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5 economist sunsuntribune community saturday april 24 2004 wife still haunted by death of jumper novice skydiver went on unplanned jump byjohnslykhuis staff writer he wasnt even supposed to jump that day gareth rodgers had parachuted the day before and he wasnt scheduled to go again until after he and his family fin ished their vacation a week or so later mr rodgers and wife lisa had come back to baldwin airport aug 25 2002 just to hang out with friends they had met there enjoy a barbecue and watch the other skydivers from the parachute school of toronto make their jumps it was a perfect day for parachuting mr rodgers had made five jumps up to that point since his initial one july 6 when he had first come back from work to their newly renovated home in sutton to tell his wife hed finally made up his mind to try it after six years of talking about it she wasnt happy my only condition was thatl go with him every time he did it she said that sort of made me feel better she also videotaped every one of them including the last fateful jump after that first time he was so excit ed i dont think he slept for three days hed keep playing the video and yell to the kids come and see this as a beginner he was still jumping with his instructor he was on his way to his first level of proficiency obtained after 10 jumps this would be his sixth and as it turned out his last a representative of the school came over and said there had been a cancella tion so there was an opening on the plane did gareth want it no he said he really didnt feel like it he was asked again i said to him dont do it dont be pressured into it mrs rodgers recalled he finally said ill just do it and get it over with unlike his previous jumps he hadnt watched the parachutes being packed after 20 jumps he would be able to pack his own he would watch them being packed and then point and say i want that one mrs rodgers said this time he didnt he got up to board the plane they briefly talked about going home and starting dinner love you he said love you she replied with the video camera going mrs rodgers caught her husband jumping from the plane breathing a sigh of relief when the chute billowed out this time it came out then fluttered away like a wounded butterfly the tape got shaky at that point she thought she sawhim engage the reserve chute she got into a jeep with friends and headed over to where they thought he would land they were in a wooded area nearby calling out his name when they heard the sirens of emergency vehicles speeding down from sutton her heart racing they climbed into the jeep sped north on hwy 48 cresting the hill near old homestead road to see firetrucks on the shoulder an ambu lance police cruisers and the crum pled figure under a yellow tarp i knew then she said i knew mr rodgers had landed just off the highway he was estimated to be going at least 200 kmh when he hit the ground leaving a sixinch impression bouncing and landing about 15 feet away he died instantly im not sure what he would have had time to think about when he was falling lisa said it only took about 21 seconds they had been high school sweet hearts in their hometown of stouffville before moving to sutton about 10 years before an outgoing highenergy individual mr rodgers was a first class carpenter and excelled at fixing up old houses the couple had bought several fixeruppers since moving renovating and then sell ing them they were in the process of doing the same to their latest house near the sutton arena happily married for 15 years they raised three children stephanie now 16 daniel 14 and brysen 9 attending the inquest into the acci dent earlier this month helped the fam ily deal with his death she said auditing school board meaningless exercise opinion after recent events in ottawa announcing the auditor is coming strikes fear into the hearts of those in the federal political community and for good reason not so at the york region district school board reviewing the independent audi tors report and observing it actually being presented to the board rivals watching the proverbial paint dry on the excitement scale- the annual audit of the boards financial behaviour is virtually mean ingless in terms of telling you how wisely your money 750 million of it is being managed it just tells you the money was indeed spent and who got it thats all it is a compliance audit as required by the education act as the represen tative of the auditing firm stated during his presentation at the board meeting we dont make any value judgments according to him it would be cost- bob burrows on board prohibitive to do so last year this audit cost taxpayers 51000 but lets do a quick audit of the audit process in response to questions from trustees alan shefman and diane giangrande it became apparent the board has used the same firm to audit its books since 1969 in addition the board apparently does not feel any need to publicly ten der this task and it has never done so for the sake of perception alone is that appropriate and prudent fiscal practice and at the end of the road what do we have here anyway not much im sure many taxpayers wouldnt mind paying a little more to make sure their education tax dollars were well- spent many would likely be willing to invest in a process that would evaluate the boards spending practices in a comprehensive way especially on non essential things such as hotel confer ences and other such functions as compared with more basic needs such as adequate classroom textbooks they would spend a little more for a process that would critically review purchasing strategies expense accounts travel allowances and other such board expenditures now that would be an audit worth paying for and hearing about and in the end it would likely even pay for itself bob burrows was a york region elementary school teacher for 27 years and a trustee from 2000 to 2003 inside tuesdays april 27 paper for your copy of the spring 2004 recreation guide delivered to the residents of the township of markham inside todays paper for your copy of the about markham newsletter delivered to the residents of the township of markham pal robinson pat robinson iklsffie inc trustee in bankruptcy call for afree personal discussion hdp with creditor problems proposal to creditors personal business bankruptcy aurora head office 15105 yonge sl 201 aichmh 905 7272577 richmond hill 9555 yongest 401 a mfek 905 5089493 toronto 1 50 yorkst 800 at mm 4l 4106648 ibli free 18777272577 email patpatrobinsoncom web wwrepatrobinsoacom caja mamo jalon m is proud to present their long overdtie grand opening it would be an honor to have you be here share this extravaganza event with us on sunday april 25th 2004 between pm 5 pm wine cheese will be served along with model hair presentations by massimo and staff hope to see you here 15 ringwood drive unit 6 stouffville ontario iaa 8c1 905 6402088 w are you unemployed want to start your own business mca we offer free solutions financial assistance to el recipients meet with selfemployment consultants attend our business workshops use our business resource centre network with other entrepreneurs featured this month getting publicity may 136 pm the privacy act may 206 pm call today 9059489622 ext 222 ymca business centre 48551 4th avenue markham your success is our business j this project is funded by the government of canada canada