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i 1 comafeniarx hey how about that weather el nino dominated the 1998 headlines by roy green maffwitllflt the newsmaker of 1998 isnt mike harris or jean chretien or even bill clinton or megamayor mel lastman or any other noisemaking politicians andor policymakers though we thank them all for trying i no the person who had the most impact on us m 1998 isnt even a real person but a fictional creation called the little child also known as el nino lets face it the most fascinating captivating grip ping and enduring tiling the single spectacular fact about the year the incredible stories well be telling our grandchildren about theyearofourlord 1998 will all centie on die weather lit nino made his her its presence felt very early a jan 8 newspaper headline stated rainy days irritate those who love snow in march we told you weve had a pretty easy year so far in may summerlike weather makes for cool cash in july hot spring means farm cornucopia arrives early and just a few weeksago grass is too green for holidayspiril ithe and terrible ice storm in eastern bntwioaidquebccdreadfulnpdsjnsome and killing droughts in others and in york region the incredible absencepjfwin- ter followed by anearly springwondcrful summer spectacular fall and r recently barely asign of winter and temperatuies that broke records dating back a h h3p sec fantino page as im either going windsurfing depemd1nqon el nino what a strange year for weather thats what makes ei nino one of our newsmakers of 1998- julian fantino london police chief is hired tolead york regions beleaguered police force into the future bryan cousineau york regions police chief retired his tenure was marked by a damning provincial audit bill fisch chairperson strives to build consen sus on important regional issues such as transportation terrijean bedford thornhill dominatrix was found guilty of prostitutionrelated charges dave johnson v education minister took on striking catholic teachers and ordered them back to work the year in review a year ofchallenge a year of opportunity in health care region gets a heart centre by jennifer brown staff wit i thr hospitals may have been desperate for funds in 1998 but christmas came early to york region residents requiring car- cliac care with the announce ment york county would be the home to a new heart centre the first cardiac catheteriza tions are expected to be per formed in february if the money flows from the ministry of heal ill that will mean sig- hificantly less travel time f6r heart patients serving all ofyork region and sinicoc county the centre once its complete in 2000 will pro- vide cardiac surgery cardiac catheterizations pacemakers and implantable defibrillator service cardiac catheterization is a bsf see hospti als page a8 enmiiui 1 the year in review regional chairperson bill fisch hopes his council and administration can turn their attention to building the future instead of putting out provincial fires are we ready for the new millennium by usa queen vi aff willi fit york region chairperson bill fisch wants to stop putting out fires created by the provincial government not that he expected 1998 to be easy with massive growth on the horizon and the downloading of provincial ser vices to regional governments fisch knew york had a full agenda its just that the rookie chairperson did- ntexpect queens park to keep changing policies surrounding ontarios new prop erty tax system as far as fisch is concerned the tories created chaos for property taxpayers and for the municipal politicians left scram bling to keep up we have been putting out fires and reacting to things that occurred almost on a daily basis he said i dont mind change but not when it changes every day as a result the region is far from achiev ing the goals council established at a retreat last winter by early next year council was hoping to have a regional fire department in the five urban municipalities and a regionally integrated transit system fisch estimated the move would save taxpayers at least 100 million over- the b5 see taxes page a7 regional chairperson bill fisch said council reacted to provincial directives almost every day as a result the region is far frbrn reaching some of the goals it established quotable quotes wordsworth remembering from 1998 its common sense therei is sex when a naked male who has a rope tied around his penis is being attended to by a female especially when she is wearing lingerie judge roy bogtjsky ruling on the case of thornhill dominatrix terrijean bedford convicted of prostitutionrelated charges in october does it take a death in the emergency room for the government to realize theres a crisis in health care does it take the death of small business for the province to understand we have i a taxissue- i- cvl don cousens yiifdrkliam mayor called on his greater toronto area i counterparts to join him in a protest over business jax increases caused by provincial assessments this reminds me of when i was watching tv in sudbury and they had the results of the olympics host site selections i saw the faces of people when it was announced vancouver had won this is our olympics and weve won it dan carriere york county hospital president reacts with delight to the news tltat his facility will be home to a regional cardiac health centie im hot doing this one day in one day out im not going to sit around watching the news to see what day im supposed to go to school s nick uecuyer newmarket high school stu- dent grew fed up with threatened labour action by liis public secondary teachers what you are teaching the kids is that when the going gets tough you just walk away loula bigioni vie stoujfville parent v commented on the impact a catholic teachers strike liad on students