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7 p4 tribune september 11995 st stouffville comment marriage of two towns has merits 1 ayor fran sainsbury j objected last week to the idea of whitchurch-stouf- fville being amalgamated with markham the proposal is one of many ideas which arose from the vision 2021 report its a document made up of the thoughts of politicians and the public on the future of york kegion mayor sainsbury shouldnt be so hasty as to rule out the pos sibility of amalgamation with markham the industrial tax base is much greater in the town to the south while the mayor insists stouffville would be footing the bill for expensive markham projects the con trary is probably more accu rate markham residents have greater transit recreation and fitness facilities and many more services while remaining independent is our first choice amalgamating with markham in the distant future shouldnt be viewed as a horrible prospect bert lives reports of his demise premature reports of my death are greatly exaggerated said mark twain such is the case of our friend bert the muppet who was reported in these pages to be drowned it appears that i have been the unwitting victim of some international rumor and i did you the reader a grave injustice by presenting the aforementioned rumor in this space last week i apologize but must say my source was previ ously unimpeachable so bert lives the false news of berts death has spread across the continent says the childrens television workshop rumors of the popular sesame street puppets having bought the big one have been flying around north america since minute with mair shortly after muppet creator jim henson died he did the voices of kermit the frog and bert and a lot of people seemed to think the char acters would die with him explained mingson chou in the ctws public affairs depart ment shes heard a wide vari ety of stories on how bert dies including drowning its terri ble some of the ones we hear bert dies in a car accident bert has leukemia chou said they have no idea where the rumors originated but theyve been reported across the united states and canada oddly rumors of kermit dying have not surfaced we get peti tions from college campuses asking us to bring back bert and we havent even doneany- thing to him she said chou said the ctw has no intention of ever killing off bert or ernie wed never be that insensitive to our child viewers this is not the first time some one famous has turned up alive remember paul is dead but all this brings a host of possibilities to light if bert is alive i may have to reexamine the whole elvis thing how do we know he wasnt spotted at the 711 and what about jfk or marilyn monroe or jim morrison jimmy hoffa james dean and their ilk perhaps there is a club of cult heroes and stars that drop out of the limelight on purpose i envision them getting together in a secret hideout to play cards eat banana and peanut butter sandwiches and have a good laugh at our expense while waxing dramatically with statements like i want to be alone despite my conspiratorial sus picions im glad bert has pulled this lazaruslike stunt it helps ease the pain i am enduring after i heard what happened to barney the dinosaur stouffville tribune publisher general manager editorinchief advertising director business manager operations manager patricia pappas andrew mair jo ann stevenson debra weller vivian oneil pamela nichols staff reporters tracy kibble julie caspersen roger belgrave photographers sjoerd witteveen steve somerville real estate joan marshman classified ooreen deacon debbie amundson uxbridge 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 end distributing group of suburban newspapers which includes ajaxpickerlng news advertiser aurora banner barrle advance brampton guardian burlington post colllngwood connection etobicoke guardian georgetown independentacton free press kingston this week lindsay this week markham economist sun midland express milton canadian champion mlsslssauga news newmarket era banner north york mirror northumberland news oakvllle beaver orlllla today oshawa- whltby this week peterborough this week richmond hiiithornhlllvaughan liberal scarbor ough mirror and uxbridge tribune national sales representative metroland corporato sales 4931300 6402100 6405477 fax i w iinm iin iujn i trip was a mall crawlers dream tp heres nothing like a visit to exotic foreign shores to make you appreciate your own back yard this summer the gilderdale clan accompanied by granny pat spent an educational morn ing at the outlet mall niagara falls ny although my husband and i have lived in this part of the world for 18 years it was the first time we had succumbed to the thrills of crossborder shop ping one of the most arresting aspects of our journey was the scenery we gave up the best part of a nice day and a sizeable por tion of a tank of expensive cana dian gas to traverse one of the provinces less prepossessing highways which nevertheless looked a lot better in retrospect from the other side of the border our introduction to new york state consisted of an incredibly kates corner 7 1 depressing vista of warehouses flatroofed mall buildings tele graph poles and tacky motels the us customs officer whose whimsical charm rivalled that of jeanclaude van damme dis played all the subtle sensitivity for which his professipn has become justly famous hostilities completed we crossed the border and entered every mall crawlers dream world where i treated myself to a box of band aids my son bought the record stores entire collection of u2 cds and the old man blew 576 on a plate rack brand name clothing- at half the regular price but twice what im willing to fork out abounded in the stores anyone wishing to walk about with bum inscribed in eyecatching letters across his chest would have thought hed died and gone to heaven my mother british to the core stocked up on postcards none of which to her delighted amaze ment featured the cn tower we recrossed the border the next day only to discover we were 24 hours too soon to benefit signifi cantly from dutyfree regulations as a result my unfortunate husband was obliged to donate 13 to the canadian government in exchange for being deafened by a bunch of compact discs pur chased by our son in future judging from his expression at these unwelcome tidings nia gara falls ny will have look elsewhere for a boost to its econo my