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s ecbhomhtsunmibune contmonity news tuesfaj feb 8 2000 3 nuts and bolts of coop staff photosjoerd witteveen stouffville district secondary school grade 12 student jeremy morris second from left is the first in york region to sign on in the ontario youth apprenticeship program and hell be working at 410 auto on sandiford drive helping him turn the wrench are 410 owner rick callaghan ministry of training consultant elaine forde and sdss coop co ordinator scott croucher novopharm workers optimistic after merger nothing to fear for 200 workers at stouffville pharmaceutical plant by joan ransberry staff writer novopharm ltd employees includ ing those in stouffville will soon find out if their jobs are secure in the wake of a company merger last week about 2200 employees including close to 200 in stouffville learned the canadianowned pharma ceutical company had merged with tevapharmaceutical industries ltd of israel its not a sell out it is a merger with novopharm company president leslie dan told the stouffville tribune local workers are optimistic about job security according to novopharm employee carol mcbride rumour has it we will be ok she said and the workers have nothing to worry about stressed dan were in an improved situation novopharm ltd the second largest generic company in canada with a presence in hungary and the united states is owned by dan family holding ltd novopharms primary business has been in the development production and marketing of generic prescription pharmaceuticals ncluding a variety of vitamins and overthecounter prod ucts in stouffville novopharm manufac tures a variety of products dan said it will be business as usual in stouffville the company president stressed teva pharmaceutical industries ltd is israels largest pharmaceutical com pany with 80 per cent of its sales out side israel mainly in the united states and europe novopharm has been in stouffville for five years the deal is expected to close march 31 joan ransberry weather to remember everyone has a favourite weather story mine is 46 years old on oct 15 1954 the lights went out and they wouldnt come back on while my dad mom sister and brother spent the night handmilking 30 holsteins i hid under the bed i didnt know it was a hurricane nor did i know she was called hazel i just knew i was not brave i was nine years old and terrified of electrical storms the farm could blow away for all i cared along with sandy the cattle dog i bunkered down id ride out the storm after five hours of milking my father using beams boards and stone reinforced the barn to keep it from blowing away when dawn finally broke i came out from under the bed i joined the family in assessing the damage about 10 hard maple and 50 manitoba trees had been ripped from their roots the roof on the main barn had sustained minor damage the loafing barn was gone the windows in the milk house were broken and for reasons only known to me the cattle dog was missing we had no electricity so we didnt know 83 people were dead in toronto some bodies washed up on the shores of lake ontario in new york state days later hurricane hazel dumped 300 million tonnes of rain on the area enough for me to never forget as well the sinking of the edmund fitzgerald the manitoba flood and the ice storm of 98 will remain lodged in my memory over the past 100 years canada has experienced extreme weather in almost every corner of the country while the agricultural community is bending over backwards trying to catch the attention of the federal government the impor tance of government subsidies and grants cant hold a can dle to the weather when a farmer looks out the window at 5 am hes not wondering whats on the prime ministers mind rather the farmer is checking to see if the weather fits into the days work the farmer knows too well that in one clean sweep the weather can destroy everything while the red river flood in the spring of 1950 is viewed as the worst flood in canadian history a flood in the same area in 1997 also left its mark in the spring of 97 about 2000 square kilometres of valley lands flooded as the red river rose while thousands of volunteers and soldiers fought rising waters for days damage was pegged at half a billion dollars on nov 10 1975 a severe storm caused the largest great lakes hulk ore carrier to break up and sink in 20- metrehigh waves killing the entire 29man crew soon after canadian singer gordon lightfoot immortalized the ship in a folk song as a lightfoot fan for more than 30 years i was not surprised when the song became an instant hit one of the most destructive and disruptive storms in canadian history hit eastern ontario and quebec in 1998 causing hardship for about five million people and costing 3 billion in damages for some power outages lasted for weeks well all remember sunday 4 pm 10 pm minimum food order s850 j i 4 i i 4 i i i i i i 1 i i i i i 4 i i i i 4 i i i i i i t i i i i i 4 i i i i 1 i t i 4 4 i i t 4 i 4 i i 4 i i 4 i i 4 i