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6 economist suntribune thursday july 4 2002 s stouffville tribune a metroland community newspaper 9 heritage rd markham ont l3p 1m3 publisher ian proudfoot editor in chief debora kelly director of advertising debra welter editor jim mason production manager pam nichols distribution manager barry black electronic communications manager john futhey classified manager ann campbell retail sales manager stephen mathieu inside sales manager stacey allen business manager robert lazurko office manager vivian oneil editorial why no cheering over health report somethings up if a government doesnt want to share good news the ontario government has been sitting on a may 2001 report that gives the provinces 56 community health centres the highfive teams of physicians and other health pro fessionals typically work together at the cen tres providing not only primary care services but emphasizing health promotion and dis ease prevention the nonprofit organizations are estab lished and governed by a communityelected volunteer board of directors why not trumpet the success of the centres one of the best ways to alleviate overloaded hospital emergency rooms according to the two doctors who wrote the report particular ly when the model for healthcare provision in canada has been under intense scrutiny gary oconnor executive director of the association of ontario health centres is frus trated by the tory tactics at least six york region groups along with about 100 more in communities across the province have applied to the ministry to open community health centres yet more money hasnt been forthcoming despite vague assurances and indications of support mr oconnor says the governments lack of response is curi ous given premier ernie eves remarks in the throne speech last may he said the ontario government would demonstrate leadership by debating honestly the future of health care while protecting the universality of the single- tier system that is the hallmark of our province and our country rather than demonstrate leadership the tories have continued to point fingers at the federal government rather than encourage debate about healthcare models the tories shut the door on it by sitting on the report community health centres would help alle viate the crisis caused by chronic underfund- ing in york region mr oconnor urges residents to lobby the ministry of health and longterm care as well as their local mpps to bring this model of health care to their communities the tories need to provide the leadership suggested in the throne speech by setting aside any political agendas and providing health carechallenged communities such as york region the option of community care centres opinion we ve beentheres a reassigned garbagestrike letters to the editor stouffville developers should pay attention to lifestyle concerns when it comes to proposals for new housing in stouffville much development is inevitable what is hopefully not inevitable is that the quality of life in the broadest sense is not changed for the worse these developments are profitable and they should be the more livable and pleas ant the surroundings country close to the city the more valuable the lots and homes contiguous green and woodland spaces and trails leading from beryl lane obrien avenue and park drive are vital for the health and vibrancy of current neighbour hoods as well as new ones the new developments should focus on foot and bike trails as a viable means of get ting to main street letting automobiles use the long way around for major shopping and inclement weather efforts should be made to encourage native bird species to stay in the green spaces to create a nontoken wildlife corri dor which walkers and joggers will also enjoy the contentious issue of density has been raised as it relates to contradictions of afford- ability with quality of life stouffvillestyle in my opinion we need to ensure a good mix of housing and by that i mean spreading smaller homes through the community in some of the nice locations to avoid stigma tized neighbourhoods and encourage good community building i wish all developers 20 years from now will be known for the creative livable com munity they created while keeping their shareholders content ianbatt stouffville thanks to all who helped with markham festival run the markham festival 5k and mile run was a success again this year thanks to the help of many dedicated people we would like to acknowledge and thank our sponsors running free scotiabank and pepsi councillor jack heath ofward 5 helped get the track fixed and started the race ruth russell and the markham centaurs running club assisted in organizing the races and helped on race day thanks to the markham baptist church mr alfred janach and mr alex jackson for their help the rouge river community church youth group and a few of the markham cadets marshalled along the course john posca of running free did a great job on the results and was generous in donating prizes results are on its website wwwrun- ningfreeca john de finney race director letters policy stouffville tribune 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 ont l3p1m3 email lerterseconsuncom stouffville tribune serving the community since 1888 he3 dde canadian circulations 1 audit board member ontario press council canadian publications mail product sales agreement 1403419 subscription rates by mail 1 year 6955 thursdays only stouffville tribune published every 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 burtington shopping news burlington post city parent 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conference after learning homicide detectives released a fake sketch of a suspect in the murder of maria wong journalists become angry when sources con them into printing phoney stories our credibility is all we have and if people think were printing lies they will stop reading thats why if we make a mistake we correct it the following information pub lished in june 1999 was erroneous york regional police detsgt les young released a composite sketch of his prime suspect the man he believes to be the killer but said at least one other person was involved a number of witnesses saw the per son in the composite and one other per son detsgt young said adding six or seven people have come forward some only recently we dont have enough of a descrip tion of the second person to make a composite from the best we can tell they waited for her to arrive home and open the automatic garage in fact the sketch was adapted from a picture of christian ortiz while its true mr ortiz was the prime suspect and is now one of four men on trial for stabbing mrs wong to death it is not true police were trying to identify him they knew exactly who he was and released the composite to rattle the sus pects cages hoping they would give themselves away york region newspaper group regrets the error apparently detsgt young does not it was somewhat mis leading but not outside the bounds of the law he said at the trial last week i would guess most people dont share the medias opinion of these tac tics most would probably say if lying to some press weasel helps get a killer off the streets the cops should go for it but the next time we publish a police sketch and a request for information will you take it at face value or will you suspect the cops have ulterior motives when york regional police say they cant release the name of a toronto police officer arrested for murder because it would endanger unnamed innocent parties will you believe them if you witness a violent crime and police promise you and your family pro tection if you offer information will you cooperate or will you remember police think its ok to lie to solve a case if you are on the jury at a murder trial and you learn a police officer knowingly released false information as part of his investigation will you consider his testi mony credible or will you ask why should i believe a word you say