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T h e O. LAW N M O W ER TU N EU P S -- S 4 4 * parts 'w a r r f ~ t 4 4 m 6 tf % (c p n i) · I Mini TM » » l j4 Otlmry Awljtle CURRENTPO V STRMACHINES IN C . Pickup^ ltt1 li*w liO T lW W M vjvJu< |i vlMHil Hn.xi U i Curkwni c O i C I i I I Crusaders storm the Beach rm m &Weekend M ercedes-Benz S e c t io n c 56 Pages AM etrolandP ublication V o l. 38N o. 5 9 WEDNESDAY, MAY 17,2000 75 Cents (plus GST) WATER. WATER EVERYWHERE Emergency personnel agree, storm was one of town's worst for damage By Howard Maze! OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF F Culham Street homeowner Valerie Downey (above) reflects on the damage caused to her newly-renovated) basement by Friday evening's flood. Downey said it will likely cost $30,000 to repair the damage. Photo by Peter J. Thompson Marlene Navis (left) from 112 Culham S t, is rescued by Oakville firefighters late Friday night in between storm cells. The Navis family has been flooded out three times, in August 1990, Febuary 1998 and on Friday night Photo by Barrie Erskine Code o f conduct redundant says law professor W h e n th e P rovince b ro u g h t in its controversial student code, it should have given it m ore th o u g h t sa ys R o b e rt S o lom on, A sso cia te D ean of Law at the U niversity of W estern O ntario By Karen Robbins SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER The provincial government is wast ing its time implementing a new code o f conduct for Ontario students, accord ing to a law and education expert. Speaking at the Victim-less 2000 com m unity policing conference in Oakville Saturday morning, Professor Robert Solomon, Associate Dean in the Faculty of Law at the University of W estern Ontario, said schools and school boards already have enough legal powers to create a positive learn ing environment. "The simple reality is a teacher in the classroom has broader powers to question, detain, investigate, search and use physical force than a police officer in a murder investigation," he told about 100 police personnel and mem bers of the public attending the two-day conference at the Halton Regional headquarters. The O ntario Code o f Conduct, unveiled by the provincial government last month, included automatic suspen sions for students possessing weapons, dealing drugs, uttering threats and caus ing vandalism. It also grants teachers the power to suspend students. "I hear often that the hands of edu cators are tied - they cannot deal with disciplinary issues in the schools because of the legal obstacles. Nothing could be further from the truth," he said. Solomon's speech effectively com bined legal and policy information with humor, said Patti Eix, from the Community Consultation Committees of Halton. "He didn't do it in a heavy manner," she said. "And he used such good turns of phrases." For example, Solomon joked that the Ontario Education Act was written in neither of Canada's official lan guages. He suggested this archaic legal book was brought down the mountain by Moses with the 10 commandments. Joking aside, Solomon's message came through loud and clear. Educators need clear and simple laws that govern education. He suggested a utilitarian approach to education policy goals. `T hey should aim to do the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of students," he said. He also pointed out that schools are being subject to a growing number of complex statutes, which is the result of a cyclical pattern of apathy and crisis. Governments ignore a problem, such as child abuse, until a critical crisis point; then they slap a statute on the problem and claim it is solved. Solomon said this has created an environment where teachers are afraid to touch students. Even in a case where a children hurt themselves and needs to be (See `Policies' page A2) riday's storm won't soon be forgotten, especially by those who spent the night embroiled in rescues, road closures, power fail ures and flooded basements. "It was unique in that everyone, from Public Works and the police, said it was the worst storm they've ever seen in Oakville," said Deputy Fire Chief John deHooge. "It was extreme ly unusual, extremely busy." One reason the night was so weird, he continued, was that much of the flooding occurred in north Oakville especially the Culham Street/Osbourne Crescent/O tter Crescent area - not in the south like one might expect. `T hey were places you wouldn't think for a second would flood," said deHooge. But flood they did. Residents were rescued from cars and homes and one man, who suffered heart problems, had to be taken from his Osbourne Crescent house by inflatable boat then transferred to an ambulance which waited on relatively dry land. An Oakville Transit bus was sta tioned on Culham to provide tempo rary shelter for the half-dozen or so families that were flooded out o f their homes. Approximately 25 homes had to be evacuated. "That's the sad part," said Public Works spokesman David Bloomer. "It's one thing to have damage to the shoulders of roads, it's another seeing the poor people dragging wet belong ings out of their homes." Culham residents Gord and Marlene Navis, for example, were flooded for the third time in 10 years and have been staying at the Holiday Inn. "It's wiped out. It's uninhabitable," said Navis. "The house is a write-off." Although the doors and windows of his home held, Gord Navis explained that water poured into the basement from a variety o f leaks to a depth of (See `Storm' page A3) to d a y 's p a p e r Edtorials.. Focus........ Entertainment, Victoria Day Classified... Homes & Gardens... Sports. Business. Automotive. Spefld Supplements: Home delivery: Canadian Tire, National Sports, Hy & Zeis, Manulife Financial ,A 6 ..B 1 ..C 1 _C4 ..C8 Have your say on north development Tomorrow night at Town Hall marks the final time area residents can offer input on the North Oakville Strategic Land Use Options Study. This initiative deals with future uses for 7,600 acres o f land north of Dundas Street as well as the effect development will have on everything from traffic and air quality to greenspace, wildlife habitats and urban sprawl. The information meeting takes place at Town Hall, 1225 Trafalgar Rd., starting at 7:30 p.m. Pressures to develop limited north O akville em ploym ent lands are increasing to levels not seen since the mid-eighties while the housing market is approaching its 1987 peak. The purpose o f the North O akville Strategic Land Use Options Study, therefore, is to deter mine the amount and location of res idential and employment land as well as a phasing strategy for imple mentation. ,.D 1 ..D6 Photo by Peter J. Thompson Robert Solomon: no real need for Code o f Conduct in schools. P a rtia ld elivery:C a sh w a y ,C o n n o nN u rseries, S h erid a n N u rseries, W h iteR ose, StoneM a so n ,L a kesh o re R etirem en t, C IM SD ru g s, T h eB ric k ,O a k v ille V o lksw a g en ,L a -Z -B o y ,L a n sin gB u ild a ll, C o lo rY o u rW o rld ,T h eB a y Canadian Publications M ail Product Agreement #436-201 Fur Storage 209 Lakeshore Rd. E., Oakville 845-2031 G reat S pring C o a t S election Competitive rates & exceptional service · Vaults on premises 10% discount for pre-payment of storage · 10% seniors' discount · Cleaning - Repairs - Restyling I * V ti 8 T M ¥ n T » RETIREMENT PLANNING SPECIALISTS F r e e C o n su l t a t io n # 4 2 - 2 1 0 0