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Thieves went a lot of trouble over the weekend to steal a pair of 30â€"foot Tâ€"beams from an Oakville factory. We 1 °C s According to Halton Regional Police, someone entered the General Electric plant on the South Service Road sometime overnight between Friday and Saturday by cutting through the wooden panel of a warehouse door. Once inside they removed the Iâ€"beams worth approximately $500. On Saturday between 3:30 p.m. and 5:20 p.m. burglars entered a Hedgerow Lane home by opening a sliding window and stealing a quantity of cash and other items. These included a camcorder and Nintendo games plus stereo and elecâ€" tronic equipment valued at approximately $2,400. Thieves take steel beams from General Electric warehouse Come Meet Karen Kain HoURS Mon.â€"Fri. 1 mMAE VCHI034â€"HEAD H1Fj JVC nrusoo eEA in A Different Drummer Books 00 Sn‘ 2020 CE 5413 Locust Street, Burlington, Ontario L7S 1/3 Telephone (g905) 639â€"0925 * Fax (905) 681â€"8893 Ballet star Karen Kain will be at A Different Drummer Books Friday December 9th at 7 pm autographing copies of her autobiography, Movement Never Lies. In light of the Social Contract and extra workload faced by their teachers, the students of E. J. James Public School it was time to give them a well deserved pat on the back by presenting them with Certificates of Appreciation. Katrinia Tompkins presented Girl‘s Volleyball coach Al Greyson with his certificate while he is cheered on by certificate recipients (front row, left to right) Shirley Vogt, Anne Sienna, Wendie McMaster, Asad Moten, Mari Daniels, Kimberly Hibbs, (secâ€" ond row, left to right) Phil Brimacombb, Dan Eyimina, Stephanie Fox, Donalou Langdon and e es NOC c on Carlyn Moester. waren THE OAKVILLE BEAVER BURLINGTO 403 HAMILTON | FAIRVIEW 57 LAKESHORE RD (Photo by Peter Thompson) Parents seeking new playground apparatus for Brookdale School By KATHY YANCHUS Oakville Beaver Staff The offending playground strucâ€" ture at Brookdale Public School is gone now, but the painful memories linger and the school‘s Parent Teachers Association (PTA) is still uncertain as to how they are going to raise the money to reâ€"build it. The problem has been ongoing for several years, but it was only recently that the PTA got some limited action. The growing list of injuries sufâ€" fered at the hands of the aging woodâ€" en structure was a concern to parents. There were concussions, broken ankles as well as dislocated shoulders reported and recorded by the school. The sand base of the structure became compacted with gullies and children were injured when they would fall or jump off the structure into these dips. The wood was decayâ€" ing and the bolts were loose. On sevâ€" eral occasions the town‘s park staff were contacted to fix features such as loose ladder rungs. f Because of the accidents, the school decided to allow one grade only in the playground at any time. : "The accidents were still happenâ€" ing and so last year we formed the playground committee," said Liz Kirsh, coâ€"chair of the Brookdale PTA and chair of the Playground Committee. Eventually, the playâ€" ground was ruled off limits during school hours by principal Jeff Blackwell. The difficulty for the PTA thin became twoâ€"fold: initially there was the frustrating task of determinifig who originally built the structure i6 years ago, and subsequently findxfig someone to take responsibility to g:â€" build it. "Discussions over the last 15 months with both the Oakville pa% and recreation department and the Halton School Board have been futile; neither will assume responsibility for replacing the structure even though the school has recorded two concusâ€" sions, numerous broken bones and senous sprains in the last couple of years," said Kirsh. Through the parks and recreation department, the PTA discovered. it was an original PTA which had the structure built while the town handled its maintenance. Ahd those accidents were while students were supervised, she added. "Their (the town and the board) position is that the structure is safe and should an accident occur there would be no liability on their part," said Kirsh. To reinforce the PTA‘s concern, an independent engineer‘s review of the playground was undertaken by Macneill Associates with the results backing the parents. "We were able to document over 32 instances where this play structure did not conform to existing published guidelines," commented Evert van Beek, a professor in the Sports Injury Management program at Sheridan College and a member of the Brookdale PTA. "There were over 19 areas of entrapment spaces alone. Now that is down right scary especialâ€" ly given the recorded deaths in Alberta, Northern Ontario and PEI in the last two years alone....I hesitate to think how many other structures such as this exist in Oakville." For example, said Kirsh, the struc ture exceeded the CSA playgrou height guidelines by two feet. In addi tion, the slide was not made of soli plastic, but was a twoâ€"piece slide This provided a prime target fo "entrapment" a hazard which took th lives of two young children, one i Edmonton, the other in Val Caron i 1992, when their drawstrings snagg on the top of the slide. h The report was presented to th parks and recreation departmen which removed the structure at in« charge, and prioritized the PTA request, said Kirsh, The group, how ever, will not find out how much the; are eligible for until the beginning the new year. ' The PTA has subsequently unde taken a $20,000 fundâ€"raising prO_]Ct to replace the playground. _ ‘ School principal Jeff Blackwe has donated $1,000 from the school operating budget towards a new pla%‘ ground. ‘ i 3x "We feel that quality creative pla grounds are an important element the children‘s school," said Kirs "They need to be able to let off son steam at recess. The playground c; be a good place to do that. That whey we are committed to raising 1 necessary dollars to do what the to: and the board no longer see as a pri« ity. We certainly welcome all dor tions." To make a donation, contact K through Brookdale School at 8 2741. "We could get $0 or $4,000," sai December 7, 1994