The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

OAKVILLE BEAVER Saturday, May 2, 2009 · 6 The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5571 Classified Advertising: 905-632-4440 Circulation: 845-9742 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. Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Letter to the editor Re: Power plant should be built on the old Lakeview Generating grounds, letter to the editor, Oakville Beaver, April 24 Thank you for the unbiased review of why a power plant should again be WEBSITE oakvillebeaver.com imposed on three more generations of children in Lakeview. I specifically use the word imposed because in your unbiased review you state, "that decision (to place a generating plant in Lakeview) would have avoided the significant cost that four contenders are incurring for securing land options and public hearings." RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: I am thankful you are not the Minister of Energy, for I fear we would have no Ontario Community Canadian Community Suburban Newspapers accountability in the RFP process or public consultations, only decisions. Forget Newspapers Association Newspapers Association of America the public consultation you are participating in, forget a competitive bid process, THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: just dump it in Lakeview, again. We, as a society, have always put dirty things in dirty neighbourhoods, generation after generation. Lakeview was one of the dirtiest for over a century. We hosted a coal generating plant for 43 years that, when operating at 15 per cent capacity, was responsible for 50 per cent of the sulfur dioxide emissions falling on Toronto. The 1995 study did not test for the lead, mercury, cadmium, zinc, or any TV AUCTION other of the hundreds of chemicals spewing from the four sisters. From 1962 to 1979, it operated at 100 per cent with no pollution mitigation technology at all. Our children in Lakeview were at ground zero for this and we had to wash our houses weekly of the soot. Prior to the coal plant, from 1891 to 1954, we were the location for one of the largest munitions complexes and artillery ranges in Ontario. Right in the heart of our community, on our waterfront. Lakeview currently processes 70 per cent of the sewage from the Region of Peel. We actually incinerate 100 per cent of Peel Regions sewage, as the sludge from the Clarkson plant is trucked into Lakeview daily. Contrary to your misguided assumption that the generating grounds "are surrounded by industrial zones," they are in fact surrounded by water, parks and green space. Our salvation in this heritage is that we have 490 acres right on Lake Ontario. There are no houses on the waterfront for seven kilometers in Lakeview. The majority of this land is in public ownership through the three levels of government. The Lakeview Ratepayers Association created the first ever citizen driven Community Master Plan in North America utilizing the former military, industrial and utility grounds. We held 15 community visioning sessions and received input from more than 4,000 residents in three years, developing a computer generated virtual world of a revitalized Lakeview. RIZIERO VERTOLLI / OAKVILLE BEAVER The Legacy Project details construction costs, land use, property tax base, popDANCE SHOW: No, Mishka Human isn't taking an afternoon nap at school, she is actually taking part in the inter- ulation densities, transportation requirements, employment and educational pretive dance demonstration at the annual Maple Grove School Art Show last Wednesday. See Announcement page 11 Metroland Media Group Ltd. includes: Ajax/Pickering News Advertiser, Alliston Herald/Courier, Arthur Enterprise News, Barrie Advance, Caledon Enterprise, Brampton Guardian, Burlington Post, Burlington Shopping News, 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 EraBanner, 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 United Way of Oakville NEIL OLIVER Vice-president and Group Publisher, Metroland West 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 SARAH MCSWEENEY Circ. Manager Lakeview residents have borne burden long enough Maple Grove dancers Barbie's boozin' in basement and calendar's calling for clean I t's an irresistible urge. Like the urge to cringe when you hear they're casting for a remake of the movie Footloose (as if the original wasn't idiotic enough). Like the urge to cry when you hear that erstwhile Detroit Tiger pitcher, the eccentric and iconic Mark (The Bird) Fidrych, passed away at the tender age of 54 (even though you're a guy and guys aren't supposed to cry even if someone insults the quiche over which they spent hours slaving). It's the urge to...clean. Specifically, the urge to houseclean in springtime. Yeah, it's irresistible. And it's ingrained and, some science sorts believe, innate. All of which may or may not explain why last weekend I woke up and went wild. Spring was in the air, and I looked around and discovered that I was living in virtual squalor, a veritable pigsty, a dump. Alas, the monumental mess I'd so easily overlooked all winter suddenly triggered my renowned FU Response (that is, my Felix Unger Clean Freak Response). I filled a bucket with an environmentally kind cleaning solvent, rolled up my sleeves, donned my gas mask and, determined to reclaim the house from bottom to top. I ventured into the basement where our kids spent the entire winter entertaining themselves and assorted friends. Some historians date the ritual of spring cleaning back some 3,500 years to the ancient Jewish practice of thoroughly cleaning the home for Passover. For the kids in the readership, 3,500 years is a long time: that's before personal computers and Twitter and even Facebook; heck, Andy Juniper that's even a bit before mommy and daddy were born. Still, all history aside, it seems a little odd to me that we have this crazy urge to clean out our homes in spring -- at the beginning of the season that sees us spending less and less time in those homes we've just cleaned. Ah, but who am I to argue with inbreeding and urges? All told, I spent three hours in the basement, although it wasn't a total waste of my valuable time. I rescued a part of our home that was in peril of being officially condemned. Oh, and I found $7 and 38 cents in change that my kids and their friends had thoughtfully left me under the cushions of the couch. I also found two remote controls that had long ago been listed as MIA, remnants of every food group save for those that are healthy, untold chip bags, candy wrappers, pop cans and an empty beer bottle that some Einstein had ingeniously crammed into the living room of a dollhouse my daughter once played with. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I didn't know whether to blame Barbie or Ken. Do you know that there are actual detailed tutorials online, replete with handy videos, outlining how to best spring clean a house? Wow. Who reads these things? Has the whole world gone all Martha Stewart? I know that by the end of last weekend I was feeling more than a little Martha. I had the house so clean you could eat off the floors. Only, I wouldn't. Because it's spring. The hound is shedding. We're all continually tromping in mud from the laneway. The kids are planning parties. And Ken and Barbie are no doubt boozin' in the basement. Honestly, by the time you read this the house may have officially been re-declared a disaster zone. Andy Juniper can be visited at his Web site, www.strangledeggs.com, or contacted at ajjuniper@gmail.com.