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Wednesdsay June 30, 1999 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER A3 M em ber Doreen says goodbye to taxi business Input sought on police staffing Public input is being solicited regard­ ing a comprehensive new report on the future of Halton Regional Police staffing. To that end, an information MEET­ ING has been scheduled for 7 p.m. July 22nd in the community room of police headquarters, 1151 Bronte Rd. (Sessions are also being held in other municipali­ ties throughout the region.) Among the 54 recommendations in the report, entitled "Bringing Into Focus," is the hiring of 37 new officers, 24 than already approved by the Halton Regional Police Services Board. The Halton Regional Police Association maintains that, with the service already understaffed, all 37 should be front-line officers. The hiring of the 24 new recruits has already been postponed from January. Police Chief Ean Algar said he will not give a detailed response until the Sept. 23rd Police Services Board meeting. An executive summary of the report, prepared by Perivale & Taylor, and a ref­ erence copy of the full document is avail­ able at all main library branches, the Clerk's Office at Town Hall and at Halton Region, Halton Regional Police headquarters and district offices and on the Internet at www.worldchat.com/hrp. Mail your comments by September 1st to Services Board chair Donald Robinson at PO Box 2700, 1151 Bronte Rd, Oakville, Ontario, L6J 5C7 or fax them to 825-9417. Photo by Barrie Erskine Doreen Blake has sold Halton Taxi to Harry Brar after 24 yrs. "I'm a grandmother. I need more time for me." In the meantime, Blake will still be servicing Halton Taxi's corporate accounts and smoothing over the day-to-day operation of the business. Blake sold Halton Taxi and J&J Auto Repair to Harcharan (Harry) Brar, who has operated Towne Taxi in Oakville since 1986 and has been owner of Milton Taxi for the past eight years. "Harry brings a wealth of taxi experience in the Halton Region to the operation," said Blake. "He real­ ly knows the industry." Halton Taxi now has 109 drivers, including independent owner/opera- tors, plus six full-time and seven part-time employees. Blake explained that the public will notice little difference in service and expects a "happy and relaxed" transi­ tion. "To the best of my knowledge, everything stays the same," she said. Blake says Brar - who has experi­ mented with innovative marketing ideas in Milton - will bring that same business style with him to Oakville. Brar, raised and educated in England, came to Canada in 1977. Married with three children, he has been an Oakville resident since 1982. P r o fessio n a l E x per tise w it h a C o n sisten t and D isc iplin ed A ppr o a c h to M e e t in g Y o u r In v estm en t O b jec t iv e s By Howard Mozel OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF After 24 years as owner of Halton Taxi, Doreen Blake has sold her business and is looking forward to reclaiming her life. "When you run tr 24-hour a day, seven days a week, operation, you're always.on call," sgys Blake, who also owned J&J AutcfiR6pair. "I haven't taken a holiday in'jjhe last 15 years without leaving telephone numbers where I can be reached." Blake * w h o ^ l id she put in between 50 and 60 hours a week - is looking forward to scaling this back to 40 hours after she committed to the Halton Taxi manager's position for at least the next year. Once this transition period expires, she plans on doing absolutely nothing for a couple of months. "I think that it's time," she said. t Board wil review By Dennis Smith SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER The Halton District School Board will eventually consider boundary recom m endations despite com plaints they're futile without new school plans. The board has voted to have staff develop the recom ­ mendations by review areas instead of on a wholesale basis. And they would be associated with new school construction. However, suggestions w on't come until consulting firm C.N. W atson's report on student enrolm ent projec­ tions and strategic capital plan is com pleted. It's expect­ ed sometime before Aug. 10TH. A1 Greyson, superintendent of planning and trans­ portation, said boundary reviews w on't be happening on a piece-meal basis. "We'll be looking at new schools and the implications for existing schools and what the ripple effect is." He views boundary review s as a long-term process and said recom m endations for areas may not be viable until new schools are built. Education director Dusty Papke said reviews can also clean up some patches (neighbourhoods designated for specific schools) which currently are not logical. "We'll be looking at things that make sense," he said. "Especially in Burlington, we can't explain some of the patches and we need to design some for new subdivi­ sions. I t's a dog's breakfast there right now. In Oakville, the patches are squared off and make more sense." The board recently approved one full-fledged bound­ ary review in northeast Oakville, where school over­ crowding is considered most severe. But boundary studies planned last year for O akville and Burlington were shelved when it appeared school closure reviews were more urgently needed. "There's no sense redrawing boundaries until we know what schools we have," said Papke. But a couple of trustees wondered if there's any sense in review ing boundaries at all. O akville's Peter Petrusich noted the board doesn't have any plans to build new schools. Coyotes don't like hum ans (C on tinued from page 1) Shilson realizes that the municipality is technically not responsible for coyotes but she believes the Town has a duty to inform people of the dangers. Karvonen agrees and says public awareness is a more effective strategy than trapping. After all, she says, there is a lot of misinformation which needs to be corrected. For example, Karvonen says there are always threats to pets and other small animals even without a coyote presence: gray homed owls, red tailed hawks and even osprey, for example, will hunt and eat cats. "Are we going to eradicate all wildlife to save our pets?" said Karvonen, who offered to speak at an Oakville public information meeting if one is scheduled. To underscore her comments, Karvonen says there is a far greater danger of attacks on pets and people by domestic dogs than by coyotes. In fact, she says coyotes possess such fear of humans that if on those rare occasions when one is trapped or brought in injured, it shakes and urinates uncon­ trollably. According to the Metropolitan Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, the best strategy is to undertake pre­ ventive measures to make areas less inviting to the animals: residents should keep pets inside and not approach or feed coyotes; they should secure their garbage and install motion- sensitive lights to illuminate properties. Karvonen said the last known death from rabies in Ontario was a child bitten by a kitten almost 60 years ago. All the more reason to keep your pets inside the home, she said. As for the widespread worry that coyotes will graduate from pets to hurt or kill a child, Karvonen says this is "extremely unlikely." "There is no documented case of this in Ontario ever," she said. school boundaries■* Staff proposals to close Fairfield, Champlain and Oakwood schools and free up provincial funding for new schools in north Burlington, north Oakville and Georgetown were defeated in April. "Until we close things and clean up the system, I don't want to waste time on this," he said. "Our system of accommodation, Halton-wide, is a m ess." Chair Ethel Gardiner of Halton Hills said no bound­ ary changes can be made in Georgetown. "The schools are all full. There's no place for the children to go," she said. "I know it's a mess in Burlington, but I don't know what we can do in Georgetown." ENNISCLARE INTERIORS 'mmmm M im b ir o f tha Bank o f M ontraal G roup o f Companiaa Paul H artford Investment Advisor Tel: (905) 337-2030 Fax: (905) 337-2033 NESBITT BURNS Choose from a wide selection of dining and bedroom pieces, sofas, chairs, lighting, accent pieces and more! Hurfy in! There's never been a better time to save.! Ends Saturday, July! 3rd, 1999! (Closed July 1st) 1075 NORTH SERVICE RD. WEST, UNIT 22 OAKVILLE TEL (905) 825-2450 STORE HOURS: Mon., Tues.,Wed. S Sat 10:00 am to 5:30 pm Thun. & Fri. 10:00 am to 900 pm Sun. Noon to 5:00 pm You're invited to our first ever Warehouse Sale & Clearance. You can piece together that special liok with some of the finest furniture pieces - a t the lowest prices you've ever seen! i http://www.worldchat.com/hrp Input sought on police staffing By Howard Mozel By Dennis Smith ENNISCLARE INTERIORS Paul Hartford Tel: (905) 337-2030 Fax: (905) 337-2033 Ends Saturday, July! 3rd, 1999!