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m j t t economist suntribune thursday dec 16 1999 stdufmelribune a metroland community newspaper 37 sandiford dr suite 306 stoufiville ont l4a 7x5 v publishen iain froudfoot general manager alvinbromver editor in chief brenda larson director of advertising debra weller deputy editor debora kelly editor julie caspersen production director cherikay distribution director barry goodyear online publishing manager brian kirlik classified manager ann campbell retail sales manager stephen mathieu inside sales manager stacey allen business manager margaret fleming office manager vivian oneil editorial inappropriate to revisit old rejected water plans york region residents who dont want to drink lake ontario water should not be cele brating the regions decision last week to revis it its water supply strategy jsarrihg the lake running dry thats where the water will be coming from j three years ago after much study and con sultation york region decided its best long- term water strategy would be to build a 911- miiiion water pipe through neighbouring durham region with yorks population boom ing the region needed an effective way to pro vide new communities with water under the plan water would be collected from the lake between the pickering nuclear power station and a toronto sewage treatment plant and would supply markham vaughan richmond hill aurora and newmarket york and durham are still talking and what holds true three years ago holds true now the plan was costeffective the water qual ity was acceptable and residents would see a reduction in their water bills so why is the longterm water team consid ering abandoning the plan three years ago york considered piping water through peel region at the time peel didnt think it needed to increase its water sup ply and that would have left york bearing the brunt of the cost of a new pipe but peel now needs a new water infrastruc ture and its estimated that york could save oetween 50 million and 65 million if peel were its partner rather than durham in addition york and peel already have a sewage agreement which could act as a legal framework for a water supply agreement its great that the region would look at the most costeffective options for residents its reassuring to know that regional officials will reexamine a decision if itbecomes appar ent there may be better solutions available but it certainly isnt an appropriate time to start revisiting old rejected suggestions that did not meet the regions requirements three years ago such as building a pipe to georgian bay at a cost of 12 billion if the move to a partnership with peel region becomes reality york still has the same and result a dependable water supply from lake ontario delivered in a costeffective way every christmas season editorial cartoonists from victoria 1 toft johns gleefully ripoff dr seuss famous character as a i symbol for greed evil and corruption this year create your own j grirtch by cutting out the j face of the politician corporate bigwig or spoiled millionaire athlete of your choice and sticking it in the s appropriate space j it could be paul martin for continuing to tax us silly mike harris for the hospital j emergency room crisis i or the head of the wto for putting profits over human rights the list is endless its fun its easy and it s wont change a darn thing bi letters to the editor trempes legitimate lawsuit nothing to do with money re lawsuitover dog bite death wont bring courtney back nov 30 in response to laurie vanzeelands letter of nov 30 regarding the death of courtney trempe i would like to point out to her that the lawsuit being brought by the trempes has nothing to do with money the trempes fully realize nothing is going to bring courtney back their hope is that this horrible tragedy does not happen to another family i feel they have a legitimate lawsuit against the police for not investigating the case the way they should have and the owner of the dog who knowingly allowed a dog with a his tory of aggressive behaviour to remain in a community where inevitably it would come in contact with other people until people who harbour aggressive dogs are sent the message that they are responsible for harm done by their dogs we will continue to have dogs in our communities that are a danger to others and should not be there i resent vanzeelands description of the trempes lawsuit as a vendetta it is a normal and acceptable action in our society to sue the parties we feel were negli gent and caused such pain and suffering i feel that the trempes are doing the right thing it is the only way the message is going to reach people who keep vicious dogs in our communities you are responsible evelyn tobias markham theft of seniors adult tricycle an unforgivable act right off the top let me make it clear that this is not a poor little me letter that said who was the meanie who artful ly stole my bike from outside the front door of my seniors apartment building and why sincethis over70 lady riding her adult tri cycle is such a weu sight in stoufiville and everyone knows the tricycle belongs to me i doubt the few dollars it would bring would be worth taking a chance on even though my poky old bike would be of no practical use to the thieves pinching it probably served momentarily as an amusing way of getting their kicks if i only rode my bike for fun i would be quite willing to part with it to someone who needed it more than i do but as it happens i am that needy person this is not a bid for sympathy you can skip the sobbing violins but in the after- math of a lifethreatening physical disorder coupled with osteoporosis i have difficulty walking thankfully even without my bike i still have a lot rosier prospects than when i was first hit by these afflictions oh yes ill survive the loss of my adult tri cycle but my emotional reaction to how host it is an entirely different matter all i want to do now is to let whoever com mitted the offence know that to me it was no insignificant misdemeanor it was a heartless act and being so was unforgivable margaret stapley stouffville letters policy stouffviue tribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the newspaper reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space write letters to the editor 37 sandiford dr suite 306 stoufmlieontl4a7x5 email lettersfirtoufttiibcom stouffville tribune serving the community since 1888 mm dde canadian circulations 1 audit board member ontario press council canadian publications mail product sales agreement 11403419 subscription rates by mal 1 year 6955 tuesdays only stouffville tribune published every tuesday thursday and saturday is one of the metroland printing publishing and distributing ltd group of newspapers which includes the fijaxpkteang news advertiser abiston heraldcourier barrie advance barrys bay this week bolton enterprise brampton guardian burlington shopping news burlington post city parent collingwoodwasaga connection- east york mirror erin advocatecountry routes etobicote guardian flamborough post georgetown independentacton free press kingston this week lindsay this week midlandpenetanguishene mirror milton canadian champion milton shopping news mississauga news newmarket- aurora georgina erabanner northumberland news north york mirror oakviile beaver oakville shopping news orillia today oshawawhitbyclaringtonport perry this week peterborough this week richmond haithomhiljvaughan liberal scarborough mirror stouffville tribune tbdas seniors uxbridge tribune and city of york guardian phone 905 6402100 fax9056405477 classified 18007433353 distribution 95 6402100 telephone 905 6402100 fax 905 6405477 email newsroomstoufftribcom daveteetzel m tunacari poucermtarks -jr- ave tsubouchi hada pretty 1 good streak runnings but for i w york region residents par- ticularly police officers the markham mpps recent remarks on police hirings will seemat least as outra geous as his suggestions about dented tuna tins his assertion that municipalities should hire officers without help from his government will be a subject for con siderable debate but its hot unreason able given that the province has already increased its funding for new officers by some 70 million since it took office but my eyebrows did the high jump when i read his assertion that back when he was a municipal councillor he took care of the police department for the record tsubouchi was a ward councillor andtherefore had ho direct vote on york regional police issues but since he wants to attach his tenure as a councillor to police funding here goes tsubouchi was on markham council from 1988 to 1995 by the end of that period york regional police had the lowest policeperperson ratio in the greater toronto area with one officer for every 802 residents had the lowest per capita spending on police in the gta about 100 per res ident had no spousal abuse or sexual assault units didnt even provide cell phones or pagers for most of its hostage negotia tors and detectives according to a 1994 police union survey 44 per cent of officers said morale was low or very low due prirriar- uy to a staffing crisis york region began addressing its policing problems after tsubouchi moved on although it did so with a lot of help from his provincial government this year yorkregion hired 77 new cops however 33 of those cops were needed just to maintain the current ratio of officers to residents which remains the worst in the gta our per capita spending on policing is stilt the lowest in southern ontario in 1997 york hired 17 new officers and 12 civilians it needed to hire 60 cops but couldnt get them because the ontario police college run by you guessed it the province didnt have enough instructors and therefore didnt have enough graduates to meet the needs of all the provinces police forces earlier this year chief julian fantino warned councillors the police budget will increase at least 14 per cent over the next five years to more than 88 million in short our police bills are going to skyrocket even without improving ser vice fwspv without continued provincial sup port york region may slip back into the pattern of the late 80s and early 90s wr jf 4 w sxima u t i filt mmif 1 nf rv i t 4 i z1 am f r j xt