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6- The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday December 19, 2007 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 IAN OLIVER Group Publisher Media Group Ltd. NEIL OLIVER Publisher DAVID HARVEY General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director SANDY PARE Business Manager MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ALEXANDRIA ANCOR Circ. Manager Grinch has a change of heart It appears that Oakville Town Council has managed to avoid being a Grinch this Christmas and has thought better about blocking the Trafalgar Township Historical Society (TTHS) from leasing the historic oneroom Palermo schoolhouse. Following numerous pleas from residents, local historians and TTHS members, councillors backed off their initial objections after realizing they didn't hold any water. It's difficult to understand their objections. On the surface, the Palermo agreement with TTHS seemed like a win-win situation. The TTHS would move into the long-vacant schoolhouse, and use it as a headquarters and a schoolhouse museum where students could experience how local children were taught a century ago. After receiving council's nearunanimous support six months ago, the society aggressively sought private sponsorships and a $135,000 Trillium grant to further their goal. Somehow, however, the sponsorships from Mattamy Homes and Bot Construction ruffled a few feathers on council. This despite the fact Bot Construction was the presenting sponsor in the Town's Heritage Hustle in October. And as Barbara Ann McAlpine, of the Bronte Historical Society reminded councillors Monday night, her organization has been the recipient of a five-year grant from Metrus Developments. For its part, the Trafalgar Township Historical Society has compiled an impressive list of accomplishments: · It helped the Town of Oakville compile a list of deceased veterans for the Trafalgar War Memorial; · Organized Trafalgar Family Heritage Days at Palermo schoolhouse; · Worked with the Oakville Public Library to compile the Oakville Images project; · Committed itself to restoring the vacant schoolhouse. In the end, councillors saw the light and did the right thing. Hopefully, the rest is history. 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 A friend speaks out on behalf of Steve Remian I think it is about time that someone set the record straight regarding Steve Remian's alleged connection to Robert Pickton, about his character and about the pain he felt which ultimately led to his being put out of his misery by police. Steve had never even heard of Robert Pickton until his capture, and if he had he would have disliked him intensely. I know this because I am one of Steve's best friends here in British Columbia. Steve has collected many good friends over the years, mostly both in B.C. and Ontario. Many have written to me since learning of his death, having had to weather the undignified and inaccurate portrayal of him in the national and international media. My chief concern is with his family's experience at such a sensitive time in their lives, and particularly that of his sister, and Steve's three children who are now left to grow up without a father. For the record, Steve had never been charged with any sexual offence as alleged in some of the stories that surfaced in the days following his death. He despised sexual predators and injustice alike. Steve was a generous, chivalrous, genuine and loyal person who stood firm in his convictions. None of those were criminal. Steve's belongings ended up on the Pickton farm in the trunk of a Monte Carlo I had given to our mutual and best friend. Steve had gone to work out of town and had stored his belongings at this friend's house and in the trunk of this car. Our friend was killed in a work-related accident in August, 2000, and I guess the owner or roommate at the house he lived in had the car towed away. It ended up at Pickton's scrap auto business. The relevance of Steve's property being at the crime scene was as significant as garbage belonging to anyone being present at a landfill which happened to contain the remains of victims of foul play. Steve stood up for children, the elderly, disabled, women, and prostitutes alike. The only link to those particular women he had was a similar form of pain which in his case stemmed from child sexual abuse, something he struggled horribly with until the day he died. And that, as far as his friends, closest family members and I are concerned, should have been the story that raced across the nation and the rest of the world last week. ALEX HUNTER VICTORIA, BC 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 advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. The publisher reserves the right to categorize advertisements or decline.