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6- The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday October 18, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver Commentary 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 905-632-4440 Circulation: 845-9742 Letters to the Editor 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. NEIL OLIVER Vice President and Group Publisher MARK DILLS Director of Production DAVID HARVEY General Manager MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager Taxis deliver insults JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ROD JERRED Managing Editor ALEXANDRIA ANCHOR Circ. Manager My name is Jordan and I am an Oakville resident. DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director WEBSITE oakvillebeaver.com On Oct. 12, 2008 at 2:20 p.m. on Thanksgiving weekend, I was at the GO Train sta- RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director The Oakville Beaver is a division of tion in Oakville to pick up my sister and nephew, who are legally blind. SANDY PARE Business Manager I moved my truck to the front of the line on the far right next to taxi cabs at the pick- IAN OLIVER President Media Group Ltd. up area. Metroland Media Group Ltd. includes: Ajax/Pickering News Advertiser, Alliston Herald/Courier, Arthur Enterprise News, Barrie Advance, Canadian Champion, Milton Shopping News, Mississauga Business Times, Mississauga News, Napanee Guide, Newmarket/Aurora Era- Caledon Enterprise, Brampton Guardian, Burlington Post, Burlington Shopping News, City Parent, Collingwood/Wasaga Connection, East Banner, Northumberland News, North York Mirror, Oakville Beaver, Oakville Shopping News, Oldtimers Hockey News, Orillia Today, York Mirror, Erin Advocate/Country Routes, Etobicoke Guardian, Flamborough Review, Georgetown Independent/Acton Free Press, Oshawa/Whitby/Clarington Port Perry This Week, Owen Sound Tribune, Palmerston Observer, Peterborough This Week, Picton County I was insulted by the one of the cab drivers when I told them I was “waiting for two Harriston Review, Huronia Business Times, Lindsay This Week, Markham Economist & Sun, Midland/Penetanguishine Mirror, Milton Guide, Richmond Hill/Thornhill/Vaughan Liberal, Scarborough Mirror, Stouffville/Uxbridge Tribune, Forever Young, City of York Guardian blind people to come off the train.” RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: When my sister and nephew arrived, I quickly drove up to pick them up. I was there Ontario Community Canadian Community Suburban Newspapers maybe 10 minutes. Newspapers Association Newspapers Association of America When I was leaving, a female taxi driver came up to my truck and called me a name THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: and said they didn’t look blind to her, right in front of them. We all felt very insulted. Luckily I kept driving because it may have become ugly. United Way No, they do not have white canes. They are legally blind and very short-sighted. of Oakville I have been supporting their disability all their lives and I have a total of four legal- ly-blind people in my family and have never been treated like this for more than 40 TV AUCTION years. I didn’t know taxi drivers were an authority on who is blind or not. I think this demonstrates a very narrow mindset as well as discrimination, all because of a 10-minute interruption of someone’s life. Is this what this world has come to? Happy Thanksgiving! JORDAN GRENIER Reader keeping score Well, we’ve ended up with a Conservative minority government. Stephen Harper has come out with a six-point plan — isn’t that interesting — Dion had a five-point plan. Re: Lisa Raitt — she is so naïve — “she is going to work with Gary Carr” to highlight the need for infrastructure in Halton. It was Jim Flaherty and John Baird of the Mike Harris government that caused the issue with downloading and has caused the infrastructure deficit. I would hope that The Oakville Beaver with its endorsement of Lisa Raitt will hold her to account for lack of movement on this when the next election occurs in two years time. I am not sure where she thinks the money is going to come form for this infra- structure as we head into a recession and Harper has said that he won’t go into a deficit. The other thing, why haven’t you spoken about the amounts of money that the Conservatives pored into this riding to defeat Garth Turner? I was a scrutineer at a poll at Post Corners (on election night) and there were three Conservatives – one of whom was from Toronto and I had to give him direc- tions to him to get to the Conservative party at the Best Western in Milton (on election) night. I will continue to send you e-mails as I think your endorsement of Lisa Raitt was totally ill founded. BETH HIGGINSON When technology takes you tripping down a dead end street omedian Stephen Wright once said that he lived on a and she made the full route calculation in is, Internet so slow that during the course of a simple download, the one-way street that was also a dead-end, and he had under three minutes downloader could go out for a jog, come back for a shower and C no idea how he got there. All was swell until I made the mistake return to the computer before the download was done. Similarly, I recently found myself on a dead-end street, only I of detouring off Betty’s course and into We’d heard rumblings that fast Internet was coming, but we knew exactly how I got there. Betty. Betty got me there. Starbucks. Maybe Betty resented me tak- thought they were just rumors. There was talk of towers being It’s been a wild week, a veritable roller-coaster, and I’m not refer- ing time away from her. Maybe Betty just raised to bring this Internet to country folk, but that was all just ring to the fabulous fluctuations of the stock markets, but, rather, plain doesn’t like Starbucks. Whatever. oasis-in-the-desert to us (you can raise all the towers you want, but the idiotic undulations of the technological fortunes (and misfor- When I got back in the Jeep, Betty had until that tower somehow snags a signal that can make tunes) of our family. The week began with the programming, con- me circling around the parking lot for RollingStone.com download in less than 24 hours, well, it’s all just nection and maiden voyage of a GPS system I’d recently received. Andy Juniper five minutes – Turn Left! Turn Left! Turn pie in the sky). Anyway, the techies came and left. And RS.com It was a thoughtful, practical gift — give a guy who has no nose Left! – and then, when she finally extract- downloaded in 22 seconds. Not quite cable, but we’ll take it. for navigation a device that potentially prevents him from getting ed me from the lot, she took me down a dead-end street. And told So, all is good, right? I can navigate to anywhere, or nowhere lost; that is, if he can figure out how to operate the device (in my me to keep going straight even when the road ended. if Betty chooses. I can surf the Internet at speeds previously case, a technologically proficient son was enlisted as a tutor). Needless to say, our relationship is on thin ice. But, at least unknown out here in the hinterlands. My technology is finally Anyway, I took my nifty new navigational system out for a spin, we’re still talking. coming of age. letting the GPS’ instructive voice – a woman named Betty – guide As if the addition into my life of a GSP system was not enough Except, yesterday my laptop imploded. And my e-mail pro- me. Several times I tried to fool Betty by purposely taking wrong for my feeble brain to embrace, this week also saw our home invad- gram seems to have vanished in a puff of foul smoke. turns, but each time she outwitted me, immediately recalculating ed by technicians who came bearing technology and the lofty Technologically speaking, I fear I’m living on a one-way street and advising on how to get back on track. Betty was a gem. Betty promise of high speed Internet. I knew that such a creature exist- that’s also a dead-end, and I have no idea how I got here. was a genius: just for fun, I had her determine how to get from my ed, but for the past five years — half a decade spent living in the Andy Juniper can be visited at his Web site, www.strangledeg- house to the revolving doors of the Marriott in Hilton Head, S.C., country — we’ve meagerly existed on the thin gruel of dial-up. That gs.com, or contacted at [email protected]..

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