The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

6 avv vfeffmyrtwht stouffville tribune a metroland community newspaper 9 heritage rd markham on l3p 1m3 opinion telephone 905 2942200 fax 905 2941538 email newsroomeconsuncom publisher ian proudfoot general manager alvin brouwer editor in chief brenda larson director of advertising debra welter deputy editor debora kelly editor julie caspersen production director chert kay distribution director barry goodyear online publishing manager brian kirlik classified manager ann campbell retail sales manager stephen mathieu inside sales manager staceyallen business manager margaret fleming office manager vivian oneil letters if helicopter catches the bad guys well all sleep easier re cops get cash for copter jan 22 york regional police chief julian fantino is proud of his airsupport unit to me the heli copter program is one that touches everyone it impacts everything we do and has a direct benefit he is quoted as saying i suspect fantinos house doesnt lie under the helicopters flight path as ours seems to and he doesnt benefit from helicopter surveil lance in the early morning hours as we do our family is woken every morning around 3 am as fantinos helicopter thunders over head it feels like were in a military zone maybe we are selfish unwilling to sacrifice our sleep for the communitys need for law and order cops and robbers oj simpson style can chase down the bad guys but if all children can grow up free from physical emotional and sexual abuse assured of proper food housing and education they have a better chance of becoming a cop than a robber fewer robbers fewer helicopters and then well all sleep cf bauer aurora give surplus back to the taxpayer to whom it belongs re regions decision where to spend 25m feb 1 before york region ratifies its budget for 2000 the finance committee chaired by markham mayor don cousens should give serious consideration to offering residents a tax cut with the 25 million in reserve funds- both the region and town coffers find themselves with excess funds directly attrib uted to years of over- taxation as a result of the strong economic growth we are experiencing the time has come to give all tax classes commercial industrial and resi dential a break in 1998 our politicians voted in favour of a tax increase with millions of dollars accruing interest at their disposal this was clearly unjustified taxes should be increased when conditions vrite0ff0ur panhandling fimesas a business expense- dictate not simply to pad the war chest the finance committee should not be satis fied with a simple tax freeze for 2000 they should direct a portion albeit small to where it belongs the taxpayer johnvaleri unionville moraine battle lines drawn between people and politicians re preserving moraine means declaring ownership a column by dave teetzeljan 20 in his column teetzel expresses his sympa thy for richmond hill mayor bill bell and his council during the recent meeting concerning the oak ridges moraine he maintains that bell knows what he is talking about concerning omb decisions and that the will of the people doesnt mean squat well i was at that meeting and what i wit nessed was something totally different i watched a group of arrogant aloof indi viduals directing irritated looks at the public who had come out in hundreds to voice their will regarding protection of the moraine the meeting was held in a room that can hold with comfort 100 people there was prob ably in excess of 500 people in attendance the media reported it was closer to 1000 people i cannot confirm this as i was squashed against a column most of the evening unable to turn my head bells reluctant apology for holding the meeting in such a small venue came across as completely insincere contrary to what teetzel may think or what those politicians believe something funda mental was at work that evening it was a case of the normal joe saying im mad and i am not going to take it anymore people are sick of being told their opinions are not required nor wanted by their elected representatives they are angry that the omb supposedly the last resort for protecting their communi ties appears to have become a rubber stamp allowing developers and their political buddies to do what they wish i believe we are witnessing a new militancy from the public concerning the environment urban sprawl forced amalgamation of com munities and uncontrolled and destructive development that benefits no one except a few powerful developers i came away from that meeting convinced the present richmond hill council will deservedly not survive the next municipal election we need politicians in tune with the needs and desires of the electorate they will not be alone many of their com patriots in other york region communities will be joining them the oak ridges moraine is a unique won der of nature sustaining an ecology that must be protected at all costs and if to do that we do not follow the rules laid down by selfinterested parties then so be it the battle lines have been drawn mikeshackleford schomberg letters policy stouffville tyibune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the newspaper reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space write letters to the editor 9 heritage rd markham on up 1m3 email letterseconsuncom stouffville tribune serving the community since 1888 h3eld canadian circulations audit board member ape ontario press council canadian publications mail product sales agreement 1403419 subscription rates by mail 1 year 69 55 tuesdays only stouffville tribune published every tuesday thursday and saturday is one of the metroland printing publishing and distributing ltd group of newspapers which includes the ajaxpickering news advertiser alliston heraldcourier barrie advance barrys bay this week bolton enterprise brampton guardian burlington shopping news burlington post city parent collmgwoodwasaga connection east york mirror erin advocatecountry routes etobicoke guardian flamborough post georgetown independentacton free press kingston this week lindsay this week midlandpenetanguishene mirror milton canadian champion milton shopping news mississauga news newmarket- aurora georgjna erabanner northumberland news north york mirror oakville beaver oakvine shopping news orillia today oshawawhitbyclaringtonport perry this week peterborough this week richmond hillthomhillvaughan liberal scarborough mirror stouffville tribune todays seniors uxbridge tribune and city of ybrk guardian phone 95 2942200 fax9052941538 classified 18007433353 distribution 9052948244 brenda larson middleoftheroad approach led to job fund scandal for years jean chretiens liberals have retained popular public support while they espoused a feelgood philosophy spent money on publicly supported pro grams cut a bit of our tax burden and walked a course best described as mid dleoftheroad nothing major risked nothing major done it has been a workable approach to retaining power dont anger anyone dont offend anyone dont hurt anyone but the same kind of mediocre tech nique has created a billiondollar scan dal from which this government may not recover an audit of human resources development canada has discovered that shoddy paperwork and a failure on the part of administrators to ensure money was spent wisely meant 1 bil lion was wasted on job creation projects the programs that received grants certainly sound worthy literacy pro grams youth job training programs summer jobs employment skills train ing for people with disabilities and job creation in high unemployment areas but because the paperwork is so lax its almost impossible to indicate whether or not the programs were a suc cess or failure that is worth the grant money tossed their way the opposition parties are attacking the credibility of the department and of its minister jane stewart charging that hrdc grants are simply a slush fund to buy votes in key ridings on the surface it appears the grant money was neverending but stewart knew there was a prob lem and had already undertaken a plan to establish better methods of financial management for hrdc pierre pettigrew her predecessor has also said he knew there was a recordkeeping problem but did nothing about it stewart is left holding a messy bag and the prime minister is pretending its no big deal and will be quickly forgotten as discussions about sovereignty and the governments clarity bill resume hes wrong it is a big deal the liberals have blatantly used hrdc grants to pump up illplanned illsupervised programs pretending the influx of cash would help the economy if they only had saved the billion and given us back some of our own money to spend and invest we could have given the economy a boost while per sonally benefitting and the inherent public relations value of tax cuts should nt be overlooked either the liberals are using the publics money to buy the publics support its shameful and canadians should be call ing for an inquiry into this billiondollar scandal and for the resignation of jane stewart who should have done some thing about it ss3ms8e