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6- The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday June 7, 2006 OPINION & LETTERS The Oakville Beaver 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. THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: IAN OLIVER Publisher NEIL OLIVER Associate Publisher JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor KELLY MONTAGUE Advertising Director DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Manager TERI CASAS Business Manager MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ALEXANDRIA CALHOUN Circ. Manager 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/Thornhill/Vaughan Liberal, Scarborough Mirror, Stouffville/Uxbridge Tribune, Forever Young, City of York Guardian Dodging a bullet Homegrown terrorism. Once upon a time it seemed terrorist threats were the distant concern of our U.S. neighbours and other allied nations an ocean away. In the nearly 11 years that have passed since the Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168, and almost five years since 9/11, the biggest risk to Canada seemed to be its proximity to and relationship with the United States. Last Friday night all that changed. Any hope that Canada might miraculously keep a safe distance from acts of terrorism evaporated with last weekend's massive counter-terrorism sweep. It was replaced with detailed media coverage of what the RCMP alleges was a homegrown terrorism plot to launch a series of terrorist attacks in southern Ontario utilizing three times the explosive material as the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. The 17 suspects apprehended in the case include 12 men ranging in age from 19-43, plus five teens. All of the accused are either native Canadians or have lived in the country for years. In the aftermath of last weekend's shocking news, many questions remain unanswered. Perhaps the most important question is whether this incident can succeed in tearing the country apart even without any bombs exploding. Canada is a very unique country. It prides itself as a nation of immigrants that encourages immigrants to maintain their cultural identity while working together for the betterment of the community. Now is not the time to let the misguided actions of a few divide the country. We echo the words of Ebrahim Dhooma, vice-principal of the Al-Falah Islamic School in north Oakvile: "We're asking our community for a reasonable and measured reaction and we hope and pray the reaction is reasonable and measured from the wider community." Already, the more right-wing factions of the media in the U.S. are blaming Canada's multi-cultural society. We must be vigilant. We must be aware, and we must be cautious, but we should not panic. Let's not allow alarmist rhetoric to succeed where our foes' bombs failed. Be patient everyone. The suspects will be tried and, if they are found guilty, punished in due course. We just dodged a dangerous bullet. Let's not encourage someone to fire another. The Oakville Beaver welcomes letters from its readers. Letters will be edited for clarity, length, legal considerations and grammar. In order to be published all letters must 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. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Respecting the environment begins at home For the past 18 years, I have been walking my dogs (first my border collie Scrapper who died at age 16 years, now my rescued Lab Sandy, two and a half years old) through the parks in Glen Abbey: Nottinghill Gate and Springwood, as well as the ravines. Not only do I pick up dirt after my dog, but also any cans, cartons and even dirtier stuff thrown around and take it to the garbage cans available for park trash. Recently I met in late April with some of the park maintenance people in the park and told them, that there were much too few trash cans in Nottinghillgate Park, specifically not around the kids playground. Not only were they sympathetic and understanding, but within 24 hours they provided us with ample trash cans strategically placed in the areas of soccer and baseball fields, as well as at the kids playground. To my utter amazement and shock, when I passed by there again just yesterday and the day before, as well as on the weekend, there were soccer games and parents both in the soccer field and on the play grounds with their kids, and the trash was all over the field and playground, even though the trash cans were maybe five meters away. What can kids learn from their parents, if the parents condone this type of behaviour ? We, my husband and I raised two boys, who would never have littered either inside or outside, anywhere. Moreover, our six grandkids, who have played when visiting us in that same park, ate their sandwiches and brought the paper and plastic bags home, to avoid creating garbage in the park. We all talk about Kyoto, garbage and global warming. We want to teach our kids to "save the planet." How are they capable of doing that, when they have not enough civic pride to try and save their backyard. At the end of the winter, I filled three garbage bags from what I raked up around my corner property, which was all thrown papers, cans, pizza plates and worse. All these originate from school kids, passing by our house and thoughtlessly throwing around their refuse. I honestly believe, that this has something to do with education from home, since teachers can't shoulder the responsibility of educating the children all by themselves. To make things worse the streets are littered by broken beer bottles and the full trash cans have been overturned numerous times, so that I had to phone the parks department to come and collect the trash, since it carries a high risk of contamination and infection. Another group of juveniles, attacked our front house lamps, broke them with bats and our driveway was full of broken glass, injuring our dog before I discovered it. I would greatly appreciate it if this letter could be made public, since all our other efforts to date have proven futile. MARION STERNBACH Pud BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com