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x: OPINION â€"EDITORIAL en s o dsn 2 All material published in the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. An Tim Coles Production Manager reproduction in whole or in part of this material is strictly forbidden the consent of the publisher. Advertising is accepted on the condition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of the advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. The publisher reserves the right to categorize and reject advertising. in the event of typographical error, advertising goods or servi the wrong price, goods or services may not be sold. Advertising is merely an offer to sell and may.be withdrawn at any time. And while some people might think of Oakville as a strange place for a used clothing store, Amity officials say that local store has been very busy since its March 9th official opening. And that‘s good news for both Amity and Oakville. that support is expanding. The organization that provides employment for 354 people through its operations in Hamilton, St. Catharines, Burlington and Oakville, has been a leader in helping the disabled. Te Amity story is one built on community support and we‘re pleased to say, Half of Amity‘s employees have some kind of disability but that hasn‘t stopped the organization from growing. The service recently opened a new store for used clothing and small consumer items in a modern facility on Speers Road. Opening the store was a kind of repayment to Oakville, which has the distincâ€" tion of being the highest contributor of goods among all of Amity‘s attended donaâ€" tion centres. Locked doors, bars on basement windows and burglar alarms are all becoming a way of life for suburban residents everywhere and Oakville is no exception. Welcome to 1994 and be careful out there. In recent months, there has been a rash of breakâ€"ins along Speers Road and Wyecroft Road businesses. These firms are easy targets for thieves. These industrial areas are usually devoid of traffic and people at night and even more so on the weekends, so aside from alarms, there‘s not much that can be done to protect these businesses. But at least in these instances, there is usually no human contact between the thieves and their victims. Of more concern is the robbery that took place here this week. It underâ€" lines again, the increasingly violent nature of crime in Ontario and particularâ€" ly in the Metro area. â€"There are countless reasons for this escalating violence, not the least of which is sociological. were armed. This case serves to illustrate the point that regardless of the kind of peaceâ€" ful community you live in, there is no defence for random acts of violence perpetrated by people coming into town from other areas. Halton Regional Police are wellâ€"aware of the phenomenon. Crooks from outside Oakville, usually Toronto, blow into town along the QEW and hit local businesses and then hop back on the highway and are gone. The same thing took place in the summer and early fall in residential areas and again, police suspected outside ‘gangs‘ were to blame. The trio abducted the 26 yearâ€"old, after forcing him to open the store and hand over the day‘s receipts. He was then threatened with death and then left in the backseat of his own car in Toronto. He was lucky to have escaped with his life. Basic data: Statistics Canada here is no safe refuge from the kind of terror experienced by a superâ€" market store manager Tuesday night. The man had closed the store around 9:00 p.m. when he was approached by three men, two of whom Disturbing trend Good news 467 Speers Road, Oakville, Ont. L6K 3S4 Make no mistake about it, Barney was one dino who dared % to dream big. His goal from the outset was to become bigger than 2 any other fourâ€"limbed reptilian actor from the Mesozoic Era i who‘d _ trampled _ across " Hollywood sound stages before him. Secretly, Barney aspired to become bigger than Dino of the : Flintstones, if you can imagine. i â€" _ Of course, it wasn‘t easy for 2 Barney. The long nights toiling in ‘ restaurants followed by long days being treated like meat at cattle : calls. To boot, Barney was big, overweight, purple, and extremeâ€" i ly goofy in a time when : Hollywood wasn‘t really hot on ‘ big, overweight, purple, and ‘ extremely goofy. Then there was the whole horrible dinosaur disâ€" crimination thing, which I don‘t even have the stomach to get into right ;585,i _ f 4 overweight, purple ly goofy in a Hollywood wasn‘t big, overweight, extremely goofy. T But it wasn‘t always this way. Only aâ€"few years back, Barney was but another hapless dinosaur/actor barely making ends meet by parking cars and waiting on tables in L.A. restauâ€" rants while dreaming huge dino dreams of one day making it big in the reptileâ€"eatâ€"reptile world of show business. Worried silly about his happiâ€" ness. Worried sick about his health. I’m worried about Barney. Barney, in case you live in a cave without cable, is a dinosaur from our imaginations, and when he‘s tall, he‘s what we call a dinosaur sensation. Sensation indeed. Barney‘s a newâ€"age Elvis. He‘s bigger than the Beatles. Simply put, Barney‘s an entertainment icon. A showâ€"biz legend. A God. The touching tale of a dino who dared to dream But Barneyâ€"persisted. He perâ€" can OMLc It took time; the process was slow and insidious, but all this mindâ€"boggling newâ€"found fame and fortune began going to Barney‘s head. Which was pretty Well, the sweet Cinderellaâ€" like success story did not end there. The Barney show was subâ€" sequently picked up by PBS, which committed to airing the show on its innumerable stations no less than oneâ€"thousand times a day. In short order, North America‘s youth were hooked on the lure that is Barney. Realizing they had an enorâ€" mous hit on their hands, PBS and Barney‘s hungry handlers began extending Barney‘s reach on the marketplace. Soon there were Barney records, Barney videos, Barney paraphernalia â€" Barney‘s portly purple person on mugs, posters, coloring books, clothes, etc. â€" Barney this and Barney that until it seemed one could not blink without being Barneyed. severed. And he prevailed. One day, his laudable tenacity paid off. He was called to the set of a new children‘s show. The show‘s producers were looking for a lead actor to play the character that preschool children would find altogether endearing, and anyone over the age of five would find altogether annoying. This was not a stretch for our Barney who won the role hands down. He was so darn good; in fact, they named the show after him. "Barney," if you can imagâ€" in€. I‘m worried about Barney Worried silly about his happiness Worried sick about his health::: Many insiders believe the rumors, unlike recent reports sugâ€" gesting Sesame Street‘s Bert and Ernie are more than just best buddies, are not idle and unfounded. No, these rumors apparently have the kind of founâ€" dation generally only found in one of those remarkable 18â€"hour cirdles. To top off all of this madness, yesterday your despondent correâ€" spondent walked by a playground and heard some kids, none of whom could have been any more than sixâ€"yearsâ€"old, sweetly singing Barney‘s theme song. Only they‘d changed the words: "I love you, you love me, let‘s hang Barney from a tree..." bis to besin with. It was then that the nasty rumors caught fire and were spread like dinoâ€"dung across the front pages of the tabloids. Barney‘s Acquired An Attitude! Barney Bops Baby Bop! Barney‘s Become A Party Animal! Barney Seen In Sewers Chilling With Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Barney Does The Big Kissyâ€"Face With Brooke Shields! Barney‘s Lost His Desire And Edge! Barney‘s Seeing Shrink For Multiple Personality Disorder! Barney Wants Out Of The fishbowl That Is Fame! Initially, the changes in Barney were barely perceptible. Onâ€"camera, he was a little less giddy and goofy. Offâ€"camera, he started being a bit bossy and difâ€" ficult, demanding odd things like packages of Smarties, with all the purple ones removed. Then peoâ€" ple noticed he was growing belâ€" ligerent and at times sullen.