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6- The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday August 20, 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 They proved us wrong What a difference three days can make. After being shut out of Olympic medal celebrations in Beijing for an entire week, Canadian athletes have roared back with a vengeance, snatching 13 medals (two gold, six silver and five bronze) in slightly more than 72 hours of competition. Five days ago, we opined in this space how the first week's pursuit of Olympic glory at the Games had been frustrating, leaving us pondering how long Canada would have to wait to win its first medal. Well, wait no more! As most Canadians were tucked in their beds early Saturday morning, our Olympians opened up the floodgates, snatching gold, silver and bronze medals over a one-hour period, adding four more before the end of the weekend and another six between Monday and yesterday. Carol Huynh of Hazelton, B.C. gave our country something to really cheer about, by delivering Canada's first medal of these Games -- a gold in women's 48 kilogram freestyle wrestling. Included in our medal haul to date are a gold, silver and two bronze medals in rowing, a gold and silver in women's wrestling freestyle, a pair of silvers on trampoline, three more silvers in equestrian jumping, diving and triathlon and bronze medal finishes in women's 100-metre hurdles and the men's 1,500-m freestyle swimming event. At Oakville Beaver press time yesterday, Canada had moved into a tie with the Netherlands for 12th in overall medal count; quite an improvement from last Friday when our nation was not yet ranked. With multiple medal opportunities still to come -- including topthree qualifying efforts by Burlington's Mark Oldershaw and Oakville's Adam Van Koeverden -- Canada may be on its way to a record medal haul (excluding the Soviet-boycotted Los Angeles Olympic Games of 1984). 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 We have been following, with interest, the recent issues (expressed in the Letters to the Editor) concerning the redevelopment of St. Thomas Aquinas School site and the potential for environmental impacts. Debate is always beneficial for drawing out and refining the issues. Active debate is, we believe, a much better alternative to lack of citizen involvement --- in all issues affecting one's community, but especially these two very important Opposing sides in Aquinas debate should strive for common ground issues namely, education and the environment. Very understandably, some letter writers have been somewhat emotional in their expression of support for the proposed school re-building program and likewise have the writers who want the environmental impact of the proposed ancillary facilities (parking lots, lights, traffic access) to be reviewed. Hopefully, the result of this continuing expression of opinions will be the best possible win-win for both education and the environment -- how could we wish for any better outcome? My wife and I are members of SCORA (South Central Oakville Residents Association), and although this letter does not speak for SCORA, we hope that it will encourage further reasoned discussion by all concerned. We do, however, think it is very important that those involved try, first, to find common ground, i.e. what can we all agree with -- obviously better educational facilities and protection of the ambient environment. These should be mutually inclusive rather than divisive goals for the rebuilding project. DOUG AND SANDY WHITE 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: Prime Minister Stephen Harper is challenging opposition parties to topple the Conservative minority government and go to the polls this fall. Do you support a fall federal election? · Yes · No To vote visit oakvillebeaver.com Last week's poll: Should the federal government increase its financial support for Canadian Olympic athletes? · Yes: 59.38% · No: 40.63% Total number of votes: 32 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 BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com