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stouffville saturday oct 8 2005 h serving the community of whitchurchstouffville 36 pages1 including gst 10 say hello to herb and spice up fj your medicine cabinet opinion 6 business 9 sports 11 classified 20 suv sales sagasga prices surge smaller suvs more popular in canada by patrick mangion staff writer even if waning sales of suvs and exorbitant gas prices stunt production of the hulking gas guzzlers only a sliver of canadians would even notice according to a local automotive expert americans love affair with large suvs never transferred to canadians who embraced more compact suvs richmond hill- based automotive consultant dennis desrosiers said while canadians have pur chased 18000 of the larger suvs this year that number reached 11 million in the united states despite york regions afflu ence sportutility vehicles repre sent a tiny portion of what resi dents are buying while figures from september showed amove away from suvs there is more to the slide in pop ularity than just rising gas prices mr desrosiers said for instance several domestic automakers offered their highest consumer incentives over the summer months therefore many buyers who were in the market for a new vehicle likely purchased one by the time last months figures were compiled theres no doubt suvs will be less popular on a goforward basis mr desrosiers said but sweeping changes to north americas automotive landscape will have to come from the us market he added see changes page 10 scarecrow at work staff photosjoerd witteveen victoria hoult makes like a scarecrow as she stands with her husband ivan and their dog skippy in a sea of pumpkins at their farm on hwy 48 north of ballantrae act as warning system for largescale outbreaks by caroline grech staff writer several york region schools will act as a warning system for largescale outbreaks this year the public health unit will track sickness patterns at four elementary schools and four high schools the school is part of the community that gets together five days a week it is more of a gauge to see how the broader community is doing ross virgo spokesperson for york region district school board said starting next week the eight schools will provide a daily report on absenteeism detail ing how many students are absent due to res piratory illness cough cold breathing or with gastrointestinal symptoms vomit ingdiarrhea if a school has 20 per cent of the school population sick and a segment of that popu lation is ill with gastrointestinal symptoms it is a sign that there may be a flu strain in the community mr virgo said the project is meant to assess the overall health of the community and help the health unit plan for the deployment of medical resources if necessary while the new tracking system can be used to detect a pattern for the widely predicted flu pandemic mn virgo said that is not the sole reason the new system is being put into place it is a measure the board wants to keep in place over time mr virgo said the system will be assessed after this year and more schools could be added if necessary ft hot tubs 27hsritaqcrd mamuum 48030 becctxcmber itoiiuti wwwmarkhammazdaca markhasvs 5396 highway h7 markham 9052941210 wwwmarkhammazdacj town mid country i l3thra nflj 6400888 a a a 1aa v m a isi a j v t v r m