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6 economist suntribune thursday august i 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 weller editor jim mason classified manager ann campbell production manager pam nichols retail sales manager stephen mathieu distribution manager barry black inside sales manager stacey allen electronic communications manager john futhey business manager robert lazurko office manager vivian oneil editorial mould melee reaches ridiculous level there comes a time when the best thing you can do is cut your losses that time is here for the york region court house after two years of working to eliminate toxic mould at the newmarket building noth ing has been solved more mould was discovered just last week people are still suffering health problems and the issue is interfering with the administration of justice several employees went home sick this week refusing to work in the building even before the issue hit headlines in june 2000 workers had been complaining of health problems such as headaches sore throats nosebleeds and dizziness for years after more than a dozen employees walked off the job citing health and safety concerns the ministry of labour closed the courthouse to remove the mould ultimately it took nearly a year and millions of dollars to clean up the building and provide temporary space for hearings but we were told the problem had been fixed until recently when two courtrooms were closed because staff and visitors complained of mysterious ear ailments during a lengthy murder trial nine court staff jurors and spec tators complained of health problems last week a lawyer in a multi-million-dol- lar tax evasion case made a pretrial motion for a change of venue because of concerns the building was unsafe a ruling on that motion is expected next week and if its successful expect a flood of applications and theres every reason to believe it will be successful in light of the mould discovered last week then tuesday several court employees went home sick the situation is becoming ridiculous years ago ontario public service employees union officials said the eagle street building had been structurally defective from the start and the best thing to do was to move out the courtrooms permanently yes building or leasing a new courthouse would be costly but in the current situation we are just throwing good money after bad mopping up recurring mould testing for a growing list of contaminants and wasting the courts time with delays due to room closures and absen teeism its time to solve this problem permanently opinion letters to the editor stouffville in 2003 too much traffic town hall still not finished re main street stouffville will look fine next year a column by joan ransberry july 25 lets fast forward to the summer of 2003 its a fine july evening ive decided to stroll down main street stouffville from ringwood drive to church street there are many peo ple out and about but i cant see if they are smiling because im hacking and coughing from the exhaust of too many cars and trucks besides they are all driving so fast i cant see their faces by the time i make it into stouffvilles downtown the lights are out after all business hours are over and all of the offices are now closed no matter i can always buy my hedge funds tomorrow as for the old town hall the restoration by bruce arrowsmith and bell engineering has started of course it will be another year before we see any change to the front of the building another two years before we see any change to the eastside walkway and another four years before any of the landscaping is done of course we are all happy that the town recognized that selling the entire building for 50000 as originally proposed was just plain ridiculous happily it only sold the top half of the building for the much more reasonable price of 100000 of course the town is still coughing up money for the building taking care of the grounds as well as the heating and the plumbing systems welcome to stouffville development close to the city for all of the car dealerships and gas stations the summer of 2003 will be worth the wait one more thing a 265name petition was presented to council asking the town not to deem the old town hall surplus and thus enabling it to sell at least a part of the build ing that petition is still being circulated you will find it in many downtown stores pam mandich stouffville lack of values comes from lack of god re lack of values root of credibility crisis a column by debora kelly july 18 i found this a thoughtful article and would like to add a few comments from the daugh ter of evangelist billy graham in the wake of the sept 1 1 terrorist attack she was asked on television how could god let something like this happen the answer in my opinion is right on the money she said i believe that god is deeply sad dened by this just as we are but for years weve been telling god to get out of our schools our government and our lives and being the gentleman that he is i believe he has calmly backed out how can we expect god to give us his blessing and pro tection if we demand he leave us alone james wboehmer stouffville 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 utters to the editor 9 heritage rd markham ont l3p1m3 email letterseeconsuncom stouffville tribune serving the community since 1888 bb3 dde canadian circulations 1 audit board member ontario press council 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 ajavpickering news advertiser alliston 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dont imagine there was a woman out there who wasnt hit by a wave of vulnerability on hearing about the york region woman sexually assaulted while jogging you take a look at the things you do running your routine through your mind wondering if youre leaving your self open to attack but then comes the anger that you would even have to think about chang ing your lifestyle simply because youre a woman then comes the compassion for the victim now dealing with all this and much much more the 37yearold woman was jogging through a wooded area in east gwillimbury july 9 when a man ran at her knocked her to the ground hit her several times and sexually assaulted her it was broad daylight in an area pop ular with walkers joggers cyclists and nature enthusiasts york regional police quickly issued an alert warning women to be aware of their surroundings as a woman you cant help but worry somewhat wondering if a predator is lurking out there certainly any woman would have second thoughts about going alone to rogers reservoir if not any park ten days later 21 yearold kenneth tocher of holland landing was charged with sexual assault choking robbery and breach of probation so we breathe a sigh of relief yet the assault so close to home as rare as assault by strangers is is a ter rible reminder of the need for women to always be alert to the possibility of attack as unjust as that is youre vulnerable says louise stinson public education coordinator for the womens sexual assault helpline in york region women are always aware of that we know we dont have that freedom that men have when an assault occurs in a commu nity its important to create awareness that the victim must not be blamed she adds gail rehfeld coordinator of the domestic abuse and sexual assault care centre ofyork region in richmond hill agrees we have to put the focus on the abuser how can we stop them while society works on that one women have to support each other and most of all be strong in the face of our vulnerability det lynn rooney of the york regional police sex assault bureau on suggesting the usual precaution to be aware of your surroundings was loath to advise women to change their everyday habits ms rehfeld says having this hap pen makes people think makes them aware that it does happen but i would hate to give the message women can prevent this we have a right to be safe damn right