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6- The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday July 26, 2006 www.oakvillebeaver.com OPINION & LETTERS The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-3824, ext. 224 Circulation: 845-9742 Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: IAN OLIVER Publisher WEBSITE oakvillebeaver.com NEIL OLIVER Associate Publisher JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor KELLY MONTAGUE Advertising Director DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Manager TERI CASAS Business Manager MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ALEXANDRIA CALHOUN Circ. Manager Metroland Printing, Publishing & Distributing Ltd., includes: Ajax/Pickering News Advertiser, Alliston Herald/Courier, Arthur Enterprise News, Barrie Advance, Brampton Guardian, Burlington Post, Burlington Shopping News, Caledon Enterprise, City Parent, Collingwood/Wasaga Connection, East York Mirror, Erin Advocate/Country Routes, Etobicoke Guardian, Flamborough Review, Georgetown Independent/Acton Free Press, Harriston Review, Huronia Business Times, Lindsay This Week, Markham Economist & Sun, Midland/Penetanguishine Mirror, Milton Canadian Champion, Milton Shopping News, Mississauga Business Times, Mississauga News, Napanee Guide, Newmarket/Aurora Era-Banner, Northumberland News, North York Mirror, Oakville Beaver, Oakville Shopping News, Oldtimers Hockey News, Orillia Today, Oshawa/Whitby/Clarington Port Perry This Week, Owen Sound Tribune, Palmerston Observer, Peterborough This Week, Picton County Guide, Richmond Hill/Thornhill/Vaughan Liberal, Scarborough Mirror, Stouffville/Uxbridge Tribune, Forever Young, City of York Guardian It's out of their league 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 regionwide 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? In fact, regional politicians left the decision for pesticide use squarely in the hands of municipal politicians -- just where the issue was in Oakville during the last municipal election. In that case, the controversial question was put to a referendum on the 2003 municipal election ballot in Oakville. A ban of pesticide use on private property lost, by a small margin, but given the controversy involved, the Town of Oakville has forged ahead with weed control options that don't involve pesticides on municipal property -- and launched an education campaign. The Halton residents who appeared before council -- a.k.a. "environmentalists" -- urged councillors to "stop peddling the poisons." To them, and there are many of them, all pesticides are evil and the sooner their use is eliminated, the better. There are definitely two distinct camps. One insists there should be an all-out ban on pesticide use, the other suggests they have the right to maintain their property how they see fit. The region's health department said it continues to support a "prudent avoidance" approach to pesticides. "Prudent avoidance means relying on natural control and preventive 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 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. Like the smoking ban, we believe it is up to the province or feds -- who regulate pesticides -- to take a position -- one way or the other. The Oakville Beaver welcomes letters from its readers. Letters will be edited for clarity, length, legal considerations and grammar. In order to be published all letters must contain the name, address and phone number of the author. Letters should be addressed to The Editor, Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, ON, L6K 3S4, or via e-mail to editor@oakvillebeaver.com. The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish a letter. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Last Sunday night two large iron wheels were pulled out of the ground from my front lawn and one was found near the road. A large silver pot with flowers was overturned. Across the road, the cable box was broken open. My neighbour's recycling was put on her car roof. Previously, my next door neighbours had the roof of their convertible slashed and neighbours across the road had their garbage set on fire. The police, who do care, tell me there Resident irked as vandals get busy during summer season simply is nothing they can do. They do not say that there is nothing that can be done. They tell me, "It's summer. Kids are out of school. They are out late at night. Stuff like this happens everywhere, not just in your neighbourhood. We just don't have the people to monitor the buses and the streets late at night." I see two solutions. 1. We hire more police or we hire extra summer policing from police-in-training or from private agencies and assign them to late-night patrols. 2. We invite the Guardian Angels to patrol Oakville at night. We simply cannot throw our hands up and declare nothing can be done. In the 1960s, I used to go to New York City at least once a year. Brentano's on Fifth Avenue was open all night and I used to wander its bookshelves until the wee hours of the morning and then, alone and unconcerned, stroll to my hotel. Later, New York got so bad I rarely went there. Art galleries would lock you in a room and you needed to be `let out' into the next room. Riding the subway was unthinkable. On the street, women carried purses across their bodies and under their coats. Now, New York is a pleasure again. We were there one December and Christmas decorations were intact and nowhere did we see any vandalism. On one square there was piped in music, a podium, a baton and a `Christmas hat'. People would stand on the podium, put on the hat, pick up the baton and conduct the music. There was no graffiti. The baton and hat were never stolen. The difference? Money was poured into personnel. There was a constant visible uniformed presence and, very importantly, minor offences were followed up. Teenagers are in transition from childhood to adulthood. This means a constant testing of the limits. As a society, when we ignore smaller acts of vandalism, we are giving the following message: "You can do this. This is acceptable." That encourages them to test a level up. If the lesson learned is, "Everything is permissible if you can get away with it," then what values do we teach? Before coming to Oakville, I lived in North York, Thornhill and King Township. I never experienced any vandalism whatsoever. In Oakville we have some form of vandalism every single year. We have to decide what kind of community we want to live in. And we have to be prepared to pay for it. ELKA RUTH ENOLA Pud BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com The Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould St Suite 206,Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone (416) 340-1981.Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, that portion of advertising space occupied by the erroneous item together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the adver tisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. The publisher reserves the right to categorize advertise ments or decline.