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6- The Oakville Beaver, Friday October 13, 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: THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS A DIVISION OF METROLAND MEDIA GROUP WEST GROUP PUBLISHER IAN OLIVER NEIL OLIVER 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 Don't overlook trustees When Oakville residents head to the polls next month for the 2006 municipal election, we hope they have the future of their children -- or grandchildren -- in mind. While electing town and regional councils sometimes steals the spotlight on the campaign trail, voters must be cognizant of the equally important role played by elected school trustees at Halton's public and Catholic school boards. School trustees are the men and women responsible for deciding how local tax dollars allocated to education are utilized inside and outside the classroom. Combined, Halton's two school boards manage operating budgets of more than $600 million and are responsible for the education of nearly 80,000 Halton students. School trustees are elected to represent the interests of students, parents and taxpayers. Trustees are the residents parents should be able to count on to represent their interests at school board meetings, or simply listen to concerns about the quality -- or lack thereof -- of education in their neighbourhood. Trustees are also responsible for explaining to residents who feel overburdened by their local tax bill, how the education portion of local taxes are being spent -- or misspent. From a purely quality control standpoint, the education buck is supposed to stop at the local school trustee, elected by the people to serve the needs of local school communities. Unfortunately, as with any elected office, not every candidate for Halton's school boards is devoted solely to the interest of the neighbourhoods they represent. In recent years, some trustees in Halton have focused their energies on personal agendas, devoting their time to a special interest issue, while forgetting the bigger picture. If you worry about the quality of education in Halton, or feel the education portion of your property tax dollars are being wasted, consider spending a few hours between now and Nov. 13 finding out about your local school trustee candidates. By doing so, voters will be able to make more educated decisions about who would best represent their interests for the next four years. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 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. There are always two sides, or more, to a thorny issue If the simplest definition of power is "getting your own way" in this regard Oakville has seen plenty of pressure applied at Town council to ramrod bylaws into place that restrict personal freedom and are unnecessary additions to the legal network. The portrayal of pesticides to frighten the general population is the matter in question? (I believe) pesticides are not a health issue and have never been. Health Canada has assessed and re-tested the pertinent herbicides and pesticides in question finding them safe as tested. It has taken into consideration one time exposures, increased sensitivity of the young and exposure of infants and children as well as pregnant women. Comprehensive cause and effect analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency has found no conclusive links between pesticides and chronic illness. Furthermore, recently the director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Jim Jones announced that all pesticides approved by Congressional mandate in their 10 year study are `aggressively regulated' and are protective of children. We have the same aggressive regulation of pesticides at the provincial level by the Ministry of the Environment as well as the constant testing and re-testing at the federal level. Regional council and Town council should be aware that the implementation of a bylaw may simply trigger a "downloading" of BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com the regulating and monitoring and testing responsibility onto the municipal lap; without the corresponding funding. There goes our municipal taxes. The Oakville Beaver should note that the Ontario College of Family Physicians is not a medical licensing board as its name suggests. The correct licensing board for physicians in Ontario is the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons. The chairman of the United Kingdom Advisory Committee on Pesticides used the words "superficial and naive" "simplistic and misleading" "unconventional," "incomplete and biased" and "scientifically weak" when describing the Pesticide Review of the O.C.F.P. Crop Life Canada assures me that it takes almost $1 million to register a pesticide for use in Canada because of the stringent regulatory and testing bodies in place before it can enter the marketplace. Perhaps in this election year it is important for residents of Oakville to reflect upon the needless waste of time and money imposed upon council by pesticide and "tree activists." Also, there are the impending costs of programs like the "clean green program" a $450,000-$1 million expenditure and rising; depending on how you read Oakville's 2006 budget. That's a lot of public money for activists to use to get their own way. PHILIP WALKER LANDSCAPER FOR 30 YEARS 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. Pud