A 6 - The Oakville Beaver, W ed ne sd ay, M a y 1, 2002 EDITORIALS AND LETTERS THE OAKVILLE BEAVER 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax; 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-2809 G rculation: 845-9742 IAN OLIVER Publisher NEIL OLIVER Associate Publisher TERI CASAS Office Manager JILL DAVIS E ditor in C hief MARK DILLS Production Manager KELLY MONTAGUE Aih ertising D irector RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography D irector STEVE CR02ER Cinrulation D irector ROD JERRED Managing Editor THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: Metrotand Pmdng. PuMahng & D tt t u t t g LM. ndudak im n t m N n a B vm Adwnco Bkty* Bay Tt» m * . Baton imrpnm Brampton GuanJun. Bmngmn Pan tturtngton SfKW*ng Nww. Cty P « w * Oc*nj*ocAV0sap OamecSan. f . « >trV M rra Efln W x a to C c u rty to o l* . EtotMccM Guvdtov nwrtwougTt Pod. G*org»to«m (Venms I in w NngHon TTw Woah. IndMy Tt» Mm*. I M o t Economal & S i r . MtfcnOPanatongurfvw Mrrar. (k*H. N M m M v t t f o a Eft Ban N m ' o r * rk MKT. Q M e B om t Q M i S o c p n j C W w w W * » Q m rg fcn Port fVry Thu Owen S a n ) M u m . P»nan to n OtMrw* t^ D tC Q j ^ T>» MMk. POon C arty Gude feftmond H *Than*»V B m r» (Jb n L SdrtXfOJCfi Urrcr G M A l O f tq j l lrtk /v Famw'^MV Or»rf'it»%Guin«n Recognized for Excellence by Ontario Community Newspapers Association .C O M B % rA G O N i » J a & M F und / I . .t t « Canadian Community Newspapers Association O (Jh © s SK Suburban Nnejupfrj of America O a k i'i/ h Q ^ n t a t H i TV AUCftO M T>* Oafcvto NBtort and O w n Foftwjswssraauwf ( 7 u 6 /, f in d lo a k v illc galleries | Help our youth A s you drive along our treelined streets or pass our numerous businesses, it's hard to believe that in Halton Region w e have nothing available to help our young people in crisis. The hom eless youth o f Halton -- and, yes, they exist -- are in need o f the com m unity's assis tance. There are no beds here for teenagers who have been kicked out o f the house by parents or room mates, or evicted from their apartments. W here do they go ? There are no em ergency shelters in Halton that are capab le o f accom m odating them w hile they try to get back on their feet. And that's unacceptable. There is a program, however, that is doing its best to find tempo rary housing fo r the d isplaced youth. It m akes much more sense to find hom es where the teens live instead o f shipping them o ff to Hamilton or M ississau ga for care. We need to look after our own. B rid gin g the G ap, which has received short-term funding from the federal governm ent and the United Way, is appealing to the com m unity to assist our hom eless teens. W hat can w e do? Easy, says program co-ordinator Catherine Dove-Smith. The biggest obstacle is finding beds. S o if you are in a position to host a teen for four-to-six weeks, then Dove-Smith wants to hear from you. What are needed are fam ilies or in d ivid u als w illin g to o ffe r an em ergen cy bed or couch to a young person who has no where else to go, says D ove-Sm ith. A per diem w ill be provided to hosts to cover the basic costs o f providing shelter. Bridging the G ap staff give ongoing support to the youth and host. I f you feel you can' t commit to a four-to-six w eek stint, the program also requires people prepared to offer emergency beds for a night or two. C harity does begin at home, and w hile som e o f you m ay not consid er h o m elessn ess an issue that affects Halton check with local social services. You might be sur prised what you hear. . I f you would like more inform a tion, Bridging the G ap is hosting an orientation m eeting at 7 p. m. M ay 6 at the Halton R egion al Building. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Golf courses should be exempt from pesticide use restrictions Let's take a hard look at the controversial issue of banning pesticides. G olf courses in Canada account for less than one per cent of all pesticides used in this country. The benefits a golf course has to offer far exceeds the detri ments. At our golf course, golf is a recreational past time providing exercise (2-4 miles, each time played), and is also a great stress reliever. Fifty thousand rounds were played here last year, which must have provided lots of healthy ben efits. Imprudently banning pesticides could lower the quality of turf on our golf course to the point where it would lessen the numbers of golfers who play. There are no biological alter natives available to us at this point in time. Fewer golfers playing would make it econom ically unfeasible to continue operations. Dozens of jobs would be lost. G olf lands in our area would return to agricultural enterprises, employing far more chemicals than ever before used on these lands when they were in a golf course state. If our golf course turf deteriorates, golfers would go south of the border to play. G olf courses have a significant economic and tourist impact in this area. Substantial property tax revenues would be lost. Our municipal tax levy for 2001 was $50,000. Opportunities for healthy recreational pur suits of this type would vanish from this area. Hundreds of thousands of dollars would be lost by charities and fundraisers (such as cancer research, the United Way, etc.) without the use of the golf course as a vehicle to promote these causes. G olf courses give back to the commu nity. If you have concerns about this, may I sug gest that all golf courses be given a rating rela tive the volumes of chemicals used to the acreage. G olf courses could display the rating so the public would know where the toxicity levels are the greatest and choose the course they play accordingly, if they feel this is a concern. People are used to making choices in their daily activities, such as: · The restaurants they choose to patronize (according to their rating). · Whether they consider hydro-electric magnetic fields to be a concern in their choice of domicile locations. ·The choice of domicile and work location with regards to air pollution (the sixth biggest killer in Halton according to Regional Staff Report - April 1/02 Milton Champion) · Which road to choose to go to work, etc. etc. The list is endless. Just as agricultural applications do not apply to this issue, neither do golf courses. It is incorrect to group golf-course pesticide use along with parks, homes and commercial lawns. If a balanced approach is taken on the pesti cide issue, golf courses can continue to provide benefits to everyone. HAROLD L. MYERS PRESIDENT. OAKVILLE EXECUTIVE GOLF COURSE LTD. rrn.'i> Ill' Till: WEEK American mourns for Canada's fallen soldiers I wish express to your readers and to all people of Canada the profound anguish and sonrow I feel for the loss of SgL Marc Leger. Private Richard Green. Cpl. Ainsworth Dyer and Private Nathan Smith. The faces of these brave dead and their grieving loved ones are seared into my heart. Here in Springfield. Illinois, where the 183rd Fighter Wing is based, our family is especially mortified by the circumstances of their deaths. My brother serves in the 183rd and our father is retired from a career in the Illinois National Guard. We also hap pen to be of Canadian descent, our Stevens ancestors having emi grated here from Ontario in the 1860s. I remember so clearly Canada's moving and dignified memo rial for the victims of the September 11 and how much it meant to us all. The families, friends and neighbours of the 183rd are all acutely aware of Canada's loss and the value of her sacrifice. Please know that the families of Canada's fallen heroes are ever in our thoughts and prayers. LARRY A. STEVENS SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS Double cohort problem threatens vitality of Ontario's colleges Ontario's colleges of applied arts and tech nology are entering a period of spectacular growth -- growth that is primarily the result of the elimination by the provincial government of the fifth year of high school (also known as the double cohort). This phenomenon, along with the general population growth, will cause an increase in enrolment of at least 33,000 students across the province at institutions that are already hard pressed to meet the day-to-day operating needs or our current students. The colleges have placed ads in newspapers across the province that call for the Ernie Eves government to recognize that this situation needs to be addressed immediately with an infusion of $125 million a year in new operat ing funding to the colleges. The government's insufficient response to date should concern everyone who will be seeking admission to a college over the next couple of years. For some reason, there is a perception that underfunding and the double cohort are prob lems unique to the province's universities. Simply stated, they are not. Colleges face the same challenges, but with access to far fewer resources than universities. Colleges and their students have dealt with a decade of underfunding that has seen per-student funding for colleges drop by $2,300. Provincial operating grants used to account for 55 per cent of college funding; it is now at 42 per cent. To make up for that shortfall, tuition has had to rise dramatically, and now accounts for 26 per cent of total college funding, up from nine per cent a decade ago. Unlike universities, colleges do not have access to millions of dollars in federally-spon sored research dollars, and federal funding for adult training programs at colleges has actually fallen by seven per cent. The Ontario government's response to the double cohort has been to pledge that there will be a space for every qualified Ontario student and it has provided funding for additional buildings. Unfortunately it has not met the operating funding needs of the colleges to hire additional faculty or buy equipment for this influx of students. The colleges will be hard pressed to meet the government's pledge sur rounding the double cohort, and it w ill be our future students -- and the economy of Ontario-- that suffer. As the spark plug of Ontario's economic engine, Ontario's colleges urge your readers to contact their MPPs Cabinet Ministers and the premier to let them know the Province of Ontario does not need another crisis in educa tion. It must support its publicly-funded college system -- and its students -- to ensure that Ontario remains a strong and vital part of the Canadian economy. DR. ROBERT TURNER PRESIDENT AND CEO SHERIDAN COLLEGE Simple recipe for good health Not a day passes that we don't hear research results pointing the way to a healthier life. For men. it might be that tomatoes eaten three times a week w ill reduce the chance of getting prostate cancer by 37 per cent, while the ladies can take comfort in knowing that a B.C. study showed home births as safe as hospital deliveries. If you were to take seriously these revelations you'd be changing your diet by the hour and tearing your hair out to hear that, yes, chocolate has medicinal powers but the caf feine it contains can cause grief; or. that St. John's Wort, a herbal mainstay for all that ails you. blunts the effects of chemotherapy. The bottom line is that we'd be better off considering a lifestyle change than listening to the chorus of voices claiming to have the cure. The billions flushed down the drain at fitness clubs and health food stores suggest that, while we're concerned about our health, we're blind to the fact that I, the gal or guy in the mirror staring back at me. knows deep down that he or she holds the key to living a longer and better life. Consider that obesity among boys and girls seven to 13 tripled between 1981 and 1996. a stat no doubt linked to the number of drive-through visits and stressed-out kids drowning their anxiety in the fridge. So great is the gorg ing that the American Internal Revenue Service just rec ognized weight-loss expenses as a legitimate medical tax deduction. Not only are we dying from abusing our bodies by the traditional methods of smoking, drinking and hyperten sion brought on by a full-steam-ahead lifestyle, the wallet is taking a beating. Diabetes is costing the Canadian health care system $9 billion annually, the most common form of which can be controlled by eating properly, reducing stress and exercis ing. We cry about waiting for hours in emergency wards and the frightening possibility of privatizing of care. The Greeks knew the solution to our problem of dimin ishing health despite increased effort long before the birth of Christ. They called it the "happy mean" which translat ed into English is all things in moderation, not going over board in the kitchen. Mix in some exercise and a turning away from the usual vices aforementioned and you've got a cheap and simple recipe for health. JIM NEWTON Your Opinion Counts The Oakville Beaver welcomes letters from its readers. Letters will be edited for clarity, length, legal considerations and grammar. In order to be published, letters must contain the name, address and phone number of the author. Letters should be addressed to The Editor, Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Road, Oakville, On., L 6 K 3S4, or via e-mail to editor@ oakvillebeaver.com . The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish any let ter. Pud W \ P , A U - Y O U E V E R L IS T E N T o IN T H E C A R I S N E W S I L IK E -ID , AMP S fb R IS R A P to ' Y ou N E£D t o ease. u p / LET M E Bu r n . You A ., By STEVE NEASE Music c p / j[ okay/ | V (sO lN ^O N . ( , KM0WWHATS