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

st weekender jebbuarxta7 f3 hydro amalgamation may lead to york from page 1 bury hydro officials from at least four of yorks municipalities will resume talks in early march similar talks are going on in regions across ontario the province has a total of 308 separate electric utilities in place provincewide reform including downsizing and the elimina tion of the duplication of government services is reaching all areas includ ing hydro commissions in durham all the needed studies for amalgamation have just been finalized a report expected to include a recommendation calling for one durhamwide hydro commission will be delivered very soon a source told the tribune nick tatone manager of whitchurchstouffville hydro said if amalgamation happens here hope fully itll mean local hydro rates will reduce even more if amalgamation is a benefit to our ratepayers itll likely happen we have an obligation to investigate this whitchurchstouffville hydro elec tric is no stranger to change last year the local utility adopted a new management plan six jobs were elim inated work was contracted out and utility assets were sold off as a result in 1996 the local utilitys sav ings totalled 11 million while at the the end of 96 the stouffville hydro bank balance was 700000 there was more good news hydro rates in whitchurchstouffville dropped by eight per cent in 1996 and by 11 per cent in 97 as well each of whitchurchstouffvilles 1500 cus tomers recently got a 100 rebate cost wise whitchurchstouffville hydro electric commission has been identified as one of the best utilities in ontario stressed tatone in the past year many stouffville residents watched their hydro bill drop by between 300 and 500 from the year previous stressed tatone the local utility continues to look at alternative power sources to further benefit the rates dunkeld said that the option of extending boundaries to offer the service to other parts of whitchurchstouffville including musselmans lake lemonville and gormley is still being investigated decision on tuesday by joan ransberry staff reporter which will it be one of the largest subdivisions in whitchurchstouffvilles histo ry or a threeyear housing freeze for the same lands in ballantrae and musselmans lake tuesday is a red letter day rookie councillor mike watson will find out if his call for a moratorium on development in his ward will fly at the same meeting a developer will likely get a signal on how his devel opment plan will be received mayor wayne emmerson has confirmed that the housing plan to be unveiled by schick- endanz bros ltd is for about 1000 homes watson predicted that the proposed development will boost the areas population by at least 2000 studies show the new water system can accommodate 5600 people said watson weve got 3200 now he stressed if council agreesj the subdivi sion will be built on 375 acres in a number of phases stretched over a few years the plan is for a mix of housing said tina schicken- danz company spokesman schickendanz also wants to build an 18hole golf course on the lands at aurora road near hwy 48 neither emmerson nor dunkeld are worried about water capacity in the hamlets dunkeld said hes confident the water caretaker york region will make sure the sys tem works im not worried about water capacity said dunkeld i dont want to close the door on development emmerson wants no part of a housing freeze i will not be supporting the watsons motion said the mayor he addedtheres enough water while ward 3 councillor mar- got marshall would not reveal how shell vote on the motion she admits to having some con cerns about the communal water system i supported it water sys tem because of existing health concerns not for develop ment said marshall she added we have to make sure this water system works but three years might be too long of a freeze soccer field pitched the new eightacre park slated for ballantrae would be just the ticket for a soccer field a councillor has suggested ward 4 councillor cliff dunkeld would like to see whitchurchstouffvilles soc cer players make use of the park located on aurora road on lands abutting the bal lantrae community centre there are about 600 soccer players but no townowned soccer fields said dunkeld at the present time soccer is played on land abutting the stouffville recreation centre the lands are owned by the board of education localsoccer club officials are more than pleased that this park is being considered for soccer joseph caldeira president of the stouffville soccer club said the ballantrae lands suit the game we need it our club is growing in fact soccer is the fastest growing sport in canada if not north america said caldeira of stouffvilles soccer play ers 500 are children the park lands are near a proposed development made up an 18hole golf course and about 1000 homes council will discuss the park lands soon joan ransberry oj wiped out after years on the wall at sdss oj simpson and other athletes of past give way to new mural by john lambersy sdss correspondent as if losing his civil case wasnt punishment enough oj simpsons picture has been removed from a wall at a stouffville school until recently the gymnasi um wall at stouffville district secondary school had been covered with pictures of sports heroes from decades ago oj simpson reggie jackson and pete rose are just a few featured last week a mural designed by emma bark- worth a local oac art stu dent was painted up over the twentyyearold design including simpson the new mural is a sleek design concentrating on the spartans team image the school sports theme rather than current sports personal ities oj did not go unnoticed last year visitors including speakers commented on the fact that a school would con tinue to display a picture of a celebrity connected to two brutal murders it appears as if the students agree its time for a change the other one mural was a little aged said sage siegel 17 it was tacky the new mural is an improve- sdss gets a facelift after many years the gym wall at the high school is getting a new mural thanks to local art students photosjoerd witteveen ment for sure another student dave rzadkowski 17 went as far as saying sdss has moved into the 90s now david connell the physical education department head explained that the old mural was painted during a sum mer by a former student steve skimmington since then skimmington has gone on to have drawings published in sports illustrat ed said connell there are still a few more final touches planned for the new mural so far the response is posi tive the student body appears pleased with the new mural oj was unavailable for comment watch for these flyers on saturday february 8th 1997 loblaws supercentre netmedia sears catalogue bi way iga stouffville sears dominion coupon clipper food basics port perry a p loblaws zellers canadian fire richmond hill westons selected areas only were first in distribution weve delivered 4431572 flyers doortodoor so far this year if you would like your flyers delivered by the best please call arlene maddock at 6402100 the tribune attention flyer advertisers we can deliver your flyers or as little as 35 cents apiece in markham unionville milliken stouffville uxbridge claremont dickson hill locust hill gormley goodwood victoria square brougham hagerman corners box grove cedar grove buttonville sandford leaskdale greenbank udora sunderland zephyr ashbum cannington and all adjacent rural route areas we can deliver your flyers using the most up to date market demographics including census tract lifestyles fsa neighbourhoods etc call us to discuss your needs we can deliver on the day you want to the area you want any quantity up to 50150 for distribution inquiries call stouffville 905 6402100 or fax 905 6405477