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6 - The Oakville Beaver, Friday, A u g u s t 22, 2003 E D ITO R IA LS MD LE TTE R S 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-3824, ext. 224 Circulation: 845-9742 The Oakvtito Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould S t, Suite 206, Toronto, O nt. M5B 2M7. Phone 416-340-1961. 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, w il not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. The pubfesher reserves the right to categorize advertisements or decine. THE OAKVILLE BEAVER cca H i IAN OLIVER Publisher NEIL OLIVER Associate Publisher TERI CASAS Office Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief KELLY MONTAGUE Advertising Director CHARLENE HALL Circulation Manager MARK DILLS Production Manager RI2ER0 VERTOLU Photography Director ROD JERRED Managing Editor Medounri P m ttig . P tftw w g & Gtstnbuftng Lid . mdudHS Ajax^WwKwg Nmvs AtJwrtisCT Alteton AitTMX Enterprise News, Barrie Adrance, Bolton Enterprise, Brampton Guarden. Hultngton Post. Burtrgton Shopping News, City Parent. COBngwood'Wasaga Connection. East ioty. Mirror, Erm Advocate/Country Routes. Etobcoke Guardian. Ftamborough Post. Fiamxwough Review, Georgetown independent/Acton Free Press. M ansion Times. Lindsay This W et*. Martham Econonw & Sun. MdtancVPenet eMrrar, s Times, Mssissaugn N» Guide. New m arket Aurora Era Banner. Northumbertand News, North Ybrk Mrrcr. Oakvtfe Beaver. Oakvfle 9 x p p n g News. Oldtlmers Hockey News. Onllta Today, OshawvVVtiitbyaartngton Port Perry This Week. Owen Sound Tribune. Palmerston Observer. Peterborough The Weok. Pfclcr C o irty Glide. Rfchnxmd Hi/TTxxrhAVaughan Liberal Scarborough Mirror. Stouftv«a>U>tindge Tribune. Fo t m t Young. Oty of Mxk Guardian Canadian Circulations Audit Board Member THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR; Recognized for Excellence by Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community A Newspapers Association M atron H ealth care Y '- M C i S K Suburban Newspapers of America TV AUCTION O v e r s ig h t c a n n o t g o u n n o tic e d In dealing w ith H alto n 's M edical O fficer o f H ealth, Dr. B ob N osal, w e have alw ays found him to be an honest and dedicated professional. We have never had a com plaint about him o r his staff. O n the contrary, despite his heavy w orkload -- especially this spring w ith SA R S (Severe A cute R espiratory Syndrom e) and W est Nile virus -- Dr. N osal has alw ays returned our calls prom ptly and taken the tim e to patiently explain com plicated m atters to ou r reporters. We can only assum e that he has alw ays dealt w ith the elected m em bers o f regional council in the sam e m anner. W hich m akes it all the m ore puzzling as to w hy he w o u ld n 't have im m ediately released the inform ation last M ay, w hen his d e p a rtm e n t re c e iv e d c o n firm a tio n that an eld e rly O ak v ille w o m an 's death last year w as attributed to the W est N ile virus. G ranted, last M ay w as a busy tim e for the health departm ent, but that is still no excuse for not releasing the new s that an O akville w om an died from W est N ile. In fact, that new s w ould have added w eight to the prevention cam paign the health departm ent has been vigorously w aging against the virus. W e'll take Dr. N o sal's w ord that the oversight w as not delib er ate. First, any kind o f coverup ju st d o e sn 't m ake sense to us. B ased on the need to educate the public on the seriousness o f this virus, a coverup seem s inconceivable. S econd, it w as Dr. N osal w ho revealed the oversight in an inter view w ith a rep o rter for the O akville Beaver. A fter reading a pre vious story had reported that H alton did not have any deaths relat ed to W est N ile virus last year, Dr. N osal w anted to set the record straight and volunteered the inform ation to the reporter. He then e-m ailed the inform ation and an apology to regional councillors for not passing on the new s to them . For now, w e will leave it up to the regional councillors to d eter m ine w hat, if any, reprim and should be given to Dr. N osal. W hile w e applaud the M O H and his staff for the w ork they have provided o v er the past year, we cannot ignore the seriousness o f this oversight. O ne o f the m ain responsibilities o f a public health departm ent is to educate and inform the public for their ow n safety. By w ithholding this inform ation, w hether intentional o r not. Dr. N o sal's has failed to serve the public, w hich he is sw orn to pro tect. PAG ES O F T H E P A S T 50 years ago The army people at Central Command, Ortona Barracks, are a step ahead of the nest of Oakville these day with the installation of the final witch for the first automatic (dial) exchange in the district, which went into operation on Friday, August 14, at 5 p.m. Installed by Bell Telephone Co. Ltd., the exchange will serve 135 army locals, with trunk lines to Oakville and Toronto exchanges. In addi tion, it will have direct tie line connection to army operated exchanges in Ottawa, Kingston, London, Toronto , Camp Borden and Lakeview. Before last Friday, three girls, under the supervi sion of Miss Lily E. Smithers, of Lakeview, handled more than 7,000 calls per day. "This new dial exchange will save us more than 25 per cent of the work involved with the old board," Miss Smithers said after the first call went through at 5 p.m. - Oakville-TYafalgar Journal, Aug. 20, 1953 40 years ago Pud m rm B y S te v e N e a s e Lt. General Howard D. Graham said here this morning the agreement by Canada to accept nuclear warheads from the United States is the reasonable and proper thing. In a statement from his southeast Oakville home, the General said: " It is a great pity that Canada and other nations will have nuclear warheads. However, since we have the weapon to carry nuclear war heads, the government has done the reasonable and proper thing to ensure our troops will have the prop er means of conducting a defence." At the same time, Halton County MP, Dr. Harry Harley (Liberal) noted that he supports his govern ment's stand on the nuclear warhead issue and added," I favour a bilateral agreement between Canada and the United States, this step will com plete Canada's preparation for defence." - Daily Journal Record, Aug. 17,1963 Taken fro m the archives o f the O akville Beaver including stories from Tb^ Q akville Record-Star. The OakviHe-Trafalgar Journal, the O akville jo u rn a l Record and the O akville Beaver.