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6- The Oakville Beaver, Friday July 4, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com 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: NEIL OLIVER Vice-President and Group Publisher of metroland West The Oakville Beaver is a division of IAN OLIVER President Media Group Ltd. DAVID HARVEY General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director SANDY PARE Business Manager MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ALEXANDRIA ANCHOR Circ. Manager Parents deserve explanation It's deja vu all over again. We suppose it is only natural that parents and students in Linbrook, Chisholm, New Central and Brantwood should feel bitter and disappointed after Halton public school trustees voted to close their schools in 2010 and build a new school in Clearview. After all, children, who once walked to school, may soon be uprooted from familiar surroundings and bused to a different school. However, we also wonder whether the school board is also to blame. While the board claims to run an open and inclusive process in determining which schools should be closed, the end result -- ignoring the recommendation of its own PARC 14 committee -- speaks differently. We can't help but wonder why southeast Oakville parents went through the painful PARC 14 process only to find out it was irrelevant in the end. Education Director Wayne Joudrie states the board is not restricted to the PARC 14 recommendation and must consider the best interests of the students of Halton. While we won't dispute that, we believe Joudrie, and the school trustees owe it to the public to fully explain how they arrived at their final decision. In this case, we don't believe that happened. From our point of view, the alternative option to build a new Clearview school and close four other schools was put on the table a little late and never publicly discussed at length. While the pros and cons of each alternative were listed in the report, at no time did school board trustees ever publicly debate the merits of each option. Instead, on Wednesday night the 11 school trustees quietly and unanimously supported Oakville school trustee Phillpa Ellis' motion to approve the alternate option. We just feel that if the trustees are going to close four schools in southeast Oakville, they should explain their reasoning in public. It may be messy and uncomfortable for the trustees, but they owe an explanation to the parents. This was not done. In the end, parents feel rightfully cheated by the lack of public disclosure. We aren't necessarily disputing the board's final decision, just the way it was arrived at Wednesday night. 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 My front yard is not your dog's personal toilet It seems the spring season brings our attention to the maintenance of our neighbour's lawns and gardens, as well as our own. Every spring and summer my husband and I go to work on our individual outdoor tasks to beautify our house. We diligently (and not cheaply) water our grass, shrubs, trees and flowers. We fertilize and mow our lawn, and create walkways and gardens. Bit by bit, we save and spend. We even water, fertilize, mow and dethatch the Town portion of the boulevard in the front and side of our house. All of this is done in the name of beautification. We hope that our efforts, regarding this curb appeal, will be appreciated by passersby. And then like clockwork, dogs and their owners stop by. Now, if they continued walking by... and I thought, oh what a sweet dog...and they thought, oh what a nice landscaping job, then everything would be lovely. Instead, they allow their pets to use our hard work and money as their dog's personal toilet. Not being a dog owner, I am only to surmise that at least half of the time the dog is out for a walk with its owner is to, in fact, do its `business.' I cannot figure out why on earth these people think I want, appreciate or simply disregard their animal feces on my lawn, and the lawn I tend. This place where my family and I walk, sit, play, look at, and yes ... work is mine. Not their's nor is it their dog's. I am not only speaking of feces, I am also speaking of urine. A day or two after they and their cute furry creature have defiled my land, I am left with brown grass. The very grass I have spent hours watering, fertilizing and mowing, so that my family and my neighbours can enjoy looking at. Now, a dog owner may say, "What can I do, if the dog stops on the way to the ravine (or wherever)...I have little choice." I say, "phewy!" You have, at least, two choices as I see it. The first is to take the dogs for a walk in your own yard. Would you mind terribly if I brought my children over to use your lawn as a place to excrement or would you prefer we take care of that here, at my place? Your second choice would be to have the dog use a sewer on the road. Yes, not as comfy as my plush lawn but then my plush lawn, being all burned with urine and resembling a mind field of dog-doo, is not nearly as plush anymore either, thanks to all of the dogs and their owners. So please, use your own lawn for your own dog. When you don't, it is a form of vandalism to my mind, and disrespect of a neighbour's hard work and money, to say the least. J. POIRIER Pud BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com 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.