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8 jkc i iwu j x 511 vavli economist suntribune community saturday march 11 2006 win a 75 spending spree at country decorating show craft lovers are invited to celebrate the warmth of spring in the country at the markham country decorating and collectibles show and sale coming to markham fairgrounds march 17 to 19 the show houses more than 130 exhibitors in three buildings through out the weekend and offers a varied selection of country furnishing folk art crafts antiques and decorations suitable for the home and as unique gift ideas the show runs march 17 from 10 am to 9 pm and march 18 and 19 from 10 am to 5 pm tickets are 8 for adults 7 for seniors and 2 for children under the age of 12 free parking will be available and hourly door prizes will be donated by exhibitors throughout the weekend for further information about the show call 905 6492480 reader contest residents wanting to win the grand prize of a 75 shopping spree or one of 25 free admission passes to the show can send us their country decorating idea we will hold a random draw for the prizes tuesday and inform the winners by phone entries must include a daytime phone number send submissions to the economist suntribune 9 heritage rd markham ont l3p 1m3 or fax to 2941538 markham students make deans list alicia gordon correspondent the national deans list has recog nized 64 saginaw valley state university michigan students for their academic achievements and two of them are york region natives shah h baqar of markham who is in the masters degree program of pre- occupational therapy received the honour by maintaining a 400 grade point average katherine h hahn of unionville is taking an educational specialist degree in nursing with the hopes of pursing a career in this field she also maintained a 400 grade point average baqar and hahnwill be eligible to compete for 25000 in scholarship awards as well as other benefits shutters by 4illlll s shadeomatic ly satin vinyl shutter tropics by lshadeomatk 15 year warranty uv resistant maintenance free moisture proof aluminum reinforced unique patented gear system no pull bar 8 r fi go window shopping at home with us v the best selection v friendly service v expert installation v price guarantee wrought iron rods finials rods brkts finials 28 48 48 84 2995 3995 visit our showroom or call for shopathome m store hours monwed 105 thursfri 108 sat 40 v5 sun 114 mflrkham showroom 5694hwy7 uniu9 ioi1 plato at galsworthy st 9952949513 1w55sti inspectors keeping tabs on york region eateries regional councillor calls for restaurant report by lisa queen staff writer everything from vermin in the kitchen to a malfunctioning buffet steam table led to five dozen charges being laid and eight restaurants being tem porarily closed down in york region last year but despite the bad apples the director of yorks health pro tection branch says the regions eateries are well monitored and generally meeting standards not that there isnt more that could be done says oryst zyhar were in there inspecting restaurants as often as we can were in there as often as the province mandates us to be he said would we like t6 be in these places more often definitely on some cases we have taken food taken it to the dumpster and poured household cleaner on it given the growing number of restaurants in york and the high turnover of staff zyhar would like to see inspectors get into more eateries to educate staff on the proper handling of food ever since the toronto star brought repulsive conditions at some city restaurants to light which has led to eight eateries being shut down during a two- week blitz york residents have been concerned about the state of the regions restaurants while some york restaurants have failed to meet health stan dards zyhar said toronto eateries are more prone to problems because they are often in older buildings making it easier for rate and cockroach es to get in in york restaurants classi fied as highrisk food premises receive at least three random visits from public health inspec tors a year takeout shops are consid ered mediumrisk and are inspected at least twice a year lowrisk operations such as convenience stores are inspect ed a minimum of once a year inspectors checked 10108 establishments last year 528 more than provincially mandat ed of those 1623 were re- inspections sixtytwo charges were laid and eight restaurants were tem porarily closed three voluntari ly due to food safety infrac tions newmarket councillor diane humeniuk introduced a notice of motion tuesday night calling on the regions public health department to issue a report outlining restaurants which have failed to meet stan dards meanwhile markham councillor cord landon has received several inquiries from worried residents gord landon markham council lor has received many calls about restaurant conditions im getting a lot of calls from constituents said landon who sent a letter this week to medical officer of health dr helena jaczek asking about restaurant conditions here some people are telling me theyre afraid to go out and eat its not good for business landon is confident york has a pretty good inspection sys- tern here but he wants that confirmed steeles avenue doesnt nec essarily mean restaurants on one side are good and theyre not good on the other side when you crass steeles you will know you are eating at a restaurant that is checked on a very regular basis from our perspective weve kept close tabs if a restaurant is open it has passed the test biufisch regional chairperson but richmond hill resident richard hodges isnt so sure york eateries are meeting health standards he detailed many infractions in a letter to the editor from a waitress who kept letting her long hair fall into food to a fast food outlet that failed to instruct teenagers to get their snowy boots off the table there seems to be a great lack of handling food with uten sils almost no use of plastic gloves and no thought to cover ing up long hair said hodges who has been in catering for x almost 45 years where are all the health and hygiene officers the food inspectors do we have any at all hodges isnt the only one who has witnessed poor health standards in regional restau rants quite frankly i have been in the back of a couple and i would be afraid to eat in there said one municipal official who asked not to be named but regional chairperson bill fisch said conditions in york are far better than in toronto on the contrary when you cross steeles you will know you are eating at a restaurant that is checked on a very regular basis he said from our per spective weve kept close tabs if a restaurant is open it has passed the test we make sure vermin and rodents arent present and food is being handled appropri ately from a health perspective we ensure there is clean equip ment we ensure there are proper handwashing facilities in order to meet demand caused by a growing number of york restaurants regional coun cil last fall hired three additional inspectors bringing the total to 19 vaughan councillor joyce frustaglio chairperson of the regions health committee said councillors will discuss the issue at a march 23 committee meeting i was assured we dont have these problems experienced by some toronto restaurants our health inspectors are very vigi lante but what vigilante means at this point i dont know she said we will assure ourselves our health inspectors are doing an excellent job and our restau rants are clean maybe our restaurants are not as clean as we want them to be or at the same level but they pass health standards in response to public con cerns some york politicians would like to introduce a sys tem requiring eateries to post their most recent health inspec tions for customers to see you could have a positive program that says this restau rant meets all the requirements of the public health act and has never had a problem landon said i think thats a really great idea i think it should be very public zyhar provided some tips to help customers choose clean and healthy restaurants are lights kept low maybe its not just for atmosphere are the bathrooms clean if not it might be an indication the kitchen isnt either how clean are the floors the tables in fast food places are the employees wearing plastic gloves or washing their hands especially after handling money or other objects despite the concerns zyhar believes the region has a good system in place to keep restau rant owners on their toes im confident in my staff theyre out there