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economist sun stouffville tribune saturday sept 18 1999 3 safety georginalaw prompted by courtney trempe inquest recommendations towns join controlling dogs by dawn liersch i k staff writer georgina council has intro duced a new law to keep vicious dogs on a short leash along with whitchvirch- stouffville and newmarket the thfeetowns wanted to incorporate an inquest jurys recommendations on preventing dog bites into their bylawsv the recommendatidns rang ing from education programs to increased fines under the dog owners liability act were made last spring during an inquest into the death of stouffville youngster courtney trempe who was bitten on the neck by a bull mastiff in 1998 pointing out that it is difficult to enforce restraining orders from one town to another when a dog is declared vicious the jury called on the province to implement a cen tralized database to follow dog owners when they move under georginas revamped bylaw a vicious dog will include those that have been declared vicious dogs in other towns the town can then order muz zling or leashing of the dog whenev er its out in public the dog owner will be given 30 days to apply for an appeal hearing once the declaration is made the owner must also identify the dog with a microchip implant and register the microchip number with the towns animal control depart ment the town must be notified with in 48 hours if the dog has moved been transferred to another owner or been destroyed georgina clerk larry simpson said the new law will help the three towns keep track of vicious dogs he noted whitchurchstouflville has already passed a similar bylaw and newmarket council is planning to do the same 1 simpson will also be meeting with regional clerks hoping to con vince other york region municipal ities and the city of toronto to pass similar bylaws georgina council has also endorsed the trempe inquest jurys 35 other recommendations directing eight recommendations to the province and requesting- changes to the dog owners liability act honouring terry staff photosteve s0mervu1 orchard park public school student justin lyons leads students at the schools terry fora run yes students walked ran or rollerbladed their way through the school yard to raise funds for cancer research stouffvllles terry fox run is sunday at 1 prn starting at the recreation centre registration begins at 12i5pih v yofregionsupp s by joan ransberry staff writer whdid the wells go dry that wul f be the key question at a public meeting in vahdprf monday night residents are hoping to find out why vandorf s natural water system failedj causing six weus to go dry in the margorie crescent area presidents continue to rely on water supplied by york region and 1200gallon water drums have ben placed onlawns in the upscale subdivision york region staff is expected to explain why problem ways to fix it and how to prevent it from happen ing again at the meeting in the vandorf community hall an investigation including a study by a hydrogepligist has been carried out in the area councillor steve pliakes suggested the wells wentdry because an increase in the number of water users overtaxed the capacity some wells may have to be drilled deeper regional officials have stated introducing a communal water system to the area is an option that has alsobeen suggested yaridorfs water conies from two sources the affected aquifer is 170- feet deep and 70 homes are con- nectedtoit the ontario ministry vqf the environment is also involved in the vandorf water investigation since the ministry prqyides the perniife to pump the water the province car ries responsibility also me town is keeping a close eye on the situation mayor wayne ernmerson said the hall is on woodbine avenue in vandorf and the rheetingstarts at 7pm town set to pass horse safety law by joan ransberry staff writer a bylaw designed to make horseback riding safer could be in place in wlritchurchstoufrville i within two weeks oh tuesday council is expected to put the wheels in motion to have riding stables subjected to a number of regulations including manadatory helmets and footwear stouffville councillor judy scalas said she will support the bylaw fully wearing helmets and having proper footwear needs to be mandatory at all riding facili- ties she said its something we have to dp the timing is right scala said we can live with this the horse community has indicated that such a bylaw is fine town staff met with local horse industry representatives recently to review me drkft bylaw im glad we consulted with our horse peo ple they agree with it scala said stquffvillefwas chosen as tbe first- stop in a provincewide attempt to set up mandatory min imum safety codes for riding sta- bles the move was prompted by aurora councillor phylis morris after a loyearold girl from her town died at a riding stableat mussetaansjlake in april elizabeth ifiadderjviwastnpt wearing a helmet when she fell and struck her head on a rqck while riding at wagon wheel ranch the girl was dragged to her cleith rr the tragedy prompted action from morris she convinced her council toadbpt the bylaw and is npwipbbyingtiie province as well as other individual municipalities its going wry well in aurora were still getting letters of sup port she said whitchurchstouffville has been especially sensitive to the need for this now we have to get the province to be as receptive the push for riding stable safe- ty laws wont stop in whitchurch- stouffville oak ridges mpp frank klees can expect to be asked to push for provincial laws linked to horse back riding scala said the death of a child is reason enough for stouffville to put these laws in place morris stressed she added that despite recent criticism from a lawyer who spe cializes in equinerelated issues the bylaw would hold up if chal lenged in court i atown absolutely has every legal right to do this- she said i if stouffville adopts the new law it will- be mandatory for any one under 18 years to wear a hel met and proper footwear while horseback riding as wellthe law wijl forbid children under six from trail riding arid requires riders between six and 10 to be led by ah expleriehced rider holding their hpfsonatether ejteabeths father paul hadder has called forari inquest into his daughters death as well the hadder family has beehencouraging fhiimcipal gov- j errimente to regulate trail rides in tiiefhopes of preventing asimilar tragedy j j twp previous coroners mquests have called for helmets aha proper footwear but the fee- pmmeridations were never made laupmhtilaurofa adopted its law no municipality or provincial government had safety regulations governing horseback riding estab lishments pushing for regulations at the rnunicipal level is the logical way to go morris said if the province doesnt go along with it the responsibility is left up to the municipalities