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p 4 f fttrl8tifof uesdav dtcefvtber 2 197 st the tribune tuesday december 2 1997 vol 109 no 79 comment opinions send your letters to the editor to the address below editokiai ride to arrive alive if december is party time its also ride time if these few paragraphs serve as a reminder that you might get pulled over fined or your licence suspended one or more lives might be saved public awareness that police forces participate in the reduce impaired driving everywhere campaign is a key factor in preventing deaths during this holiday season the death toll is staggering in this the happiest time of year its a grim reminder that last year in the fiveweek hol iday period the ontario provincial police alone investigated 46 fatal collisions in which 56 people were killed york and durham officers also witnessed too many accidents which stole parents from their children and husbands from their families this years ride campaign is a prime example of the way volunteer organizations police forces and governments can work together to keep drunk drivers off the road mothers against drunk driving madd is again this year distributing its familiar red ribbons to motorists to pro mote sober driving the opp and both the york region and durham region police forces will send extra officers out on our streets for spot checks to ensure only sober drivers are on the roads and the province has given a 30000 grant to york regional police and 20000 to durham police to cover the extra overtime costs associated with ride spot checks all these organizations want to remind you to have a des ignated driver if youre going to drink and whether partying or not slow down and ensure you arrive alive outgoing council gave us bumpy ride have we left the best til last last night the new whitchurch- stouffville council was sworn in it begged this doublebarrelled ques tion will it be the best council ever and will it be the last my crystal ball shows us waving bye bye to the town of whitchurch- stouffville in the not too distant future the provincial overhaul of the greater toronto area will not bypass this area change will hit here the hit will be significant we are indeed entering a critical time for this community if ever we needed good local government its now since well have to cut a deal it off the record joan ransberry would be nice if we had a deal maker at the table my crystal ball also shows that the new council has the potential to lis ten to be free with information to make decisions that stick to be will ing and able to work as a team and will respect each other especially when facing their differences the last local council was at times dysfunctional i acknowl edge that the old council kept a lid on taxes for three consecutive years and in doing so the delivery of services didnt suffer yes the kids got a second ice pad and musselmans lake and bal- lantrae facing a health risk from contaminated wells scored an 8- million communal water system and yes the north is about to get a fire hall im quite aware that much was done still from where i view the world the end doesnt justify the means maybe the past council got now i demand more of my heroes at the tender age of 16 i would have given my entire years allowance to meet the rolling stones as a sensible sober middleaged adult i had considered myself beyond such juvenile excesses until last wednesday when a friend called to tell me stephen fry was reading in toronto the following evening fantastic i shrieked mr wallethead convinced i was having some sort of seizure rushed in to perform cpr or the heimlich manoeuvre or perhaps make a nice cup of tea to circumvent the crisis what on earths the matter he asked stephen fry is reading at indigo i explained thats nice he said mildly are you going if stephen fry were appearing in thunder bay i assured my signifi cant other id be there once i had calmed down sufficient ly to drink the proffered tctlcys i called my son and shared the joyful tidings he was equally delighted kates corner kate gilderdale the man who has starred in jeeves and wooster blackaddcr peters friends and coming to a theatre near you sometime next year oscar oftcred a magical evening of selfdeprecating wit and biting insight along with a facility for lan guage few writers could match frys courtesy and charm endeared him to everyone in the audience which ranged from members of my sons generation to retirees on our way home i made a mental inventory of my heroes over the years beginning with cliff richard i was only 12 at the time and encompassing a motley crew of bril- liantined bowlegged nasal trouba dours among them two of a legion of faux elviscs who rose briefly to fame in britain around 1960 when i reached a sophisticated 1 6 1 was a staunch beatles fan rousing myself at 4 oclock one chilly morning to go to heathrow airport and wel come them home from america along with 9999 of my peers all i saw were four little dots on the tarmac but the point of the exercise was to have been there at all now i would not cross the street to attend a beatles reunion should one be organized and my en joyment of their music has been tem pered by the endless regurgitation of classic hits on retro radio everywhere as i get older and crabbier i demand different attributes from my heroes the ability to swivel hips or snarl into a camera has somehow lost its allure the reason writers have replaced writhcrs in my heart is neatly reflected in the words of arnold bennett lit erature exists so that where one man has lived finely ten thousand may afterwards live finely where it was going but oh what a bumpy ride the old council was a public rela tions disaster instead of using energy time and brain power to make this a better community some members of council and town staff bickered snarled and barked at each other i often wondered if council chambers was a house of commons training camp and the tail waged the dog in this town it appeared as if staff and not council was running the show while the bureaucrats would answer ques tions at public meetings they resented being asked as for me i exercised the arrive lateleave early survival technique the best thing i can say about the old council is im glad its over lets hope the new council supports the principles of democracy and wants to be open if ever a town needed a public rela tions boost its whitchurch-stouff- villc this town needs to smile more and frown less i hope council members and town staff will feel free to talk to the media without paying a penalty or fearing a reprimand remember muzzles arc for dogs not people and bullies shouldnt be welcomed or tolerated my media motto is tell all laws permitting when it comes to the media and government when each takes the time to learn the role of the other they get along fine experience has taught me that a successful council always has a good relationship with the media and finally the new council should take a page out of the gamblers bible and learn when to hold them learn when to fold them learn when to walk away and learn when to run stouffville tribune a metroland community newspaper patricia pappas publisher andrew mair editorinchief tracy kibble editor debra weller director of advertising mike rogerson retail advertising manager stacey allen classified manager barry goodyear director of distribution vivian oneil business manager pamela nichols operations manager about us news 905 6402100 retail sales 905 6402100 classifieds 9056402874 distribution 905 6402100 fax 905 6405477 email thetribistarca 6244 main st stouffville ont l4a1e2 the stouffville tribune pub lished every tuesday thursday and saturday is one of the vmctroland printing publishing and distribution group of commu- nity newspapers which includes ajaxpickcrlng news advertiser alltston heraldcourier barrie advance brampton guardian burlington post cityparent coiiingwoodwasaga bcachxcoii- ncction east york mirror etobi- cqkc guardian georgetown inde pendchtacton free 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