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stouffvitte suntribune thursday june 12 2003 3 stouffville says by jennifer anderson how do you feel about going to high school next year asked of summitview school grads caitlikcopetti im worried about teachers im nervous about high school exams tyler neil the classes may be too hard to keep up with i think the spares and free time will be a plus for nie and im looking forward to meeting new friends chelsea mcardle im excited about meeting new people im not looking forward to exams kenczerwinski im scared about initiations and the school work especially in some of the classes i may not do well in im concerned about peer pressure to skip classes gone fishin harold wardlaw 82 waits for the big catch during the stouffville lions fishing derby for seniors and the disabled at burds trout ponds saturday bill roberts photo fraud artist wants out of jail by kathleen griffin staff writer fraud artist steven peck broke down in tears on the wit ness stand yesterday as he talked about missing his two young children after spending 19 months in jail the markham man and for mer stouffville resident pleaded guilty june 2 to two counts of fraud over 5000 after bilking fellow rotary club members of more than 500000 in a land- investment scam mr peck 53 will have to wait until next week to learn if hell receive a conditional sentence to be- served in his mothers mississauga home or if hell be handed additional jail time justice m fuerst reserved her decision after hearing close to three hours of evidence mr pecks wife and mother were in the newmarket court room for the hearing and watched carefully as mr peck arrived from the metro west detention centre wearinga dark grey shirt slacks and hand cuffs he gave them a brief nod during his testimony mr peck became emotional only when speaking of his two chil dren a boy aged 8 and a girl 11 i understand you havent seen your children very fre quently since youve been in custody asked his lawyer adam bernstein mr peck began sobbing removing his glasses and taking a few minutes to compose him self before answering no i havent seen them for quite awhile he said has that had a devastating effect very much so mr peck responded but crown attorney jason gorda argued a conditional sentence one in which mr peck would be essentially under house arrest but not in jail is not appropriate especially con sidering his criminal record i think the public would have serious concerns not only about the fact mr peck has a prior conviction but that he committed this crime while on probation he said previous convictions court heard mr peck was convicted of two counts of theft over 5000 in 1997 worth 17 million and was sentenced to three years although three restitution orders were sworn mr peck has not made any pay ments he was also in breach of the ontario securities commission act in 2002 and was sentenced to 90 days in jail the york regional police fraud squad began a sixmonth investigation into the most recent charges in june 2001 while he was still on parole accusing him of using his mem bership in the rotary club to convince several markham resi dents to invest 400000 in a real estate venture in minden mr peck told investors the money would be used to buy the property then a mortgage would be obtained once the money was freed up it would be rein vested in a debenture program to finance the development of the property as a resort mr peck however took the money for his own use after mr pecks arrest which was well publicized several other victims came forward claiming mr peck persuaded them to invest in a similar scam involving property in peterborough mr peck was committed to trial on five counts of fraud and pleaded guilty to two counts he has been jailed since his arrest me bulk of mat time serving in a privileged cell block where inmates are allowed to work for part of the day but mr bernstein argued conditions at metro west are less than ideal and mr peck should be afforded enhanced credit for time served which is usually on a twoforone basis and complete his sentence under house arrest he will be able to enjoy renewing the relationship he has with his kids thafs going to make mr peck a better person he said mr peck described jail con ditions for justice fuerst its living in a room the size of a bathroom with two other fellows you get along well or you bite your lip its a lot of stress he said mr gorda asked mr peck be sentenced to two years on top of the time he has already served justice fuerst will impose sentence june 20 ririoflif last chance to nominate top citizen best sport deadline day is sunday for nomi nations for whitchurchstouffvilles citizen of the year and sports person ality of the year awards the awards sponsored by the suntribune will be presented june 26 at the whitchurchstouffville strawberry festival our town spirit is built on volun- teerism suntribune editor jim mason said this is the communitys opportunity to honour the best of our volunteers every year nominations can be emailed to jmasonyrngcom for more infor mation call 9056402612 elvis invasion begins tomorrow evening more than 25 elvis tribute artists will swagger along stouffvilles main street tomorrow night and most of saturday for the stouffville bias sec ond annual tribute to the king elvises in white sports coats or high collars and bejewelled bell bot toms will be at the stouflville train station from 630 to 930 pm friday a parade of elvis tribute artists 50s dancers and classic cars starts from the train station at 11 am saturday afterwards the entertainers will head to both the town square and train sta tion to give their favourite renditions of the kings songs emsfestis major sponsor this year is wwwstouffvillebiz residents are invited to come out to vie for the king and queen of the twist dance contest and take part in elvis trivia contests barbecued hamburgers sausages and other foods as well as elvis memorabilia will be available at the event quoteworthy im not suggesting people wear snowmobile suits or or live in a bubble whitchurchstouffville mayor wayne emmerson on the threat of west nile virus see story on page 1 contacting us have a news tip please phone us at 9056402612 email us at jmasonyrngcom visit us at 34 civic ave stouffville almira fine furniture 4747 highway 7 east east of kennedy in markham tel 905 4775524 wwwalmiracom salesalmiracom store hours mon wed 10 am 600 pm thufri 10 am 900 pm saturday 10 am 530 pm sunday closed w r m sale ends soon annual spring savings event dining room suitks bedroom suitfs sofas ci lairs i iomf officf entertainment units le upi ioisterv