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www.oakvillebeaver.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, May 28, 2010 · 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 --Open 9-5 weekdays, 5-7 for calls only Wed. to Friday, Closed weekends 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: Canadian Circulation Audit Board Member THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: Recognized for Excellence by Ontario Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America Canadian Community Newspapers Association ATHENA Award NEIL OLIVER Vice ­ President and Group Publisher of Metroland West The Oakville Beaver is a division of Media Group Ltd. DAVID HARVEY Regional 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 Staying vigilant to keep roads safe `No Ontario road deaths over Victoria Day weekend.' That's the headline we hope to see on the Tuesday after the traditional long weekend, considered the unofficial start of the summer driving season. It didn't happen last weekend, however, as the death toll on Ontario highways was four. Late on the Friday afternoon, a three-vehicle head-on crash just west of Chatham killed at 25-year-old Wheatley man and a 50-year-old London man. On the Saturday, a 67-year-old female passenger on a motorcycle died when the bike collided with a minivan in Hawkesbury. A fourth crash victim died in a single-vehicle rollover in Dufferin County. Last year, over the Victoria Day weekend, two people were killed in two separate collisions on OPP-patrolled roads. In 2008, there were three fatal collisions resulting in five deaths. The OPP did their darnedest this past weekend to keep the roads safe by taking action to prevent accidents and get the drivers putting others at risk off the roads. Specifically, officers spent a lot of time inspecting vehicles on Hwy. 400 north of Toronto. They also had extra patrols out looking for aggressive and speeding drivers, and deployed the OPP aircraft. As in previous years, the OPP worked with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation to ensure that vehicles were safe, loads were secure and towing attachments were properly installed. The OPP said early this week 16 unsafe vehicles had been pulled off the road since Friday, two of them Monday morning. Despite their valiant efforts, deaths still occurred. We don't know what else can be done to bring the death toll down to zero, but we know the efforts must continue. And now we head into another weekend... 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 A gaggle of geese never to gurgle I have to be the most naive person in Oakville. I have been daily looking in on three Canada geese nests in and about the town's harbour, only to confirm today that information given to me two days ago was true. The eggs in the nests had been oiled by a company contracted by the Town ­­ and all of my encouragement and good words to the geese moms and dads over the last month was all for naught. The revelation was disturbing, but not surprising; patience and compassion is seriously lacking among the masses these days. I must confess that I'm angry these moms and dads have unnecessarily nested longer than the incubation period (25 to 28 days) in storms, heat and other difficulties, always hanging on to the hope that their eggs would hatch -- but from the get-go, the fate of the eggs had already been determined by the Town. I know that geese get little sympathy because they poop, but there has to be a more humane way of dealing with our geese, and I believe that they are our geese, or why were they named Canada geese? Maybe the Town could hire students next summer for the formation of a poop patrol that would clean up areas where both townspeople and geese converge; the students can also be vigilant of the nests of both the geese and other fowl. My brother-in-law in Scarborough has been posting photos of spring goslings that he has photographed, but I'll have nothing from our town to share with him. As I write, one lone goose sits on her nest in the sweltering heat on the west side of the harbour amidst a jut of rocks, not knowing that she's warming a gaggle of still-born. It's simply cruel. LEN FORTUNE, OAKVILLE 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. Transit fare card not necessarily needed I was sad to hear that approximately $2.4 million will be wasted on a flashy, convenient, but costly provincial system of payment forced on Oakville (join up or we withhold the promised gas tax revenues). The money could have been better spent paying for real, needed improvements to our transit system. People were not having any trouble buying two monthly passes (Oakville transit and GO) and using them. We need more people to stop using their cars and walk, run, bike or use our heavily subsidized (2009 costs: $20 million/revenues approximately $4.6 million) Oakville Transit system. Our town leaders should set the example for residents, so I challenge our entire town council and residents ­­ including myself ­­ to come to the next council meeting by transit or bicycle. Some real action, will speak much louder than words. JOHN S. KAY, OAKVILLE 2010 MAYORAL CANDIDATE BY STEVE NEASE neasecartoons@gmail.com Pud