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r t- 6 stouffville suntribune u thursday jan 29 2004 opinion publisher ian pr0udf00t telephone 9056402612 fax 9056408778 email jmasonymgcom website wwwyorkregioncom editorial antiutter survey lets look at bigger environmental concerns have no fear york region is doing all it can to tell us what types of litter are blowing around our streets parks and school yards in a joint survey by york peel and durham regions teams were sent out for two weeks to analyse litter found at computerselected locations near high- ways and schools dedicated litter crusaders found cig arette butts takeout packaging and paper products in large quantities the biggest offender however was gasp tiny bits of paper how much all this cost is being kept under wraps however for reasons any one can guess next regions will spend money lob bying manufacturers of various materi als and packaging and pass antilitter bylaws including penalties it borders on ludicrous the region would undertake an effort already being vigorously pursued by schools and organizations dedicated to picking up trash in their communities pitchin the guides scouts big brothers and sisters not to mention the provinces highway litter fine programs already pursue keeping our communities trashfree york region has far more pressing matters to deal with at home such as its sewage treatment procedures allowing hundreds of thousands of gallons of raw human waste to pour into various streams ponds and lakes over the past several years is a much bigger threat to the environment than cigarette butts and big mac containers littering highways if york region wants to get on the clean environment bandwagon how about coming up with a strategy to com bat errors and failures at its seven sewage pumping stations t instead of spending taxpayers dol lars pleading not guilty to the may 2001 sutton sewage spill and forcing a min istry inspector to explain how she knows raw sewage when she sees it perhaps a study could be undertaken to tighten procedures regarding staffing of pump ing stations with bigger issues such as this to contend with this litter campaign is nothing but a waste letters to the editor natural park great idea for town re snakes for park scare councillors jan is i am once again relieved to find the editor continues to retain his sense of humour or his sense of the surreal at least coming across an article with the words coun cillors and snakes together is a most serendipitous find for pundits such as me and therefore i find myself unable to resist commenting mark carroll never one to let a little thing like losing the confidence of constituents get him down is proposing a natural park for bauantrae his nemesis councillor phil bannon seems to be both suspicious of and opposed to the notion i realize most council members are rookies in the political arena but suggesting the common garter snake a nonpoisonous predator of things such as insects and worms is dangerous to the community is patently absurd it also shows less than basic knowledge of local fauna and maybe a shortfall in the common sense department i believe its a great idea to preserve some natu ral areas in the town for wildlife even if they are fenced in and surrounded by cookiecutter hous ing developments theway successive councils have been going at development approvals the last decade or so to say nothing of the way the mcguinty fiberals have been protecting the rest of the moraine lands these remnants of our natural heritage may soon be all we have left hugotkroon bethesda the stouffville suntribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and addressthe stouffville suntribune reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space write letters to the editor 34 civic ave po box 154stouffville l4a 7z5 emailjmasonymgcom suburbs bigger threat than snakes re snakes for park scare councillors jan 15 councilor phil bannons use of the term snake- pit to characterize mark carrolls proposal to con struct a wildlife sanctuary in bauantrae misrepre sented the proposal as a new resident mr bannon is perhaps unfa miliar with the wildlife of whitchurch stouffville mr bannon there are no dangerous wild snakes in whitchurchstouffville your concern a wildlife sanctuary for snakes bats birds and butterflies would pose a safety threat to children is misguided i believe a far greater threat to the cultural dynamics and well being of this community is the proposed proliferation of treeless suburban resi dential tracts entirely disassociated from the exist ing community in a community whose motto is country close to the city it is only natural one would find birds bats butterflies agricultural operations and yes even spiders and snakes pamela courtot stouffville r stouffville 0 touffvllle mmm f suntnbune a metroland community newspaper 34 civic ave 3rd floor stouffville ontario l4a 7z5 phone 9056402612 fax 9056408778 classified 18007433353 distribution 9052948244 website wwwyorkregioncom email jmasonymgcom member ontario community newspapers association canadian community newspapers association ontario press council editor in chief debora kelly editor jim mason reporters joan ransberryhannelorevolpe retail sales manager steve kane sales representative susan berry production manager pamnichols office manager vivian weil business manager robert lazurko advertising director retail sales flyers nicole fletcher advertising director classified real estate events management gord paolucd managing director real estate mikerogerson director of production johnfuthey distribution manager barrybladc sales manager new business development distribution dawna andrews general manager york region printing bob dean director marketing promotions debraweller shows manger stacey allen classified manager ann campbell off the top with jim mason mp emmerson we ve been fooled again they dropped their doughnuts creamed coffee curdled too but only those belonging to the conservatives you know- you have a scoop in stouffville when you shock the well- versed regulars at tim hortons on main street truth is wayne emmerson fooled us all before last week we were convinced he had permanently traded in his chain of office for a measuring tape in november going from mayor of whitchurchstouffville to his old job at the order desk at schell lumber there were rumours of a run at the chair ofyork region and there was talk of a provincial appointment that is before the tories went down like the hindenburg last fall all along wayne emmerson was con templating his latest run at the job of mp of the new riding of oak ridges- markham he announced last week he will seek the liberal nomination to a chorus of really and youve got to be kidding people knew i would do something they just didnt know what he said tuesday there were other offers but weve been talking about this one for a while the reaction has been very positive out there some people are telling me they have never voted liberal before now theyre prepared to vote for the per son and i think the change in the party with prime minister martin looks good some people wondered others always assumed he was a conservative but no membership cards on this guy before this year that is ive never been a party member because as mayor i had to work with all of them parties he said once you get this in your blood its hard to get it out but this will be a bigger house of commons than ive been in before there is opposition but not from any other dberals yet a nomination meet ing is expected within the month all in anticipation of a spring federal election bob callow a member of the york regional police services board is seeking the conservative nomination as a threeterm mayor and regional councillor wayne emmerson has a pres ence he also has small town charm which should serve him well in the rural- based riding of central york region jim mason is editor of the sun- tribune