Ontario Community Newspapers

Oakville Beaver, 29 Jul 1994, p. 6

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5233;955:291- Yes: 8 N0: 6 And deaths involving motorized vehicles were not restricted to land. During the same period, seven people died in boating accidents, one of which was alcohol-related. Of those who died, five were not wearing per- sonal flotation devices. Many of these tragedies were preventable either by using sensible tech- niques in operating motorized vehicles and boats or by using safety devices that are mandatory. We join the OPP in urging those using the province’s road and water- ways to exercise caution in common sense this holiday weekend. Accident reports further show that aggressive driving was a contribut- ing factor in many of these accidents with excessive speed listed as the cause of 15 mishaps and another six being alcohol-related. The Burlington detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police note that as of Wednesday, there have been 46 fatal motor vehicle collisions in which 57 people have died. Of those victims, 15 were not wearing seatâ€" belts. ’ he Civic Holiday weekend that starts tonight marks one of the busi- est weekends of the summer for Ontario motorists. It traditionally means the halfway point of the summer and that means excursions to cottages, campgrounds or visits to family and friends. Next we’ll be reading about Hydro’s next foray into world finanéeifloatâ€" ing some mutual funds or even better, investing in a firm making china ele- phants...in white only, of course. Common sense This is great news for Ontario taxpayers who are paying usurous sums 'of cash to service the billions of dollars of outstanding loans already on Hydro’s books.~ No doubt their reasoning is that when you’re in hock to than extent, what’s a mere $53-million more? But that’s the kind of logic coming from the glass block on University Avenue these days. It marks another chapter in the story of OH, once the preâ€"eminent utility in North America and now an_indelgtiedA albatross around the necks of taxpayers. The deal means that OH will hold 25 per cent of the company, with the remainder owned by another Chilean utility and a U.S. investment fund. Hydro officials say the investment sheuld see the utility make an annual return of between 17 and 23 per cent. Will you be spending all or part of your summer moat}; lithe U.S. .7 With this latest move, already approyed by Queen’s Park, the province’s utility has broken new ground in how to spend taxpayers’ money without regard to its mandate or mission statement. First there was the stink emanating from a plan that would see OH buy up some rainforest in Central America. Always the environmentalist, Strong rea- soned that it would be okay for OH to pump more heat up the stacks of his power plants if there were enough trees in the world to theoretically treat the waste and recycle it. Now we see the business side of Strong emerge with his latest scheme to pay $53-million in US. bucks (that’s 40 cents on the loonie these days) for a 15 per cent stake in a Peruvian utility company that looks after the power needs of Lima The deal is to close in August. Strong looks like it’s going to continue unabated. What else can we The global empire-building bent of Ontan’o Hydro chainnan Maurice expect from the ‘worldly’ Strong who doesn’t seem to have a clue in running the more mundane day-to-day operations of the provincial utility. Classified Advertising: 845-2809 . Circulation: 845-9742 or 845-9743 . The Oakvile Beaver. prbliehed every Su , Wednes _fll}d Friday. a1167 Ian Oliver Publwher mammmmm‘mfimmw m... ' AdverI' . Barrie Mva , Bra Guardia . B on Post. Cali ROM“ Glasbey Aduemsing Director Cowgirl; Elobicoke 'é”mm'f"°" own WV Adan Free rose. K' slon This Week. Lindsa This eak, Mar am Economist and Sun. Norman Alexander Editor 31%. Trbune. Minon Canadian Qharrpion. Mississauga News. Geofilnu affiliation Director Newmarkel-Aurora‘Era-Banner. Nonh York Mirror. Oakvile Beaver. Onllla Today. Oshawa/Whilby This Week. Palarpomugh This Week Hrdimond HII/ Teri Casas Oflice Manager lemhiWauohan Lia-val Scarborough Mm. . All malarial piblished 'n the Oakvile Beaver is prolecled by Tim Cole; ProductionManager reprodudion'nvmdeorhpanollhis rrrelerhlisstmlylorbidden ' consent 01 the publisher. . Advenis'ng is Ezepted on the condition list. in he even! til I typographical error. that nion ol the amnising space crucified b lhe erroneous item. Ingelher with a raasonahb allowance torsignam. wil not be charged for. batoha balance ol the advertisement wi be payld lor al the applicable rala Tie publisher reserves the mm b categorize and raped amenis‘ng. In the event ol typographical error. adven'shg goods or services at the wrong pace. goods or services may not be sold. ”’1': ' is merely an offer to sell and may be wilhdrawn at any line. um Robert 613st Advertising Director Norman Alexander Editor Geoff Hill Circulation Director Teri Casas Oflice Manager Tim Coles Production Manager CALL845-5585 Powerless people EDITORIAL RESULTS OF JULY 8TH POLI 467 Speers’ Road Oakville, Ont. L6K 334 845-3824 'Fax: 845-3085 Do you support photo radar which goes into effect in some areas this weekend? Cast your ballot by calling 845-5585, box 5008 to vote. Callers have until 12 noon Thursday to register their vote. Results of the poll will be published in the next Friday edition of the Oakville Beaver. WEEKLY POLL I don’t know what it’s like where you live, but we’ve got Weed Police in my neck of the woods. Undercover agents for the Public Works Department whose job it is to snoop down laneways and peer over garden fences to see if anybody is har- And these aren’t the only verdant varmints that cry out for vigilance. Alert lawn own- ers must also be on the lookout for perennial pests like the Poisons Ivy, Oak, and Hemlock, not to mention the ubiquitous Thistle â€" Sow, Bull, Canada, Nodding, Russian, and Scotch. My backyard, anyway. All of the aforementioned are gar- den-variety noxious weeds, capable of showing up in the cracks between your patio stones faster than you can say “Quick, Martha â€" hand me the Killer Kane!” Mass murderers? Serial killers? Psychopathic terror- ists? Naw. All of the above are as common as crabgrass and as near as your backyard. Cypress Spurge and his evil cousin Leafy? Dodder? Black Seeded Proso Millet? And the repulsively mon- ickered Tuberous Vetchling? But far from the only names that belong on the list. How about... enghis Khan. Adolf Hitler. Pol Pot. Lucretia Borgia. All names that will live forever in the annals of infamy and vil- lainy. Only way to deal with weeds is to stopfar dandelion wine Why is it the crops I want to grow practically cry out for an oxygen tent and intravenous feedings, while all around these anorexic little failures, quack grass, plantain, knap- weed come up like telephone poles? WEEDS! Giant weeds! Rain forest weeds! Weeds with trunks the size of redwoods, and leaves like elephant ears! The thing that most ticks me off about weeds is that they’re so damned easy to grow. I’m going to spend the next couple of months nursing my vegetable garden along like a flock of premature babies. And for what? After hours of mulching, and com- posting, and fertilizing, and coddling, I will be rewarded with a crop of: Pencil-sized carrots. Tomatoes that resemble jade golf balls. Corn cobs the raccoons won’t even eat. Green peas the size (and hardness) of BB shot and... Potatoes so wizened they look like they came straight out of Tutankamen’s tomb. Oh well. Keeps them out of the pool hall, I guess. boring a clandestine crop of Burdock, Milkweed, or Wild Carrot. It’s depressing. I need a pick-me-up. Perhaps, a glass of wine. But I can’t. I know that come harvest time, the veg- etable rows in my garden will look like the before picture in a Charles Atlas ad, while the paths'between the rows will look'like a close-up of the Belgién Congo. That doesn’t surprise me. I’ve seen weeds punch right through the pavement in my driveway. All I want to know is: what’s their secret? If I could grow eggplant the way I grow Ragweed, I could change my name to the Jolly Green Giant and never darken the produce section of my super- market again. Twenty-five years later, they dug some of them out and planted them. Over half of them bloomed like new and pumped out a whole new gen- eration of seeds. Then, the sci- entists put the experiment on the back bunsen burner as it were, and forgot about it. In 1959, somebody dug up and planted 20 of the original seeds again. Three of them produced viable seedlings â€" 80 years after they’d been taken out of circulation. Weeds really do grow as if they have their own personal supply of anabolic steroids. Away back in 1879, scientists at Michigan State University put several lots of 20 common weed seeds into glass bottles and set them on a shelf. Dandelion, of course.

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