Wednesdsay September 6, 2000 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME: One d rin k too m any for u n b o rn B y Irene G en tle SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER There's an incurable condition that drags emotional and social ills behind it like the tail of a comet. But preventing it is as simple as say ing no to alcohol during pregnancy. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) has been fingered as the leading cause of mental retardation in industrialized nations, occurring twice as often as Down's Syndrome. And drinking even a little during pregnancy can result in the equally incur able, permanent and damaging Fetal Alcohol Effect (FAE). "The alcohol molecule is very small," said Halton Hills resident Shiona Watson. "It goes right through the pla centa. It isn't filtered out, like a lot of people think it is." Watson is the adoptive mother of FAS-afflicted Michael, 5, and a member of FasWorld. That's a loose alliance of parents and health care professionals who deal with FAS/FAE. To raise its profile, FasWorld has declared Sept. 9th International FAS Awareness Day. The date was selected to symbolize the nine months of pregnancy. But pushing the disorder to the fore front isn't easy. "There's a huge stigma attached to it," said Watson. "There's a tremendous amount of judgment, even among those who think its okay to drink during preg nancy." After bearing two healthy children of her own, Watson adopted Michael when he was 18 months old. Along with FAS, Michael is deaf and suffers from scoliosis. He's also hyperactive, fearless and unable to understand consequences. "I watch him like a hawk all the time. I can't let him be away from me," said Watson. Though endlessly affectionate, Michael finds it difficult to connect with others. "He loves to be around people, but he doesn't know how to interact with them," said Watson. "He wants all the toys to himself. He doesn't want to share and he's very aggressive." Many FAS/FAE children also suffer from a supreme sensitivity to touch. "You may touch them lightly and they turn around and punch you because to them it feels like pain," said Watson. Diagnosis is tricky, since there's no definitive test for FAS/FAE. Instead, children are thought to have the condition only when everything else has been ruled out. Since there's no cure, prevention is crucial. That means hammering the message home that introducing alcohol at any stage in a pregnancy carries the risk of inflicting irreversible brain damage on unborn children, said Watson. Those affected are more prone to suf fer from learning disabilities, to drop out of school early and slide into juvenile delinquency. Drug addiction, mental illness, child and spousal abuse are common, as are unemployment and poverty. Many sufferers will at some point be confined to a prison, rehab centre or mental institution. And behaviours such as lying, steal ing, violent tantrums, a high likelihood of addiction and an inability to learn from experience are hallmarks of how alcohol can forever injure a developing brain. Overall, FasWorld believes FAS/FAE will cost taxpayers about $2 million per lifetime of an afflicted individual. That includes the price tag for special education, health care, counselling, wel fare and court and prison costs. A main difference between FAS and FAE is the appearance of the victims. The former are likely to bear the physical mark of FAS, such as wide-set eyes, low-set ears, a small nose with a low bridge, elliptical folds around the eyes, and no indentation between the upper lip and nose. Because the signs of FAS are clearer, those with it are more likely to be diag nosed and get help. Estimates vary, but about one in 500 people are thought to have FAS. Even more are likely to be injured by FAE. Since the damage can take place as early as three weeks after conception, accidental pregnancies are dangerous, said Watson. Anyone who misses a pill, whose condom breaks or who has reason to believe they may be pregnant for any reason should lay off alcohol. Because FAS/FAE children look nor mal and have a normal level of intelli gence, it can be tough for others to accept that their brains have been permanently harmed. But while FAS/FAE victims may understand rules, they're simply unable to put them into practice, said Watson. "They may feel great guilt and shame afterward and then go out and do the whole thing again 10 minutes later," she said. And that appears disobedient, willful ly hurtful and nerve-breakingly frustrat ing to those who care for them. Ironically, while FAS/FAE children don't respond well to rules, they do to routine. "That's why they do so well when they're in prison. Everything happens at the same time in the same order," said Watson. "It's not so confusing to them." G> TENDER FOR: O A K V IL L E 8 4 5 -6 6 0 1 THE CORPORATION OF THE TOWN OF OAKVILLE TREE AND SHRUB PLANTING ALONG DUNDAS STREET (HIGHWAY #5) BERMS T-27-2000 TENDER NUMBER: SEALED TENDERS on forms provided will be received by the Town Clerk, 1225 Trafalgar Road, Oakville, Ontario, L6J 5A6 until 2:00 p.m., local time on TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2000 Specifications, tender forms and tender envelopes may be obtained from the Town of Oakville Purchasing Department, 1225 Trafalgar Road, Oakville, Ontario L6J 5A6; Telephone 905-338-4197. NOTE RE CONTRACT SECURITY: The Contractor whose tender is accepted shall be required to provide a Performance Security of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00) in the form of an Irrevocable Unconditional Letter of Credit. Alternately, the Contractor may provide a Certified Cheque or Bank Trust Co. Draft in the same amount. A Letter of Intent will be required with the tender submission should a bidder select the Irrevocable Unconditional Letter of Credit as a Performance Security. Tenders will be opened publicly at a meeting of the Tender Opening Committee at the Oakville Municipal Building, 1225 Trafalgar Road, Oakville, Ontario on Tuesday, September 19, 2000 at 2:30 p.m. local time. The Town of Oakville reserves the right to reject any or all tenders and the highest or lowest as the case may be will not necessarily be accepted. R.J. Coumoyer, C.I.M., P.Mgr. Director, Purchasing and Office Services Tender advertising may be viewed on the O.P.B.A. website, http://www.vaxxine. com/opba THE CORPORATION OF THE TOWN OF OAKVILLE PROPOSAL FOR LARGE DOCUMENT DIGITAL IMAGING SERVICES FOR OUR PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT PROPOSAL NUMBER PROP-24-2000 SEALED PROPOSALS for the above will be received by the Purchasing Department, on or before 12:00 NOON, local time on MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2000 Address: 1225 Trafalgar Road, Oakville, or by mail to P.O. Box 3 IQ, Oakville, Ontario, L6J 5A6. Telephone (905) 338-4197. C o m m itte e to stu d y o v ercro w d in g (C o n tin u e d fro m p a g e A 1 ) Specifications, Proposal forms and Proposal envelopes are available at the office of the undersigned. NOTE: Potential bidders will be required to attend a m a n d a to ry site visit on one of the following dates: Wednesday, September 6, 2000 or Monday, September 11, 2000, anytime from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Corporation reserves the right to reject any or all proposals and the lowest or highest as the case may be will not necessarily be accepted. R. J. Coumoyer, C.I.M., P. Mgr. Director, Purchasing & Office Services That change has created more classes, and therefore, the need for more classrooms. At Oakville Trafalgar, where the school was already full, it meant the board needed permission from the town to put three additional portables on the site. The change in legislation effectively made the high school smaller, said Johnson, who noted it only has about 100 more students today than it did when it opened in 1991, with no portables. The school board's request for portables was deferred by the town's site plan committee, but will be up for consider ation again tonight, said Gerry Cullen, superintendent of plant. If approved, the three new portables could be installed at the school within the next week or two, bringing the total number on the site to five. Meanwhile, the school board has established a commit tee to study the issue of overcrowding at OTHS. The five-member committee will be studying enrolment trends for the high school, in an attempt to predict whether the overcrowding problem will worsen, or whether the school's enrolment has now peaked. `T he committee's task is to look at not only the short term, but the long term," said Johnson. The group is required to provide recommendations to the school board by December. It will likely consider school boundary changes and scheduling changes, including possi bly running the school on shifts until the overcrowding cri sis is over, said Johnson. Adams, Johnson and Oakville trustee Marianne Hawthorne will be among the members, and the committee will hold its first meeting on Sept. 12th at 7 p.m. at the school. All meetings of the committee will be open to the public. 1225 TRAFALGAR R O A D · OAKVILLE, O N T A R IO · L6J 5A6 Concerned about your drinking water quality? We guarantee our high quality Pure Artesian Spring W ater to be better tasting, natural, tested and pure! 18L Home or Office Delivery $7.00 Cooler (C/C) rental $14.0Q/m Cooler (C/C) purchase $259.00 500ML & 1,5L Available H o SEPTEMBER 8, 9, 1 0, 2000 Friday 1:00 pm to 9:00 pm Saturday 10:00 am to 6:00 pm Sunday 10:00 pm to 5:00 pm Call today for Free Delivery (9 0 5 )4 6 5 -4 4 4 5 1-877-31-W A T E R See our advert in the Bell Yellow Pages Special Selection! COTTON TW ILL S0LI0S 115cm wide, 100% cotton. Brushed 4 non-brushed surfaces. Our Reg. | 7.98-10.98 m NOW 3 0 % OFF Our R eg. P ric e Special Selection! CORDUROY PRINTS 115cm wide, 100% cotton. 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