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

i A Wet Marc THE ERA Serving County Since t 30 St Ontario by Intend Co Limited Subscriptions for tor cm Single cap each Nnvmorkrt Aurora Era to one of the Inland Publishing Co Limited group of suburban newspapers the fry Pickering Ad vertiser Brampton Guardian Burlington Post ETobiaAe Gantte AKarttham Economist and Sun News Beaver This Week and Tribune Member Canadian Weekly Newspaper Association and the Audit Bureau of Circulation Second Class Mall registration number DAVID ft HASKELL Phone Newmarket Charles St Publisher CARTER EditorinChief ROBERT MARTIN News Editor Phone Aurora BLUE ribbon Settle dispute over animals Its time for some action in the Newmarket animal dispute politicking thats accompanied the Ontario Humane Societys directive that animal control officer John Hackson refrain from taking injured animals to the OHS Aurora shelter doesnt solve the problem From the town comes the understanding that its contract with OHS means all animals must be accepted at shelter Mr Hackson backs the town on that theory and adds further that the Ontario Humane Society bills itself as interested in animal welfare raises money locally but provides little to the community in return Shelter manager Judy Loscombe argues that the animal welfare aspect of the animal control contract is understood even though it may not be written into the agreement The town says its just not so So its all a matter of what is or isnt in the contract Frankly we dont care whos responsible for sheltering and welfare of animals as long as its done Some of the responsibility we suspect rests with the pet owner but thats a separate issue Beyond the role of the pet owner the town the humane society and Mr Hackson are going to have to define their specific duties come to a working agreement and set out to serve the The animal welfare aspect doesnt exist needs of the community anymore he laments Enough of this politicking lets get on with The humane society for its part says the toe job per capita grant it receives covers only shelter a A hieher fioes to the the task rather than fighting over who does what toe towns tax dollars would certainly be better animal welfare society officials stress spent Town can buy school The old Alexander Public School building is now available for Newmarket town council to purchase Last week the regional separate school board officially passed on its chance to buy the historic school and under Ontario legislation Newmarkets chance comes next Mayor Bob Forhan went on record during last summers Muir school reunion in favor of the purchase He sees the property becoming the site for a new municipal library constructed historical displays cultural activities reading rooms and other functions During last Decembers municipal elections it was evident that a majority of the towns councillors also favor the plan as does school board trustee and chairman Craig Cribar To see the deal done then it seems all that remains is for the public school board and the town to agree on a price We hope the board will keep in mind that the land and 86yearold school building were paid for by the citizens of Newmarket many many adjacent to the old school building The library years before the regional school board came into design would incorporate the school building existence and that the town proposes to return making its spacious rooms available for the site to a civic use Billboard is provided by The Era as an outlet Tor service dabs youth groups special interest groups charitable organizations and many others to get their message about activities into the community And best of all its free of charge If youve got a dance bingo raffle seminar film annual meeting fund raising drive bake sale tea or just an old fashioned get together planned let us help you get the message to those in the community youd like to reach Just give us a call at between a in and pm or after hours phone Please have your submission in by pm the Friday before the edition in which you would like it to appear so we can guarantee it will be printed Let us help you give others the good word An evening of music by classical guitarist Louis Lawlor will be presented at the Factory Theatre on Dr in Aurora Sun March beginning at 830 pm Advanced tickets for the concert are and can be purchased at the Music Shack in the Aurora Shopping Plaza and Cosmos Music in Richmond Hill Tickets are at the door Mr is a native of King City and has studied both in Canada and Europe The program will feature works by composers from the 16th lo the 20th century including Milan Bach Sors Albeniz and VillaLobos For further information call 7272965 or first aid course will be offered in the basement of St Andrews Presbyterian Church on in Sutton at 730 pm For information call 8523 The Cancer Society will hold a unit work meeting March 24 at 2 pm in the Sutton Library Everyone is welcome Ctub will stage a wine and cheese dance at the St Johns Parish hall in Newmarket Sat March 26 from 7 pm to midnight Tickets for the evening are 5 and yearly family membership in the club is 5 All Francophones in the Newmarket area arc welcome For information call Mr A Et en francais Club reunion Samedi Mars St Johns halt Newmarket Vins fromage dance 7 a minuit cotisatioh familte 2296 The Canadian Cancer Society will hold its annual display at the Upper Canada Mall from Thurs March to Sat April 2 A sale of daf fodils the proceeds from which will go to con tinuing cancer research will be held on the Saturday The Newmarket Bantam Allstar Baseball team will stage a teen dance at the St Johns Parish Hall April 15 at 8 pm All proceeds from the evening will go toward a trip to Sweden for team members who woo the Ontario championship last season Admission will be and all are welcome A costume dance with the theme television and movie stars will be staged at the Belhaven Legion Hall Sat March 26 Disc jockey Sid Jones will provide the music and a buffet and refreshments will be served Admission for the evening is per person The World Around Us lecture series con tinues Wed March 30 with a talk by Mamie Knechlel The series takes place at York Pines United Church Kettleby and begins at am Mrs Knechtel is a cofounder and director of the Prison Arts Foundation and a member of the Brant County area committee for the Ontario Legal Aid Plan She has also worked in the news media in both and London Admission for the lecture is and coffee and free babysitting are available The Keswick Friendship Club will present The March 31 at the Keswick Arena at 8 pm Tickets are 1 for adults and 50 cents for children under For tickets call Are you physically disabled and interested in social recreation activities sports or taking action on issues such as transportation em ployment and housing If so contact PROD Promoting the Realization of Ideas for the Disabled in York Region at for more information The Newmarket Baseball Association will hold its registration at Upper Canada Mall all four Saturdays in April Beginning Tuesday March a standard Young Adults for Police Protection YAPP is a new organization geared to fostering better relations between young people and the police If youre concerned about such a problem and can provide time energy or ideas contact Annette Semchyshyn at THE Readers ERA Advertisement for election Like farmers predicting the weather political observers know certain signs indicate an impending election An advertisement in fair In fact I am actually glad the government saw fit to publicize this program and ensure women know their rights However I am a bit your paper last week skeptical about the seems be a clear sign liming Ontario voters will be heading to the polls soon The ad I am referring to was placed by the provincial ministry of labor to in form women about their right to pregnancy leave It is common knowledge that preceding an election the Con servative government uses large amounts of taxpayers money to tell us what a great job it has been doing This ad which contained no new information clearly falls into this category Im not suggesting the leave is not a good idea obviously it is im mensely sensible and Neighbors should aid the elderly The Newmarket Era reports regularly the various activities of nursing home residents and volunteers all of which is good for those senior citizens who really need nursing home care My purpose in writing this letter is to ask to also consider the other side of the picture There are many elderly people in own homes who should be helped and encouraged to stay there to enjoy familiar surroundings their usual activities and privacy Many people already keep an eye on a neigh bor by visiting doing shopping errands making a phone call Meals on Wheels provides a real service May I suggest that that service be sup plemented by more responding to their neigh bors needs Belfry Drive Newmarket Searching for a progressive program to publicize the govern ment turned to one which has been operating for years Pregnancy leave programs between now and voting day Unless the political portents change I think we will have an early election Despite the premiers protestations that he is satisfied with be costly since it will the minority government encompass more than 200 I think Ill trust the signs has been enforced by the employment standards branch of the ministry since and was handled by the womens bureau before that This promotion will weekly papers Despite financial restraints the Conservatives will manage to find funds to nog a good many of their ARTHUR CHAMBERLAIN President York North Riding Association Enough is enough says annoyed reader I am writing to protest the controversy between Chief Crawford and Councilman ney As an annoyed and concerned citizen I suggest that Mr Twinney has made his point amply and the voters are well aware that they have elected a very active fellow There arc few people who are capable of handling a police chiefs job with magnitude of Chief Crawfords jurisdiction Its not a job for an ordinary man and perhaps wc should allow a few idiosyncrasies Much better have a zealous chief than one who is slack None of us enjoys being par ticularly if we feel a good reason for our hurry to get there However we must be protected from the drunk driver the chronic speeder the accident prone and others who arc picked up by the radar cars Our regional policemen are in my experience gentlemanly cleancut men who do a very good job in protecting us from the bad elements in our society I hope that the on going controversy has incensed other citizens like myself and that they will support police force openly and protest character of our regional the high profile police force politicking and RMWILSON propagandising that is foolishly endangering the Newmarket Consider affairs without the police Some important considerations are bing missed in the current public feud between York Regional Police Chief Bruce Crawford and police commissioner Ray Firstly it appears the two are engaged in a battle of personalities in which key issue my second point is really being missed Ive- seen too many crippled kids in past few years to accept the argument that the current practice of radar enforcement is too rigid You cant have too many police as far as Im concerned If you break the law law is there and its your fault Id rather have more police maybe not as many as the chief says but more officers are needed to prevent crip pling accidents that destroy young lives Everyone in every walk of life has human failings Complaints against the police should be presented the police directly not become part of an annual battle in the press The antiCrawford faction should consider where wed be without our police force SUSAN 818 Arnold Newmarket Cub Kar rally thankful for help AMD DOCKS THOUGHTS f On behalf of the Cub Kar Rally Committee and judges we would like thank Maple Leaf Public School the Maple Leaf Advisory Council and Upper Canada Mall for letting us use their facilities to run our first year Cub Kar Rally in South Lake District Being our first year in this venture we learned a lot through our ex periences We realize and HELP with any future ventures we un dertake for your boys Again our thanks to everyone Concerned RICK DOWNEY Cub- master and Committee Chairman EV HART Secretary and Assistant Cubmaster GAIL MC DONALD Cubmaster AL Scoutmaster BALFOUR HART Assistant Scoutmaster TED District competition and un fortunately there were a few hurt feelings This was not intentional as the Boy Scouts of Canadas leaders have only the boys concern and Inter est at heart Being a judge at this event was very difficult We hope that you will be tolerant with us and support us again next year by coming forth and offering your opinions More letters to the editor on Page Seal census is needed for Newfies What we need is a census of harp seals off the coast of Newfoundland Im surprised some bright young man up in one of the federal departments hasnt already thought of It I know that I am sick and tired of the media circus and the annual nonsense associated with the seal hunt in Newfoundland It happens every year and the real problem seems to the one thing we hear so little about How many seals are there up there Never mind the wailing and the crying about cute little seals being brutally butchered Bloodcrazed sealers running around with clubs killing the baby seals just to satisfy their blood lust Thats a lot of crap If there are as many seals as some people claim there are then they do pose a threat to the fishing industry and should have their population controlled If the control of the population can also make money in the way of seal coats and some form of livelihood for the hunters thats even better But why cant someone come up with figures as to how many seals there actually are Newfoundland fisheries people say there are plenty Tom Hughes of the Ontario Humane Society said in a television interview that there are probably a million seals Green Peace and other protesters of the hunt use much smaller numbers and claim this years quota could wipe out the herd Or at least only one or two more years Who is right Brian Davies of Green Peace said in an interview that an official of the fisheries department in Newfoundland admitted that no one knows how many harp seals are out there on the ice floes If that is so how can our government in all conscience come up with the annual figures for the quota as it does This year I believe the figure is pelts Government officials say they know what they are doing Do they really know how many harp seals are out there Why cant they provide provable figures If our government is correct then lets toss Green Peace Bardot and the whole pack of idiots off the ice floes and tell them to mind their own business As of now Im inclined to believe that there are probably as many reporters and protesters out there as there are seals Why cant we get them all off our backs by coming up with some figures that show that 170000 seals can be killed this year without threatening the herd with extinction I know Im very fed up with the daily media dose of nonsense from the ice floes Particularly when its giving this country such a black eye everywhere else There are many problems around the world of more import than the seal hunt Lets send Green Peace and the others to Uganda where Ida has some quotas of his own Human quotas government come up with the figures and send all these clowns packing Lets take a seal census Send a pile of bureaucrats from Ottawa with their sharp pencils and their endless forms and do a census on those harp seals I realize it wouldnt do mail the forms out as they did with us humans last year In the first place seals dont have proper zip codes No one has been able to train a seal to write to my knowledge They probably can even hold a pencil in their flippers Seals can play the national anthem on rubber horns They can also roll a rubber ball around on their snout I have yet to see a seal write the definitive Canadian novel And it wouldnt do any good to go out on the floes and ask the seals details of their family arrangements They would only bark at you No youd have to go out and count them r Then youd have to make sure that a seal you have counted doesnt double around in front of you and come shuffling up to be counted again Seals are like that Once theyre counted they cant wait to be counted again there has been bad Commissioner JOAN feelings with three or four FULLER District parents of boys We had Cubmaster GEORGE 205 cars entered in- ARMSTRONG District i J I I I Maybe youd leave a little mark on a seal as it was counted I dont know how long it would take but anything would be better than having A this annual bit of idiocy on the ice floes of Newfoundland And now as a public service to minor sports organizations locally a few bits of information Juvenile hockey is likely to return next season in Newmarket That would provide some entertainment for boys who have passed beyond the midget age A list of those boys locally bom in and I960 is now being prepared and they should soon be contacted by organizers of the new division If enough interest can be shown Newmarket Minor Hockey will make room for a juvenile division next year If youd like to play contact Gord at or myself at And more in season right now dont forget minor baseball The annual spring meeting of the Newmarket Baseball Association will be held at the Newmarket Community Centre on Tues April 12 Why not come out and find out what the season shapes up like