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A6 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday July 21, 1999 T h e O a k v il l e B e a v e r OPINION Ian Oliver Publisher Neil Oliver Associate Publisher Norman Alexander Editor Kelly Montague, Advertising Director Martin Doherty Circulation Director Ten Casas Office Manager Mark Dills Production Manager Riziero Vertoili Director o f Photography M etroland Pnrting. PubSshing & D istributing L id ., ndudes: Ajax/Pckem g News Advertiser. A lston HerafckCouner, Bame Advance. BarryS Bay This Week. Bolton Enterprise. Brampton Guarden. Burfngton Post. Butngton Shoppng News. C ity Parent. Colngwoocywasaga Connection. East York M irror. Erin Advocate'Country Routes. Etobicoke Guardan. Ramborougb Post. Georgetown independent/Acton Free Press. H uona Business Tmes. K ingston This W eek. Lindsay This W eek. M arkham Ecnomrst & Sun. M kJand/Penetanguishine M irror. M ilton Canadian C ham pion. M ilton Shopping N»vs. Mssissauga Busness Tmes, Msassauga News. Napanee G lide . Newm arket/A ir era Era-Banner. Northumberland News. North York M rror, Cakvde Beaver. Oakv<e Shoppng News. O dtm ers Hockey News. O rta Today. O shawaA/̂ itby/Ctarngton Port Perry This Week. Owen S and Tribune. Peterborough This W eek. P icton C ounty G uide. Richm ond HiU/Thomhill/Vaughan Liberal. Scarborough M irror. S touttvilta'U xbndge T rtxne , Forever M aing. C ity o f'ib rk Guardan RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: 4 67 Speers Rd., Oakville O n t L6K 3S 4 (905) 8 4 5 -3 8 2 4 Fax: 3 3 7 -5 5 6 7 Classified Advertising: 8 4 5 -2 8 0 9 Circulation: 8 4 5 -9 7 4 2 O n t a r i o C o m m u n i t y N e w s p a p e r s A s s o c i a t i o n S . C a n a d i a n C o m m u n i t y f ^ C N A N o w s p a p a r s A s s o c i a t i o n N e w s p a p e r s o l A m e r i c a THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: Y ° T ^ M H Prrfmring far Tomorrow t Htalth Carr sMC) ■ YM-CA.... __ TV AUCTION O a k v l l e C e n t r e „ c . United Way JiiMqlt Bell Furvd of Oakville E d i t o r i a l s Eye in the sky welcomed Som e peop le m ay argue that a helicopter fo r the H alton Regional Police -- even a part-tim e chopper -- is an extravagant w aste o f m oney. Som e m ay even argue that the new est addition to the police service is no th ing m ore than a h igh-tech toy for grow n men. W e, how ever, w o n 't be am ong them . We firm ly believe that the helicopter w ill quickly becom e a valu­ able tool fo r figh ting crim e and protecting the residents o f Halton. In its firs t day in service over O akville , the helicopter w as used to search fo r tw o assau lt suspects and, later, a m issing teenager. Ju s t la s t w eek in T o ro n to , a p o licem an w as sho t in the face w hile pu lling over a van on the h ighw ay. The culprits fled and are still at la rge . O n e has to w o n d er w h e th e r a h e licop ter, i f it had a r r iv e d q u i c k l y e n o u g h , m a y h a v e b e e n a b le to f o l l o w t he assailants. A long the sam e vein , the h e licop te r can be used track fleeing suspects in m o to r vehicles as an a lternative to ground pursuits via h igh-speed car chases. Yet T oron to p o litic ian s have no t seen fit to take advan tage o f p rovincial fund ing to purchase o r lease a helicopter. W e can only shake our heads in w onder. H opefully , no one w ill pay fo r the ir shortsigh tedness w ith th e ir lives. H alton , on the o th e r hand, has seen fit to take part in a 20-w eek tria l period in w hich it shares a helicop ter w ith the po lice services in H am ilton-W entw orth and Peel. W hile the helicopter is available fo r p a tro ls o v e r H a lto n tw o -d ay s a w eek , it can be ca lle d in to em ergency serv ice in the reg ion w ithin a m om ents notice. H alton has taken a p ru d en t approach and we believe the heli­ cop te r w ill p rove to be w ell w orth the m oney spent. SOMEWHERE, A FEW MILES off % T H E C O A S T O F M A R T H A ' S V I N E Y A R D * Letters to the Editor 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, Ont. L6K 3S4 Letter of the Week Cohimnist's bit of fluff was not hate literature I wasn't surprised to see William Thomas' column of July 2nd ("Ah, the glory that is France...not!") pilloried in the Letters to the Editor section o f this newspaper. I expected the treacly anecdotes and outraged ejaculations in defense of the French national character. I was alarmed, however, by the calls for Mr. Thomas' head on the charge of "bigotry." Bigotry, though lamentable, is not a crime. As Mary Stuart put it, "Mr. Thomas is entitled to his opin­ ion." Mr. Thom as' colum n was obviously meant to be a humourous exaggeration: It's entitled "All the World's a Circus" and appears in the Opinion section of the paper. It's indicative of this country's failing sense of humour that this silliness aroused so many to censorious passion. The letter-writers bandied the word "hate" about. To call Mr. Thomas' bit of fluff "hate" demeans people who suffer from real hatreds. Mr. Thomas was lampooning a country that saw some of this century's bloodiest battles for freedom. Being free implies both having a voice and having the right to listen. Patrick Bourke Reader laments loss o f Cedar C roft M otor Court This is progress? desecrate -- Violate the sanctity of, convert from sacred or holy or noble to profane uses -- Oxford Dictionary Is there anyone who would disagree with the above defini­ tion as an attempt to describe what occurred last week to com­ plete "clear cutting" of the property at the former home of Cedar Croft Motor Court on Lakeshore Road. As we understand it, Appleby College has ultimate respon­ sibility for this and while the end use may not be literally pro­ fane (however, that's debatable too if it is to be used for a new hockey rink!) -- regardless, if this is the message they intend to extend to the young minds, they profess to educate and send forth to the world in leadership roles and the community, we all need to take heed and proceed with caution. How could they do this to this wonderful and significant artistic, horticultural and historic property? Can anyone answer for this for those of us who care for such things?! Words fail us. Gord and Doreen Clark C h i l d p o r n o g r a p h y r u l i n g a t r a v e s t y o f j u s t i c e The B.C Supreme Court's decision upholding John Robin Sharpe's acquit­ tal of child pornography charges is a travesty of justice in the extreme. With all due respect to Justices Anne Rowles and Mary Southin, they completely missed the point contained in Chief Justice Allan McEachem's dissenting judgment: '...the protection of persons possessing child pornogra­ phy, for any purpose, is so far removed from the core values of the Charter that it rates very low on the scale of impor­ tance, and the general right of our citi­ zens to the privacy of their lives is threatened hardly at all by this defini­ tion.' Mr. Sharpe was caught by Canada Customs officials on April 10th, 1995, with computer disks depicting children having sexual relations with adults. RCMP officers legally seized material of a similar nature from his home. This included printed material, photographs, and assorted computer disks. He was charged under Section 163 of the Criminal Code for possession and the sale and distribution of child pornogra­ phy. In a highly controversial decision, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Duncan Shaw acquitted Mr. Sharpe of all charges, claiming his rights under the Charter had been violated. Admittedly, Section 163 casts a wide net in outlawing possession of child pornographic material generated without the use of children. However, when the material involves, or could possibly involve persons under 18, as was the case with Mr. Sharpe, then possession must be declared illegal regardless of Charter lim itations imposed by the law. Chief Justice McEachem was right to contend that the Charter embodies a set of core values which lie at the heart of our criminal justice system. Laws are not made in a vacuum, but rather evolve within a definitive social con­ text For intrinsically emotional and sound psychosocial reasons, implicat­ ing children in sexual activities is strictly taboo. Such conduct signifi­ cantly diminishes the inherent dignity of those most deserving of our care and protection. Invoking Charter rights as a justification for striking down Section 163 flagrantly violates a sacred trust whereby children are loved, nurtured, and openly encour­ aged to develop a sense of self-worth. Anything less is a sacrilege. The extent to which the assenting justices failed those who were cruelly victimized to produce Mr. Sharpe's reprehensible material is evident in their statem ents. Justice Rowles: 'M aking it an offence to possess expressive material when material may have been created without abusing children...constitutes an extreme inva­ sion of the values, autonomy and pri­ vacy protected by the Charter.' Didn't Mr. Sharpe possess photographs and computer images depicting children? Justice Southin: '...legislation which makes simple possession of expressive material a crime can never be a reasonable limit in a free and democratic society. Such legislation bears the hallmark of tyranny.' What about the supreme act of tyranny per­ petrated against those children who were enticed into committing acts totally antithetical to the nature of childhood N acts resulting in much of the material found in Mr. Sharpe's pos­ session? Inexorably, we are robbing children of their childhood by imposing upon them distinctly adult agendas. Striking down a law aimed at protecting those under 18 against adult intrusion of the most pernicious kind is the ultimate robbery. Have Justices Rowles and Southin no shame? Peter D. Pellier Pud by Steve Nease P o l i c e c a n n o t b r e a c h r i g h t s o f t h e a c c u s e d Two articles in the Wed., July 7th edition of The Oakville Beaver involving the criminal justice system should give your readers cause for grave concern. The first article is the front page item: "Woman in serious condition after domestic assault." The second article is the item on page A3 titled "In search of truth" which deals with poly­ graph tests and is based on an interview with Halton regional police detective Sgt. Scott McLaughlin. The first item reports, in the last paragraph, that neither the man nor his wife have been named in order to protect the vic­ tim's identity. Aside from w hatever spurious argum ents that will be advanced by liberals and those who have particular social and political agendas to address, the idea that the police can arrest and charge someone without public details of the accused flies in the face of the fundamental principles of criminal justice which has evolved over hundreds of years. More disturbing is that it is part and parcel of a growing trend in Canada towards arrests, trials and even convictions which are done and carried out behind closed doors. While the veil of secrecy may afford some comfort to some segments of our society, it offends the basic precepts of a crim­ inal justice system that requires that justice not only be done but that it be seen to be done. Quite frankly, as a citizen first and foremost, but also as a lawyer, I view the secrecy as not only harmful but an erosion of our rights. Against the back drop of far too many clear cases of miscarriages of justice (need I start to list them here?), the idea that the police can arrest a citizen, hold that citizen and charge that citizen without naming the person is repugnant and has no place in Canada, or, maybe, I've just watched too many movies where the same things happened and still happens in fascist, communist, and other totalitarian societies! The second item, about the polygraph tests bears careful scrutiny. Not only because of the wholesale misrepresentations by the police officer giving the interview but the general impression that the article leaves that polygraphs are a valid tool in the search for the truth. Nonsense! Polygraph evidence has quite properly been excluded as admissible evidence in most American courts and here in Canada because it is unreliable at best. I challenge the claim that only 5% of the tests are inconclusive. Try something like 50%! For in te rn e t buffs , I recom m end a visi t to www.polygraph.com. In particular, I would suggest that your readers read what a Doug Williams has to say about poly­ g raphs. H is c red en tia ls are at least as good as Sgt. McLaughlin's, in that he was a Detective Sgt. of the Oklahoma City Police Department and is a licenced expert polygrapher with over 6,000 polygraph exams under his belt. He makes three essential points: 1. The polygraph has a built-in bias against the truthful per­ son. 2. It certainly is not capable of determining truth or decep­ tion. 3. It can be beaten rather easily. As I said, there is a reason why polygraph "evidence" is not accepted by the courts. Anyone asked to take a polygraph test for any reason should refuse. There is no legal obligation to take one. If a criminal offence is involved, the Crown is not permitted to advance any argument of guilt based on a refusal to take a polygraph test. If such inferences are allowed to be drawn, that alone may become the basis for an appeal. If it is a matter of employment, unless you have already contracted away your rights on the matter, you can refuse a polygraph test. If you are disciplined, demoted or fired on the basis of a polygraph test, you Can sue the employer in a civil court. Wayne S. Gray http://www.polygraph.com RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: Editorials Letters to the Editor Letter of the Week Cohimnist's bit of fluff was not hate literature