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w w w . o a kv ill eb ea ve r.c o m O A KV IL LE B EA V ER Th ur sd ay , Se pt em be r 9 , 2 01 0 6 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5566 Classified Advertising: 905-632-4440 Circulation: 845-9742 The Oakville Beaver 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.Pho e (416) 340-1981.Advertising is accepted on he condition that,in the event of a typographical error,that portion of advertising space occupied by the erroneous item,together with a reasonable allowan e for signa ure,will n t 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 adv rtising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. United Way of Oakville Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America 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 GRAHAM PAINE / OAKVILLE BEAVER CONCERT AT APPLEBY: The Chapel Choir of Selwyn College from the U.K.'s Cambridge University, per- formed Tuesday evening in Appleby College's John Bell Chapel.The choir, which is on an international tour, is con- ducted by Sarah MacDonald. ATHENAAward Guest Columnist The first week of September is an exciting, albeit hec-tic, one for many residents of Oakville especiallythose with children starting or returning to school. Oakville parents, students and teachers will continue to notice improvements in our schools including the opening of the Palermo and Clearview elementaries and the imple- mentation of full-day Kindergarten at several schools. Since 2003, the McGuinty education plan has focused on making considerable investments to strengthen Oakvilles schools. The plan has provided local school boards with the funding to hire hundreds of new teachers and support staff in our schools resulting in smaller class sizes and higher test scores. This has also led to our nine and 10 year olds ranking among the top students in the world for reading and a graduation rate which has jumped from 68 to 79 per cent since 2004. The next major phase of the education plan began earlier this week with the introduction of full-day Kindergarten at St. Luke, W.H. Morden, Abbey Lane, Oakwood and the new schools, in Clearview and Palermo. By 2015-16, full-day Kindergarten will be fully implemented at all Oakville schools. We know without a doubt investing in our childrens education at an early age is key to ensuring we foster the worlds best and brightest. In this competitive new global economy we have to realize our early investment in our children will reap huge future rewards for our province. We announced earlier this week we will be making it a little easier for Oakville parents to get their children involved in sports, arts and other activities by propos- ing a new permanent, refundable tax credit. Oakville parents would be able to claim up to $500 of eligible expenses per child spent on sports, arts or other activities. In the coming weeks, I will also be returning to Oakville schools as part of my annual visits to Grade 5 classes learning about government for the first time and I hope to be entering many high school civics classes as well both in person and through the modern marvels of webcam and Skype. Building on the tremendous success of last years committee, I am very excited to start up the 2010-11 Oakville Provincial Youth Action Committee (OPYAC), which is a group made up of stu- dents from high schools across Oakville that advises me on issues affecting youths. One of the pinnacles of last year was working with OPYAC as it led my first annual Youth Innovation Tour. This allowed each school to highlight some of its ground-breaking programs and I was thrilled our local media gave them the expo- sure they deserve. The committee ended the year with a meeting with Education Minister Leona Dombrowsky to make suggestions on ways to improve the province's civics curriculum. To learn more about OPYAC or any other provincial matter, please do not hesi- tate to contact my office at 905-827-5141 or e-mail kflynn.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org or by visiting my website at www.kevinflynn.onmpp.ca. Kevin Flynn, Oakville MPP Kevin Flynn Investing in kids The Oakville Beaver is a division of Last time we looked in on Zoeys World, our hirsute hero(that would be Zoey) was a 35-year-old male living at homewith his momma. So, what is new in his ever-evolving world? Well, now hes a 42-year-old male. Living at home. With his momma. For the record, Zoey is our hound (a Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen for those keeping track at home) and his momma is my wife (his birth momma having gone to the great dog run in the sky). And while its true that, as our beloved hound ages in leaps and bounds the usual seven dog years to one human year nothing much at all happens. Still, to him, were sure, it seems as though his life is a whirlwind of traumatic transformation. You see, Zoey is a hyper-sensitive soul who is very set in his ways, a dog that has grown right before our eyes from slightly eccentric to full-blown neurotic the Bob Wiley of canines, for those of you who have seen the movie What About Bob? A dog for whom any slight ripple of change is seismic. Take last week (please!). Innocently enough, we decided to end the summer on a high note by taking the family to a cottage wed booked in Buckhorn. Earlier in the summer wed taken a family vacation in Chicago and had naturally left the hound behind in the capable, caring hands of my sister and her family. And while Zoey had a blast with them, it took him a month to get over the trauma, and forgive us for what he considered to be our callous abandon- ment. Which may explain why, in the days before leaving for Buckhorn, as we slow- ly began boxing up things to take, he sensed further, future abandonment, and began to mope around, occasionally emitting grating little sounds of despair. Like we were giving him a haircut, with tweezers. At this point I should note that Zoey is a prodigious weeper of considerable renown. His groomer, who sees dozens of dogs a day, pleads with us to come get him the second hes groomed because she and her coworkers cannot tolerate his persistent protesta- tions. Zoey apparently has issues. Anyway, we were certain hed love the cottage once we got him there. On getaway day, we ensured that he was comfy in the back seat and then we headed out. And he only cried for 178 minutes of the 180-minute drive. There was a point in his hysteria that I considered crashing the car, just for a little relief. Once in Buckhorn, the wonder dog had fab fun in the sun. Granted, it was fun fringed with slight stresses and worries. Which turned our rare-barking dog into Barky Barkerson, ruff- ruff-ruffing at any little movement on the lake or around the cot- tage. He was particularly perturbed that he had to share the beau- tiful landscape with overtly bold, curious and crazy-friendly chip- munks. After seven glorious days up in Gods country, we headed for home. Rested and rejuvenated from his holiday, Zoey was a whole new man, crying for only 169 minutes of the 180-minute drive. Now, were back home, slowly getting into the post-summer, post-holiday groove. Zoey, naturally, remains out of sorts. When hes not sleeping to recover from the stress of being dragged away for a week hes restless. We think hes worried there might be more change on the horizon. Or, maybe hes just on the lookout for one of those crazy-friendly chipmunks. Andy Juniper can be visited at www.strangledeggs.com, con- tacted at ajjuniper@gmail.com, or followed at www.twitter.com/thesportjesters. Hound worries change and chipmunks are on the horizon Andy Juniper