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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Why all the burned-out lights? The morning of Dec. 21, first day of my Christmas vacation but still in commuter mode, I was up at 5:15 a.m. Stayed in bed 15 minutes wondering if I would fall back to sleep, but it was not to be. Time to get up and might as well go for a walk to keep those holiday pounds at bay. Walking along Millard Street and arrive at the roundabout at Millard and West Lawn and notice it is awfully dark, due to three street lights being burned out. I continue my walk along Millard only to find another two street lights out about 200 metres down the road. I start to wonder if the town is saving some money by not doing maintenance and hoping the Christmas lights will provide enough illumination for safety? I continue to Madori Park and find two more street lights burned out, right at the intersection where kids will cross to get to the park. Seven lights out in a stretch of less than 1 kilometer, at two busy and already dangerous intersections ­ due to the NASCAR mentality of some drivers. I will now have to Google how to notify the town and see if we can get some lights back on for the long winter nights. I would hope my taxes are paying for better maintenance than I observed and is it a citizen's responsibility to notice this? I would expect the town to conduct their own inspections and ensure all street lighting is providing safe conditions for all. This year was `historic' for provincial news What a year 2015 has been for Oak Ridges­Markham, our province and our country. As Minister of Community and Social Service, I am responsible for violence against women shelter programs in Ontario. In March, I was honoured to join Premier Kathleen Wynne as she introduced our government's action plan to stop sexual violence and harassment -- "It's Never Okay" -- a $41 million investment over three years to strengthen provisions related to sexual violence and harassment. In April, our province made two historic announcements. The first represented the most substantive change to the way beer is sold in Ontario since the end of prohibition. It will now be sold in grocery stores across the province and one of the first stores to have beer is the Jefferson Square Sobeys in Richmond Hill. The second was also in April, when our government announced the largest infrastructure investment in Ontario's history. The number of weekly trips on the Stouffville GO line will increase from 75 to 200 over the next five years, while the Barrie line will see an ented athletes who competed and the volunteers who made the games such a success. Autumn brought a change in government at the federal level for the first time in a decade. I congratulate the newly elected MPs for our community: Leona Alleslev (Aurora­Oak Ridges­Richmond Hill), Deb Schulte (King­Vaughan), Bob Saroya (Markham­Unionville) and our new federal Health Minister, Hon. Dr. Jane Philpott (Markham­Stouffville). I know first-hand how much work goes into a campaign and I congratulate each of them and their teams for running terrific campaigns. They will be tremendous representatives. In December we began seeing planes arriving at airports across our country with refugees from Syria, as we work toward the goal of bringing 25,000 Syrian refugees by March 2016. I've already seen tremendous generosity of many people in York Region as we welcome them and I know we will help our newest residents settle in. As 2015 comes to an end, I wish all of you a Happy New Year and all the best in 2016. 7 | Stouffville Sun-Tribune | Thursday, December 31, 2015 Andrew Durbin Stouffville Act of kindness appreciated The other night, I dropped my wife off at the door of the King's Landing restaurant and parked. When I got to the door, there was a tight crowd standing `round, but I saw my wife being led to a table for two. I said, "Excuse me" and started to head through the crowd. A guy jokingly said, "You can't get past." I replied, "But it's our anniversary". (We celebrate monthly.) He let me pass. When our dinner was over and the credit card presented, the server told us our meal was looked after! And the bar owner came over and said, "Happy anniversary!" So, to the nice guy who teased me at the doorway, a really big thank-you! Wow ! MPP Helena Jaczek Oak Ridges-Markham increase from 70 to 200 trips. Summer brought a chance for all of us to enjoy the beautiful weather and the Pan Am Games. Like many of you, I took every chance to cheer on Team Canada. I had the privilege of watching both our women and men win gold in rugby sevens. I was also watching as Rosie MacLennan of King won gold and Stouffville's Karen Cockburn won bronze in women's individual trampoline. We can't forget Eric Lamaze from Schomberg winning gold in equestrian team jumping, and Andre De Grasse of Markham -- still making headlines after winning gold in both the 100m dash and 200m dash. Congratulations to the tal- Ron Brownsberger Stouffville Got an opinion? Send your letter to the editor to jmason@yrmg.com We would like to wish everyone All the Best for 2016 WIN 1OF 30 VEHICLES FROM $ FR EXTENDED TIL' JAN 4TH/16 1,000 OR OR $ 10,000 IN CASH CREDITS TOWARDS THE PURCHSE OR LEASE ON ANY 2015 OR 2016 CHEVROLET CHEVROLET · BUICK · GMC markvillechevrolet.com 5336 Hwy. 7, Markham (Just East of McCowan Rd.) 905.294.1440