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ikvrtbwiiaylwi mwwhttn ftf yjjt kyj t st stouffville you ought to be in pictures t ights camera action those words could be ringing through the streets of stouffville if a movie compa ny decides to film here during the strawberry festival this year the scouts are out now looking over our town for pos sible scenes the town is expected to pass for wichita kansas during a country fair the tribune has sent its photographs of past straw berry festivals to give the producers an idea of what the town is like during festival weekend be assured that for stargazers there will be plenty to see as all the princi pal actors kelly mcgillis treat williams and hal hol- brook will be on site that weekend there will also be economic benefits the film crew has to live here for two weeks bringing added bene fits to our local economy the town should be proud that a film company would say you ought to be in pic tures on the hunt for a redeared slider one of the stipulations i agreed to when my wife kim and i were married was that our home would be a haven for a host of animals a verita ble wild kingdom she said we began the collection with a cat added another to keep the first compa ny and a third who decided she want ed to live with us along the way we were lured into purchasing a turtle one of those red- eared models about the size of a quar ter you see splashing harmlessly around pet store aquariums we had tropical fish for a time but our lack of knowledge of how an amazonian river ecosystem worked led to their untimely demise one of these tiny turtles took up residence in the abruptlyvacated fish tank fluffy as we sarcastically dubbed her didnt last long she wasnt right from the start but kim has always had a soft spot for the underdog so she picked the slowest most placid turtle in the pet store commune fluffy bought the farm about six months later and kim was so devastated to lose a member of the growing menagerie she promptly went out and bought two more of the slimy green things these two have done splendid ly they have grown out of two aquar iums blown two filters with their waste and eat 14 worth of food every two weeksthey now weigh in at about 10 lbs apiece last week disaster struck kim emerged from the turtle room asheri sigmund is gone she said what do you mean gone i asked annoyed at the prospect of missing the rest of the simpsons minute with mair a n d m a if somehow the turtle climbed on his sunning shelf hoisted himself to the top of the tank pushed aside the lid and tumbled over dropping four feet to the hardwood floor we searched the entire house from stem to stern we live on the top floor of a triplex and we have a large deck out back with a great feeling of dread we went outside looking with a flashlight for signs of blood with three cats we didnt think the turtle stood much of a chance despite being heavily armored and weighing more than the three cats combined our worst fear was that they dragged the turtle onto the deck and as they are want to do with anything laying around we believed they pushed it off the deck eighteen feet below i was quite a sight for the neighbors as i scanned the grass and patio below for shell fragments with my penlight i checked the neighbors yard the street out front and under porches after two hours of searching we assumed that our turtle had gone the way of the dinosaur or had been swallowed up in some bermudatrian gle like vortex in the aquarium kim suggested we retrace our steps this time thinking like a turtle with hercule poirotian effort we inched slowly along the floor on all fours looking for water marks or turtle trails through the dust bunnies our sleuthing led us in a straight line to horrors the top of the stairs i ran down the two flights to the closet at the bottom the door was slightly ajar i pried it open dug through the shoes boxes and umbrel las and there hiding behind a ski boot and a frisbee was sigmund a little worse for wear but still alive and kicking kim has taken to calling the errant beast our teenage mutant missing turtle grade 8 not the time for tuxedos stouffville tribune publisher editorinchief editor patricia pappas jo ann stevenson andrew mair debra weller vivian oneil jennifer hutt pam nichols advertising director business manager promotionsdistribution mgr operations manager staff reporters tracy kibble jute caspersen roger belgrave photographers sioerd witteveen steve somerville heal estate joan marshman classified doreen deacon debbie amundson oxbridge retail sales joan marshman doreen deacon heather hill gibson uxbridge distribu tion arlene maddock canadian publications mail sales product agreement 439010 published every wednesday by metroland printing publishing and distributing at 9 heritage rd markham ontario l3p 1m3 tel 2942200 the stouffville tribune published every wednesday at 6244 main st stouffville is one of the metroland printing publishing and distributing group of suburban newspapers which includes ajaxplckerlng news advertiser aurora banner barrfe advance brampton guardian burlington post colllngwood connection etobtcoke guardian georgetown independentacton froe press kingston this week undsay this week markham economist sun midland express milton canadian champion mlsslssauga news newmarket a banner north york mirror northumberland news oakvllle beaver orlllla today oshawa- whitby this week peterborough this week richmond hhithomhliivaughan liberal scerbor- ouoh mirror and uxbridge tribune national sales representative metroland corporate sales 4931300 6402100 6405477 fax a round this time of year many parents are vainly try ing to inject a sense of propor tion into grade 8 graduation as a foreigner who has never experienced this phenomenon except in relation to university i was stunned two years ago to see kids of 13 arid 14 all tarted up in tuxes and gowns just to celebrate their departure from elementary school this year alas i am gaining firsthand knowledge of the ritu als of 90s style graduation i am assured by friends however that the present state of affairs is a relatively recent occurrence todays grade school graduation seems less a student sendoff than an exercise in oneupman ship parents who are financial ly strapped are under enormous pressure to purchase or rent expensive dresses and tuxedos which will be worn once then left to gather dusinaioset kates corner kat e a i ide rdal and parents like myself who hope that leaving grade 8 is just a stepping stone to greater achievements would prefer to keep the whole thing lowkey with the emphasis on school and family if our children do graduate from high school and even uni versity how will they celebrate those milestones by renting skydome some kids privately admit theyre not ready for a holly wood style graduation but are loath to voice their feelings in front of their peers for fear of unfortunately parents who resist the pressure to elevate grade 8 graduation to such unrealistic heights often end up risking a serious confrontation with their children whose need for peer acceptance is crucial at this time in their lives placing limits on kids is out of fashion but maybe its time par ents took a stand instead of making their offspring believe that they can have it all its parents after all who are responsible for creating these expectations in the first place most adults know from experi- ence that you cant always get what you want and the sooner our children learn that the bet ter they will be able to cope with the realities of life thirteen and 14yearolds have years ahead of them to party but childhood is fleeting perhaps we shouldnt be guite