6- The Oakville Beaver, Friday August 15, 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 Olympic medal woes What do Tajikstan, Mongolia and the tiny West African nation of Togo have in common? Answer: Each nation has earned its first medal at the Beijing Olympic Games before Canada. For Togo -- a nation with less than one-fifth the population of Canada -- it was the country's first-ever Olympic medal, a bronze in men's K-1 canoe/kayak slalom. Canada finished sixth in the same event. While we know our best medal chances are still to come -- in rowing and kayaking where we are favoured to strike gold -- our nation's modest hope to match or better the 12 medals our athletes captured four years ago in Athens is starting to feel like a mission impossible. With each passing day of The Games we've had our patriotic hearts ripped out by a combination of "oh-so-close" finishes and "not-even-close" performances. While it's too early to label Canada's effort, so far, in China, a complete disaster, clearly this has not been our country's shining moment. The absence of even one podium finish a week into these Olympics raises considerable doubt about the way our Olympic team prepares to take on the world. Many believe Ottawa doesn't spend nearly enough to develop our amateur athletes to achieve their full potential. Others would argue the pursuit of the Olympic dream should not be publicly funded, but instead financially supported by a combination of corporate Canada and the athletes themselves. Are we trying too hard to send the largest contingent of athletes, instead of focusing our resources on those who have a podium finish within their grasp? While we fully support the ideal that sees the world gather each quadrennial to celebrate athletic excellence, we wonder if it's time to review Canada's Olympic mandate -- especially if public money continues to fund amateur athletes' pursuit of the Olympic dream. In the last six days, some of Canada's Olympic athletes have harnessed their best for The Games -- achieving Canadian records in their discipline while falling only a few placings (or less) short of a podium finish. As we said earlier, Canada's medals at Beijing will come. Our greatest fear is that without more podium finishes, support for our Olympians will wane. 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 Imagine a loved one dying Organ donations up to individual I was quite surprised to find not a larger difference between the people who voted for/against(Yes: 45.95 per cent, No: 54.05 per cent) the presumed consent idea. How sad that one has to lose a loved one as a direct result of not being able to receive a transplant before you think differently about this issue. The people who vote against this should look at their children, husband or wife and imagine watching them die while waiting. I have been there and it truly is heartbreaking when you know they could be saved. Also, I wish we could have a central computer system when renewing our driving licences that shows yes or no, so a police officer/hospital could actually save a life by having that info immediately after a car accident. Hope your poll gets people's attention. Thank you. LYDIA GORDON The editorial Presumed consent , Oakville Beaver, Aug. 6 offers only one objection to the proposed organ donation law: 'that it takes the decision making away from the family'. I can understand a law that says parents or guardians have the right to determine how the body of a dead child is dealt with. But we are talking about adults. Why should anyone, other than the deceased determine what becomes of his/her body. If my next of kin cannot force me or BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com stop me from dealing with my body how I see fit while I am alive, they should not have that right when I am dead. Now, I can donate, blood, lungs, liver, kidney without agreement of next of kin. Why should they suddenly get the right to stop me from donating those items when I am dead and there is no danger to me? I have signed the organ donor card and wish whatever parts of my corpse that can be used for medical and/or scientific needs, be so used. ELKA RUTH ENOLA Thanks for all that jazz at the festival I attended the Oakville Jazz festival over the weekend and even though the rain put a damper on things, it did not dampen my spirits. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing Glen Anderson and Christopher Plock, Lilly Frost (an Oakville girl), Sue Foley, Carol Welsman -- all accomplished musicians and singers in their respective fields. There were other excellent performers at the three stages on Friday and Sunday. Unfortunately due to the rain, Saturday was cancelled, which was a shame because the organizers had put in a great deal of work for a successful weekend. If you did not manage to get down this year, try next year. You won't be disappointed, as there is music for everyone's taste. The best part, it's free. Thank-you organizers and the downtown businesses for another successful weekend. DAVID CARTWRIGHT 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