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www.oakvillebeaver.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, January 1, 2010 · 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. Commentary Letters to the editor NEIL OLIVER Vice-President and Group Publisher, Metroland West DAVID HARVEY Regional 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 WEBSITE oakvillebeaver.com OMB appeal raises questions Re: OMB power plant ruling appealed, Oakville Beaver, Dec. 24 While I wasn't surprised by the news of TransCanada's OMB appeal, its appeal, however, raises some specific questions that TransCanada continues to avoid. TransCanada's OMB application and appeal makes me wonder what they submitted in their proposal related to municipal stakeholder alignment. The OPA RFP scored up to 20 points based on TransCanada's positioning of how Oakville and the residents were supportive of their "solution." Obviously this latest OMB tactic demonstrates that they did not have the Town's support, nor do they feel they need it. TransCanada's action also foreshadows how they will handle residents' review of the Environmental Review Report. I fear that they have already made up their mind to capitalize on the gaps in Ontario's environmental and energy protocols and will continue to attempt to railroad the residents through the process. My personal thanks to those at Citizens 4 Clean Air for all their efforts to represent everyone. Their efforts have placed a spotlight on the issues and risks. JOE EVERS RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville TV AUCTION Power plant not welcomed Re: OMB power plant ruling appealed, Oakville Beaver, Dec. 24 Let's see if I've got this right. TransCanada submits an RFP to build a 900megawatt gas-fired power plant directly adjacent to an established residential neighbourhood, knowing the facility must be completed by 2013. Of the four proposals, it prevails. Upon learning of the Ontario Power Authority's decision, local residents, with the support of Town Council, understandably express their outrage. In response, an Interim Control Bylaw is adopted, restricting construction of power plants larger than 10 megawatts. This enables the Town to establish an appropriate site for a facility of the magnitude approved by the OPA. Seeing as the bylaw delays its agenda, TransCanada goes before the Ontario Municipal Board, which, to its credit, upholds the Interim Bylaw. Since this really frustrates the company's ability to meet its contractual obligations with the OPA, the OMB decision is appealed to the Ontario Supreme Court of Justice. And the beat goes on. Did TransCanada honestly believe residents would roll over and play dead? Did they somehow figure council would wholeheartedly endorse their outrageous initiative? When will it register, we, the people, do not want their power plant on the Ford site? To sum up, they are not welcome. PETER D. PELLIER NIKKI WESLEY/OAKVILLE BEAVER DENNY'S HELPS OUT: Halton Health Care Services OTMH site Maternal Child Program Leader Cindy MacDonald (left) accepts a cheque for $1,500 from Denny's owner Prapa Mahadevan and sales manager Renata Marchione from the donations received for their month-long anniversary event that collected funds for the program. Reflecting on decade of hype, hysteria and media overkill P at yourselves on the backs, dear readers. Unless you do something ill-advised between now and the new year -- snowboarding off your roof after one too many peppermint schnapps, for instance -- then you have survived the 2000s. Not an easy task. At least, not when you view the decade through the distorted lens of the modern media (a.k.a. Chicken Little), which reported that the sky was falling so many times over the course of the turbulent 10 years that people either appropriated panic as a part of their daily lifestyle, or quit listening to the media altogether. Take the top news stories of the 2000s. Consider how they were covered. Witness the hype, the hysteria, the overkill (ie: Balloon Boy), and the embarrassing inaccuracies. See how each story became a virtual (and, as the decade progressed, a viral) contest between news outlets to out-sensationalize each other. The decade began with us under the dire threat of Y2K. We had been told by every computer geek who could be dragged out of his mom's basement for long enough to speak on the subject that at the turn of the millennium, computers (and airplanes) would crash, nuclear power stations would melt down, electrical grids would sizzle, dogs would mate with cats, and life as we knew it would be over. A technological apocalypse. On the final night of the old millennium we hosted a New Year's party, just a few close friends with whom we wanted to spend the last hours of civilization before our lives became a real-life episode of Survivor. Andy Juniper Between rounds of drinks and games of pool, we chewed our fingernails and tested our trusty flashlights. Imagine our shock when the clock struck midnight and life went on. We should have realized right then that we were entering a new age of media frenzy. Consider other top stories. For a large chunk of the decade, the media had us on high alert for terror attacks -- checking our closets for hideaway terrorists and our mailboxes for anthrax. And while 9-11 was indeed horrific, many experts contend that the subsequent threat of anyone being killed via terrorist action was considerably less than the threat of being killed in a gardening accident. More recently, the media had us either living on the streets selling pencils, as we were surely headed into The Second Great Depression, or all dead from H1N1 which, to date, has been less of a killer than the regular flu. Simply put: the media is out of control. Reportage is not only oftentimes inaccurate, it continually borders on idiotic. In a world of Internet immediacy -- where traditional media scrambles to keep pace with the new social media (tweeters, bloggers, etc.) -- anyone reporting news must shoulder the responsibility, not solely of getting the news first, but of getting it right. Truth must always be allowed to get in the way of a good story Take this year's Grey Cup. Imagine my surprise to discover -- after having read on Twitter that Saskatchewan had won the big game -- that the Roughriders had actually been burned and beaten by a penalty and subsequent Montreal field goal. I could just hear the peeps who had posted those premature tweets, offering up an embarrassed: "My bad..." Yeah, you bad. Happy New Year, everyone. Oh, and get off your roof! Andy Juniper can be visited at www.strangledeggs.com, contacted at ajjuniper@gmail.com, or followed at www.twitter.com/thesportjesters.