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OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday, May 27, 2009 · 6 OPINION & LETTERS The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5571 Classified Advertising: 632-4440 Circulation: 845-9742 Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: NEIL OLIVER Vice ­ President and Group Publisher of Metroland West The Oakville Beaver is a division of Media Group Ltd. DAVID HARVEY General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director SANDY PARE Business Manager MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution SARAH MCSWEENEY Circ. Manager The unimaginable Being a parent awaiting the gruesome discovery of a murdered child's body is an unimaginable horror no one should have to endure. Knowing that one of those charged in connection with the disappearance and death may hold the key to the recovery of your beloved child must be something far worse than a living hell. It has to be a psychological torture of an intensity that even a country at war would condemn. While most of us are blessed to never come close to suffering this level of agonizing heartbreak, every parent, aunt, uncle or grandparent of a child can sympathize with the nightmare the parents of Victoria Stafford must be facing every moment of each day her remains go undiscovered. Few could begin to fathom the depths of despair being felt by this little girl's parents seven weeks after their sweet and vulnerable daughter walked away -- seemingly voluntarily -- from her Woodstock school with a woman in a white coat. There was no chance for this mother and father to say goodbye, to offer one last hug, kiss or an `I love you.' `Numb' barely scratches the surface of the attack on body and soul these parents must be suffering. When any human tragedy prematurely ends a young person's life, it is often said that a parent should never have to experience the grief of attending the funeral of their child. What cruel torture must it be then to have your child go missing, be considered an early suspect in her disappearance and then learn from police that there is sufficient evidence of her abduction and murder to charge two people from the same community with the crime. Whether or not homicide investigators and the Crown attorney feel there is sufficient evidence to obtain convictions in a trial of those believed responsible for Victoria's death is secondary right now. The time to avenge this little girl's murder -- through the swift and hopefully forceful application of our country's laws -- will, for now, have to wait. Before Tara McDonald and Rodney Stafford can begin to heal, they need to be reunited with their daughter and say their final goodbyes to her. We find it extremely difficult to believe that anyone that experiences this amount of emotional torment can ever truly find closure. Our only hope is that the search for Tori's body will soon end and that she will finally be laid to rest and her life celebrated in remembrance by all whose lives she touched. The Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone 416-340-1981. Advertising is accepted on the condition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. The publisher reserves the right to categorize advertisements or decline. Letter to the editor Homeowner desperate to save ducklings Every year for the past four years, we are lucky to have a pair of mallards nest in a planter on our deck, right outside our kitchen window. Each year, they have a lovely brood of beautiful ducklings, and we lead them to the pond across busy Upper Middle Road. Last year a cat killed all but one of the ducklings while they were in the creek that flows from the pond. My neighbor saw it and told me. Here is how last weekend went for our family. On Friday, I got home from the gym, and the ducklings had started to hatch -- they are so adorable. Thirteen little wee ones, and I was going to get up around seven the next morning and round them up before mama took them into the half filled pool. Around 2 a.m., I was woken up by mama quacking frantically and I ran downstairs and there was that orange cat, right in her nest, and mama had five of the ducklings in the pool with her. I sent Daisy, my dog, to chase the cat away. Remember, now, this is 2 a.m., the pool had just been opened that day, it was freezing and only half full. Knowing that ducklings have no waterproofing yet, and will drown or freeze if in the water too long, I went to the basement got out the stepladder. I took it to the garage and climbed up and got a boogie board hoping the ducklings could at least crawl up on it until the morning. I also hauled an aluminum sun lounger down from the cubby and set it on the steps making a ramp that, hopefully, they could use. I went to bed, but I guess I should have stayed up because at 4, I heard her again, and she was jumping up onto the pool deck trying to get her ducklings to hop up. But it was too far for them and they were water Letters to the editor The Oakville Beaver welcomes letters from its readers. Letters will be edited for clarity, length, legal considerations and grammar. In order to be published all letters must contain the name, address and phone number of the author. Letters should be addressed to The Editor, Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, ON, L6K 3S4, or via e-mail to editor@oakvillebeaver.com. The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish a letter. Resident fed up with litterbugs Our home is situated on Pinegrove Road behind the industrial buildings along Speers Road. Every spring when all of the snow is gone we have a sea of garbage to look at. The open ditch between our backyard and the back of these units is an ugly mess of trash strewn all over the place. Garbage blows in off Speers Road, plus this area has become a dumping ground for people too lazy to take their garbage to the dump. We've caught people dumping their garbage behind these units or in the dumpsters that belong to these businesses. I would like to make a plea to the Town of Oakville for a permanent solution to this reoccurring problem. It creates standing water and mosquito season is fast approaching. Just a note to the people dumping their garbage, the maximum fine under the Anti Littering Bylaw is $1,000 -- is it worth it? I'll be keeping my camera handy, say cheese. SHARON BROWN Complaints about PA days frustrates resident It's nice to see our tax-funded, unionized school boards working so hard and pondering how they will deal with their PA days. For those of us who live in the real world, seeing thousands of jobs lost in Ontario, it's always amusing to see how those living off our sweat can say with a straight face that two PA days before the long weekend isn't something they are `real' happy about. How happy do you think the people are who are working the long weekend to survive? MARK THOMPSON See Town page 11