The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, March 28, 2014 | 6 Editorial M A K I N G M U S I "Connected to your Community" C 447 Speers Road, Oakville ON, L6K 3S4 General Inquiries: (905) 845-3824 Editorial Department: (905) 632-0588 Classi ed Advertising: (905) 632-4440 Circulation: 5300 Harvester Rd., Burlington (905) 631-6095 Volume 51 | Number 38 The Oakville Beaver is a division of Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Everyone has a role to play What are your plans for tomorrow (Saturday) night -- speci cally between the hour of 8:30-9:30 p.m.? Will you simply be enjoying yourself with the same kind of weekend distractions as you did last week and the Saturday before that? Or will you and some friends or family members be gathering for a specially-planned activity enjoyed by candlelight, ashlight, glow sticks, perhaps even moonlight? Is Earth Hour -- the annual global effort to draw attention to the positive impact we can have on our planet if we put our minds to it -- still a part of your weekend plans, or is March 29 just another day? According to its CEO and co-founder Andy Ridley, the idea behind Earth Hour was to bring the people of our planet together toward effecting lasting, measurable environmental change. "Earth Hour has always been about more than just lights off. It was built for anyone to use their power to make a difference, and this is becoming easier as more of us use digital technology to connect far beyond what we thought was possible," says Ridley on Earth Hour's website www.earthhour.org. According to Ridley's organization, the simple gesture of turning off lights for 60 minutes, which started in 2007, has spawned countless global `green' projects including the start of an Earth Hour forest in Uganda, the creation of a 3.4-million hectare, marine-protected area in Argentina and the installation of hundreds of thousands of energy-saving LED lights by girl scouts in the U.S. Closer to home, the Town of Oakville, Region of Halton, Halton Regional Police Service Halton District School Board and Oakville Hydro will also be doing what they can to observe the effort (see p.1). For most, it's the shut down of non-essential services for the hour. That's backed by various programs the agencies have adopted year round. Each has challenged residents to do what they can. "Never doubt a small group of thoughtfullycommitted citizens can change the world, because we have and continue to do so," said Rob Lister, Oakville Hydro President and CEO. Earth Hour will be what each of us makes of it. If you have unique plans, we invite you to snap a high-resolution photo and email it to ablackburn@ oakvillebeaver.com. We'll share the best images with readers next week. River Oaks Public School students, from left, Sam Buckland, 13, Reilly McKay, 14, and Rachael Messenger-Lehmann, 13, play the clarinet during the Halton District School Board's instrument clinic held on Tuesday morning at the Burlington Seniors Centre and Burlington Music Centre. | photo by Nikki Wesley ­ Oakville Beaver (Follow on Twitter @halton_photog or facebook.com/HaltonPhotog) Vice­President and Group Publisher of Metroland West Regional General Manager Halton Region Editor in Chief Advertising Director NEIL OLIVER DAVID HARVEY JILL DAVIS DANIEL BAIRD Managing Editor ANGELA BLACKBURN RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director Business Manager Director of Production SANDY PARE MARK DILLS MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager Director of Distribution Random act of kindness made her day Recently, I was just beginning to shovel away the large windrow left by the snowplow at the foot of my neighbour's driveway. At the same moment, the sidewalk plow was making its way up my street. The driver of the sidewalk plow drove over to where I was, and with three passes of his plow, removed the windrow for me, thereby saving me about 30 minutes of tough shovelling. I mouthed the words `thank you' to the lovely young man. Letter to the Editor CHARLENE HALL KIM MOSSMAN Circulation Manager He responded with a smile, a thumbs up, and left to carry on with his work of plowing the sidewalks. The gesture left me nearly speechless. It was unbelievably kind, and so very appreciated. Thank you, whoever you are, for this lovely random act of kindness. You made my day, and reinforced my belief that Oakville is a wonderful place to live. Jo-Anne Grif n, Oakville Proud Official Media Sponsor For: Canadian Circulations Audit Board Member Recognized for Excellence by Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association Let's all work to be good neighbours Re: Thank you for the warmest winter ever, Oakville Beaver, March 7, 2014. I echo recent letter writer Rich O'Hare's sentiments. I, too, woke up to a shovelled driveway and I have not been able to thank the unknown person/persons, personally, for their generosity and kindness, but I have since tried to `pay it forward' every chance I get. Proud Official Media Sponsor For: This has renewed my faith in humanity. Now, if only we could get a very few thoughtless members of our community to pick up after their dogs. Let us all take up Mr. O'Hare's challenge to be neighbourly and contribute positively to making Oakville a livable Town. Best regards to all Oakvillians, Viv Dickenson, 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, 5040 Mainway, Burlington ON L7L 7G5 or via e-mail to ablackburn@oakvillebeaver.com. The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish a letter. 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.