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A 6 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday, Septem ber 17, 2003 THE lltkllIJJi i:kuki: Recognized for Excellence by Ontario Community Newspaper* Association EDITORIALS 111 letter s Office Manager Editor in Chief MARK DILLS Production Manager KELLY MONTAGUE Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLU Photography Director CHARLENE HALL Circulation Manager ROD IERRED Managing Editor THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: JILL DAVIS IAN OLIVER Publisher NEIL OLIVER Associate Publisher TERI CASAS U rto O Y ] fn t P Q K c A rm g & i R t u r g i « . r c u j s S n m « « w r Aftsfcr H n t t C c u v V P u [ r t n r u U t w i R * r « M im e * Brvnpcn GuanJao. Btfftagfcm ^ 0(t BuhngJcn S f » W « J Cafettn O u n p rr U K n 9 c a v Q N m i W s a t a i p dusaress Nnn Napance Gudt fn to p n * C*» f w r t C jU g K u y V tta g i C o n d m fast W Urrcr t i n Ao*)CJV.ro.nr, F t u « Etfxx** Guardian Iu rtx rrx rf ffevww Georoototvn 467 Speers Rd.. Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-3824, ext. 224 Circulation: 845-9742 lOVonflrrtAOr frm Him. W t t r Hmw t i t w B u w n T m ® irxtur, TTio Martftam Fconorw! & So>' VhJWKVlVoetanouitfine Mirror SMon Canacftan ' :<V Mrror OtfnOa Boa** Otftofr ta n OWttmeri H d h ry Sewi > «ta Today. Oifkwsk'A T iO rO m o lo n Port * »t> T> » Was*. Owen S a n d T it * r » P X m a n x r O u m v n h a a i x r x j p T t » We*. PWnn C a x t f Guo* R c fm rd rta T tn n t* V »j< fw i Ltml javtatxg" Mnt* :iwf.«0*ji£naj9 IrCuv l-aiMr vtxno. C *1< *vcr* GuanMr H alton Healthcare <*G N A Canadian Community Newspapers Association YM- A Q &w i! O (j» 0 O a k j'illt Jtr& r 6eMFund LoaKvil.e.qaHeri^J T h a O »»* a M to n a n tb tttt M A I ESTATE tO A R O ^ Thu/ k *L i f t NtQfiE SK Suburban Newspapers at America TV AUCTION k y^nvni F O R B U S < N S $ E X C ai6 N C ? K J ^ .H i *. | K | U a ^ < JL L t Unnecessary stress W henever contract negotiations betw een a school board and any o f its unionized em ployees appear headed for a labour disruption, parents under standably get very anxious. In households w here both parents m ust work to pay the bills -- more the norm than the exception these days -- the prospect o f school-aged children having no classes to go to can put a very heavy strain on the fam ily unit. Upsetting such a household's w eekly routine can place parents' nerves on edge, leaving som e so frustrated they becom e angry with those w ho had the pow er to prevent the disruption o f their child's education. The exam ple o f the current negotiating im passe betw een the Halton District School Board and its educational assistants is a case where parents o f special needs children must be feeling powerless. F or families with kids w ho have special educational needs it can be chal lenging enough just uncovering the problem their child is having at school. Recognition o f learning difficulties and the assessm ent o f a child's spe cific classroom needs can take an agonizingly long time from the perspec tive o f a caring parent. To som e m oms and dads, the threat o f losing the services o f educational assistants in the event o f a strike o r lockout must seem like the world col lapsing around them. Kids with special educational needs require a consistent environm ent in w hich to learn. With a new school year just under way. a sudden break in the routine could prove devastating to hyndreds o f Halton children and. by extension, their families. It's not a reassuring sign to parents w hen, after m onths o f negotiations, the tw o sides in these contract talks appear no closer to an agreem ent than when they started. 1 i We hope H alton's public school board and the association representing its 5(H) special education teachers can see their way beyond the difficulties encountered at the bargaining table. A disruption in the service o f educational assistants w on't do anyone any good -- not the educators, the adm inistrators, the parents and. m ost assuredly, not the fragile world o f the student w ho needs extra attention. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Preserve wildlife habitats in areas that are still rural R ecently, Liz H ow son, the Town consultant for the Oakville Secondary Plan process was kind enough to address RAND. The Residents' Association North o f Dundas. about where we are in the process. A new core features map and an Inter Agency Review report were presented that sparked a num ber o f questions from the audience. A striking aspect o f the core features map and the report is a very substantial inter-connecting series o f hedgerows, w oodlots and pasture. We were told that the idea is that these areas should be pre served to provide w ildlife with an inter-connecting viable habitat throughout north Oakville. W hen I first m oved to B urnham thorpe Road in rural Oakville, it was not uncom mon for us to observe 10-15 deer at a time grazing in our field and red fox were a com mon sight too. The area was relatively pristine and the lack o f road noise was absolutely lovely. Once the 407 was built, that all cam e to a crashing halt. The fact is that the 407 form s a rather im penetrable b arrier to wildlife. I haven't seen a deer or a fox once this year and the noise from the 407 can be pretty loud at rush hour, although it's not loo bad in the evenings thanks. I expect, to the blessedly high tolls. Unfortunately, the 407 bridge over 16 Mile Creek is noisy to the extrem e and my unfortunate neighbours who live close to that structure are subjected to intense noise pollution. Since w ildlife preservation in the new urban areas o f Oakville seems to be a priority, we asked why the 407 was not built with wildlife corridors. We were advised that it might have been built that way today, but that it w ould be too expensive to retrofit it now. The next issue discussed was the very desirability o f the pres ence o f significant w ildlife in an urban setting. M any people living in urban areas d o n 't like the idea o f coyotes roaming around their back yards and worry about hitting deer, rac coons and other anim als w ith their cars. On the other hand, it w as inter esting that the consultant advised us that there is even a m ovement afoot to re-introduce black bears into southern O ntario and that urban north Oakv ille might som e day be hom e to bears as well. Why not cougars 1 wonder? Ouch! It seems to m e that most people in Oakville d o n 't even like C anada geese pooping on their lawn or waddling down the road. A nother question had to do with urban sprawl. The population o f southern O ntario is growing in leaps and bounds and there is no end in sight. On the one hand, we hear that population intensification is an im portant planning tool to slow dow n urban sprawl. On the other hand, the Inter Agency Review report suggests that large tracts o f otherw ise developable land in newly-urban north O akville should be pre served for wildlife. I asked if that w ouldn't just sig nificantly advance the tim e when even more rural land will have to be urbanized. In answer, we were told that the planners will probably be able to meet the Official Plan's population targets for the area even with the preservation o f wildlife habitat. If that's true, and we truly want to limit urban sprawl, shouldn't the target population for the area be increased? It seem s to me that north O akville is going to be an urban area w hether we like it or not and that the wildlife in that area has already been significantly disrupt ed and displaced by the 407. W ouldn't our laudable environ mental objectives be much better served if, instead o f trying to pre serve a folly o f significant w ildlife habitats in urban areas, we were to invest our tim e, m oney and effort into preserving the wildlife habitat o f areas that are still rural and will hopefully remain rural for posteri ty? DAVID BAZAR L ET T E RO FT H EW E E K Closing schools ignores regeneration of mature areas 1 am w riting this to express my concern over the possible closing o f school(s) in the southw est area o f Oakville. 1 ain a perfect exam ple o f w hat is happening in this area. As the older people move out they are alm ost alw ays replaced with young growing families. This transition should not be overlooked when assessing each school/area. It seem s that over and over again that the residents in older areas o f Oakville are getting shortchanged to accom m odate the newly developing areas. To close schools in older areas will prevent young families from wanting to buy hom es there. This in turn will hurt the local stores and businesses that will not do well catering to mostly older people w ho tend not to spend as much since they do not have the sam e need o f products as a growing family. Young fam ilies tend to get out and spend more. To keep the schools open and get younger people in the area will help the local econom y as well as keep som e cars off the road since children will still be able to w alk to school. It is also a bad idea to close any school before a replace ment is up and running. I may be a little biased in my opinion since my children will be attending G ladys Speers, but it would be a very bad idea to ignore the regeneration o f this area and deliver another blow to the residents o f this mature area in southw est Oakville. STEVE COLLINS MP's comments `absurd and offensive' I was flabbergasted to read the com m ent by Oakville's Liberal MP Bonnie Brown that "It's very simplistic and anti intellectual to ask somebody if they're for som ething or against it." (Same-sex marriage debate expected to be lengthy. Oakville Beaver. Aug. 22). I rem em ber some rather simplistic and anti-intellectual com ments she made a few months ago before she becam e a self anointed `intellectual,' likening the United States to Nazi Germany and Hirohito's Japan. She has declared her opposition to surrogacy as a means of assisted reproduction, and stands closed-mindedly against any role for the private sector in delivering publicly-funded health care. In fact. Ms. Brown has a long and ugly record o f making radical and intemperate remarks on many issues. Suddenly it appears that she has adopted the extreme opposite approach of her party, which has maintained power far too long by publicly pretending neutrality on every issue o f im portance to Canadians. Perhaps she has finally worn her hair-trigger tongue down to a nubbin and like m ost other Liberal MPs now prefers to be told, rather than asked, what she is for and ag a in st I begrudge no one their right to disagree w'ith me on rational or principled grounds, but for Ms. Brown to assert that holding a position on an issue is anti-intellectual is absurd, offensive and hypocritical. AARON HYNES. CRYSLER, ON Coaches, convenors deserve thanks H aving read the letter from the volun teer soccer coach w ho felt 'judged, abused and h u rt'. (The O akville Beaver. Sept. 10). I co u ld n 't help but respond. I am a parent o f two children w ho have played soccer with the O akville Soccer Club (O SC ) for seven seasons, and I know exactly w hat this coach is talking about. I have seen and heard parents berate the coach fo r playing their child too m uch or loo little. I have heard com plaints about the coach not know ing the rules o r being too literal in their interpretation o f the rules. A buse o f the referees is ram pant. I share this co ach 's frustration w ith par ents and players who sign up but d o n 't show. It's not fair to the other team m em bers or the coach w hen four girls show up for prac tice. If the coach know s beforehand that he will be short on gam e night, he can call up players from a younger league. T hese coaches are all volunteer and give up hours and hours to coach o u r children. O ften they d o n 't even have children on the team. To all o f the coaches and convenors in the O SC w ho give so generously o f their tim e I say "thank you so very m uch." My hat is o ff to all o f you. MEGAN HANNA Man 9rateful for assistance W hile in Oakville Friday, Sept. 5. at approxi mately 8:30-9 p.m.. I decided to cross Trafalgar Road. Because o f the fairly heavy traffic, I ran instead o f walking. By the time I got to the cem ent median strip, which I did not see until it was too late. 1 tripped and fell on my face. I got up. bleeding and bruised, and made it to the sidewalk. And w hile I was standing there in a state o f shock, a female driver pulled over, took a look at me and offered to drive m e to hospital. Upon arriv ing at the hospital. I was greeted by a friendly, sym pathetic staff. I d o n 't recall if I thanked this lady driver or not. and I did not ask her nam e, but I sin cerely hope she sees this letter because she has renewed my faith in hum an nature. RALPH ELLIS Pud pko blsn k, By STEVE NEASE M is s g FtMMslCE. MIMIS1ER? ~ H o c K ts f B ju ip M E if r / l W e w a n t y o u r o p in io n The O akville B eaver w elcom es letters from its readers. Letters will be edited for clarity, length, legal considera tions and grammar. In order to be published, letters m ust con tain the name, address and phone num ber o f the author. Letters should be addressed to T h e E d ito r, O akville Beaver. 467 S p eers R oad, O ak v ille, O n ., L 6 K 3S4. or via email to ed ito r@ o ak v illeb eav er.co m . The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish any letter. The Oakville Beaver ts a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council k located at 80 Could S t, 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 adver tising 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 T H IS MONTH is ^ G o m t EE BRUTAL'