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p6 trtsuklfe f htfffsbamav 28t998 st thursday may 28 1998 vol 110 no 42 the tribune is a member of the ontario press council the tribune w u- 1 1 s r iy send your letters to the editor to the address below editorial mel defines selfish mel lastman has in effect waved the red flag in our faces but he and toronto taxpayers had better hope we dont accept the challenge what nerve mel has he is whining that we 905ers are being subsidized by his 4 1 6ers when it comes to public transit he says toronto is being asked to pay s53 mil lion a year for go transit when his residents arent the ones who use it his argument is that 905ers should pay for go and leave toronto out of it he says hed like to stop the trains at the edge of his city forcing commuters from the 905 regions to take toronto transit the rest of the way to work to help him recoup some of his costs to run that expensive service richmond hill mayor bill bell and markham mayor don cousens are fed up with lastmans complaints and are threatening to call his bluff we couldnt agree more lastman and his citycronies are the epitome of selfishness when it comes to keeping services and sharing costs they want the best of everything with the smallest price tags attached and each time they whine about their cash flow problems their friends at queens panvfind more provincial funds for them to spend but to complain about sharing the cost of a public transit system that connects the entire gta is a risk lastman shouldnt take he should stop a moment and consider what the city receives from the 905ers who trav el into its heart each day under provincial restructuring york taxpayers are being forced to turn over 92 million a year to toronto- to help pay for the citys social ser vices brk will have no say in how that money is spent downloading and provincial restructuring has affected the bottom lines of all municipalities but theyre a concern for everyone and all municipalities including toronto must work together to find a way to fund necessary services for residents in the city and in the 905 regions fear of dogs can save childs life my son is absolutely petrified of dogs we realized this when he was about four years old and it has gotten progressively worse since he will be seven in august kody is so afraid of dogs he says he hates them all that he often wont go outside if he even sees one walk ing along on a leash with its owner he definitely wont go outside if a dog is spotted bounding around in its own yard once he started screaming uncontrollably running toward the house for cover as our neighbours dog came over to say hello make no mistake this is a genuine fear that you can see in his face read in his body language and hear in his voice no matter how much we try to tell him this dog is gentle and that dog is kind old or passive he doesnt care he winds his body around mine using it as a sort of protective shield all the while egging me to get inside the house quickly what kody really hates about dogs besides everything is that they jump up on him puppies are even worse m 4ua kibbles bits tracy kibble he says because they scratch his legs with their razorsharp claws and bite his toes with their razorsharp teeth its no use telling him that the dog is just saying hello and that it is being playful or sociable or loveable he doesnt believe a word of it that dog is going to hurt him he knows it it is just a matter of time the first question kody asks when going somewhere for a visit is do they have a dog if hes invited to a birthday party i know that i must first check out whether or not the birthday boy has a dog and whether or not its on the loose he would sacrifice games prizes cake and ice cream to be safe from a dog i have tried everything i took kody to the local animal shelter and figured if he spent a few minutes amongst a bunch of dogs he would slowly come out of his shell instead i ended up being pulled around the dog walk by an overactive clearly underrexercised german shepherd while kody cowered inside behind the glass in the foyer until recently i was starting to get a little annoyed by my sons attitude toward dogs dogs wont hurt you son unless you tease and provoke them most dogs are kind and its against the law to allow a dog to be unleashed he doesnt care and you know after the recent rash of dog attacks on kids his age during the past few weeks im almost glad he is apprehensive mildly put towards canines one news report this week remarked that dog attacks are not get ting more frequent but instead just more severe this is comforting news why one expert told reporters that the reason we are getting attacked by dogs on a regular basis is because people are breeding and raising big- goose on the loose seeks home dear editor it was a dark and stormy night monday may 1 1 and i was proceed ing in an easterly direction along main street stouffville looming before me in jthe- middle of the lane was a biflowihg white object that i took to be nothing more than an airfilled grocery bag i nonchalantly ignored it arid did not alter my course suddenly the air was filled with a piercing shriek and i jammed on my brakes in fear my passenger and good friend terry neprily leapt out the door and disap peared below the bumper of the stopped vehicle he remained there for a few moments while my mind raced through the potential tragic conse- quences of my momentary lapse he reappeared to display the victim a twofoot high plastic lawn ornament goose wearing a bicycle helmet a fat lot of good that safety measure did him well we pulled over and laughed until it hurt over this somewhat surre al experience then put the goose in the back scat where it remained until this evening a brief inspection revealed a name and phone number inside the helmet i called the number and found the owner of the helmet but he com pletely denied ownership or knowl edge of the goose so the helmet is gone but the- goose remains lonely but recovering in my yard im sure he would recov er much more quickly in the bosom of his family so anybody missing this dear creature should call me at 6401548 hhshhhj remember large item pickup is a week from monday sincerely mattdoiiris ger stronger more vicious caflines then stop breeding and raising big ger dogs whatever happened to the good ole collies the gentle irish set ters and the yappypoodles i cant ever remember as a child running into a bloodthirsty pitbull rotweiller or bull mastiff probably the most intimidating of all dogs i can remember was a german shepherd and the majority of those were used in garage shops as guard dogs but today people are fixated on having beasts on collars that can rip flesh and lock jaws with powerful sometimes deadly force its almost as if we feel more pow erful knowing our pet could turn violent at any given time or by one trained command how can i look at my son and tell him in all good- conscience that he shouldnt be afraid of dogs when maybe he should maybe its a good thing that he wont go anywhere near a dog unprovoked attacks against humans are on the rise it seems as far as im concerned people who fall under the following list shouldnt own a large dog anyone who has to put their dog in a run or pen at anytime anyone who doesnt walk their dog at least three times a day and have the space to allow it to run free for at least 15 minutes each day anyone living in a smalllot subdi vision period anyone who trains the dog to attack people on command until something is done to prevent large potentially violent dogs from attacking people unprovoked ill deal with my sons fear one day at a time but no longer will i feel comfort able telling him not to worry about dogs because they will and do attack stouffville tribune a metroland community newspaper ian prqudfoot publisher alvin brouwer general manager brenda larson 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 9056402100 retail sales 905 6402100 classifieds 18007433353 i distribution 9056402100 fax 905 6405477 email thetribistarca 6244 main st stouffville ont l4a1e2 the stouffville tribunevpublv lished every tuesday thursday and saturday is one of the metroland printing publishing and distribution group of commu- vhity newspapers which includes ajaxplekering news advertiser alliston heraldcourier barrie j advance brampton guardian burlington post cityparcnt collirigwoodwasaga beach con nection east york mirror etoblv l coke guardian georgetown fade- pendentacton free press kingston this week lindsay this week markham economist sun midlandpehetangulshene mirror milton canadian champion mis- siasauga news newmarketaurora erabanner northumberland news north york mirror oakviuev beaver orillia today oshawa- whitbyclaringtonport perry this week peterborough this week richmond 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