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ADVERTISING 905-640-2612 Classified: 1-800-743-3353 m- 90564043778 The Sun-Tribune welcomes your let~ tors. All submissions must be less than 400 words and must Include a daytime telephone number, name and address The Sun-Nbunc reserves the r1 I to publish or not puhlis and to edit for clar‘ ity and space. L900" to the Editor. the Sumth 6290 Main 8!. Stouflvmo. ON I.“ l07 is comprised of 100 community publbcations across Ontano. The York Region Newspapet Group also includes The Uberal, sewing Richmond Hill and Thornhill, Vaugian Citizen, The Era-Banner (Newmamet/Aurora), Markham Economist York Region Media Group community newspapers The Sun-Tribune. published every Thursday and Saturday, is a division of the Metroland Media Group Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. Metmiand Sun, Georgina Advocate, York Region Bwness Times, Nonh of the City, yorkrogionoom and York Region Printing. Gaffâ€"Tribune 1muon0yrm¢.com Mike Barwille mbanutlleOynngcom dandn’waynngcom Bonnie Rondedu brondeaqurmgxom Carolyn Norman (nonnanOyrmgoom Dawna Andrews 905-640-2612 Fax: 905-640-8778 lETTERS POLICY DISTRIBUTION Jim Mason jmmonOyrmgcom Pmnucnon Ammmc DISTRIBUTION 905oMO-2612 Eonom EDI TOR ML MEDIA Sloufibille NI 0 N gm” wwm? PUBLISHER Ian Prou From a broader base, champions will be developed. From that same base. a healthier country will grow. A country that is so much prouder than it was three weeks ago. The true north strong and free. We have to be competitive. In a world of split seconds, that doesn’t mean always owning the podium. But we must be able to compete with the rest of the world. Locally. we need that support at the grassroots level. As nice as it is to see our countrymen and countrywomen medal at the Olym- pics, it's even more important to see our population participating in recreation and athletics. That requires money, as this country discovered in they years before Vancouâ€" ver. That’s corporate and government dollars. That same country that couldn’t win a gold medal on home soil, as we heard so many times before the Vancouver Games began. Fourteen golds put that dubious dis- tinction to rest. But what does it mean long term? For York Region and the rest of the GTA, we hope it translates into the bar being raised when the Pan American Games come to town in 2015. And that doesn’t just mean building or refurbishing facilities to a world-class level and acting as good hosts. Thank you to the companies that backed our athletes all the way to Van- couver. Still, we need more of you doling out larger sums as we lead up to the sum- mer Games in London in two years and the Pan Am Games. So does hosting the world for two weeks and gamedng positive media attention around the planet So should we. The little county that has so often been in the shadow of the United States can do so much more than talk a good game. The world now sees us in a difierent light. The party we came to know as the Vancouver Olympics is over. But what will its legacy be? Will Canadians see themselves in a better light? We should. “Compare for a moment the Canada that was with the Canada that now John Furlong. chief organizer of the Games, said at Sunday’s closing cer- emonies. Wmning the most gold medals of any nation in winter Games history helps Editorial True north strong, free and golden At Angus Glen, each row offers 31 inches of seating room. while at Clip- pers that figure is 28. At Angus Glen, each row of seats is 21 inches below the row above, while Stouffville has 17. The end result is heads are your view. Mayor Wayne Emmerson, after reading an e-mail from us. said the ice pads are the same as those at Angus Glen in Markham. While the designs are similar, they are not the same. As subtle as the dif- ferences may be, they make a big dif- fenence. If anyone seated beside us leaned forward to get a better view, our sight- line was obstructed, as it was with the heads and shoulders of those who sat in the rows below us. We could not folâ€" low the puck or play up and down the near boards or for a good 10 to 15 feet out from them. The facilities, even with the two fam~ ily washrooms on the upper level, are totally inadequate. The second pad was being used for a practice. Still, there was a line-up in the men’s washroom. Just how long would the lines have been if there were spec- tators for four teams or, much worse, in case of tournament play with eight teams in the building? As a Stouflville taxpayer for 33 years, we had occasion Feb. 17 to visit the Clippers Sports Complex to watch one of our grandsons play for Uxbridge. Our first impressions were quite favourable, until we took our seats and the game started. Then it was absolute frustration. We were grouped together, as is our custom, in seats above the centre red line and our home blue line. Stouffville missed boat with seating, sightlines at new rink Re: Stoufi‘i/ille's new arena no winner: visitor, Feb. 20. Letters to the Editor This survey seems the type a big- oted redneck would put together to try and see if he liked a particular neigh- bourhood or not. Town survey smacks of racism Re: Have your say on future recre- ation, Feb. 13. But the troubling question arises, how come there is no option to put “Canadian” as your ethno-cultural background? Options exist for Ameri- can, South American. Australian, Cen- tral American and a large number of other racial alternatives that do not seem to be any business of the town’s leisure department. It is questionable why Whitchurch- Stouffville’s leisure department needs to know in its new survey the genetic or ethnic background of residents. What is the intended use of the results of this extremely racist survey? Why not have an eye to the future with one of those pads a stadium size for 1,000 or more spectators? Stoufiville calls itself a hockey towrr and is very proud of the Clippers tradition. Once the hockey season starts next fall, the arena staff will receive many more similar comments, especially when Stoufiville hosts a tournament. l [M St LYNN FERRIS STOUFFVILLE This raises the question why a facilâ€" ity has been built now with inadequate seating for just over 300 in each pad. A recent article in The Sun-Tribune said the population of Whitchurch- Stouffville should top 51,000 in the next 10 years. That may be conservative. 1W0 quotations apply: “If you build it. they will come" and “You have missed the boat ". PUBLISHER Ian Proudfoot THEY CALL IT EXTRA STRENGTH 'cmscnw’s WHAT ITTAKESTOOPEN rr! -Tribune CHUCK SUIKKI STUUFFVILLE Emm- IN Cum Debora Kelly Robert Lazurko The assistant coach, who want- ed to have a day job come Monday morning, wisely begged off. What he did do was accurately predict a guy wearing No. 87 would score the winner for Canada. Bingo. The joint exploded. Strangers, many in red and white. hugged and high-fived. What had become a morgue when the Americans tied the score was in full party mode. Beer flowed. Glasses clinked. All stood to sing the nation- al anthem in unison with their hockey heroes on the other side of the country. The shggested greetings weren't Hallmark friendly. They weren’t even PG. Keith Acton was in a precariâ€" ous spot during Sunday’s Can- adaoUSA gold-medal' hockey game. His bosses with the Toron- to Maple Leafs, head coach Ron Wilson and GM Brian Burke, held the same posts with the American team. “Text your boss 21 message,” some of the more than 325 people in Mr. Acton's Boston Pizza in Stouffville urged him before over- time began. All was well again in hockey nafion. lim Mason is editor of The Sunâ€" Dibune. Just as the next generation remembers 9/11. the Indian Ocean tsunami and the Blue Jays winning the World Series. People of my generation will equate it to the days JFK was killed, Neil Armstrong walked on the moon and Paul Henderson scored the goal. Ydu'll know who you were with and where you were when Sidney Crosby scored that goal Sunday night. Unless you over-served yourâ€" self, you know. Busmm The day Sidney made us remember with Jim Mason Off The Top Anvnmsmc, DImllU’l'lON Nicole Fletclwr Omens Barry Black