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6 - fHy Oakville 'BfeH\/er,¥ridby January 13, 2006 OPINION & LETTERS T h e O akville B eav er 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-3824, ext. 224 Circulation: 845-9742 Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. \ Canadian Circulations Audit Board Member THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: j oakville galleries! Recognized for Excellence by ^7 TM "' Ontario Community Newspapers Association V L , Canadian Community Newspapers Association S K Suburban Newspapers of America ATHENA Award IAN OLIVER Publisher NEIL OLIVER Associate Publisher JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor KELLY MONTAGUEAdvertising Director DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Manager TERI CASAS Business Manager MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director CHARLENE HALL Director o f Distribution ALEXANDRIA CALHOUN Circ. Metroland Printing, Publishing & Distributing Ltd., includes: Ajax/Pickering News Advertiser, Alliston Herald/Courier, Arthur Enterprise News, Barrie Advance, Brampton Guardian, Burlington Post, Burlington Shopping News, Caledon Enterprise, City Parent, Collingwood/Wasaga Connection, East York Mirror, Erin Advocate/Country Routes, Etobicoke Guardian, Flamborough Review, Georgetown Independent/Acton Free Press, Harriston Review, Huronia Business Times, Lindsay This Week, Markham Economist & Sun, Midland/Penetanguishine Mirror, Milton Canadian Champion, Milton Shopping News, Mississauga Business Times, Mississauga News, Napanee Guide, Newmarket/Aurora Era-Banner, Northumberland News, North York Mirror,' Oakville Beaver, Oakville Shopping News, Oldtimers Hockey News, Orillia Today, Oshawa/Whitby/Clarington Port Perry This Week, Owen Sound Tribune, Palmerston Observer, Peterborough This Week, Picton County Guide, Richmond Hill/Thomhill/Vaughan Liberal, Scarborough Mirror, Stouffville/Uxbridge Tribune, Forever Young, City of York Guardian Can you help save a life? The Oakville Beaver often publishes stories about local residents who are in dire need of assistance. These articles of human suffering usu ally generate a warm response from kindhearted individuals and families who are ready and willing to lend a hand. The Oakville Beaver has always been able to count on the support of its loyal readers. As we enter a new year, we are once again turning to you, the community, for another act of kindness. This time it is one of our own who has reached out for help. Jason Hammerschmidt is an IT net work systems analyst with Metroland Printing, Publishing and Distributing Ltd., The Oakville Beaver's parent company. The 29-year-old Oakville resident has been diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia -- a type of blood cancer usual ly found in children. Doctors want to per form a life-saving bone marrow transplant. Jason's story was published in our Saturday, Jan. 7 edition. It is our mission to get as many people as possible to add their name to the^Unrelated Bone Marrow Donor Registry operated by Canadian Blood Services. Unfortunately no family members are a match, so Hammerschmidt, like too many other patients, must turn to the registry. In an e-mail to Metroland employees, * r r\r \ r p u p Hammerschmidt implored, "If you are in good health and between the ages of 17 and 50 with 30 minutes to spare, I am ask ing you and your friends and family to contact the Canadian Blood Services and join the Unrelated Bone Marrow Donor Registry as a potential donor. To become part of the registry is a fairly easy process, but the potential to change someone's life through a match is enormous." Asking someone to donatejpone mar row is a big commitment and that is prob ably one of the reasons why individuals are free to change their minds, at any time, about becoming a donor."' We are asking that you give some seri ous thought to helping our colleague or possibly someone else by offering up your name (and a vial of blood) to Canadian Blood Services. If interested, call 1-888-2 DONATE (1 888-236-6283), press Option 1 for English then Option "3 for the registry, or visit www.bloodservices.ca, scroll down to the bottom, and select `Join the Bone Marrow Registry' from the `Forms' menu located on the left hand side, then print, sign and mail or fax the form. As with all stories such as this one, our thoughts and prayers go out to the Hammerschmidt family as Jason battles this disease head on. T T 'T v T 'T '/ ^ D 0a^ ville Beaverwelcomes letters from its readers. Letters will be edited for clarity, length, legal considerations and grammar. In order to be published all \_jEj 1 1 10 1rill/ D11OK. le tte r smust 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. City of Halton an expensive way to save a buck With respect to the Letter to the Editor from the former Regional Chair (Ric Morrow), Mr. Morrow, I am no expert on the numbers but didn't you do some double counting when you added up the number of representatives in Halton? Aren't regional councillors also municipal councillors? But no matter the actual head count, there is a larger prin ciple here. You are suggesting that it is inefficient and uneco nomical to have so much public representation. This makes me very suspicious. Democracy has never been championed because it is efficient or economical. My family moved to Oakville from Toronto nearly 30 years ago. It was a quality of life decision. We wanted to live in a town that had fought for many years to preserve its unique character in spite of steady pressure to homogenize with other communities. My family does not want to live in the City of Halton, but if the fight to maintain our character is really over and if your arguments are sound, if we truly need to amalgamate for rea sons of efficiency and economics, we are in favor of saving The Big Buck and amalgamating with Toronto. A City of Halton seems like a very expensive way to save money. TOM s c o n Canadians have responsibility to get out and vote Jan. 23 Canadians are fortunate indeed. We enjoy constitution ally-enshrined rights and freedoms, rule of law, an inde pendent judiciary, and abundant natural resources. As well as culturally diverse, Canada is flush with opportunity. In return for such largesse, our civic responsibilities are minimal. We are obliged to pay taxes, respond to jury duty and observe the law. We are expected to vote. Just as lives were lost to ensure future generations of Canadians could live in peace, dignity and harmony, so too were sacrifices made to secure the secret ballot. Gone are the days when elections were conducted amid physical intimidation and bribery. In each of the past five federal elections, voter turnout has steadily dropped from 75.3 per cent in November, 1988, to 60.9 per cent in June, 2004 -- an alarming trend, given the overall average since Confederation is 73.3 per cent. What kind of message does voter apathy convey to our young people? How can we expect them to participate if we don't? Get involved, for your sake, and for theirs. Cast a ballot. PETER D . PELLIER 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. BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com it ! s th e RIDDLE. OF JANUARY'