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6- The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday September 30, 2006 www.oakvillebeaver.com 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 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 advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate.The publisher reserves the right to categorize advertisements or decline. Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Commentary IAN OLIVER Group Publisher NEIL OLIVER Publisher TERI CASAS Business Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager KELLY MONTAGUE Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ROD JERRED Managing Editor WEBSITE oakvillebeaver.com Metroland Printing, Publishing & Distributing Ltd., includes: Ajax/Pickering News Advertiser, Alliston Herald/Courier, Arthur Enterprise News, Barrie Advance, Caledon Enterprise, Brampton Guardian, Burlington Post, Burlington Shopping News, 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 Letters to the ditor Oakville missed the boat on banning pesticides Re: Anti-pesticide movement harmful, Oakville Beaver, Sept. 27. It is way off base to describe the anti pesticide movement as "harmful." The writer seems to be protesting too much. Expressing such a biased opinion, it sounds like he has spent a lot of time defending the chemical industry. With such a background, I have no doubt his arguments may sound valid to some. The domestic chemical pesticide ban that was voted down (by a slim margin) in Oakville was regarding cosmetic weed/pest control. It makes sense to support the use of effective measures to deal with threatening insect or plant infestations, if there are no alternatives. When human life is at risk, and we have examined all non-polluting means of control, then sure, blast the bugs. But we are talking about cosmetic weed control here, and there are plenty of effective alternatives to chemical herbicides or pesticides for domestic use. The weeds have not overrun the municipalities that have already adopted a domestic pesticide ban, and they continue to control mosquitoes with larvacides. I don't need the results of a "double blind" experiment to tell me that fire will burn my skin; I can take this for granted. So I really don't care if the "scientific" evidence is inconclusive, it isn't much of a stretch to connect chemicals designed to shrivel bugs and weeds with serious biological effects in humans. It is well known that some pesticides can also kill beneficial soil bacteria, earthworms, honeybees, frogs, birds, fish, etc. So I don't believe the warnings on the labels of these compounds are intended as a joke. The point is simple: why risk it? I also believe that the citizens of Oakville are capable of deciding for themselves on this issue, too bad that in the 2003 referendum some voters may have been misled, expecting to have to give up their green lawns for good. GARY DECECCO RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville TV AUCTION Automated election survey annoying I think I know why more and more people are not voting. There is a candidate for councillor, or his election team, who is/are using an automated electronic election survey. Your phone rings, you answer, and an electronic voice (not a live person) starts asking questions on the Oakville election and the candidate. You're not interested since it is the supper period and you hang up. But unknown to you, that doesn't disconnect you from the survey. When you pick up the phone to make a call - guess what is still on the line ready to ask the next question - the electronic voice for the survey. This happened twice and I had to eventually answer all the questions before it would give me my telephone line back! Why can't candidates earn votes "the old fashioned way" by talking to people. DES HUNTER So much for green designation Returning from holidays and scanning past Oakville Beaver editions, I found it ironic, distressing and discouraging, that in the same issue you reported the substantial fine for a property owner who cut down trees on his property, and the proposal to install new electrical generation in the provincially designated Green Belt. If the Green Belt isn't kept green, why bother to so designate it? JERRY REID Television is alive despite critics giving it The Last Kiss s I was leaving the theatre last weekend after seeing the new Zach Braff movie, The Last Kiss, I could not help but think of... Roy Macgregor. No, there's nothing going on between Roy and me that you curious kittens and gossip hounds should know about. True, I'm a huge fan of the prolific and profound Globe & Mail columnist, and once upon a time we were column-writing stable-mates at an endearing parenting magazine, and Roy has always been fabulously forthcoming with invaluable insight and advice. But that's not it. So, why was I thinking about Roy shortly after seeing The Last Kiss? Because Roy recently inked an essay about the demise of television ("I have had this creeping sensation that the world of television is becoming increasingly like the former-planet Pluto: a world that, for many people, no longer counts for much, if anything at all...") And because after seeing this mediocre movie, I could not help but think that I could have stayed home, saved a stack of cash, and watched far more entertaining and engaging shows. On TV. No, on this issue, I don't agree with Roy. In fact, I think television is far from becoming altogether inane and irrelevant. A Further, I submit that TV is actually enjoying a revival, and perhaps Philo T. Farnsworth's invention is actually entering a new Golden Age. Now, Roy readily admits that his expertise in this area is hampered by the fact that he does not watch a whole lot of TV (he has not seen, for instance, any shows that recently won Emmy Awards). While I, conAndy Juniper versely, sheepishly admit to watching way too much TV. It is this excessive viewing that allows me to easily concede one of Roy's main points ­ that there is a lot of unadulterated crap on television, reality TV etc. But, then, there's always been a lot of crap on TV. That said, with mainstream television networks furiously competing with cable networks -- and all scrambling for survival in a mega-channel, infinite-entertainment-option universe -- there are shows out there in TV Land that regularly push the envelope of what anyone of my advanced years ever imagined would be seen on the small screen: shows that consistently produce product higher in caliber and entertainment-value than many movies. Such as The Last Kiss. As a comedy, The Last Kiss was decidedly inferior to Braff's TV vehicle Scrubs. As a drama, it could not hold a candle to, say, long-running ER. And as a so-called chick flick, it never came close to assorted episodes of Grey's Anatomy. Think TV plays it too safe? Think TV shows are too saccharine, with everything wrapped up each week in under 30 or 60 minutes with hugs and kisses all around? Think TV needs to be more real, more raw? Then just watch Denis Leary's Rescue Me, the shockingly frank portrayal of firefighters in New York, post 9-11. Leary is unforgettable as the wise-cracking, crude, flawed, foul, pill-popping, whisky-slugging, equally brave and brutal Tommy Gavin. Looking for something new, interesting and intelligent on the tube? Try Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, produced by Aaron Sorkin, creator of The West Wing and Sports Night, and staring everyone's favourite Friend, Matthew Perry. No, I don't think TV's is in danger of becoming a cultural Pluto. TV's still our favorite Sun. Andy Juniper can be visited at his Web site, www.strangledeggs.com, or contacted at ajuniper@strangledeggs.com.