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a4 tribune april 30 1986 editors mail pleased dear editor i was pleased to read that our high school sdss is involving itself in the toe alpha program i was especially pleased to read that one staff member mr roche took the opportunity at an assem bly to speak out strongly against drinking and driving a practice so prevelent today particularly among our youth mr roche described it as a waste of young lives oh how right he is i can count more than a dozen young people whose lives have been taken in traffic accidents im not saying all fatal crashes were alco hol related but several certainly were please kids if you must drink dont drive sincerely joanne martin rr 3 stouffville parkview village all welcome amazed dear editor i attended two of the meetings on the subject of youth alcohol and drug awareness i was amazed perhaps appalled is a better word at how much these eleven and twelveyearolds know about drugs a couple of mothers i talked to later expressed similar surprise this knowledge is bad if it comes from the wrong source but good if it comes from an informed source i left the second meeting numbed by the fact i knew so little about my own child im a whole lot wiser now i applaud the program and hope and pray it does some good sincerely eileen goodwin stouffville r the tribune ontario community nript james thomas editor aiiocaton established 1888 bruce annan pat pappas publisher advertising manager jenni hutt distribution manager editorial dept chris shanahan kelly connelly display advertising dept lvnn moore real estate classified advertising joan marshman distribution doreen deacon karen heise national sales representative metroland corporate sales 4931300 the stouffville tribune published every wednesday and saturday at 54 main st stouffville ont is one of the metroland printing publishing distributing group of suburban newspapers which includes the acton free press ajaxpickering news advertiser aurora banner brampton guardian burlington post eiobicoke advertiserguardian georgetown independent markham economist sun milton champion misslssauga news newmarket era oakville beaver oshawa whitby this week richmond hilttnornhillvaughan liberal scarborough mirror topic newsmagazine willow- dale mirror metroland printing publishing distributing is a division of harlequin enterprises ltd single copies 50 subscriptions 2000 per year in canada 4750 elsewhere member of canadian community newspaper association ontario weekly newspaper association ontario press council and suburban newspaper of america second class mail registration number 0896 roaming around ss high cost of insurance by jim thomas 6402100 6492292 editorials lighting inadequate the stouffville hydro commission must be wondering if it ever does any thing right because almost everything it does seems to turn out wrong at least thats the way we perceive its operation the latest debacle is the new and im- proved lighting through the downtown core the illumination in our opinion is poorer rather than better instead of leaving the old fixtures on the south side and erecting comparable units on the north hydro erected an en tirely new type on the south sub- standard in our opinion and left the north side the way it was with the business area of stouffville in the midst of muchneeded revitalization the downtown can illafford a backward step such as this improvements are equally important during nighttime hours admittedly the new poles and fewer wires give the downtown a cleaner look but this too falls short of what the business improvement area board and chamber of commerce had requested stouffville hydro it seems operates on a financial shoestring with consum er costs steadily increasing the com mission is hesitant to boost rates even higher so it attempts to make do with what it has and completes improve ments according to what it can afford unfortunately the improvements fall far short of what we need regardless when changes are made they should be changes for the better in our opinion stouffvilles downtown lighting is worse than before what a waste i cant afford to have it i cant afford not to have it im talking about insurance premiums are soaring out of sight protection on my house an abode geared to one of modest means in- creases automatically with the proper- tys value this is good should some thing serious occur it would save estab lishing temporary residence in a back yard tent however as prices escalate the pre mium climbs accordingly last decem ber the bill was 24200 mind you this includes everything fire theft liability the works it would replace our present residence with something comparable there arent many places in stouffville worth less than 100000 all things considered maybe this isnt bad regardless i cant afford to take a chance the day after i let the insurance lapse my collateral could be reduced to ashes while weve all been hearing a lot late ly about increased insurance costs i had my eyes opened wednesday i went in surance shopping with son barry to say i was shocked is putting it mildly i was dumbfounded barry now 23 recently purchased a brand new car a v6 mustang from larry cotter ford near dicksons hill since his requirements were specific black exterior red interior plus a few additional gimmicks the order went straight through to the assembly plant at oakville it will roll off the assembly line about midmay while ive always been a ford man at heart they used to call me henry at high school i wasnt completely sold on the model of barrys choice i tried to talk him into something less expensive like an escort a chevette an acadian or a tempo but to no avail he had his mind set on a mustang no thing else would do sure we shopped around but of allthe ford firms we liked the cotter co best no high pressure just honest-to- goodness facts and figures we were impressed he signed on the dotted line april 5 a first car is a really big deal for any one a first new car is a big deal for everyone barry was proud and i was pleased but the biggest deal was yet to come insuring the beast both of us had been so wrapped up in the kind of car and the cost wed given no thought to insurance barrys face fell to the floor when he heard the news would you believe 2500 i couldnt youve got to be kidding i said but he wasnt 2500 and change at three agencies we tried 2600 at another they laid it on the line all using the same inflated rate book in fact each recommended we go see someone else just to compare one agent called it embarrassing the truth is no one wants to insure a smile of the week dear editor im submitting this brief story from my past hoping it may qual ify as your smile of the week when i attended the little red brick schoolhouse in our section the annual christmas concert was always a big event there was a girl in the senior class no one liked she considered herself better than everyone else she looked down her nose at us all including me at the concert she was picked by the teacher to do a solo dance this increased her snobbishness even more that evening i sneaked into the dressing room and snipped most of the thread holding the top and bottom of her dancing gown together right in the middle of her per formance the two pieces came apart and the skirt fell to the floor the audience and we kids roared with laughter she turned every color of the rainbow it was a mean trick but it cured her of her conceit she treated us as equals after that sincerely kathy erwin rr 2 gormley 23yearold especially a 23yearold i whos only had a licence six months and i contemplates driving a mustang hes what companies call high risk after a year of accidentfree driving the premium nosedives to 1600 at age 25 it drops to around 1200 in it seems there are too many 23-year- olds wrapping their firebirds camarosii and mustangs around telephone poles i insurance firms dont need the aggrava tion but theres more i while talking to the agent at the co- operators i spotted a pamphlet in her office that asked this question whats happening to car insurance costs in ontario the answers put the whole insurance- scene in proper perspective more claims 25000 more in 1984 than in 1983 costlier accidents the average bodir ly injury and property damage payment climbed from 3800 in 1983 to 4300 in 1984 costlier repairs new cars are harder to fix and parts are more expensive and remember this the 6300000 judgment handed down in the case of the young brampton motorcyclist and members of his family following a re- cent accident there that settlement and others to follow has insurance companies running scared son barry may be the safest driver inii ontario but he has to prove it until he docs hell sacrifice 2500 hardearned highrisk dollars steam trains arrival created excitement in stouffville when the steam excursion train made its annual fall trip to stouffville and points north it created consider able excitement people of all ages lined the rightof way and the station platform to witness its arrival such a scene is pictured above back in the early 60s its now only a memory jim thomas editors mail a limit arc parents supposed to serve as perfect examples for their chil dren are mom and dad never to argue never to take a drink never to smoke and never to miss church on sunday thats asking a lot how do you measure up certainly parents must set an ex ample however theyre still human i believe in the motto do as i say not as i do this may seem like a copout but theres a limit to how straight a line mothers and fathers can walk walter shore north street stouffville respect i dont mean to sound critical but its high time someone woke up to the fact dozens of young lives have been snuffed out in the stouff ville area due to automobile acci dents in the majority of instances alcohols been a factor im speaking about the teacher at stouffville high school and his sup port of a toe alpha organization in town hes so right just as important is his concern no wonder mr roche is so highly respected at sdss isabelle hirons rr 2 stouffville