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4 tribune may 31 1995 truck statistics terrifying st it is absolutely terrifying trucks with cracked wheels bro ken steering no brakes and bald tires are hurtling past you and your family while you are in your car one hundred ton transports are carrying cargo of all sorts through our neighborhoods that should never have left the garage and it is happening with alarm ing frequency in the recent crackdown police pulled over 285 trucks of these 175 were grounded and many had their plates lifted bloomington rd has always been a particular sore spot with drivers and local legislators concerned about the volume of truck traffic it our view appears there was something to be concerned with after all many of the trucks pulled over at goodwood were sand and gravel trucks and many of these had their plates taken by police and ministry of transport officials surprise inspections such as these are really bringing to light how serious the problems of the trucking can be there are many in our area who maintain their vehi cles beyond reproach but there are others and many from out the area and out of the province who are 90 kph time bombs the recession hit the trucking industry with unusual ferocity many firms went under but others cut where they could and this usu ally meant costly maintenance many families likely have gone through similar problems when theres bread to be put on the table tuning up the car is not on the pri ority list but now this cutting back on basic maintenance is putting lives in danger another spotcheck is planned for this week truckers will be well- advised to have their vehicles tuned and inspected before taking to the highways there will be no more warnings truck operators who dont main tain their vehicle wont be behind the wheel theyll be before a judge il stouffville tribune 6244 main st stouffville ont l4a 1e2 905 6402100 905 6492292 fax 905 6405477 awflitf 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 photographry retail advertising joan marshmah doreen deacon classified doreen deacon real estate joan marshman distribution arlene maddock the stouffville tribune published every wednesday and saturday is one or the metroland printing publishing and distri bution group of 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 mnrkham economist and sun milton canadian champion mississauga news north york mirror oakvjlle 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 j birthdays can be hazardous im dreading thursday on that day i will turn another page in the calendar of my life and pick up another yard on the 61 grid iron of time its not the getting old i mind so much its the birth days themselves i believe it was swift who once said that no wise man ever wished he was younger i can see why i think swift probably had birthdays a lot like mine when i was five i remem ber it like it was yesterday i had a party for all the kids in our sarnia neighborhood we had only lived there about a year and i wasnt exactly the dale carnegie of my peers however this party i felt would be a great way to ingratiate myself in the neighborhood hierarchy my parents pulled out all the stops for a backyard blow out the kids would never for get balloons on every fence- post plenty of flames roar ing from the kerosene- soaked barbecue a huge chocolate cake with 10s and 20s baked into it a real clown a real magician a real pony and a flock of ducks the ducks came with the pony it was supposed to be a travelling petting zoo but the goat died the week before and the zoo owner was forced to keep his only other zoo animal a shaggy old dog in the van on account of proximity of bar becued hamburger it was a beautiful late- spring day all the children came bear ing gifts most brought tippeetfeepee games or a bag of marbles but i was told it was the thought that counted the party was going great until the magician stepped up he had the birthday boy as his assistant for his big finale he told my awe struck new friends that i was going to mesmerize them with a feat they would never forget i had no idea what i was doing but the minutfj with mair andrew ma magician made me say some sort of magic word and just then a little girl in the crowd screamed she pointed behind our heads to an enor mous funnel cloud forming on the horizon bearing down on the city everyone scrambled into the basement as the wind began to howl and in the panic the clown tripped over his big shoes and fell into the duck enclosure the ducks took to the air with their newfound freedom but were soon buffeted by the high winds all over the block i the balloons popped against the fence the pony broke free in the melee then knocked the cake off the pic nic table as we watched in horror from the basement window 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 the pony bumped into the magicians equipment which slammed into the barbecue hot coals and trick cards went spilling onto the lawn and the resulting sparks were fanned by the mount ing winds once the threat of the tor nado passed it just skirted the edge of the city and once the fire department left we went out to survey the damagemy friends had all gone home no doubt extolling to their parents about the worst birthday party in the history of mankind the backyard was strewn with feathers playing cards bits of cake and about a mil lion teepee pieces there was an acrid burnt grass smell in the air mixed with the odor of a very nervous equine the petting zoo man was off collecting his frazzled ducks and the clown and magician gathered up their things and left without wait ing to be paid anyway i probably cried but i cant remember because i was still in shock and denial that some force would want to deny a five- yearold a simple birthday party the next year was no bet ter because i had a summer cold and when it came time to blow out the candles i sneezed instead and no one would eat the cake it has been that way ever since but now when the day comes for me to get a little older i just go directly into the basement and hope the storm will blow over tank runneth over in flood it never rains but it pours one day last week i was getting ready to pick up my son from a friends house when i noticed it was raining which was odd since i had not yet abandoned the portals of chateau gilderdale it took me a while to clue in because as usual my mind was elsewhere and i dont generally think much about whether or not i should carry an umbrella when im tra versing the dining room still it was hard to go on being unaware after id stepped in a puddle i glanced up to locate the source of the dampness now seeping unpleasantly through my sock and there it was water drip ping steadily from two large cracks in the ceiling somethings leaking i thought with characteris tic brilliance i rushed upstairs to find water spraying merrily from the toilet tank i lift ed the lid and discovered that the pipe on the what sit had become detached i reattached it for a few seconds the tide appeared to have turned but then it fell off again in desperation i gave it another shot and this time it remained in place albeit somewhat precari ously meanwhile the water in the tank continued to run although with a lot less gusto so i found a bit of wood and wedged it under the thingy that holds up that big bulbous rubber gizmo to keep it out of the water plumbing has never been my forte but a prim itive understanding of the mechanics of that trade must be implanted in my subconscious because it seemed to do the trick by the time i had fin ished my temporary repair job however there was water on the rug the 4k s pw werx kates corner floor and one of the antique chairs in the din ing room and the ceiling was looking decidedly the worse for wear meanwhile the cat was prowling happily around the disaster zone twitch ing when an occasional raindrop landed on his tail and leaving a trail of soggy footprints all over the french polished din ing room table i gathered towels and buckets and did my best to soak up the worst of the damp but one area of the ceiling continued to drip relentlessly eventually after further mopping up operations in the bathroom it ceased and desisted i left to pick up my son late and feeling sorely harassed a friend was coming to dinner and id be lucky to get home in time luckily mr wallethead had already volunteered to pick up food from our favorite takeout on the way back from the office i just hoped he wouldnt have to hire noah to get into the kitchen with it when he arrived to my amazement almost everywhere was drying off nicely when i got back our friend phoned to say hed be late so we spent the next half hour franti cally doing the tidying up from which i had been sidetracked during the great flood by the time our visitor arrived the only overt signs of the battle of the bathroom were a few brownish stains on the ceiling and heartfelt grat itude that my tank no longer runneth over fflr i