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UMjAUjUtLBjS A Metroiand Publication VoL38Na5 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12,2000 4 4 P g e ^ 7 5 C e n t^ g ft^ 7 ) Town ready to take over Oakville Hydro By Howard Mozel OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Oakville Hydro is less than three weeks away from becoming wholly owned by the Town of Oakville. On Monday night, Council set the final stage for the reorganization by directing staff to create a transfer by-law in time for its Jan. 24th meeting. Effective Feb. 1st, this will transfer the assets of the Oakville Hydro-Electric Commission to a holding corporation and a trio of wholly-owned subsidiary corporations. "We're going in pioneering new directions," said Ward 4 councillor Stephen Sparling. "This is certainly going to be a model we can be proud of in the community." The changes were prompted by the Energy Competition Act 1998, which requires every Ontario municipality by Nov. 7, 2000 to assume responsibility for work currently carried out by municipal hydro electric commissions. The legis lation ends Ontario Hydro's 90-year electricitysector monopoly and ushers in a competitive mar ket by late 2000. Oakville Hydro is considered such a valuable asset, however, that Town Council voted unani mously in June last year to retain ownership of the utility as a for-profit corporation. "Within the sphere of influence that we had, we did this job to the best of our abilities ... on behalf of all our ratepayers," said Mulvale. The new corporation will be 100% owned by the Town of Oakville, meaning the municipality is sole shareholder. (S e e `Town' p a g e A8) Dow n& d irty a t B ro n te H a rb o u r Program aims to head-off youth suicide Yellow Ribbon Youth Suicide Awareness & Prevention Program By Claudia D'Souza SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER On the night 17-year-old Colorado teen Mike Emme committed suicide, his parents Dale and Dar came home seven minutes too late. It was 11:52 p.m. when they pulled into the garage beside Mike's cher ished, 1968 yellow Mustang. They found Mike dead in the car. He had shot himself at 11:45 p.m. according to. the note he left. His family had no idea he was suicidal. Suicide is a tough subject few want to discuss, but it can't be ignored. The harsh reality is in North America, sui cide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents aged 15 to 24 and the numbers are growing. In Canada each year cn average, 294 youth commit suicide. In 1992, over 5,200 youth were hospitalized for sui cide attempts. In an effort to lower the statistics, the Yellow Ribbon Youth Suicide Awareness and Prevention Program is currently being developed for the Halton community. The Halton program is a collabora tion of three successful initiatives already in place: Dale and Dar Emme's U.S.-based Yellow Ribbon Card Campaign, The Youth Suicide Awareness Training Course created by the Calgary branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), and Youth Net, a regional program run by youth for youth. The proposed program has farreaching goals including developing a Halton-wide education process for peers, parents and professionals taught by a combination of mental health advocates and youth suicide trainers. "Only car crashes take more young lives than suicide," says Leslie Waychison, Director of Community Development, Halton chapter of the Canadian Mental Health Association. "But we close our minds to it. We have (S e e `Public' p age A2) After years of low lake levels and more run-off than usual, the dredging of Bronte Harbour couldn't have come too soon for area boaters. Starting Dec. 10th, the long awaited and (about inten sive task o f hauling 25,000 cubic metres of silt from the harbour began, using a host o f heavy equipm ent According to harbour master Robert MacKay, the pro ject will cost approximately $750,000 for Bronte Harbour alone. Plans are already underway to dredge Oakville Harbour next winter. In the meantime, a huge crane mounted on a barge will scoop the silt and load it onto deck scows. It will then be transferred to trucks and transported to the old Fourth Line dump site. MacKay said he hopes when it comes time to dredge Oakville Harbour there will be enough room in the dump to accommodate its s ilt MacKay explained that while dredging on the har bours is usually carried out every 10 years, Bronte was done only seven years ago. Photos by Peter C. Mccusker today's paper Editorials.________________ M Business._______________ -A10 Homes & Gardens. Al 1 Focus.----------------------------B1 Automotive............................... B6 Classified_________________B9 Sports.-------------------------........B12 Speori S myhmwitsi Patriot Computers, Business Depot, The Bay Partial delivery: M e R ose, C IIISG u ardian , Caslway, Revi H om e Canadian Publications Mail Product Agreement #435-201 I N V E S T M E N T S RETIREMENT PLANNING SPECIALISTS I F r e e C o n s u lt a t i o n 8 4 2 -2 1 0 0 v~rJr*» ¥UbJr~