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6- The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday October 27, 2007 www.oakvillebeaver.com 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 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 Publisher 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 Metroland Media Group Ltd. includes: Ajax/Pickering News Advertiser, Alliston Herald/Courier, Arthur Enterprise News, Barrie Advance, Caledon Enterprise, Brampton Guardian, Burlington Post, Burlington Shopping News, City Parent, Collingwood/Wasaga Connection, East York Mirror, Erin Advocate/Country Routes, Etobicoke Guardian, Flamborough Review, Georgetown Independent/Acton Free Press, Harriston Review, Huronia Business Times, Lindsay This Week, Markham Economist & Sun, Midland/Penetanguishine Mirror, Milton Canadian Champion, Milton Shopping News, MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ALEXANDRIA CALHOUN Circ. Manager WEBSITE oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver is a division of Get tough on repeat offenders Ted Chudleigh Ted Chudleigh Halton MPP IAN OLIVER Group Publisher Media Group Ltd. Mississauga Business Times, Mississauga News, Napanee Guide, Newmarket/Aurora Era-Banner, Northumberland News, North York Mirror, Oakville Beaver, Oakville Shopping News, Oldtimers Hockey News, Orillia Today, Oshawa/Whitby/Clarington Port Perry This Week, Owen Sound Tribune, Palmerston Observer, Peterborough This Week, Picton County Guide, Richmond Hill/Thornhill/Vaughan Liberal, Scarborough Mirror, Stouffville/Uxbridge Tribune, Forever Young, City of York Guardian 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: F United Way of Oakville TV AUCTION irst, I'd like to thank everyone in Oakville for taking part in the democratic process. I will do my best to represent your concerns at Queen's Park. One of those concerns which received little attention during the recent election period was the lack of Liberal spine on defending citizens from violent crime and repeat offenders. Too many murders and other violent crimes in our province are committed by people out on bail or parole. Repeat offenders are cycled through the system again and again. This has to stop. People in Ontario deserve to feel safe in their homes, on their streets and while out and about conducting their affairs. There are several things the McGuinty Liberals have failed to do. First, bail must be denied to repeat offenders. People with repeat convictions for violent crime should be removed from our streets. Second, as John Tory suggested months ago, reverse onus should apply in the case of violent criminal actions. Third, the court system must be cleaned up with far more emphasis placed on enforcing court orders. For too long, criminals have known that court orders are rarely enforced and breaches of orders are treated with a slap on the wrist. This has to stop. Liberal governments at the federal level have consistently refused to implement longer minimum sentences, provide specific penalties for gun or gang related crime, or take repeat criminals from our streets. It appears that the federal government will shortly resurrect its crime bill which will take action on crime at the federal level. In Ontario, Dalton McGuinty must use this opportunity. He must lobby the federal government for stricter rules. He must take back some control of our streets. We need the ability to deal once and for all with drug gangs and violent repeat offenders. Simply put - someone with a rap sheet as long as their arm should not be on our streets. In Dalton McGuinty's Ontario our courts are clogged with repeat offenders who we refuse to take off our streets and put where they cannot do further harm. This is a golden opportunity for the McGuinty Liberal government. It has been said the definition of insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting a different result. By that definition the McGuinty Liberals have an insane approach to criminal justice as we release the same offenders over and over again and expect them to engage society differently. How long will it take for us to realize new action is required and that repeat offenders should forfeit their freedom? One man's longing for lattes and his need for a foamy fix I knew I was addicted, I just didn't know to what degree -- didn't know, that is, until my wife and I were motoring through West Virginia en route to South Carolina. It was early afternoon, post-lunch when the body starts to flag and the mind wanders, when I began having cravings. Killer cravings. "I need a Starbucks," I whined like a junkie desperate for his fix. Always the voice of reason, my wife replied: "We're in the middle of nowhere. We've been driving through the middle of nowhere for the last four hours. There aren't any big cities coming up on the map. So," she concluded, twisting the dagger she'd plunged into my hopes, "trust me, there won't be a Starbucks." I believe in a higher being, in a kind and compassionate creator, and I believe in fate. Just as my wife's words were cutting me to the quick, as my longing for a latte began spiraling out of control, I navigated a wide turn in the highway and we found ourselves speeding toward a divine sign that proclaimed: "Starbucks. Next Exit." Starbucks. In a burg with a population, we would learn, of less than 4,000. Proof, dear readers, that there is a God. And that He is both kind and compassionate. And that He is personally looking out for me. And, proof that John Denver was right: West Virginia is almost heaven. Now, there's a popular premise that our great nation can be divided -- sociologically split -- into two camps: those who drink coffee (Tim Hortons, et al) and those who prefer overpriced fancy-Dan Andy Juniper drinks (Starbucks). But like most premises that are applied to people, this baby is way too simplified. Take me, for example. While I nowadays lean toward what coffee drinkers perceive to be the more hoity-toity Starbuckian Experience, there was a day when I was a fanatical frequenter of Mr. Horton's donut emporiums. I was a huge fan of the humble coffee bean, to say nothing of Tim's fabulous fritters. Oh, yeah, I liked my java jolts -- one, two or three a day. Trouble was, my body didn't. My body took these jolts as an insult, an intrusion. For over-sensitive souls such as myself, coffee is a harsh drink to process, and caffeine is terribly unkind to the nerves. So, I quit coffee and I switched to decaffeinated lattes ­ after, I must admit, an ill-advised excursion into the mire of herbal teas (yech!) ­ not because I had some huge philosophical parting of the ways with Mr. Horton and his bodacious brew, but because coffee was killing me. Initially, I'd pop in for a small latte (or, in the confusing lingo of Starbucks, a tall) every few days. Then, I started to need a foamy fix every day. Then that once harmless need turned to insatiable greed. My Jeep seemingly navigated all on its own. I'd be driving my daughter to dance, or my son to work and I would unwittingly end up in the Starbucks drive-through, uncertain of how I got there, but logically figuring: Oh, hell, I'm here, I might as well order. I'm not saying this addiction has gotten out of control. I imagine there are tons of people out there who have taken third mortgages on their homes to support their latte habit. And I imagine a lot of Starbuck's patrons are known on a first-name basis. In more than one city. In more than one country. Ah, like Led Zeppelin used to sing: whole latte love. Andy Juniper can be visited at his Web site, www.strangledeggs.com, or contacted at ajuniper@strangledeggs.com