p4 tribune february 1 1995 council off to rocky start st more of the same is council doomed to repeat the history of the past council where infighting confusion and a lack of cooperation reigned for much of the three years one would hope this is not the case however the recent wrangling over the offtrack betting restau rant in the east end has brought these questions to the fore ken prentice keeping his pro file high following his election loss asked council whether the discussions surrounding the restaurant were held in camera or not this touched off a debate which seemed rather ludicrous it was not presently clear if any- our view one knew whether the meeting was held in camera or in open council prentices point was that council should only enter into an in camera session when matters of finance personal or legal mat ters are at stake the matter was eventually set tled but we would hope that on any future issues such confusion will be avoided we must give our new elected officials their due they are with the exception of two new to the game two more are not new to the game but have been sitting on the sidelines for three years we should therefore chalk the incident at last weeks council meeting up to inexperience and the outbursts we can chalk up to some municipal posturing and jostling for position but mayor emmerson must assert his authority and establish the ground rules for making the council work cohesively those on council with divisive- ness on their minds had best examine a new approach the electorate will not tolerate the antics of the previous three years voters elected the new members in part to work together to bring about positive change in our town and to spend time in council pro ductively anything less is unacceptable stouffville tribune 6244 main st stouffville ont l4a1e2 905 6402100 9056492292 fax 905 6405477 nb m ouun4 tojnfr as tttse mm atemo amttlkqy sckool publisher patricia pappas general managereditor andrew mair editorinchief jo ann stevenson director of advertising debra weller retail manager mike rogerson distribution manager barry j goodyear administration vivian oneil operations manager pamela nichols questions news andrew mair editor joan ransberry mike ruta roger belgrave reporters sjoerd witteveen steve somerville photography retail advertising joan marshman doreen deacon classified doreen deacon real estate joan marshman distribution arlene maddock the stounville tribune published every wednesday and saturday is one of the metroland printing publishing and distri bution group or community newspapers which includes ajax pickering news advertiser auroranewmarket era ban ner barrie advance brampton guardian burlington post cityparent collingwood connection etobicoke guardian george town independentacton free press kingston this week lindsay this week markham economist and sun milton canadian champion mississauga news north york mirror oakville beaver orillia today oshawawhitbyclarington this week northumberland news peterbor ough this week richmond hillthorn- hillvaughan liberal scarborough mirror todays seniors uxbridge tribune contents cannot be reprinted without written permission from the publisher tracy bids a fond farewell are you bossy now mommy kody asked when he heard of my new post at the etobicoke guardian no son your mom was born bossy his dad quipped the two men in my life were discussing the rea son i wont be returning to whitchurchstouffville in march as planned instead i have accepted a promotion with our sis ter paper in the city of etobicoke as managing editor the other day i drove back to stouffville for a farewell lunch with my former boss andrew mair and couldnt believe how close the office actu ally is to my jacksons point home what used to be a serene drive south along hwy 48 is now a horrendous dog fight along the 401 to reach a destination that seems never to end its sort of like driving halfway to florida each and every week despite the longer drive becoming part of the metroland management team is an endeavor ive strived for since learning the ropes from my days at the tribune i have officially put to rest my reporters cap after five years covering a most interesting beat stouffville council et al i had never even looked at a town council agenda before entering the main street tribune building in 1989 and had neyer talked to a- politician before in my life and after five years of covering some of the most interesting catscratch ing crazed and yes even dynamic council meetings ever to hit the gta some times i wish i never had stouffville will always be a special place to me since my journalism roots began and took off in your cozy rural town of 18500 i have to admit when i first learned a reporters position was up for grabs in stouffville i had no idea where it was except for a visit or two to the flea market i have a long list of won derful memories in stouf fville and had the plea sure of meeting many unforgettable people in the friendliest town in ontario or is that music town ontario or was it close to the city or uh oh my my heart goes out to the new reporter anyway i just want to tell all the residents who i had the good fortune of meeting that stouffville citizens share a true pas sion for the town and to remind you all what a send us your letters to the editor the tribune welcomes your letters to the editor letters should be no more than 500 words in length and can be typed or neatly hand written your letters can be on any topic but the tribune reserves the right to edit for length libel grammar and spelling and good taste letters will not be returned unless requested of the editor due to space constraints not all letters may be published however we endeavor to print as many as possible within a time frame that maintains news value and topicality please send your letters to the editor 6244 main st stouffville ont l4a1e2 or you can fax your letters to 905 6405477 peaceful unique place you live in dont stop fighting for it i would have loved the opportunity to quiz the new mayor wayne emmerson though wayne and i already worked together as politi cian media hack back in 1990 when he was ward councillor i do remember one inci dent where both jim mason and i wrote tongueincheek columns after a council meeting in the upstairs lounge at the rec complex where acoustics were less than adequate wayne took offense to our ribbing about not being able to hear what was going on the entire meeting and publicly slapped both our wrists during the next meeting i hope hes lightened up a tad since then or hell go crazy trying to deal with his new tasks as mayor good luck to merlin michele yvonne and the rest of the asofyet still sane civil servants in the town from what i hear youre going to need it farewell whitchurch- stouffville you are near and dear to me to all my coworkers friends and the people i have been blessed to know along this stretch of lifes highway i wish you all the best it has been fun love always to a special place ie i was born too late or too soon as a child of the 60s i had until several days ago considered myself the epit ome of aging cool i grew up and worked in swinging london and as an educated insider was well aware that carnaby street was strictly for wannabes and american tourists real cats knew the action was on portobello road and kensington high street my illusions were rudely shattered by an obscure lit tle british television pro gram brought to me by bravo and niftily titled when the quiftwas king covering the late fifties and early sixties it fea tured such bestforgotten acts as frankie vaughan billy fury the applejacks jim dale and the three bells a trio of extremely wellupholstered young women adorned in tacky sugar pink bridesmaids dresses and sporting obvi ously fake long blonde hair even more depressing were the fans all perfect clones of mummy and daddy the boys done up in suits and looking for all the world like miniature char tered accountants the girls adorned in sunday best dresses with hooped petticoats squeaky clean and unfor givably conformist they showed me up for what i must have been luckily my offspring were out when the pro gram aired or it would have been impossible to protect them from the truth or to stop them laughing at their mothers predisposition to selective memory syndrome there was cliff richard singing the hit song from his treacly musical the young ones and looking more like a lawyer from lethbridge than a revolu tionary hero of the young and hip there was his main squeeze a dead ringer for a happy house wife as depicted on a betty crocker cake mix carton these paragons of virtue had neatly cut hair beauti fully pressed duds and a vocabulary which would have made a vicar smile pony tails and earrings matched pairs one in each ear were worn only by the female of the species as in all musicals of the time the lovelorn duo burst into song with embarrassing frequency in the unlikeliest venues and no one turned a hair in fact the rented bystanders instead of rolling about with helpless laughter showed a dis tressing tendency to join in even when girls screamed at their fave raves during what passed for a rock concert they did it with dainty decorum giggling selfconsciously in case anyone in authority which in those unenlight ened days meant parents teachers and the police was watching preston manning would have loved these kids who probably also did all their homework never left trails of clothing on the kitchen floor and would no more have worn jeans on sun day than sworn in the classroom a phone call across the pond to my mother con firmed that i was born either too soon or too late when i told her that her granddaughter favored black nail polish she gave a knowing little chuckle and replied so did i when i was her age its a bit much when your own mother turns out to have been way cooler than you