THEERA Serving York County Since avary at Ovaries St Ontario by Inland Co LI Subscriptions i tor for on calendar Stngla The Era ana of Inland Co Limited group of suburban filch the News Ad vertiser Brampton Guardian Burlington Post Etobkakc Gazette Economist and Sun Mlislssauga Nm Beaver This Weak and Mile Trifxme Member Canadian Weekly Newspaper Assocfaf ton and me Audit Bureau of Circulation Second Clou Malt registration number Phone Newmarket Charles St DAVID R HASKELL Publisher TERRY CARTER Editorin Chief ROBERT MARTIN News Editor Phone Aurora RIBBON AWARD First election for chairman Thursday January will be has been accentuated as more nine definitely defined the characters of the municipalities King East Gwiliimbury and Georgina townships have remained rural and recreational and Newmarket and Aurora have as the ruralurban as the day when York Regional Council held its first election for a chairman Up to that date Yorks chairman had been appointed by the province or elected to the top job in the region by acclamation These are three candidates seeking the retained their positions chairmans chair and all three are respected by centres of this area members of council However Richmond Hill and Former Markham regional councillor Bob Vaughan into highdensity Adams was narrowly Afoted when he ran for centres closely linked with their EL Metro Toronto While a region councillor Mr Adams was a strong voice for the municipality he Newmarket Mayor Bob is also seeking the chairmanship Mr Forhan too has always been a strong voice for his municipality and obviously has the backing of his electorate having received three straight acclamations Garfield Wright the present chairman is the third candidate In the coming term the north and the south will find themselves on opposing sides of such key questions as regional population distribution a redistribution of councils own seats development policies assessment sharing and even regional garbage disposal sites The new council may even have to face a secession movement if the Robarts study of Metro Torontos current structure recommends an expansion of Metros boundary northward as Chairman since Mr Wright has guided already predicting regional council since its birth Whoever emerges as the chairman for 1977- 78 will face some of the thorniest problems of the regions short history Currently council is evenly divided between the northern and southern municipalities with the chairman a resident of a northern municipality taking on the role of moderator The traditional northsouth split which always existed on the old York County council It is then abundantly obvious that the major challenge before the new chairman will be to convince his council to think in terms of the region as a whole and not in those of just one half of it All three of the men contesting the seat are excellent candidates and it is unfortunate that there can be only one winner It is hoped that the candidate regional council elects is both firm and gentle to lead it to didnt disappear when the name was changed to making the many important decisions it has to region In fact if anything in recent years it face during the next two years Put Whalen on the hot seat York Regions farmers will finally get their chance to put the head on the hot seat Friday Federal Agricultural Minister Eugene will be in town to speak to the York Crop Improvement Association at its meeting in the Newmarket Community Centre Mr Whalen has indicated he will answer farmers questions after he gives his speech and that is the time we hope farmers will try to get answers on tome of the problems which have been plaguing them over the past couple of years Marsh farmers will want to know what his government is doing about the shortage of shipping containers which last year hit onion growers who count on the European market for sales and the dairy farmers are having their problems with quotas for instance Thats this Friday at the Community Centre boys billboard Billboard is provided as a service by The Era to groups and organizations wishing to public he coming events If you or your group has a dance raffle film or other event in the near future call The Era at or after S pm A getacquainted coffee evening for new comers to Newmarket is being held by Welcome Wagon Jan 12 at pm at the Newmarket Community Centre Anyone who is new to the area is invited to attend If you have missed your Welcome Wagon call phone Connie Chambers at to receive the newcomer kit Over volunteers are needed to help with activities during the second annual Winter Carnival Feb and Anyone wishing to lend a hand Is asked to call Jack Kienlead at 4764356 The Kinsmen Club of Sutton will again sponsor the Heritage Ball at the Sutton Arena Hall Feb 5 Highlight of the evening will be the crowning of Miss National Heritage Show Queen by last years queen Lynda Walker The new queen will preside over events in the upcoming Winter Carnival The Centennial Accordion Band and Majorettes be staging a Pub Night dance at the River Drive Park Community Hall Jan at pm Tickets are a couple and can be obtained by calling A hot meal will be served and music will be provided by a disc jockey York Region Meals on Wheels is staging its annual dance at the Newmarket Community Centre Feb For tickets caU Marion The Newmarket OneParent Families Association will be holding a Hard Times Dance at the lions Amphitheatre on Lome Ave Newmarket Jan at 8 pm There will be a buffet and music wDl be provided by a disc jockey Prospective members are welcome For information call The York County Rugby FootbaU Club will a dance at Arena Feb 5 For tickets call Kitchen The Newmarket Numismatic Society will hold a meeting Jan at 7 pm at the Newmarket Community Centre Ray Gregory will speak to the meeting on the cleaning hand ling and storage of coin collections The lecture is part of a series being presented by the society dealing with heritage coins tokens and metals entitled A Course in Numbmatlsm The Newmarket Numismatic Society will also be sponsoring coin displays at the Aurora Public library from Jan 31 to Feb On Feb 5 and the will be presenting slide and movies along with the display Jan is the date for the annual Aurora Winter Carnival to be held at the Community Centre The day begins with skating races in Machell Park at pm and winds up with the tree burning at 7 pm and a dance at 8 pm The dance is per person and wiQ feature a disc jockey and bar Also being offered during the afternoon wiU be broomball snowmobile rides toboggan rides downhill and cross country ski ing and sleigh rides The York Symphony Orchestra will stage a fund raising dinnerdance at Banquet Hall In Concord Jan 28 from 730 to am Three Strolling musicians will perform during the sit down dinner with dancing music provided by the Peter group Tickets for the evening are a couple For information Carol Rose A clinic for procedures In detecting high blood pressure will be held today from to pm at the Public Health Centre on St Newmarket On Feb and the Public Health Centre will be staging its high blood pressure clink at the Upper Canada Mall The First East Cube Scouts and Venturers will be staging a dinner at Maple Leaf Public School on Longford Ave in Newmarket Friday Jan 21 from to pm Admission is for adults and for children under Tickets are available at the door Proceeds from the dinner will help send a group of the boys to the Prince Edward Island Scout Jamboree For further information call NEWMARKET OF YESTERYEAR In 1908 Che ice of Fairy Lake supplied the Newmarket major source of refrigeration Teams of men cut it all winter and sold it to fuel dealers who in turn stored it and delivered It to residents for use in Ice boxes The photo above taken by Russell Collins In looks east across the lake and shows Jacob Buck sitting on a pile of Ice blocks with John Collins standing In front of him The latter owned the sleigh and horse Russell Collins Is currently a resident of Aurora Mayors Report t KJfrVijS- Mayor asks citizen help by Thnpvosi I want to take this opportunity to thank you the citizens of Aurora for the tremendous vote of support you gave me in the election last Dec Your new council took office last Wednesday Jan at its inaugural meeting held at Aurora High School I also want to thank Ron Davidson and the members of the Aurora High School Band the Queens York Rangers Cadet Corps the A Squadron of the Queens York Rangers Rev Fred G Hall guest speaker Jim Irving along with Ernie and his staff for their participation during the program and the reception afterwards As of the present time your new council has been in office one week Between the election and the inaugural meeting your new council met twice In organizational meetings with the result that the various standing committees were established and approved at last Mondays council meeting It is councils intention to open up the public safety a salute from the community Is well earned by committee to citizen participation by two members Jack Maclartane Dong Hotoam Jim Norma who are to be full time members of the committee as Bob Doris Hooklngs Jim well as to continue the practice of citizen participation Hussey Dave Jack HamUton Bob on the parks and recreation committee Hookings Ron Brooks the AMHA Mothers the planning and development and the industrial committees wiU allow citizen par- Skating Club the Optimist Club York by any people who have expertise in certain Auro Hlg areas and are desirous of sharing that knowledge for Gold Society and numerous for their the benefit of the entire community Council has contributions in organizing assisting and running the decided that with these two committees it would be better to have a pool of a larger number of citizen participants who can give expertise and help when needed rather than to restrict the citizen participation to just two members Therefore next week advertisements for citizen volunteers will be placed in the local press soliciting citizen participation in these areas If you are interested in such work please send a written note to our Clerkadministrator K B Rodger 50 Wellington Street West Aurora In your note please indicate the committee on which you wish to serve and in he case of the planning and development and In dustrial committees please also indicate the area of expertise or work which you are willing to contribute In addition to these committee positions there are opportunities to be members of the York County Hospital Board the Aurora Library Board the Aurora Committee of Adjustment the York Regional Land Division Committee and the South Lake Conservation Authority Applications for ap pointments to these bodies will also be received by Mr Rodgers office If you wish to discuss the work involved In any of these areas please do not hesitate to call me at or Toronto line during the day This Saturday Jan is the annual Town of Aurora Winter Carnival The program starts at pm with skating races in Machell Park snowmobile rides courtesy of the Aurora Snowmobile at 130 a broomball game between the Aurora and Newmarket in addition to the members of the teams that participated a special salute is given to the Kitchener Kings team upon winning the grand championship for a second consecutive year and to the SoUh Ottawa team upon winning the grand consolation championship It Is my hope to use this column to keep you in formed not only about what and why council Is doing what it does but also to bring to your attention events of community interest If you know of an event that you wish me to mention in this column please let either me or Dorothy MacDooald know at 7271375 and Ill try to include it providing that the editor doesnt run out of space Furthermore hope you will let me know your comments on what council Is doing regardless of whether you agree disagree no definite stand EVENTS THIS WEEK Tonight pm council in committee Ad ministrative Center Thursday 2 pm Regional Council inaugural meeting in the regional council chambers Bayview Ave Newmarket Friday 715 pm Installation of the new honorary commandant of the Queens York Rangers Cadet Corps Aurora Armouries St Saturday pm Aurora Winter Carnival Machell and Parks Aurora Winter Carnival Dance in the Community Center Auditorium per person admission Monday pm open forum and council meeting Administrative Center Tuesday 8 pm parks and recreation committee meeting Community Center boarcroom Letters to the editor King trustees debut As the new King Township trustee on the York Region Roman Catholic Separate School Board 1 would like to introduce myself and relate some of my back ground in community involvement I have been active in such organizations as Nobleton Baseball Association Lions Club parish council parent teachers association and probably most relevant the Holy Name Expansion Committee BUT TO OUR BOAT IT A This committee of parents worked for and achieved ministry ap proval of the Holy Name School addition to replace the aging deteriorating Sacred Heart School Now that population changes within York Region have left King with only one representative on the separate school board I feel that the King trustee has an even greater responsibility to provide effective representation for all our King Township parents Please feel free to call or write with any concerns you might have about your schools BELLON Box Nobleton Refuse to pay new sewer rates Well I see the election is over Now they raise my sewer rate by percent from every two months to a amount there was no explanation at to the reason for such an exorbitant increase I for one will refuse to pay this Increase and only pay the old rate of and I hope that anyone feeling the same way will do the same thing JOSEPH TCLARK as Newmarket By ROY GREEN firefighters at 200 toboggan races at 300 and crosscountry skiing at 400 in Park along with sleigh rides for the younger children at in Fleury Park At 700 pm the annual Christmas tree burning occurs in Park with hot chocolate and hot dogs for all donated by the Aurora Lions Club It is topped off with an adult dance starting at 830 in the Com munity Centre Auditorium with Jackson as disc Jockey The dance admission is per person I hope to see all Aurora citizens out to participate In the program put on by our town parks and recreation departments Lets get out and support them This past weekend the annual Town of Aurora Bantam Hockey Tournament took place Sixteen teams participated from New York Quebec and Ontario An impressive and well run tournament Three views of Yorks future Does Adams have the support of the southern municipalities Can swing enough votes from those who say they want change Will some of those who want change decide to change their minds and stay with Garf rather than elect Adams Can Forhan hang on through one ballot and gain support on a second shot Can anyone win on one ballot Can Forhan get ANY votes from the south Such is the stuff of which elections for the Chairman of York Region is made The election will be held tomorrow Jan and the voters are the members of York Council assuming they all show up The candidates are in alphabetical order Robert Adams a regional councillor from Markham who challenged Tony Roman for the mayors seat there and lost He is currently out of a political job and now seeks the highest post in York Some of his cohorts refer to him unkindly as Mary Adams He was often found voting on the same side as maverick Margaret Britnell and former maverick Evelyn Buck Thus the feminine nickname Robert Mayor of Newmarket Of late he could be classified as Reluctant Robert as he seems to have lost his desire for the race for the post and whatever loss of face might result from a defeat Garfield Wright Appointed to the post by the provincial government and elected twice since by the council Inept according to some of those members The public has no say in this election It might be interesting if people across the region did have a vote The good folks of Markham didnt want Bob Adams as mayor Would they vote for him as regional chairman if they had the chance No one has had a chance to vote for or against Garfield Wright since 196ft when he was appointed as regional chairman How would he do it a public vote today Similarly Bob Forhan has not run in an election campaign since when he defeated two others to become mayor of beautiful downtown Newmarket and parts formerly belonging to King Whitchurch and East Forhan it must be said hasnt been challenged since then and that Is mute testimony of his effectiveness here in Newmarket These are the candidates What is at stake Some would have you believe that Adams will lead the south out of York SCENARIO ONE Adams new York chairman adds more voting power for Markham and the south and votes the southern portion into a new region called Metro North In a few years he rescinds regional govern ment in Metro North by annexing Richmond Hill Vaughan and Snowball into Markham He ap points himself Chairman of Markham now the secondlargest municipality in Metro and has more power than Mayor Tony Roman which is all he wanted in the first place That is somewhat of an exaggeration but the antiAdams forces suggestion runs in this direction AntlForhan people know that he is wary of the increasing power and clout of the southern municipalities at the region If Forhan stays in the race there is some speculation that he will pull out we might see SCENARIO TWO The new York chairman Bob muster the votes of the northern and middle Yorkers and defeat a move to increase Markhama representation on York council Similar moves are initiated to give all southern municipalities only a halfvote each send half of their light industry to the north stop totally stop being so friendly with Metro Toronto and raise their hands before leaving council meetings So goes the extremist thinking if Reluctant Robert becomes the new chairman What happens if he present chairman and the only chairman York had for six years retains his post SCENARIO THREE Garfield Wright is yawn elected as Chairman of York and tobacco dealers breathe a sigh of relief Everyone else just sighs Yorks motto Deeds Speak is taken down and replaced with another Times and theres a vote on the floor People in other regions begin referring to York as Yuck or Yoik and straps are attached to Garf seat at the region so he wont fall out of his chair Thats how the AntiGarfteld view another term for the venerable Wright Is any of it true I dont know if Adams would have tooo strong a southern bias to hurt the overall ef fectiveness of regional council Or if could cause a northsouth split Or if Garfield Wright is as bad as some any he is A change in the chairmans chair would be a strong one Neither Forhan or Adams would advocate the role as referee Instead of active participant as Wright has done Its a question then of a strong chairman leading the council In specific directions or a council that reacts to situations as they occur If it is to be the former the council heading In a specific direction let us hope the direction is not just south or just north Let us hope it is moat of the time anyway in the right direction This weeks Newmarket Question- Why doe the Newmarket Fire Department need a 1 4foot boat if the conservation authority keeps draining Fairy Lake Answer Even when Fairy Lake is not drained it is so full of that it is a flrehaxard i I i I 1 1 ft 4 i