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

at braces mill k v 4kw- m a great deal of the attraction of crosscountry skiing derives from the quiet enjoyment of the open countryside this idyllic picture portrays a mood that is nearly impossible to capture with most other winter sport the several trails through bruces mill offer several options and give people an opportunity to avoid contact with other people although a skilled crosscountry skier can make the sport look ridiculously easy it can occasionally cause a few difficulties for z- the novice this lady who shall remain anonymous came out second best in her encounter with a tree john montgomery r uxbridge- this- township should retain icoritroljofi deciding how andwhere gravel should bemined within its borders council was told iastwcek o former uxbridge councillor clark muirhcad said in a deputation that drafts of the regional official plan as they now stand would place the power over gravel mining in the former councillor appears control his concern hands bf a regional body he said the philosophy behind the draft plan is if theres gravel there mine it mr muirhead added that because of their experience and closeness to the issues involved council should fight to retain control over the gravel industry councillor bill ballingcr a regional planning and develops nient committee mem ber disagreed saying some of the measures governing the aggregate industry might not even go through because they are too tough he said there was no sense in passing restrictive measures if they would only be overruled by the province rmrv muirhead also questioned the whole criteria for mining gravel from uxbridge for toronto uses the fact that the resource is there is no justification for destroying the land scape he said councillor maustyn mcknight added that in 50 to 75 years all were going to end up with is moon craters uxbridge mayor ichairs committeel interest write off request board says charges stand c lisa merbs of toronto is shown here crosscountry skiing at bruces mill con servation area the prohibitive cost and dreadful lineups at ski resorts have helped make crosscountry skiing an increasingly popular alternative to downhill skiing the local conservation ares are open for this purpose aurora auroras request to writeoff a 2815 interest charge for late payment of its educational levy was rejected by the york region public school board monday night since the town was assessed the interest as the result of delays in striking the 1975 mill rate council argued the penalty for interest should be forgiven but newmarket trustee craig cribar noted that only markham diid aurora had failed to either pay on time or when they did pay late assumed the interest payment dr if somebody paid it em time somebody had it metro expansion north at york request mckeough barrie any e x p a ns ion of metropolitan torontos boundary north into york region will come only at the request of the region darcy mckeough on tario treasurer and minister of economics durham officials see barrie trip as joke barrie a special trip here by durham region officals to meet with provincial representatives about spending guidelines has been termed a joke and a total waste of time by some of those at tending uxbridge councillor bill ballinger said that it was highly political meeting with little opportunityto ask provincial officials specfic questions i in pickering councillor jack andersons view nothing came out of i really that was not known already ontario treasurer darcy mckeough and education minister thomas wells made presentations to i the delegates among others the- province announced they planned to increase their assistance to local governments by no more than eight per cent or 230 million in 1976 and intergovernmental affairs said here last week the ministers statements came during a press conference following a meeting between school board and municipal officials from york and three other counties and regions i weve made it clear that the boundaries stay the- i same f imr mckeough replied when asked about metro growth into york he noted however that government policy can change the provincial of- ficiakwas asked if the parkway belt a grecnbelt utilities trans portation and ribgrowth corridor along highway 7 would form a more natural political boun dary certainly theres been some thinking that the parkway belt might form a better boundary he said but i think mr davis is on the record as opposed j- noting that the robarts commission on metro toronto has considered metro ex pansion into york mr mckeough said i think it would only happen at the request of york- i wouldnt want to go publicly or the record as dissagreeing with a former premier of on tario on a report that hasnt been made public yet he said a on time said the newmarket trustee if they had it on time how could they blame us the school board must assume respon sibility for the problem said aurora trustee norm wcllcr this board has created the problem because we were late he noted the boards failure to act on the aurora request could create difficulty in the future he warned mr weller said several municipalities are considering distributing special bills if the board levy is late the cost of the added billing and collection will be levied against the board he said education director sam chapman said municipalities have historically held the edge when it comes to education tax under provincial legislation muni cipalities collect education tax throughout the year but only turn over the money to the board at specific times during the year he said while a homeowner is assessed a penalty for late payment of his educational taxes the penalty is not turned over to the board mr chapman added they get the ad vantage of tens of thousands of dollars as a result of the cash flow arrangement the law sets up ho explained the board approved maintaining its established policy and asking aurora to meet the requested payment mr weller markham trustee chris mcmonagle and east gwillimbury trustee joy horton opposed the motion durham region among ap- ipointments made wednesday uxbridge m mayor carl puterbough was named to be j chairman of the regional public works s committee b pickering mayor george ashe will continue as finance chairman k uxbridge regional councillor bill pf ballinger will continue with the planning u committee while pickerings jack an il derson will serve on the public works and the police commission elected by council to the metro toronto i and region conservation authority were i mr anderson mr ashe and mrballinger among others concert series set for latcham hall man badly burned by exploding gas stouffville the first of a series of winter night concerts will be held this coming friday jan 16 at latcham hall according to a poster put up by the organizers the winter nights concert series has been organized to bring to the stouffville area some of the finest established and emerging canadian musical talent this weeks concert is by bruce miller who is according to the poster one of the strongest young singer songwriters on the scene today the show is at 8 pm and tickets are available at the stouffville sound and music admission is 3 and 20 for the entire series of eight concerts other are scheduled for jan 30 feb 13 and 27 march 12 and 26 and april 9 and 23 stouffville howard ratcliff owner of ratcliff industrial lumber was badly burned jan 8 when a gas can exploded the accident oc curred at the ratcliff yard on the stouffville rd at the 6th cone because of the cold weather gasoline was being used to start one of the trucks a spark ignited the gas the driver tossed the flaming can away and it hit mr ratcliff who was walking nearby the fire was extinguished with snow but not before mr ratcliff received- severe burn on his face heavy clothing and mitts prevented burns to other parts of his body another man jack quinn of richmond hill was also burned but not seriously mr ratcliff was rushed to scarboro centenary hospital according to his wife the burns were not as deep as first feared and he really is coming along she said tuesday political leverage over solid waste pickering pickering and ajax representatives to regional council plan to use a little political leverage to retain present solid waste agreements with metro toronto pickering councillor jack anderson told the tribune he planned to support the rural municipalities in their quest for a regional uniform sewer rate only if the solid waste agreements are retained some- municipalities would like the region to take over the handling of all solid wastes as well there is no ad vantage to us of a regional sewer rate mr anderson said unless we dont lose our present solid agreements v he pointed out that without support from pickering and ajax the regional sewer rate would have little chance of being passed took furniture barn destroyed by blaze pickering over 100000 worth of tools and finished wooden furniture was destroyed saturday afternoon in a blaze that razed a barn on the markham pickering town line the barn on the former norman reesor farm had been expropriated for the pickering airport tenant raymond cowan had been operating a small woodworking factory in the barn v cowan said that he was having lunch in the house when his helper came in to say- the barn was on fire they tried to put it out but it flashed and away it went markham and claremont firefighters attended mr cowan said that his fullyequipped workshop was completly destroyed including power tools as well as over 10000 worth of finished fur- niture ready to be shipped there was no insurance on the contents the factory v manufactured pine furniture such as tables chairs hutchesand rolling pin beds jfc n cause was a furnace back- fire i