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www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, October 28, 2011 · 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: C Canadian Circulation Audit Board Member A THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: Recognized for Excellence by Ontario Community Newspapers Association S Suburban Newspapers of America o Canadian Community Newspapers Association ATHENA Award NEIL OLIVER Vice ­ President and Group Publisher of Metroland West The Oakville Beaver is a division of DAVID HARVEY Regional General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director ANGELA BLACKBURN Managing Editor 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 Stay safe Oct. 31 With witches, goblins and superheroes soon to descend on our neighbourhoods, the Canadian Red Cross offers parents some tips to help prepare their children for safe and enjoyable trick-or-treating. Halloween should be filled with surprise and enjoyment, and following some common sense practices can keep events safer and more fun. · Costumes should be light-colored and flame resistant with reflective strips so children are more easily seen at night. (And remember to put reflective tape on bikes, skateboards and brooms, etc.) · Costumes should be short enough to avoid tripping. · Remind children to keep away from open fires and candles. (Costumes can be flammable.) · Use face paint rather than masks or things that cover the eyes. · Remind children to walk, slither and sneak on sidewalks -- not in the street. · Explain to children trick or treating should be done along one side of the street first and then the other, and that it's best to cross the street only at intersections or crosswalks. · Remind children to look both ways before crossing the street to check for cars, trucks and low-flying brooms. · Provide yourself or the children with a flashlight to see better and to be better seen. · Have children plan their route and share it with you and the family. · Trick or treaters should travel in groups of four or five. Young children should be accompanied by an adult. · Visit homes that have the porch light on. · Make sure children know they should accept treats at the door and must not get into cars or enter the homes of f strangers. · Remind children not to eat their treats until they are examined at home by an adult. Nothing should be eaten if f the package is open. Small, hard candy is a choking hazard for young children. · Make sure you and your children know where the Block Parent houses are in the neighborhood. · Set agreed-to boundaries with your children. Explain the importance of staying within them and arriving home on time. And for those rushing to make it home in time to enjoy trick or treating with their children, or to be at the door when the first trick or treaters arrive, remember to drive safely... slow down and be extra vigilant. Pet owners, too, should remember to keep their pets at home and indoors, where they will be safe from those who would harm them and less stressed by Halloween visitors. Have a happy -- and safe -- Halloween. 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 Keep the fluoride in our water Must we go through this again? The groundswell of disinformation, misinformation and outright speculation, that residents of Halton have been exposed to previously (about four years of this expensive nonsense), will continue anew. With a new twist -- claims that professionals have been silenced in so far as criticism of fluoridated water. Sheer nonsense when a stalwart of criticism, Dr. Hardy Limeback (BSc, PhD, DDS. Professor and Head, Preventative Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto), along with a miniscule number of others who think the same way regularly get media and public attention: few, if any of his associates appear to agree with him. Tarred with the same brush, the granddaddy of this miniscule group would be Dr. Paul Connett, Fluoride Action Network (FAN), who gets lots of publicity -- last time I checked, Limeback was a member of FAN's advisory board. Few realize that fluoride is natural and variable worldwide: seawater alone contains about 1.3 mg/l. The human body naturally contains fluoride (about the 13th chemical element proportionally after oxygen within the 60 or so known body chemicals), at about 0.0037 per cent as a proportion of body mass. For fluoride variability Ontario is a good example. Ontario's Drinking Water Surveillance Program Data Report (MOE), tested about 248 municipalities over approximately 10 years (completed 2009) for fluoride traces in raw See Fluoride page 14 Letters to the editor The Oakville Beaver r 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 r reserves the right to refuse to publish a letter. Transit a solution to a lot Re: Transit Ridership d h on the h Rise, Oct. 19, Oakville Beaver. We are very glad to see that Oakville Transit use is showing a healthy increase. It doesn't come as a surprise to us since we take transit regularly since we choose not to own a car. With reference to some complaints received by councillors about buses running empty, to those people who are complaining, we offer an observation. We see many cars running with few or often only one passenger. As these are often stuck in ever-increasing traffic, come and join us on the bus and we'll help solve both our empty bus and our congestion problems. Annemarie Toth-Waddell and Bill Waddell, Oakville Pud BY STEVE NEASE neasecartoons@gmail.com