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w w w . o a kv ill eb ea ve r.c o m O A KV IL LE B EA V ER W e dn es da y, Ja nu ar y 5, 2 01 1 6 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5566 Classified Advertising: 632-4440 Circulation: 845-9742 Open 9-5 weekdays, 5-7 for calls only Wed. to Friday, Closed weekends The Oakville Beaver Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. OPINION & LETTERS Letters to the editor 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@oakville- beaver.com. The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish a letter. Along with being the first month of a new year, January is also Crime Stoppers Month. Recently proclamations were made at all four Halton city/town halls noting that fact. Since its local inception in December 1988 Crime Stoppers of Halton has proven to be a police success story. Its mission is simple: to help solve and deter crime by providing a means of report- ing criminal activi- ty, with guaranteed a n o n y m i t y , through co-opera- tion with the police, the media and the communi- ty. Crime Stoppers of Halton is a community vol- unteer organization. It offers a telephone service that allows you to anonymously give tips on crimi- nal activity. To further protect you, Crime Stoppers does not subscribe to call display. Rewards of up to $2,000 are offered for informa- tion leading to an arrest. As of the end of September (2010), 879 arrests had been made through Crime Stoppers of Halton and more than 1,900 cases cleared. A clear indicator of how valuable the 22-year-old program is can be found in the fact that more than $18.6 million in stolen property ($2.2 million) and drugs ($16.4 million) has been recovered. Worldwide a staggering $9.9 billion in stolen property/drugs has been recovered, with $95 mil- lion in rewards being paid out since the birth of Crime Stoppers in New Mexico in 1976. If you have a tip about a crime you can call the Crime Stoppers of Halton hotline at 905-825-8477. Tipsters also now have the option of giving tips online. The process is completely secure and anonymous. The unique integrated two-way dialog capabilities allow the tipster to come back and pro- vide additional information to their tip at any time, and also provides a secure means for the co-ordina- tor to ask questions or provide reward information back to the tipster through the same secure and encrypted interface. Text TIP201 (plus your mes- sage) to CRIMES (274637). NEIL OLIVER Vice President and Group Publisher of Metroland West DAVID HARVEY Regional General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief 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 con- dition 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. Letter to the editorCrime fighting THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: ATHENAAward THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIALMEDIASPONSOR FOR: Recognized for Excellence by Canadian CirculationAudit Board Member Canadian CommunityNewspapers AssociationOntario CommunityNewspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America Emmas family amazed by response The Oakville Beaver is a division of Rant against cyclists unwarranted 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 SARAH MCSWEENEY Circulation Manager DANIEL COLEMAN Regional Online Sales Manager Re: Emma steps up to the plate against diabetes, Oakville Beaver, Dec. 17 We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the Oakville Beaver for shar- ing Emmas fundraising story with the Oakville community. In the typical fashion of the great resi- dents of Oakville, we had tremendous response to the article. Emma was busy until the afternoon of Christmas Eve making sure everyone received their Santa plates in time for Christmas. Thanks to the very generous residents of Oakville she is already closing in on achieving 10 per cent of her $6,000 fundraising goal for the Walk to Cure Diabetes on June 12. Especially meaningful to our family were the stories of diabetes that people took the time to share with us (including family photos!). It inspired us to know that we are not alone in the fight against this disease. It also confirmed for us what we already knew with lots of hard work, dedication and love there are no limits on the life someone with type 1 diabetes can lead. We have been receiving many inquiries into the type of plates that will be available for other occasions. In response to the interest we have cre- ated a blog for anyone who may be inter- ested in seeing our upcoming designs or watching our fundraising success. Please visit http://emmasdishesfordia- betes.blogspot.com/ for more information. Thank you for continuing to amaze us Oakville what a great community we live in. CHRISTINA MARINEAU, PETER, EMMA AND ZACHARY CLOUTIER, OAKVILLE As of September (2010), 879 arrests had been made through Crime Stoppers of Halton and more than 1,900 cases cleared. Re: Pilgrims speedway, Oakville Beaver, Dec. 22 I would laugh at the letter to the editor on Pilgrims speedway if it were not so sad. The serious issue of cars speed- ing around his neighbourhood, screeching their tires and crashing into peoples yards quickly turns into a rant against cyclists. How many cyclists have squealed through the neighbour- hood and crashed into someones house or put another persons life at risk? In case the author is unaware, cyclists also own cars and houses and pay gas and property taxes. Using his logic, if I dont have kids in school, then I should not have to pay a hefty school tax as part of my property tax I should only pay taxes for the services I use. How many cyclists are required for them to receive services for the taxes they pay? Oakville does not have many pedestrians, so maybe the sidewalks should all be torn up and turned into car lanes. Cyclists are already vulnerable enough sharing the roads with the same maniac drivers that we do not need more irrational dia- tribes pitting drivers against cyclists. Perhaps people should get out of their car cocoons and visit a European country to see what it means to live in a real livable town. It is not the road lanes or the cyclists who are the problem, it is the self-centred drivers that need to be addressed. RALPH AND MARY GERMAINE, OAKVILLE