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6- The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday August 13, 2008 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: NEIL OLIVER Vice ­ President and Group Publisher of Metroland West The Oakville Beaver is a division of IAN OLIVER President Media Group Ltd. 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 ANCHOR Circ. Manager If it's broke, fix it -- fast Katelynn Sampson really never stood a chance in life. Sad details of the life of the seven-yearold Toronto girl -- found murdered in an apartment more than a week ago -- have emerged and they are not pleasant. But they are details none of us should forget if society wants to prevent a similar tragedy. Bernice Sampson, a drug addict apparently unable to manage her condition, turned over custody of her daughter to family friend Donna Irving -- the woman now charged with killing Katelynn. Irving's common-law partner, Warren Johnson, also faces a second-degree murder charge in connection with the little girl's death. Unbelievably, it appears that Irving was able to gain "full and final custody" of Katelynn this past January without the involvement of any child and family services agency and without a background check on Irving who had a trio of criminal convictions. A simple application to family court was enough to shuffle this little girl from one unhealthy environment to another. Homicide Det.-Sgt. Steve Ryan said it was "probably the worst thing I've seen in 20 years of policing" when describing the youngster's body. Police say the nature and severity of Katelynn's injuries resulted in a longer than expected autopsy and that some of her injuries were not "fresh." Through court records and other accounts it appears Katelynn's life was a living hell. Her mother was a drug addict. Her father was a drug addict and out of the picture. She was sent to live with Irving who has had three criminal convictions since 1999 -- for assault with a weapon, possession of cocaine and communicating for the purpose of prostitution. How could this happen in Ontario today? Who is responsible? In some instances there are more checks and balances in place for people to adopt an animal than there were for Katelynn to be moved from one disasterin-waiting to another. Already rumblings of an inquest have surfaced, but it would have to wait for a resolution to the criminal case in this matter -- which will take years. There appears to be a legal loophole that needs plugging immediately by our provincial politicians --before there is another Katelynn. We can't let this child slip through the cracks in death as she did in life. 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 I am writing you in response to letters recently published in The Oakville Beaver about the St. Thomas Aquinas High School redevelopment. Some writers of letters critical of the (Southwest Central Oakville Residents Association) SCORA have misrepresented our position by implying we are against the redevelopment of the school. In fact it is the opposite. SCORA and the hundreds of neighbourhood families we represent welcome this infrastructure investment to support our chil- SCORA takes time to set the record straight on its position on St. Thomas dren's education. Most of our children do in fact go to this and other public schools in the area so we have just as much if not more vested interest than these critics. What SCORA does object to is the manner in which this redevelopment is being done. We do not believe the end justifies the means. That cutting down all those mature trees is justified just because it is an easier way to build the school. We believe if it were planned smarter we can have the new school and save the trees at the same time. The school board, the town and the province all talk about their commitment to operating green in various environmental programs. This current redevelopment plan is far from green. Why not make St. Thomas a truly green development and demonstrate to students and the community how they really can walk the green talk? Primarily the neighbourhood is after a school design that positions the school so the majority of mature trees can be kept; a plan with more condensed parking and without a new road onto Lakeshore that will destroy a beautiful woodlot in the process; and the elimination of field lights with intrusive light and related noise to 11:30 p.m. affecting both the See It's page 7 This week's poll The Oakville Beaver has added a polling feature on its website oakvillebeaver.com. A new poll will be posted every Wednesday with the results of the poll published in the following Wednesday edition of The Oakville Beaver. This week's question is: Should the federal government increase its financial support for Canadian Olympic athletes? · Yes · No To vote visit oakvillebeaver.com Last week's poll: Do you support a presumed-consent law to govern organ donation in Ontario? · Yes 45.95% · No 54.05% Total number of votes: 37 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 416-3401981. 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 BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com