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6 - The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday January 24, 2009 www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 905-632-4440 Circulation: 845-9742 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. Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Commentary Guest Columnist NEIL OLIVER Vice-president and Group Publisher, Metroland West DAVID HARVEY General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director Metroland Media Group Ltd. includes: Ajax/Pickering News Advertiser, Alliston Herald/Courier, Arthur Enterprise News, Barrie Advance, Caledon Enterprise, Brampton Guardian, Burlington Post, Burlington Shopping News, 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 SANDY PARE Business Manager MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution SARAH MCSWEENEY Circ. Manager WEBSITE oakvillebeaver.com Canadian Champion, Milton Shopping News, Mississauga Business Times, Mississauga News, Napanee Guide, Newmarket/Aurora EraBanner, 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 What is your green idea? Gary Carr, Halton Region Chair s we move forward into 2009, the environment remains as a very important topic for Halton Region and residents alike and it is imperative that we continue to work together to help protect and preserve it for generations to come. As part of Halton's commitment towards environmental excellence, we are now accepting applications for the Regional Chair's Environmental Awards program sponsored by Bell and TD Friends of the Environment Foundation. The awards program was designed to foster an appreciation for the environment in Halton's youth and to raise awareness of local youth environmental initiatives. There are two awards in the program: the Halton Youth Awards for Environmental Excellence, which is open to all Halton elementary and secondary students and provides an opportunity to win $500 for the student's school. The Halton Youth Awards for Environmental Scholarship are open to secondary students who are, or will be, pursuing post-secondary studies with an emphasis on the environment. Each scholarship award is for $1,000. The submission deadline for both awards is March 13, 2009. Complete award entry details including application forms and previous winners can be found by visiting www.halton.ca. Award winners will be invited to the Regional Chair's Breakfast on the Environment, being held at the Burlington Convention Centre on April 23, 2009. This exciting breakfast will be attended by local students and the business community and will feature Jay Ingram, author and host of the television show Daily Planet as the keynote speaker. The awards program and the Breakfast on the Environment are brought to you by the hard work and dedication of a group comprised of staff from several corporate and community organizations. The group provides direction to the Region for the award program and breakfast event and also reviews all youth applications to determine successful award recipients. I invite organizations and individuals to show their support for the environmental efforts of Halton's youth by sponsoring an award or scholarship or by purchasing a table at the upcoming awards breakfast. Full details on all sponsorship opportunities are available at www.halton.ca. Supporting our youth towards achieving environmental excellence in their schools and community and in their future academic studies is what the Regional Chair's Environmental Awards are all about. I look forward to seeing this year's submissions and I wish all applicants the best of luck. Gary Carr RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America A THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville TV AUCTION Helping hand NIKKI WESLEY / OAKVILLE BEAVER ROYAL TREATMENT: Gladys Cressman of the North Ridge long-term ccare facility, was treated to a free manicure and arm massage by Vanessa Drusnitzer, a Grade 10 cosmetology student at Holy Trinity Secondary School. Seniors at the facility were pampered with free treatments from the cosmetology students. She's in hound heaven and squirrels are now safe to roam T he house is too big without her. On one of those dull, grey, lifeless January days -- a day without heart and sans soul -- I returned home around mid-morning to find her not in her bed, as would be befitting a hound of her advanced age, but, rather, walking. Specifically, unable to stop walking. Walking into furniture, plants, walls. Bouncing off whatever tried impeding her progress. Robotically redirecting herself and walking on. She'd been semi-senile and partially deaf and mostly blind for a while, but this was different. More extreme, heartbreaking. Walking. Unable to stop. Even when I picked her up and tried to settle her down, those old spindly legs kept churning. Our vet is close by, a 10-minute drive. But it was about the longest 10 minutes of my life. As we drove, she became strangely calm. Never comfortable in a car -- granted, not as bad as her lunatic brother, Zoey, who cries for the entire ride regardless of how far you're going -- she did none of her usual nervous pacing and panting. She just sat there, looking regal, albeit a little bit like Kangaroo Jack on account of her recent adventure at the beauty parlour. I won't test your belief in canine intelligence, or a dog's sixth sense: I won't begin to suggest that she knew where she was going. But ... As for us: we knew this day was coming. As in most instances of aging and senility, we'd been bracing ourselves for many months, saying the long goodbye under our breath. Several times over the past year -- through bouts of sickness Andy Juniper and incidents that made us believe she'd suffered small strokes -- we thought her time had come. But each time the old girl would bounce back, prompting my wife to quip, "She's never going to die." Joking, but maybe part of me started to believe it. What were the odds: that the perfect dog would also turn out to be invincible? I guess that's what made the drive to the vet so long, the thought that maybe I should turn around because maybe she'd do the impossible once again; maybe she'd defy all odds (and logic and reason) and bounce back. On the flip side of my conflicted mind, I took comfort in the fact her deaf, blind, senile struggle would be over. Not that she had been suffering, but a world reduced to one or two rooms in which she felt comfortable blindly navigating, and a life reduced to bumping into things and trying to locate the door to go outside, was not really much of a world or a life. We're in mourning in Moffat. The house is indeed too big without her. I listen for her toenails clicking on the hardwood. I still half expect to see her trundling into view. The best dog ever. Francine (Franny) Juniper. Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen. Irresistibly cute. Incredibly lovable. Stubborn as a mule. Four months shy of her 15th birthday (closing in on 105 in human years). God bless her furry, fabulous soul. If there's a hound heaven, she's in it. She's romping, chasing squirrels with every ounce of success she had here on Earth: this was a dog who, from puppyhood into dotage, chased every squirrel that dared cross her path -- and who never came within a country mile of catching one. Franny was an eternal optimist, a dog who never gave up hope. Andy Juniper can be visited at his Web site, www.strangledeggs.com, or contacted at ajjuniper@gmail.com.