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A6 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday March 28,, 2001 T h e O a k ville B eaver Ian Oliver Publisher Neil Oliver Associate Publisher Norman Alexander Editor Kelly Montague, Advertising Director Steve Crozier Circulation Director Ten Casas Office Manager Mark Dills Production Manager Riziero Vertolli Director ofPhotography Metroland Printing. Publishing & Distributing 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 N ews. City Parent. Collingwood/Wasaga Connection, East Vbrk Mirror. Erin Advocate/Country Routes, Etobicoke Guardian, Flamborough Post, Georgetown Independent/Acton Free Press, Harriston Review, Huronia Business Times. Kingston This Week, Lindsay This Week. Markham Ecnomist & Sun, Midland/Penetanguishine Mirror, Milton Canadian Champion, Milton Shopping News. Mississauga Business Times. Mississauga News, Napanee Guide. 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L6K 3S4 (905) 8 4 5 -3 8 2 4 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 8 4 5 -2 8 0 9 Circulation: 8 4 5 -9 7 4 2 W C N A f _ Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America TV AUCTION I R O N T E T H E B U T T E R F L Y - O akville (^ h w a S s F O RB U SIN E SSE X C E L L E N C E | o a k v ille g a l l e r i e s I O N T A R I O TOWN O f SK m m C h ild r e n 's C h o i r Editorials Finish the job Common sense seems to be a very rare commodity in politics these days so it's nice to see that the Town of Oakville is finally finishing something previous municipal councils started. W hen Dorval Drive became an inter Some residents in the area o f \ change with the QEW, it was planned as Dorval Drive may oppose a major arterial road to take truck traffic off both Kerr Street and Trafalgar Road. completing the artery to But the road came to a complete stop at iMkeshore Road but it' s the Rebecca Street, leaving truck drivers to natural extension of a good their own devices in getting to the core. E x te n d in g D o rv a l D riv e th e la s t transportation plan. block to L akeshore Road m ade sense when the artery was built and it m akes sense now. There are only six houses on the east side o f Margaret Drive south of Rebecca Street and four o f those are already owned by the Town. On the .west side of the road is St. Thomas Aquinas High School that has limited student traffic during school hours and none on weekends. As far as heavy trucks are concerned, those opposing the extension won't see many. Those vehicles are mostly confined to the industrial zones along Speers and Wyecroft Roads as anyone familiar with those areas can attest. The same holds true for the Service Roads that bisect Oakville. That's why these are industrial and manufacturing zones. W hat will happen with the approval of the Dorval Drive truck route is that fewer trucks will be destroying Trafalgar Road, a more densely populat ed area of town than Dorval Drive and a more dangerous route for both trucks and pedestrians. Some residents in the Dorval Drive area may be opposed to the scheme but they've got to be realistic, it's the shortest route to the core area and will impact the fewest people. Like we say, it makes sense to move ahead with the project. PCJR V BUSINESS KTHEAFTS Letters to the Editor The Oakville Beaver welcomes your comments. All letters must be typed, signed and include the writer's address and phone number. Send to: Letters to the Editor, The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, Ont. L6K 3S4 Education the key to controlling cats To q u o te a w ell-k n o w n 19th cen tu ry w rite r, S am u el C le m e n s, "I f y o u c o u ld c r o s s a c a t w ith a h u m a n , y o u w o u ld im prove the hum an, b u t d e te rio ra te the c a t". As a person who has let cats share my life for a num ber o f years, I feel com pelled to ad d ress a n u m b er o f issues. I have alw ays been an advocate for respon sible cat care. I feel strongly that if we c h o se to sh a re o u r liv e s w ith c a ts , we need to be responsible for their w elfare. A nnual v accinations, and spaying and neutering o f cats to prevent unw anted lit ters is necessary and proper identification o f outdoor cats to provide a quick m eans for returning lost cats is vital. Protecting cats from the hazards o f the outd o o rs is param ount. O utdoor cats are vulnerable to d ise a se , in ju rie s, g ettin g hit by cars, and by predation, from the foxes and coy o te s not to m e n tio n sa d istic cat h a ters. T herefore, education is the best possible c o u r s e o f a c tio n . I p ro p o s e th a t th e O a k v ille H um ane S o ciety be fu n d ed to provide regular public education via the m edia such as the O akville Beaver. The O ak v ille H um ane S ociety, w hich I have supported over the years, has provided a caring service for the placem ent o f cats, and w ith sponsorship o f individual cats. Cats like Bandit, who spent a fair num ber o f years in care at the shelter was adopted in to a lo v in g ho m e. P u b lic a w a re n e ss, education, and support are needed. T he C at b y -law has p o sitiv e m e rits; how ever, any regulations regarding "cats at large" is absurd. Cats by nature do not learn property boundaries. They are terri torial and set th e ir ow n b oundaries. If spayed and neutered, these territories will be m inim ised, but not defined. I fear that this p art o f the by-law w ould only feed into the people w ho b asically d o n 't like cats, probably the same people who d o n 't like geese in p arks or the d isru p tio n o f their m anicured lives by any living c rea ture. I p ropose th at any plan to im p le m ent this p art o f the p ro p o sal be a b a n d o n e d . L e t's fo c u s on th e p re v e n tiv e m easures. Letter of the Week Tree mystery solved? If someone dumped all their garbage in the middle of Lakeshore Rd. would the Town ju st put up a sign to advise motorists to watch out for the garbage or would they remove the garbage? If a contractor left a large hole on Speers Road rather than completing the job properly, would the Town just erect a sign advising motorists to watch out for the hole in the road or would make the contractor fix the prob lem that they created? The situation with the logs in Bronte H arbour is exactly the same. I have lived in Bronte for going on 18 years and have never seen any significant debris accumulate in the 12Mile Creek. However, Chris Mark of the Towns Parks and Recreation department, says that it is a naturally occurring phenomenon. I urge you to take a poll o f the area residents and I would venture to say they would all agree that it has never happened before. So what happened this year that is so different from other years to cause this naturally occurring phenome non that would involve a large number o f fallen trees travelling down 12 Mile Creek? The new bridge across the creek at Rebecca is the answer. Anyone who has been following the progress of this project will tell you that the debris left on the banks of this construction site was extensive and this is the cause of the log jam. The construction company should be held responsible for this from both an environmental and shoddy workman ship perspective. There is no way the Town of Oakville and the Region o f Halton should have let this happen. However, since it did happen, the Town o f Oakville and the Region o f Halton should step up to the bar and fix the problem properly. I compare the situation to the garbage being dumped on Lakeshore Rd. and a hole being left on Speers Road. I am sure that these situations would not be handled with a $100 sign. Who is going to take responsibility for any deaths or injuries that could occur if a boat crashes into one of these large logs of the Oakville shoreline and causes a catastrophic accident? Where is this sign going to be placed? There are the boaters in Bronte H arbour, the boaters in the O uter Harbour and all the boaters from the western end of Lake Ontario that visit Bronte during the summer. How can a sign be placed to warn everyone of the danger? L a rry Je lin e k A ir -lif t e d g o a lie m a k e s jo k e o f m in o r h o c k e y r u le b o o k I have recently w itnessed firsthand how publishing a rulebook may have no meaning and therefore allow anyone who can break the rules and get away with it do so. My son plays in the Atom house league and what has just occurred I consider totally unethi cal and completely appals me. In a recent play off game the opposing team 's regular goalie was unable to play. Apparently the opposing team 's second goalie (although not drafted) wished not to play in net. The team then pro ceeded to use a goalie from another team. In the rulebook it states that a goalie may be sub stitu ted if there is a valid reason and the replacement goalie must be of comparable cali bre. However, the opposing team and goalie who finished in 8th place in regular season used the highest ranked goalie in the league. Is this comparable calibre? The executive of the MOHA are of the opinion that a goalie's high ranking may only be due to a good defense. Anyone witnessing the game in question would have seen for themselves that this goalie was highest in the ranking because he was one phe nomenal goalie, he did everything but stand on his head to save shots. What clearly could have been a 10-2 game for us was a 3-2 game for them. The fact that our boys had so many shots on net is clear evidence that their defense was not the reason for our boys' loss. What made matters worse was to find out that win or lose, that game had no bearing between our boys Trustee endorses Halton Board's JK model Re: editorial `Is the School Board lis tening? (O akville Beaver, Sun. M arch 25, 2001) I, as a trustee for O akville Wards 1 and 2, have a few com m ents. The B oard has been listen in g to the public who have lobbied for a JK model and, guess w hat? The public was right. N ow , as o f n e x t y e a r, th e B o a rd w ill begin to im plem ent the public's wish of e a rly e d u c a tio n fo r th e ir c h ild re n . To meet this goal, the Board has designed a model to accom plish this objective with the lim ited funding available. T h e a r g u m e n t c u r r e n t l y is a b o u t s c h e d u lin g , n o t w h e th e r o r n o t JK ·sc h o o lin g is a so u n d id e a . A tta c k in g B arry F in lay fo r statin g the o b v io u s that the portion o f the public who like JK proposed model are not bitter - is a non sequitur. I am proud o f the model (although not p e rfe c t), as it w ill e x te n d le a rn in g to younger children o f the Halton Board. If, in som e p e o p le 's p ersp e ctiv e, this is a poor outcom e, they can feel free to throw me out o f office in the next election. D rew C u rrah Trustee, Halton D istrict School Board making it to the championship game or not. It also states in the rulebook that should an opposing team need to use another goalie, the convenor must notify the other coach prior to the game. In this case the convenor did not notify the coach and made a point of exiting the arena quick enough at the end of the game that no on had the chance to approach him. The rulebook also states that failure to com ply with the above rules will result in automatic forfeiture of the game in question. A coach is permitted to file a grievance fol lowing a game, however, this has been tried once or twice before due to unfair and unethical play but to no avail. With a $10 0 fee attached knowing that in the end the MOHA executive w ill do nothing to rectify the situation or enforce the rules, the coach must think twice before proceeding with such aggravation. I took it upon m y self to speak to the Vice President and the convenor (who wished not to discuss the situation with me), however this did not result in any action whatsoever. You may say that I sound like a whiny par ent and it's only a game, right? I agree that it is only a game but it is a sport and a sport is a competitive activity in which rules are made for a reason. If the executive of the MOHA refuse to enforce the rules would they please toss out their own rulebook so that we can all do what ever it takes to win games regardless o f the moral issues attached, that is, if this is what you want to teach the next generation to follow. Graham Henrickson Name withheld by request Testing new teachers needless, costly The Progressive C onservatives claim they are about reducing duplication in governm ent but on M arch 14th, they created a new level o f unnecessary bureaucracy, by an n o u n c in g th a t all new te a c h in g g ra d u a te s w ill be required to take a qualifying test starting next year. The only specifics provided by the ministry about this testing is that this test will help `ensure that new teachers have up to date skills.' However, since the government is talking about new qualified teachers, this test is an unnec essary duplication. After all, if newly qualified teachers do not have up to date skills the problem is not with the teachers but rather with the process. This test will not solve any problems, but only cause more grief for all involved. P u d r ^ w t happen ? y * by Steve Nease WHO USED UP ALL THE INK?/ replacement" V/H0 USEDUP C A R T R ID G E SA R E M L TH E -r N E A R LY Alex Cassar Education Critic Family Coalition Party o f Ontario www. OntarioCoalition. com