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Beaver THE OAKVILLE Voted Ontario's Top Newspaper Four Years in a Row - 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 PRINTER EMPTY? REFILL AND SAVE UP TO 60% Unsung Apollo 13 hero honoured Page 2 FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2010 Upper Oakville Shopping Centre 905-842-5600 www.thinkrefill.ca refill MISSISSAUGA PAINTS 3087 Winston Churchill Blvd at Dundas (905) 569-9200 56 Pages $1.00 (plus GST) A member of Metroland Media Group Ltd. Vol. 48 No. 54 "USING COMMUNICATION TO BUILD BETTER COMMUNITIES" U.S. Forest Service joins fight to save Oakville's ash trees Municipalities left to fight alone by federal and provincial governments By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF LISA KIRTON / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER FREQUENT VISITOR: Lisa Kirton snapped this photo of a coyote on the other side of the backyard fence of her Ravine Gate home in north Oakville. According to Kirton, the coyote frequently comes to visit her dog, Abby, a Labrador-poodle cross. Coyote scare at elementary school By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Students at St. Bernadette Catholic Elementary School received plenty of excitement Tuesday morning when a coyote decided to take a stroll through their playground. At the time of the coyote's arrival, around 10 a.m., students had been preparing to go outside for recess when a parent spotted the coyote and warned the school about the unusual visitor. "I told the kids that they would have to stay inside now because there had been an animal sighting," said Diane Mayes, St. Bernadette secretary. "Apparently it was really big and really mangy looking, so we kept the kids indoors because it was a possible threat to them." As students and staff watched the coyote through the school's windows, Mayes placed a call to the Oakville and District Humane Society, but was told nothing needed to be done as coyotes rarely attack humans. Despite this assurance and despite the coyote leaving the area after around 15 minutes, the school opted to keep its students indoors for the entire day. See Officials page 7 It's an invasive insect that could potentially wipe out more than nine per cent of the trees in Oakville and the only direct help the Town is getting to deal with it is coming from the United States Federal Government. Town of Oakville Forestry Services Manager John McNeil stated in a report, presented to the Community Services Committee on Tuesday, the United States Forest Service has offered to provide the Town with support in its efforts to manage Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) populations in Oakville. McNeil said this assistance is valued at $175,000 and is being offered because the Americans are interested in some of the steps Oakville is taking to combat the EAB problem, including the undertaking of a hyperspectral imagery project to pinpoint the location of every ash tree in Oakville. The help from the United States Forest Service contrasts with the lack of assistance being offered by the higher levels of the Emerald Ash Borer Canadian government to fight EAB, said McNeil in the report. "Municipal governments are the highest level of government that is actively engaged with EAB management in Ontario, in contrast to their American counterparts, who can rely on an established infrastructure through the U.S. Forest Service for EAB assistance at the federal and state levels," said McNeil. "Yet local municipalities (in Canada) are under resourced to be delegated this problem in its entirety. In 2004, a request from See Asian page 5 See Oakville Hyundai for complete details.