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tribune anniversary wednesday june 29 1988 paae 23 in back issues no local newspaper is complete without some spi rited letters to the editor as much as the stories and advertising they reflect the concerns and lifestyle of the people of the era interestingly the major ity of letters in the late 19th and early 20th century were published without naming the identity of the author wandering animals were clearly a problem before cars took over as the follow ing letter published on november 30 1888 relates dear sir can any of your readers suggest a plan to induce our respected friend in the west end to keep his cow off the street both night and day we admit she is a fine cow why not she has cleaned out ev ery garden west of the rail way track that she can get into to the destruction of cabbage beets celery marigolds carrots etc those that are fortunate enough to have their gar dens and yards fenced and by being very particular to fasten up every time they go out can avoid these losses but what can we do that have no fences signed neigh bour another topic that caused consternation then as now was the state of the roads on december 7 1916 a citizen wrote mr editor will you allow me to say a few words regarding the condition of the side streets in stouff- ville it is a wellknown fact that the road which unites with main st at the christian church commonly known as the back road is at all times in poor condition but at present it is in some places almost impassable the road on montreal street is a disgrace to the town w h i 1 e passing over it wagons sink into mud up to the axles it is almost im possible for an automobile to drive over the road now w hat is our council doing is it not its duty to administer the affairs of the village then why this negligence in looking after these roads do not the peo ple living on these side streets pay taxes why are they forced to drive over such wretched roads and not they alone but doctors butchers bakers carters and farmers suffer through this negligence 1 have been a resident of this town for a long time and i know that for years these roads have been neg lected an eyesore to the community and yet the council sits idly by and seems oblivious of the need for prompt action it is time that its members have awakened from their re verie and set about to do something in the interests of the people memo to coun cil the buck will always stop here on december 21 of the same year an observer be rated certain illmannered individuals for their un- seemingly behaviour in pub lic business places mr editor the writer began i hope i may have the privilege through your valuable paper of drawing attention to a matter of in terest to business men i re fer to the practice of some persons using business places as rendezvous when they have nothing else to do but exercise their lungs there are places of business in almost every town where it is impossible to have a pri vate word with the prop rietor on account of listening ears of one or a group of war experts whom ones pre sence has interrupted in a marvellous display of hot air concerning the war or other great subject the re sult is that people avoid such a place where this is a con stant practice who wants to transact business with a crown listening to all that is said i know a store in a town in eastern ontario where a lady seldom makes a purchase on account of the presence of a band of war riors who throng filling the air with gossip and spatter ing the floor with tobacco juice friendship may be come a burden when it inter feres with business during world war i the front page of the tribune often carried letters re ceived by local families of young soldiers fighting on the front lines on march 16 1916 free wrote to his brother thank ing him for the tobacco he had received from the fami ly take it from me that was welcome lie wrote i hope all the fellows could realize the pleasure even the smell of good canadian tobacco gives us and some of the old american soldiers simply had their tongues out for the feast keeping enough for my self i divided the rest among a great part of the company and they wish to thank their benefactors soon we will again be on the firing line and the bull will go a long way towards making it easier to stand the strain of a weeks bombard ing and watchfulness freel continued tell them that for whiteness the small village of stouffville throws the others into the shade 40 ways when it comes to a real shakedown in the matter of comradeship and support byjovebillitgives a fellow a bracer and a might warm feeling towards the old burg on feb 19 of the same year mrs hutchison re ceived a letter from her sons at the front who wrote we are out of the trenches again after being in i bet you cant guess what job i have got now i am cook for our machine gun boys seven of us most of us have two pair of socks one suit of underwear on us and shaving kit schell lumber ltd is one of stouffvilles oldest family run businesses catering to the needs of contractors and home owners throughout the area ron schell whose grand father wesley opened schell lumber in 1922 explained that 70 per cent of the com panys business is generated from local contractors and 30 per cent from the diy do it yourself market while most building cen ters cater to the diy market schell lumber values its associations with with con tractors we stress quality service and value which bring the tradesmen back schell said business has steadily in creased during the last sever al years due to the expansion in and around stouffville there is plenty of subdivi sion work and custom homes being built said schell most of what we stock is for the housing sector but we do get into commercial ap plication in part schell ex plained contractors and those who doitthemselves will find lumber mouldings bard- ware dry wall roofing bricks all elements that make up a house at schell lumber the store also carries vinyl floor ing electrical items plumb ing windows and hardwood schells father percy and uncle harry are at the helm of their fathers business each possessing over 40 years of experience twenty employees each with a diverse knowledge of the industry work at schell lumber many of them hav ing started with the company when they got out of school have over 12 years under their belts our company is our em ployees schell said one of schell lumbers uni que features is that of a manufacturing mill upstairs the mill is operated by harry and carpenter dick ward custom orders including windows doors mouldings and railings are made in the shop either to duplicate oldpr fittings or to fit specific measurements each piece made is from scratch wayne emerson and mike heffernen help customers at the front counter we have customers visit the mill with orders from as far away as toronto and oak- ville we even had an order to reproduce several 1950s win dows and sent them to the caribbean schell com mended founder wesley schell converted the canadian bee and honey supply company which manufactured bee hives and housed a small re tail outlet for farmers into one of the areas largest inde pendent building supply firms schell lumber presently has 5000 square feet of showroom space 2500 square feet of manufacturing floor 15000 square feet of warehousing and five acres of outside storage at their facil ity located on edward street in stouffville the company takes advan tage of being located next to a rail line where its receives car loads of western cedar from british columbia each year also sold is ontario jack pine and spruce which is small dimensional lumber for framing houses large dimensional lumber includ ing 2x10 and 2 x 20 boards wrapped and kiln dried are transported from west every year we do more and more business via the rail if you plan well its less expensive than trucking you can save between two and five per cent in costs which is considerable because there arent great markups with lumber schell said schells showroom was re cently renovated its opened monday through saturday from 7 am to 530 pm