides, J does not require bleaching ""’7'\\ cotton and okra, can pré nine times the pulp per d annually compared to e Hemp (or marijuar in Canada since 192 and can produce four times as much pulp per acre as trees. Op Affordable treeâ€"free paper is not o_ available yet â€" but as demand grows things could change. Ioomte by Catherine Farley Judy Kingston Caring for Our April 13, 1