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www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Thursday, April 19, 2012 · 6 The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5566 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. Guest Column Reporting on citizens' priorities y guest column has returned to The Oakville Beaver and I'm excited to be back. Halton Region delivers a wide range of services that impact your daily life -- programs like providing clean and safe drinking water, emergency medical services, waste management, public health, economic development, emergency management and so much more. Gary Carr In this space, I will keep you updated about important issues, key initiatives and regional accomplishments. You can also stay informed by following my blog, The Chair's Corner at www.haltonchair.wordpress.com. It's important to me that Halton Region remains a great place to live, work, raise a family and retire, so I was very pleased to see that in a recent survey, 98 per cent of Halton residents said they are satisfied with services provided to them by the Region. We are committed to maintaining that high level of satisfaction and continuing to deliver services in a cost-effective and efficient manner. Last June, Halton Regional Council approved The Citizens' Priorities -- Halton Region's 2011-2014 Action Plan. The priority areas, key initiatives and actions identified in the plan reflect what Halton's citizens and stakeholders said was important to them. This spring, we will issue our first annual Report to the Citizens to help you see how Halton Region is delivering on the priorities outlined in the Action Plan. In 2011, Regional Council approved several master plans for infrastructure, including transportation, water and wastewater. Over the next five years, Halton will invest more than $1 billion in infrastructure with $615 million allocated to improving the regional transportation network. We will also accelerate several planned road improvements to reduce traffic congestion and the disruption caused by construction. The 2012-2016 Solid Waste Management Strategy was also approved by Council. Halton residents are currently diverting approximately 60 per cent of residential waste away from the landfill, which is the highest rate of waste diversion in the province according to Ontario benchmarking. The new solid waste management strategy aims to increase the diversion rate to 65 per cent. Another priority for Halton is economic development and in December, Regional Council approved a new 10-year strategic implementation plan. A strong and innovative business community is key to ensuring that Halton can continue to prosper. More and more businesses, such as Target, Siemens, UPS and Sensient are choosing to call Halton home. Combined, these four companies are bringing 1,300 to 1,400 jobs to the region. They choose to locate here because of Halton's high quality of life and our excellent track record with keeping taxes low. Our first year of implementing the Citizens' Priorities Action Plan was a success and we have many achievements to report, which can be found at www.halton.ca/ ActionPlan. Finally, we have recently upgraded our website to make it easier to navigate and locate the information you need -- access Halton at www.halton.ca or dial 311 for more. Neil Oliver Vice-President and Group Publisher, Metroland West David harvey Regional General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief Daniel Baird Advertising Director ANGELA BLACKBURN Managing Editor Riziero Vertolli Photography Director Sandy Pare Business Manager RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association MARK DILLS Director of Production Manuel garcia Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution Sarah McSweeney Circ. Manager Website www.oakvillebeaver.com The OakvilleBeaver is a division of M Gary Carr, Halton Regional Chair Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville ATHENA Award SUbmitted photo RESIDENT OF THE YEAR: Rev. Edward (Ted) James Kersey (second from right) was recently recognized as Resident of the Year by the Ontario Retirement Communities Association (ORCA). The award is given annually to one resident, living in an ORCA-member home, who has made an outstanding contribution to his or her community. Celebrating the honour with Kersey are, from left, ORCA CEO Laurie Johnston, Minister Responsible for Seniors Linda Jeffrey, and Delmanor COO Sheldon Gould. A classic love story as old as Hollywood scandal itself S top the presses, unplug the Internet -- this is huge. An assistant for an associate working for a representative of one of the management teams handling ATBP (All Things Brad Pitt) has confirmed that Pitt and his paramour, Angelina Jolie, were engaged. Admittedly, when I initially read the opening paragraph of the story, I thought the pair had gotten `enraged.' I mean, these Hollywood types are always up in arms about something -- climate change, famine and poverty in Third-World countries, the soaring price of private jets. But then I reread and realized: not enraged... engaged. I got goose bumps, and a skin rash my doctors are hard-pressed to identify. Ah, be still my beating heart. Their story is an old one, a classic, as old and classic as love itself. Boy meets girl on the set of a movie, boy scandalously dumps wife. No wait, that might be unjustly simplifying things. Let's start back at the beginning. Brad and Angelina met while filming the movie Mr. & Mrs. Smith in 2005, apparently fell madly in lust, and then madly in love. All of which prompted Pitt to jettison Jennifer (Aniston, his friend and then-wife of five years) in favour of Jolie, who had been previously married twice, to actor Johnny Miller (for four years) and Billie Bob Thornton, whose blood she carried (not at all creepily) in a vile around her neck during the course of their "deep and spiritual" relationship that lasted for about as long as it takes to make instant coffee. But I digress. Andy Juniper Pitt and Jolie were an instant celebrity super-couple and tabloid-news juggernaut known as Brangelina (because Pittolie just sounded stupid like one of those new vegetables foodies are always making up, like broccolini). They began collecting children, creating three of their own and, thus far, adopting three more -- although, sources close to the couple (or, at least, close to the couple's rep) say they are in no way finished brood building. And through it all, rumors persisted that the pair would soon marry. These rumors were fuelled by, ah, other rumors, that both Brad and Angelina are huge fans of marriage. You can't deny that they've both got experience even if the results weren't all that stellar and by the fact that they had officially made "a promise for the future" to each other no less than three times. I know, I have no idea what making "a promise for the future" means either. I think it's another way of defining "procrastination," but I could be wrong. For the time being, let's just revel in the fact that they are not enraged and are instead officially engaged. A rep for jeweler Robert Procop -- yes, in Hollywood, even jewelers have reps -- confirmed that Procop created the ring in a year-long collaboration with Pitt. Who knew creating a ring could take longer than most Tinseltown marriages last? Or that Brad carried the jewelry gene. Brad and Angelina. Engaged. Do you have goose bumps? Strangely, as I read more of the press coverage of this momentous event, I am also starting to feel a little nauseous. Something about this being "the true wedding of the century," and "an event bigger than anything even the Kardashians could dream up." Thankfully, no date has been set, yet. Andy Juniper can be contacted at ajjuniper@gmail.com, found on Facebook at www.facebook.com, or followed at www. twitter.com/thesportjesters.