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1011 Upper Middle Road E. 905-849-4722 www.oakvilleshops.com SNA A NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR 2010 ONTARIO'S TOP NEWSPAPER - 2005-2008 Music for Minors Artscene A member of Metroland Media Group Ltd. Vol. 49 No. 121 "USING COMMUNICATION TO BUILD BETTER COMMUNITIES" WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2011 60 Pages $1.00 (plus tax) Time to turn off fluoride? By Christina Commisso METROLAND WEST MEDIA GROUP A group of concerned citizens say it's time for Halton to join a growing list of Canadian communities that have stopped adding fluoride to their municipal water system. The residents were responding to a report presented at a recent Halton Region health and social services meeting that urges Mayor Rob Burton the Region to continue adding fluoride to drinking water. "There is no such thing as fluoride deficiency disease. We can have perfectly healthy teeth and bones without consuming it. And no one is monitoring how much (fluoride) we ingest," said Mary Maciel Pearson, one of four delegates who encouraged the committee to end the practice of f fluoridation. Pearson raised her concerns about fluorosis, a condition that occurs when a child swallows too much fluoride during the tooth formation years (up to 6 years old for front teeth). The effects can range from white flecks to brown staining on the tooth surface. See Health page 12 SUBMITTED PHOTO SNAKES ALIVE: This python, along with one other, were found by children playing last week in the Valley Heights area. Their parents captured one and turned it over to the Oakville & Milton Humane Society, which caught the second. A third snake escaped capture -- for now. It's thought the snakes were someone's exotic pets turned loose to fend for themselves, which they likely won't do in the cold. Pythons h scary f for k kids d -- and d parents By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Officials with the Oakville & Milton Humane Society say three pythons, recently discovered in a rock pile in north Oakville's Valley Heights Crescent area, near Dundas Street at Neyagawa Boulevard, are most likely exotic pets that were abandoned by their owner. Area resident Chris Jones said his nephew and a group of other neighbourhood children found the first snake, a large adult pastel ball python about four feet in length, on Wednesday, Oct. 5. The children told their parents who, in turn, told Jones. "Even when they did tell us, we didn't believe it to be as big as it was when we found it," he said. "It was shocking just because we were expecting it to be something smaller. We weren't expecting to see something like that, especially because it is not from around here, it's not a local snake." The parents who arrived used a hockey stick to pick up the snake and place it in an empty cooler where it stayed until the humane society arrived to collect it. See Approach page 7 Optimize Performance (Adults and Children) · Attention span is short · Difficulty organizing & completing work · also helpful for Asperger's · also Psycho-educational testing ADD Centre Neurofeedback and learning strategies can provide a lasting improvement. Director: Lynda M. Thompson, Ph.D., Co-author with Pediatrician William Sears of The A.D.D. Book: New Understandings, New Approaches to Parenting Your Child. 905-803-8066 www.addcentre.com