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A6 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday, December 29,1999 T he Oakville Beaver Ian Oliver Publisher Neil Oliver Associate Publisher Norman Alexander Editor Kelly Montague, Advertising Director M artin Doherty Circulation Director Teri Casas Office Manager M ark Dills Production Manager Riziero Vertolli Director of Photography OPINION RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Nowspapers Association Canadian Community Nawspapors Association Suburban Nawspapors of Amorica M e tr o ia n dP r in tn g .P u tish n g& O stn b u tn gL id ., n d u d es: A * a x /n c k e n n g N e w sA f^ rtser. ^ stonH e r a fc y C o m e r .B a m eA c N a n c e .B a r r y 'sB a yT h e W e e k .B o lto nE n te ^ n se .B r a m p to nG u a r d a n .B ir tn g to nP o st. B u fc ig to n S h o p p n gN e w s. Q tyP a r e n t. C o m g w o o d M fe sa g aC o n n e c tio n .E a stY o r k M r r o r .E r inA d v o c a te ^ C o L n tr yR o u te s. E to b c o k eG u a r d a n .R a m b o r o u g h P o st. G e o r g e to w nm d e p e n d e n t/A c to nF r e eP r e ss. H u o n BB u sn essT m e s, K in g sto nT h eW e e k .L in d sa yT h isW e e k .M a r k h a mE cn o m et & S u n . M K * a n d /P en eta n g u sh in eM ir r o r .M ilto nC a n a d ia nC h a m p io n .M ilto n S h o p p in gN e w s.M escsa u g aB u sn essT m e s. M esesa u g aN e w s. N a p a n e e G u d e .N e w m a r k e t/A tr c r aE r a -B a n n e r .N o r ttx m b e r ta n dN e w s, N o r thV b r k M r r o r .0 a k v 4 eB e a v e r ,O a k v ieS h o p p n gN e w s. O ld tm e r sH o c k e yN e w s. O r * aT o d a y .O s h a w a ^ W ir tb y /a a n n g to nP o r tP e r r yT h eW e e k .O v enS o u n d T r ib u n e .P e te r b o r o u g hT h isW e e k .P ic to nC o u n tyG u id e .R ic h m o n d H i/T h o m h « A ta u g h a nL ib e r a l, S c a r b o r o u g hM r r o r .S to u ffv ie /U x b n d g e T itx n e. F o r » « rM x n g .O tyo fV b r k G u a r d a n THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPO N SO R FOR; ^ C N A 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont L6K3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax; 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-2809 Circulation; 845-9742 SK Editorials A New Year's wish As the new year approaches, and with it the dawning of a new millenni um, we feel it would be appropriate to take this time to make a wish on behalf of the residents of Oakville, especially those in north Oakville. Topping our list, o f course, would be to wish for peace on earth and goodwill towards all humankind, but that wasn't possible in the last millen nium and somehow we doubt whether it will be possible in the next millen nium. Instead, we'll wish that at least one new school gets built by the Halton District School Board in the next millennium. Now, we know that's asking a lot, but surely in the next 1,000 years the ' public school board should be able to build a new school in north Oakville. Please pardon our ridiculous New Year's Wish sarcasm, but the Halton District School Board's accommodation issue is way beyond ridiculous. In Burlington, for example, the public board is keeping open a school with less than 100 students. Older schools in south Oakville are filled to capacity only because of busloads of students from the north. A full genera tion o f north Oakville students are in danger o f being bussed back and fourth to school from Kindergarten through Grade 12. The situation should have been rem edied long ago. But in the past whenever the school board considered closing schools in the southern areas of Oakville and Burlington, politicians either buckled under public pres sure, or voted on a constituency basis (a north-south 5-5 deadlock) rather than considering the greater good of the board, and more importantly, its students. So, instead of wishing for a new school in north Oakville, we suppose we should be wishing for some backbone and/or foresight for the current trustees on the Halton District School Board. Then again, perhaps peace on earth and goodwill to all mankind would be easier to achieve. L e tte rs to th e E d ito r The Oakville Beaver welcomes your comments. All letters must be typed, signed and include the writer's address and phone number. Send to: Letters to the Editor, The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, OnL L6K 3S4 Grade 8 student gives thumbs down to M y O ntario book E d . N o te : T h is le tte r w as a d d re sse d to O n ta rio P re m ie r Mike Harris and a copy was filed with the Oakville Beaver for pub lication. H e llo . M y n am e is G illia n Pasma. I go to E.J. James, and I am going to graduate from ele mentary school, this year. I have ju s t re c e iv e d y o u r b o o k , M y O n ta rio . W hen th e b o o k w as given out, my student body was sa y in g th a t it w as a p ie c e o f garbage. At an age where there is a lot o f peer pressure to go with everyone's decisions, I decided that it wasn't fair to judge some thing before I had read it. So, I decided to look the book over. While looking through this book, I wondered how much it cost to give every kid in O ntario this book. I know that you might think that because I am ju st a kid, 1 have no opinion. Well, I do, and I should count just as much as an adult or even a person who works for you. My thought of this book is that, it is a piece of garbage. Now, don't get me wrong. It is nice of you to think of us students and m ake a book for us. But I think that you could have done som ething m ore beneficial and invested the m oney for the stu dents now and future students. For example, you could have spent the money on better equip m ent for gym class or given the teachers a raise, considering they haven't gotten one for eight years. C o n sid erin g th at you to o k 10 minutes away from each class and put it into an ex tra class, you co u ld have put back those 10 minutes because by the time we get to class and get settled, there are only 40 minutes of class time left. That isn't long enough. You could have taken away TAG class because all we do is re-learn things that have been taught to us in the past. It is a waste of a class. You could have made health a full class instead of cutting our gym class to squeeze tim e in fo r health (keeping in mind that health is a very impor tant subject). You could have invested the money in new text books because half of the text books are falling apart and there are not enough for your newly designed courses. You could have bought new computers for schools, instead of having the co m m unity do n ate m oney fo r them. There are a lot of other things th at you c o u ld have do n e fo r schools to m ake them a better environm ent, but instead, you made these books that are a waste of money. Now you have read my opin ion, and even though it is only from one person, I hope I can make a difference. My wish for the New Ontario in 2020 would be for a government that would use the m oney they have for a worthy cause and not for some stupid book that means nothing to us kids! Ju st to let you know , I am going to keep this book that you gave to m e b ecause I w ant to show my kids how our govern ment spent the money that was needed for other thing in our edu cation, and hope that their genera tion w on't make the same m is take. T hank you for your tim e in reading this letter and if you have any com m ents, please w rite to me. Gillian H illary Pasm a Letter of the Week Home care services made aunt's final days peaceful R ecently, my aunt passed aw ay at the age o f 85. During her last weeks, it became increasingly difficult for my wife and I to care for her properly and we turned to local support services for help. This cam e in the form o f hom e care provided by Param ed H om e H ealth C are and hom e visits by the V ictorian O rd er o f N u rses, all co -o rd in ated by the Community Care Access Centre of Halton. Having had no experience with these services in the past, I was literally bowled over by the kindness and car ing attitude of all the people I came into contact with. Because of them, my aunt was able to spend her last days in her own home, with dignity, and died peacefully in her sleep. They treated her with great respect, assisting her where necessary, but always letting her call the shots. (My aunt was a very independent woman!) They did not treat her like a child which many people tend to do with the elderly, especially when the mind is not what it was. It is difficult to find words adequate to express our gratitude except to say that we feel obliged to let the community know what an enriching experience this has been for us. We would like to single out three people for special thanks: Sherry Duncan o f CCAC, Ginny Swain o f the VON, and Grace Stuart o f Paramed. W hat would we do without you? F red W instanley Student demonstrators were not pawns It is unfortunate that Peter Sticklee has such a low regard for children and teenagers that he believes them to be utterly incapable of critical thought and independent action. He may despise anyone who disagrees with the policies of the Harris government, but to assume that the students who demonstrated their anger over what they believe to be "wasted money on m illennium keepsake books," were mindless pawns of teachers and Liberals bent on some farfetched revenge plot is ludicrous. It demonstrates a level of critical reasoning that would be insufficient to earn a high school diploma these days. If Sticklee was in school and faced with the reali ty of what the cutbacks to education are doing to their schools, he might form a different opinion. I lo o k fo rw ard to the day w hen th ese teen ag ers become voters. They will be far less likely to fall for cheap politi cal advertising than their parents were. G. B rett W hat itemwouldyouput ina millenniumtime capsule? I h o n e stly th in k m y m ille n n iu m time capsule would look like the junk draw er in my kitchen. N ot that I'd w ant it to look like that. I'd like to be able to pluck out one or tw o items of enorm ous senti m ental value. You know, a couple of things tucked aw ay that m anage to sum up everything o f value in life. Then I would get a nice, neat, taste ful capsule and fill it with one or two precious treasures, both fitting sensi bly - and decorously - into it. But instead, I know w hat would happen - at the last m inute, ju st as th e c lo c k w as w in d in g d o w n th e final seconds o f the century, I would be jam m ing all the things I couldn't possibly reject from a pile o f possi ble contenders all into one tiny cap sule and I know I'd end up sitting on the blasted thing to make everything fit. It would be, very likely, ju st like packing for the cottage. I m ean, w ho in their right m ind could possibly choose ju st one item to put into their own tim e capsule? Some do, of course. DIANE HART In fact, CBC radio recently spon sored a co n test in w hich listeners vied for the best time capsule. One w om an spoke o f her 80's car that took her across Canada, the same car in which she slept when she couldn't find a place to stay anyw here. She said that car brought back such spe cial m em ories o f everything she'd e x p e r ie n c e d a b o u t C a n a d a she would put it in her time capsule. O r the couple who w ould place the new N unavut coin in their time capsule. N ot only was their son living up there, they had been on hand at the special cerem ony m arking it as Canada's third territory and credit it with opening up a whole new excit ing world for them to explore. T hen there was the fellow w ho c ite d his B ro w n ie box cam era as being the m ost im portant item for his tim e capsule. N ot only did he love to take pictures, but he believed these early m ass-produced cam eras allow ed people to make a tangible record of their memories. T hen th ere's the clev er fellow who would put one sim ple item in the tim e capsule - a paper clip. It would confound those who opened it up as paper would be obsolete by then, but w ould raise all so rts o f questions about a society that used such an odd item. Then there are the people who tie their own time capsules to a theme or a p lace - a co ttag e up n o rth , a place by the water, the best years of th e ir life. A co u p le I in terv iew ed about their special millennium cabin up north put all the things that were sp ecial ab o u t the b u ild in g o f the cabin - a piece of fur from their dog, a p ain ted p ictu rd o f it from th e ir niece, a note about the history o f the land. But I don't know. It's all a bit too neat and tidy for me. The other day I tried an experi ment. In an ill-fated attempt to jum p start a post-Christm as m all-induced conversation about anything other than clothes or snowboards, I asked what everyone would put in a time capsule. The family jum ped right in: Can I put my G am e B oy? A book...but which one? Can I put a canoe route map? Can I put food? Can I put my teck deck skateboard (the same one, I have to say, that was carrying one of the nativity figurines across the din ner table at Christmas before I put a definite stop to it). The list went on: A piece of music; a race bib, stones from the beach at Bayfield. And finally: Can I put everything in because I can't choose? C h o o s e j u s t o n e ite m ? N o t a chance. Last year, we told the kids there was an extra present under the tree to open on Christm as Eve, an extra one fo r the w hole fam ily to share from Santa. G enerally speaking they get to open one each on C hristm as Eve, the one from my great aunt that contains the inevitable pyjam as they put on for Christm as morning. A pre sen t to sh are? T h e k id s lo o k ed at each other blankly as one com m ent ed: "W hat could it possibly be? It's not as if we have anything in com mon." So I c a n n o t im a g in e a n y th in g near co n sen su s h ap p en in g aro u n d this fam ily dinner table about what to place in the tim e capsule. I mean, im agine com ing up with one item to put in a time capsule: it's kind o f like lo o k in g at life as one stead y p re d ic ta b le co n tin u u m in stead o f the rather bumpy, jagged thing it is most o f the time. H ence the ju n k draw er from the kitchen. In fact, that's the very idea. The definitive tim e capsule: I'll just dum p it all in a tin and sign it, the Harts. Happy New Year, all. t 4