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in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, A ug us t 8, 20 19 | 8 ABOUT US This newspaper, published every Thursday, is a division of the Metroland Media Group Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. The Metroland family of newspapers is comprised family of newspapers is comprised f of more than 80 community publications across Ontario. This newspaper is a member of the National NewsMedia Council. Complainants are urged to bring their concerns to the attention of the news- paper and, if not satisfied, write The National NewsMedia Council, Suite 200, 890 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M4W 2H2. 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OPINION TO LEARN HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN CONTENT VISIT INSIDEHALTON.COM EDITORIAL Whether they were unspeakably heartless or just plain stupid, the people who flooded Brantford police with 911 complaints about an Amber Alert recently were entirely out of line.A two-year-old girl had been taken from her home in that city by a man who had broken down the door. The child's mother was distraught. Fears for the child's safety, even her life, were legitimate. And so in those desperate, middle-of-the-night min- utes, police sent out an Amber Alert to people's cell- phones across Ontario pleading for any information that might lead to the safe recovery of that little girl. Thankfully, police found the child unharmed in Ham- ilton, returned her home and made four arrests. But not before fending off the furious flak of fools who had been awakened from their sleep by a shrill Amber Alert and chose to vent their rage by calling 911. One person called 911 no fewer than 11 times and is rightly being investigated for a possible mischief of- fence. But everyone who dialed that number to gripe about this Amber Alert behaved reprehensibly. That number is for emergencies, not complaints. Calling 911 for such a comparatively frivolous reason could delay a serious emergency call and result in trage- dy. No wonder there's a petition calling on the Ontario government to make such abuses of 911 an offence. Some deep breaths and calm reflection are called for. It has been 15 months since Canada started transmitting alerts, including Amber Alerts for missing children, to mobile devices. This year there have been six Amber Alerts, not all of which were issued at night. They're hardly a daily occurrence. Five of these alerts ended with the abducted child returned to his or her home. Sadly, one ended in the arrest of a 41-year-old Toronto-area man who was charged in the death of his 11-year-old daughter. But what we already know from experience is that Amber Alerts work. Not every time, to be sure. But there has been more than one case in this province where an Amber Alert helped police recovered a miss- ing child. They're an important, effective tool, regard- less of their drawbacks and the fiery 911 complaints they spark every time. It's understandable that people awakened on a work night by an Amber Alert might, at least initially, be annoyed. Their frustration will be particularly pro- nounced if they live far from where the child has gone missing and could offer no help. The authorities should be sensitive to this and at least consider modifying Amber Alerts so they can re- main effective while causing minimal disruption. That may not be easy. Some people suggest dividing the enormous land mass of Ontario into regions and targeting alerts to people in specific areas. Perhaps that would be an improvement. But police believe this change could weaken the effective- ness of the Amber Alert, citing the case of a child reported missing in Sudbury who was later located in Toronto. If Amber Alerts can be fine-tuned, we say, "Good." If they can't, people should learn to live with the occasional inconvenience they create. Or they can turn off their phones. But before they do, they might consider that a child's life matters more than an interrupted sleep. WE NEED AMBER ALERT, FINE-TUNED OR NOT The library has packed the fall season with dozens of engaging programs and events designed for all ages and interests. What's new? • Adult Book Club is now free! Our resident book lov- ers (OPL staff) lead engag- ing sessions you won't want to miss. • Design Thinking Crash Course. Straight from Stanford University's d.school, take a crash course in the concept of "Design Thinking," and learn new ways to ap- proach problem-solving. For the 2019 fall season, OPL is also bringing back some old favourites like the Family History Fair, a day full of genealogy work- shops and local history groups, and kids programs focused on the themes in- clusion and innovation, like Unicorn Party, Pre- school Discovery Lab and Reading Buddies. The library is also once again hosting the In Con- versation With ... author series, in partnership with A Different Drummer Books and the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts. This series offers the chance to meet and hear from some of the world's top influencers and au- thors. Check out opl.ca for a full list of authors, ticket prices and dates. In addition, OPL's most popular event of the year is back! At an Evening for Book Lovers, you can join OPL's staff of passionate readers present you with some of their all-time fa- vourite books. You'll leave with a "to-read" list a mile long! Registration for fall pro- grams is now open. This season, the library is intro- ducing a new online regis- tration system that makes it easy to browse and regis- ter for programs and events, all in one place. There's many more fall programs to discover at the library - check out the cal- endar listings on opl.ca to get started. This biweekly column is provided by the Oakville Public Library. NEW PROGRAMS AND OLD FAVOURITES THIS FALL AT OPL DISCOVER WHAT'S NEW, WRITES OPL SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER AT INSIDEHALTON.COM OAKVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY Column