OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, March 13, 2009 · 6 OPINION & LETTERS The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5571Classified 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 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 SARAH MCSWEENEY Circ. Manager Standing united to give thanks As Canadians, we are often accused of not being as patriotic as our friends to the south. We don't beat our chests and shout our achievements to the rest of the world. We have a reputation, likely deservedly so, for being polite to a fault and we are not known for wearing our hearts on our sleeves when it comes to recognizing the sacrifices of our military members. However, as time has shown, the final farewell for our fallen heroes has become a powerful symbol of Canadian pride in its men and women of the armed forces. Nowhere was this more evident than in Oakville and Burlington Tuesday, where first responders and veterans gathered with residents at QEW overpasses to give a final salute or wave to Warrant Officer Dennis Raymond Brown. The warrant officer, a reservist with the Lincoln and Welland Regiment and a special constable for Niagara Regional Police Service, was one of three Canadian soldiers killed in a roadside bombing in Afghanistan early last week. The police-escorted funeral procession made its way west along the QEW to Brown's final resting place in St. Catharines. To make the trip even more poignant was the sight of Brown's widow, Mishelle, leaning out the limousine window, waving to all the people who lined the overpasses to pay their respects to her husband. "Whenever someone pays the ultimate price for doing their job, they deserve respect," said Jim Peterson, secretary of the Oakville Professional Fire Fighters Association. "That's what we are doing here." At the Burloak Bridge, Oakville and Burlington firefighters stood together alongside members of the public. As the procession passed, crews stood at attention while the fire trucks' lights flashed -- a deserving sendoff for one of Canada's bravest. It is our hope that this emotional display of support offers some comfort to the families of the fallen and demonstrates to the families of those with moms, dads, daughters and sons at war that Canadians care. 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 We are parents whose daughter has already been relocated from Captain R. Wilson Public School to Emily Carr P.S. We are shocked and concerned with respect to Kathryn Bateman-Olmstead's proposed motion to once again realign the English track boundaries, thus resulting in the uprooting of our School board trustees implored to hear Ward 4 community daughter and other students at Emily Carr AGAIN (see attached). I felt compelled to respond after attending the Parent Information Night Wednesday night hosted at Pilgrim Wood P.S. I was pleased to see through the representation of school council members from other potentially affected schools in Ward 4, that no one supports Bateman-Olmstead's proposed motion. Other parents whose children do not attend Emily Carr P.S. were stunned to learn how often our children have been relocated and there was no support for her proposed motion from any school. interest in French immersion programming, thus because our community is currently single-track French immersion, the result is the over-population at Ecole Forest Trail and resulting potential upheaval of English track students. The Halton District School Board needs to revisit the potential of dual track schools if the result would be continuity for our children. I would certainly have no probThis week's question is: lem with my child attending a dualAccording to Maclean's magazine, Halton is the safest track school if the result would proplace to live in the GTA. Does this make you feel safer? vide a balanced educational experi· Yes ence and all students could remain · No at the school in their local commuTo vote, visit oakvillebeaver.com. nity. The Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 I sincerely hope the trustees will Gould St., Suite 206, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone 416-340-1981. Advertising is accepthear the voices of the Ward 4 comed 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, munity. will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the appliANDREA AND DWAIN OSBORN cable rate. The publisher reserves the right to categorize advertisements or decline. Clearly her motion does not represent the wishes of the Ward 4 community. I was interested also to learn that Oakville is the only community in Halton that does not have dual track schools. It certainly appears that the problems we are experiencing here are a result of the large Pud BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com This week's poll