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

a4 tribune september 2 1987 editors mail i no issues jdear editor there would appear on the sur face to be a great deal of apathy concerning the sept 10 provincial election why is this i could suggest several reasons first and foremost theres a shortage of issues both province- vwide and local sure theres talk about bilingual- m free trade and the like but who scares i in whitchurchstouffville men- tions been made of 24hour ambu lance service or lack thereof traffic lights at hwy 47 and the bloomington road auto insurance and even homosexuality but again nothing to really excite the man svomanonthestreet your newspapers recent poll bears this out the majority of voters are unde- cided some dont intend to vote at jail but wait a minute our town has an important date with destiny wednesday night to night all four candidates have been invited to speak at the high school i hope the gymnasium is i packed j the meeting places the onus of responsibility on the electorate here is an opportunity for people to come to see and to listen also to learn 1 hope your newspaper will con- duct a public opinion poll for the weekender of sept 5 if by then folks havent made up their minds because they couldnt be bothered to attend theyll re ceive no sympathy from me i for one will vote sept 10 according to what i hear sept 2 i hope others will come with a similar open mind sincerely abram scott aspen crescent stouffville donna kelly mdfi the great bemmite rmm durham york wmdsejptsl and now on with the show and may the best man er person win the tribune established 1888 james thomas bruce annan patricia pappas editor publisher jennifer hutt advertising manager distribution manager i sports editor alan shackleton retail advertising manager charles canning real estateclassified advertising joan marshman real estate manager dorothy young classified manager debra welter distribution lea killer doreen deacon business office manager chris bertram national sales representative metroland corporate sales 4931300 the stouffville tribune published every wednesday and saturday at si main stsloufvilfe ont is one of the metroland printing publishing distributing group of subutban newspapers which includes the acton free press ajax pickering news advertiser aurora banner brampton guardian burlington post etobicoke advertiser guardian georgetown independent markham economist sun milton champion mississauga news newmarket era oakville beaveroshawa whitby thrs- week richmond hill thornhitl vaughan liberal scarborough mirror topic newsmagaiirie wtuow- r dale mirror metroland priming publishing distributing is a division of harlequin enterprises ltd single copies 50c subscriptions 2100 per year in canada 5500 elsewhere member of canadian com munity newspaper association ontario weekly newspaper association ontario press council and sub urban newspapers of america second class mail registration number 0896 6402100 6492292 eoaming around yesteryears relived editorials hear the candidates the candidates can only do so much some responsibility must rest on the shoulders of the electorate a portion of this responsibility can be exercised tonight we urge your attendance at the all- candidates meeting at stouffville dist secondary school time of the event is 8 pm with none of the candidates residing in whitchurchstouffville and the riding established through redistribution theres considerable confusion and much apathy related to the current cam paign rather than support the best per son theres a trend back to old party line association that is if sign positioning means anything weve seen liberal conservative and ndp posters on the same properties for years maybe gen erations this is unfortunate but the could be beauty spot recently this newspaper received a letter as yet unpublished com plimenting mayor fran sainsbury on giving the town particularly the down town her feminine touch with respect to an improved appearance the writers entitled to her opinion and in this instance were not about to argue mayor sainsbury undoubtedly has had a hand in bringing this about at this point in time however we wish shed extend her hand a little further to the conservation area north of millard street its a disgrace weve said it before and we say it again residents will not frequent this site until theres some improvement certainly its a wildlife sanctuary but arc ducks more important than peo ple and whos to say wildlife and people cant mix were appalled by the apparent lack of interest in this site at very little cost it could be transformed into a midtown beauty spot with trees shrubs and flow ers even picnic tables and benches the metro toronto and region con servation authority has made this prop erty nvollnblo to us as a flood control project ft serves a worthwhile purpose but its worth con be expanded and im proved with n little ingenuity and effort lets not sit idly by and sec this site with llrbllless potential go to waste kind of thing that occurs when the per sonal approach is lost dont blame the candidates theirs is a hopeless task theyre trying their best we the people must go half way the opportunity to associate a face with a name has been made available to us tonight theres no excuse for casting a blind ballot sole credit for organizing wednes days meeting must go to whitchurch- stouffville board of education member harry bowes he did all the work why would he bother only because hes interested he feels others of the electorate should be interested also we hope hes right mr bowes has received excellent co operation from the four party standard- bearers bill ballinger of the liberals ken canning family coalition donna kelly ndp and ross stevenson of the pcs allthafs needed now is you meeting time again is 730 pm heritage days history in action steam threshing weekends call them what you like area historical societies get all geared up for these events theyre enjoyable affairs education altoo older folk who recall the steam era firsthand like to relive the memor ies middleagers and children who mis sed out on this time period in history have a chance to catch up many do weather permitting theyre all well attended despite the fact no thing changes you dont alter the past i enjoy such occasions not so much for what i see but for who i see these are the friendliest people in the world they love to recall the good old days and share these recollections with others like myself on saturday i attended the steam threshing show on the site of the ux- bridgescott museum quaker hill be cause of so many activities going on else where i arrived early have you seen francis hockley i enquire of a steamera senior watching an engine in operation yup he replies hes the chap run- ning the sawmill with the red and white hat it was francis alright i remember him from previous years but im not about to stop him from what hes doing for he seems to be doing everything all at the same time finally i interrupt could you take ten minutes and ex plain a few things i ask glad to he replies a big smile stretching across his deeplytanned face im due for a breather we sit down on a neatly shaved log francis is a big man weighing well over 200 pounds he fits the description of a steam engineer knowledgeable friendly strong his arms and shoulders are covered with sawdust and shavings this residue by jim thomas adds yet another dimension to his char acter francis is justifiably proud of his two steam engines one a 1922 george white and the other make unknown dating back to 1870 both are in operation francis almost 67 remembers the steam era well my father had one he recalls but i was too young to under stand much about it newt thompson herman davis and vincent riddell all of the zephyr area had steam engines too they travelled from farm to farm on threshing bees i was too young to afford one fran cis says besides i didnt have the time later he worked with bill wood of uxbridge and then eight years ago acquired a steamer of his own it came from peterborough and cost 4200 the 1400 pound white runs like a top itsjust for show francis says i take it out about ten times a year these excursions include trips up and down the road near where he lives kids in the neighborhood love going for rides francis described by society presi dent rich hannah as a mechanical genius admits a little knowledge com es in handy so it doesnt blow up or run dry its government inspected every year the engine spotlessly clean sits out side it stands the winters well fran cis says the 1872 relic is housed at the museum eventually it will become museum property he says as for the white hes not sure what the future holds right now hes having too much fun to consider putting itout to pasture when the big machines working hard it burns up to 500 gallons of water a day it produces between 30 and 35 horse power can you stall it i ask sure itll stall francis replies but seldom does you have to use a little commonsense its equipped with what francis calls a speed control that opens up when ex tra power is heeded the 115yearold stationery steamer is a story in itself at one time it was owned by robt nesbitt sr and later by son bob now of rr 1 goodwood it had settled into the ground fran cis recalls he refurbished it into the classic seen today francis doubts theres another quite like it in all of canada maybe north america a charter member of the uxbridge- scott historical society francis takes charge of the weekends steam display visitors line up to ask questions lucky for me he could spare ten minutes at the conclusion of our alltoobrief discussion i point to the huffin puffin steamer and ask is it for sale francis rubs his chin brushes the sawdust from one arm and replies no not as long as mr mulroney keeps the cheques coming in wellknown uxbridge man was part of the steam era the steam era and bill wood of uxbridge were synono- inous mr wood attended many of these events both at the uxbridgescott museum and the pickering museum mr wood is pictured here at the controls of a steam engine during history in action day at brougham the year is 1972 jim thomas editors mail a memory dear editor your roaming around column of aug 26 on the subject of drivein theatres brought back vivid memories i can recall when they first came into being it was the thing to do on a saturday night just about every boy who owned a car or could bor row his fathers car would take his best girl to these openair movies it was a teenage status symbol my parents hated them for they conjured up all kinds of terrible ex pectations in their minds im not saying some guys didnt take advantage of some girls but for most of us the greatest excite ment was telling our friends wed been there as far as the movies were concerned most were terri ble i recall both my boyfriend at the time and i falling asleep at one show and waking up as everyone was leaving i arrived home around 1 am and had a lot of explaining to do i remember the sound box that hooked onto the passengerside win dow trouble was drivers would often pull away while they were still attached snapping the cables from the posts repair costs must have been extremely high i remember too how the projec tion equipment would sometimes break down this would result in simultaneous honking of horns noise enough to wake the dead as bad as some of the shows were going to the drivein was kind of fun it gave everyone guys and girls something to talk about all week long i thank you for helping me relive a memory its been thirtyfive years since i last visited a drivein perhaps like you ill make that memory a reality and go back again sincerely barbara dunbar thickctwood blvd stouffville