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p 4 the tribune tuesdayoctober 141997 e f 5 f e- ii o i i st tuesday october 14 1997 vol 109 no 65 the tribune comment opinions send your letters to the editor to the address below editorial let cooler heads prevail in dispute okay everybody take a few deep breaths and step back from the brink of conflict with the surprise change of education minister last week ontario teachers and the harris government policy makers can take a step back from the looming crisis in our schools instead of planning strike actions which threaten to close class room doors confuse students and upset parents teachers can con centrate on their jobs and allow time for the new education min ister dave johnson to get a handle on the issues hopefully as a postsecondary degree graduate with a reputa tion for successfully handling explosive labour issues johnson will have more credibility with teachers and their union leaders than john snobelen a highschool dropout it would be naive to assume theres been a change of heart at queens park many if not most of the education reforms in bill 160 will be implemented even with a new man holding the portfolio teachers realworld concerns about the bills effects on their classrooms and students arent likely to change either teachers hope the change of ministers is a sign the government wishes to avoid an ugly confrontation which would hurt the stu dents the very people both sides say they are trying to protect everyone agrees on two things change is difficult and changes are needed to ensure ontarios education system is first class if those two mantras are considered by both sides in future dis cussions and cooler heads prevail hopefully the dispute can be resolved then schools can return to being the halls of learning not the trenches of warfare r well for que thanksgiving dinner we had tuna porkn beans and apple sauce my daddy t0okthe wrong bags to the food bank j srrri turkey level playing fields in many wards it aint over til the fat lady sings is one of my very favorite sayings waiting til the big gal belts out a song applies to much in life including munic ipal elections remember anything can happen sometimes we get lucky and it does in this business waiting is not done considering this i took a hard look at the candidates seeking office in both whitchurchstouffville and uxbridge one thing is absolute the candidates are worth a trip to the polls on november 1 0 i have little respect for people who dont vote i cant take them seriously in fact i lump the apathetic together with the parasites of our society theyre the first to complain the last to help and the reality is they cost us far far more than theyre worth having said that lets not waste any more time on deadbeats instead lets deal with you the voter the mayors race in whitchurchstouf fville will be hard fought one thing is certain incumbent mayor wayne emmerson wants to be reelected the man likes the job do not 1 repeat do not underestimate mayoralty candidate mike watson his is a serious challenge since emmerson and watson arc both bull dog stubborn this campaign will be anything but dull its a different story in uxbridge unless incumbent mayor gerri lynn oconnor docs something really stupid shell be reelected in a cake walk while mayoralty candidate june davics will try the voters wont deliver her way when it comes to mayors uxbridge has been spoiled former uxbridge mayor the late gary herrema was con sidered by many to be the best mayor in ontario his were difficult shoes to fill but bill ballingcr filled them ballingcr whos now a stouffvillc businessman was an accomplished mayor and an even better mpp id feel a wee bid insecure if i had to follow herrema and ballingcr into any sitical arena such was not the case iijh oconnor from day 1 oconnor off the record joan ransberry cism i have is oconnor needs to smile more often before addressing the indi vidual ward races lets get this straight an acclamation carries this message youre doing a good job keep it up id like to congratulate acclaimed whitchurchstouffville ward 4 council lor cliff dunkeld and uxbridge ward 1 councillor bev northeast and ward 5 councillor larry austin at this point most of the ward races in whitchurchstouffville are too close to call its an evensteven between steve pliakes and frank martino in ward 1 between helene johnson and mark car roll in ward 2 between peter dobrich and sophie angelis in ward 3 and between incumbent councillor mark kostandoff and sue sherban in ward 6 while whitchurchstouffville ward 5 incumbent judy scala will be reelected shell have to work for it since challenger judy saabas is a gogetter in uxbridge the race to watch is in ward 3 incumbent ron johnson is fac ing stiff competition from frank wein- hold and faith neumann in uxbridge s ward 2 keep an eye on ted eng hes giving incumbent coun cillor bev beach a good run and when the the day is done carol kuula will have good reason to be proud of her showing its a level playing field in uxbridges ward 4 political newcomers brian hcddle and suzanne redford are both keen this ones too close to call happy campaigning and the winner by a whisker is if the way to a mans heart is through his stomach the way to a childs is through his or her animal companion this fact was brought painfully to mind when your correspondent was asked to judge the childrens pet show at markham fair my experiences in judging baby contests did not prepare me for the excruciatinglytough task of rating hedgehog over hamster or mea suring the cleverness quotient of a dog who danced and rolled over against that of a cat who snuck a snack from its owners mouth even apparently straightforward cat egories such as shortest tail biggest paw and longest whiskers were fraught with unanticipated pitfalls do you know what happens when you try to measure a dogs tail the dog tucks said appendage firmly against its body refusing all attempts to prise it away long enough to accom plish the task at hand then theres the tape measure with its tiny perfect figures a year ago i could have read it with case at the fair i was obliged to seek out a spot where the light was bright enough for my des- pcrate squinting to reveal the statistics which ivborbkrkijtyrtjfcak apottntial kates corner kate gilderdale champion it was not denial or vanity that made me neglect to pack my read ing glasses so much as the increasing vagueness which is the lot of the increasingly middleaged the most exciting part of all was try ing to determine which cat had the longest whiskers as a lifelong feline fancier i had never before noticed that whiskers on individual cats come in an astonishing variety of lengths some curly some straight and cats as we all know arc not in the business of accommodating humans unless their attentions lead directly to a full stomach you may laugh but just try and cajole a cat intent on burying its head in the sanctuary of a familiar shoulder into letting you 1 find and 2 measure its longest whisker all of the above j pales into in- slgftiticaltcrnswcver wilrt my fect- ings at the beginning of the contest when the announcer declared here comes the judge a singular noun meaning me the buck stopped firmly at my feet and given the reverence with which owners regard their pets that was a scary thought should i leave the coun try until whispers of whiskergate died down should 1 have my calls screened and avoid walking the streets of stouf fvillc uxbridge and markham happily the large crowd seemed more intent on enjoying itself than apportioning blame for blows to a beloved pets selfesteem as an avowed animal lover i would have liked to award all the contestants best in show their young handlers also deserved a collective award for sports manship and enthusiasm and for not encouraging fido to take a chunk out of the judges leg as for the organizers those volun teers who spend countless hours putting such events together they have my undying admiration now that ive had my one and a half hours of fame in the entertainment tent in front of a capacity c towd jm beginning to warm iff rife stouffville tribune a metroland community newspaper patricia pappas publisher andrew mair editorinchief julie caspersen editor debra weller director of advertising mike rogerson retail advertising manager stacey allen classified manager barry goodyear director of distribution vivian oneil business manager pamela nichols operations manager about us news 905 6402100 retail sales 905 6402100 classifieds 9056402874 distribution 905 6402100 fax 905 6405477 email thetribistarca 6244 main st stouffville ont l4a 1e2 tho stouffville tribune pub lished every tuesday thursday and saturday is one of v the metroland printing publishing and distribution group of commu nity newspapers which includes ajaxpickcring news advertiser alllston heraldcourier barrie advance brampton guardian burlington post city parent collingwoodayasaga beach con nection east york mirror etbhi- coke guardian georgetown 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