A6 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday August 2, 2000 T he O akville B eaver Ian Oliver Publisher Neil Oliver Associate Publisher Norman Alexander Editor Kelly Montague, Advertising Director Steve Crazier Circulation Director Ten Casas Office Manager Mark Dills Production Manager Riziero Vertolli Director of Photography Metroland Printing. PubSshing & Distributing Ltd., includes: Ajax/Pfckering N e w s Advertiser, AJSston HerakVCouner. Arthur Enterprise N e w s. Barrie Advance. Barry's B a y T h e W eek. Bolton Enterprise. Bram pton G uardan, B u r lin g to n P o s t. B u rlin g to n S h o p p in g N e w s . C it y P a re n t. Co In c jw o o d W as a ga Connection. East Mark M r o r . Erin A d « c a t e C o t n t r y R o u te s . E to b ic o k e G u a r d ia n . F la m b o r o u g h P o s t. G e o r g e t o w n mdependent/Acton Free Press. Harriston Review. H iro rta Business T m e s . K ingston T h is W e e k . Lin d sa y T h is W eek. M a rk ha m Ecno m ist & S u n . 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City of York Guardan OPINION RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: O W M H I I YMCA O F Q W C V T L L E W feLCOM E^t W A G O N iu " " S i n c e 1930 Strep X sfrategjesforQ F E ......................t e - f* CNA V T Zj 467 Speers R d,, Oakville O n L L 6 K 3 S 4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-2809 Circulation: 845-9742 SK\ W of America NEWSPAPERS COMPFTmON Newspapers Association JiNqlE Bell Fund JMthem | Coward 0 'Ty/ie O akville ^ itva tD s TV AUCTION S K ? IH E BRONTE BUTTERFLY t o w n fin d O N T A R I O o t | o A « m t i oakville galleries | *rZ2b?TJ stim u m o *£ a u j C hildren' s Choir K XU IL S N E S StC T H E A R T S Editorials Scary numbers One of the big items for all social service agencies is statistics. These bodies keep scrupulous records for several reasons, not the least of which is the determination of grants. So when there's a huge jump in any one section of their statistical information, they But recent stories o f take notice....quickly. women being attacked And th at's pretty much what has hap and killed by husbands pened with the Halton Violence Council, and boyfriends prom pted when it began receiving disturbing statistics a doubling o f calls to the from its member agencies. w om en' s shelter from It's not unusual for the Halton Women's wom en in similar situa Place <HWP) to receive 100 calls per month tions to those being from women who are living in fear of their reported in the press. safety and seeking a safe haven for them selves and their children. But recent stories of women being attacked and killed by husbands and boyfriends prom pted a doubling of calls to the wom en's shelter from women in similar situations to those being reported in the press. T he H alton R ape C risis C entre has also noted a m ore than 20% increase in calls for June over the usual 200 monthly contacts. Basically, this means there are scores of women out there who feel they are in danger o f being physically harmed and don't want to show up as a statistic under the `killed by spouse' category. But the most disturbing phenomenon, according to HWP, is the huge increase in the number of women being stalked by former boyfriends, hus bands and partners. And even with restraining orders, there's no guarantee that the stalking won't continue or even escalate to the point where an assault takes place. Little wonder then, why so many faceless Halton women are afraid in their own homes. Given the recent well-publicized incidents of women being attacked, these women should take the first step and call for help. honestly, jean ,., scooters / basket ball/ W HITEW ATERRAFTING/.. WHEN WILL YOU SLOW PQWN? WHEN PE ELECTION^ OVER, ALINE- OR PE BEN G W RUNS EV ER COMES FIRST- Letters to the Editor The Oakville Beaver welcomes your comments. All letters must be typed, signed and include the writer's address and phone number. Send to: Letters to the Editor, The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, OnL L6K 3S4 Councillor's math on land purchase doesn't add up I have tried to m ake some sense out o f C o u n cillo r (Liz) Behrens's letter to the editor (July 26, 200) in response to a previ ously p rin ted letter (July 19, 2000) about saving the forests in north Oakville. She defends her position that purchasing the forests would cost the town $200,000 per acre, although she acknowledges that land can be purchased in the area for about $50,000 per acre. She wrote: `The $200,000/acre comes directly from the finance department and is the current amount that the Town of O akville pays for parkland." Councillor Liz Is a forest in the mid Behrens: numbers dle of don't add up 7,800 acres says reader o f unser viced, undeveloped farmland con sidered parkland? Perhaps the finance depart ment should take another look at th eir purchasing p ractices. I would be quite surprised if the finance department pays the same price for an acre of land no matter where it is and what the asking price is. Also, there are dramatic incon sistencies in Behrens's math: "988 acres x $200,000=$ 197,600. per acre is a realistic figure". Later she states: "Based on taking an average price per acre of $50,000 the cost of purchasing the woodlots would be $49,400.." The O ntario Realty C orporation owns over 1,000 acres in the area and Coun. B ehrens acknow ledges that acquiring land cheaply from it would be "a good thought", but goes on to quash that idea by adding: "that might raise some eyebrows as these lands are held in tru st by the Provincial Government on behalf of all tax payers in Ontario." Does that mean that the 1,000 acres owned by ORC will not be developed or sold to private com panies to be developed? I think the ORC could go a long way to improving its public image by donating land to the town to be used in land swap deals for the forests. Behrens states: "Before devel opers part with any of their hold ings, they want to know how much they will get for it and what they will be able to build on the rem ainder of their holdings....They too want to max imize the amount of money they can generate from future develop ment." By paying $200,000 per acre for land worth $50,000 per acre, Behrens will truly help develop ers maximize their investm ent income. Peter Daley Letter of the Week Alterations to mufflers defeat their purpose In the four years since I moved to Oakville, I have noticed a steady increase in noise pollution resulting from alterations to mufflers so as to make cars sound as loud as possible. Instead of a quiet vehicle, these machines and their dri vers scream their existence to the world that they can afford a powerful car, and we must all suffer to know it. When they drive by, the windows vibrate and you can hear them from over a kilometre away. Regardless of the time of day, the rapidly-accelerating vehicles assault the cars with their artificially-created attention-getting devices. When we were young, we would clip cardboard to our bike wheels to make them sound like loud motorcycles. It seems that some people never grow up! Now they attach sound-enhancers to their muffler's tailpipe or buy special ly-designed mufflers that actually magnify sound rather than dampen it Whether it's a hopped-up Honda or a pow erful Porsche, these drivers must make their machines sound like angry lawn mowers or rumbling trucks. These examples of delayed maturity are one thing, but must our peace and tranquility be assaulted by these incon siderate boors? Must we close our windows even on a hot summer day to avoid disrupted sleep? The legal solution is at the provincial legislative level but the need to counter this rising and preventable noise problem must start at the community level. Better yet, can not the spouses/parents/neighbours of these insensitive people simply ask them to be quiet? It's too bad that there seems to be an overabundance of money but a profound paucity of manners on the part of this small minority of attention-seekers. Please think of others. P.G. Purpura Chemical spraying must be stopped While walking along a side walk, I noticed a young man putting pesticide signs on a lawn. I approached him, asking why is this necessary? Why tell people the haven has been sprayed? If there isn't any dan ger, why all the signs? His reply to me was: We have to inform people about the spraying because if the lawn gets wet with rain, warning, don't step on me, don't come near me, does this mean there isn't any danger in the spraying with pesticides? We, as ad u lts, have the re sp o n sib ility to m ake this planet of ours safe for everyone and especially the little chil dren. They did not ask to be born into this world, but they have the right to grow to matu rity in a w orld that we, as adults, knew years ago. Anyone concerned about the spraying with pesticides, con tact the mayor's office, let them know there is enough contro versy about this issue to call a public meeting. The spraying has to be banned. V. Carley Clark and Conservatives a good choice for Canada Joe Clark, the man who was Canada's youngest ever Prime Minister and an M.P. in the largest major ity government in history, is out to get those Liberals with an appetite to splurge the taxpayers' hardearned dollars as strong as that `Star Wars' glutton `Jabba the Hut's' craving for food! Liberals are renowned for their many `flip-flops' from threatening to tear-up Brian Mulroney's `Free Trade Agreement," that smashed through the walls of America protectionism doubling our exports, to their prom ise to abolish the G.S.T. which the C onservatives intended to eliminate the annual deficit, not for furnishing a bloated government bureaucracy with billions of dollars for pet projects (aimed at fortifying Liberal electoral victories). The fact that the party that Brian Mulroney tarred with the label `the Reform Party in Pantyhose' is still behind the Conservatives in the industrial heartland of Canada (Ontario), even after their members stam peded to Toronto for the Canadian Alliance Party leadership stage show, in conjunction with the fact that the sharp, snazzy Scott Brison will now serve as an advisor to Clark could spell doom for the `funda mentalist infiltrated' Alliance Party. Scott Brison who performs eloquently in the par liamentary forum, with a sincere passion similar to Pud W H AT D O Y O U W A M T ^ TO Do WITH THE K ID S THIS SUMMER? ID U N N O . W H A TDM Y O U W A N T J/ TOCO? the feisty Sean Conway in Ontario's provincial legis lature, has been unscathed by defeat unlike the Alliance's Tom Long who may yet jettison the party whose members lashed out at Tom for having gay party members. Scott, who I'm sure Clark would contemplate for the cabinet position of `finance min ister,' may mastermind a federal Tory revival equiva lent in magnitude to that which Tom Long engi neered for Premier Harris whose Conservatives were in debt and down in the polls until Tom worked his magic. , I anticipate Joe Clark captivating voters with that `deep, trusting voice' inviting defeat for his `Alfalfa haired,' younger, far-right challenger just as `sea For someone like me, suffering from Chemical Sensitivity, soned political champions' like Mayor Mega-Mel the article in The Oakville Beaver (Sun., July 9th) was to say and Hurricane Hazel reap landslides over their lessthe least, disappointing. The enthusiastic application of herbi experienced opponents. cides in my neighbourhood this past spring has seriously The Conservative party with a solid `broad-based' affected my health for the past two months. foundation in Ontario and Quebec, with the support It is unlikely that I am alone. of the Atlantic Conservative Premiers, and with a There is currently an excellent article in Vitality Bay Street connection via Scott Brison, that may par (July/August) on the Eco-Summit held in Ottawa on May 15th allel that of Tom Long's influence, spells good news and 16th, organized by Liberal MP Karen Kraft Sloan. It for a party promising fairer, more compassionate tax- makes me wonder why councillor Rick Malboeuf feels we cuts, respect for individual's liberties, and an acceler need a detailed study. In reading this article, it seems to me this has already been done. ated debt-eradication plan. We all need to be educated in the dangers of herbicides and David C. Searle pesticides and only then will we clearly see what we are doing to ourselves and to our children. Children are especially vul Burlington councillor Lynda Schreiber tells us we by Steve Nease nerable. must choose between chemical risks and broken ankles and tom ligaments. Playing field weeds can be cut down just as grass can. V o i t e K ID D IN 6 Another excellent article appeared in the KitchenerW aterloo Record on June 14th, w ritten by Dr. Jim ig h t Hollingsworth of Goderich. He states "The World Wildlife Fund calculates that we use at least 50-million kilograms of pesticides each year. A fifth of this poison is sprayed on private lawns, public parks, and golf courses in urban areas. Those urban areas are where 80% of us live." Dr. Hollingsworth also says `T he World Health Organization estimates more than 20,000 people die each year because of pesticide use. In Ottawa, governor general Adrienne Clarkson does not tolerate pesticide use, nor do any of the official residences, nor Parliament. Ottawa is now a pesticide-free city. Oakville Mayor Ann Mulvale could set an example for other communi ties by making an intelligent and responsible decision to stop poisoning the land around us. Karen Sandford Stop spraying for weed control R ?