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wtm 3 vv economist suntnbunenhixothurxaay no zl 3 j vs i 0 by mike abler staffwriter c targe holes in the ground and jwhatgoesinto rthem is aif issued thatjnay remain close to the sur face after ontarios new oak ridges conservation act- is passed 4 v c gravel pit owners want to fill rtheir old quarries for profit some farmers want to fill natural potholes arid gullies left by glaciers but its not just the presence of aggregate mining which will be v allowed to continue or even expand xpver most of the moraine that troublessomeresidents 4 j jlts a persistent worry that riot all of the fill deposited in these pits and farm fields will be clean if-some- thing hazardous seeps through the moraine it could affect the ground- r water which thousands of york region residents rely on t the problenrof fill is the only crutch mtheprsvirices whole plan fifor the moraine according to whitchurchstouffville mayor wayne emmerson- tthe moraine legislation con- tains nojspromisetfrom r the province fto check ifill being depositedmespite years of appeals from the town ldpntttunk theyre listening to ussmdpemfflersbhr who sees pressure oriinihe municipal beenthere creep lowlikejhauel f staff photosjoerd witteveen a truck and a frontend loader traverse the lafargegravel pit in rural whitchurchstbuffville near the bonier with durham region worries about the fill going into old pits being rehabilitated were not addressed in the provinces oak ridges moraineconservation act say critics vz the property had been unsafe to work the guy before me rolled a combine on one of the hills he said last week x c l another farmer recently finished to give pit owersthe nght to f gug low meas on a m ldump clean fill x road property but parry said the ithe town has three applications ft changing its fill bylaw on holdjo place ffllin unused grav- re a proposal to fill some land el pits alii turned ndown last- in order to create a riding area and september but resubmitted later paddock schmiegelow a past president of the aggregate producers association of ontario pledged gravel producers will leave extrac- tion sites as good as arid maybe better than before we are just as concerned about the environment as most of you he said since- the gravel industry is under tprbvincialcontrolr province should be responsible for pitreha- bilitation emmersori said j ias a small municipality dont cwarit to be the monitoring system for something i did not create pit owners who afccept fill frorn vpayirig customers canlater- con- vert the siteback to agriculture or other uses butfarmers on the moraine have also applied to put fill into nat- uraj depressions on their land s said theyre coming i cant have a person sitting there alfday watching what goes into the hole he said such alterations to the moraines rolling landscape havent been unique to whitchurchstouffville former king councillor jane underhill recalled that in 1998 a- westoet road property owner received the townships permission to usefill although me operation later stopped he was starting to fill ma huge gully gravel pits andtheiraffect on the moraine were point at- sail flie time id us asking because public meetings this summer that fhey want to level their land deyelopnierit services director torh parry said i paul hiilshof received an estimated 200300 truckl6ads of fill to cover two kettle depressions on his bloomington road farm i f hulshof now having topsoil spread on these areas said parts of helped shape the sprqtectidh legislation v in the end the province did not heed environriientalists calls to keep future extraction out of natu ral linkage corridors that enclose many sensitive areas of the moraine v- at one meeting denis cant have a person sitting there all day watching what goes into the hole stouffville councillor l mark carroll responded that the town has found asphalt building mate rials and all sorts of crap dumped in pits last week schmiegelow said pit ownerswould e stupid to contam inate former quarry lands they wanttosell however he admitted there have been cases where inap propriate material has been used plants and animals a municipal bylaw could charge dumping fees high enough to cover the cost of a fulltime municipal inspector at the site he argued vj meanwhile a spokesperson for the provinces natural resources ministry fended off suggestions froniemmerson that it has insuffi cient staff to watch filling of pits its a difficult thing you cant watch every single person and every situation said brians hollingswprth iii vaughan the city of toronto is intent on converting an old pit into a golf course by the keele valley landfill on major lvfackenzie drive near dufferin street vaughan planning mmission- er mike deangelissaid lie is tain whether the application on- which the provincial envjronriierit- ministry has the filial say will be affected by the moraine legislation linda pinv a spokesperson for the federation of ontario naturalists said her group does not agree with the prqvirices to allow extraction in orndorareas ididnt let myjhistructot knowmybackwhegirinirigto cramp as i held my awkward but balanced position then slowly transferredjriy weight from one a xp the other arms put r stretched trying toremeniber to grip the floor with my toes staff writer kathleen griffin tries tai chiatthe markham- branch of the taoisvtai chi society on main street norths see been there done that on page 24 i moviereviews sfhumbs seen a good movie lately you could win movie passes simply by writing a brief description of why you liked aflick for our eguide that appears iii our tuesday newspapers submissions must be po more than 30 words to submit your review goto wwwyorkregioncom and click on the movie reel oriuthe home page z if your submissipji is chosen for publication you could jje gomgtomemoyjesrfree so giveusyourbest critics pick yf f upcoming imj he noted artu hnge jss areas extraction will be controlled so that itcant harm tiie purpose of the link which is the movement of pirn said public hearings on the legislation are needed to examine fill and other issues this story appearing in our pages section saturday tells how york region writers got their work published eithefby going out on their own or choosing a smaller publisher if youre coh- sideling a similar project ypu may pick up some tips from the storyby staff writer jeff mitchell surfincity wwwamietiescpm thisvwebsite addresses a numb problems iricludihg panic attacks post- i traumatic stress- disorder arid fear of flying each of the probj l lemsincludesabrief descrip tion which can be clicked on for i more information and a iree self help program those with fearjbf flying can learn to understand their feararid follow a sevenstep process for overcoming it 1 theres a selfassessment ques tionnaire on the home page s u 1 4 f j i m i ii m if