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ml ml p4 tribune april 211993 i i j t i sx stouffville earth day should be every day c arth day once again we are asked to raise our consciousness about the health of the planet it is shameful that we have to have a day for such reckoning in the first place the planet is one of the few things we should be taking as a constant the others being sun rises death and taxes and it is also shameful that interest in the environment is tapering it is no longer in vogue true products must still bear an environmental logo or few will buy them and people have become ingrained with the notions of recycling water con servation and nature preserva tion but it is a fact that when jobs are at stake when there is no bread on the table people simply have more on the minds than the planet despite all our personal prob lems the fact that we shuffle the environment to the back of our mental closets is terrible lets put it in perspective again vv- vvv ii v jva- lijla l avvvjvsjv lvv 15 hike a lot more than some people think tt he towns 4500 taxpayers will share the burden thats nothing new and its certain ly not surprising whenever theres a shortfall in government the taxpayer picks up the tab the average joe paying more- thanhisaverage share in a debt- ridden world of overspending welcome to life whitchurchstouffville officials need 135000 extra this year to make ends meet they say and about 100000 of that will end up under your tires as work crews attempt patchup jobs on the towns poorlyconstructed rural roadways the remaining funds about 35000 will help administer your money which keeps the town in business whitchurchstouffville politi cians approved the hike during a raucous meeting april 6 and set ting aside some rude redneck comments from a few uneducated lackies people showed they are generally not pleased with the out come and rightfully so i never realized how rightfully so until a comment was made to me last week i had a conversation with one of the towns betterpaid staff mem bers regarding this matter and that when the person said something about the threeper cent local tax hike that made the hairs on my kibble bits neck stand up the statement car ried an unmistakable im-so-sick- ofhearingaboutthis tone and was aimed at letting me know how the press blows everything out of pro portion during the conversation this person i wont reveal the iden tity for obvious reasons made a remark that i sincerely hope is not the attitude of all public employ ees this person said it seems like a lot three per cent but its really only 15 a person the comment is not only arrogant and shortsighted but borders on ignorant arid uninformed especial- ly since this persons income depends on you yeah its only 15 a person for the municipal portion of that green giant tax bill but when you add that 15 to the 100 extra the school board wants and the 365 extra the region wants and who knows how much extra the province wants its a hell of a lot a neardinner disaster averted 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 jute caspersen roger belgrave photographers sjoerd witteveen steve somerville heal estate joan marshman classified doreen deacon debbie amundson uxbridge retail sales joan marshman doreen deacon heather hill gibson uxbridge distribu tion anene maddock canadian publications mail sales product agreement 439010 published every wednesday by metroland printing publishing end 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 ot suburban newspapers which includes aaxplckerlng news advertiser aurora banner barrle advance brampton guardian burlington post colllngwood connection etoblcoke guardian georgetown independentacton free press kingston this week undsay this week markham economist 4 sun midland express milton canadian champion mlsslssauga news newmarket era banner north york mirror northumberland news oakvlllo beaver orlllla today oshawa- whltby this week peterborough this week richmond hiiithomhlllvaughan liberal scarbor ough mirror end uxbridge tribune national sales representative metroland corporals sales 4931300 6402100 6405477 fax f e entertained friends a cou- t pie of weeks ago and for once i would have been ready on the dot of 730 pm which was when i thought id invited them they arrived however at 723 pm apologizing profusely for being late this was because id told the husband what time we were expecting them and he thought i said 7 pm well i told myself men are hopeless about remembering those kind of details rather like women and map reading such stereotypical utterances may be deplored by the sexual equality police but the fact remains that the art of reading maps in my case at least falls into the disaster zone between parallel parking and an apti tude for math the time between 720 pm and 730 pm on this particular evening had been reserved for building rome my husbands kates corne definition of tarting up when the doorbell rang i panicked an unwise move for someone wield ing a mascara wand i missed my lashes liberally decorating the rings under my eyes with that indelible stuff that only comes off with sandpa per and brillo i tried rubbing it gently but ended up with an eyecatching series of red blotch es smeared with black streaks by starting from scratch i managed to repair the damage and was downstairs only some what dishevelled by 735 pm it was our guests first visit to chateau gilderdale and by that time they were apologizing for being early while i was begin ning to wonder whether i had said 7pm after all not that i mentioned the pos sibility my memory isnt what it was and i hate admitting im wrong the dinner turned out wonderfully in spite of the fact id lost the list on which id jot ted the instructions about when to put in the vegetables and turn on the oven and the medicinal glass or two of wine id sunk to steady my nerves after our unexpectedly early start sometimes i amaze myself especially in view of the times ive stood in the basement won dering what ive gone down there for i can only imagine that for organized people there are no nasty surprises but no nice ones either like a friend ship that can thrive despite the yawning gap between 723 pm and ready more than what it seems and when you add that again to the mortgage the hydro the bell the groceries the gas and themillion other miscellaneous not much 15 bills taxpayers receive every bloodfromastone month of the year its a hell of a lot more than it seems if this comment is the general consensus of what local govern ment officials are thinking why not raise the taxes by six per cent thats not much only 30 a per son why not 10 per cent whats a lousy 100 a year wisen up bud