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6- The Oakville Beaver, Friday November 7, 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 New police unit welcomed Halton Police Chief Gary Crowell's recent announcement that a new police unit devoted to investigating domestic violence cases is on its way in 2009 is welcome news. For those who witness the aftermath of women who've been abused, the new police unit couldn't come soon enough. According to Sarah Patterson of Halton's Violence Prevention Council, abuse costs about 40 Canadian women their lives each year. "We want to ensure people in our community know about woman abuse, local resources, and ways that they can help anyone who is in an abusive relationship," Patterson said. She added that the council is taking steps to deal with this issue by launching its Neighbours, Friends and Family campaign. The campaign will help people to: · Recognize the warning signs of woman abuse; · Support women and other members of the community who are impacted by woman abuse, and · Locate supportive resources in the community. More information about raising awareness and promotional materials, can be found on the Neighbours, Friends and Families website, www.neighboursfriendsandfamilies.on.ca. Last week, Crowell used the launch of Women Abuse Prevention Month to announce a new domestic violence investigative unit would start up in early 2009. Crowell said his involvement with Ontario's Domestic Violence Death Review Committee (DVDRC) drove home the work that police do and more importantly, the community's role in preventing acts of violence. Across the region, police last year responded to 2,836 domestic-related calls involving threats or assaults, for example, between a spouse, girlfriend/boyfriend, common-law partner or any combination of family members. Of those, 627 charges were laid. Based on those numbers we believe the new domestic violence police unit is long overdue. 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 Dance recital shouldn't conflict with Passover I would like to believe that we live in a multi-cultural, multi-religious community, which shows respect to all faiths and cultures. Oakville has changed considerably in the last few years and as we grow, we will become even more diverse. It is no longer acceptable to plan events in the schools and in the municipality that fall on major religious occasions for any religion. We have an active Multi-Faith Council that is happy to provide multi-faith calendars. I know it has met with the Halton District School Board and is working with the board to prevent scheduling on major religious holidays as some schools did this year by scheduling commencement on Yom Kippur (the holiest day on the Jewish Calendar). The Halton District School Board has made a commitment to not schedule events on religious holidays. I was told that the Parks and Recreation's recital dance program is having their recitals on Passover, which means that no Jewish children who observe their faith will be able to complete their program and participate in their recital. I called the mayor's office and I was told that the only consideration in programming is statutory holidays. Both of my children went through the entire dance program from age three to 13 and I know they would have been devastated if they had to miss their recitals when they were dancing. I can understand a private program not taking this into account. I cannot understand our municipality not even considering our multi-faith community when scheduling. Members of all faiths pay taxes. As we are not Catholic, we have to pay for our children's religious education. Is it fair that our faiths should not even be a consideration in the scheduling of town events? I ask that all people of faith who want to live in a community of respect and inclusion make it known that this practice of ignoring religious holidays other than Christian ones when planning events for our town is disrespectful and unacceptable. MARSHA DAVIES Pud BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com Improve bus service before raising fares I am in complete agreement with Debbie Robilliard's letter, in the Oakville Beaver, Oct. 29 , that Oakville Transit bus service is poor in comparison to other cities and in view of this, unless it increases and improves its service, does not deserve another fare increase (it just had one July 1, 2008). If ridership is low, it is due, I'm sure, to the fact that the service, as Debbie mentioned, is not as good as our neigh See Where's page 15 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.