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gjblblfnk turitiamiart 21 lff jj2- sr established 1888 c h nolan publisher jim thomas editor wna published every thursday by inland publishing co limited at 54 main st stouffville ont tel 6j02101 single copies ijc subscriptions s300 per year in canada 900 elsewhere member of audit bureau of circulation canadian weekly newspapers association and ontario weekly newspapers association second class mail registration number 0896 jectitorial take a closer look undoubtedly there are families living within this very community under totally unacceptable conditions however it is sometimes difficult to know unless the circumstances are brought to the attention of persons in authority too often we suspect the cir cumstances are known but due to pressures of other cases the problem is ignored not until something much more serious occurs does the truth of the situation come out we visited a particular home on sun day less than three miles from stouff- ville and were shocked by what we served a family of three living in ab ject filth and obvious poverty without being more closely acquainted with the facts we can offer little sym pathy to the parents perhaps they are totally responsible for their plight but their child weighing just over 10 pounds was deserving of a better fate what bothers us is that someone had to know a nieghbor the family physician the welfare officersomeone but no one did anything fortunately for the childs sake at least something now will be done much later could have been too late a practical objective arthur starr new chairman york regional board of education must surely have won the plaudits of all tax payers in the area with his straight forward remarks at the inaugural meeting jan 6 in it he stressed the necessity of keeping expenditures within budget guidelines as set out by the province in 1971 to accomplish this he said might mean the withdrawal of certain programs that due to too few par ticipants had proved impractical chairman starr didnt name or even suggest just what courses in his opinion should get the axe he didnt have to his point was clear in york at least it is quite apparent the education dollar will be expended with due care and caution a wise new years resolution we wish the chairman well where have the whistlers gone when was the last time you heard someone whistling while walking down the street probably quite awhile whistling was always associated with a pleasant disposition and a happy frame of mind if this is so then the disap pearance of the whistler is indeed a sad commentary on life today weve known and heard many good whistlers in town over the years one of the most popular was the late abe leh man his son don is much the same perhaps the new council should authorize a whistlers week in whit- churchstouffville it might put us in tune for the whole year hes not telling what really happened ray argyle the chap who syndicates this column has written for about the fourth time asking for a new picture of yours truly to head up the column for various reasons none of them worth the powder i havent got around to having my portrait taken but i dont blame him the old one does not do me justice theres scarcely a hint of the bags under my eyes theres little suggestion that im gray as an old billy- goat the deep lines of suffering nearly twentyfive years of domestic warfare just are not there however i have a good reason for not having a picture taken for a couple of weeks at least i have a black eye that is it was black then blue then purple its now a sort of mauve shading into yellow i havent had such a dandy since 1944 when some german guards gave me a goingover for being imprudent that time it was both eyes in fact the first time i got a look in a mirror after the beating i could have been mistaken for a fairly scruffy rainbow theres nothing quite so embarrassing as a black eye it arouses the worst in other people loud and clear what happened to you smiley wife beat you up again and so on those inane remarks to people who ask that i reply tersely yes they dont know where to go from there but to those who seem genuinely concerned i try to find some more exotic reason something to make them think im a devil of a fellow this one happened during the holidays to the first few who came sniffing around looking for scandal i tried this gambit do you realize that the cork from a champagne bottle can penetrate the plaster of a ceiling next time you open one be sure the cork is pointing at someone elses eye that shook them a bit and they went away shaking their heads in admiration orsomething to the next few curious i remarked offhandedly that id had a fight with a cop on new years eve that he was still in hospital and that i had to face charges as soon as he was released they didnt really believe me after a scathing look at my 142 pounds of pure suet but they werent sure he was just a little cop i added i kicked him right in the gall bladder when this palled on me i swore id had a brawl with the paper boy when he said i owed him for two weeks and i said one hes a big paper boy for the ladies i use a different technique i tell them that this lady took a violent crush on me at a party that i was holding her gently patting her back and trying to quench her unrequited passion when her vicious jealous husband hit me right in the eye right over her shoulder with my hands tied up they raise an eyebrow sometimes two but i can hear them muttering together and sneaking glances at me from the other end of the room to others i relate that i was arm- wrestling with my daughter and when she found i was winning she punched me in the left eye with her left fist which she would i have lots of others hit my eye on the rearview mirror when i collided with a snowmobile and everyone else suffered the gallopng plumber terrible lacerations struck my eye on the end of the handle of the snow shovel when i had my first coronary bumped headon into the cat when we were both crawling around under the bed looking for her but i will never never resort to that oldie about running into a door ive run into plenty of doors and other objects in my life but its a pretty cheap way of accounting for a black eye i swear my wife didnt do it she was so ill through the holidays she couldnt have given a goldfish a black eye whats your version drop a line lmtmr mail dear sir i would like to correct an error i made recently when interviewed by a staff reporter from the tribune it relates to happenings of bygone days as i recalled and published in your paper the issue of dec 31 1970 the error concerns the first telephone line in the vandorfaurora area the ink on the tribune had hardly dried when my own telephone began to ring various folks told me that my memory had been playing tricks since the first telephone between vandorf and aurora was in operation in 1901 and 1902 subsequently in consulting the historical sketch of whitchurch 1950 i found the following item among minutes of whitchurch council page 34 1901 george j vannostrand an application to erect telephone poles between aurora and vandorf granted under certain conditions also on the same page among items of business of the council of 1903 the following item appears robert miller application to erect telephone poles between stouffville and bethesda granted subject to certain restrictions the tribune article of dec 31 1970 also stated that miss ethel powell operated a switchboard at vandorf store there was no switchboard at the store but miss powell later mrs wm oliver was most obliging in assisting persons who not being familiar with the new invention or having no telephone in their homes wished to make emergency or long distance calls in 1909 by motion of council the doan telephone company was given per mission to erect poles from the west end of newmarket to yonge street on the north townline davis drive please accept my apology for the above inaccuracies i hope this explanation will help to get both you and me off the telephone hook george e richardson rri gormley editors note in an historical sketch such as you so kindly provided on rather short notice there are bound to be inaccuracies however from the com ments we received the majority of readers both native residents and newcomers enjoyed it immensely portraits of the past tired back to street of the winter of 1971 then think i960 this was a scene on main west stouffville near winona drive the month was february still a few- weeks awavt rsvy eel west stouffville near winona n 3wiunt they called him speedyj by jim thomas every generation has us hockey heroes today through the medium of television the majority of kids select their idols from professional ranks like bobby orr davey keon and bobby hull in my preteen years it was different and while i followed closely the heroics of guys like syl apps bryan hextall and davey kerr my interests werent con fined solely to the nhl not by a long shot why id walk a country mile through snow up to my neck to catch an intermediate game in markham and the fan enthusiasm was the same in stouffville wherever you went that was all folks talked about hockey- hockeyhockey and sometimes they still do not about games present but games past when this happens one name is sure to be mentioned its speedy grove what about this man was he really that good was he really that fast i dont know i never saw him play but those who did and there are still a few around seim lost for words to adequately describe just how good he really was let me tell you said one native recently when bill thats what his mother opled him would grab that puck arid wind up behind his own net there it ends no conclusion just a sigh and a shake of the head but one needs little imagination to picture the rest a fearful goaltender quaking in his crease with defensive bodies flying in all directions speedy grove now 72 still lives at dicksons hill i called to see him saturday while there we talked about a lot of things finally the subject turned to hockey and he immediately dug out an old picture and placed it on the table it was the ringwood club of about 1915 players included bills brother oscar grove cliff tarr ross vague percy pipher ganton barnett and ross har per bill was the rover the club president was cliff pipher and the i manager dave stouffer the team was not affiliated with the oha but instead played in a kind of j community league and tournaments i i can remember he said we played the gashouse gang at markham they had 20 shots to our one we still beat em 31 that was the last game anyone ever played there that night the markham rink burned down bill tends to be modest about his ability fast he questioned maybe i was i dont know it seemed that whenever i got the puck everyone kept their distance he weighed 225 pounds he could shoot left or right and never wore gloves he can never recall getting mixed up in a fight and was never in jured bill admits to possessing a deadly shot give me a four inch space and nine times out of ten id hit it he said he and oscar would practice by the hour during the summer on the barn floor and j in the winter on job kaisers pond shootings the thing he said take gator hardy he was as fast as chain- lightning and had a wicked shot but never knew where it was going bill moved to the big time when he was signed by markham intermediates in oha others on that team included john robb max reesor harry stewart lome glenn and russ cowie later he played with richmond hill receiving 8 per game plus 7 expenses he would drive the horse and buggy or cutter to hoggs hollow then take the trolley iip yonge he was offered a contract to sign with the maple leafs at 55 a wtek but refused instead at the age of 33 he went west never to play organized hockey again money said bill has spoiled local hockey j- taken the fun out of it once you start thnking youre the best the whole cheesejyoure licked for whatever you may think someone will always come along yhose better but tie name speedy where did it come fiom not from hockey at all explained bilj but froiti baseball he was a pitcher but he can recall playing only one game in stouffville his catcher was piggy burkhdder he nearly killed him and while tie opposition never got a hit or placed a man on first the team never asked jiim back again