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stouffville thursday dec 2 2004 serving the community of whitchurchstouffville 32 pages1 including gst 2 a ballantrae man honoured ql for work at hospital opinion 6 calendar 23 sports 25 preparing for santa staff photosjoerd witteveen ken macdonald of black8cmcdpnalds ltd decorates the ghristmas tree in civic square in downtown stouffville in preparation for special events this weekend the bia festival of lights is friday night and die stouffville kinsmen santa claus parade is saturday afternoon for more information see pages 8 and 10 v bymikeadler staff writer a vaughan company was fined 10000 for destroying more than 1000 trees in pickering while hundreds of charges were dropped against three stouflville natives in a whitby i courtroom last week rosebank farms ltd of concord faced 332- charges under durham regions tree bylaw each carrying a maximum fine of 10000 in connection with a march 2003 incident in pickering the company formed a week after the trees were cut accepted responsibility later that month in a letter from president phil colucci who claimed trees on the farm were cut because a local farmer asked if some of the trees could be used for cedar posts in court last friday the city of pickering allowed the company to plead guilty to cutting the entire group of trees and it was fined 10000 rosebank was also ordered to plant 1000 trees on the property and maintain them for five years slap on wrist the fine is just a slap on the wrist the rouge duffins greenspace coalition stated in a news release identical charges were dropped in court against christopher and richard burkholder of stouffville and ryan burkholder of kitchener whose names were on the deed when 1079 trees were illegally cut the three mien ho longer own the land soon aftettiie cutting occurred pickering cao tom quirin told the pickering news- advertiser he was advising the city clerk to aimfor the maximum in fines and durham regional councillor maurice brenner speak ing at a gathering beside the property in april 2003 said the city would demand the heaviest possible penalty theres to be a powerful message sent out which means maximum not minimum he said at the time the city however allowed a collective plea seetree page 5 9year history of town hall proposals theatre plan has behindit by hannelore volpe staff writer the time is ripe to finally put an arts and culture centre into the old town hall in downtown stouflville mayor sue sherban says funding in the amount of 750000 has already been earmarked by the town for such a project for 2006 and most importantly according to the mayor council is taking the lead on thisv when she ran for the position in the last municipal election mrs sherban made a commitment to make a deci sion on the building before her term was up more people want a cultural centre than in the past said pam mandich a theatre supporter she points to the phenomenal growth of the york durham academy for the performing arts as one example in only its third season the academy has a cast of more than 100 children and adults and will put on five productions this year council takes lead mayor sherban feels this proposal has a better chance of succeeding because council rather than residents or business interests is taking the lead the town was never willing or able to commit funds to private proposals mfrastmcture money is available that has not been available in the last couple of years she added noting the province recently announced a grant program for heritage facilities in need of improvement all previous attempts to put a the atre and multipurpose facility into the buildingwere proposed byartsgroups not government no previous proposal seetheatrepage3 cftypd v tsmm m ojiyitek houston ford ltd 5786 main st stouffville 9q5b4d4541 vwvwbillhoustonford can 05 mustang available for testdrive ww rarthau tewellers 12 main st is3uffvnie mmmm