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

weekender october 5 1985 p5 editors 5 mail town should have fulltime firefighters east of mqcowan dear sir since the municipal election date is fast approaching i have noticed your editorials on some of the issues such as overcrowding in our schools speed bumps on local streets ambulance service at night due to the recent strike and twoman patrol cars for our police officers at nighw i also see you are in favor of spending millions of dollars on an emergency 911 telephone system all these issues are important especially the school problem and the emergency services i find it curious that you are in favor of spending a lot of money on a 911 system to save valuable- seconds when you are not in player replies to attack dear sir i read with interest your article intitled mother blasts hockey group and feel that as my name has been used i should have the opportunity to tell my side of the story the article draws a compari son between myself and jeff john son which is unwarranted i did receive a metal trophy and jacket though i was unable to play as a result of a broken leg however i feel my actions earned me these awards i do not feel that jeff de monstrated a simular level of com mitment to the team my leg was broken during a hock ey game jan 31 and i was hospital ized immediately four months la ter i required an operation to straighten my leg and i wore a cast for seven months used crutches for five months and was completely un able to play hockey to my knowledge jeffs knee in jury never required him to leave during a game and it was never apparent to myself or the other team members as often as i was able i attended markham major bantam playoff games travelling to welland strat ford and kirkland lake after jeff stopped playing he was replaced by another player and he attended a few local games during which the confrontations with mr miwa men tioned in your article occurred after late februaryearly march jeff no longer attended any games though the team played until the april finals in kirkland lakewhen the team won the ontario cham pionship finals in kirkland lake all those who attended myself in cluded was asked if they wanted to order jackets the cost was paid by each player since jeff did not attend the four kirkland lake final games he was not given the opportunity to purch ase a jacket by doctors orders i cannot play hockey for another year however i intend to begin playing fall of 1986 or whenever it is safe to do so though jeff is playing football this fall for mdhs a sport known for knee injuries he has not rejoined the markham major bantams or any other hockey team i only belonged to the team for one year but have found mr miwa and the team management both fair and honest and i think their decision was the best that could be made under the circumstances steve ryan markham favor of full time fire protection in the old village of markham full time fire protection in district number 1 would not only save valuable seconds but three to four minutes i find it interesting that most of the issues dealt with are a region al or provincial responsibility markham council is solely re sponsible for the fire depart ment as you know station number 1 is the only markham fire station that is not professionally manned on a fulltime basis you might be interested to know that this sta tion covers the area east of mcco- wan rd from steeles ave to the northern boundary this area is about one third of the total area of the entire town and has at least one third of the population the politicians will tell you that fire protection is not an election issue because the fire chief says the protection is adequate station one has an average re sponse time of almost six mi nutes the ontario fire marshall recommends three the human body cannot live without oxygen beyond four minutes and chil dren who make up a large part of this community are at greater risk the fire chief who is appointed by our elected officials and who has to work in the political arena calls our fire protection adequ ate 1 call it deadly public apathy being what it is i would guess most taxpayers are either ignorant of our level of fire protection dont know what our level of fire protection should be or just dont care because they will never require the services of the fire department it is my belief that our elected representatives have a duty to provide the best safety services that the town can afford i ask the politicians why are the residents living east of mecowan rd not receiving the same level of fire protection that the rest of the town receives with a 22 million dol lar surplus in the town budget the money is available i guess the only conclusion that one can make is that when it coni es to public safety where there are no corporate head offices the town councillors put the almigh ty dollar first bradley c jackson markham hes offended dear sir with regard to your recent editorial on the possibility of don cousens running for the leadership of the ontario progressive conservitive party as a constituent of mr cousens i was deeply offended at what appeared to be your considerable bias against him mr cousens has served this community well working for ex tremely long and hard hours yet on the few times that i have sought his help and advise he was instantly accessible yes its true that he was only a cabinet minister for a short time yet you ignore the fact that both of the leaders of our major national parties were selected as leaders at times when they were not even members of parliament let alone ministers or deputy ministers in short sir with mr cousens wealth of experience both in business and government far from treating his possible condida- cy lightly you should be proud of the fact that he has distinguished himself enough that he would be considered as the leader of a major political party yours truly ray parry distinctively you fall is here so before you change your wardrobe come and have your colours done you will receive a makeup make over and your seasons colour swatches too ii you would like your makeup profes sionally done for a special occasion then give us a call and we will even come out to your home we provide professional personal ized service call now 4714337 v ii ifotia genite oj attetduut fashion show saturday oct 5th 12 noon 2 pm fall fashion has arrived at woodside square your fashion sense quickens its time for something crisp and brisk to match the new sea- son so bring a friend along and enjoy the show finch ave east at mccowan rd were open mon fri 930 930 sat til 600 pm