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6 stouffville suntribune thursday aug 16 2007 fmoujvlue mm suntnbune 6290 main st stoufiyilleonl4alg7 wwwyorkregioncom i publisher ian proudfoot editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director interactive media technology john futhey director advertising york region printing distribution barry black director circulation systems lynn pashko general manager bob dean editorial fire hall arena badly needed the reshaping of your town con tinues whitchurchstouffville town council has announced the site for a new fire hall and arena in stouffville both will be built off weldon road between sobeys and the new stouffville district secondary school its an excellent location on the border of new and old stouffville and near seniors facilities schools homes industries and businesses and theres room for more facilities on the site the fire hall replaces the outdated and now poorly located facility on main street on the eastern edge of the downtown core firefighters will have far less traffic to fight as they make their way to and from the hall that means quicker service for the majority of stouffvillearea resi dents it could mean saved lives and property the northern section of the town is well protected thanks to the rela tively new hall in ballantrae and ser vice from fire crews in aurora and newmarket the need for a new rink has been well documented prime time ice has been fully rented for years on the two pads of the stouffville arena tenants are now forced to scrounge ice in private facilities in other cbm- munities minor hockey the largest of ice users is full in its youngest age groups no one wants to see children turned away from trying an activity the new rink will not open for two years creating stress for the next couple of seasons the good news for user groups is they wont have to fundraise for the facility which is being paid for by development fees thats a far cry from when the first pad of the stouffville arena was built in the 1980s and the second pad added 10 years later users were forced to raise sums of money not asked for by council when the pool library and fitness centre were built during this decade both ice pads were severely stripped down before being built to appease critics lets hope the town listens to users this time and builds a rink comfort able for spectators and athletes new schools arenas a fire hall and an arts centre are in the works a seniors centre theatre and municipal offices are possibilities new facilities are part of the upside of a growing small town pat wheelers suntrisunit letters to the editor only plastic christmas trees will remain in stouffville two weeks ago we lost a valuable resource in this town a small wooded area of three to four acres behind southwire canada formerly cable tech at the end of mostar street it seems that a renegade developer chose to destroy the whole wooded area ratlier than a slim part of it to make for the extension of mostar i happened to be walking my dog behind cook canada inc and noticed the demolition took pic tures and was quite sick i thought they were fin ished and satisfied with only destroying half the area however when i came back oh the weekend there was nothing left it made me ill couple of days later i was back and videotaped a squirrel quite agitated standing on the ruins of his hedge row and telling me to do something about it when you drive to the end of mostar there is nothing left but chips and damaged mature trees there had been a farm homestead with a house and barn according to local historian fred rob- bins these trees were mature and of a decentsized diameter significant trees as defined by the sec ondary plan a planning manager told me they were only30 years old but i do not believe that he told me kids had made the road in something i truly found hard to believe they said they didnt know anything about the homestead which they should have known about because all developers have to make an archaeol ogy assessment and tree inventory to replace any trees taken down i have yet to see that it matters it seems the town government is totally unable to control the growth and developers around here which i can understand when you have a council elected with developers dollars and when you have a planning staff that caters to the developers over the needs of the people it is truly unfortunate we have lost another valu able resource after the millard street massacre last year i had hoped council would get its act together and put in a decent tree protection by- law but it has done nothing my question is why would developers read ily assume the town would not stop them on this point unless they were aware of the leniency he will laugh at the 10000 to 25000 fine and reap the profits soon we will have nothing but plastic christ mas trees to look at randy mole stouffville ad gaffe embarrassing re advertisement aug 11 reading through the paper and there i see it an ad for the ontario child care benefit in the picture is a girl playing goalie ok she is holding the goalie stick wrong but she also has the pads on the wrong legs how embarrassing we canadians are i am used to seeing that from the united states as they have no clue about hockey but in ontario i have sent a letter to the provincial minister at queens park asking if nobody bothered to proof read this ad john wilson stouffville off the top with jim mason another world on other side of ontario same province different world spend a couple of hours on the north side of lake superior and you start to get the picture its a 14hour drive or 90minute flight and were still seven hours by car from the manitoba border where you can buy a starter or retire ment bungalow in thunder bay for less than 100000 good luck equalling that one here in whitchurchstouffville but gas costs 112 a litre up north no thanks the economic outlook isnt as rosy as the weather the unemployment rate is above the national average and rising meanwhile the population is shrink ing and housing starts for the year are counted in the dozens not the hundreds and thousands seen in gta communi ties the forestry industry once the main stay of the area economy is in rough shape paper mills some in oneindustry towns have closed thanks to skyhigh hydro rates rebates announced last week by the province were too late for many jobs to be saved cynics say theyre only the latest in election goodies served up to the northwest the new jobs in thunder bay are in medical research a far cry from the blue collar roots of the port and manufactur ing town a recently built hospital and medical school help the trend the government casino once the home of a shopping mall continues to bustle lakehead university keeps grow ing drawing thousands of students from across the province to its fine campus and in spite of the economy the city remains a funky place its a mix of ethnic groups still heavy on natives finns ital ians brits and slovaks the university hockey team draws 3000 a game and amateur baseball and soccer squads about 1000 a night theres amateur and professional the atre art galleries a large blues festival and a symphony jim mason is editor of the sun- tribune letters policy the suntribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the suntribune reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space letters to the editor the suntribune 6290 main st stouffville on l4ai67 jmasonyrmgcom editorial editor jim mason jmasonyrmgcom interacnve media marketing advertising manager dawna andrews dandreivsyrmgcom advertising retail manager staceyallen sallenyrmgcom classified manager ann campbell acampbellyrmgcom assistant classified manager bonnie rondeau broniieauynngcom production team leader sherry day sdayyrmgcom fdsflv caudbn qcab editorial 9056402612 fax9056408778 advertising 9056402612 clarified 18007433353 fax9056408778 distribution 9056402612 suntnbune a york region media group community newspaper the suntribune published every thursday and saturday is a division of the metroland media group ltd a whollyowned subsidiary of torstar corporation metroland is comprised of 100 community publications across ontario the york region newspaper group includes the liberal serving richmond hill and thomhillvaughan citizenthe erabanner newmarketaurora markham economist sun georgina advocate york region business times north of the city yorkregioncom and york region printing