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OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, July 3, 2009 · 6 OPINION & LETTERS The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5571 Classified Advertising: 632-4440 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 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 SARAH MCSWEENEY Circ. Manager Good call for road safety Frankly, we believe any program that gets drunk drivers off the road -- or at least penalizes them heavily -- is a good thing. That's why we support the newest anti-drinking and driving initiative in Halton...the Safe Roads...Your Call program. This program, a partnership of Halton Region, the Halton Regional Police Service and Mothers Against Drunk Driving (M.A.D.D.) to educate motorists about the dangers of drinking and driving, was recently launched in Halton. Your Call is a campaign that involves road safety partnerships, public awareness and police response to apprehend impaired drivers. It encourages motorists to help police by calling 911 immediately when they witness a suspected impaired driver on Halton roads. "Impaired driving is a crime in progress -- plain and simple," said Police Chief Gary Crowell. "As the extra eyes of police on Halton roadways, residents play an instrumental role in enhancing road safety and assisting us in our efforts to apprehend impaired drivers." Under the program motorists who suspect another driver of being impaired are asked to call 911 and provide a description of the vehicle, the nearest intersection where the suspect was witnessed, direction the vehicle was headed and, if possible, a licence plate number. The call will be assigned high priority and all available police units will be used to locate the suspected drunk driver. Motorists should not jeopardize their own safety. "Halton's reputation as Canada's safest region is in large part due to the vested interest residents have in ensuring one another's well-being," said Regional Chair Gary Carr. "We are pleased to work with the Halton Regional Police Service and M.A.D.D. Halton to address this ongoing safety concern in a collaborative and proactive way." Signs promoting the program were recently installed throughout Halton in prominent locations. Between January and April of this year, Halton police officers laid 140 impaired driving charges, a 61 per cent increase over the same period in 2008. That alone is reason to support this program. 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. Letter to the editor Protesters must offer sustainable alternative Re: Protest unites Oakville and Mississauga residents, Oakville Beaver, Friday, June 26. I have to applaud the clever juxtaposition posed by the author (David Lea) in the opening of the article pointing to the signs declaring Stop the Power Plant - Your Health is at Risk with the parking lots "choked with cars:" -- clearly suggesting a degree of hypocrisy by those attending. I'm sure there is a bit of generalization and assumption required for this observation, but it's probably not too far off either. I'd be surprised if there were many participants also pursuing their own energy, water and pollution reduction goals beyond token measures like reusable plastic bags. Let's assume electricity planners are correct and there's a real need for GTA west generation to ensure reliability once the economy picks up again. What are the alternatives? A gasfired plant to replace Nanticoke will still produce greenhouse gases, affecting us all, and it's a finite resource. More nukes? Renewables? Sure, I'm for it, I'd pay for it too, but my guess is it wouldn't be unanimous among the crowd that we should pay extra for that. Now, I am not a proponent of the idea for a gas-fired plant in our backyard, which I see as a politically simple way to delay the inevitable need to switch to non-polluting and sustainable forms of reliable electricity. But what this rally seemed to be about was preserving cheap power and property values. I would have been far more impressed, and our politicians would be too, if this rally was pushing for sustainable alternatives. By not doing that, it screams NIMBY. DAVID BARRETT Letters to the editor 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. Despicable thieves steal rose bushes I am sad to report the theft of four beautiful rose bushes from my front lawn in east Oakville. Who could do this? Beautiful flowers please and cheer up neighbors and passersby as well as the gardener himself. They contribute to the appearance of the street and the town. This not a venal crime. What are four rose bushes worth? Nor is it a crime of passion. It is a crime of pure envy and hate. And yet what deformed personality could feel envy or hate while planting or tending roses? Aghast though my fellow flower gardeners of Oakville must be, I can at least offer them the same reassurance that the Halton police offered to me. The theft of roses is a crime as rare as it is despicable. ANDREW BLAND BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com Pud