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6- The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday March 5, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com OPINION & LETTERS The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-3824, ext. 224 Circulation: 845-9742 Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: The Oakville Beaver is a division of IAN OLIVER Group Publisher Media Group Ltd. NEIL OLIVER Publisher DAVID HARVEY General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director SANDY PARE Business Manager MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ALEXANDRIA ANCHOR Circ. Manager Small price for safety How many more lives must be lost to house fires before homeowners finally get the message? Last weekend's tragic loss of a mother, her three children and a young man in a Hamilton house fire is a sobering reminder of the value of smoke detectors. According to fire officials' preliminary findings, the victims in last Saturday's early morning blaze had no advance warning of the danger. Although the cause of the deadly blaze is still under investigation by Ontario Fire Marshal Pat Burke, yesterday (Tuesday) morning his office confirmed that no smoke detectors were found in the charred home where Melissa Denhollander, 22, her three daughters Emma, Ella and Alana -- all under the age of five -- and a 19-year-old man living at the home, died. It's sad to think that a simple $20 purchase could have saved their lives. According to the fire marshal, in most fatal fires, victims die from smoke inhalation. To increase their odds of survival, everyone in a home should be taught that if they are caught in smoke, they should get low and go to the nearest safe exit. While it's law in Ontario to have at least one working smoke alarm on every level of a home and outside all sleeping areas, for best protection the fire marshal recommends installing a smoke alarm in every bedroom. Compliance with Fire Code smoke alarm requirements is the responsibility of every homeowner. Tenants who do not have the required number of smoke detectors should contact their landlord immediately. However, having the legal minimum number of smoke detectors is meaningless if the batteries have run low, or worse, have been removed to prevent false alarms sometimes caused by indoor cooking. Remembering to change smoke alarms batteries each time you change your clocks in the spring and fall assures the potentially lifesaving devices are always powered up. Fire officials also recommend purchasing detectors that have a pause feature to reduce nuisance alarms. With most models of smoke detectors lasting about 10 years, the annual cost of maintaining a single unit over its lifetime, including batteries, can be less than $10. That's a small price to pay for something that could one day save your family. The Oakville Beaver welcomes letters from its readers. Letters will be edited for clarity, length, legal considerations and grammar. In order to be published all letters must contain the name, address and phone number of the author. Letters should be addressed to The Editor, Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, ON, L6K 3S4, or via e-mail to editor@oakvillebeaver.com. The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish a letter. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Clearview students should be able to walk to school I am a resident of Clearview and am writing in connection with the Halton District School Board's Program and Accommodation Review (PARC) 14 Committee's vote on Tuesday, Feb. 19, which effectively denied Clearview students, who represent approximately one-third of the students in southeast Oakville, the opportunity to walk to school throughout their entire education. Let's contrast this with the situation in the rest of southeast Oakville, where the majority of students (if not all) have the ability to walk to at least two of their elementary, primary or secondary schools. Presently, walking to school (despite the lengthy distance) is not even an option for Clearview students in light of the fact that there is a busy industrial area and train tracks separating Clearview students from their present schools. The student enrollment statistics for Clearview on the Halton District School Board website do not seem to properly take into account the fact that the neighbourhood, which was established in the early 1980s and which has a much higher density than much of southeast Oakville, is currently undergoing a revitalization. Many of the original homeowners are selling their homes and young families have moved and are moving into the neighbourhood. One needs only to go on a walk in the neighbourhood to see the influx of families with young children and the high demand (and long waiting lists) for daycares serving the Clearview community. The decision to close a school will always be contested and it is always easier to simply maintain the status quo -- no matter how much it blatantly ignores the needs of one community. While it should be expected that a child may at one point in their education need to take a bus to get to school, it is unreasonable to have a system in place (and maintain such a system) where a child will have to take a bus to school every single day for their entire education -- elementary, primary and secondary. KATHRYN LACK Pud BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com In praise of The Lord's Prayer I have been following, with many misgivings as to the credibility of our elected politicians, the subject of the use of The Lord's Prayer and other Christian prayer. I am absolutely certain that they have better things to do with our money. The Lord's Prayer does not commit murder, it does not steal, it is not a drunk or reckless driver and it does not batter, rape or abuse, nor does it pollute or endanger the atmosphere. Perhaps if the politicians were to solve all of these issues, then there would certainly be time and the resources to consider the use of Christian prayers. PAMELA ROWLEDGE The Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone 416-340-1981. Advertising is accepted on the condition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of 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 advertisements or decline.