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6- The Oakville Beaver, Friday July 25, 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: NEIL OLIVER Vice ­ President and Group Publisher of Metroland West The Oakville Beaver is a division of IAN OLIVER President Media Group Ltd. 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 Cheering the home team If you love the Olympic Games, you will be pleased to know there is an impressive group of local athletes preparing to head to China. Oakville and Burlington have 10 Olympic hopefuls who will test their athletic prowess at the 2008 Beijing Games. To make the Aug. 8-24 event that much sweeter, Oakville kayaker Adam van Koeverden will carry the Canadian flag during the opening ceremonies. Van Koeverden also happens to be Canada's best medal hope, as he is the reigning Olympic and world champion, as well as world record holder in the men's K-1 500 metres. His World Cup performance this season is just as compelling, winning five of six races (three in the K-1 500, two in the K-1 1,000), and capturing a bronze in the other K-1 1,000. Joining Van Koeverden in Beijing are Burlington residents Mark Oldershaw, canoeing and Brady Reardon, kayaking. This group, as well as the rest of Canada's canoe and kayak team will be coached by Burlington's Scott Oldershaw, himself a former Olympian. While watching the Games, keep your eye on these Oakville athletes: Oskar Johansson, sailing; Andrew Hurd, swimming; Colin Russell, swimming; Kara Lang, soccer; Diana Matheson, soccer; Kyle Jones, triathlon (alternate) and Alyssa Brown, gymnastics (alternate). Oakville's Josh Cassidy will be wheelchair racing in the September Paralympics. Much has been written about the upcoming Olympics and not all of it positive. The excitement generated by the Games has been tempered somewhat by the endless stories of horrendous air pollution clouding Beijing. Over the ensuing weeks, it would be encouraging for our athletes -- especially the local ones -- to know that they have a very proud country cheering them on to greatness. We wish them luck. Editor's Note: The Burloak Canoe Club is inviting the public to a sendoff for its Olympic contingent on Monday, Aug. 4, from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. The club is located at 160 Water St., Oakville. 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 No grounds to review school board's PARC 14 process I found it interesting to read the fallout from the Halton District School Board (HDSB) decision to close four schools in east Oakville and build a new one in the Clearview area, because several years ago I was involved, as a parent, in a similar PARC exercise in respect of the public schools in west Oakville. Regardless of the merits of the outcome in this case, I find it difficult to believe that participants in the PARC process thought that whatever they recommended would be accepted by the school board trustees. I also find it disturbing that some people believe the process was not "democratic." On the first point, I would like to endorse the comments made by letter writer Denise O'Connell (PARC Recommendation was unrealistic - July 9). Unfortunately, the PARC committee process used by the HDSB usually draws parent representatives whose personal goal is to keep their "walk to" school open at all costs. Parents who volunteer for the PARC exercise solely to lobby for continued "walk to" school situations are not doing themselves or the community any favours by skewing the process. Realistically, with so much surplus (and expensive) space available, it seemed obvious to me that someone's children were going to end up walking longer distances, or driving. On the second point, let's be quite clear: the PARC exercise was not, and is not designed to be, a "democratic" process. It is designed to be a transparent process. The "democratic" process involved was the choice of trustees by the public school supporters at the last election. Those parents who mistakenly thought that whatever the PARC committee came up with would be adopted have learned the hard way that our public schools belong to all public taxpayers and it is right that only our elected trustees should have the final say as to the retention or otherwise of schools. Finally, to those involved in pushing for a review of the process, I would say that the transparency of the process used to consult with the public in this case was satisfactory and very similar to previous similar exercises. Although no system of consultation is perfect, I don't see anything special about the east Oakville situation that merits a major review and the possible repetition of the process, especially since it would likely come up with the same result. Perhaps this is one occasion when our neighbours in east Oakville will need to recognize that, in a democracy, all parts of Oakville are equal. NICOLAS W. R. BURBIDGE Pud BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com 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.