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tr4 weekstoctober stux selloff of airport lands doesnt fly pickering airport lands lie fallow but the three provincial ministries have infused some fertilizer with strength to yield a healthy harvest for future generations once again its steve mar shall and save the rouge val ley system and green door alliance who laid the ground work and helped mobilize the provincial machines these environmental activists work towards the vision of pro tecting large tracts of ruralagricultural and natural lands for posterity theyve come to the aid of a handful of long buffeted families whove built a community on lands expropriated for the pickering airport the federal government says it wants to sell 5100 acres to i viewpoint 41 jo ann stevenson put towards the deficit but sell ing land at the current deflated prices makes little sense this week the ministers of muniic- pal affairs agriculture and foods and natural resources blasted the move as shortsight ed and environmentally insen sitive ed philipminister of munici pal affairs said hes prepared to use his powers under provin cial law to prevent urban sprawl and further threats to farming and greenspace in this region as the ndp markham stouf- fville candidate retorted at a recent all candidates meeting the contribution to the deficit on the sale of those acres is about one quarter of one heli copter the federal government should reverse its decision on this land at the very least it should put the sale on hold until all of these forward think ing greenspace initiatives can be examined and a comprehen sive plan put in place for the area the lands for sale impact the rouge valley park the commu nity of seaton a provincial agricultural preserve and the oak ridges moraine area prime agricultural land is scarce world wide david suzu ki estimates only one per cent remains in the world the opportunity to keep some so close to one of canadaas largest cities is unique and some of the ideas tossed about by the environmentalists are exciting cooperative farms organic experimental farms and farms for handson teach ing to name a few future land use planning needs to take place before these lands are sold and citizens need to have a say in the deci sion process markham economist and sun stouffville tribune uxbridge tribune weekender edition a metroland community newspaper patricia pappas publisher jo ann stevenson editorinchief paula crowell editor andrew mair editor debraweller director of advertising barry goodyear director of distribution vivian owetl business manager pamela nichols operations manager markham 2942200 sales 7987624 classi fied 2941331 stouoville 6402100 uxbridge 8529741 2948244 distribution and administration 9 heritage bd markham l3p 1m2 fax markham 2941538 stouffvibe 640- 6477 uxbridge 8524355 the markham economist and sun stouoville tri bune and uxbridge tribune published every wednesday and saturday is one of the metroland printing publishing and distributing group of subur ban newspapers which includes ajax pickering news advertiser barrie advance brampton guardian burlington post collingwood connection etobicoke guardian the liberal georgetown inde- eendentacton free press kingston this week indsay this week milton canadian champion mississauga news north york mirror oakville beaver orillia today oshawawhitby this week peterborough this week scarborough mirror the era banner contents not to be reproduced without written permission from the publisher harley takes a friend for a ride heres an interesting little news squib in my daily paper it says that a chap in the town of skien norway is so infatuated with american motorcycles that he has legally changed his name to harley davidson imagine loving a hunk of machinery so much that you name yourself after it i dont think ill tell my pal rick about this story rick had a wee bout of lovesickness over harley davidson motorcycles too but i think hes over it in fact i think the merest mention of the name might send rick into a relapse involv ing toilet bowls dry heaves and some very nasty language it all happened last year when rick had a brainwave those of us who know rick have learned to head for fallout shelters whenever rick has a brainwave this is a guy who took a flyer on moscow real estate just before the ussr broke up this is a guy who bought shares in canary wharf just before the reichmans bailed out this is a guy who puts money on the toronto argonauts it cant miss said rick yeah well still rick said his harley davidson caper was a natural gold mine the idea was to buy a vintage us cycle in canada ship it across to europe tour the continent for a couple of months then sell the bike at an obscene profit and float back to canada on a mat tress of hundred dollar bills it cant miss said rick europeans theyre crazy for harley davidsons theyll pay 30 40 grand for them no ques tions asked as usual rick was about half right he bought a harley in canada shipped it at great expense to rotterdam and pro ceeded to ride across the conti nent he didnt get very far the bike broke down again and again and again it broke down in holland it broke down in belgium it broke down in ger many and france and andorra for crynoutloud which is so small theres barely room to ride a motorcycle much less basic black arthur black break down but rick didnt really mind all the breakdowns because it was raining any way and sleeting and misting and fogging and generally being the worst european summer in a quarter of a century it was so cold and so wet that nothing ever dried out especially if you were camping which rick was between motorcycle breakdowns its okay thought rick shiv ering and cursing and handing over his mastercard for the umpteenth time its okay because once i get back to hol land ill unload this two- wheeled albatross for 35 or 40 grand and fly back to canada firstclass on the concorde as with most of ricks plans it didnt quite work out that way oh he eventually chugged into the outskirts of rotterdam on his wheezing smoking bike he found a harley lover willing to pay 20000 not 40000 for the bike rick was all set to shake hands when the dutchman said of course der vill be also tax tax what tax well it was a dutch government tax specifically created to stop for eign wouldbe entrepreneurial hotshots like rick from clean ing up in the case of ricks bike the tax would come to 9000 guilders which meant that rick would be selling the bike for 2000 less than he paid for it ricks back home now the harley sits in a crate on a dock in rotterdam destination unknown rick doesnt think about it much any more ricks more interested in this new scheme involving comput erized vineyards you see he met this guy at a harley shop in marseilles who told him that for an investment of just a few hundred thousand francs