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6 The Oakville Beaver, W ed ne sd ay, A u g u s t 6, 2003 MIITIIRMLS A M I LETTERS t iii : DAkviLLE beaver Recognized fo r Excellence by H ilto n H calthcarc 467 Speers Rd,, Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax; 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 337-5610 Circulation: 845-3824, ext. 224 IAN OLIVER Publisher NEIL OLIVER Associate Publisher TERI CASAS Office Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief MARK DILLS Production Manager KELLY MONTAGUE Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLU Photography Director STEVE CR0Z1ER Circulation Director ROD JERRED Managbtg lulitor MeffoUiW fu re n fl PUHBttiy A D entxA ng 112 . rcludes HavWJuwTtg A l c i r H w M lta iW Artnur ( r i m p r v H um , B v m M a r c o , EUrrys Buy Um »Vw*. Itaten Fn!«rp»nn. Bfarrpton uuartJan Boilntftan P o tt Ik/Hngton SfBfCU'Q N m a Cffy Parent L orinpftoxl `·V aaoa M<ton Caraoan a I m a 'f c s a a i i j i l i n e 'At/or* Era Bwnv rra. 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O n tario 's health care system w as in a crisis situation well before the Tories took pow er in 1995. and w hile they love to point at the total num ber o f dollars they have devoted to bettering the system , the fact rem ains alm ost w eekly there is w ord o f an o th er breakdow n/crisis involving health care. Packed hospital em ergency w aiting room s, long w aits for treatm ent at clinics and hospital beds and a shortage o f technicians have been the norm for so long, these issues no longer are new s. In the past tw o w eeks we h ave4ieard o f hospitals exhausting lines o f credit just to m eet payroll and banks threatening to cut them off. a private M RI clinic luring a m uch-needed technologist aw ay from a hospital and a report w arning that O ntario could lose 29 per cent o f its nurses to retire m ent by 2(X)6. To their credit, the Tories prom ised a $484 m illion increase in health care funding in their last budget and last w eek coughed up an additional $136 m illion, m oney that " will start to go out the door literally today or tom or row." Eves proudly boasted last w eek. But. therein lies the problem with the T ories' handling o f our health care system - it is reactive instead o f proactive. M ore cash is throw n at the sys tem but only w hen a crisis develops. W here w ere the steps taken years ago to stem the flow o f graduating d o c tors to the U .S.? To prepare for a nursing shortage? To ensure hospitals have am ple funds to m eet payrolls? Yes. the federal gov ernm ent shares m uch blam e for not funding our health care system but at som e point (long ago) the Tories had to expend the energy and resources to stop the bleeding before it started. It's called preventive m edicine. L E T T E R ST il T H EE D IT O R No reason to ban use of pesticides in Oakville It is distressing to read a biased newspaper: shades of the major newspaper ownership in Canada, that will only support their own beliefs with all editorials written in Winnipeg. Surely we in Oakville deserv e better than this. I refer to your weekend edition Aug. 2. Three articles (Nature's View by Karen Birkemeyer - The perfect lawn is an unnatural obsession ; Halton Health Notes -- Weed lawn off pesticides: Upcoming contest fo r pesticide-five gardens) that appear to set-up Oakville residents for a ban on the use of all pesticides in 2005. O f course, you don't say this, but these articles make it obvious. Lawns, as Karen Birkemeyer tells us. originated in the estates and parks of 18th century England. A privileged few had sach lawns. Cut with scythes, or occasionally used for grazing cittle or sheep, the care of these lavs was prohibitively expen sive. Esute workers, men. women and children, would spend hours weeding and seeding such lawns by hind, especially prior to grand tr e a sons such as weddings or birthdays fisr the master and his family, when iiany guest would be in residence. Humble homes would have picked dirt floors inside and spare lad. or garden, would be used for groving herbs and vegetables with, posibly. a few laying hens and a pig to provide sustenance when times wee hard. A far cry from today when laws re ubiquitous. They look nice if kept free of weeds and mown regularly. Indeed, the lawn mower, the push type, has been with us since the early 19th century and was being mass produced in the USA c l 885 - about 120 years ago. The heyday of lawns and lawn care was when subdivisions were being built outside major cities with the availability of transport: the rail way. subway, streetcar and automo bile. For those who have experienced a move to a new subdivision, possibly the earliest occupants, the sea of mud tracked in and out of the house w as a memory' best forgotten - until the gar dens and sidewalk areas were sod ded. What a blessed relief was grass. The children and dog could play on it. The adults could entertain on it. All that mud and muck a distant memory. At this time, we see the rise of sod farms. Purpose built in rural areas, to supply the new subdivisions with that life saving green sod and still with us today. One wonders if those who consider the perfect lawn an unnatu ral obsession have any worthwhile alternatives? O f course, nature fought back. As we see wild animals in built up areas today. Dandelions. Chickweed and a multitude of undesirable plants invaded our nice new, green grass. How do we, with busy lives, or the time constraints of a one parent fam ily. w ithout the use o f a multitude of estate workers to weed, feed and nur ture our lawns get rid of these pesky weeds? Natural remedies have been with us ever since lawns were first grown: they are labour intensive and. the lat est natural (non-chemical alterna tives) to control weeds are costly and not. in my experience, very effective. Chemical pesticides: where would we be without the scientist and chemist who have provided the back bone of our existence today. From our drinking water taken from Lake Ontario, cleaned, filtered and treated with chemicals to make it safe to drink, on to our sewage, from settling ponds, and with added bacteria, treat ed with chemicals and discharged in to Lake Ontario. All these modem developments add to our life span and to our lifestyle. Pop a pill for this that and the other: exchange a useless organ for new (or used). Tighten up a sagging face with botox or suck out or re-build various body parts to your liking. Today, almost anything is pos sible . Yet. the past shows us that some scientific developements. honestly intended for the betterment of humankind, are flawed. My own memory is that of Thalidomide pro ducing deformed babies. This drug is still in use today and apparently works well for its intended purpose if used with care. Care, of course, is mandatory in the use of any drug or chemical. Today we have a long list of potential side effects that the Doctor cautions you about when pre scribing any drug. It appears, some times. that the side effects are worse than the disease and cause greater suffering. Some chemicals have a benefit in one way but are suspect in others: DDT is a good example. It is now banned in most countries but is essential in killing the Tetse Fly that causes malaria in Africa. There is not, at the moment, any alternative. These drawbacks are discovered by exhaus tive testing over many years. As con sumers we have to rely on our gov ernments to police, test and approve afl drugs and chemicals. This is where we run in to the sec ond guessers as I call them. They look back at the past mistakes, the horror stories and blow them out of proportion to serve their own agenda of a. so-called, more natural world. They ignore the benefits that they, and their families have lived through, healthier and longer lives and drive for a back-to-nature scenario. It has always amused me when the big play came out in the media about Dioxins. Dioxins and dioxin-like compounds are ubiquitous in nature and through that, in our environment, yet none of the second guessers mentioned this (if they knew it!). Dioxins in excess are dangerous (as are many other natural' substances) to human health and it was sensible to remove exces sive man made dioxin sources but we all have within us some dioxin trace, it is natural. So we now fight a battle against a pesticide ban in Oakville. A ban on the use of phenoxy herbicides that have been used for about 50 years, have been tested exhaustively in many countries, and approved by governments for use by farmers and home gardeners, I can relate to the testing that was done as my business is agriculture. Until about 20 years ago. I could not buy Roundup in my local garden outlet. It was restricted for use by qualified people in rural, farm, areas. When the patent expired, and other manufacturers produced their ow n name brands, further test ing was done and government scien tist approved it for home gardener.. Obviously, any release of chemi cals for farm or home/garden use generates a lot of environmental stud ies by government and the industry involved. We have lots of chemicals in the home that are dangerous: sodi um chloride (common salt), if taken in excess will kill you. As will many other household chemicals if not used with care and according to the instruc tions. We. in our household, practice 'prudent avoidence.' All chemicals, both in house and garden, are used with care and only when necessary. I see no reason for members of our Town Council to second guess government and ban pesticides use for Oakville homeowners. When one considers a bureaucracy, which we will have if this ban is passed, polic ing pesticide use in Oakville with all the attendant snitch' calls it will raise, or the approval one will have to get for a wasp nest or other infestation. Shades of George Orwell. Oakville gardeners unite and defeat this foolishness. IVOR DAVIES L E T T E R(IFT H EW E E K Sarstock was great concert In response to guest columnist Craig's review of "Sarstock" (Oakville Beaver Weekend Aug. 3). please have his people call me, and I will personally help him handle the next outdoor concert experience. I attended the concert with my 17-year-old son and two of his friends. We treated it like a day scout camp and experi enced none o f the discomforts bemoaned by your ill-prepared cub reporter. We parked at the Lds chapel at Jane and 401 and hiked three miles to arrive at Gate 3 on Wilson Street at 7:30 a.m. At 8:15 a.m. we hiked another mile to our uncrowded spot southeast of the VIP tent. 250 feet from the second crowd control fence. The sound was state o f the art, CD quality and I have a small sonic souvenir to prove it. My son eagerly insisted that the sound quality was the same wherever he walked. There were high quality Jum botons everywhere and the two we watched were so good I did not even bother to take out my binoculars. I had to chuckle at your reporter's com plaints regarding the ticket price o f $21.50. modest food costs, personal sunburn (try sunscreen) and finally his potty disposal o f his cam era (tie it to your wrist next time Craig). I am 46 years young and it appears that your reporter is old enough to be my son. I will take him to his next outdoor con cert and I will ensure he has a "M agic Carpel Ride" experi ence. with no drugs or boo/e. Still rocking in Oakville! JOHN KAY Misguided disappointment I am w riting in response to the letter R oad Closure is P o o r Planning (July 30, O akville B eaver) by Diane M cEntee. How terribly cum bersom e it m ust be for Diane M cEntee to have to endure additional rush hour traffic on Rebecca Street and find herself obligated to reroute her vehicle through G reat Lakes Road, especially after anxiously antici pating the convenient utilization o f a newly constructed bridge. Her m isguided disappointm ent, directed tow ard city plan ners for failing to lake into consideration the m any ways in which their construction would negatively hinder her quality o f life, is a genuine shame. Was she honestly expecting city planners to concern them selves with hum an expediency w hen they agreed to massacre a spectacular w ood lot and pour concrete over inhabited green space? I am profoundly saddened every time 1 w atch the ongoing destruction at Shell Park and contem plate the devastating loss o f precious w ildlife and breathtaking m ature trees. Perchance the countless displaced anim als that peacefully inhabited the dense wood lot will em pathize w ith her vehic ular plight? M aybe she can share her w orthw hile cause with the myriad coyotes, foxes and rabbits frequently seen w an dering in mass confusion around the Bronte Road highway ram p in a desperate panic because they have now here else to go? Perhaps the diverse species o f birds that observed the gradual depletion o f their natural habitat w ill gracefully perch on the roof top o f her car. during rush hour traffic on Great Lakes Road.? Well at least the letter w riter has a home. Som e individu als c a n 't see the forest for the trees. And in this particular case, none o f us will ever again see the m agnificent beauty of either. CHERINE BISSINGER The Oakville Beaver ts a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council b looted at 8 0 Gould S t. Suite 206. Toronto. O n t. MSB 2M 7 Phone (4 1 6 ) 340-1981. Advertising ks accepted on the condition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of adver tising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature. wHl 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 P u d By STEVE NEASE 'Me SHOULD G o s o m e p la c e s p e c i a l f°R OUR ANNIVERSARY N . THIS YfeAR,,, JUST THE TWO of u s / &REAT ID E A " . X WASTVIINK\N& NlftGARA-ON-THE W E 'L L S P E N D BUT WHERE? QUALITY TiM9 TS6ETH ER ' r,