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â€"EDITORIAL Classified Advertising: 845â€"2809 Circulation: 845â€"9742 or 845â€"9743 ) Ian Oliver Publisher Robert Glasbey Advertising Director Norman Alexander Editor Geoff Hill Circulation Director Teri Casas Office Manager Tim Coles Production Manager The Oakville Beaver, published every Sundmé Wednesday and Friday, at 467 ‘ Speers Rd., Oakville, is one of the Metroland Printing, P« hing Distributing ! Ltd. group of suburban newspapers which includes: Ajax: ing News { Advertiser, Bartie Advance, Brampton Guardian, Burtington Post, Colli Connection, Etobicoke Guardian, town I n Acton Free . Kingston This Week, Lindsay This Week, Markham Economist and Sun, Stouffville/Uxbridge Tribune, Milton Canadian Champion, Mississauga News,,; Newmarketâ€"Aurora Eraâ€"Banner, North York Mirror, Oakville Beaver, Orillia Today, Oshawa/Whitby This Week, Peterborough This Week, Richmond HilÂ¥ Liberal, Scarborough Mirror. All material published in the Oakville Beaver is protected by copy%l\ny reproduction in whole or in part of this material is strictly forbidden without 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 ocourbd by the â€" 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 calegorize and reject advertising. In the event of typographical error, advertising goods or services at the wrong price, goods or services ma\ t be sold. Advertising is merely an offer to sell and may be withdrawn at any time. omm of independent Jewish and Christian Schools. Five judges were unanimous in their findings. This enfire issue of funding for nonâ€"public schools was brought on years ago in the closing days of Premier Bill Davis‘ Progressive Conservative government. It was his parting shot...and quite a shot it was. T]\e Ontario Court of Appeal was correct in ruling against the public funding l y 09e No ced se decision. kind. There was, and is, no Jusuficatlon for spendmg billions of dollars on alternaâ€" tive education geared to a specific religious group. usls B o ie L â€" His decision to throw ]Ir)ublic monies at the Roman Catholic separate school boards ignited much debate at the time, debate which won‘t end with the court‘s Had the court found in favor of extending further funding to independent schools, the cost to the provincial treasury would have been somewhere between $156â€"million and $340â€"million per year. It‘s an expense neither the province nor its taxpayers can afford. As it is, the"Cost to fund the Roman Catholic separate boards is a staggering, one might say economicallyâ€"crippling, $14â€"billion per year. Since the province made the decision to extend public monies to Roman Catholic schools, it‘s little wonder other religious groups challenged Queen‘s Park‘s right to only fund Roman Catholic alternative schools. We understand their position and sympathize with them...at least from a legal standpoint. q l o n i ces we find disturbing in the rancorous debate over the issue, is the attitude of those who seek public funding to support parochial programs. All of these selfâ€" serving special interest groups, they have thelr rnole in our society screwed up. They talk of rights. Their rights. Equalityâ€"forâ€"all rights. But no where in any reporting of the affair has the word ‘responsibility‘ surfaced. If these various indeâ€" pendent schools and religious groups want to set up a school, let the users pay. Since when is it the ‘responsibility‘ of the province to look after an expanding eduâ€" cational constituency? â€"â€" Clearly, in these cases it‘s the ‘responsibility‘ of these individual groups to look after their own interests since by funding a public education system, the province has looked after its mandate. Just once, it would be nice to hear groups like the various multiâ€"faith groups in this province practice what they preach. They have been given citizenship in the most desirable country in the world to practice whatever faith and education pracâ€" tices they deem necessary. It‘s not up to the rest of Ontario society to foot the bill to further their own desires. If they want independent schools, they have been allowed to form them by the government. It cannot be expected to fund them as well. Who‘s responsible? 467 Speers Road, Oakville, Ont. L6K 384 €)4 Sometimes the law moves in _ very mysterious ways indeed The law is a ass, a idiot. =Charles Dickens s it just me, or are things Iactually getting weirder out there? I‘m talking about all the lawsuits going around. A few years ago, a guy in my neckâ€"ofâ€"theâ€"woods got drunk, dove into a quarry, broke his neck â€" and then sued the townâ€" ship for damages. ‘f And won. I thought that was about as dumb as the law could get. I was wrong. As I speak, Black Flag, the insecticide people, haye yanked a TV ad that featured the playâ€" ing of Taps over some cartoon bug carcasses. A veteran‘s group had threatâ€" ened to sue. A life insurance ad that feaâ€" tures a haggy old witch, with green skin and a chin wart, has been publicly slammed by â€" but of course, a Witchesâ€"Rights group. Why didn‘t they just turn all the insurance adjusters into toads? Litigational lunacy seems to be the soup du jour. There‘s a guy in Fort Worth, Texas who‘s suing Weight Watchers. He conâ€" tends that the weightâ€"loss comâ€" pany‘s refusal to change the way it conducts its meetings is illegal and an infringement on his rights. The guy bringing the suit, you see, is dea â€" oops â€" aurally challenged. So he figures Weight Watchers meetings should offer sign language, as well as, conâ€" ventional conversation. _â€" We‘re getting so lawsuit happy that just the threat of legal action can paralyze whole comâ€" munities. Consider the case of Jeffrey Klein and his burglar alarm. Last month, Jeffrey left on an extended trip to the Far East. Four days into his trip, a neighbor tracked him down by telephone in Singapore. It was the burglar alarm in his house back in Maryland. It had gone off on its own and had been jangling without a break for 48 hours. Would Jeffrey please grant permission to shut it off so the neighborhood could get some sleep? Sure, said Jeffrey, go ahead. But nobody wanted to take on the job. Even though Jeffrey gave blanket permission for someone â€" anyone â€" to go into his house and shut off his alarm, nobody was willing to do it. It wasn‘t just the neighbors. The police refused to go in. The public utility refused to cut the power. ty The burglar alarm kept ringâ€" ing. One of Klein‘s neighbors went to court to get an order to shut the damned thing off â€" but no judge would sign the order. They were afraid of "liabiliâ€" Meanwhile, Jeffrey Klein was burning up the telephone lines from Singapore, trying to find somebody intrepid enough to go into his house and flip a wall switch. He finally conâ€" vinced a police officer to do it. It took the cop less than a minute to turn off the alarm which by then had been shriekâ€" ing for six full days. Then, there‘s the case of Steve Bowskill. He‘s a druggist in the town of ‘Colborne, Ontario â€" a druggist who‘s been held up eight times in the past two years. Late one night last winter, Bowskill was awakened, once again, to the sound of smashing glass. He got downstairs in time to see two guys throwing fistâ€" fuls of drugs into a van. Which is when Bowskill â€" a marksman â€" raised his pistol, squinted down the barrel, and fired. Blowing out the rear tire of the delivery van. Well, the wheels of justice, though notoriously balky, can positively hum every now and then. The powers that be wasted no time getting right to work on the Colborne breakâ€"in. And this past week the court convicted the man who‘s biggest crime was protecting his property and preventing â€" withâ€" out bloodshed â€" a crime. Bowskill was charged with careless use of a firearm and unsafe storage of a gun. The law is a ass? You said it, Chuck.