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

6 - The Oakville Beaver, W ednesday M arch 1, 2006 OPINION & LETTERS The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-3824, ext. 224 Circulation: 845-9742 Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. TH E OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD O FFIC IAL M E D IA SPONSOR FOR: Canadian Circulations Audit Board Member THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: |oakviiie galleries j V V ^ L .C O M H fP ' O A K V itU R ecognized for Excellence by A oom Ontario Community Newspapers Association . Canadian Community v * v J Y A Newspapers Association SK Suburban Newspapers of Amenta %Award I ATHENA & 0} The Oakville, Milton Y yM C .a Canadian Champion, Milton Shopping News, Mississauga Business Times, Mississauga News, Napanee Guided Newmarket/Aurora Era-Banner, Northumberland News, North York Mirror, Oakville Beaver, Oakville Shopping News, Oldtimers Hockey News. Orillia Today, OshawaWhitby/Clarington Port Perry This Week, Owen Sound Tribune, Palmerston Observer, Peterborough This Week, Picton County Guide, Richmond Hill/ThornhillA/aughan Liberal, Scarborough Mirror, Stouffville/Uxbridge Tribune, Forever Young, < City of York Guardian IAN OLIVER Publisher NEIL OLIVER Associate Publisher JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED ManagingEditor KELLY MONTAGUE Advertising Director DANIEL BAIRD AdvertisingManager TERI CASAS Business Manager MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director CHARLENE HALL Director ofDistribution ALEXANDRIA CALHOUN Circ. Manager Metroland Printing, Publishing & Distributing Ltd., includes: Ajax/Pickering News Advertiser, Alliston Herald/Courier, Arthur Enterprise News, Barrie Advance, Brampton Guardian, Buriington Post, Burlington Shopping News, Caledon Enterprise, City Parent, Collingwood/Wasaga Connection, East York Mirror, Erin Advocate/Country Routes, Etobicoke Guardian, Flamborough Review, Georgetown Independent/Acton Free Press, Harriston Review, Huronia Business Times, Lindsay This Week, Markham Economist & Sun, Midland/Penetanguishine Mirror, Milton Olympic lessons There were lessons to be learned - of the sporting and life varieties - at the XX Games of the Winter Olympiad just con cluded in Turin, Italy. Here are but a few of the many lessons we learned from the just concluded Winter Games: · Sportsmanship is alive and well -- During the fourth day of Olympic competi tion, Norwegian coach Bjornar Haakensmoen handed Canadian cross country skier Sara Renner a replacement pole after hers had broken during the final of the women' s team sprint event. Renner and fellow Canuck Beckie Scott went on to capture a silver medal, while Norway's entry missed out on a medal, finishing fourth. , · Canadian women rule --Without the gutsy showing of such extraordinary Canucks as Cindy Klassen (a gold, two sil vers and three bronze medals) and the Canadian women' s hockey team our coun try' s fortunes would likely have been subpar at best. TWo-thirds of our nation' s medal haul came courtesy of our female athletes -- including Klassen' s Canadian record five medals on the speed skating oval. · The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) got it right-- for a change -- in esti mating that our country's athletes would capture close to 25 Olympic medals -- blowing away Canada's previous record haul of 17 medals at the 2002 Salt Lake Games. Had our men's hockey team lived up to the expectation of a medal of some colour, the forecast would have been bang on. An additional 21 fourth and fifth place finishes bodes well for Canada in 2010, when the world comes to Vancouver. As of today, there are 1,444 days, or roughly four years,- unfit the Vancouver Games. If last month' s record-setting effort is a sign of things to come, Canada will be both a hospitable afid competitive Olympic host nation. · In an outstanding example of selfless ness, gold medallist Clara Hughes made use of her post-victory interview on CBC Television to promote Right To Play, an ath lete-driven international humanitarian organization that promotes giving disad vantaged children around the globe oppor tunities to improve their health through play and sport. Hughes donated $10,000 of her person al savings to the cause after capturing gold in the 5,000-metre speed skating final and challenged corporations to match the amount and individuals to donate what they can. (For more about Right to Play, visit www.righttoplay.com.) 27 Months and 15 M IL L IO N T A X LA TER , TH E D O LLA R S IPPERWASH INQUIRY H A SC O M E lb T H ES T A R T L IN G C O N C LU S IO N L A W Y E R S A R ED A R N E X P E N S IV E . I W O U LD H&VESAlP TH A T- LETTERS TO THE EDITOR The Oakville Beaver welcomes letters from its readers. Letters will be edited for clarity, length, legal considerations and grammar. In order to be published all letters must contain the name, address and phone number of the author. Letters should be addressed to The Editor, Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Rd.( Oakville, ON, L6K 3S4, or via e-mail to editor@oakvillebeaver.com. The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish a letter. Giant Oak tree should be named historical site I have just read a letter written by a Diana Levey, Time to save majestic oak tree on Bronte Road -- again (Oakville Beaver, Feb. 24) regarding the beautiful old oak tree that is doomed in the name of "progress". I agree wholeheartedly with Ms. Levey, in that we should be able to keep the tree in it's place, name it an historical site and build the road around it. With all the newly developing technology and equipment in this day and age, this should be a no-brainer. I am currently an Oakville resident and have had the good fortune of growing up in this town. In the past several years I have been deeply saddened at the way the face/landscape of this once quaint town has been obliterated in the name of progress. I can no longer take a walk around old Oakville (anywhere south of the QEW) with my children and point out places that hold memories of my youth because most, if not all of the places that hold my happy memories are gone (new developments stand in their place). The charming town that I once knew no longer exists. Bronte now has been my respite, since it has changed the least and still holds that small-town quaintness. I believe that we are able to stop this ever growing snowball called progress and get back to the things that really matter. The beauty of nature is not something that man can repli cate with concrete (but is infinitely more valu able) and therefore natural spaces and her itage spots should be the number one priority when planning new ventures. We should be thinking about, keeping trees in areas of new development, instead of clear cutting. This may mean that the developers/town will have to think in a more creative fashion and maybe they will have to spend a bit more to insure the natural spaces stay. I believe that is a small concession for the developers/town for a bigger payoff in the satisfaction of know ing they're doing their part to keep our little corner of the world natural from this point forward. TRISH D. WALKER BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com Save Oak tree Stop development for non-residents and develop for existing residents. Existing residents do not need removal of a visually pleasing oak tree so we can widen a road in the name of development. Bronte Road was, up to three years ago, a pleasant drive through greenbelt with only one traffic light between Oakville to Milton. Now we have a sterile drive through concrete and brick for a third distance and now five traffic lights. Not only is the journey longer in time but is increasingly depressing. Go around it! COLIN DAVEY KH£«,You just never K M O N M WHEN THEY'LL DO SOMETHING SWEET' vm Y , CAN ji \|0 E R E M T / O _ J A V ID E O