Firearms control will be nightmare to enforce Firearms control is a very comâ€" plicated subject! In order to make intelligent recommendations an individual or group such as a town council must be knowledgeable in a wide variety of topics. These include firearm technology, current firearm law, provincial interpretaâ€" Dear Sir: Re/Oakville Town Council â€" August 9, 1993 Item #9 Firearms Control This week, I noticed a young crow on a neighbor‘s lawn. It walked to the edge of the grass beside the sidewalk, sat down, and with its wings outstretched nestled in the dirt. It looked as if it was having a sandbath. It walked back on the grass and began preening itself all down its front to its legs. It repeated this performance five times, returning to exactly the same spot until pedestrians scared it away. This crow‘s unusual behavior aroused my curiosity, so I walked across the street to the area where it had nestled. The ground was crawling with ants. The crow had been encouraging the ants to crawl on its body and then having a real feast of them. "Caw Caw Caw Caw" is not one of my favorite sounds in Oakville. I have seen crows raid little birds nests and heard the distraught parents‘ cries of pain, but crows are good for something, too. Knowing now what I have observed, I sh scare crows off the lawn â€" the great ant eaters Crows welcome on her lawn Dear Sir: I‘ m just reading some of the comments about whether the names should be published of the offenders at Shell Park. I went to school with a young man who unfortunately was involved in the incident at Oakville Place. They did publish his name and it ruined his life. He was taunted and teased. I don‘t believe it serves any purpose to publish their names. I think that these men have learned their lesson just from being caught. I don‘t theink they should be persecuted. They didn‘t do anything dangerous to the public, they just used a little indiscretion. I don‘t think they should be persecuted for that. As the old saying goes,"Anything worth doing is worth doing well." And might we add,"Anything done well is worth celebratâ€" ing." And while some cynics might wonder about all the fuss over a bridge, we can only add that a lot of hard work in the planning and building stages has gone into the Smithâ€"Triller Viaduct. In realizing the importance the bridge will play in their commuâ€" nities, the Glen Abbey Residents Association and the River Oaks Association of Residents have planned several festivities on Friday. But a word of caution is in order. While the bridge is four lanes, Upper Middle Road in Glen Abbey remains a twoâ€"lane road. Work will also be needed to expand Upper Middle Road West of the bridge into four lanes. Town council must now proceed in ensuring these road programs are brought to fruition. However, as Glen Abbey Residents Association president Steve Klein admits, the current scenario represents short term pain for long term gain. the QEW eA ty cfiaan 2 *n #1 arrC cap on j _ AHE OAKVILLE o ptrniaindinimeettrmemmenr 467 Speers Road, Oakville, Or 845â€"3824 Fax: 845â€" Classified Advertising: 845 Besides benefitting local motorists, the bridge will also be a boon to police fire and ambulance services which will now have easier access routes during emergencies. # Local businesses in north Oakville are also looking forward to the opening of the bridge. In the past, many shoppers have simply kept on going to Burlington or Mississauga once they ventured onto Granted the Smithâ€"Triller Viaduct will not solve all the town‘s traffic problems, but it will definitely make it easier to travel from River Oaks to Glen Abbey. No longer will motorists have to drive down Trafalgar Road and cross over via the QEW. The demand definitely exists. The bridge is expected to initially serve 16,000 vehicles a day. While the Sixteen Mile Creek and Bronte Creek have blessed Oakville with two picturesque harbor, they have also provided motorists with a major headache in getting from point A to point B within the municipal boundaries. hen the first car officially crosses the Smithâ€"Triller WViaduct on Friday, it will be a momentous occasion to say the least. It will also be long overdue. While the Smithâ€"Triller Viaduct will officially join the Glen Abbey and River Oaks communities in north Oakville, it will also provide only the fifth eastâ€"west link across the Sixteen Mile Creek â€" Lakeshore Road, Rebecca Street, Speers Road/ Cross Avenue and the Queen Elizabeth Way are the other four. ALONE CALL845â€"5585 b:iX8 Time to celebrate EDITORIAL SPEAK YOUR MIND | Got a gripe? Give us a call. Readers are invited to express their opinion on a topic of their choice by calling 845â€"5585, box 5250. All callers are allowed 45 secâ€" onds to express their opinion and must provide their name, address and phone number for verification. A cross section of the responses will be published in next Wednesday‘s Oakyville Beaver. Should you attempt to proceed without being knowledgeable in these areas you are most likely to make recommendations that are virtually impossible to enforce. You will also impose severe restrictions on individual firearm owners whether that was the intent or not. tions and precedent setting court decisions. I shall not be in such a hurry to Oakville town Council chose to Dawn Craigie Joyce Burnell "In today‘s society, why does the Canadian government allow the sale of firearms to the public? A firearm is a tool to take lives. Why do we need it?" those are questions I have been having since I moved to Canada from Japan where the people approve the severely strict regulations which keep guns out of the hands of all citizens. In order to transport any restricted firearm it is necessary to obtain a permit from your local firearms control officer. Ontario Last year on Halloween in the States, a hosted Japanese high school boy was gunned down because he did not know the word "Freeze." To everybody‘s surprise, at the trial, all 12 juries voted "not 2) Canadian firearm law requires registration of firearms by way of restriction. Oakville council has therefore recommended that all newly purchased firearms be clasâ€" sified as restricted. This will create a great deal of paperwork but has a much more severe implication. Dear Sir: I appreciate Mayor Ann Mulvale and five councillors who voted in favor of gun control on Aug. 10th meeting (Beaver, Aug. 11). 1) Two new classes of firearm would be created. The first would be legally owned unregistered rifles and shotguns. The second class would be illegally owned unregisâ€" tered rifles and shotguns. The guns in question would be identical... creating an enforcement nightmare for both gun owners and police! proceed without having a basic understanding of the total situation. They have made their recommenâ€" dations. Although council voted to supâ€" port a motion comprised of five separate points I wish to address only one at this time. The recomâ€" mendation that newly purchased firearms be registered is clearly the work of amateurs. It has two most significant implications. Guns destroy lives The Oakville Beaver welcomes your comments. All letters must be signed and include the writer‘s address and phone number. Letters should be typed, doubleâ€"spaced and addressed to: Letters to the Editor, The Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Rd., Oakvilie, Ont. L6K 354 Mbrtw. : 845â€"3824 Fax: 845â€"3085 »lassified Advertising: 845â€"2809 Irculation: 845â€"9742 or 845â€"9743 HE OAKVII A gun is not the tool to protect ourselves. It is the machine to destroy our lives. If we harm something, we are harmed some day, some way. So, do not sow bad seeds. There are "Laws of the Universe" which stand above all laws made by humans. "We harâ€" vest what we sowed." Man is part of nature, the same as, birds, flowâ€" ers and animals. All of the living creatures had been obeying the order of the universe, so nature kept its harmony since the earth existed in the galaxy. Only humans have been breaking the universal laws and creating the confusion in the world. The final result is that Oakville Council has made recommendaâ€" tions that would, if enacted, severely effect all gun owners in Canada. guilty" to the man who killed the boy. I wish it would never happed in any town in Canada. Four other councillors apparentâ€" ly understood the implications and chose to oppose the motion. Five councillors accepted what they thought was a middle of the road... politically correct... motion. Mayor Mulvale chose to pass the five segments of the motion with her tieâ€"breaking vote. At the meeting in which this and four other recommendations were made one councillor stated that she didn‘t feel sufficiently knowledgeable to make a decision on the motion. Her honest and political wisdom is most refreshâ€" ing. The net result of Oakville Town Council‘s recommendation is that newly purchased firearms could not legally be used for hunting purâ€" poses. will not issue permits to transport restricted firearms for hunting purâ€" poses. Wm. R. Rantz Ontario President National Firearms Association BE AVER Ont. LGK 94 % 9 Setsuko Matsui Nz Ian Oliver Publisher Robert Glasbey Advertising Dir Norman Alexander Edilor Geoff Hill Circulation Director Teri Casas Office Manager Tim Coles Production Manager In the midst of one of Oakville‘s ugliest scandals you‘ve comâ€" promised basic editorial policy and overlooked a tenet of quality of community journalism... Trust your readers to absorb all the facts and make their own decisions. s In the case of the Shell Park scandal, that includes the names. Rick Winchell Public has right to know names of men arrested at Shell Park You have an obligation to investigate why Councillor Flynn delayed acting on a matter that has concerned his constituents for a lâ€"oâ€"nâ€"g time. You have a responsibility to explore and expose other such "indiscretions" that affect our neighborhoods. You have duty to challenge the court system to go beyond handslaps and demand counselling for these deviates. Most of all, as this town‘s conscience and voice you owe it to the community to take a stand on behalf of responsible residents. We have every right to know the names of each accused, as they are found guilty, in the same way you publicize and humiliate impaired drivers, minor assaults or other local "indiscretions." The Beaver appears to suffer from an equally distorted view of itself. As Oakville‘s longstanding Community newspaper you have opted to hide behind the decision of Toronto‘s dailies and other media outsiders who wouldn‘t know Shell Park from Gairloch Gardens. Unlike the other media, however, this story occurred in your own backyard and with it comes different responsibilities. The accused purports to be a "pillar of the community" who has made a single "indiscretion." Perhaps he meant "indesecration." Anyone inclined to offer up his privates in public clearly has a warped view of what it takes to be a pillar. Dear Sir: I‘m not sure which incensed me more â€" reading the front page plea for continued anonymity by one of the Shell Park accused or The Beaver‘s spineless editorial in the same edition (Wednesday, August 11th). Aidvertising Director LETTER OF THE DAY WEEKLY FOCUS se Mhuuaa News, Newmarketâ€"Aurora Eraâ€"Banner, N Beaver, Orflia Todmhmn/wr:m This Wook, F Richmond HiVThombhilWaughan Liberal, Searboroug All material published in the Oakvile Beaver is pro reproduction in whole or in part of this material is stri consent of the publisher Collingwood C Acton Froe P Economist and is ibutine Adve iniie 0 tke udampuenmms ormuemumuee 7 Kingston This W Stouttville/U x brid ge This Wook Libral, Scarborough Mir pl rotected ht dnotly tormnidan uies t Milt y and Fiiday, at 467 ting, %q & ies alhe bcrerng Au 18, 1993