The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

6 - The Oakville Beaver, W ednesday, O cto b e r 23, 2002 ED ITO R IA LS AND L E T T E R S THE O AKVILLE R E A V E R 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 337-5610 Circulation: 845-9742 IAN OLIVER Publisher NEIL OLIVER Associate Publisher TERI CASAS Office Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief KELLY MONTAGUE Advertising Director STEVE CROZIER Circulation Director MARK DILLS Production Manager RIZ1ER0 VERTOLLI Photography Director ROD JERRED Managing Editor Metroland Printing. Publishing & Distnbuting Ltd.. Includes: Ajax/Pickering News Advertiser. Alliston Herald/Courier, Arthur Enterprise News. Barrie Advance. Barry's Bay This Week. Bolton Enterprise, Brampton Guardian. Burlington Post. Burlington Shopping News. City Parent. CollingwoodAVasaga Connection, East York Mirror. Erin Advocate/Country Routes. Etobicoke Guardian, Flamborough Post. Georgetown independent/Acton Free Press. Hamston Review. Huronia Business Times. Kingston This Week. Lindsay This Week, Markham Economist & Sun. Mldland/Penetanguislnne Mirror. Milton Canadian Champion, Milton Shopping News. Mississauga Business Times, Mississauga News, Napanee Guide, Newmarket/Aurora Era-Banner. Northumberland News. North York Mirror. Oakville Beaver, Oakville Shopping News, Oldtimers Hockey News. Orillia Today. Oshawa/Whitby/Clarington Port Perry This Week. Owen Sound Trtxme. Palmerston Observer. Peterborough This Week. Picton County Guide, Richmond Hill/ThomhilWaughan Liberal. Scarborough Mirror, Stoufhrille/Uxbridge Tribune, Forever Young. City of Ybrk Guardian THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: THE BUTTERFLY Recognized for Excellence by Ontario Community i Newspapers Association BRONTE ^C N A Canadian Community Newspapers Association | oakville galleries | J/nge Be//Fund "to H LCO M E^ f 'n w w a VtUSNBSKWAm 0 t a © The Oakville, Millon and District REAL ESTA TE BO A RD s k Suburban Newspapers of America (m kviffe FOR BUSINESS EXCELLENCE C fu M fin d O N T A R I O l § O fij& JU U Children's Choir met Now's the time to protest Oakville MPP Gary Carr and Burlington couple Darrin and Theresa Cahill have something in common with thousands of other residents and business owners across Ontario -- they are as mad as hell and they aren't going to take it anymore. The outspoken MPP is taking the province to task over the spiralling hydro rates and is collecting signa tures from the public to back his position. The Burlington couple, who was so outraged over the hike in their last hydro bill, has launched their own online petition. The Cahills have plans to personally turn over the results o f their campaign to Ontario Premier Ernie Eves. Judging by the letters we have received at this newspaper, this is one issue that w on't go away qui etly. And so it shouldn't. The government's claims that somehow air conditioning use is to blame for the soaring hydro rates does not sit well with the senior who is already struggling to make ends meet and the young family who simply has no wiggle room left in their monthly budget. Certainly it is not just the weary consumer who is already fed up paying for the mess caused by deregulation. Small business owners have also been shocked to discover just how high hydro rates have climbed. NDP leader Howard Hampton is another politician who has taken this up as a personal crusade. He visited a small business owner in Burlington last Thursday. Dave Rihbany, of Dave's Fish Market, is upset his July-August hydro bill was $1,703, represent ing a 55 per cent increase over the previous sum m er's bill of $1,094. "This is not going to close me down, but I'm tired o f people pushing us around," he said. "Anyone whose business is on the cusp is going to be gone. It's outra geous." And we know other business owners -- large and small -- who are also shaking their heads at their latest bill. Carr wants his government to freeze hydro rates based on last year's levels while a review of the issue takes place. "If deregulation results in the highest hydro rates we have seen before now, I don't see much ben efit to that and neither do the peo ple o f Oakville," says Carr. Collectively, residents and busi ness owners can have a strong voice at Queen's Park. If you have never joined a protest before, now might be the best time. Change is possible. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Reader questions expenditure of $24M to realign Bronte Road Re: Town likes $24,000,000 plan to realign Bronte Road, O ak\'ille Beaver , Sept. 25. Let m e m ake sure I have got this right. O ak v ille council is supporting a Hal ton Region plan to m ove Bronte Road, that w ould cost taxpayers $24 m il lion resulting in the loss o f an existing park, and bury yet more o f our com m u nity under a layer o f asphalt. W hy? In order to ease the traffic bur den in the Village o f Palerm o, w hich is already doom ed to have its traffic multi ply and lose its rem aining am biance (now dom inated by a doughnut shop and a gas bar) w hen they expand Dundas Street to six lanes. H ave our politicians lost all sense of w hat could be achieved with $24 million if properly directed? If they're out o f sensible ideas, how about leaving it in taxpayers' pockets? If they're genuinely concerned about the safety o f local residents turning into their drivew ays off Bronte Road or w alk ing to the store, why not spend a fraction o f the $24 m illion to m ove their houses, and leave Bronte Road w here it is. J. TAYLOR LETTER OF THE WEEK Add your voice to International organization pesticide issue This summ er the Town o f Oakville decided against using pesticides in its public parks, and nature trails. For once, these places were safe for everyone to enjoy. Unfortunately, a walk through the neighbourhood was not so safe. Pesticide warn ing signs were common on many front lawns. Children were often playing around the area, and in one case a small child was observed, barefoot and barelegged, running around on the lawn, in view o f his parents. Also a do-it-yourself hom e owner sprayed his entire back yard, and put up a home-made sign while his three children played nearby, barefoot and in shorts. The Canadian Cancer Society is worried enough about the dangers to children to publicize its position statement on ornamental use o f pesticides, June 28. It calls for a ban on the use of ornamental (cosmetic) pesticides that have not been scientifically demonstrated to be non-carcinogenic. The Cancer Society has now joined a growing number o f concerned health and scientific organizations calling for an end to the unnecessary use o f these poisonous substances. Will Oakville Town council do what is necessary to protect its children and vote to ban cosmetic pesticides ? On Tuesday, Oct. 29 at 7:30 p.m. a report will be present ed to the community services committee o f council regarding pesticide use on public and private lands. On Nov. 4, 7:30 p.m. at the Oakville Municipal building, council will vote on whether or not to ban cosmetic pesticides from Oakville. If you would like to see Oakville join an increasing num ber o f communities saying no to cosmetic pesticides, please attend these two meetings, and add your voice. JAN DOHOLIS responds to rabbi's letter Contrary to w hat Rabbi Sidlofsky states in his letter to the editor o f Oct. 4 the situation in Israel is a very simple one. The British in 1948 gave away a land it did not ow n to the State o f Israel with the result that the Palestinians lost 78 per cent o f their land and 750,000 Palestinians were m ade refugees. Can we im agine 78 per cent o f Canada being sw al low ed up by the U.S. and 82 per cent o f Canadians being driven out? Today, the State o f Israel, tw o per cent o f the size o f Ontario, is the fourth largest military in the world w ith ongo ing financial, diplom atic and military assistance from the w orld's superpower, the U.S. It is hardly in danger from the surrounding countries. Today, the State o f Israel occupies the rem aining 22 per cent of Palestine. O f that 22 per cent, it has taken control o f 41 per cent o f the land (see the Israeli human rights organi zation B'tselem 's report), takes 75 per cent o f the w ater and militarily occupies 100 per cent o f the land. The current violence in Israel is solely due to the ongoing military occupation in w hat is left o f Palestine. Can anyone blam e the Palestinians for m ounting a resistance to occupa tion? Indeed, they have the legal right to do so. N o-one casti gated the French for resisting Nazi occupation. The occupation is now 35 years old. During that time, Israel has confiscated A rab lands for settlements, placed their ow n people on this occupied land, destroyed Palestinian property, farm lands, destroyed Palestinian physical and insti tutional infrastructure. The m ilitary government routinely imposes curfew s, m onths o f closures (Nablus residents have enjoyed m aybe 70 hours o f m ovem ent in 90 days and are still under lockdown), collective punishm ent, severe restrictions on m ovem ent o f people and goods to the extent that these m easures are inhum ane. A dded to this misery are the violent acts o f arm ed settlers w ho are currently stealing olives from the farms o f Palestinians in the West Bank and trying to pre vent Palestinian farm ers from harvesting their olive crop. All o f these actions are grave violations o f the Fourth G eneva Convention w hich were designed to prevent the ter rible events o f the Second World W ar from ever happening again. There is no need to assum e "hum an rights violations". T hey have been adequately d o cum ented by Israeli, Palestinian and international hum an rights organizations. See h ttp ://w e b .a m n e sty .o rg /w e b /w e b .n sf/p a g e s /IO T _ re p o rts http://www.hrw.org/mideast/is-ot-pa.php http://www.btselem.org/ http://www.lawsociety.org/ The Israelis cannot claim to be acting in self-defence when they have created the very situation that gives rise to violent acts by Palestinians, namely the occupation. Israel has the pow er to sim ply end the occupation, withdraw its troops, and put an end to its own violence. Rabbi states that the problem "will only be solved when we, the peace-loving people from all sides, w ork together." That is exactly w hat IW PS (International W om en's Peace Service) is doing. O ne o f the founders is Israeli, there are Jew ish w om en involved in the project -- they, to their cred it, are not afraid o f having Israel's dism al hum an rights record being exposed. Israel itself refuses to allow an international protection force to be dispatched to the region. O ne m ust w onder why. N evertheless, private citizens have taken it upon them selves to do w hat the international com m unity so far has not done - protect the innocent from having their human rights violated. That is w hat IW PS, along w ith m any other organizations, several o f them Israeli, are attem pting to do. A nyone wanting to read our reports can visit www.peacew omenpalestine.org. BARBARA BAKEWELL Why publish such rubbish? Re: article W om en victim s still face fight in court: Jane Doe, the O akville Beaver, Oct. 20. In the above article, Jane D oe is quot ed as saying, `T h e statistics are that one out o f three men rape. T hat's outra geous." W hat I think is outrageous is that she w ould say such an exaggerated, inflam matory statem ent and that your new spa per would publish such rubbish. Can we now say anything we w ant in public and get it printed in your new spa per? Printing such a biased and obvious ly incorrect com m ent gives it credence, thus continuing the m essage that a lot of men are "bad" and that a lot w om en are victims. M y guess is you will not publish this letter because it is not politically correct in today's world. TERRY MCEVOY Let council know how you feel At 7:30 p.m., Monday, Nov. 4, the council o f the Town of Oakville will receive a report from town staff making rec ommendations on the control o f pesticide use on public and private land. If you are concerned about the effects o f lawn spraying on your and your family's health, this is your oppor tunity to observe council's debate and tell your elected repre sentatives how you feel. Oakville residents -- let us let our elected officials know that we want clean air, soil, and water. A strong bylaw limit ing pesticide use is an initial, achievable step toward this goal. If you or anyone in your family has suffered from exposure to pesticides, I would appreciate hearing your story. I am currently establishing a database o f cases in which peo ple's health has been compromised by contact with pesticides (example: accidental poisoning, neurological problems, aller gy, etc.). Please contact me at 905-339-2290. Thank-you. RENEE LEHNEN Stop printing letters from sam e writers I ju st w ould like to ask that you not keep printing the letters o f the same peo ple w eek after w eek in the Oakville Beaver. For one exam ple, I think that the Pellier fam ily have expressed their opin ions on various topics m ore than their fair share o f times. W hen you print the same viewpoint over and over again it may seem to read ers that this may be the opinions o f the majority, but in reality it may be the view o f only a few with a little too m uch time on their hands. H aving said this, I would like to say that I still enjoy the paper despite the socialists who keep getting their letters printed over and over again. GARY CAMERON BY E-MAIL Pud MAY x Se e Yo u r ^ PRWBcT BEfoREYoU HAMD IT IN, SAMMY? SURE. ITS IN MY B fC K fftC K - By STEVE NEASE . IS IT BEING MARKED? l\Q l° 'r d Z -A M P 2 0 7 . 1 NEW NESS/ c a rtE N T "' \iO % fb S ? C d tA C U A S W 1 0 F c R 7o . J