in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, F eb ru ar y 27 ,2 02 0 | 8 ABOUT US This newspaper, published every Thursday, is a division of the Metroland Media Group Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. The Metroland family of newspapers is comprised family of newspapers is comprised f of more than 80 community publications across Ontario. This newspaper is a member of the National NewsMedia Council. Complainants are urged to bring their concerns to the attention of the news- paper and, if not satisfied, write The National NewsMedia Council, Suite 200, 890 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M4W 2H2. Phone: 416-340-1981 Web: www.mediacouncil.ca insidehalton@metroland.com facebook.com/OakvilleBeavfacebook.com/OakvilleBeavf @OakvilleBeaver WHO WE ARE VP, Regional Publisher Kelly Montague Regional Managing Editor Catherine O'Hara Managing Editor Karen Miceli Director of Distribution Charlene Hall Circulation Manager Kim Mossman Director of Production Mark Dills Regional Production Manager Manny Garcia Regional General Manager Steve Foreman Halton Media General Manager Vicki Dillane CONTACT US Oakville Beaver 901 Guelph Line Burlington, ON L7R 3N8 Phone: 905-845-3824 Classifieds: 1-800-263-6480 Advertising: 289-293-0620 Delivery For all delivery inquiries, please e-mail kmossman@metroland.com or call 905-631-6095. Letters to the editor Send letters to insidehalton@metroland.com. All letters must be fewer than 320 words and include your name and telephone number for verification purposes. We reserve the right to edit, condense or reject letters. Published letters will appear in print and/or online at insidehalton.com OPINION TO LEARN HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN CONTENT VISIT INSIDEHALTON.COM EDITORIAL Heaven knows, it doesn't seem much to ask of a gov- ernment in the 21st century. No one expected Ontario Premier Doug Ford, when he was elected in 2018, to out-theorize Stephen Hawk- ing, or resolve things in the Middle East, or put a (wo) man on Mars. But it was hoped that, given the Ford family exper- tise in the business of signs and stickers, he'd be on top of some of the more rudimentary tasks of governance. Like licence plates. Somebody had a bright idea. Instead of blue on white, let's make Ontario's plates all blue! Let's change the slogan emblazoned thereon from "Yours to Dis- cover" to "A Place to Grow." Three weeks after the new plates went into circula- tion, there are complaints - not least of all from a police officer on Twitter - that the plates glare under lights at night and are at times impossible to read. Ford's ministers were at a loss. "We have tested in terms of readability, reflectivity and durability on a whole host of weather conditions and they passed," said Lisa Thompson, minister of government and consumer services. After first denying there was a problem at all, later she shifted to blaming the manufacturer, 3M. This is what the sports analysts call an unforced error, with Ford having chosen to fix that which was not broken. Governments of all political stripes have been han- dling the job of manufacturing numbered identifiers for automobiles since pretty much the time such traf-for automobiles since pretty much the time such traf-f fic-jams-waiting-to-happen were invented.fic-jams-waiting-to-happen were invented.f It seems France was the first country to issue num- ber plates to vehicles in 1893. In 1901, New York State mandated licence plates for vehicles, but until 1909 car owners were expected to produce their own. In 1903, Massachusetts became the first state to issue licence plates. They were porcelain. Plates have also been made of cardboard, plastic, leather and in the great state of Wyoming - during the Second World War, when metal was needed for the war effort - soybean- based waferboard. Vehicles in Ontario have been registered since 1903Vehicles in Ontario have been registered since 1903V and have borne licences since 1911. Licence plate design has occasionally triggered controversy. A crown was added in 1937 to commem- orate the coronation of King George VI. A proposal to remove it in 1948 was beaten back by outraged roy- alists. From 1973 to 1982, Ontario plates carried the ahead- of-its-time environmental message "Keep it Beautiful." For almost 40 years, the motto has been the enticing "Yours to Discover." Over the years, Ontario plates have been white on blue, black on white, black on yellow, black on tan, dark blue on cream, dark blue on light green, green on white, orange on black, black on golden yellow and other combinations. What they apparently haven't been, until now, under the tender ministrations of Doug Ford's government, is unreadable. GOVERNMENT FAILS ON LICENCE PLATES SNAPSHOT Ice consumes the harbour area in Oakville. Got a great local photo you'd like to share? Send it to sleblanc@metroland.com, along with brief description. Greg Glista photo It's about trust. Our rela- tionship with our readers is built on transparency, hon- esty and integrity. As such, we have launched a trust initiative to tell you who we are and how and why we do what we do. This article is part of that project. Recently Halton police issued a media release about a woman who they say was stalked and her ex- boyfriend was charged with criminal harassment. If you read our story that followed the release, you may have noticed our re- port did not include details about where or when the incident took place and there was no identifying in- formation about the victim or the accused, not even their ages or the municipal- ity where they lived. That's because police in- tentionally left out that in- formation from the release, taking extreme measures to protect the victim. While we would never have published the name of the victim in the report, normally we would have in- cluded her age and what municipality she lived in and we would have pub- lished full details about the accused. In fact, without these vi- tal details normally we wouldn't publish a story until we had most of that in- formation. But that was an exception to the rule. Why? More on that below. It was just recently when police started regu- larly publicly communicat- ing in the form of media re- leases reports of intimate partner violence incidents in Halton. Police made the policy change citing that in- cidents of intimate-partner violence threaten the sense of safety and well-being that defines the region. They stated that these me- dia releases would rein- force that no one has the right to abuse another per- son and would encourages victims and witnesses to contact police. We couldn't agree more. That's why we decided to run the story without the information we normally require. We would do it again, and I expect we will. We welcome your ques- tions and value your com- ments. Email our trust com- mittee at trust@metro- land.com. Karen Miceli is manag- ing editor of Metroland Media's Halton Division community newspapers. WHY WE RAN A STALKING STORY WITHOUT ALL THE DETAILS WE FELT THERE WAS STILL VALUE IN THE STORY AND IT WAS AN IMPORTANT ONE TO TELL, WRITES KAREN MICELI KAREN MICELI Column