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st the tribune wednesday december 24 1997 a3 twins hailcy and jordan vesh 2 play with lisa relf 16 at the stouffville district secondary school parenting class christmas party dec 17 ty sjoerd w1tteveex teens get fun taste of parenting at party stouffville teenagers got a taste of christmastime parenting on wednesday members of the stouffville district secondary schools parenting class threw a christmas party for a room full of preschoolers everyone had a great time said course member and student michelle hulshof the children sang songs played games made crafts and had a snack of course there was also a special appearance from santa claus said hulshof the schools parenting course explores topics such as preparation of par enting stages in child development child guidance and such childrelated issues such as special needs adoption and divorce explained hulshof the students apply what they learn and develop parenting skills in practi cal activities such as the parenting christmas party said hulshof environmental review set for new highway mikeadler staff reporter ontarios transportation ministry has adequately followed the law in assessing the environmental impact of the pro posed hwy 407 extension to pickering the provinces environment ministry has concluded in a review released this month the j province has put into environment minister norm sterlings hands the chance to approve what would ultimate ly be a 10lane freeway and separate transitway from markham rd to hwy 7 just east of brock rd sterlings approval of the project would allow a route 159 kilometres long one that has seven interchanges and bridges six watercourses including the rouge and little rouge rivers until feb 16 people can send their comments on the proposed extension the environmental assessment of it or the review after that sterling can approve the project scrap it or allow either a hearing or mediation on certain issues federal provincial and local agencies are not opposed to the extension and have indicated their concerns can be addressed at the design stage the review said the provinces environmental assess ment process was not needed for the other sections of the 407 its 63-kilomc- tres of expressway was built from oakville to markham rd under an exemption from the law the transportation ministrys traffic analysis ordered in 1995 demonstrated that ending the highway at markham rd without a further easterly extension would result in significant traffic relat ed impacts in the town of markham the review said this finding plus the ministrys con clusion that more road and transit capacity is needed east of markham rd are the main reasons it has supplied for proposing the extension surprisingly the ministry announced this month that the 407 would stop at mccowan rd until an eastern extension is approved the transportation ministry argued a combination of improved transit ser vices better traffic management and other measures such as a campaign for ridesharing wont solve the areas short term transportation problems but the ministry added there is also a need to justify the brock rd extension withina wider context in assessing the need for the facility engineering social and natural environment and economic factors must be recognized and addressed it concluded in the review but that is exactly what the ministry has not done in its assessment jim robb a scarborough resident and oppo nent of the extension said last week the review notes comments from the public questioning the need for the pro ject and urging the ministry to look at alternatives but concludes these con cerns arc related more to government policydirection with respect to trans portation and arc beyond the scope of the ea and this review the review is a whitewash of public concerns about the extension since it dismisses them by taking a very arrow interpretation of the environmental assessment act responded robb what the government is doing bends the ea act to the point of breaking he argued robb pointed out the act includes an almost limitless range of features including social economic and cultur al conditions of a community as well as all forms of life air land and water under its definition of environment the review notes the proposal might also need approval under the federal fisheries act because of possible effects on watercourses the extension would cross details of the crossings havent been developed yet so it is not known at this time if the construction methods or the structures proposed will impact fish and fish habitats biologist wayne hyatt told the ministry on behalf of canadas fisheries and oceans ministry in june bad hair day york school board has the solution mikeadler staff reporter have a curl that wont curl a head full of frizzies get into the classroom where a night school class from the york region board of education can help the latest crop of general inter est courses starting at many of the boards schools next month include several sounding truly illuminating or a little odd for a fee students can find out how to avoid freezing to death in a wilderness or they can learn how to build a 10inch pink mohair bunny deco rate a cake wire a cottage improve their selfesteem or pick up some bass catching techniques bad hair day tricks of the trade will introduce pupils to a professional stylist who can teach them quick morning fixups and home haircolouring learn to jazz up your hair using various common items pipe cleaners popsicle sticks etc and the new tap teaser hairdini braidini clips scrunchies etc the course description promises theres a course called healing touch introductory where stu dents can learn and practice a collection of energybased treat ment modalities another mathematics for gambling shows counting tech niques for card games and studies lotteries and rolling of standard and nonstandard dice theres a course for budding and apparently very serious ecologists called our continuing education environment will the world survive the next 50 yeajrsi residents in search of a more relaxing topic may wish to take another stretching for better everyday living j for those more inclined to the conventional there are courses offering instruction in languages art sports computer skills and of course welding for beginners people can register for a general interest course by phone 24hours a day until jan 5 at 416-969- 7170 ext 2800 or by dropping off a form at the host school by jan 4 cheque those rails on monday the final jobs ontario grant cheque was presented to mem bers of the yorkdurham heritage railway at the stouffville train station stouffville mayor wayne emmcrson holds the cheque with a pleased railway president ken harding standing by and jim omara from the ministry of economic trade and development representing the provincial govern ment r3 phow by cheryljohnsov theice is nice marion wells of lcmonvillc left and sandra carson of clarcmont arc all smiles as they skate hand in hand during the adult skate christmas party at the recreation centre in stouffville last week the skate clubs annual party brought out numerous par ticipants rates set to vi phl by sjoerd iiitteleex jan 1 b from page ib i our customers have been requesting expanded local cafl ing so that they carj reach many neigh bouring residchjf and businesses ijy telephone withouj paying longdistaocel charges said tefr mosey vice presi dent of marketing for bell canada j effective jan jr 1 998 bell will elftni inate the exihf mileage charges thai about 200000 cjtsi tomcrs have beer paying in additiorrlo their basic service price in order to get single or twoparty service these changes ranged from 30 centy to more than s40aj month vi great bargains great books great boxing dag sales t si the tailor of panama john le carre only 699 hardcover hie hundred secret senses amy tan only 699 hardcover accordion crimes e anne rronlx only 599 hardcover only while quaolilks lsl sale hegins december 26lh 1907 assorted hurt and neglected books 50 off real hooks are jus ttic bcginnw 3175 liny 7 easl of woodbine ae maikham onlprio90577175 j aiaprebsisaproud ii2 sponsor of the toronto s n0kih womans show jt fb7tiu8ni j- ft- j houston ford mercury bill houston ford mercury sales ltd 1 1 769 highway 48 stouffville 640454 1 mwm on selected 1997 new or demo vehicles in stock up to 48 mth joac as well as 00 financing on all 1998 indstars and 98 f series pick ups 1998 explorer series oac ej e1z2ql 3 o u bioom1notom 9 1 s touffvnit ro uhjoo uickcnzc i z 8 kj4 kit hi our customers are the focus of everything we do