The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

i i m mmwpm- mmsummr weekender is i markham is shafted by region markham is being shafted by york regional council by voting against giving markham a fifth seat on council the regional politicians want to deny proper representation to 120000 residents of the town markham makes up onethird of the population of york region yet has less than one quarter of the rep resentatives four out of 17 seats on the council this is a travesty of the worst order and the parochial politi cians from northern york region should be ashamed of themselves for their shortsightedness even with the five seats mar kham is underrepresented on york regional council but at least the extra seat would help redress the current imbalance perhaps the southern three municipalities markham vaughan and richmond hill should consider some other kind of arrangement possibly pull ing out of york region and forming a separate region even worse was markham re gional councillor bud bonners de cision to vote against markhams extra seat hes aiding and abetting the enemy on this one the whole scenario belongs in a scene from alice in wonderland don bernard the teachers havepettled ututkpu vivian forest inhospitable to guests rational thought as it is ap plied to our efforts to extract ev ery last ounce of exhilaration out of the first sunbath of spring sometimes gets swept out the door with the stale dust of winter now i thought i had it all fi gured out or thunk through so to speak after all when the weather suddenly turned summer last week what could have had more appeal than a hike through the vivian forest up highway 48 my flight over the width and breadth of york region the pre vious day in a little fourseater aircraft had whetted my appetite for outdoor exploration there were open spaces to be discovered down there i declared and forests with well marked paths to walk through a chance to be at one with mother nature on her terms my friend and sometime side kick agreed so off we drove with our box of kentucky fried chick en the picnic blanket and a parti cularly plucky twoyearold niece of independent spirit picnics are for kids lets remember and as from where i live bmcs cstajitelj z neither of my fellow nature freaks had ever trod these parts before i was put in charge of the expedi tion by default the plan was to head out from the car park area and walk for an hour or so in a circular manner so as to return quite ready to chow down we would then strike out in a different direction for the second leg of the hike five minutes into the trail it became obvious that while sum mer may well have rendered all other parts of the world quite navigable the forest was still mired in late winter running shoes were going to be more than a small liability here snowshoes and rubber boots might have been more appropriate where there wasnt snow or slush on the footpaths there were mud puddles and you know the immense attraction of mud pud dles for a twoyearold this two- yearold made it abundantly clear that she really didnt have any de sire to be picked up denying her the opportunity to slog through the slop she was overruled which didnt add to her enjoyment of the after noon one iota as we continued on we became more and more concerned with sheer survival icy patches negotiated with sneakers on your feet on a hill with an infant in your arms are somewhat intimi dating are we having fun yet my friend asked with more than a hint of cynicism having just com pleted a rather imperfect pirouet te on an icecovered corner the abuse continued after all this you better remember your way out of here stapley i dont want to perish knee deep in snow while the rest of the world is lying in their lawn chairs soaking up the sun now navigation has nevercome naturally to me i could get lost on a merrygoround let alone a forest with paths of many turns and forks the circle i had in tended to follow was starting to feel more like a twosided triang le dont worry i offered all these paths lead out eventually i suspected that my friend wasnt sold when the trail we have been following suddenly met- a dead end i was sure of it a few minutes later when a group of horseback riders happened by i swallowed my pride and noncha lantly asked them if this was the path that lead to the parking lot they pointed us in the exact oppo site direction towards the one route i had insisted would surely lead us to north bay we finally made our way back to the car we had a little strategy session where i was deposed as tour guide and it was decided to cancel the second leg of the under- taking due to the unintended length of the first we scouted the immediate area for a spot dry enough to drop the picnic blanket we finally chose the front seat of the car little shauna was stripped of her wet shoes and socks and mud dy outfit the two adults who should have been old enough to know better stuck their feet out the window so the sun could dry them off and i etched one of those never to be forgotten mental notes that the next march stroll through the vivian forst would come com plete with hip waders and a com pass cononiistsuji the tribune weekender bruce annan publisher 9 heritage rd markham l3p1m3 2942200 4959440 6402100 6492292 published every saturday by metroland printing publishing and distributing at 9 heritage rd mar- kham ontario up 1m3 tel 2942200 second class mail registration number 1247 the markham economist and sun published every wednesday and saturday at 9 hcritago rd markham is one of the meiroland printing publishing and distributing group of suburban newspapers which includes the acton free press ajaxpickonng news advertiser aurora banner brampton guardian burlington post etobicoko advertiserguardian georgetown independent milton champion mississauga news newmarket era oakville beaver oshawawhitby this week richmond hillthor- nhillvaugnan liberal scarborough mirror stouffville tribune topic newsmagazine willowdale mir ror metroland printing publishing and distributing is a division of harlequin enterprises ltd r national sales rfmesenttative metroland corporate sales 4931300 don bernard jim thomas editors editorial department news editorjo ann stevenson reporters paula crowcll stevo houston chris shanahan alan shackleton paul prvato sports editorfrank king photographysjoerd witteveen bill lanning patricia pappas advertising manager advertising department retail advertising managercharles canning retail- terri bernhardt lome hillicr joann van maurik chris griffith real estate managerdorothy young real estatekaren heisa classified managerdebra waller classified- phyllis ritchie joan marshman r stephen mathieu caroline thompson brende marshall chris bertram manager business ofhce shirley lee irene ramsperger sharon graham jennifer hutt distribution manager distribution department assistant distribu tion manager barry goodyear jean middlcton doreen deacon sandra kiteley lea killer sue hutton donna saxon distribution dept 2948244 6402100