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(CCNA BETTER NEWSPAPERS COMPETITION 2000 www.oakvillebeaver.com Lawnmower Service BASIC IAKVHLE T h e la t e s t in c o o l S u m m e r F a s h io n J e e p t a k e s " L ib e r t y " w it h S U V d e s ig n < £ P "V 6 9 * . C U R R E N TP O W E RM A C H IN E R YIN C . 1661 Lakesiiore Rd. W . Mississauga *822-4211 Special feature BEST WHEELS 52 Pages M ercedes-B enz A Metroland Publication Vol. 39 No. 64 WEDNESDAY, MAY30,2001 75 Cents (plus GST) Police cleared in pursuit of teen driver An investigation by the Ontario Special Investigation Unit (SIU) has cleared the Halton Regional Police of any wrongdoing in a police pursuit in April that ended with the 19-year-old driver of the pursued vehicle being ejected from his car following a crash. The incident began at 10:40 p.m., April 24 when a Halton police officer spotted a car being driven on a flat tire Man ignored stop request, ejected from car in crash near Trafalgar and the Queen Elizabeth Way. The driver of the car ignored a police request to stop and sped away. The police officer followed the fleeing car north on Trafalgar and then onto McCraney Street where it lost control rolled over and ejected the driver. The injured driver was taken to the Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital where he was treated for internal injuries. He was subsequently released from hospital. No other members of the public or the police were injured in the incident. Further police investigation revealed the pursued car had been stolen and involved in two accidents minutes before the pursuit began. The driver of the car faces numer ous charges. Stephen Donovan, of Oakville, is charged*with impaired driving, operat- ing a motor vehicle with more than 80 mgs of alcohol in his blood, theft over $5,000, possession of stolen property, dangerous driving and causing a police pursuit. He is scheduled to appear in Oakville provincial court on June 12. The SIU are called in to investigate whenever someone is injured during involvement with the police service. Residents, police & bar ow ners working to stop disturbances By C h ristin a C habot SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER Residents of the north Lakeshore neighbourhood surrounding Sharkey's Restaurant may at last be able to sleep through the night. Town Councillors Linda Hardacre and Fred Oliver met with close to 50 concerned citizens, Staff Sgt. Wilkinson, and Sharkey's manager Kevin Yates Thursday night to discuss concerns about disturbances caused by bar patrons after closing. "This is a neighbourhood issue," said Yates of the dispute that goes back to the 1950s and the days of the Riverside Bar. "There are complexi ties involved...hopefully we can nudge this in a different direction." Area resident Nels Moxness, an accountant who lives kiddie-comer to the restaurant, initiated the meeting two weeks ago with an e-mail to Councillor Hardacre. "There is a better balance than we have today," Moxness said. "It takes fiirthur effort on behalf of Sharkey's, the Town, as well as furthur presence from the police." "I've lived here for two years, and haven't slept a Friday or Saturday since," said one resident, who also recounted stories of bar customers vomiting on cars, and waking up Sunday mornings to find her lawn habitually littered with beer bottles. The residents expressed concerns about noise levels from the establish ment as well as added disturbances from bar patrons lingering in the restaurant's parking lot after closing. According to the accounts of the resi dents, most of the activity takes place between the hours of 1 and 3 a.m. The `high-decibel' sound system was also a main subject of concern. "Until about 10:30, you can't hear anything. Then the walls shake," said one John St. resident, adding that the openess of the harbour and the age of the area homes amplify the sound of the bass. In reply, Yates agreed to "see what he can do", whether it means investi gating methods of soundproofing the restaurant, or curtailing the noise level by "dispersing the load factor out on a more regular basis." The outdoor sound system, aside from background music, has already been eliminated, and the last half-hour of music before closing mellowed in response to earli er resident concerns. "We have made the situation signif icantly better," Yates pointed out, adding that Sharkey's has recently improved lighting in the parking lot. The restaurant employs 18 security personnel on Friday nights, and all customers are required to check their coats, as well as produce two pieces of photo I.D. if under the age of 25. "Our staff are fully trained...we have a very aggressive formula we try to maintain on a high level," he said, adding that any potential `troublemak ers' are turned away at the door. "We found the current ownerships of Sharkey's have been very co-opera tive and good community partners to work with," commented Sgt. Wilkinson, the manager of a "district response team", comprised of three uniformed officers and a sergeant, that targets areas of potential difficulty on Friday and Saturday nights. The team (S e e `A r e a ' p a g e A 2 ) Youth Centre worker to g et her m oney...6 m onths late By Kim A m ott SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER It's been almost six months. Barb Pollard has long since lost her patience, and quite nearly lost her house. And while an agreement signed late last week will likely deliver longawaited cash to Pollard, the former security control officer at Oakville's Syl Apps Youth Centre admits she's very angry. When the provincial government transferred the young offender facility into private hands last Dec. 1, Pollard opted to take a severance package rather than a job. She and about 90 other former and current employees were promised sev erance money within six to eight weeks. However, a dispute between the government and the union representing employees at the centre delayed the process and left Pollard feeling caught in the middle. "I don't want to point fingers," she says. "I don't want to blame anyone, but I'm also not going to pretend that I'm not angry at both sides." Her last day of work was on Nov. 29, and so far, Pollard has received only about half of her severance money. She says she has spent the better part of the last six months borrowing money from friends and family mem bers just to keep her creditors at bay. At the heart of the problem is a deci sion by the Grievance Settlement Board. After the province transferred Syl Apps to a private operator, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) argued that the government did not properly abide by a section of the collective agreement requiring the new employer to honour the seniority of transferring employees. The Ontario Ministry of Labour Grievance Settlement Board agreed with OPSEU. That has left the union and the gov ernment in discussions over how to resolve the matter. More than three months after the ( S e e `M o n e y ' p a g e A 5) Photo by Riziero Vertolli About 700,000 bean seeds have been distributed to Halton schools from kindergarten to grade 8. It's part of a program to teach students about nature. Whether these plants that Falgarwood School students Kaley Calhoun and Jordan Rookyard are looking at will reach the clouds like Jack's famous beanstalk, still remains to be seen. FULL OF BEANS: U.S. fugitive was living in town H a lto n P olice ta k e dow n m a n in O akville P lac e p a rk in g lo t A 58-year-old California man, who had fled the United States to live in Oakville before he was sentenced in a U.S. court earlier this month, was arrested Monday in the parking lot at Oakville Place. The arrest was made jointly by the Toronto Police Fugitive Squad and the Halton Regional Police TRU (Tactical Rescue Unit) team. "We'd been following him, had him under surveillance and that was where we stopped him, it seemed like the easi est place for the arrest," said Toronto Fugitive Squad mem ber Det. Phil Glavin. Halton police were called in to help make the arrest and based on their "threat assessment" used the TRU team to carry out the arrest. No weapons were found on the suspect, Howard Keith Henson. The suspect was in Canada illegally, confirmed Halton Regional Police Sgt. Larry Brassard. Police said the suspect had been up for sentencing in a Hemet. California court in early May on a crime against the Church of Scientology. "He was to be sentenced on a hate motivated crime involving the Church of Scientology ... he was promoting (S e e `M a n ' p a g e A 5) Petro-Canada strike dragging on By Angela Blackburn OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF The strike at Petro-Canada's Oakville Refinery & Terminal has last ed twice as long as a local union official first estimated, but strikers are still solid. They proved it Monday, turning out, en masse, for a mass picket rally of the Rebecca Street refinery. "Morale is good. There was a good turnout at the rally with a mix of Oakville Terminal and Mississauga picketers," said Larry Lueck, vice-chair o f Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) Lccal 593.. "We didn't really expect it (the strike) to last this long. We were look ing at approximately one month, I'd say," said Lueck, adding, "We're solid though." Some 75 picketers showed up for Monday's rally and were joined by members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). Lueck said the rally was to boost morale and to interfere with a scheduled maintenance and retrofit shutdown of the plant's Area One which houses its crude oil operations. Since April 1 about 150 union work ers have been picketing Petro-Canada's Oakville refinery in the 25-year-old company's first strike. Strikes have also been underway by 250 Petro-Canada's Mississauga Lubes plant workers; 150 workers at its Edmonton, Alberta flagship refinery; and, 50 workers at its Port Moody, British Columbia plant. Lueck said settlements were reached in Edmonton, where workers returned to the job last Wednesday, and in Port Moody where workers got back to work this week. The three Ontario sites remain on strike against Petro-Canada, one of Canada's largest oil companies. It's not a wage issue but pension. Union workers earn approximately $29 per hour. Wage increases -- 9.5% over three years -- were settled late last March by the CEP and Canada's major oil and gas companies in the first leg of two-tier bargaining for 10,000 Canadian CEP Energy members. The CEP wants parity with PetroCanada staffers -- with pension based on gross pay (including overtime), not base rate. "Petro-Canada reported a record $897 million profit last year and recent ly reported a record first quarter profit of $358 million," said CEP Local 593 media co-ordinator Gerry Cunningham. "Petro-Canada has a $200 million pension fund surplus and the CEP improvement request would not require funding by the Petro-Canada Corporation or require any increase to Petro-Canada products or services," said Cunningham. Petro-Canada management person nel were not available for comment. 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