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OAKVILLE BEAVER Thursday, August 20, 2009 · 6 The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5571 Classified Advertising: 905-632-4440 Circulation: 845-9742 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. Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Commentary Guest Columnist NEIL OLIVER Vice-President and Group Publisher, Metroland West DAVID HARVEY Regional 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 SARAH MCSWEENEY Circ. Manager WEBSITE oakvillebeaver.com Making growth pay for itself Gary Carr, Halton Region Chair On Wednesday, July 15, Halton Regional Council voted unanimously to pass the Financial and Implementation Plan for the 2008/2009 Allocation Program. This plan ensures that the regional roads, water and wastewater infrastructure, required to support growth in Halton, is paid for by the development industry and not existing regional taxpayers. For the past several weeks, I have been requesting your assistance and looking for your comments on the very important question of who should pay for the cost of growth in Halton. More than 2,100 residents sent e-mails to me to express their overwhelming support of Halton's Allocation Program, indicating they do not want to be burdened with the cost of growth. Halton regional staff identified requirements for more than $2.4 billion in water, wastewater and road infrastructure that would need to be built over the next 12 years to support planned development. The Region's Official Plan requires that regional council approve an acceptable financing plan before development can proceed. The financing plan determines who pays and who assumes the risks of financing the required infrastructure -- regional taxpayers or developers. I am pleased the Allocation Program (staff report CS-49-09/PW-20-09/LPS8009: Financial and Implementation Plan for the 2008/2009 Allocation Program), was unanimously approved by council and it ensures Halton taxpayers do not assume greater responsibility for financing development-related infrastructure. I'd like to sincerely thank all residents who participated in the process of the Allocation Program decision either by e-mail, phone, or in person as a delegate at regional council. Your interest and involvement in this important community issue is a critical and invaluable part of the democratic process and ensures your voice and opinions are heard by the members of council who represent you. I encourage Halton residents to continue to be involved in their regional government and participate in important discussions such as this. A live broadcast of Halton Regional Council and Committee meetings is available on the Internet via a video stream at www.halton.ca. Podcasts of past meetings are also available. I encourage residents to continue to e-mail me directly regarding any regional issue at gary.carr@halton.ca. Together, we can ensure that Halton remains a great place to live, work, raise a family and retire. Gary Carr RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville TV AUCTION JON CURRIE / OAKVILLE BEAVER FOR THE TEAM: NHL goalie Steve Mason of Oakville signs a photo for Kristy Race at One Small Step, the annual fundraising walkathon for the Foundation for Prader-Willi Research Canada (FPWRC) at Shell Park last weekend. The event raised more than $110,000. The complex genetic disorder causes cognitive disabilities, behavioural issues and a chronic feeling of hunger that can lead to excessive eating and life-threatening obesity. He spent an hour in Hell's kitchen and crudity was cooking T he other night I was watching the reality show Hell's Kitchen -- it was the episode where Chef Gordon Ramsay got angry at his contestants' gross incompetence and swore for 60 straight minutes -- when I began considering how common decency, decorum, civility and basic good manners have seemingly been flushed right down the #$*#@!# toilet. Seriously, how did we regress from Holden Caulfield trying to protect his sister (in J.D. Salinger's novel, The Catcher In The Rye), by erasing a swear word someone had written on the wall of her school, to that very swear word becoming as common as raindrops in the sodden summer of 2009? Okay, Holden Caulfield -- like the novel he inhabits -- is filled with an admirable, albeit unrealistic innocence (and once the offending word is erased, Holden naturally finds another swear word and realizes he'll never be able to protect Phoebe from all the swear words in the world, and that depresses him). But is it asking too much for a Phoebe (any Phoebe) in today's society to be able to listen to music, to turn on the radio, or even watch an hour of TV without someone rapping about sleazy sex, or dropping so-called `F- Bombs' (beeped or not) all over the #$*#@!# place? Face it, people, as a society we're becoming increasingly rude, crude and lewd. In 2002, an extensive study was conducted in the United States that determined rudeness was on the rise and, to that end, noted that 44 per cent of those surveyed acknowledged Andy Juniper they had actually heard crude or rude language in public. At the time, those findings seemed shocking. Now, seven short years later, crude, rude, lewd language is about all we hear in public. Today we're shocked if we don't hear constant cusses and curses. I don't want to sound prudish -- a fan of Denis Leary's rants, I can get as salty as the next person -- but the point is, there is a time and a place for everything, including certain types of behavior and language. And that shouldn't be any time, any place. It's to the point where it's embarrassing to take kids and young teens...anywhere. Movie theatres are out. Nowadays PG movies are laced with nudity and crudity. Recently we saw a movie in the Apatow oeuvre -- a coarse, graphic, very funny, very adult movie -- and we were surrounded by giddy young teens. Throughout the film, all I could think about was our 13-year-old could easily have snuck in with the gaggle of under-aged gigglers. There was a time when sports stadiums were sanctuaries from insanity in the outside world. No longer. Now they're bastions for boors, drunken louts who have replaced the sharp fan barb with dumbed-down chants, charmers such as, "A--hole! A--hole! A--hole!" How intelligent. How original. Did I mention that the other night I was watching the reality show Hell's Kitchen -- it was the episode where Chef Gordon Ramsay got angry at his contestants' gross incompetence and swore for 60 straight minutes? That could be any episode. Nevertheless, I grew to like the show (Ramsey has a certain coarse charm), but it's on in prime time. It's the fare our kids are growing up on. How can they help but think this is the #$*#@!# way adults are supposed to speak and act? Andy Juniper can be visited at his website, www.strangledeggs.com, or contacted at ajjuniper@gmail.com.