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A 6 - The Oakville Beaver, W ed ne sd ay, D e c e m b e r 10, 2003 EDITORIALS AMI LETTERS mi; iiakviim m u 467 Speers Rd.. Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax; 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-3824, ext. 224 Grculation: 845-9742 Recognized for Excellence by Ontario Community N e w tp tp m Association IAN OLIVER Publisher NEIL OLIVER Associate Publisher TERI CASAS Office Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief MARK DILLS Pnniuction Manager KELLY MONTAGUE Advertising Director RIZIERO VERT0LL1 Photography Director CHARLENE HALL Circulation Manager ROD JERRED Managing Editor M a nure! PrvtBng. PuM tfwy & Oatrtunng ltd n J u d n A *» P c M m g Nnvi Ateten N n k V C c u w Arthur Emwpra« Npvw rtjnw A dw no. Brarrjucn GuMTtan. Burlington Po«t fariingfon Stooping M n w Ctfrton Entorpngc c»» Parent. CcftnQMouliWinaaa Gomaon. tjs t V M M ira . Erin * * o c * a C o u * y (kxtm. 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P ttjn C a rry Gudt FW cwnd i t i > i r M `A u c n r I {NTO Savtnrcu*> U r w S k U M k U M p i T ifc r t hjruvw n xrt} UT» cf G u r> m THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL M EDIA SPONSOR FOR: Halton Healthcare YMCA J T M tc m | o a k ville g a lle rie s | J n g t BeM F u n d IVfeLCOM I ip c _____ ^ C N A Canadian Community Newspapers Association o * t t i i a S K t Suburban Newspapers at America J/luxird TV AUCTIO N R IA L K tT A T K OO AM D 0 + k U L Sooner rather than later The best C hristm as present for O akville taxpayers to receive this year is to have this w hole sorry m ess surrounding the m ayoral election dis pensed with as soon as possible. Even though the Town has m ade it abundantly clear that it is "business as usual" with M ayor Ann M ulvale at the helm , it is difficult for all tax payers to believe that assertion am idst the num erous allegations of improprieties in vote counting. Rob Burton, who lost the Nov. 10 m unicipal election to M ulvale by 15 votes, will have his day in court Dec. 22 -- at least that is the hearing date. We hope this m atter will be dealt with swiftly. In an application filed with the O ntario Superior Court o f Justice last week. Burton is dem anding the m ayoral election be deem ed invalid. He has supplied the court w ith a long list o f allegations including everything from ballots not being properly secured, to a vote counter skipping a number, to the day after the election when 51 com pleted ballots were discovered in vote tabulator bins. Burton also has several suggestions including that a by-election be held for the jo b o f m ayor or the court order the Town Clerk do a m anu al recount and the Tow n pay B urton's court costs. It will be interesting to see what the court decides. If there is enough weight behind the allegations, there could very well be a by-election. Although this is an extrem ely costly option for taxpayers, it would be a decisive end to this so-called battle for the m ayor's chair. Unless o f course, the outcom e is sim ilar to the Nov. 10 decision. Then where would we be? The court could order a manual recount, which is probably the most logical option. We are quite sure the hard-w orking election officials w ould also like to see these allegations dealt with as quickly as possible. A fter all. they are the folks responsible for the proper adm inistration o f the Elections Act. D ecem ber is the month for giving, and it w ould be a splendid gift indeed for Town staff and councillors to be able to focus on issues other than alleged election improprieties. We are confident the courts will also agree and render a decision sooner rather than later. F am writing today to express my extreme gratitude to a multitude of peo ple. for the overwhelming love, support, care and prayers they have bestowed upon us during the last two years of our lives. When we found out our son had can cer we were devastated. Not one month off treatment we found out he had relapsed. This is the. toughest thing any parent could ever go through, having a critically ill child. Well I want to say thank you to some people, because with out their support I don't know what we would have done. I would like to thank Johnson Controls Ltd. and all the staff. I would like to thank Camp Trillium. I would like to thank ErinOak (especially Diane P.). I would like to thank my family for always Shell land should be LETTERS T O TH E ED ITO R Kerr Street community Mom grateful for love and support developed 'n*° a Par^ deserves united voice ** being there for me and my most wonder ful neighbours. I would also like to thank the staff at the O a kville B e a v e r for telling D aniel's story and helping to bring awareness to our cause and. lastly. I would like to thank our new school com munity Gladys Speers (especially Daniel's teacher Mrs. Pavicic and the entire Grade 3 class) for their love and support. Even though my kids are new to the school community it's like they have been there for years and for this we are truly grateful. In closing I would like to thank Daniel for being so brave and strong and Mathew for his patience and my husband for being my rock. May God bless you all. M A R G U E R ITA C A R D O S O T h is le tte r is a a rd in e the o ro o o s e d d e v e lo n m e n t o This letter is re regarding proposed development of Shell House land. I had been wailing for the inevitable, packing in as many buildings as possible. I would like to know if the property had been owned by an ordinary per son. whether the historic house would have had to have been restored to its original status. In my opinion, the house should be restored by the cur rent owner with the insurance (money). The Town should then buy the land with all the property taxes gleaned from the hundreds of houses being built on the northern Shell lands. The land should then be developed into a beautiful park for the general public to enjoy. Let's think about qual ity of life for thousands rather than money for the very few who don't even live in Oakville. V IC T O R IA E L L IO T T `A hostile act against nature' The search for equilibrium between man and nature is a question which we must face and one of the major prob lems for which our civilization must find an answer. To read in the O akville B e a v e r that a developer is pro posing to build 1,000 apartment units on the lake shore where Shell House stood synthesizes in an exemplary way that there is a profound crisis in interpreting how to protect the environment. Wanting to transform "a sanctuary o f nature" into 1.000 apartments is something of grave concern and there are no studies that can justify this. It has been said that nobody better protects the territory than the people who live in it. To allow7 any developer to build 1,000 apartment units on the lake is to subtract from people on oasis of natural harmony, which translates into a mutilation of the land scape o f Oakville and a hostile act against nature. G IU S E P P E FAVA Perhaps we need another election Mr. Rob Burton has made numerous serious allegations regarding the official ballot count. If any o f the allegations are true, it is a serious matter. (You think?) I understand that he alleges that the ballots were not properly counted. He also apparently alleges that after the count was finished, the ballots were not properly secured and a number of people with no involvement in the elec tion were afforded access to the ballots. I guess that he is saying that the bal lots may have been tampered with subse quent to the official count and may no longer be relied upon for a re-count. In that case, the only way to know for sure who should have won would be to call a new election, at no small cost to the taxpayers. It would cost millions. The small voter turnout suggests to me that the majority of residents general ly had relatively little negative concern about Mayor Ann Mulvale's perform ance, so I wonder if it really would be worth the cost? Besides, I viewed most o f Mr. Burton's campaign promises the same way I viewed Dalton McGuinty's: Pie in the sky. I'm only surprised that he didn't promise to lower taxes. If Mr. Burton truly cares about the taxpayers in this Town, and not just his own glory, I think that he should show it by giving this matter a rest. He can always run again in three short years. By then, perhaps he'll have been able to come up with some campaign promises besides no-growth. D A V ID B A Z A R We welcome your letters Got a beef? Have an opinion you wish to share? Something on your mind? The Oakville Beaver welcomes letters from its readers. lette rs will he edited for clarity, length, legal consider ations and grammar. In order to be published, letters mast contain the name, address and phone number of the author, letters should he addressed to The Editor, Oakville Beaver. 467 Speers Road, Oakville, On., L6K 3S4, or via e-mail to editor@ oakvillebeaver.com. The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish any letter. The biggest thrill of the purchase of a CJ Jeep is to find a road that has several bumps to entertain the children, and well, myself as well. It's like an amusement park ride. Living in the Kerr Street Community, I was acutely aware of the fact that Kerr Street itself is a sure bet for this type of ride. This all sounds fun and great, but the sad part of it is that Kerr Street is a sure bet for potholes and bumps because Kerr Street desperately needs to be re-paved. To Denise S. Ertsinian's letter to the editor ( The B eaver, Dec. 3), albeit not a store owner. I concur with her opinion that Kerr Street is in need of something, and if not a BIA. a strong and united voice for the business and community of Kerr Street area. My daughter and 1 moved to the Kerr Street area from anoth er Oakville neighbourhood about a year ago. We prefer this area and as my friends have said, we moved from "where we were settling to w'here we are living." Not many locations offer the fresh fish, fresh meats, fresh bread and the incredible variety of cultural choices in Oakville, all on one street, as does the Kerr Street community. Pauline, my daughter, spearheaded a group to paint over a mural that was vandalized, and on another occasion painted a fence in front of two Kerr Street merchant's locations because it was rusted and didn't look nice. We did this just because we believe that this community has so much potential. Already with so many more friends than we had at our other location, where we resided for six years, and feeling a much stronger connection to this area than we did in the last. we. my daughter and I, hope to see this community blossom and become what we believe it can be. We are looking forward to the day when we can walk down the street and see the fresh fruit and vegetable stands, and myr iad cars driving up and down looking for parking because the shopping is more of an experience than anywhere else in Oakville. It already is. To our merchants, thank you for your great hospitality and customer service. Truly a community to be proud of. but truly a community that does need support. In an ideal world, there would be more emphasis on the maintenance and development of existing gold mines like Kerr Street, rather than placing so much energy in the north, but short of that, it is commendable to see the merchants joining forces to see to it that Kerr Street does become the envy of other Oakville communities. LA U R IE C A M P B ELL The Oakvtlle Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council The coundl is located at 8 0 Gould S t. Suite 206, Toronto. O nt. MSB 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 tor at the applicable rate. The publisher reserves the right to categorize advertisements or decline. Pud By STEVE NEASE Good news story failed to mention company name Re: Crash survivor gets chance to thank rescuers. Dec. 3. O a kville B eaver. AREMT You (50IN6 TO 1 V/RITE A LETTER t o SANlA this year HE JUST W D/ We were very pleased to see the recent "good news" arti cle about two construction workers who saved a young woman's life when she was trapped in a fiery car crash on the QEW. We only wish you had mentioned that the town construc tion workers were employees o f Oakville-based Bot Construction Ltd. and the crane used to rescue Karan Hobley was supplied by Bot Construction Ltd. All Bot employees are very proud of Ilidio Catarino and Carlo D' Angelo and are delighted that Bot equipment being used to build the new bridge at Third Line was rushed to scene in time to save Karan's life. R O Y M. B O T P R E S ID E N T . B O T C O N S T R U C T IO N LTD .