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www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Thursday, April 26, 2012 · 6 The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5566 Classified Advertising: 905-632-4440 Circulation: 845-9742 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. Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Neil Oliver Vice-President and Group Publisher, Metroland West 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 RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association MARK DILLS Director of Production Manuel garcia Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution Sarah McSweeney Circ. Manager Website www.oakvillebeaver.com The OakvilleBeaver is a division of Keeping charities in mind on casino call Re: Oakville saying no to casinos, Oakville Beaver, Tuesday, April 17, 2012 A recent article in The Oakville Beaver references Town council's deliberations last week on casinos in the Town of Oakville. Council's agenda at last week's meeting included a resolution to strike down any attempt by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) to entertain the siting of a casino within the boundaries of Oakville. I applaud that decision. The agenda also included a discussion about a policy change our Ontario Liberal government made in 2010 that allowed for the modernization of bingo across the province. Without modernization, bingo as a means to raise badly needed charitable dollars, like the close to $1 million that is raised each year in our community for charities such as Guide Dogs Ontario, Oakville Aquatics, minor hockey groups and many more would suffer chronic under-funding. These local charities would be forced to curtail or cease operations and bingo centres would close, thereby affecting revenues for municipalities as well. Our effort to roll out the e-Bingo initiative came into full effect across the province after a five-year pilot project on e-Bingo in half a dozen communities across Ontario. In those communities where we piloted e-Bingo, the outcomes were positive for charities and, in fact, more charities were encouraged to participate. The e-Bingo initiative follows on the promise of our government to create an environment where voluntarism in communities can thrive and where charities in communities can flourish through the game of bingo in a modernized setting. Oakville is no exception. Charities are an important component to our community here in Oakville. The ancillary benefits, of course, Kevin Flynn are the creation of jobs and predictable and recurring fees for the municipality. Many communities in the province have already signed the agreements with the OLG to give it the "go ahead" to negotiate with bingo operators, who deliver the infrastructure for raising charitable dollars in communities with a modernized experience for the bingo player. While I understand the Town's desire to maximize a new agreement with OLG, I would urge both parties to keep the local charities that will see increased benefits at the forefront of their mind. Kevin Flynn, Oakville MPP Letter to the Editor Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville ATHENA Award ERIC RIEHL / OAKVILLE BEAVER / @halton_photog WOMEN'S DAY PAYS OFF: The International Women's Day Dinner this year raised $31,000 to benefit two local charities. Sexual Assault Violence Intervention Services (SAVIS) and Canadians in Support of Aghan Women (CSAW) will receive $15,500 each. Here, from left, Linda Middaugh, treasurer of Women of Halton Action Movement (WHAM) and Liana Palmerio-McIvor, incoming vice-president of the Zonta Club of Oakville, present a cheque to SAVIS and CSAW. Pictured are Ingrid Zollikofer, Kathryn Baker-Reed, Ruth Perkins, Barbara Wood, Valerie Prior, Marielle Quintiliani, Carolyn Cameron, Paula Lam and Cathy McDonald. The benefits of your first job and what it will teach you T his Saturday, my daughter enters the workforce for the very first time: part-time, on weekends until she finishes school, and then full time for the summer. She'll be engaging in outdoor work, "property management," the kind of tough physical labour billionaire Bruce Springsteen lionizes in the rhapsodies he writes between spa treatments. When she landed the job, I got all emotional. I explained to her that a first job is a defining moment in a young person's life, something from which you learn and grow -- it's an experience that enriches you, helps shape your character, and that you never, ever forget. "What was your first job?" she asked. "Dunno," I replied, squeegee-ing tears from my face. "I forget." Okay, I guess I kind of stepped all over my point there. But, despite the fact that the assorted summer jobs I held back in my youth have melded in my mind -- to the degree where things like dates and duration are long since forgotten -- these jobs were nonetheless (occasionally) interesting and important for the assorted life-lessons they taught. Back in the day, I spent a summer working for the Public Utility Commission (PUC), learning that four men working shovels could dig a hole just as easily as one, and that no one bothered you if you had spade in hand and an expression of overworked indignation on your face. One morning, our bosses drove the summer students to a PUC-owned property in the country upon which there was a pond and a ramshackle home that had apparently Andy Juniper been appropriated by a biker gang. We would spend the next six weeks cleaning up the yard, painting the house, and not flipping through the stacks of adult magazines piled in every room. Occasionally, the gang would show up (announced from afar by the roar of their motorcycles). They'd sarcastically thank us for painting the house in which they were squatting. Then they'd drink prodigious amounts of beer, set up a few ramps, and unsuccessfully attempt to jump the pond on their bikes. Another summer I spent working in a car dealership. It was a hot summer, auto sales were soaring, and I was charged with cleaning sold cars before buyers drove them off the lot. It meant spending my days in the heinous heat of a garage, inhaling the fumes from the various cleaners. By quitting time each day, I was seeing spots and talking like Cheech & Chong. One snowy, slushy, sloppy winter, I cleaned the floors of a bank every night. I soon grew to hate (not necessarily in this order), winter, snow, snowbanks, banks, and cleaning floors. It was in those moments of boredom, of drudgery, of knowing that, as low man on the totem pole, I was forever being delegated every mind-numbing, forbearance-testing, crummy task, that the point of such employment became crystal clear -- to make money, obviously. To learn the value of money (you fast become hesitant to spend when you realize just how many hours of floor mopping it takes to earn that cash). And, finally, that the jobs offered to youths are perfect for teaching patience, focus, and resolve: stay in school. Work hard. Get ahead in life. Or, you may well find yourself doing your summer job, forever. Andy Juniper can be contacted at ajjuniper@gmail.com, found on Facebook at www.facebook.com, or followed at www.twitter. com/thesportjesters.