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p4 tribune december 1993 st stouffville users will have to get used to it t t is easy to sympathize with a those opposed to the fee structure for public skating in stouffville when it costs 8 for a family pass here it is frus trating to see scarborough resi dents paying 250 still other towns still put up outdoor rinks and are free of charge but residents are going to have to get used to the fact that the well is drying up for many of these services scar borough can afford 250 skat ing passes because there are half a million people living there stouffvilles tax base can not support as much and to keep the taxes down user fees will be the rule not the excep tion in future eight dollars may be extreme and there might be room to maneuver on the cost but dont look for 500 admis sion tickets anymore those days are gone recession not over for many local people t ont kid yourself the reces- sion is nowhere near ovei in fact as many local workers and companies discovered last week hard times are just begin ning despite national economists predictions that the toughest recessionary times are behind us people should hold on tight to their savings account if theyre lucky enough to stash one proof that challenging times are here to stay was more than evi dent last week as more than a handful of nowunemployed uxbridge and stouffville workers lost jobs there were 73 people from all different facets of employment thrown out of work from both com munities recently victims of com pany restructuring plans brought on by this decadelong recession that will continue to clutch the 90s in a tightfisted stronghold a new brand of fierce market competitiveness has already begun to bring oncepow erful companies to their humbled knees sixtyeight people lost their jobs at uxbridges 50yearold coca- cola bottling plant on franklin street five more jobs were axed from the uxbridge cottage hospi tal three whitchurchstouffville civil servants kissed their jobs goodbye last week and the towns physiotherapy clinic serving both communities was threatened recently with doorclosing ontario hospital insurance premium ohip cuts that doesnt include those quiet pinkslip incidents which are being handed down to local employees each and every week as companies struggle to survive these are just a few of the local signs that the recession is any thing but over many companies and govern ment agencies are going to be doing a lot more restructuring to meet economic and competitive demands which will have spinoff effects to small towns across the country and while the notion of restructuring threatens otherwise lifetime security and lucrative benefits for many people it will unfortunately be used as the col lective road to recovery for most businesses during the next few years we have only seen the tip of the iceberg as far as layoffs are con cerned because it is only now that companies are realizing they must streamline their highest expense salaries and benefits make up between 75 to 80 per cent of a cor porations budget in order to sur vive and compete during this turnaround 90s this is a time more than ever to encourage young people to learn a trade or a skill in order to land good solid jobs hold onto careers compete and survive in the business world as technology continues to ham mer away at labortype jobs peo ple will have to earn strong skills jobs that cant provide a vital ser vice will be abolished as uxbridge mayor gerri lynn oconnor said last week after learning of the cocacola layoffs i understand in todays econo my that decisions must be made that are going to hurt and stouffvilles chief staffer said in a release after the town layedoff three people the overall need to belttighten has forced municipalities across ontario to take a good hard look at what services they are provid- ing uxbridge cottage hospital board chairman john milnes said it all unfortunately we have reached a stage where we can no longer afford everything that we had as the song goes the first cut is the deepest stouffville tribune publisher general manager editorinchief advertising director business manager operations manager patricia pappas andrew mair jo ann stevenson debraweller vivian oneil pamela nichols staff reporters tracy kibble julie caspersen roger belgrave photographers sjoerd witteveen steve somerville real estate ads joan marshman classified ads doreen deacon retail sales joan marshman doreen deacon distribution ariene maddock canadian publications mall sales product agreement 439010 published every wednesday by metroland printing publishing and distributing at 9 heritage rd markham ontario l3p 1m3 tel 2942200 the stouffville tribune published every wednesday at 6244 main st stouffville is one of the metroland printing publishing and distributing group of suburban newspapers which includes aaxplckoiing news advertiser aurora banner barrio advance brampton- guardian burlington post colllngwood connection etoblcoke guardian georgetown independentacton free press kingston this week lindsay this week markham economist sun midland express milton canadian champion mtsalssauga news newmarket era banner north york mirror northumberland news oakvllle beaver orillla today oshawa- whitby this week peterborough this week richmond hlhthornhluvaughan liberal scarbor ough mirror and uxbridge tribune national sales representative mainland corporate sales 4931300 6402100 6405477 fax dreading one dav at a time t f i had a dollar for every time someone said are you ready for christmas i could afford to get someone else to do my shopping for me during the first week of decem ber i discover ive missed all the gift catalogue deadlines for my fam ily in england by this time its sev eral weeks too late to send anyr thing by surface mail and air mail costs more than the hastily chosen gifts im now forced to dispatch myself meanwhile im trying to find time to read all those helpful articles on how to avoid stress at this time of year a quick perusal reveals they all agree on one thing the only essential ingredient for a trouble- free holiday season is forward planning this adds immeasurably to my stress i comfort myself with the knowledge that christmas will come whether im ready or not and ivvvmvfejiyfj4 v i i- t i t 4e vfcv that worrying about my lack of readiness will not make the slight est difference another thing ive discovered is that its useless to shop for teenagers until 5 pm on christ mas eve this is because their list of extortionate demands changes on an hourly basis and what was essential for their survival yester day will be terribly five minutes ago tomorrow make the mistake of shopping early for christmas and youll find yourself lining up at the store on boxing day hoping to get your money back for the gift that was lusted after so mightily in october and for which youve long since lost the receipt another depressing aspect of the season to be jolly is that it high lights my chronic inability to emu late the beautiful festive atmo sphere so effortlessly created on the pages of canadian living their christmas trees look like something out of a victorian fairy tale mine are a dead ringer for charlie browns halfdead sapling in the peanuts christmas televi sion show i start out with all the recom mended ingredients but alas i am to design what don cherry is to reticence and the end result is about as professional as the british tabloids pursuit of the princess of wales this christmas im follow ing charles schulzs lead i have a new philosophy im only going to dread one day at a time vxx lfiifit s i44 4 t v