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6- The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday July 23, 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: NEIL OLIVER Vice ­ President and Group Publisher of Metroland West The Oakville Beaver is a division of IAN OLIVER President Media Group Ltd. 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 Not acceptable A bleak picture -- when it comes to the mental state of Halton's youths -- was presented to Halton Region's Health and Social Services committee last week. It's bad enough that one in five Ontario children struggles with an emotional, mental or behavioural disorder, but if you add to that this region's atrocious wait times for services, you have a recipe for disaster. The dire predicament of children's mental health services (or lack thereof) was presented to the region by Ron Rodgers, executive director of the Reach Out Centre for Kids known as ROCK. "The need for child psychiatry in Halton outweighs the capacity to meet it," Rodgers said in his presentation. He noted that fewer than 25 per cent of kids with mental health issues are treated. Fewer than 25 per cent? That's not acceptable. Wait times range anywhere from three months for ROCK's community out-reach program to a year for its psychology services, occupational therapy and behaviour management program. A year's wait? That's not acceptable. ROCK receives funding from the province, region and United Way. It says it needs at least $1 million more to upgrade salaries and annualized cost of living. You have got to believe that with this region's unprecedented growth the demand for such services will also increase at an alarming rate. Oakville Councillor Fred Oliver has asked staff to report back on the creation of a task force to deal with youth mental health issues. "We need to have the guts to get up and do something," Oliver said. We couldn't agree more. Why wait for a staff report? Why not create the task force now? Is this acceptable? We don't think so. Halton is a prosperous municipality. We can, and should, do better. The private sector, as well as all levels of government, must team up to ensure our youths receive the care they deserve. Now that would be acceptable. 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 Re: Homeowners left holding dirty diapers by Sheila Currie, Oakville Beaver, July 16. On April 7, 2008 Halton Region launched its new Waste Collection program, which includes weekly collection of the Blue Box and GreenCart and every-otherweek collection of garbage. While food waste and compostable papers are accepted for use in the GreenCart program, pet waste, diapers and sanitary products are not. The decision to not allow these items in the GreenCart program was made because these products are difficult to compost since they are primarily made of plastic and often lead to contamination of the final compost, resulting in a much Region says dirty diapers can be safely stored for two weeks lower quality end product. It is important to note that while other Municipalities may allow pet waste, diapers and sanitary products in their GreenCart programs, many have run into difficulty having limited options for the end compost product since the quality often does not meet Ontario provincial quality guidelines. When Halton Region launched the new waste collection program, it made a commitment to extend the life of its landfill site by setting a goal of diverting 60 per cent of waste away from the landfill and to help protect the environment, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to create valuable recycling and compost products in the process. Currently 100 per cent of Halton's organic material is taken to Hamilton's central processing facility where it is broken down into top quality compost to be used in a variety of ways including agricultural See Diapers page 7 This week's poll The Oakville Beaver has added a polling feature on its website oakvillebeaver.com. A new poll will be posted every Wednesday with the results of the poll published in the following Wednesday edition of The Oakville Beaver. This week's question is: Who is your favourite golfer at this week's RBC Canadian Open at the Glen Abbey Golf Club? · Stephen Ames · Freddie Couples · Jim Furyk · Anthony Kim · Mike Weir To vote visit oakvillebeaver.com Last week's poll: Is the Town of Oakville fulfilling its vision statement of being the most livable town in Canada? · Yes, 35.21% · No, 64.79% 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. Pud BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com