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

A6 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday December 20, 2000 T h e O a k v il l e B e a v e r Ian Oliver Publisher Nefl Oliver Associate Publisher Norman Alexander Editor Kelly Montague, Advertising Director Steve Crazier Circulation D irector Teri Casas Office Manager Mark Dills Production Manager Riziero Vertolli Director o fPhotography M etroland Printing. Putoishing & D istributing Ltd., includes: Ajax/Pfckering News Advertiser, Alltston Herald/C ourier. A rthur Enterprise News. Bame Advance, Barry's Bay This W eek, Bolton Enterprise. Bram pton G uardan. B u rlin g to n P o st, B u rlin g to n S h o p p in g N ew s. C ity P a rent. CoingwoocW Vasaga Connection. East 't x k M rror, Erin AdvocaiaC ountry R ou te s. E to b ico ke G u a rd ia n , F lam borough P o st. G eorgetow n Independent/Acton Free Press, Hamster) Review. Hurone Busness T rie s . K ingston This W eek. Lindsay This W eek. M arkham Ecnom ist & Sun. M idland/P enetang uishine M irror, M ilto n C anadian C ham pion. M ilton Shcppng News. M ssssauga Business Tm es. M ississauga News. Napanee G lid e , Newm arket/Aurora Era-Barrier. Northum berland News. N orth 'ib rk M rror. Q akvfle Beaver. O akvie Shopping News. OkJbmers Hockey News. OriSa Today. OshawaAMUby/Cfarngton Port Pany The Week. Owen S oind Tribune. Palm erston O bserver. Peterborough This W eek, Ptcton C o tn ty G uide, R ichm ond H ill/T hom hill/V aughan Liberal. S carborough M irror, S touffvio'U xbridge Tribune. Forever Y tx rg . C ity of Vbrk Guardan OPINION RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: O T ^ t H 1 Prqnrmg tar Tomerrovt Health Can YMCA ltd. OFOAKV&1E 1 Strategies for m JingleBell Fund fO rn P LCOME^P Since 1930 'A G O N ..........f e n 467 Speers R<±, Oakville O nt L6K3S4 (905) 8 4 5 -3 8 2 4 Fax: 3 3 7-5 5 6 7 Classified Advertising: 8 4 5 -2 8 0 9 Circulation: 8 4 5 -9 7 4 2 <Sr , . [* C N A _ _ T . Canadian Community Newspapers IRON % % M THE TV AUCTION U nited W ay o fO akville JAthena 0 'fi/te }JAmard Cdaki'itte ^Awards FOR BUSINESS EXCELLENCE BUTTERFLY O N T A fin d R t o w n oakville galleries | S K « Suburban Newspapers of America o & tu u C h ildren's C hoir o r | o 4 > m u p c kVb u s in e s s aentA C T S Editorials Too close to home The decision by Halton Regional Police to allocate more resources to deal with domestic violence is welcome news. All police officers know that when they get a call concerning a domestic dispute, it means trouble. Police often don't know whether or not a spouse has a weapon nor how the aggressor will react From January through when police knock on the door. August there were 275 Traditionally, two officers are sent to such scenes but as H alton D etective domestic assaults reported Jennifer Knight's report on domestic vio and230 o f the victims were lence attests, more detailed work on women. Halton Police say domestic assaults was needed. they ' re getting tougher on A simple one-page report rarely point those committing ed out details that could be used if a simi such assaults. lar incident was repeated. Now, a supervi sor replies to a domestic violence call along with two other officers and a detailed three-page report is filed. The incidence of domestic violence means that such action is necessary. From January through August this year, police responded to 275 domestic vio lence calls and laid 225 charges and in these cases, 230 of the victims were women. Other measures, including photographing the injuries are taken and all par ties involved are interviewed and if children are in the home, the police report is also sent to the Halton Children's Aid Society. And like all police matters, the key is training officers how to react and report on domestic violence and that includes instructing the 911 operators on what questions to ask so attending officers are as well informed as possible. There's even a special silent personal alarm given to spouses in high-risk domestic violence households. Changes to how police view the most common form of assault, are impor tant to place offenders on notice that such actions will not be condoned in any way. U W k Y o u .. Letters to the Editor The Oakville Beaver welcomes your comments. All letters must be typed, signed and include the writer's address and phone number. Send to: Letters to the Editor, The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, Ont. L6K 3S4 Important issues left out o f federal campaign \Ed. Note: The following letter was sent to Oakville MP Bonnie Brown -- a copy was also filed with The Oakville Beaver for publication. Congratulations for your recent election victory. I was present at the all-candidates meet ing hosted by O ak ville C ham ber of Commerc. I was disappointed by the low level of the discussion at that meeting and left before the end, undecided as to which candidate/party would do the best job of governing Canada during the next term. Also, throughout the election campaign, I do not believe that there was serious substan tive discussion of any important issue just unconstructive criticism, abuse and muck raking -- by all the main parties. The Liberal party did not do a good job of defending the policies, implemented at the beginning of their first term in office, to eliminate the deficit and reduce the debt. I, like many Canadians, understood the urgent need to control spending. However, during the last term in office, the Liberal govern ment lost its direction. MPs are like company directors, respon sible to the people of Canada, their "share holders" who elect them and who have a vested interest in the "equity" and debt of the country. I believe that, like any company, good responsible government involves two fundamental aspects. Firstly, cabinet m inisters and all MPs have a duty to ensure that governm ent departments run efficiently day by day; poor control and auditing and political interfer ence o f some program s, particularly of Human Resources and Training programs, has shown that cabinet ministers and deputy ministers have not done a good job in this respect. Secondly, like any company board of directors, parliam ent has to plan for the future. One case in point was environmental issues, which received only lip service dur ing the election campaign. Greenhouse gas emissions and global warming are of partic ular importance. Something must be done immediately. Investment in infrastructure, particularly by investing in railways and mass transit, will be one way to reduce our dependency on vehicles and reduce traffic congestion in our cities, and improve air quality. As you know, this is a very impor tant issue across the GTA. What the federal and provincial government seems to turn a blind eye to is that, it obtains revenue by taxing companies and individuals on their labours and in fuel taxes, etc. However, nei ther level of government (re-)invests enough for us to continue to be productive at the same level, and the senior levels of govern ment have downloaded their responsibility onto the regions and municipalities, which derive their revenues from the fixed asset property base, which will also be eroded if nothing is done. Urban sprawl is another thing that is affecting the environment and is having an impact on the foregoing traffic issues. I hope that, during the next term, Federal legisla tion will be passed to impose stringent con trols to coerce provinces, regions and munic ipalities into limiting urban sprawl onto agri cultural land. This can be achieved only if a strong stand is made at the federal level. Incentives can be given for densifying urban areas by building upwards, instead of out -- making the most of existing urban land, and not o b literatin g productive renew ableresource farmland. This has been achieved in Europe and elsewhere. I hope, Bonnie, that you can influence your colleagues in the Liberal caucus to act on these issues. Christopher J . Farrow, P.Eng. Religion trivialized in political comment In response to Anthony G. Melia's letter in Wed., Dec. 6th and his indignant reaction and affront, to Bonnie Brown's use of a football metaphor "A Hail Mary pass," in my opinion trivializes the Faith and Church Community to which he, Bonnie Brown and I are members. (I believe the expression is used in American College football, probably emanating from Notre Dame University.) I first met Bonnie Brown, in the early seventies, when as a single parent, she was serving on the Separate School Board and devoting her time and efforts to foster Catholic education in our community. At that time, I was recently re-married, after having devoted the previous five years as a single divorced father to the raising and nurturing of my infant daughter. Having been raised a Catholic, I have always had a devotion to Mary, but never until I was left alone to raise my daughter did I discov er the depth of the succor, that devotion to Mary has and will bring us. It is our unshakeable belief that Mary was and is truly human and like all good Mothers, she brings happiness, joy and good humour into our lives. We believe that Mary is the Queen of Heaven, but my faith tells me that she is also a great cook (Kosher of course), and it was to Her that I turned when faced with the parental anxiety of doing a perfect laun dry and not having my child appear in public with "ring around the collar." When I was first separated, the only comfort and help 1 received from my Catholic Community was a short overview of the code of Cannon Law and an attitude that marked me for alienation and disaffection. The Catholic Press featured writers who offered nothing but platitudes wrapped in cliches. So it was a great joy and relief to meet Bonnie, and witness her involvement and contributions to our Catholic community. It was great to have her enthusias tic support ^nd assistance in bringing a French Catholic school here to Oakville. Her support for the French School now known as Ecole St. Marie was a seed which when sown in faith, has rendered a harvest of thousands of "Ave Marie" and devotion to Mary here in Oakville, in both our official languages. When considering our political alternatives and the issues raised by Mr. Melia, the sincere Qatholic is obliged to exam ine those questions in the light of the Common Good as expressed by the Social Teachings of the Church and revealed to us in the great Encyclicals Rerum Novarum, Quadratesimo Anno, and Mater Et Magistra." Mr. Melia would do well to acquaint himself with the statements of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops on the socioeco nomic issues he mentioned, and then examine the positions and policies adopted by the Liberals, Bonnie Brown, and her Alliance opponents. No government is without its failures and examples of mismanagement, however, in my understanding of the Catholic Faith, there is a clear and definable difference between the goals and vision of a just and compassionate society as adopted by the Liberal and the Day/Harris Alliance vision. The people of Oakville have once again entrusted a humanitarian vision of Canada to Bonnie Brown and her team, and for help in that struggle, I for one, will say not only a good few "Hail Mary's," but also may be a few novena and a goodly number of "Glory Be's." In conclusion, if Dan Ferrone would like to find spiritual comfort in another football metaphor, I suggest he tune in to a Nashville Country and Western Station in hopes of hearing the inspiring and devotional song "Jesus Kick Me Through the Goalposts of Life." David Lee P.S. Ifounded the Separated, Widowed and Divorced Family Ministry at St. Andrew' s arid was the former Chairman o f the Citizen' s Advisory on Group Homes, before it was disbanded Letter of the Week C re a tiv e p ro g ra m s m u st b e re ta in e d As a resident of Oakville and the current Principal of Parkdale C ollegiate, I was very pleased to see the article on "Telling a Different Story" in your edition of Nov. 1st, 2000. As you noted, Parkdale has been involved for the last three years along with Iroquois Ridge High School. It is very important to note that this pro ject has been a collaboration of secondary schools in the two school Boards, Halton and Toronto. It is this type of building of bridges and connections across our com munities that will reduce misunderstanding and racism. Ideas about differences and sim ilarities are shared and understood while writing and communication skills are honed to a higher level for all participants. I hope that in our rush to downsize the education system, we do not lose sight of these creative programs that are outside the new M inistry funding formula. It is these creativ e program s supported by B o ard s, te a c h e rs, and the w id er Com munities that build common under standings, but also an appreciation for our differences. Thank you for informing the residents of O akville about th eir connection to Parkdale in Toronto. And a special thank you to Gillian McIntyre and all the dedi cated teachers in the program. G a ry Duncan P o lice o ffic e r's a c tio n s a p p re c ia te d I wish to take this opportunity to thank a member of the Halton Regional Police Force. Earlier this month, while responding to a house alarm, Sergeant J.D. Siemon came over to inquire if any of us had seen anything. The problem was, nobody was home, and the doors were unlocked, due to miscommunication am ongst our fam ily m em bers. Sgt. Siemon had checked the house, insured that nobody was hurt, checked that there wasn't an unlawful entry and LOCKED the doors for us, protecting our valuables and belong ings and, quite possibly, our lives. Who knows what could have happened, or who could have been waiting for us when some body came home. I wish to thank Sgt. Siemon for his efforts regarding this matter. I hope his superiors read this and I hope they are proud to have this fine officer on the force. Name withheld by request Pud LOOK WHAT I BOUGHT FOR CHRISTMASITS A CASTLE!,, w ith KNIOtlS, HORSES, WAGOrtS, CATAPULTS, A WORKING PRAWBRro&Al® EVEgrtHl# 6 ! j ------- r ± by Steve Nease "SEVERAL HOURS OF TEDIOUS AMD FRUSTRATING ASSEMBLY R E Q U IR E D " r W HATD O ES ` ITSAY/ CMTHE 5IDE0F HEAT- THE BOX?