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A 6 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday, March 6, 2002 EDITORIALS AND LETTERS THE O AKVILLE H E A V E R 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax; 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-2809 Grculation: 845-9742 IAN OLIVER NEIL OLIVER JILL DAVIS Publisher Associate Publisher TERI CASAS Office Manager Editor in Chief MARK DILLS Pmdiu'tion Matuiger KELLY MONTAGUE .\d\'erlising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director STEVE CR0Z1ER Circulation Director ROD IERRED Managing Editor THE O AKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL M EDIA SPONSOR FOR: A - :. . V T MfVotrti Pifitorvig & OestuanQ u i . ndUJas «*u?**ennQ News Adwraser AJWon K ra ttQ x n e r A t t u irm n m o N iw i. Own* fctance. Barry's Bay Tho Week. BoMon EmorpdK. Brwnpen Guardun. Birtngten PaH. Bi/Vnglon Supping Nmis. Cty Pw ert C-ArgvscoiVVasaji Conned**, East Ytrt Urtar. E/m M a c M / Z c u * y Route. Etottcota Guardian, FVirttxxough Post. Georgetown Buanes Times Knptan Ths Week. Lndsay The Week. Economnt & Sun, Mrtanrt'Veneonguehne M nw GUdt. NewnertieVAvLra Fraftjm ef N c m i r t e V w i News North W i Mrtor, O i M h Bewver Otfofle STcppng News. C UU rm n H x fc * News. Orfla Today Oaf»*iaVit«DyOanng)K)n Pan t a ry The Week Owen Sound TrCuno. P^raraon Observer PoMitxjrou^ The W « k PWon Councy Gurta fte*mand H*'Than**<Vaufri»i Uberat. Scartxxuitfi Mnpr. SkUlMM UOndge Tribune. Former *xhq. Oty oi >trv Guerdon Recognized for Excellence by Ontario Community N«wspap«rs Association / T t. A Canadian Community Nwspapfrs Association W- y v ,.c a Jinge beMFund WfeLCC OMtKfc A G O N in . W± 9 ffiiM s '/w & i H n u n t m T g u a C A M f i n d s . . . . . . . | oakvllle gallerks | H O ^lLyiilt I--------------------- --»n c - ^ o - r t e N flB 0 SK Suburban Newspapers of America TV AUCTION im M in oKM M M JHSM W CVftliniM WHSKSSEXOUEKE Who gets the bill? N ow that the final d ebate for the ; O n tario P ro g re ssiv e C o n se rv a tiv e leadership debate is over, w e ju s t have one question -- w ho gets the bill? A re H alton taxpayers goin g to be · on the hook for providing enough security -- about 500 police officers from H alton and surrounding regions ; -- for ensuring card-carrying Tories w eren't rudely interrupted by d em o n strators w hile listening to five w an n a be prem iers deb ate the future o f the i C om m on S en se R evolution? H ere's hoping the O ntario Tories · are footing so m e o f the bill. W h ile th e h ie ra rc h y o f H alto n police is probably going to be criti cized by so m e for g oing o verboard · o u tsid e St. V o lo d y m y r C u ltu ra l · C entre, M onday night, they really had · no choice. G ranted the presence o f 5 00 arm ed · police w as overkill, but it w as n eces sary. T he o rg an izers o f M o n d ay 's event, · the O ntario C o m m o n Front, have con· n ectio n s w ith th e the O n ta rio ·C oalition A gainst Poverty (O C A P ), the group involved in a T oronto street d e m o n stra tio n w h ere an A m erican flag w as burned, and the Royal York · Hotel spray-painted, the trashing o f · F in an ce M in is te r Jim F la h e rty 's W h itb y c o n stitu e n c y office and a p olice/protester clash at Q u een 's Park. M e m o rie s o f th o se sk irm ish e s sparked the need fo r enough police e n fo rc e m e n t to c o n tro l a m a jo r d em onstration. W hile it turned out there w ere m o re p o lic e th an d e m o n stra to rs, M onday night, no one knew w hat to expect. If the police had not provided ad equate security to ensure a peaceful debate, they w ould have also been w idely criticized. In all likelihood, the protest organ izers w ere disappointed by the poor turnout. H ow ever, oddly enough, they m ay benefit m ore by the po o r turnout. N o o ne can deny they received m axim um ex p o su re for m inim al effort. In the end, few people except the T ory party faithful w ill rem em b er w hat w as said by the five leadership can d id ates in O akville. B ut m an y w ill re m e m b e r it required an arm ed police presence, larger than any other e v er am assed in H alton, to keep the O ntario PC party faithful safe form those w ho disagree w ith their vision o f the future. T hat alone says a lot about the task ahead facing the next leader o f the O ntario PC Party. ff TORY LEADERSHIP e : & & AHEAD (SOFT) RIGHT^ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR "Over-zealous" police officer should be applauded I would like to respond to the letter that 1 appeared in a recent edition of the Beaver (Feb. ; 27), written by a young man who was com plaining about being "harassed and intimidat ed" by an over-zealous police officer. While I could understand the young man's " concerns if he had been treated badly, but by his own admission, the officer was "quite cour teous." Here, we have the classic conundrum facing police officers today; criticism for doing noth; ing, and criticism for attempting to do some' thing proactive. Do something about the crime, » we cry, but just don't let your efforts affect me, · or cause me any inconvenience. For heaven's ! sake, just how long did this random stop I take...perhaps five minutes? While I don't profess to have true figures, I surely it is not a leap of faith to suspect that the I overwhelming majority of house burglaries occur during the daytime and early evening (perhaps when homeowners are out?) and the overwhelming majority o f break-and-enter criminals are males aged between 14 and 25. Mr. Mundy complained that he was not driving "at 3 a.m. or any other suspicious time of night." He does not articulate just when the suspi cious time of night starts and ends. I read the "crime watch" figures closely in the local papers and am surprised at the number of stolen vans. Shock horror, there are more than 29,000 suspended drivers in this province! A lot of people make a conscious decision to flout the vehicle insurance laws. But, of course, our police officers are so well-trained they can tell from a glance who is dirty and who is not. And besides, why not let the bad guys "do the deed" then worry about it after the event? That way, the police can never possibly offend the law-abiding citizen. Perhaps, one day, Mr. Mundy will come home from school to discover his house has been burglarized. The furniture slashed, his stereo stolen, his family's heirloom jewelry stolen, and he'll witness first-hand the unshak able feeling of having been violated in that most sacred of places, his own home. Perhaps then, he will reconsider his com ments and thank the busy officer, who. simply doing his job, happens to pull over the van, arrest the occupants, and recover the property. I, for one, applaud the actions of this cour teous police officer. I'm glad he is out there, being "over zealous," and even more pleased he is "hell bent on catching the perpetrators of these break and enters." Welcome to my world Matt...the real one! ROGER VOISINETTE Mudslinging of mayor appalling Having just read the front page o f the Weekend Beaver, I am appalled at the article about Kevin Flynn demanding an apology from Ann Mulvale.* Just what does Kevin want the Mayor to apologize for? Defending him? If I read the article correctly. Ann was try ing to protect her colleagues from the defamation of an unsuccessful candidate. Speaking on OPA 198 is hardly the place for this type o f inference and slander. I have been involved with Ann Mulvale since she first ran in 1978. I have watched the groundswell of support and respect that she has deservedly earned over the years, not just from the people of Oakville, but also from her peers throughout Ontario. In 1978, Ann and Peter made a conscious decision to fund her political campaigns personally. In fact, the first mayoralty campaign in 1985 was run from her own home, in order to cut down on expenses. With the stipend of a councillor and the Mayor being what it is, I hardly feel that it is fair for the small-minded people behind these petty innuendos to expect anyone to totally finance their own campaigns. Having been acclaimed twice, in 1991 and again, in 2000, Ann used any money raised to open and staff with volunteers, an election information office, in an attempt to increase the voter turnout at the municipal election. Any overage, under the Municipal Act, must be turned over to the Town clerk to be held in trust for subsequent munici pal election campaigns. The cocktail party referenced in the article in the Weekend newspaper, was openly advertised in the Beaver, on many occasions, for any one in Oakville to attend. We had a complete sellout and I can tell you that most of the people attending, at $150 a ticket, were ordinary, everyday citizens of Oakville who came because they know the real Ann Mulvale -- the consummate volunteer, the person o f faith, the true friend. They recognize her integrity. To answer the accusation that Ann is often seen with Peter Gilgan o f Mattamy Homes, o f course she is, for causes that sustain our town. For example, the United Way of Oakville, the Capital Campaign for the Oakville Y and Wellspring. Ann is frequently asked to be a Honourary Chair o f these fundraising endeavours because she is known to be someone who will beat the bushes for contri butions and build agencies and services that benefit the people of Oakville. Aren't we fortunate to have such community-minded individuals? Your balanced editorial helped me recover from the ini tial front-page article. It is reassuring that the Beaver also feels that the mudslinging is not only unfair, but also unde served. We should thank our lucky stars that we have a person o f Ann's ability to help achieve the quality o f life that we all were looking for when we chose Oakville to be our home. JUDIE PRESTON Town has changed for the worse I came to this delightful town with my family in 1966. We bought our first home in 1970 a few blocks north of the lake. We are still in the same house. How wonderful to live on one of the Great Lakes and in such a diverse neighbourhood where the homes were different. Our children swam in the lake and played on the beaches. Our grandchildren are not so lucky. They cannot swim in the lake or play on the beaches and sometimes they are not even supposed to breathe the air. These days I don't go anywhere without a tissue in my pocket. Some days my throat is rough and my nose is runny and I can taste the air. The bedroom windows are no longer open ipen at night because of the constant roar from the QEW a mile to the north. What a shame and how drastically things have changed and in such a short time. This town -- or are we now a city? -- is chang ing too fast. There is so much more garbage lying around, homes are found to be growing mar ijuana, the traffic is horrible and I sometimes feel the oak leaf symbol of Oakville should be a bulldozer. There seems to be more of them around. Why is Oakville doing this? What is there to gain? It is not too late to change, to stop this growth, to leave our fields and wood lands as they are and try to keep our wildlife before it, too. leaves for healthier climes. ANNE WOOTTON Say no to expansion As a resident of Oakville for the past 36 years and having followed closely the events of the past 18 months, I only have one question: Why? Why is Town council willing to consider allowing Oakville to grow by 50% when we are all suffering from the harmful effects of too much expansion and development to date? The resulting air quality and noise issues have already affected our health and well being. The thought of yet another 50,000 peo ple coming to live in Oakville is a frightening one. If I had want ed to live in a concrete jungle I would have moved to Mississauga long ago. There is an alternative, it is to say no to further expansion of our beautiful town. Take the necessary steps now to preserve our land north of Dundas Street and create an open space buffer that will keep important environmentally-sensitive land intact for our future generations to enjoy. MALCOM WOOTTO WOOTTON Campaign donations part of municipal election process An integral part of funding an election cam campaign is to receive donations. There are laws that govern such donations recognizing that the vast majority of candidates cannot and should not have to fund the entire cost of their personal campaign. Candidates are there to serve the municipality and to provide proper leadership. This was experienced in the 2000 campaign for Ann Mulvale. There were three donations of $750 (the maximum allowable under the elec tion law). There were two for $600 and four for $300. Some of these provided services in kind. Ann Mulvale's fundraiser held at Le Dome Banquet Hall raised the remainder of the fund ing and was paid by the people who paid $150 per person to support her. (This event was advertised in the Oakville Beaver). Ann was acclaimed in 2000. The funds raised were used to pay for operating an office for use by all candidates (not only municipal, but federal as well) running advertisements in the papers, and renting signs to encourage greater voter turnout than had been experience experienced previously in a municipal election. This was all to encourage the democratic process Oakville had been used to under Ann Mulvale's leader ship. I say it is time to stop the mudslinging, pulling down the strongest pillar we have ever had in this community. Now is the time to encourage Ann and council to carry on the valu able work that has been done for over 20 years. LOTTIE GRANT Pud By STEVE NEASE Letter was whiner of the week Just what were you thinking when you chose your letter of the week on Feb 27? A letter from 18-year-old Matt Mundy whining about the injustice of being stopped by a cop who just happened to be doing his job. And about the inappropriate quote by Dr. King -- he should have quoted Steve McGarret - "Book'm Danno." A better choice for letter of the week would be the letter on the next page from Samantha Emmerson who seems to be quite happy about the way the police do their job. GORDON HUNT