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Wednesday March 28, 2001 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER B3 RoadrunnerRally antics to supportHalton W omen's Place Approximately 250 Oakville resi dents driving around in circles, butting heads, trampling over each other and generally having a great time . . . That's one way to describe an annual event that may be one of the town's best kept secrets. On the Saturday prior to the long weekend in May, every year for 15 years, a group of usually reasonable adults, lose their inhibitions and team up to compete in the Oakville Roadrunner Rally. This event pits teams of four to eight adults against each other in what is not a road race, but rather a game of quick-witted thinking, sportsmanship and enthusiasm. The Oakville Roadrunner Rally will be held on May 12 at 4 p.m. A dinner, dance and auction follows the reception, when all the teams are in around 8 p.m. Although space is limited, partici pants can register for the Rally before April 9 by contacting the team via email to coyote@roadrunnerrally.com or by calling 905-330-9932. Participation costs $60 per person and includes the rally, dinner with wine, dance and silent auction. Excess funds from the event are donated to a local charity. This year's organizers are directing money raised at this rally to Halton Women's Place, which provides crisis shelter services, programs and counsel ing to physically, emotionally, financial ly and sexually abused women and their dependent children. Each year the Oakville Roadrunner Rally is given a theme by the organizers. This year's theme is "Murder Mystery & Mayhem.' "It seems fitting." says team member Jacqueline Curtis. "The rally itself is mayhem, the clues are a mystery, and organizing it is murder." This is the sec ond time she and husband Michael Walker have been part of a winning team, and therefore, organizers for the following year's rally. "There's a lot of irony here. The first time we won we were also part of a four-person team, the smallest team to win. This time, although our team is different, we were again a four-person team," says Jackie. "And just like the last time, we made so many mistakes that we thought we couldn't possibly win," add Michael. "We were wrong." Michael and Jackie were last year's winners, along with team mates, best friends and newcomers to the rally, Geoff Allan and Chris Ferreira. The rules of this unusual road rally are what make it difficult to know just where you stand. Teams must correctly solve a series of creative and sometimes complex clues which will lead them along a secret route to 10 different spots in Oakville. The team with the best collective time is the w in n er- being first to arrive is not a guarantee of being declared `the winner.' "That's why it's not a race," Geoff explains. "At each of the secret loca tions, teams are asked to complete some kind of bizarre and silly challenge. That's really half the fun of the event. And we're planning some very silly challenges." Teams may collect bonus minutes that are deducted from their overall time by successfully completing some of the challenges. However, as Chris points out, teams can be given penalty minutes which are added to their time for cheating or for opening a `panic envelope.' "What I love about this is the spirit that participants bring to the event. Although it's not necessary, some dress in costume in keeping with the theme, and many of them decorate their cars and choreograph some kind of attentiongetting entrance at the Rally start," said Jackie. This year's organizers feel fortunate to have found a major sponsor for the event. Newly opened restaurant, Milestone's Grill & Bar on Dundas Street East of Hwy. 403, has generously offered to donate the dinner. "You can't believe the difference this makes to the amount of money we will raise for Halton Women's Place. The meal is the most expensive part of the event. Milestone's has great food too, so the participants will be well fed - to say the least" said Michael. As with previous years, a Silent Auction is also included in the festivi ties. Said Jackie, "It's a wonderful way to increase the donation, plus it gets Oakville retailers involved. To date we have 30 items ranging from a hand made rug from Carpet Warehouse to a limited edition Gund teddy bear from Never Grow Up. The Running Company, Jonathan's, McCutcheon's .. .there are so many wonderfully gener ous people out there donating great things." More information is available by vis iting www.roadrunnerrally.com Photo by Barrie Erskine Jackie Curtis, Geoffrey Allan, Chris Ferreira, Michael Walker, the organizers - shown from left - of this year's Oakville Roadrunner Rally, act out the theme `M urder Mystery and M ayhem.' Halton Women' s Place must raise $300,000 Halton Women's Place will be the beneficiary of this year's Oakville Roadrunner Rally on May 12. The emergency shelter for physi cally, emotionally, financially and sex ually abused women and their depen dent children, receives 75% o f its annual funding from the Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services, and must raise the remaining 25% of its operating costs from com munity fundraising events. However, there's a catch, says Linda Willis, HW P's fundraising co ordinator. "The government is not keeping up with the operating costs of women's shelters. The ministry says it has given us a 1.5% increase this year, but that was on 80% of our actual operating cost, so it's actually a reduction." The shelter m ust raise about $300,000 from the community. "Due to government funding cuts and increased costs, we must raise $300,000 to maintain programs and services that we feel are vital to abused women and children," explains Willis. "Our statistics show that there is an overw helm ing need for Halton W omen's Place and until domestic violence stops, we will continue to provide these vital services in our communities and to provide `safer tomorrows' to women and children," she concludes, HW P operates two shelters in Milton and Burlington. D ogow nershipacom m itm ent (C ontinued from p age B1) When looking into buying a puppy, seek a breeder who is willing to give references for puppies that were bom at least three years before. By that time any behaviour problems will usu ally be known. Aggression can also be a hereditary trait and sometimes training alone isn't enough. Both Emmert and Croskery voice the opinion the public should avoid dogs bred in "puppy mills" and to pur chase a dog from a reputable source. They are also in agreement with the idea of mandatory puppy training within the community. For its part, the Oakville Humane Society stresses it works to ensure a good match between pet and prospec tive owner. "The purchase of a dog is a lifetime commitment and training is essential. It shouldn't be an impulse purchase and people need to take into account the suitability of the dog or breed for certain situations." emphasizes Croskery. "Use positive reinforcement when training - punishment doesn't work," says Emmert who has been training dogs and owners since the early '80s. "Dogs are not human beings -- as much as we think we know our ani mals we can't be sure 100% of the time what they will do." When all is said and done, says Croskery, "the dog owner has to be held responsible for their pet. Owning a dog needs to be perceived as a privi lege not a right. There is an inherent responsibility that goes along with it (ownership). The penalty (for dog bites) needs to be severe enough to force people to pay attention to their dogs and also to avoid circumstances that may potentially be disastrous." GRAND OPENING MARCH 29-31 Savings on the Home Theatre o f your choice hy · Pioneer Elite · Toshiba · Kenwood PIONEER ELITE VSX-35TX RECEIVER It's like jet fuel for your home theatre. $ 1 ,1 9 9 Opening Special -RegrSttSS" TOSHIBA SD1600 DVD PLAYER · 3 Free DVD Movies (mail-in coupon) · 11 Free DVD Rentals ., *^^g g g \T -2 .4 AUDIOA1DEO Areyou getting enough ? 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