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a4 the tribune wednesday december lubb n-jy-i- editors mail v dear editor because friday was a working day for me i was unable to attend the official opening of our towns expanded fire sta- tion however i did make a point to drop in on another occasion for a quick inspec- tion of the facility while i dont wish to sound critical of this department i feel they perform a fine service i question the decision to buy a new truck costing in excess of- 100000 that will stand idle maybe 300 days of the year for council members who pride them selves in being frugal they even wince at buying postage stamps this expenditure is mindrboggling think of it over 100000 for a vehicle that will gather dust much of the time and when it does ven ture out theres no guarantee it will ever reach the source of the blaze due to narrow entrances of some driveways i may be all wet so dont turn your hose on me chief but i question the need for a truck so large in a municipality so small sincerely joseph cohn albert street stouffville no time dear sir my husband a veteran of world war ii and myself a war bride wished to attend a local servce on remembrance day a day supposedly set aside for a few moments of remembering my husbands brother was killed in europe in 1944 and my brother was killed at el alamein in 1942 along with thousands of his comrades on nov 10 we telephoned the whitch urchstouffville municipal office for in- formation on the location of the service we were told there was none that the service had been held the previous sunday we replied the municipal office will be open then the employee answered oh no when we asked why there was no reply for shame i was born after world war i but was taken as a child in england to the cenotaph for two minutes of re memberingeverything came to a stop it only takes a moment cant we spare it sincerely sheila lloyd church street south stouffville bttiaheeler h the tribune one two three established 1888 james thomas editorin chiet andrew p cook advertising manager i barry wwallace publisher editorial dept jim holt jim irving display advertising dept rod spicer bryan armstrong classified advertisingcirculation joanmarshman office manager doreen deacon business office eileen glover national sales representative metrotand corporate sales 4931300 published every wednesday at 54 main st stouffville ont tcl 6402101 single copies 25c subscriptions s1300 per year in canada 35 00 elsewhere member of canadian community newspapers associaion ontario weekly newspapers assocation ontario press councl and suburban newspaper of america second class mail registration number 0896 r the stouffville tribune is one of the metroland printing publishing ltd group of suburban newspapers which includes ajaxwhitbypickering news advertiser aurora bannernewmarket era the bolton enterpise brampton guardian the burlington post the burlington weekend post the etobicoke advertiser guardian the georgetown indpendentacton free press markham thornhill economist milton champion the mississauga news the mississauga news weekend edition the north york mirror oakville beaver oakville friday beaver oshawa this week oshawa this weekend the richmond hillthornhill liberal the scarborough mirror the woodbridge vaughan news window on wildlife- i- to kill often makes sense byartbriggsjude 6402100 editorials flowers for the living it was three weeks ago that hydro chairman ken laushway visited our office and announced quite casually he would not be seek ing reappointment to the commission for another term we didnt debate his decision in fact we offered no comment because in all honesty we didnt feel he was serious however we now know that he was and we regret we didnt attempt to talk it over not that any pressure we might have exerted would have altered anything he had already made up his mind stepping down from the towns top hydro ipost is not in the opinion of many any caus jfor great concern most its safe to say ex- rjcept when their power goes off arent even aware the system exists let alone care who operates it and yes were much the same hydro in stouffville as in ontario is a service thats taken for granted and so are the people who maintain it but ken laushways resignation means more to this community than merely one man stepping down from one position it marks the end of an era an era of devoted political ser- vyice that has spanned a total of 34 years few will ever come close to equalling his record and fewer still will surpass it however community service should not be measured in time alone but in accomplish ments in this area also there are few his equal as reeve of stouffville and mayor of whitch- urchstouffville his record of performance could fill a thick book space will permit the listing of only a few the sr citizens apart ment on elm road the conservation area flood control dam and the town square there are many more all projects that benefit ted the municipality greatly ken laushway was adept at working be- hind the scenes more than one project came to pass simply by speaking to the right person at the right time he was short on patience with people who refused to take their political positions serious ly his manner sometimes abrupt was irritat ing to those who didnt know him well but he was never satisfied with being second best an obituary hardly better flowers forthe living we say after 34 years no one in our midst is more deserving of a bouquet ken laushway has served this community well the least we can say is thanks st nick brings smiles santa claus comes to town this saturday the kinsmensponsored parade begins at 2 ipm from the intersection of stouffcr and north streets at tenth line north it will con- dude at westlawn crescent this procession that has seen both good years and bad has been a success ever since the stouffville kinsmen took ll under their yring this orgahatton as small as it is has a way of putting a parade together they arc aided of course by the kinetics plus the co operation of the entire community without this a project of such magnitude would never materialize a santa claus parade costs money many thousands of dollars jn this regard its oft been said that such funds could be used for a much better purpose for what better purpose than to make children happy were not sure until such time as someone comes up with a sensible suggestion we say let it be with so much economic gloom surrounding us all the time its nice to see frowns transformed into smiles- for one afternoon at least so join the sideline smiles this saturday the remedy may be temporary but a little relief is better than no relief at all the other day an ad appeared in a large daily newspaper proclaiming fur week as horror week for animals an eye catching heading with an emotion stimulating picture of a rac coon badly mangled in a teg hold trap a two paragraph treatise also described what hap pens to such animals in the wild when they become victims of these heinous devices set by some inhuman backwoodsman it further stated you could save these furbearers by not wearing furs or by using those made of synthe tic material a final caption stated trapping must cease and it was signed by the animal defence league or canada ordinarily such a condensation of damning evidence and the suggested simple solution could make most people jump on the anti trap bandwagon however there are among us enough level headed persons who fortunately want a few more facts than a simple ad can show beforethey form their own opinions on the harvesting of animals for the fur industry and although it is always much easier to attack than to defend i would like to present a few facts in defence of canadas fur trade as it is today- the animal defence league of canada is made up mostly but not entirely of well- meaning people they have in the us a coun terpart called friends of animals inc they too are mostly wellmeaning citizens but some times they get carried away and lose touch with reality now because of some unfounded facts and malicious intent this latter group currently faces a 30000000 lawsuit brought against them by the connecticut trappers association i just hope the canadian organiza tion hasnt been rigging the evidence or they may find themselves facing a similar situa tion and thats a lot of donation money when these people say stop trapping what in effect are they really saying stop trapping and 70000 trappers in canada have lost a source of income that 12000 indians can no longer supplement their food supply with beaver muskrat lynx etc why the food value of our furbearers alone exceeds four million dollars annually i wonder how they think they are helping our native people who supply one fifth of all canadas wild fur when they come out with such statements do these well- meaning people also realize just how many of those new litre measurements of petroleum it takes to manufacture one synthetic fur yet its interesting to note that wild fur like timber is a renewable resource and that despite con tinued trapping from the earliest times no canadian furbearers are on the endangered species list arent they really saying stop cruelty to animals by man because in the wild every creature is food for another and none ever dies of old age its nice to think of a lot of little utopias where the wild creatures can live un molested but mankind has altered the face of the earth so much that such an existence is next to impossible what do you do for example when a family of raccoons moves into your attic nothing youd better do something because you could be faced with a thousand dollar refinishing job move them out in the country where they can run free wait a minute dont the already resi dent coons have that territory now youve got a fight for possession on your hands and likely more coons than the area will support so when we get too many in a given area they suffer from food shortages and become susceptible to disease which is natures way of harsh control remember rabies can onlybe transmitted when theresan abundant supply of warm blooded wildlife similarly- mange and tularemia are also most prevalent when anim al populations outgrow their supporting habi tat isnt it better to manage and harvest the furbearers in an area so that the strong stock remain i dont particularly enjoy encountering a suspected rabid fox on my way to the barn or again worrying whether it came in contact with our horse or- other livestock maybe i should have just let it go but im funny like that because some kid down the road might have misunderstood the animals plight and tried to help it now lets look at the methods used to take these furbearers and to a lesser extent nui sance animals oh yes beaver if not kept in control will flood hundreds of acres of land now if you live in a quiet residential city street that may not pose a problem however to a woodlot owner or farmer- that could mean a good part of his livelihood and muskrats too can reek havoc with earth filled dams caus- ing eventual loss of water i think if you were in the farmers rubber boots youd want your cat- tie to have a fresh drink in the heat of the sum- mer too the reason i mention beaver and mus- krat particularly is because aquatic animals such as these make up 75 of the fur harvest excluding seals and despitethe misinforma- tion offered these waterdwelling mammals are actually killed in from two to twelve mi- hutes most are taken underwater with instant kill onibear or leg hold traps attached to drowning devices the real truth of the matter is that a trapper makes a set to dispatch the animal as quickly as possible he has feelings too not only tp prevent suffering but also to ensure there is no scuff damage to the pelt its his product to sell so the better the condition the better the price and instant kill conibear traps not legholds are being used more and more for the taking of mink raccoon fisher and marten then- too the newly developed foot snare for fox wolf arid coyote is due this year and it is so selective and easy on the foot that dogs cats or other unwanted animals may be released with hardly a sore ankle so you see while the trapping profession may be among the oldest in north america its methods are certainly not and while some people get all concerned that trapping is caus ing fear and agony in the wildlife community the true facts do not bear out this anxiety and if people are going to pity the beaver swim- ming in its own environment maybe they should rather think about the lamb waiting in the shute at the slaughterhouse- editors mail democracy at work dear editor as a comparative new resident in whitchurchstouffville im not wise in the ways of politics as it applies to a semi- rural community perhaps things are done differently here than in a city the size of toronto regardless im dumbfounded at the thought of one candidate opposing another with respect to an election re count this as i understand it is what occurred in ward 6 if this wasnt bad enough mr sanders had the nerve to suggest that he only wished to prove that the election pro- cess had been carried out fairly in my humble opinion this is exactly what the recount will prove what may i ask would councillor san ders have said had the judge refused the recount application on the grounds that his points in the eight affadavits were more conclusive than what mr stone- house had presented this could very well have happened as i understand it fortunately the judge in this case must have seen through the sanders tactic and allowed the recount on the strength that the result was too close for com fort had he not i personally would have called for a new election in ward 6 even though im not a resident in that area as i said at the outset politics may be different in a semirural community as compared to a city regardless i hardly think the democratic principles arc altered on the basis of a municipalitys size i certainly hope not sincerely bernard thompson whitchurchstouffville w j cm