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A6 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday March 24,1999 T h e O a k v i l l e B e a v e r Metroland Printing, Publishing & Distributing Ltd., includes: A*ax/Pickering News Advertiser, Afcston HeraKVCotner, Bame AzVartce, Barry's Bay This Week, Bolton Enterprise. Brampton GuanJan, Bcrtngton Post, Bulngton Shopping News, City Parent. CoingwoocWvasaga Connection, East \txk Mirror, Erin Advocata'Country Routes, Etobicoke GuanJan. Ramborougb Post. Georgetown Independent/Acton Free Press, Huronia Business Tmes. Kingston This Week, Lindsay This Week. Markham Ecnomist & Sun. Micland'Penetanguishine Mrror, Mlton Canadian Champion, Milton Shopping News. Mississauga Business Times, Mississauga News. Napanee Guide. Newmarket/Aurora Era-Banner, Northumberland News. North Vbrk Mirror, Oakvile Beaver, Oakvile Shopping News, Oldtimers Hockey News. Orilia Today. Oshawa/Whitby/Clarington Port Perry This Week. Owen Sound Tribune, Peterborough This Week, Picton County Guide, Richmond HilLThornhilt/Vaughan Liberal, Scartxxough Mirror, StouttvieUxbridge Tribune, Forever Young, City of Mark Guardan 467 Speers Rd., Oakville OnL L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-2809 Circulation: 845-9742 Editorials I n p u r s u i t o f p u n i s h m e n t What do Father lice Miovski, Kathleen Winslow, Sarah Bowman, John Gibbons, Paul Cabral and Clyde Bamaby all have in common? All six Ontario residents were innocent bystanders killed in police pursuits over the past year. In short, all six victims were in the wrong place at the wrong time. All six died tragically, and worst of all -- needlessly. To say that the six victims were killed as a result of police pursuits, however, does not necessarily imply the police were at fault. The police cannot automatically be blamed for their deaths. Nor should they. In only one of the deaths, that of 73- year-old cyclist Clyde Bamaby, have any members of the police been charged. It is also not realistic to suggest that police pursuits should be stopped immedi­ ately. There are occasions when police pursuits are warranted. We cannot complete­ ly handcuff our police by allowing criminals to flee without fear of being caught Yet at the same time, we cannot allow innocent citizens to be placed in harms way through the actions of fleeing criminals. In most cases, police forces across Ontario, including Halton, have strict guide­ lines on when to pursue fleeing suspects and when to call off the pursuit if it places the public at large in jeopardy. Everything must be done to ensure that the police are aware of these guidelines and adhere to them. Rather than handcuffing the police, we believe everything should be done to dis­ courage criminals from attempting to flee from the police in the first place. For this reason, we like the recommendations in Bill C-440 - a private member's bill written by Liberal MP Dan McTeague, which calls for mandatory prison sen­ tences for those feeling from the police. The bill calls for anyone attempting to escape police in a vehicle to be jailed for up to two years. If anyone is injured, the sentence is 10 years. If the flight from police causes a death, the accused would face life imprisonment. People flee from the police because they don't want to face the consequences of their criminal actions. However, if we make the penalty for fleeing greater than that of the original crime, perhaps fewer suspects would try to escape in the first place. For the sake of Father lice Miovski, Kathleen Winslow, Sarah Bowman, John Gibbons, Paul Cabral and Clyde Bamaby, Bill C-440 is one private member's bill worth pursuing. Ian Oliver Publisher Neil Oliver Associate Publisher Norman Alexander Editor Kelly Montague, Advertising Director Martin Doherty Circulation Director Teri Casas Office Manager Metric Dills Production Manager RizieroVertolli Director of Photography O P I N I O N REVENUE CANHRft WANTS 7SXESPAIP in LOONIES AND TDONIESTHIS YEAR. w hy?,. 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, OnL L6K 3S4 If you do the crime...you should do the time Should our justice system be app ly ing bargain basem ent principles: one price to pay, one concurrent sentence, for multi­ ple crimes? A free vote in the house of Commons said 'no' by giving Bill C-251 that would impose consecutive sentences, second reading. The Bill is now before the H ouse Ju s tic e C om m ittee where votes are not free but generally reflect government policy. The hearings undoubtedly have been scheduled over the same time period as alterations of the Young Offenders Act are being tabled just by chance. The Amendments will, how­ ever, no doubt dominate media attention. Hopefully the press will challenge the committee to reflect the will of the Commons and encourage the citizenry to inform th e ir m em bers they oppose one sentence covering all crimes and support concur­ rent sentences so that it can be said 'you do the crim es, you serve the times. Joe Hueglin New R iver O aks school can 't com e soon enough The following letter was sent to Ethel Gardiner, Chair o f the H alton D istric t School Board-a copy was f ile d with the Oakville Beaver fo r publication. The following letter was sent to Dusty Papke, Director o f Education fo r the Halton District School Board-a copy was also filed with the Oakville Beaver fo r publication. Our family would like your support in the construction of the new public elementary school on site #9 (Riverglen Blvd. at Harman Gate) in north Oakville. Our community in north Oakville has experienced a dramatic increase of young school-aged children in the last few years, and statistics confirm this growth rate will continue. We have clearly been identified by the Halton District School Board as a priority for the building of a new school. But instead of having any new schools built for us, we only see our children in portables. We now have 28 portables. We don't want any more portables and we definitely won't entertain the idea of our children being sent off to other communities to attend school. If building a new school means having to close an under-utilized school in the south, then that must be done. Children do not benefit from going to under-utilized schools. These schools do no t have the diversity of programs and resources that heavily-populated schools enjoy. A school with low enrolment may eventually be forced into having split classes and even triple split classes because there are not enough same-grade students to fill a class. Such schools will also have difficulty in attracting staff with specialty qualifications. In effect, under-utilized schools limit the edu- I am an Oakville resident living in the River Oaks area. I have two young chil­ dren, age4 and 15 months. We purchased our home just over one year ago and feel cational opportunities of the children. From a taxpayer's point of view, maintaining such schools means extreme inefficient use of our money. On the other hand, a new school brings many benefits to our community in the north. It means a proper learning environment for our children. It means not having to transport our children significant distances away from the community. It also means having a place for positive social neighbourhood events and activities. We have been waiting for this new school for 10 years and you can make this happen for us. Closing a school means change and requires adjustment for a neigh­ bourhood, but sometimes, change is neces­ sary. Closing the under-utilized school to make way for the new school will benefit all. Peggy Lei Come home to M itchell All present and former Mitchell residents are being invited to its 125th Anniversary Homecoming Reunion. Some of the events during the week of June 29-July 4 require pre-registration. Those inter­ ested must register and pre-pay for these events prior to May 15th. Anyone requiring further information should contact Homecoming Reunion, RO. Box 609, Mitchell, Ont. N0K 1N0 or pelligsen@town- shipofwestperth.on.ca Debra Satchell-McCarthy Secretary, Mailing and Registration Committee we must express to you our support for Senior Administration's recommendation to build a school in our community. We had been told that the property on River Glen Blvd., would be utilized for the purpose of a new public school when we bought our home. We are shocked to find out, that at present, there are no plans to build a school. This is an area exploding with new development-our community has been identified by the Board as being "in p rio rity need" of a public e lem entary school for 10 years and is now identified as requiring two schools-we cannot wait any longer! The area presently has 28 portables in use, housing over 700 children; this alone is enough for a school. We are in a crisis situation as our area is under tremendous grow th-w here w ill our ch ild ren go to school? Under-utilized schools must be closed- these decisions are difficult and may seem unfair-but is it fair that the greater number never get a school at all? The suggestion that our children may be bused from north Oakville to Aldershot (Burlington) is total­ ly unacceptable. It is obvious that this area of Oakville will continue to experience a large growth of new families. One only has to drive along Hwy. 5 to observe all the new devel­ opment taking place. W here will all of these new families send their children to school? A second site in the Uptown Core (Oak Park Development) should also be a priority for purchase in the new future. Please consider this matter very careful­ ly and insure that proper and appropriate school accommodation is available in the River Oaks community. L e t t e r o f t h e W e e k Tax debacle The following letter was sent to Client Services Directorate o f Revenue Canada in Ottawa-a copy was filed with the Oakville Beaver for publication To anyone who can correct BIG mistakes: I recently received my own T-4 for 1998, and I am writing immediately to tell you that this is exacdy what one gets when one doesn't plan ahead or try a prototype. This has to be the worst yet. I happen to manage a small office, and we have about 70 other t-4's to process. These T-4's have created more work for us than ever before-they do not fold into a regular business envelope, let alone one with a win­ dow. The postal delivery person cannot see the person's name and their postal code through a regular business window envelope. So, what are you forcing us to do? We could fold the letter-size paper in half, but then we would have to use a 9"x6" envelope to mail the T-4's out to our departed employees and those who don't work in the office. This size costs extra postage, and the rates went up last month, and we are not exempt from postage costs as is Revenue Canada. The worst expense is the waste of my staff's time to prepare labels to stick on the envelopes, because the postal delivery person still cannot read the name and address of the recipient now that the information is totally enclosed and not visible through a window. Our agency is a charitable, not-for-profit service provider for senior and physically challenged people. Our budget is very tight these years-we haven't had an increase in it since 1994-since your federal level of gov­ ernment cut back on the transfer payments to the provinces and Ontario was particularly hard hit. We really can't afford to take on extra chores for you at higher costs when our clients need all the help they can get, what with provincial health cutbacks and now CCAC cutbacks in preventative services to those who are totally dependent on a little Home Support for their very independence, safety and dignity. Were our clients receiving these T-4's, even they would have a difficult time reading them-you've gone overboard on the size of the the letters and numbers. And, believe me, as a gerontologist, I'm very conscious of the need to provide larger print for the very elderly and the visually-impaired. Unless our arms are over 36" long, or we are far-sighted, sorting of the numbers (as small in quantity as they are) is really difficult-especially when one has to adjust one's arms, one's eyes or take one's bi-focals off to compare the large print»on one side of the page with the information on the other in tiny print, which explains what the huge boxes are supposed to contain numerically. (I suppose you've noticed I haven't gone over to metric.) While you're going through those gyrations, try to figure out which half of the page you are actually going to send to Revenue Canada with your Return in April (because we never get a refund)-the English half, or the French half-because we really aren't supposed to sepa­ rate them-the page isn't scored. What does one do if one needs that third copy? More expense at a copying machine, I suppose. Pray tell--what was so very wrong with the formate of T-4's of last year, indeed of the last decade? This year's T-4 size is overkill, overcost, overblown, in my estimation. You've really blown it. Talk about adding insult to injury-not only do we work more than half the year for your level of government; now it costs business­ es and taxpayers alike more to send it to you. I guess this is the year I send yo more money in the form of a cheque painted on a 4 ft. x 8 ft sheet of ply wood-if I can find one cheap. Anne Fairfield Executive Director, Halton Helping Hands, Oakville Susan O 'Neill P o r ta b le s & e d u c a t io n d o n 't m ix R E C O G N I Z E D F O R E X C E L L E N C E B Y . . . T he (S eville Beaver <+9[* C N A H5SS? S K \ O F F I C I A L M E D I A S P O N S O R F O R : Strategies for 1 ,| h .C If fOTTtfS fc-TYMCA O T * M H a Jirvqk Bell Fuvd -- .TV AUCTION mailto:pelligsen@town-shipofwestperth.on.ca mailto:pelligsen@town-shipofwestperth.on.ca