Ask About O ur Flyer D e live ry Value A d d e d P a ck a g e s If you love animals, you'll love this fundraiser concert A rtscene Section b rate le Vj 0& 905-845-3824 * !w* t l Mercedes Ben/ Q .E .W . & D o rv a l D r. NORTH THE OAKVILLE A M E R I C A 'S Vol. 4 0 No. 51 MOST AWARDED COi w w w .o a k v i l l e b e a v e r . c o m PA P E R 1 A M e tro la n d P ublication WEDNESDAY. APRIL 3 0 . 2 ( X ) 3 SARS fears take toll on local economy By Melanie Cummings SPEC ;iA L T O TH E BEAVER The outbreak o f Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is taking its toll on local businesses and has even prompted one company to terminate 16 employees due to conference cancella tions. The layoffs were issued at Decor & More, an event decorating company owned by Leslee Bell. Fears o f a contagion in Toronto have sparked a flu rry o f cancellations from her clients across the country and the continent over the past three weeks. Bell estimates she has lost 85 per cent o f her business. "It all happened so fast." said Bell, as she looks out her office window where five trucks sit idle in her North Service Road parking lot. She's predicting a hard summer ahead and is hopeful the September bookings remain in tact. "The perception o f SARS around the world is crippling the tourism industry," said Bell. Such a statement rings true for John Thistlewaite. who is the president o f Ice Magic Canada, which creates custommade ice sculptures and centre pieces, mainly for corporate events. He's lost S15().(XK) in business over the past four weeks and predicts that fig ure w ill jump higher because o f the cur rent " paranoia" . These days he said he isn't even asked to provide quotes on future work. One o f his clients in upstate New York even refused to accept delivery o f an item he made due to fears it was con taminated w ith SARS. said Thistlewaite. "The impact o f SARS on our econo my is to us. what Sept. 1 1 was on the U.S. economy," he added. According to Frank Vismeg, manag ing director o f the Holiday Inn Express and Convention Centre, the slump in business now is markedly worse than it was after terrorists struck in New York City and Washington. Already several conferences have been lost and hotel reservations are down by 20 per cent, he said. (See Toronto' page A5) W e re tre e s c u t fo r g o lf course? Aerial shots fuel speculation By Kim Arnott SI TX'IALTC ) I IIE BEAVER A n e n v iro n m e n ta lly sensitive w o o d lo t b o rd e rin g on th e S ixteen M ile C re e k looks to have been clearc u t w ith fa irw a y s in m in d , says the la w y e r fo r the T o w n o f O a k v ille . " It appears that someone tree cutting bylaw. The Town bylaw prohibits was attempting to build a golf course in this area." Town the destruction o f trees in woodlots greater than one Solicitor Doug Gates told Oakville councillors Monday acre in size without a permit. night. No permit was applied for Gates was reporting to or granted for this property, local politicians on the municipally known as 4237 Fourth Line and located on destruction o f the woodlot, which had been regionally the north side o f the east designated as an En branch o f Sixteen Mile Creek. vironmentally Sensitive Area The maximum fine under the Town bylaw for a first (ESA) and an Area o f Natural and Scientific Interest conviction is S10.0(X). (ANSI). Regional staff is also look-' The majority o f the prop ing into whether the cutting erty falls into the municipal violated the regional tree-cutting bylaw. The fine under boundaries o f Milton, with only a small portion o f the that bylaw is $5.(XX). property lying within The property is registered Oakville, said Gates. to a numbered company, Still, he assured council which lists George and Helen lors that Town staff is investi Vastis, o f Burlington, as gating the possibility o f lay directors. ing charges under Oakville's (See `Aerial' page A4) Peter C. McCusker · O akville Beaver Elizabeth and P h ilip M ackenzie hold up a copy o f the newspaper announcing th e ir b irth s (that's them w ith mom and dad on the left) on C oronation Day, June 2,1953. Named a fte r the Queen and her husband, the tw ins w ill celebrate th e ir 50th birthdays at a C oronation Anniversary celebration at W estminster Abbey at the request o f the Queen. No more Halton residents under SARS quarantine By Jason Misner SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER The threat o f Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is on the wane in Halton. Halton's Medical Officer o f Health Dr. Bob Nosal, said by today he anticipates there w ill be no Halton residents under voluntary quarantine. It's been used as a precau tionary measure for people who may have been exposed to SARS by a potentiallyinfected person or people would have come from a hospital where the pneumo nia-like illness - which can be deadly - was prevalent. The first group o f Halfon residents quarantined occurred in late March. Dr. Nosal wouldn't say how many remain under quarantine, but that it's a " small handful." Because the SARS situa tion is improv ing, the Region has seen a drop in the num ber o f SARS-related phone calls. That means its SARS hotline is now operating dur ing normal business hours, Monday to Friday, from 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Up until Monday, the hotline was in effect during evening hours and on the weekends. A total o f 1,3(X) calls have been received since the hot line was set up. Anyone who thinks they' re showing SARS symptoms is asked to call Telehealth Ontario at 1-866797-0000. In Halton. a total o f about 150 people have been quar antined and cleared from potentially having SARS. That number includes two suspect cases the Region's (See Health' page A5) Fiftieth birthday will be royal treat for Oakville-born twins By Kim Arnott SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER It w ill be a 50th birthday to remember for Elizabeth and Philip MacKenzie. The twins, bom in Oakville in the early morn ing hours o f June 2, 1953, w ill celebrate their joint birthday this year at Westminster Abbey in England, as guests o f Queen Elizabeth II. When the pair made their arrival into the world at Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital, royal mania was sweeping Canada. The coronation o f Queen Elizabeth II, who had taken over the throne the previous year follow ing the death o f her father, was scheduled for June 2. As Elizabeth has been told, her parents were somewhat surprised when the Oakville twins were bom. W hile they had picked out names for two girls, or two boys, they had apparently not consid ered the possibility o f a boy-girl set o f twins. A doctor at the hospital suggested naming them Elizabeth Anne and Phillip Charles, after the royal couple, and the names stuck. The news o f their birth made the front page o f the O akville-Trafalgar Jo u rn al, pre-curser to the Beaver, as well as the pages o f the Toronto Telegram . Editorials.................A6 Business...................A8 Fashion.....................B1 Focus....................... Cl Education.................C5 Classifieds.................C6 ArtScene...................C8 Sports...................... D1 Like the two other babies bom in Oakville on June 2, the twins received a commemorative g ift o f (See Twins' page A7) DELIVERY F o r hom e d e liv e ry & c u s to m e r s e rv ic e c a ll (9 0 5 ) 8 4 5 -9 7 4 2 M o n . Tues.. & T hurs. 9 a . n i - 6 p.m .. W ed A F ri. 9 a.m . - 8 p .m . o r S a tu rd a y 10 a.m . - 4 p.m . F o r new s u b s crip tio n s, c a ll (9 0 5 ) 8 4 5 -9 7 4 2 o r su b s c rib e o n lin e @ w w w .a a kville b e a ve r.c o m Injured driver clings to life Burlington OPP are still piecing together Monday's serious accident on the QEW in which a tractor trailer col lided with a car, effectively paralysing the eastbound lanes for several hours. This, in turn, Hooded local roadways with motorists who had been stuck in traffic then tried to bypass the gridlock by finding alternate routes. A t press time, the driver o f the car a 50-year old Toronto woman - remains in hospital in intensive care while police are asking any witnesses to step for ward. According to OPP Const. Karen M otz, the collision occurred around noon when a tractor trailer driven by a (See Collision' page A3) Partial Delivery: SportChek Show Y o u rSpirit, SplashAquatics, A berd eenExteriorServices. RonuH om eandGarden, M ississauga Bo oster, HollandPark Gallery, H o m eD epot, little C aesar, Mark's W o rk W a re h o u se , PeoplesJewellers, W hiteR o se, H um berN urseries, Visitors G uide, Sears, T h eBay, Black Photo Cansdan Puttcatnns M.i.l Product Agrwiwrt *435-201 R A M A D A ® IN N & C O N V E N T IO N C EN TR E O A K V I L L E C o m e S e e T h e D if f e r e n c e Riziero Vertolli · O akville Beaver The d riv e r o f this car remains in intensive care at a H am ilton hospital a fte r her car was knocked into the guardrail fol low ing a collision w ith a tra c to r tra ile r in the eastbound lanes o f the QEW , near Dorval D rive on Monday. 905*845*7561 Grand Caravan Purchase financing for up to 60 months. NO CHARGE DVD See dealer for details.