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6 economist suntribune thursday nov 7 2002 s stouffville tribune serving the community since 1856 a metroland community newspaper 34 civic ave stouffville on l4a 7z5 publisher ian proudfoot editorial time for region to clean up its act were getting sick of this crap literally for the second time in five years york region is facing charges in connection with a sewage spill this time its two charges one under the ontario water resources act and the other under the environmental protection act relat ed to a spill of 1 million litres of sewage into the black river in may 2001 a malfunction at the woodriver bend pumping station near jacksons point went undetected for three days during which time sewage continued to spill into the river which feeds into lake simcoe nearly a yearandahalf later regional works commissioner kees schipper says the region doesnt know exactly what happened its still being investigated how can this possibly be one has to wonder how high a priority this investigation has been given peter sibbald brown of the georgina envi ronmental group lake watch says residents have told him about other smaller scale prob lems with the pumping station one might think the region would have learned from its experiences apparently not the region faced similar charges in connec tion with a 1997 spill of 2 million gallons of sewage into a tributary of the don river near bayview and steeles avenues in thornhill at the time the region insisted the spill was the unpreventable result of an unlikely series of accidents involving a lightning strike an electrical malfunction in the backup generator and a fire alarm regional officials expressed disbelief charges had been laid then the region pleaded guilty to one of the charges and paid a 35000 fine it is facing a maximum 20 million in fines from the black river spill while the courts have never levied the max imum fine or anything close to it the region and its taxpayers certainly cant expect to get off so lightly the second time around but far more important than the cost of the fines is the potential damage to the environ ment which isnt known right now because nobody has done an assessment of the long- term effects of the spill obviously thats the key question here most people in the area depend on well water the black river itself is one of the last refuges of wild ontario in the region with 10 provincially recognized environmentally sen sitive areas along its length hardly the place we ought to be using as a toilet the most effective defence york region can mount against these charges is to demon strate it is taking the problem seriously and to show exactly what is being done to ensure it doesnt happen again its time for york region to clean up its act opinion letters to the editor why so few trickortreaters on the streets this year where have all the children gone we have lived in unionville for 19 years for the first 17 we could count on at least 120 kids at our door last year we had 70 this year 45 although we dont have any children of our own we put our pumpkins out each year and enjoy the parade of costumes at our door we realize neighbourhoods change but there are three elementary schools within a kilometre of our house virtually all the kids that came to our door this year were accompanied by an adult which is a good thing my question is where is everybody else have we let our paranoia about security get the best of us why not let kids be kids again larry rowe unionville restraint good manners a tribute to todays children it was 730 pm on halloween and only two trickortreaters had come to our front door i looked at the pile of gum chocolate bars and chips that we had purchased and won- the economist sunstoufiville tribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the economist sunthbune reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space write letters to the editor 9 heritage rd markham l3p1m3 email letterseconsuncom dered what we would do with all of it at that moment a princess and a horse arrived i decided to offer them as much candy as they wanted each child took one thing and proceeded to thank me i found this curious and wondered what i would have done in my halloween days if i had been given such an openended offer and so the night wore on more and more creatures arrived at the door and i invited them to have whatever they wanted what had begun as a way to hopefully empty the cache turned out to be quite an eye opener the children of markham are truly chil dren of character not one took more than one candy out of each bowl i had offered every child that entered the vestibule of our home was polite friendly and extremely appreciative this halloween was a breath of fresh air elaine tordai markham editorial editor jim mason newsroomeconsuncom advertising retail sales manager steve kane stevekyorkregioncom sales manager new business development distribution dawna andrews dandrewserabannercom classified manager ann campbell anncerabannercom real estate manager mike rogerson production electronic communications manager john futhey jfutlieyyrngcom distribution distribution manager barry black bblackeconsuncom administration office manager vivian oneil voneilcconsuncom york region events managing director debra weller dwellerymgcom shows manager staceyallen sallenyrngcom york region printing general manager bob dean bdeanyrngcom editorial 9052942200 fax 2941538 advertising 2942200 classified 1-800- 7433353 fax 8531765 distribution 9052948244 canadian ontaitopress circulations audit council board member stouffville tribune a york region newspaper group community newspaper the stouffville tribune published every thursday and saturday is a member of the metroland priming publishing and distributing ltd a whollyowned subsidiary of torstar corporation metroland is comprised of 70 community publications across ontario the york region newspaper group includes the liberal serving richmond hi and thornhill vfeughan ctoen markham economist sun stouffville tribune stouffvine sun georgna advocate york region business times at home good life jorkregjon com and york region pnntiig editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director marketing new product development brenda larson advertising director retail flyer sales nicole mathieu advertising director classified real estate events management gordpaolucci debora kelly no magic switch to solve hydro mess woohooooo im living large in ontario 2002 last night i had lights burning in empty rooms lavishly racking up those kwhs at a gadzillionmillion cents just like the old days when i gave little thought to electricity now i actually hear myself telling the kids turn off the basement light when you come upstairs electricity is very expensive now you know the tory governments move to deregulate electricity six months ago is creating shockwaves as rates skyrocket its an understatement to say the scheme to provide a consistent dependable source of affordable hydro isnt working from what i read the plan was flawed in its assumption the private sector would eagerly jump at the opportunity to get into the market it is becoming clear a solution is beyond the reach of the tories it would be comforting to think as oak ridges mpp frank klees explained to us last month a convergence of cir- cumstances created the problem he pointed to the long hot summer which placed an unprecedented strain on our supply of power at a time when nuclear reactors in pickering and at the bruce power station were offline i just received the third of my own ever increasing hydro bills the long hot summer argument lost its shine some time ago mr klees the situation not only affects con sumers but businesses and public institutions such as school boards and hospitals already strapped for cash a few tories are even getting desper ate labour minister brad clark wants his government to cap rates while power generation is developed and brucegreyowen sound mpp bill murdoch foresees the future you know what happens to governments who dont fix things like this they dont come around again never mind the cuts to education shortage of doctors and single moms tossed off welfare hes right this is the gaffe that will bring the tories down the problem wont be miraculously solved while a charade of rebates equal billing and capped rates plays out shouldnt the tories have seen this one coming some of the pitfalls of deregulation were well demonstrated in california and closer to home in alberta in california private firms did nt come to the table either when brownouts and blackouts became everyday fare the solution was to establish a public agency to buy power out of state and build new plants go figure just like what we used to have here in the meantime ill enjoy the glow of candlelight