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Grass clipping ban hides real tax increase Dear Sir: I noticed an advertisement in one of the flyers included in the Beaver for a ‘rear bagger‘ lawnmower recently: one can only hope that peoâ€" ple in Oakville are all fully aware of the ‘new‘ ban on grass clippings, othâ€" erwise, this kind of lawnmower could be an expensive redundant purchase or gift for a resident of Oakville. I further note that the town brochure where we are all for the first time informed of the grass clipping ban (not all residents receive or read the Beaver), was delivered to our household around March 15th: perâ€" sonally, I find this abrupt notification of a withdrawal of services to the public despicable especially, when, without any real publicity, our disposâ€" al centre on the North Service Road in Oakville has been closed down so that grass clipping disposal is now only available to Oakvillians if they take them to Milton. Dear Sir: I am sure that I am one of the *Catholic goons" alluded to in the very ungracious reply to Adriana Bassi. Opposition to abortion, however, has never been a strictly Catholic matter; after all, the Hippocratic Oath, which bound physicians not to induce abortions, dates from several cenâ€" turies before Christ, and all through the centuries till our own time, in Protestant as well as Catholic counâ€" tries, the taking of unbom human life was regarded with extreme disfavor. One wonders just who makes these decision and what recognition is given to the total impact on Oakvillians. I say Oakvillians because, as far as I know, Oakville is the only municipality within Halton Region to ban grass clippings as garbage. My own efforts to get a list of the members on the Waste Management Advisory Committee â€" the group who brought us this grass clipping ban â€" have, so far, been denied. I cannot for the life of me imagine why. This leads to the questions of savâ€" ings, savings to the Oakville taxpayer that is. Obviously a ban on grass clipâ€" Right to abortion is questionable But only now, when saving money has become a major policy initiative of both boards, do we find both sides looking at the sharing of student busing. It‘s a concept that‘s long overdue and one wonders why nothing like this has been tried previously. With the public board spending about $8â€"million on school busing, primarily for elementary school students, an integrated busing system makes sense, especially when you have two school buses rolling down the same street to pick up only a handful of children. Both boards are currently looking at a computerization of their transportation sys tem, so this sharing initiative is a natural adjunct to that study. The only disappointing aspect of this concept is that it took an Ontario Ministry of Education cut in transportation grants to get both boards thinking about integratâ€" ing services. Had trustees from both boards had a more keen eye for costâ€"savings, an integrated transportation could have already saved Halton taxpayers millions of dolâ€" lars. But fear not, the start of the baseball season is just one week & Jays are starting to look pretty good. Who cares if it rains.....a little It also makes us wonder what other savings could be realized if some other com mon areas were shared with the two boards. Food for thought. omorrow, in case you don‘t know, is April 1st or April Fool‘s Day. We I are trying to forget one of the harshest winters in recent memory and look to a new month of warmth and sun to boost our spirits. That‘s the theory anyway. In fact, some weather types are suggesting that we‘re going to be in for the same kind of spring and summer we enjoyed last year. That is to say...lousy! hat a yawn. How many more times are reporters going to ask politiâ€" Wcians whether or not they have smoked pot. A more germane quesâ€" tion might be if he or she had ever been charged or convicted of drinking and driving, beating a spouse or kicking the cat. So Progressive Conservative leadership candidate tried marijuana and so has Jean Charest and even (yikes) the President of the United States. So what. Campbell is 46 and Charest is 34 and given that fact, it places them in universiâ€" ty when pot came into fashion and whose appeal, even experimentally, continâ€" ues today. Surely the electorate at large is sophisticated enough to discard this kind of meaningless drivel for what it isâ€"gossip and nothing more.Better to ask them where they would lead the country and other such vacuous questions. gyas NR § 4 ols > (Nirtmuallachirrtaoklurruritaerharter 167 Speers Road, Oakville, Ont. L6K 384 845â€"3824 Fax: 845â€"3085 Classified Advertising: 845â€"2809 The Spring thing Going to pot EDITORIAL Good idea pings must reduce the amount spent on waste disposal â€" the early figure mooted was about $630,000 per annum â€" which represents about 1% of the Town of Oakville‘s total tax take. As one plays with this figure and the possible impact, one cannot but consider, also, the rhetoric from our Town counciliors about a ‘tough‘ year where, to arrive at a 2.9% tax increase for 1993 much cutting and pruning had been done. Wait a minute! If the Town has saved 1% with the grass clipping ban, this really means that taxes have risen (or will rise) by 3.9%: if one then goes on to consider ‘other‘ savings said to have been made â€" ‘they‘ are coy about the actual amount â€" in realâ€" ity, our taxes have probably gone up well in excess of 3.9% in a year when inflation is about 2%. The writer has a very odd view of democracy; rather than meaning just doing what one likes, it has to be based on specific principles, one of them being the dignity of human life. If one applies this same principle to our taxes for education (said to rise by a 3.43 millrate increase) one can only arrive at the same conclusions: indeed, as of March 22 we are The American Declaration of Independence says, for example: We hold these truths to be selfâ€"eviâ€" dent, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of If life is a basic right, it is not ALONE CALL845â€"5585 #5180 iX ¢ 19 away and the SPEAK YOUR MIND | Got a gripe? Give us a call. Readers are invited to express their opinion on a topic of their choice by calling 845â€"5585, box 5250. All callers are allowed 45 secâ€" onds to express their opinion and must provide their name, address and phone number for verification. A cross section of the responses will be published in next Wednesday‘s Oakville Beaver. informed that fullâ€"time teaching staff had, voluntarily, contributed some $500,000 and we have been inundatâ€" ed with other mentions of cost cutâ€" ting. We haven‘t seen much of our Region‘s deliberations yet but we will, assuredly, (watch those water/waste rates!) set the same Catholics should be worried about compulsory sexual health education While the science of fetology has taken such giant strides forward in recent years, it is ironical that some people still believe that abortion destroys something of negligible importance. something that can be argued about; the right simply exists.Abortion kills a living human being, not something merely hypothetical; it possesses human chromosomes, a developing human heart, and a developing human brain. Finally, this writer many people do, that Re: Your article, â€" Separate Board Opposing Abortion Service Report. In the above mentioned article of Friday, March 19th, I wish to comâ€" ment that it is ridiculous of Norma Scarborough to accuse Catholic school boards of overâ€"reacting to the report of the task force on abortion. Dear Sir: But Frances Lankin, then Minister of Health, welcomed the report enthusiastically, and said that most of "They are taking it as though it were law," she has said. a The Oakville Beaver welcomes your comments. All letters must be signed and include the writer‘s address and phone number. Letters should be typed, doubleâ€"spaced and addressed to: Letters to the Editor, The Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, Ont. L6K 354 Classified Advertising: 845â€"2809 Circulation: 845â€"9742 or 845â€"9743 assumes, as THE OAKVILLE BEAVER 1$s an rhetonc. This is positively Machiavellian: while the taxpaying public is lulled into thinking our public institutions are downsizing and cutting cost, as they should in these tough times, the reverse is true. Recommendation 33 requires the Ministry of Education to mandate a compulsory sexual health curriculum This report is probably the most oneâ€"sided report ever to be presented to an Ontario government. Mrs. Scarborough‘s assurance that it does not mean what it says is not enough. This report denies freedom of speech, denies freedom of conscience, denies concern for the unborn, and is defiâ€" nitely contrary to the Charter of Richts. unqualified right to abortion in Canada. In the 1988 Morgentaler decision, four judges struck down the law on technical grounds â€" the operaâ€" tions of the hospital committees. Only one, Bertha Wilson, claimed that women have a right to abortion, and she could find nothing in Canadian traditions or precedents to support her. Two justices and that no such right had ever existed in Canada. At the very least, therefore, â€" obviously including abortion, which is mentioned just about â€" in all schools, from kindergarten to the end of high school. Sexual health courses are to be mandatory for all teachers. All teachâ€" ers are to have their "sensitivity to sexual health issues" raised through professional development. Why shouldn‘t the Catholic school boards be worried? this soâ€"c question. its recommendations could be impleâ€" mented quickly, and most of them would not need legislation for their implementation. alled right is very much in Maureen Murray (Mrs.) D.J. Dooley LL. Davies Robert Glasbey Advertising Director Norman Alexander Editor Geoff Hill Circulation Director Teri Casas Office Manager Tim Coles Production Manager Ian Oliver Publisher No doubt more good work is being done in this field than the availâ€" able evidence indicates but still, it may be possible to take steps to untie Mr. Kuntz‘ hands for the general good of the community. Let us hope so. Oakville residents, and in particularly the elderly, are entitled to be assured that, when sickness strikes, as it inevitably will, the hospital, whose creation and maintenance is provided through their tax dollars is, in effect, their hospital and will be ready to accept them; that they will not be turned away with the seemingly casual response that "no bed is availâ€" able", It almost appears that the more public fundsâ€"our taxesâ€"are poured into the hospital, the less service and accommodations are made availâ€" able. Surely there are reasons for this unhappy situation more convincing than the response given the Grove family. It may be that a review of hospital policies as now followed, should be carefully examined, perhaps by an independent review group, in parâ€" ticular studying the degree to which beds and facilities and staff are being used by other than patients undergoing active treatment, and action taken. It is recognized that times change and the medical function is not immune from it. And it is regrettable that, while technology has made and is making, vast advances in this field, effective hospital use for some time has trended downward. It may be that we are confronted with the need for a change in attitude as well. As the present case warmns us, it seems we can no longer rely on our hospital and that is a sad situation indeed. Dear Sir: As a resident of Oakville for some 37 years, I was dismayed on readâ€" ing the case of Mrs. Grove‘s mother (March 28th Oakville Beaver) who was refused admission to Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital in spite of her apparent serious condition. Dieter Kuntz, the president of the hosâ€" pital, is reported to have stated that no bed was available until yesterday, March 30th and that his hands were tied. Mrs. Lindsay had been in the Tucson Arizona hospital since March 18th. I understand that OTMH is intended to operate as an active treatment hospital and if so, it should mean that all 277 beds were on the dates in question fully occupied entirely by patients undergoing active treatment. Was this the case then and is it now? y LETTEB_MOF THE DAY _â€"â€" Can we no longer rely on our hospital? Brand Top 10 overâ€"theâ€"counter drugs, ‘91 Advil Tyvlenol WEEKLY FOCUS $305] it q Wholesale sales (milltions) M pt W M Joan Larson ) acted by copyr ty 1ovtzyddan%m Mi March §725] JG Wook k Mirr U Ajax jlon Po dupende Markh ht Jakville Wook 1993 ) ho P