The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

pj- z the tribune thursday february 1971 l established 1ss8 c h nolan publisher jim thomas editor published every thursday by inland publishing co limited at 54 main st stoufiville ont tel 6102101 single copies 15c subscriptions s500 per year in canada s900 elsewhere member of audit bureau of circulation canadian weekly newspapers association and ontario weekly newspapers association second class mail registration number 0896 editorial still dragging their feet corner grocer i the much toted century city project is in a state of suspended animation and has been for several months consequently all persons with a direct involvement in the venture are suffering the twp of uxbridge 20000 in back taxes mortgageholders 300000 in principle and interest and century city developments limited 0000 acres of land currently frozen under queens parks proposed greenbelt plan the question is who should make the next move the answer of course is obvious the provincial government in typical political red tape fashion queens park has been dragging its feet on this issue ever since the toronto centred region plan was introduced back in may 1969 nothing has happened since matt dymond riding mp has never been one to run for cover when a problem arises its high time then that he faced the problem thats apparent in this part of his area its high time that he demanded some answers and received some replies its his duty his obligation until he does the mortgagees should flood him with mail and ring his telephone off the wall perhaps just perhaps through this kind of contact a yes or no decision might be speeded up its long overdue in the drivers seat john sherman scott a former pickering township reeve and county warden has been selected to fill the ward 5 council post made vacant through the recent resignation of john kruger the choice of mr scott is in our opinion an excellent one for two reasons first mr scott has the experience extending over a period of ten years he is conversant with the problems not only of ward 5 but of the entire municipality coupling these together adds up to a big bonus for thecouncil of 1971 even more important in our opinion is the stand taken by council itself members or the majority of them refused to bow to the wishes of a west rouge pressure group a socalled ratepayers association that by one members own admission possesses no charter too often in our opinion councils are swayed by public reaction of this kind the tail wagging the dog in pickering this practice has been rejected the councils to be com mended become involved from the comments weve heard the question and answer column involving the mayor and ratepayers town of whitchurchstouffville and appearing each week in the tribune has captured the interest of local readers this is good for too long residents stouffville people in particular have been hesitant to get involved in municipal matters even when the eventual outcome could affect them personally instead they have been satisfied to sit back and say nothing do nothing this attitude must change we hope the availability of this column will help the purpose of our feature is to get answers answers to questions that we know must be on the minds of many ratepayers send in yours today to the mayor co the tribune main street stouffville the writers identity if in cluded will not be revealed editor 9 matt dear sir i was dismayed to read in the tribune issue of jan 21 1971 that mr gordon wansbrough of the bell telephone company had indicated the number of long distance calls from stouffville to toronto had not reached a total that warrants the free call service the free call service was granted to residents of gormley after a survey revealed that 70 percent were in favor i am certain that a similar survey in stouffville would reveal a similar or perhaps even higher percentage stouffville is an expanding area many of the new residents having moved from toronto for economical reasons as well as the attractions of country living have retained their associations with the city in terms of employment business friends and relatives i am sure that they just as myself avoid making calls to toronto at considerable in convenience my only conclusion is that while people avoid making toronto calls there are a sufficient number going through as to make it highly profitable for the bell to continue this practice and perhaps even to subsidize the privileged areas to the west south and north how long must this type of discrimination continue the town of whitchurchstouffville has a population of about 9200 when will it get on the map or better still on the line brian reed 583 elm road dear sir all across canada people are voicing concern over pollution however we in whitchurchstouffville dont have to look so far afield to find such a problem the site is windsor lake known to some as mud lake i can easily see how it got its name i would like to know whos job it is to clean up this mess not only is it a terrible eyesore but it emits an awful odor as well i suggest either bulldoze it out or fill it in if the latter project was completed it would make a wonderful park and help keep the children off the streets what is your opinion im sure if we all tried hard enough we could make this particular area a very respectable place in which to live mrs phyllis stowell valley road winters of memory all the colder by bill smiley theres nothing like a solid stretch of really cold weather to remind you that nature still packs a mighty wallop despite all mans ingenuity in trying to keep his chin covered weve had a dandy around here day after day of belowzero temperatures even though they have been bright the sun had about as much effect on the at mosphere as a fried egg sunnyside up everyone enjoys the first couple of days of such a spell we all feel like hardy pioneers when we stomp in out of the cold eyes and noses running and exchange such inanities as thats a real snapper and cold nuff fer ya but after a week or so it begins to get to you you begin to remember those stories about people who go mad in the rainy season or when the sirocco is blowing it doesnt effect the kids they love it bundled to the nose and full of warm red blood most of the elderly hate it and visibly shrink it doesnt bother the outdoor enthusiasts because they keep warm doing something they cant lick it so they join it its the ordinary simple everyday householder like me who begins to feel the pinch and develops a deep gloom when you turn the key in the car and it just groans like a wounded buffalo before expiring when you look up at the everthickening ice on the roof and remember youve just had your living- room redecorated and know its going to cost 30 to have it chopped off and finally when your downstairs facilities dont work and you realize with horror that even in this day of oil furnaces in side pipes can freeze and the oilman cometh and cometh and cometh this is the time when you should stop and realize how lucky you are instead of bending everybodys ear wjth your petty woes you should remember how it used to be like most canadians i was brought up on cold winters earliest recollections are of midwinter sunday mornings my mother would take my kid brother and me into bed with her where wed help ourselves to the breakfastinbed she always got sunday mornings and listen with fear and fascination to her tales of winter on calumet island in the ottawa river the best was about the time lady the dainty little mare went through the ice and the dreadful time they spent trying to rescue her i think she died then there was my dad he hated winter and made no bones about it it was depression times and the coal bin was an albatross around his neck he was a mild gentle man never known to say anything stronger than shoot but inside him was some of the wild despair of his irish forefathers when hed go down to fire up the fur nace id get my ear up against the fur nacepipe and listen with delight to language that should have given me curly hair interspersed with the occasional clang when hed belt the furnace with his shovel out of sheer rage i spent a winter in northern england with archaic and often nonexisting heating equipment except in the pubs sheer clammy misery except in the pubs i spent another in germany on the baltic sea with very little food and almost no heat not much joy there then i got married our first place had two wood stoves id hop out of bed plunk my freezing baby in with his warm mother and rustle up two fires then id take a roll of newspaper into the cellar set fire to it and unfreeze the water pipes which froze solid every night then off through the zero to the newspaper office which boasted one of the last wood- burning furnaces on the continent you could see your breath in the place until about 11 am we graduated to a coal furnace which did nothing but produce in me the same violence and frustration my father had felt twenty years before when i think of those days and step out of bed into a pleasantly oilheated house i realize what a piddling little cold spell were having now and almost feel like going out in the snow in my pyjamas and doing some pushups almost ifevlftk portraits of the past tired of the winter of 1971 its not so bad residence 371 that it couldnt be worse like the winter of remember 1960 this location is the russ holder elm road stouffville jas thomas shoot first ask questions later by jim thomas the saturday of each week is usually my picturetaking day i try to arrange it this way and more often than not it works out well its that one occasion in seven when things seem to happen at least thats the way it is around stouff ville there are wedding anniversaries family reunions teen walkathons hockey and ball tournaments you name it for a weekly newspaper editor- photographer like myself saturday can also be a real fun day that is if i have a batch of pictures in reserve but when that reserve becomes depleted and im desperate look out all discretion is cast aside i suddenly become reckless clicking and a snapping at almost everything in sight the truth is my psychological makeup undergoes such a transformation that under similar circumstances any fourlegged creature would be confined to a cage it is during times like these that i tend to grow not only abnormally reckless but unforgiveably careless thats when i find myself in deep deep trouble on some such escapades ive been lucky to escape alive one that comes to mind and i tremble every time i think of it involved a chap by the name of george mathews remember him many folks up ux bridge way will he lived in a kind of ramshackle little house at the in tersection of hwy 47 and the brock road better known to most natives as boot- jack hill i cant recall the cir cumstances but for some reason or another i needed a picture of the mathews place to merely walk up to the front door and ask permission was not only far too polite but certainly much too risky for george had a reputation for detesting nosey newsmen i therefore- decided on a more crafty approach to sneak a snap when no one was looking i worked out the whole scheme very carefully parking my car some distance away then circling back on hands and knees to the base of a huge highway culvert from the tunnel exit i could see right into the kitchen taking the picture was simple but i forgot one thing if i could see him he could also see me and he did just as i was getting set to snap another shot the chase was on if i live to be one hundred which is highly unlikely ill never forget the terrorfilled minutes that followed while i was younger faster and knew where i was going the load of lugging a heavy camera reduced that advantage con siderably by the time i reached rriy car i had approached a state of complete exhaustion was it a saturday im not certain but i do know that jan 30 was a saturday and my fate was almost sealed again and for exactly the same reason i decided to shoot first and ask questions later i was southbound on the sixth con cession of markham towards unionville when i saw if a beautiful aberdeen- angus standing quietly in a farm corral its black coat resplendent against a snowywhite background what a picture i thought to myself wheeling the car around at the nearest intersection donning a pair of high rubber boots and holding the camera over my head i waded through waistdeep drifts to reach the first fence more snow and a couple more fences brought me within focussing range of the hardy beast but i made a mistake two in fact first if i had checked with the farm owner i would have learned the correct gender of the animal that it was a mr and not a mrs secondly if i had checked the field closer myself i would have learned there were two mrs there in stead of one by the time i had sized up the situation it was much too late to sprinkle salt on their tails they converged one from the east and the other from the west i was caught in the centre whether their advance was prompted solely by curiosity or anger i was in no position to question i snapped one shot then ran galloped in fact leaving one boot marooned in a threefoot bank so come next spring should you see a long black rubber standing erect amidst a clump of sweet clover remember its mine the rest of me got away just barely