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f v thebetj chocs is hore9 ken prentice ownermanager 18 ringwood dr stouffville 6429507 nn l jljlj tribune vol 109 no 47 tuesday august 12 1997 16 pages 50gstincd ametrolciii d wmsiimfmnmeffijiwi itch iiixhstpuffyille sin ce 1888 carol l clements money concepts 6424540 su- nj f dto giw jok te fflfi mm drou takes to on dry stouffv joan ransberry staff reporter drought conditions have prompted an urgent plea from the whitchurchstouffville fire department people are being asked not to light fires outdoors a rash of grass fires on the weekend not only kept the local fire department busy theyre also raising a marked safety concern if the dry spell continues people and proper- ty could be at jisk- local deputy fire chief mur- ray emmerson stressed r v emmerson is urging people to not light fifes when cleaning up their property or for any other reason were asking people to be mindful of the drought and how dangerous it can be said emmerson while no one was injured in any of the inci dents over the weekend fires destroyed trees and threatened crops one stubborn grass fire on hwy 48 south of bloomington claimed two 25foot pine trees it was so dry the fire spread so fast the trees burned before anything could be done its sad to see the trees go like this said emmer son firefighters were called out to three separate grass fires on hwy 48 in a span of two days we had three spot fires on hwy 48 its dry its such a worry said emmerson also on the weekend the local fire depart ment responded to a grass fire on greenwood road this fire threatened a crop it was burn ing right at the edge of a wheat field said emmefsori v v v the dry spell is taking its toll on just about everyone not only are firefighters and farmers being especially affected by the lack of rain local residents are once again being strongly encouraged to follow the rules regarding the use of water in whitchurchstouffville the oddeven watering system is in place it means that local m please see page 3 h harris blinks for gta mayors kathleen griffin staff reporter rock walk chelsea brand spent saturday morning rock hopping across the cool waters of the creek at memorial park with some friends ontario premier mike harris indicated to six gta mayors yesterday he was willing to show some flexibility on provincial down loading deadlines but his goal of eliminat ing ontarios deficit by the year 2000 remains as strong as ever and harris agreed to set up a small task force made up of municipal staff to crunch the numbers provincial numbers that have been wildly different than those quoted by regional staff markham mayor don cousens was one of the six and the only york region representa tive who met with harris and municipal affairs minister al leach at queens park to discuss the provinces plan to download more than 660 million worth of new costs to ontario municipalities also included were mississauga mayor hazel mccallion and toronto mayor barbara hall this was strictly a look at provincial downloading to municipalities he said it is h please see page 3 9 whats inside comment p 4 food p 6 grapevine p 7 sports p 10 classified p 12 m 4 m