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6- The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday April 9, 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: The Oakville Beaver is a division of IAN OLIVER Group Publisher Media Group Ltd. NEIL OLIVER Publisher 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 Torching the Olympics This summer's 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing is shaping up to be the most closely watched in history for all the wrong reasons. With just 121 days to go before the most populous nation on the planet -- at 1.3 billion -- welcomes the rest of the world, there is growing uneasiness that China's suspect human rights record is coming back to haunt it. Can decades of China's heavy-handed rule of Tibet and memories of 1989's takedown of pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square be simply swept under the rug for 17 days this August? As Canadians, we hope not. Recent attempts by protesters to literally snuff out the Olympic flame as it makes its symbolic journey from Athens to Beijing -- via five of the world's seven continents -- are both unprecedented and, we fear, an ominous sign of what may come as each day draws us closer to Beijing's Aug. 8 opening ceremony. The protests also raise the question of whether a country still so deeply mired unconscionable human rights practices -- such as torture of prisoners and wrongful imprisonment -- should have been allowed to host a sporting spectacle founded "to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practised without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit ..." The International Olympic Committee's (IOC) contention in 2000 that awarding Beijing the Games would pressure China to clean up its act where human rights concerns and social and economic reform are concerned was either naive, or a brilliantly-concocted marketing ploy intended to calm those who recognized the hypocrisy of it all. While some human rights supporters have floated the idea of boycotting Beijing, or at least the Games' opening ceremonies, that effort should have been put in motion eight years ago when the IOC was force-feeding us the notion that its awarding of the Olympics would ultimately cause China to change its ways. While Chinese officials were eager to have the world spotlight focused on their country this summer, they are slowly realizing they can't control where the spotlight is aimed. 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 Nothing to stop residents from letting it all hang out In response to the two letters that you published recently expressing disappointment that Oakville residents cannot use an outdoor line to dry clothes, I have found that many people in Oakville are of this same myth-understanding. I just wanted to inform them and your readership that it is in fact not illegal to use an outdoor clothesline in Oakville -- as confirmed by the helpful and friendly staff at the Bylaw Enforcement Office of the Town of Oakville. There is no such bylaw prohibiting me from hanging my freshly laundered thongs outside to be caressed to dryness by a gentle breeze and the warmth of the sun. And ladies -- you too can dry your underwear this way. This is not the case in some municipalities of Ontario where builders' covenants or other restrictions don't allow outdoor clotheslines, so in order to dry outside one would have to skirt the law. However, the tide seems to be turning and the winds of change are about to bring relief for these folks hampered by these laws. On Jan. 21 of this year the McGuinty government announced that it would move to ban any restrictions against outdoor clotheslines. The following is taken from the Ontario Ministry of Energy website: "The government's proposal would permit the use of clotheslines and/or clothes umbrellas for occupants of any freehold detached, semidetached or row house. The government is also consulting with stakeholders in the condominium and high-rise sectors to assess how to potentially proceed in those environments. "Clothes dryers are among the most energy-consuming appliances in the home. On average, a standard clothes dryer will use about 900 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity a year and can lead to as much as one tonne of greenhouse gas emissions. That means that over the course of a year, five clothes dryers could result in roughly the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions as an average size car. "Electric clothes dryers typically account for about six per cent of residential electricity consumption. By hanging just 25 per cent of those laundry loads out to dry, consumers could save about $30 a year on their electricity bills and make a meaningful contribution to reducing air pollution and greenhouse gases." So I urge you to do your part to conserve -- get three sheets to the wind -- and pledge that in your back yard this spring, daffodils and tulips won't be the only bloomers that are swaying gently in the breeze. J. FLETCHER 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.